Gold Rush Developing In B.C.

And it ain't always pretty. The combination of gold's rise, a slow economy and the popularity of the show Gold Rush: Alaska have combined to make gold panning in the backwoods an increasingly popular money hunt. Nostalgia and old lore still hold out the promise of striking it rich by landing a big nugget with only a pan.

With that new rush, though, has come a problem steeped in legend and lore: claim-jumping.

These days,... the [two] miners [featured in the article] are seeing more competition - sometimes on their own claim. Independent miners are heading into the mountains looking for their share of gold and are not always mindful of government-sanctioned claims or private property.

Jensen said each summer he is seeing more wild-eyed, gold-lusting men searching the creeks near Mount Washington for extra cash....

"I see men living out of their vans or in camps in the bush for weeks looking for some nuggets. One fella I came across said he was heading into the mountains for a month," Jensen said.

Jensen's company Gold & Fish Adventure takes people to his claim in Nugget Gulch, so it's well known for yielding minerals. As a result, he's chasing more people off his 1000 metre stretch of river than ever.

"They are essentially stealing out of my pocket," he said.

A government official quoted also said that they tend to leave a mess behind. Ain't their problem, to put it one way.


If claim-jumping's in vogue, then Canada is a' changin'. The adventurers in Canada's gold rushes were known for being respectful of other people's property. It's been said that, back in the Yukon of 1898, a gold panner could leave a satchel of gold on his land for a trip to town and come back without the gold being touched. The North-West Mounted Police (now the RCMP) are generally credited for this frontier law-and-order, but the shooting of claim-jumpers may have had something to do with it too.