Because of Gold
by Branwen Patenaude

(1860's)

The Occidental Hotel and John McLean
Gold ... was the magic word that brought about the beginnings of the community known as Quesnel. The yellow metal had been found at the mouth of the Quesnel River by Ben McDonald in 1859. That year hundreds of gold seekers converged on the area.

Ferguson's Bar, four miles south of Quesnel, known today as Rich Bar had a population of sixty miners in 1860, and was an established community two or three years before the flat at Quesnel was developed.

For many generations the site of Quesnel had been inhabited by Indians of the Carrier tribe. Burial grounds were situated where today stands the Quesnel Hotel, and the remains of 'Kikwilee' or Indian dugout houses have been found on the site of LeBourdais Park. In 1862 the Colonial Government placed a reserve of land at the 'Mouth of Quesnel' - it extended two miles north, two miles south and one half mile back from the Fraser River. In 1863, the year generally considered to be the beginning of Quesnel's history, Sgt. McColl of the Royal Engineers supervised the survey of the townsite.

A dozen or more buildings facing the Fraser had been erected before the survey. Some were judged to be too close to the river to allow for a street. One of these was the original Occidental Hotel, built by Thomas Brown and Hugh Gillis. Following the survey all buildings including the Occidental were moved back to allow for Front Street. Years later the street was continually caving in where the wine cellars and basement of the Occidental had been.

Once moved to a permanent site, (the Quesnel Hotel today), the Occidental Hotel, for many years, enjoyed the reputation of being the leading hotel in Quesnel.

Hugh Gillis committed suicide in 1871, and his partner Thomas Brown eventually became sole owner of the hotel. In 1881, when Thomas Brown died he left his widow Sarah Ann and a manager, John McLean, to operate the hotel. It was not too long before the gentle widow married John who was a true pioneer of the Cariboo.

John Mclean had been at the site of Quesnel in 1858, the beginning of the gold rush. He had reached British Columbia from Son Francisco by way of the dangerous Okanagan route where he was shot at by hostile Indians. After many years of mining in the Barkerville area, John returned to Quesnel in the 1870's. John and Sarah continued to operate the Occidental Hotel until their retirement in 1900.

Old Belgineau
Sugar loaf, that prominent hill on the west side of the Fraser River at Quesnel was originally known as Mount Beigineau. Alvin Johnston gathered these facts from his family and from Mrs. Alice Early, all pioneers of Quesnel.

Old Beigineau, a local native Indian of Quesnel between 1885 and 1900 was probably the last member of the original band at Quesnel. Alvin, who was born at Quesnel in 1892 had faint recollections of the old man visiting at the Johnston home, where Beigineau conversed in Chinook with Alvin's mother. Roxilena Johnston's parents had homesteaded in the Nicola Valley where she had learned the language at an early age.

Beigineau was the only known survivor of a severe smallpox epidemic that swept through the Indian village at Quesnel in 1862. The epidemic which was believed to have originated at the seaport of San Francisco, spread north through the central interior of what is now British Columbia up as far as Fraser Lake.
Unaware of the terrible plague, Beigineau was alone on a trapping expedition, far from civilization when the sickness passed through. It was not until he arrived at the Hudson's Bay Post at Alexandria that he first became aware of the terrible toll of life taken by the disease. Trading his furs for groceries and supplies Beigineau hurried home to his village at Quesnel. There he faced a desolate scene. The village was deserted and the dwellings burnt to the ground, including Belgineau's own home where he had last seen his family. Due to the extremely contagious nature of smallpox, the cleansing powers of fire were the only sure way to rid the land of the disease. Bodies, houses, everything was burnt.

Shocked and grieved over the loss of his family and friends Beigineau traveled north to where he could forget his sorrows.

Nothing more was heard of Belgineau until he returned once more to Quesnel in 1885. By this time he was a very old man. Taking up residence in an abandoned miner's cabin at the foot of what is now known as Sugar loaf, Belgineau lived on a bit of a pension and what he was given by friends.

One day in the summer of 1900 his body was discovered by a passing friend. While gathering wood for his outside stove Beigineau had slipped and fallen from a ledge, breaking his neck. The Indian, finding Beigineau in rather a grotesque position, concluded that something of the supernatural had caused his death. later that summer an Indian woman of the older generation passing by Beigineau's cabin at twilight reported having seen his ghost moving around slowly behind the cabin picking up wood for his fire!

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