Unattainable Treasure: A Grim Journey to the Cariboo Goldfields of British Columbia in 1862

When gold was discovered in the Crown Colony of British Columbia, the London Times issued glowing reports which beguiled thousands into crossing the Atlantic. Few of these emigrants were aware of the Colonial Office's warning that every class of emigrant should avoid uncivilized and roadless British Columbia. No one told the prospective emigrants that they needed more than luck to strike it rich in British Columbia's Cariboo district, where all of the gold was deep in the ground. To be successful, they needed something crucial: mining skills to get at the underground gold or a massive amount of capital to hire miners with the skills to get at it. Few of the beguiled emigrants possessed either.

W. Champness's fascinating journal reveals to us the awesome hardships faced by gentlemen gold-seekers as they marched 400 miles through primordial forest, mud and swamps, across icy streams, over soaring mountains, and along the edges of terrifying ravines in order to reach the fabled goldfields of the Cariboo . . . only to realize they had neither the skills nor the capital to get at the gold. His journal is both a chronicle of hardship, failure and disappointment and a celebration of hope and the unbreakable human spirit.

Unattainable Treasure is authentic first-person history and tremendously entertaining, and an essential read for anyone interested in the British Empire's last great gold rush and life on the colonial frontier.

Includes: "Stolen Memories: The Honourable Edgar Dewdney Plagiarizes from W. Champness"