![]() ![]() (4)īased largely on Love's reports, the Toronto Globe commented, "There seems to be no doubt whatever that the streams to the east of the Rocky Mountains water a gold region as large as those of the west. Trader Joseph Hargreaves met the young Kentuckian onboard a riverboat returning north to Fort Garry at the end of July, 1861, and stated, "The contemplation of the airy castles built by this gentleman served to beguile us part of our first morning on board. He was convinced the gold fields would soon prove themselves, bringing an influx of miners and settlement into the area. Love who was often back and forth between Fort Edmonton and Fort Garry for supplies, probably did more than anyone, with his enthusiasm, optimism, and aggrandizements, to create interest in the mines on the Saskatchewan. The cast Edmonton neighbourhoods of Clover Bar and Cloverdale today bear his name. Clover, originally from Missouri, would remain four years in the area (3) working and prospecting the bars of the river. This party included two men, Thomas Clover and Timolean Love. Late in the autumn of that year, a group of four miners from the Cariboo area of the British Columbia interior, hearing reports of gold at Edmonton, ascended the Fraser River, and by way of Yellowhead Pass and Jasper House, arrived at the fort. ![]() (1) At the same time, rich strikes on the Fraser River were drawing thousands of American miners north. ![]() The presence of gold at Fort Edmonton was first noted by James Hector, geologist with the Palliser Expedition, who in 1859 was shown a small amount of gold washed from the river. The heaviest concentrations are found in and around the city of Edmonton, in the gravel bars of the North Saskatchewan River that winds its way between high bluffs of soft sandstone and glacial debris. ![]() The gold predominantly found in the province is 'placer' gold, surficial deposits that occur in the gravel bars of many rivers and streams. Although not having the vast mineral wealth of British Columbia or the Yukon, there is gold in Alberta, the promise of which brought score of hopeful miners into the area in the second half of the 19th century. ![]()
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