Atlin - The region surrounding the historic town of Atlin was the scene of the last great placer gold rush in British Columbia and marked the end of a colourful and never-to-be-forgotten era which had begun on the distant Fraser River only 40 years before.
The initial discovery of gold in the are was credited to one George F. Miller, a close-mouthed hotel owner out of Juneau, Alaska. In 1896, acting on directions and following a map purportedly given him by a dying prospector who he had befriended, Miller made his way deep into Canadian territory and on an unnamed creek flowing form the east into remote Atlin Lake he paused and tested the gravels - and within minutes he realized that he had struck it rich. Soon after short supplies forced him to return to Juneau, but with the Klondike excitement at its height, Miller bided his time, confiding his amazing discovery to only a few close and trusted friends. Finally, in 1898, he disclosed the exact location to his younger brother Fritz and a Canadian from Nova Scotia named Kenneth McLaren. In the spring of that year, these two located and staked the stream which became known as Pine Creek, a creek which was eventually to prove immensely rich.
So Fritz Miller and Kenneth McLaren became known as The Founders of Atlin Camp, although it is highly debatable whether either of these two or even George Miller actually deserve the distinction. T is conceivable that the real credit may belong to a more shadowy figure, the old miner who reputedly gave the location of the gold creek to the elder Miller. Although the details are hazy after three-quarters of a century there is some historical evidence to substantiate this theory. It is fairly evident that George Miller must have had exact directions which he was able to follow to locate the previously unknown creek in almost trackless wilds, and two years later was able to give explicit directions to his younger brother Fritz, which in turn enabled the latter to find the gold creek. Unfortunately, Fritz Miller's diaries, which probably could have provided the missing details, disappeared after his untimely death in 1901. Several reliable sources, including the highly respected volumes written by Howay and Scholefield, state that the first arrivals to Pine Creek found old workings which indicated that other prospectors had been there far before 1898: . . . |
