{"product_id":"a-mystery-at-pitt-lake-slumachs-gold-9781067774806","title":"A Mystery at Pitt Lake: Slumachs Gold","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Mystery at Pitt Lake: Slumach's Gold\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy Nic Jering\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the mist-laden edge of British Columbia's Coast Mountains lies Pitt Lake: a place of staggering beauty, ancient memory, and enduring mystery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor more than a century, rumors of a fabulously rich lost gold mine have drawn prospectors, adventurers, historians, and dreamers into its unforgiving wilderness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the center of the legend stands a man named Slumach; hanged for murder in 1891; whose name became forever entangled with whispers of hidden wealth and a deadly curse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Mystery at Pitt Lake: Slumach's Gold \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eis a sweeping historical investigation that traces the evolution of one of Canada's most enduring treasure legends from its Indigenous foundations to its modern-day resurgence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoving far beyond folklore, author Nic Jering reconstructs the layered world from which the myth emerged: the ancient Katzie homeland, shaped by sophisticated systems of land stewardship, spiritual law, and ecological balance; the upheaval of colonial expansion; and the fevered ambitions of the Fraser River gold rush.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough meticulous research, courtroom transcripts, newspaper archives, oral histories, archaeological findings, and decades of accumulated lore, the book reexamines the life and trial of Slumach; separating documented fact from sensational invention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt explores how a tragic killing along the Pitt River was transformed, over time, into a gothic tale of secret mines, cryptic maps, mysterious cairns, and the ominous gallows phrase: \"When I die, the mine dies.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJering follows the legend's expansion across generations; prospectors who vanished in steep alpine valleys; coded letters and \"tent-shaped rocks\"; alleged Spanish incursions into the Pacific Northwest; pictographs, metal artifacts, and contested archaeological claims that blur the boundaries between empire, memory, and myth. Each era reshaped the story, reflecting its own anxieties and ambitions: from early 20th-century pulp accounts to modern television expeditions and digital-age treasure hunters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet at its heart, this book is not merely about gold.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is about landscape as witness. About how myth grows in the gaps between cultures. About how colonial justice, dispossession, and misunderstanding transformed a Katzie elder into a legend. And ultimately, it is about the deeper riches of Pitt Lake itself: its wetlands, salmon runs, ancestral stories, and the ongoing resurgence of Indigenous stewardship that reframes the meaning of treasure in the twenty-first century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart historical inquiry, part cultural reckoning, and part wilderness chronicle. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Mystery at Pitt Lake: Slumach's Gold\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e invites readers into a terrain where geology, memory, and imagination converge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the shadow of the mountains, where fog lifts slowly from the water and old stories cling to the moss, the question remains: Was there ever a mine? Or is the real gold the story the land refuses to let go?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Lostcreek Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/27\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781067774806\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 378\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.11lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.78d","brand":"Nic Jering","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52733998629045,"sku":"9781067774806","price":25.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/a-mystery-at-pitt-lake-slumachs-gold-9781067774806","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}