Hotels of the Gold Rush: Book ONE 1857 to 1859; and Hotels of the Gold Rush: BOOK TWO 1860-1862
Wow! This has been a long period to get these two volumes completed… Two books – ONE and TWO – on the history of many of Victoria’s early hotels. But I did not want to just recant some well-known facts on the building, and add a picture or two.
Rather, I wanted to take a new approach to recording Victoria’s early history. This is early Victoria, as seen through the lens of hotels; their hoteliers; and their guests – often from first-hand accounts. I wanted to ask the questions: Who built these hotels? Why did those men and women come to Victoria, and take a gamble – during one of two Gold Rushes: The Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858; or the Cariboo Gold Rush of 1862 – and build a hotel. And how did they get their money? Some of the answers will surprise.
Like the gold miners, the hoteliers were also dreaming of riches. Most of them needed money. A few were escaping justice. Some were simply taking advantage of what they saw as a market ripe for plucking. All of them wanted to better their lives.
Gold Rushes, by their very nature, have their ups and downs. Hoteliers in Victoria were overwhelmed as miners made their way to the gold fields. But then the miners were gone for the summer, sluicing sand, and rinsing silt, to capture valuable nuggets and dust. Many miners had no luck, and found themselves broke, with no way to return to San Francisco. They were not customers for the hotel keepers. Hoteliers dropped their prices, let rooms for free if miners would buy food in their dining rooms, or even offer them a job, to get them back on their feet.
In the meantime, the hoteliers spent astronomical sums of money, building their establishments to rival the hotels of San Francisco.
Lush furnishings, fine wallpaper, Japanese vases, Bohemian glassware, bronze coffee urns and architect-designed bars graced Victoria’s early hotels. The hotels were landmarks in the early town, evidence of growing prosperity as Victoria officially became a city in 1862.
As the city developed through ‘dull times’ after the gold rushes, when cash takings died down, what did the hoteliers do, as customers dried up? Some went home. Some left town. And some died, trying to make a financial come-back. Epilogues track down what happened to each hotelier, after the Gold Rush excitement evaporated, like so much dew on a summer morning.
Side bar stories enlarge on the history of Victoria, expanding our understanding of the trials of running early hotels. Where did they get furniture? How about a water supply? How did they pay increasing taxes when their hotel rooms were empty? Court cases and marriages, injuries, and family members helping out, all add to the richness of the stories of these building which were so central to Victoria’s early life.
Four more books– BOOKS 3, 4, 5, and 6 – will continue the saga of hotels and development. BOOKS 3 and 4 will tell the story of Hotels of the City 1863 to 1889. BOOKS 5 and 6 will expand the stories further, as they tell the stories of Hotels for Tourists. 1890-1910. More research; more stories (although about half have already been written, and are waiting to be woven into the complete narrative.) They are stories that need to be told, as Victoria’s early history continues to slip through out fingers.
Stay tuned for more hotel stories from Victoria’s amazing past!
