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Frederick Dally
"The Cornish" Hydraulic gold mining claim, Williams Creek, Cariboo
1870 (ca)
Albumen print
18.6 x 23.0 cm (image)
The Royal Collection
RCIN 2368879
LL/105230
Photograph of a group of 6 men standing and facing the viewer outside the opening to a mine in Williams Creek, British Columbia. In the foreground lies a pile of loose rubble and a wooden channel that carries water to the mine to facilitate hydraulic mining. At the top of the picture, trees have been cleared from the surface of the ground. A small torrent of water falls from a small crevice above the opening to the mine.
Initially named 'Humbug Creek' due to the small amounts of gold that was first mined there, Williams Creek soon became famous during the Cariboo Gold Rush due to the large amounts of gold that were to be found deeper into the earth. Some $30 million worth of gold was mined there during the second half of the 19th century. Due to the depths at which miners had to dig to reach the gold, Hydraulic mining used high pressure water that was forced through pipes to extract the gold from the earth.
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