Deadman's Curse: Volcanic Gold

Slumach’s lost mine isn’t the only tale of gold hidden in Western Canada with a dubious history. There is a trail of treasures in and around BC with wild stories, danger, and legendary paydirt attached to their provenances. In this season finale episode, we dive into some of these other tales, and Jack Mould’s story comes to a close as we wrap up Deadman’s Curse: Volcanic Gold and reflect on what draws us to keep chasing the gold, in spite of a curse. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Don Froese Adam Palmer Judith Williams Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Mould believed that Spanish explorers began mining and processing gold in the years before the British officially claimed what became British Columbia and that that gold was still out there…waiting to be found. Could this be true? Not too far down the Pacific coast in Oregon, experts investigate evidence washed ashore from Spanish Galleon shipwrecks from centuries past. Beeswax, porcelain fragments, and wooden planks have washed up along the beaches through the years. But no precious metals–and no gold–have been found. Nothing has been reported, that is. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Judith Williams Scott Williams Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claiming to have found Slumach’s legendary motherlode, WWII veteran and German POW survivor, Stu Brown, allegedly hauls ten pounds of gold nuggets out of the Upper Pitt and spends the last three decades of his life trying to convince the government of the riches to be had in its own backyard. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Brian Antonson Daryl Friesen Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volcanic Brown, known in some circles as ‘Doc Brown’, set his gold-fevered sights on finding Slumach’s legendary lost mine. Legend has it, he did it after he saved Slumach’s granddaughter’s life and was repaid with the secret location of the mine. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Don Froese Brian Antonson Marc Ferrero Renee Coghill Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 26, 1899, the name Volcanic City first appeared in the Cascade Record newspaper. It was said to be a city on a hill filled with wealth and abundance in the mineral richness of southern British Columbia. By 1928, almost thirty years later, Volcanic City was a ghost town and its founder would vanish three years later. In this episode we travel back through time to the early 20th century to the boomtowns of Boundary Country, BC. Fueled by a global demand for copper, bustling cities sprouted up almost overnight, including Volcanic City which was dreamt up by the man at the heart of our story, Volcanic Brown. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Christopher Stevenson Adam Palmer Marc Ferrero Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legendary prospector Volcanic Brown had a talent for surviving incredibly harsh conditions and a résumé of achievements almost too unbelievable to be true. So who was this larger than life character who had a knack for sniffing out treasure? In this episode, we take a look at Volcanic Brown, and dig deeper into the mystery of his disappearance. Could items found in his final campsite hold the key to the mystery? Host: Kru Williams Guests: Adam Palmer Don Froese Taylor Starr Marc Ferrero Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1931, on a night cold enough to freeze your bones, a larger-than-life prospector, in search of a legendary lost gold mine in the wilderness of British Columbia, disappears without a trace. Known for his solid gold teeth and team of black stallions, he was a force of nature. So, was he murdered? Did he fake his own death? Or was he the latest victim of the dead man’s curse? The adventure begins June 3rd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final episode of the season, we share our final findings into the investigation of Slumach’s story, the legend and the curse, and explore unanswered questions after walking the same path and sleeping under the same stars Slumach did over 150 years ago. We’ve been entrusted to rewrite his legacy in our search for the truth, and Slumach’s story is not over. Neither is our quest for his gold. Host: Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Don Froese Taylor Starr Adam Palmer Len Pierre - @lenpierreconsulting Brian Antonson https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years after Slumach died, on August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Yukon, bordering Alaska to the far north of British Columbia. As it happened almost 40 years earlier with BC’s Fraser Gold Rush, some 30-to-40,000 fortune-seekers from around the world streamed into the Rocky Mountain wilderness in search of another El Dorado. Prospectors who passed through the region heard the tale of the old Indigenous man hanged for murder not so long before. Most knew of the Jackson Letter, which described the location of the bonanza above Pitt Lake that awaited the lucky finder. Many went searching…some never came back. Host: Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Adam Palmer Daryl Friesen - @FrozenGoldDaryl Brian Antonson https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Amanda Charnley, Slumach went up into the canyons and above the clouds around Pitt Lake, and found chunks of gold he could carve out with a pen knife. Slumach told Peter Pierre that if he needed money, the map would lead him to the gold. They had destroyed the map, but Pierre committed it to memory. When asked if her father ever found gold, she said, ‘He did try to go many years after the old man was hanged, but he met with an accident.’ Pierre went looking and failed to find any gold, but did he tell anyone about Slumach's secret? Or was it more well-known? In this episode we’re on the trail and in search of Slumach’s infamous gold. Host: Kru Williams Guests: Taylor Starr Brian Antonson Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada LINKS: https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 BRIAN’S BOOK https://www.slumach.ca/pdfs/interviews.pdf Full Amanda Charnley Interview Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We left off as we introduced you to Ms Amanda Charnley, a Katzie woman and Peter Pierre’s daughter. Pierre was a catechist for the Roman Catholic Order of Mary Immaculate. He was also a healer and leader within the Katzie First Nation, and Slumach’s nephew. Charnley described Slumach as ‘a harmless old widower who lived at the bottom end of Pitt Lake in a shack which was on the abandoned Silver Creek Indian Reserve.’ In this episode, we look at Slumach because the legend and newspapers painted him out to be some demon, evil incarnate. But could it have been just the opposite? Maybe he was just a man, and forces beyond his control doomed his fate. Host: Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Don Froese Gail Starr Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legend of Slumach and his gold goes by many names: the Legend of the Lost Mine of Pitt Lake, the Legend of the Lost Creek Mine, the Legend of Slumach’s Gold. The story always starts with a variation on ‘a brash young man from Pitt Lake’, bragging about his wealth, spending it freely in New Westminster on booze and women. He would always disappear for a while to a creek rich with gold nuggets–a source that would be worth billions today. But in our investigation into Slumach’s story, from the killing of Louis Bee to his execution, not a single newspaper article from the time mentioned anything about gold. Not one word. In this episode, we’re on the path of many others who have gone before us, who have gone looking for the lost gold mine. But is there a mine for us to find? And how was Slumach connected to it? Host: Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guests: Don Froese Adam Palmer Gail Starr Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we last left off, a man named Slumach shot and killed a man named Louis Bee on September 8, 1890, along the reedy shores of what was then known as Lillooet Slough, near the vast expanse of Pitt Lake in southern British Columbia. In this episode, we take you through the relentless manhunt for Slumach, and the facts of the case as reported in the press. We also share details from the trial, which lasted no more than seven or eight hours, and where the defence called no witnesses. Host: Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Taylor Starr Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Copies of the original court records - https://www.slumach.ca/legal.htm Great Pacific Media Website: https://greatpacifictv.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices