Fraser Canyon Gold Rush - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Fraser Canyon War did not affect the upper reaches of the goldfields, in the area of Lillooet, and the short-lived popularity of the Douglas Road caused the town to be designated "the largest town north of San Francisco and west of Chicago", with an estimated population of 16,000. This title was also briefly held by Port Douglas, Yale, and later on by Barkerville.

By 1860, however, the gold-bearing sandbars of the Fraser were depleted. Many of the miners had either drifted back to the U.S. or dispersed further into the British Columbia wilderness in search of unstaked riches. Other gold rushes occurred at Rock Creek, the Similkameen, Wild Horse Creek and the Big Bend of the Columbia River. The Fort Colville Gold Rush in Washington Territory could also be considered a spin-off of the Fraser gold rush.