Gold fever sparked Zeballos rush

This article originally appeared in the North Island Gazette April 26, 2006.

For many thousands of years the area around Zeballos has been home to First Nations peoples.  The Ehattesaht people claim the area as their territory, and currently about 85 people live at Ehatis - a First Nations Reserve across the river from Zeballos.  The current population of Zeballos is about 250.

The area around Zeballos was first explored by Europeans in 1791 when Captain Alexandro Malaspina visited the area.  Two officers on this expedition were Lieutenants Joseph de Espinosa and Ciciaco Cevallos. The Zeballos River was named after Cevallos, Espinosa Inlet after Espinosa, and many other local features are named after other members of the crew.

These explorers were looking for riches, and were rumoured to have found large amounts of gold.

Throughout the early 1900s local Northern Vancouver Island settlers, many loggers and fishermen who hoped to strike it rich, actively combed the North Island looking for mineral prospects.  Free Miner's Certificates were available for prospectors, which entitled the holder to free testing of materials for prescious metal content.

Other gold rushes on the West Coast fueled interest in prospecting, but exploring the North Island was not easy.  There were no stores or settlements in the area, the terrain was largely inaccessible, and prospectors had to pack in all of their supplies.  This usually involved hiking though the swampy underbrush with tents, food, and mining equipment.

In 1908 a fisherman from Kyuquot, Tom J. Marks, found gold at the head of the Zeballos River.  Other prospectors began to comb the area, and in 1924 the Eldorado claim was established when a large quantity of gold was discovered in the surrounding hills. Based on the success of this claim prospectors flooded into the area in the 1930s - a gold rush had begun.

Zeballos circa 1940.

 The resulting town, established in 1931, was named after the nearby Zeballos River.
At its height in the 1930s, some estimates put the local population at over 5000, most prospective miners. The fixed population was probably around 1500.
Many prospectors squatted, building shacks in the townsite.  Transport in and out of the area was by boat. Large boats or steamers like the Princess Maquinna would pull into the bay, and smaller boats or punts would be used to offload goods and people.

Zeballos mine

Unfortunately the foreshore in front of the townsite was thick with an oozing mud, which made transport in and out of the community difficult.  For the first few years there were no roads to help the prospectors get mining equipment up to their claims.  In the early days Zeballos became well-known for its muddy and almost navigable trails,  two of which were known as "Rotten Row" and "May West Avenue."
By 1934 there were 28 companies operating in Zeballos and over 369 active claims in the area.
In 1936 a syndicate was formed named the Nootka-Zeballos GOld Mines Ltd.  It later changed its name to the Privateer Mine.  In this year 4000 new claims were laid in the area, and in the next ten years gold bricks and concentrate worth more than $30,000,000 were shipped out of Zeballos.
Local lore tells of times when the postmaster had to sleep with gold bricks worth $100,000 under his bed, and a rifle under his pillow, while awaiting the arrival of the Princess Maquinna.  The gold would then be couriered to the Royal Canadian Mint.