Steeped in history of boom, bust, and revitalisation, New Westminster was the first stop on the mainland for miners to buy provisions and tools for their long journey ahead to the goldfields. Prospectors from California, Australia, Mexico, Europe, and as far away as China started to arrive in Victoria and New Westminster with many of them arriving via steamship from California where they first docked at Fort Victoria and either booked passage, bought a boat or constructed a boat to reach the Fraser River. By late spring of 1858, within weeks of the first ship arriving in Victoria, thousands made the journey up the Fraser River and into the interior of British Columbia searching for gold.
As the initial flood of prospectors arrived in BC they completely bypassed all of the lower mainland locations except for New Westminster (once the Royal Engineers laid it out), Fort Langley and Port Douglas (Harrison lake). In 1857, gold was discovered in the Fraser River, and in the spring of 1858, James Douglas sent 800 ounces of gold to the San Francisco Mint knowing what word of the gold’s arrival would trigger. It was an essential historic route between the Interior and southern coast and was the primary route of prospectors during the Gold Rush and still today is an important route for transport and commerce. The Fraser corridor is home to the first recorded settlements of Indigenous people, including the Musqueam, Sto:lo, St’at’imc, Secwepemc and Nlaka’pamux. Designated a Canadian Heritage River for its natural and human heritage values, much of our provincial history has been bound to the Fraser. Stretching over 1,375 km/854 mi from Fraser Pass in the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, the Fraser is the longest river in British Columbia. Next Leg Stops on this Leg of the Gold Rush Trail
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