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History Post-confederation (1867-)

Slumach's Gold

In Search of a Legend

by (author) Rick Antonson, Brian Antonson & Mary Trainer

Publisher
Heritage House Publishing
Initial publish date
Oct 2007
Category
Post-Confederation (1867-), Criminals & Outlaws
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781894974356
    Publish Date
    Oct 2007
    List Price
    $14.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926613253
    Publish Date
    Mar 2011
    List Price
    $9.99

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Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 12
  • Grade: 7

Description

Slumach's Gold chronicles what is possibly Canada's greatest lost-mine story. It searches out the truth behind a Salish man's hanging for murder in 1891 and tracks the intriguing legend about him that grew after his death. It was a legend that turned into a drama of international fascination when Slumach—the hanged criminal—was mysteriously linked to gold nuggets "the size of walnuts." The stories claimed that Slumach had placed a curse on a hidden motherlode to protect it from interlopers and trespassers just before he plunged to his death "at the wrong end of a five-strand rope." Although many have attempted to find Slumach's gold over the past 100 years, following tantalizing clues that are part of the legend itself, none have succeeded—or have they?

 

Rick Antonson, Mary Trainer and Brian Antonson have diligently sifted through history and myth, separating fact from fiction, but leaving the legend intact—along with the promise of gold yet to be found by some future gold seeker.

About the authors

Born in Vancouver in 1949, Rick Antonson attended Simon Fraser University and started Antonson Publishing and Nunaga Publishing in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s Rick worked as vice-president and general manager of Douglas & McIntyre, also serving as president of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia. He left publishing to become vice president of the Great Canadian Railtour Company Ltd., operating a train service between Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies. This led to his role as president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver. Rick has also served as chairman of the Oceans Blue Foundation, a group that works to encourage a more environmentally responsible approach to tourism in the Pacific Northwest. Rick was on the Board of Directors for Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympic Winter Games Bid Corporation and has served as co-chairman for the BC Special Olympics.

Rick Antonson's profile page

Brian Antonson was born and raised in British Columbia. He is associate dean of Broadcast and Media Communications at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

 

In his early 20s, Brian collaborated with Rick Antonson and Mary Trainer to write and publish In Search of a Legend: Slumach's Gold in 1972. The incentive to create the book actually originated two years earlier as a way to celebrate the centennial of B.C.'s entry into Confederation in 1971. Inspired by the afterglow of Canada's centennial and Expo 67, the trio was part of a new generation that was passionate about being Canadian—and about all things Canadian. The trio created a publishing house, Nunaga (the Inuit word for "my land, my country") Publishing, and between 1972 and 1979 they published more than 25 books under this imprint and Antonson Publishing.

Brian Antonson's profile page

Mary Trainer, Brian Antonson, and Rick Antonson founded Nunaga Publishing in 1972, and together they published more than twenty-five books, including In Search of a Legend: Slumach’s Gold, which was re-released by Heritage House in 2007. Mary Trainer has been writing about British Columbia for four decades and was a communications coordinator with Metro Vancouver for twenty years. Brian Antonson is associate dean of Broadcast and Media Communications at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. In the 1980s, Rick Antonson became vice president of the Great Canadian Railtour Company Ltd., which led to his role as president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver, a post he held until 2013.

Mary Trainer's profile page

Librarian Reviews

Slumach’s Gold: In Search of a Legend

Slumach’s Gold examines, with excellent documentation and illustrations, the tale of Slumach and his Lost Creek gold mine where gold nuggets “the size of walnuts” are supposed to lie on the ground. This unsolved BC mystery has endured for over a century. Thirty people have died seeking the treasure. The mountainous territory around Pitt Lake, where the mine is supposedly located, is rugged and dangerous. In this expanded 35th-anniversary edition, all the constituent elements of the legend are critically analyzed. We know that Slumach was hanged for murder in 1891. Did Slumach really toss gold nuggets around in the bars of New Westminster? Did the other characters in the story actually exist? Why has no one located the Lost Creek mine? The legend is woven into the fabric of pioneer life in southern BC.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2008-2009.

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