Branwen C. Patenaude’s Bolters and Coolers: The Bullion Pit and Other Cariboo Gold Mining Days provides an industrial and social chronicle centered on the world’s largest hydraulic placer gold mine, the Bullion Pit near Likely. Patenaude documents the ambitious engineering projects directed by mining engineer John B. Hobson, who constructed miles of canals, storage dams, and massive steel flumes across the Cariboo Mountains to redirect millions of gallons of water through high-pressure hydraulic monitors. The volume details how this industrial operation carved a gargantuan artificial chasm into the gravel benches above the Quesnel River, altering the local watershed and landscape. Patenaude highlights the diverse labor force that staffed the mine, tracking the social and economic relationships linking Likely to adjacent mining camps at Hydraulic, Quesnel Forks, Horsefly, and Keithley Creek.

British Columbia Likely, Bullion Pit (B.C.) History, Cariboo (B.C.), Gold mines and mining British Columbia Likely History, History, Horsefly (B.C.), Hydraulic (B.C.), Hydraulic mining British Columbia History, Keithley Creek (B.C.), Likely (B.C.) History, Quesnel Forks (B.C.) History

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.