Teacher's Guide
Contents
- Introduction
- Learning Outcomes Discussion
- Searching the ledgers
- How to use the search system
- Analyzing data: version 1
Introduction
This teacher's guide to the Cariboo Gold Rush Roadhouses is intended to provide a starting point for teachers in their planning. Though many possible lesson plans could be developed using this material (especially in language arts and perhaps upper level business education) the focus of this material will be on the intermediate and grade 10 social studies curriculums. These are the two locations in the curriculum where there is more intensive study of the early pioneer days of Canada and of the Gold Rush of which both Coldspring House and Cottonwood House were such active participants.
It is a simple truth that there are more ways to make money during a gold rush than finding the gold in the bottom of your pan or in the riffles of the sluice box. Like many before him John Boyd understood that selling supplies to miners, as long as you could survive the ups and downs, was a much more reliable way to profit from the frenzy.
John Boyd was not the only one to understand this truth as the miners began to pour into Barkerville, first from the south up through Quesnelle Forks and Antler Creek or later from Quesnelle Mouth (modern day Quesnel). Geography determined the value of both Coldspring House and Cottonwood House since between them they sat on the only good, arable land close to Barkerville. Wade, Cox and Morland understood this in the early 1860s and took out the first preemptions around the junction of the Swift River and Lightning Creek where the Cottonwood River is born. It is apparent that by 1864 Charles Beath and John Boyd had bought out the original owners and then quickly moved the stopping place to Coldspring House on the Cariboo wagon road.
The ledgers that John Boyd and then his family kept over the next 80 some years provide an interesting vantage point for students learning about the pioneer days. Though we have provided a large number of static pages and images throughout the site the real value of the site is the set of journals that can be electronically searched. At this stage of development (June 2001) we have 8 "daybooks" either partially or completely "digitized" and available for searching. Our intention over the next few years is to add material step by step, starting with the early material, until we have a complete set of records. To keep this task in focus, however, one needs to realize that the John Boyd collection (spread between the U.B.C. Special Collections library, the Quesnel & District Museum & Archives, the Barkerville Archives and private hands) consists of at least 20 metres (yes, 60 feet for those of you over 30) of ledgers on shelves.
The current lesson plans help students explore the static pages and the ledgers. We have here, an opportunity for students to act like real researchers, using the source material available, to make inferences and to explore the past.
