John Cameron

Rags-to-riches-to-rags at the height of the Cariboo Gold Rush

John Angus Cameron had the Midas touch; there was no doubt about it. Finding gold was second nature. He and his two brothers had started out in California goldrush of ’49 ; John was lucky again during the Fraser goldrush. It was then he returned to Canada West and had married his childhood sweetheart Margaret Sophia Groves, a farmer's daughter twelve years his junior.

Header Image: The Cameron claim at Camerontown, Cariboo 1865

*Courtesy of BC Provincial Archives (g_00800)

When Cameron arrived at the Cariboo in 1860 fate dealt him a cruel twist. John “Cariboo” Cameron would strike the richest seam in all the Cariboo and although he became its richest man, he was by no means to become the happiest.

The trip from Canada West to the Fort Victoria via Panama was a long and arduous journey. His daughter Alice became sick; less than a week after stepping off the Brother John in Victoria she died. The Camerons were heartbroken but determined to press on to the goldfields.

Wealth came at a tragic price for John Cameron. The shaft did not pay off quickly and as winter drew nearer the miners began to wonder if they had the right location.

Meanwhile the Camerons had another child; but it was stillborn, and Sophia became ill...never to recover.

"Mrs. Cameron died at 3 a.m. on October 23, 1862. Richfield was the name of the mining town where she passed away. Cameron and I were the only persons present at the time. Poor Cameron! The morning Mrs. Cameron died was intensely cold, the thermometer standing at thirty degrees before zero, and a wind blowing at the rate of sixty miles an hour. As there were no undertakers in Cariboo, I went away and engaged Griffin to make a coffin, and Henry Lightfoot of Vankleek Hill made the case."

- R. Stevenson.

John had promised Sophia he would bury her near her home in Glengarry County (now in Ontario) John returned to Barkerville after the goldrush where he died penniless in 1888 at age 68

John Cameron

Tiller's Folly

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John Cameron

I’m John Angus Cameron and I’ll tell you my tale
I’ve seen in my fortune each end of the scale
Once prince and then pauper, I’ve stood every test
Since Glengarry County in Canada West

At age thirty-two I left farming behind
With my good brothers Allan and Dan at my side
We made California with the gold running high
We’d a claim and we made it paid by and by

Oh, Sophia dear, you’re the pride of my life
And I’d be so happy to call you my wife
When this cold Winter’s over and birds start to sing
I will take you back home in the spring

Went North on a hunch to the Fraser's swift shore
With a rough bunch of men, 30,000 or more
The gravel so rich, once the season played out
I’d a good twenty grand worth of gold in my poke

Oh, Sophia dear, you’re the pride of my life
And I’d be so happy to call you my wife
When this cold Winter’s over and birds start to sing
I will take you back home in the spring

Now my fortune was made, I headed for home
And I took to courtin’ Miss Sophia Groves
In all of my travels she’s the one and the best
Since Glengarry County in Canada West

We married, then westward our fortune turned cold
With our poor daughter Alice departing this world
Our second was stillborn, Sophia took ill
And she died in the cold of these Cariboo Hills

Sophia dear, you’re the pride of my life
And I’d be so happy to call you my wife
When this cold Winter’s over and birds start to sing
I will take you back home in the spring

We left February through the bitter & cold
Poor Sophia, I and a fortune in gold
I honored her wishes and placed her to rest
At Glengarry County in Canada West

Words & Music by Bruce Coughlan (SOCAN)