Juneau, Alaska After the California gold rush, miners migrated up the Pacific Coast and explored the West, seeking other gold deposits. In 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any local chief in Alaska who could lead him to gold-bearing ore. Chief Kowee (Tlingit "Kaawa.ée") arrived with some ore, and several prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip to Gold Creek, they found deposits of little interest. However, at Chief Kowee's urging, Pilz sent Joe Juneau and Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel, directing them to Snow Slide Gulch (the head of Gold Creek). There they
William Barker (prospector) William Barker (prospector) William "Billy" Barker (1817–1894), was an English prospector who was famous for being one of the first to find a large amount of gold in the Cariboo of British Columbia. He also founded Barkerville which is preserved as a historic town. Barker was born in 1817 in March, Cambridgeshire, England and was baptised on 7 June 1817 in St Wendreda's Church, March. As a child he worked as a waterman on the waterways of England. He married Jane Lavender in Earith, Cambridgeshire in 1839 and had one daughter named Emma Eliza. Jane died in the workhouse in