• Contents
  • Coldspring

• Discussion
• 1870 samples
• 1872 samples
• 1873 samples
• 1874 samples
• 1875 samples
• 1876 samples
• 1877 samples
• 1878 samples
• Search Ledger E ( Dec 1873 - Oct 1874)
• Search Ledger H (Oct 1877 - Feb 1878)

Discussion

The 1870s were a time of development and a time of transition for the Cariboo and the Boyd family. The Barkerville gold rush had passed its peak by 1866 and though there would always be prospectors searching the mountains for more than the next 100 years, the "rush" was over. Barkerville, however, was alive and well because the gold was on bedrock and you had to put together a company to get to it.

The Cariboo road was still busy and John Boyd settled into a decade of building both his roadhouse and his farming enterprises. During this decade John Boyd bought out his two major competitors for control of the mid-point between Quesnelle and Barkerville. First he purchased Pine Grove house to the east and closer to Barkerville. Two years later, he purchased Cottonwood house to the west, closer to Quesnelle.

Once Cottonwood House was part of the enterprise, John Boyd's farm production became a more important part of his income. The family, however, remained at Cold Spring house for the full decade.