Chronicles of Boundary Country from the pages of The Boundary Creek Times
Volume 2, No. 5 – April 10, 1897
Hard Times – “Much sympathy is felt for John Christie, discoverer of the Nightingale claim in Skylark Camp, who, after working almost continuously during the past two years developing and opening up the property, loses his title, owing to the failure of his partners to pay (as they had agreed) the expenses connected with the work. On Tuesday next, the Nightingale will be sold by the sheriff on a judgment in favor of Rendell & Co. for $340. The development work done on the Nightingale would be equivalent to $2,000 of contracted labor.”
Rock Creek Townsite – “It is understood that the Government townsite reserves at the mouth of Rock Creek and up the West Fork of the Kettle River will be surveyed and laid off into lots this summer (1897) and sold by public auction. The former site comprises 160 acres east of Rock Creek, where that stream flows into the Kettle River, and is one of the most commanding locations for a trading centre in the whole river valley. A general merchandise store will be opened at this future city, as soon as freight can be brought in. At present, a considerable portion of the site is occupied by a Chinaman’s vegetable garden and has been for very many years.”
The Old Tunnel Claim – “The No. 3 shaft on the Tunnel near Boundary Falls, is being enlarged and timbered, and application will shortly be made for a crown grant of the claim. The Tunnel was the first location made in the Boundary, having been staked in the summer of 1887 by L.M. McCarren, Tom Jones, Tom Morgan, McLeod and Hart, who came into this district from the Chilcotin and Granite Creek. Before the Tunnel was located, the party took up a placer claim on Boundary Creek, from which they cleaned up over $3,000 in less than a month. After the first month, this claim played out and they turned their attention to prospecting for quartz to the west above the creek. The discovery of the Tunnel was the result.”
Shacks in Demand – “Mrs. Shonquest has leased the Café Royal on Copper Street and is converting the building into a lodging house; the carpenters being now at work partitioning off rooms and making other necessary alterations. At the present time, houses or rooms to rent in Greenwood are in great demand, and owners of two or three-roomed shacks obtain quite easily ten or fifteen dollars a month from tenants.”
Successful Chinamen – “The Ah Mat China Company, placering at the mouth of Rock Creek and up the creek, took out in the neighborhood of $6,000 in gold dust last year (1896). What the Chinamen working the ground on Boundary Creek (abandoned by white miners) succeeded in making is likely similar to that of Rock Creek.”
