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Ruby Red and Goldrush Yellow

by Branwen Christine Patenaude

284 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0652; ISBN 1-55369-839-8; US$25.00, C$28.20, EUR20.50, £14.50

Arthur O'Rourke takes a job as a Gold Commissioner in the Cariboo region of B.C. in order to find his father. His father Tom Moore left Ireland over 20 years ago, before Arthur was born. The story includes not only Arthur's adventures but also his father's adventures in Chigaco, California and British Columbia.

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about the book      about the author      reviews      background information      catalogue info

About the Book This historically based novel is about the adventures of Philip Henry Nind, the 1st Gold Commissioner in the Cariboo region of British Columbia in 1860, whose voluminous letters to Governor Douglas told of the exploding development of the country. The twenty odd years spent researching the history of roadhouses between New Westminster and Barkerville have given the author a vast reserve of stories that are only now being revealed in this, her first novel.

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About the Author Born in Shanghai, China, the author is the only daughter of a Welsh land surveyor stationed in the Far East. After the Japanese entered Shanghai in 1941, she relocated to B.C. and finished high school in West Vancouver. She then moved to the Cariboo and settled near Williams Lake where she met her cattle rancher husband and raised two children. The author is presently preparing a second historically based Cariboo goldrush novel.

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Reviews

"Patenaude weaves a tale of love, adventure, mystery and reconciliation, bringing events and people to life in Ruby Red and Goldrush Yellow.

"Her book ends with a conclusion of O'Rourke's search for his father, but definitely leaves the door open for a sequel."

-from an article by Annie Gallant in the Quesnel Cariboo Observer 11/03/02

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Background information

As the California goldrush began to decline, a small amount of gold in quartz was discovered on the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia in 1850. By March of 1858 hundreds of American miners arrived at the mouth of the Fraser River, from where they ascended up river as far north as Lillooet.

By spring the following year, miners had discovered and prospected for 60 miles up the Quesnel River, a tributary of the Fraser, where they established Quesnel Forls, a large community of log buildings at the confluence of the Quesnel and Cariboo Rivers. This became the gateway to the enormously rich areas at Keithley, Antler, Williams and Lightning Creeks, to name the richest and logest lasting myriad of gold crekks in the area.

So rich was the gold mined in the Cariboo, it was said to overshadow even the extent of gold found in California and Australia.

The first government representatives in the area north of Lillooet in 1860 was Philip Henry Nind and his policeman William Pinchbeck.

At a time when communications were executed solely by runner, or by horseback, changes were slow to take place.

While stationed in the Cariboo Nind wrote voluminous letters and reports to Governor Douglas in Victoria, B.C., informing him of the many developments taking place in the district. There were mining claims to register, land preemptions to approve, bridege contracts to settle, and roads to be built. There were also many accidents and crimes to be reported.

Gold Commissioner Henry P. Nind was literally swamped with the work, and usually got little sleep, staying up each night writing his reports. Within a year and a half, he was showing several signs of extreme stress; the twitching of his face, the insomnia, and finally, a full blown nervous breakdown.

By December of 1861, Nind was allowed to take a leave of absence, and sailed for England seeking medical help. It took three men to replace him in the work he had been doing. Even Governor Douglas did not appreciate his efforts.

When Nind and his new wife returned to B.C. in 1863, he was never given an advancement in his career, but was moved around from one backwater post to another. Finally in 1866 he resigned, and he and his wife moved to Australia.

While the plot of the story is fictitious, the novel is based on many of the events reported in Nind's letters to Governor Douglas in 1860 and 1861. Copies of these letters are to be found in the British Columbia Provincial Archives in Victoria, B.C.

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Catalogue Information

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