[1] That year, a party of miners led by Hamilton McKenzie paddled up the Columbia River and wintered near Death Rapids.
A huge influx of miners, drawn from California to the Fraser, dispersed throughout the colony in search of gold.
Many prospectors came overland up the Rocky Mountain Trench from what is now Montana, or up the Columbia River from Washington Territory.
[10] However, most left the Cariboo goldfields to head eastward along the wagon road to present day Savona, to board a steamer.
[14] Parties from Kamloops also travelled overland in pack trains, completing the journey down Smith Creek[8] (a.k.a.
In 1865, William Downie, an experienced prospector, and his party of ex-Cariboo miners ascended the Columbia from Marcus.
That year, the SS Forty-Nine commenced ferrying miners to La Porte, at the foot of Death Rapids.
[10] The main ore finds were on the southwestward leg of the river beyond the bend, south from today's Mica Creek.
[19][20] Peter O'Reilly was appointed as gold commissioner,[8] and Walter Moberly laid out the proposed town site.