By Maryanna Gabriel
Well, Winslow and Osner Hall were young and naive, and had more money than they had ever imagined.
The Hall brothers proceeded to spend, spend, spend. They lit their cigars with $5 bills. They skipped silver dollars and $20 gold pieces across lakes. They partied and invited all their friends to walk a red carpet to their celebations. Unfortunately, the two men who had helped guide them to Toad Mountain, were First Nations, and cut out of the claim. The men were paid $250 each. which was a year's worth of wages.
By the late 1890s they had spent it all. The two were back in placer mining and working on the creeks.
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| Horse races down Baker Street, 1898. Source: BC Archives |
Meanwhile, in Nelson, the tents along Baker Creek became buildings along Baker Street. Other gold towns built of wood had burned, so it was declared that the building must be constructed of stone and brick. The town was named after BC's lieutenant governor and Nelson was incorporated in 1897. It had a population of 3,000, half of which was American.
The story goes that on Victoria Day many raised their glass to Roosevelt rather than Queen Victoria, especially because Roosevelt had visited the area. The celebrations were raucous. Dynamite would be exploded to mark the occasion and there were horse races down the main street.