Slumach, the only man who knew about the gold mine at Pitt Lake vowed the mine would die when he was executed.

An elderly Salish Indian man name Slumach discovered gold at the north end of Pitt Lake and the nuggets were supposedly the size of a man’s fist. Several times he brought gold to New Westminster where he cashed them in for drinks and supplies. Slumach would go back to Pitt Lake when he ran out of gold and return again when he found more.

Slumach’s Curse

Slumach was hanged in 1891 for the murder of Louis Bee. At the time of his execution, he said that the mine dies when he dies. Nobody has found the mine because it is believed Slumach put a curse on it.

An alternate story tells of Slumach drawing a map and giving it to his nephew who used to visit him in jail. The nephew destroyed the map but re-drew it years later. Copies were made of the map but all of the maps were lost in a house fire in 1930. The nephew did try to look for the gold mine and broke his hip when searching for it. The family believes there is a curse.

Jackson Buries Gold in 1901

An American prospector by the name of Jackson found gold and brought some of it back to San Francisco. A friend in Seattle received a letter from Jackson and was told that there were gold nuggets as large as walnuts and the bedrock was filled with gold. Jackson said he couldn’t carry all the gold and buried it at the foot of a tent-shaped rock near the creek. Jackson never went back to Pitt Lake because he died just after writing the letter. Nobody has found the buried gold at the rock that Jackson described.

Indian Brings Gold Dust to New Westminster 1902

Eleven years after Slumach’s death, it was reported that an Indian man went to New Westminster with gold dust and cashed it in for $1600. He returned several times with gold dust and cashed it in for similar amounts of money.

This man did not want anybody to know where he got the gold and he managed to elude people who tried to follow him. The Indian man took sick and before he died, he told a relative where he found the gold and drew a rough map. The relative organized an expedition and they never found the mine.

Volcanic Brown Disappears in 1931

Prospector Robert Allan “Volcanic” Brown searched for Slumach’s mine for 10 years. In 1931, he disappeared and a search team eventually found his tent and some gold nuggets. In his gear, the search party found a note written by Volcanic saying that this mine had more gold located in it than the entire Cariboo Gold rush. His body was never found.

Is There a Gold Mine at Pitt Lake?

There are stories of many more people who have attempted to find Slumach’s mine but nobody has ever found of it. Some have died or suffered injuries before or during their quest for gold.

A book titled Slumach’s Gold: In Search of a Legend, separates fact from fiction. Wading through newspaper archives, journals and interviewing has been no easy task for authors Rick Antonson, Mary Trainer and Brian Antonson.

Another good book, Seekers of Gold, by prospector Daryl Friesen is a first hand account of discovering the truth and all of his exciting adventures at Pitt Lake.

Maybe these books have the answer.

Sources:

Is There Gold in Slumach’s Hills? David Spaner, The Province September 2, 2007

Seekers of Gold: Daryl Friesen, Spindle Explorations

Wikipedia: Pitt Lake Gold, Slumach