In looking back into any historical event, the view can shift depending on the lens.
In considering the gold rush in Leechtown, a familiar lens is that which is seen when looking at events through the experiences of Peter Leech, the commander at the time of the discovery of gold.
Dr. Patrick Perry LydonB次元官网网址檚 book, The Gold Will Speak For Itself, is a collection of documents that have appeared over time, with primary focus on the contributions of Peter Leech, after whom Leechtown and Leech River are named.
One of SookeB次元官网网址檚 avid researchers is shifting the lens, turning the view away from Leech and towards John Foley, who was an expert gold panner on that expedition. Gold-panning hobbiest Bart van den Berk asserts that, beyond leading the expedition, Leech had very little to do with it. John Foley, on the other hand, had everything to do with it.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 of the opinion that a lot that has been written about Leechtown over all these years B次元官网网址� the history B次元官网网址� that has a lot of misinformation in there,B次元官网网址� said van den Berk. Some of this misinformation is tracked on his website (), under the Documents section on the Report page.
But first, letB次元官网网址檚 step back and review the story of the discovery of gold in them-thar hills of Sooke.
The basic story
Cast members included expedition Commander Robert Brown, expedition leader Peter John Leech, and expedition member John Foley (among others, but Foley will become a central character in the van den BerkB次元官网网址檚 version of events). Brown, Leech and Foley were all members of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition (VIEE). They, along with seven others, led to the finding of gold and the establishing of Leechtown.
On June 7, 1864, VIEE set out on a ship and sailed from Victoria to Cowichan Bay. There, the expedition members disembarked and began their quest. By July they had reached Sooke, and expedition leader Robert Brown went to Victoria to get supplies. Brown put Leech in charge. In July, the expedition was finding trace amounts of gold along the Sooke River and later found B次元官网网址減ayableB次元官网网址� gold (amounts worth panning, enough to make a living) along what would be later known as Leech River.
Within a month, the boom was on. According to the Wikipedia page, B次元官网网址淏y August 14 of that same year, 227 mining licences had been issued and by the end of the year there were 6 general stores and 3 hotels in business along with 30 saloons.B次元官网网址�
Within 10 years, the gold was extracted and the town residents had packed up and gone. As Lydon records in his book, what was left of the town a decade after the initial discovery of gold, B次元官网网址渇ire swept the townB次元官网网址�, levelling the rows of buildings.B次元官网网址�
The famous BCHA speech: B次元官网网址淭he gold will speak for itself.B次元官网网址�
Fast forward 64 years, and all the members of the expedition are deceased.
On October 1, 1928, there was an unveiling of a Memorial Cairn at Leechtown.
According to the 1929 BC Historical AssociationB次元官网网址檚 Fourth Report and Proceedings booklet, (which you can find at http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/bchf/4th_bcha.pdf), B次元官网网址淸a]mong those present was Mrs. Fanny Faucault, of Walhachin, B.C., daughter of Peter Leech, after whom Leech River and Leechtown were named.B次元官网网址�
Fanny Faucault was a public persona of sorts, described in Dr. Patrick LydonB次元官网网址檚 book, The Gold Will Speak For Itself, as B次元官网网址渁 child prodigy [who] played at the local opera at the age of 12.B次元官网网址� She was a well-liked artist, and van den Berk suggested that the 1928 speech of Leech at the unveiling may have hyped his involvement as his daughter was in attendance.
B次元官网网址淢y guess is that, because of that, Leech was very much glorified,B次元官网网址� speculated van den Berk. B次元官网网址淣ot enough credit was given to the other members of the expedition.B次元官网网址�
A part of that might be attributed to the fact that Leech was the only expedition member who continued to reside in Victoria.
In his speech at the unveiling of a commemorative cairn, BC Historical Association president John Hosie attributed the founding of Leechtown to Peter Leech. Later in his speech, Hosie quotes the now-infamous line, B次元官网网址淭he gold will speak for itself,B次元官网网址� and referenced its source as a letter supposedly written by Leech.
Did those words, B次元官网网址淭he gold will speak for itselfB次元官网网址� really come from Leech?
B次元官网网址淭he fact is Leech never said those words. It was Commander Brown who said those words.B次元官网网址� Van den Berk has the journals, the news article, and a copy of the original letter from Brown, showing, definitively, that those words came from Brown, not Leech.
B次元官网网址淪ince that speech has been put on record, it is one of the most B次元官网网址� used and famous historical articles about Leechtown,B次元官网网址� comments van den Berk. B次元官网网址淚t is also easily accessible for readers and researchers. B次元官网网址� Researchers found that record and took the accuracy of that record pretty much for granted.B次元官网网址�
That the document comes from the prestigious BCHA adds heavily to its credibility, along with the fact that the speech was given by the associationB次元官网网址檚 president.
Part 2 next week.
