23 Camels
A colourful tale of the Gold Rush Trail
By 1860, the Fraser River gold had been traced to its source in the Cariboo. On William’s Creek, towns sprung up around the richest claims. Barkerville, Richfield & Cameron town. It was difficult transporting goods and provisions 600 miles inland to the Cariboo. Many schemes were tried: Pack mules, oxen, horses and so on. Then, a Victoria merchant launched an amazing scheme. Frank Laumeister used Twenty-Three Camels as beasts of burden on the Cariboo Goldrush Trail.
A couple of months before, these camels had been shipped from Arizona to San Francisco, and finally sailed to Victoria on the steamer Enterprise. They were then bought by a man named Calbreath of Victoria. The camels were shipped to Port Douglas on a barge towed in by a sternwheeler called The Flying Dutchman. Calbreath acted as the purchaser for Frank Laumeister and paid $6000.00 for the camels.
Frank Laumeister
In 1862, prominent Victoria merchant Francis Laumeister, brought 21 Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) to Yale from railroad construction camps of Arizona.
Frank Laumeister, photographed here in 1859.
*Courtesy of the BC Provincial Archives (A-02269)
It was assumed that camels could go six to 10 days without water and travel 50 to 70 kilometers a day with a 500-kilogram load. In fact, few of these expectations were ever met.The camels never carried more than 300 kilograms, and the rocky paths of the Cariboo soon tore up their feet which were accustomed to soft desert sands.
Last Cariboo Camel circa 1890s The last of the camels from the Cariboo Road, photo taken at Grande Prairie, Westwold.
*Courtesy of the BC Provincial Archives (A-0034)
Video compliments of Cypress Choral Music Publishing.
Arranged by Larry Nickel
Vocals by featuring the Cypress Studio Singers
Sheet Music available: Twenty-Three Camels
Recently, Tiller’s Folly were invited to perform at an elementary school in Victoria, where we were greeted enthusiastically by the entire school, who requested, then joined in on a number of songs. Each division of the school also decorated a camel cutout to represent each of the “23 Camels”
“Tiller's Folly has been a huge part of my Social Studies lessons for nearly 20 years. My students love the songs and they are always the first to be requested for our sing-alongs, even after we have moved onto to other topics. The catchy tunes are a fantastic way to further bring the characters and events of our amazing B.C. history to life. I've even had students take family vacations to Barkerville because of their interest in our lessons, and one parent even said that her girls insisted on singing The Ghost of Simon Fraser over and over again as they travelled through the Fraser Valley. Further, Take Pride becomes our classroom "anthem" and Shine has been performed by our grade 5s as they graduate to middle school. Many of Tiller's Folly other "non-schoolish" songs have become favourites for me outside of the classroom as well. Fabulous music from wonderful guys!”
– Michelle Porter, Grade 4/5 Classroom Teacher, Keating Elementary, Victoria, BC