Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New El Dorado

This trailblazing history of early British Columbia focuses on a single year, 1858, the year of the Fraser River gold rush — the third great massmigration of gold seekers after the Californian and Australian rushes in search of a new El Dorado. Marshall’s history becomes an adventure, prospecting the rich pay streaks of British Columbia’s “founding” event and the gold fever that gripped populations all along the Pacific Slope. Marshall unsettles many of our most taken-for-granted assumption...