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Grade
10: Industrial Evolution in the Interior of BC
Suggested
Procedure
1. Introduce
the topic of the lesson by asking students to:
- consider
what a technology is and to give examples from their daily life;
ask them to name new technologies that have come about during
their lifetimes (e.g., portable telephones, palm pilots, the desktop
computer, HDTV) and how these have variously had an impact on
their lives
- locate Wells
and the communities most directly involved in the Cariboo Gold
Rush (e.g., Barkerville, Yale) on maps, whether conventional or
on-line; ask them to describe the physical geography of the areas
from these sources and debrief this information in class.
2. Direct students
to access (or make and distribute copies of the relevant pages from)
the following websites:
All students should
access the material on these websites in order to allow and encourage
a comparative view of the technologies, socio-economic, and environmental
impacts of the two gold rushes. As a focus for their examination of
the websites, explain that the technologies of the two Cariboo gold
rushes differ widely, and have a variety of differing socio-economic
and environmental implications. Ask students, individually or in pairs
(or groups), to use the photographs and information on the websites
to identify and explain these differences.
3. Debrief students'
explorations of the website by asking them to describe their impressions
to the class. Possible areas of interest that may emerge include:
- the differences
between lode and placer mining
- the greater
reliance on human strength and energy in the earlier gold rush,
and the predominance of relatively sophisticated machine technologies
in the 1930s
- the necessity
for a greater number of human and capital inputs in the second
Cariboo Gold Rush because of the differences in the mining and
the technologies in use
- the advances
in science that created the technologies available in the 1930s,
including, for instance, electrical power and motorized vehicles
- how advances
in technology helped determine how labour was organized (enterprising
individual generalists with a hands-on involvement in all aspects
of the operation vs. more specialized workers who function as
part of a mass production system).
4. Ask students
to consider the consequences of a rapid influx of new populations
on patterns of employment and settlement. Engage students in a discussion
about this. Possible areas of interest might include:
- the development
of secondary economic activities (housing, provision of basic
commodities, etc.)
- the boom-and-bust
nature of both events and the consequence of this pattern both
for the local community and the province
- the political
ramifications of the Cariboo Gold Rush for the colony of British
Columbia
- the impact
of organized labour on the "Second Cariboo Gold Rush"
at Wells in contrast to the mainly solo ventures of the Cariboo
Gold Rush
- the migration
of peoples from Asia and Europe to British Columbia and how their
skills and talents contributed to developing the colony/province.
5. Ask students
to focus on the differing environmental impacts of lode and placer
mining. Use of the material on the websites should lead to the conclusion
that lode mining takes a much heavier toll on the natural environment.
Topics that might be covered include:
- leaching
of the ground soil in hydraulic exploration
- pollution
of waterways, including contamination of ground water
- soil erosion
and depletion
- destruction
of forest cover
- destruction
of animal habitat and ecosystem balance.
6. As a follow-up
activity to this discussion, have students explore the wide range
of technological, environmental, and socio-economic/cultural issues
involved in both the Cariboo and Wells gold rushes by writing a
perspective paper. The student handout  In
My Day . . . provides suggestions. Either assign a perspective
or allow students to choose the position they would like to take.
7. After the
students have completed their perspective papers, select a representative
group to debrief the material covered in the whole activity. These
may be read aloud by the writer and/or distributed to the class.
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