Journal Entry #7

In Jorgensen’s article he is attempting to address the question of indigenous people’s role in Barkerville. Like many historians today he is attempting to correct the older analysis of indigenous people’s lives and the role they played in society. It is very easy to disregard the indigenous population of Barkerville and write them off as nothing more than prostitutes and helpless victims of disease. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact the indigenous people were involved in many aspects of life in Barkerville including “berry picking, laundry services, packing and packhorse support, hunting, selling salmon and eulachon, letter-carrying, mining, and prostitution”[1]. In spite of this history has not always looked at the indigenous point of view and as a result has lacked the authenticity of Jorgensen’s article.

Some early historians viewed Barkerville through a tiny lens unable to see any impact that the indigenous people were having except for menial jobs like prostitution and carriers. They did not look at the surrounding areas of Baskerville and the evidence of the indigenous people who were there. Even during the time of the gold rush there was indigenous people present just outside of Barkerville in a place called “Barkerville: Indian Encampment”[2]. The only excuse for their ignorance could be due to the massive destruction of indigenous people due to the smallpox epidemic.  With Europeans immunity to smallpox the effect on them was rather small, not much more than a cold or flu. However, in the case of the indigenous people and their different lifestyles smallpox caused “population loss”[3] which “range as high as 90 percent”[4]. This shows just how much the indigenous people in BC suffered due to the diseases that ran rampant due to European contribution. That being said the Indigenous people who remained in Barkerville and the surrounding areas contributed in many different ways.

At first one of the ways the Indigenous people survived was the hunting and trading of furs throughout the province and in Barkerville in particular. They existed in other ways during this time as well such as “Foraging, particularly for berries, was another form of subsistence work engaged in by First Nations people”[5]. Now it is true that they also used wage worker such as delivering mail, it is also true that they were involved in mining. The Indigenous people were very active at this time in the mining trade Jorgensen quotes Daniel Marshall by saying “’Native peoples not only participated in gold discoveries throughout the northern Pacific Slope region, but actively mined the resource’”[6]. These different examples show how Indigenous people were not just hiding in the shadows of Barkerville but they were instead active participants in its growth and mining opportunities.

There is also a very negative viewpoint towards Indigenous woman being only prostitutes and while there is evidence of this Jorgensen also says “Aboriginal women who came into contact with white men through the sex trade were comparatively more visible (and therefore potentially better recorded) than were those involved in other forms of work”[7] so as a result of the white European centered history many Aboriginal woman were viewed as nothing more than prostitutes. This again shows the limited view of the history up to this point. However, Jorgensen is on the right track to creating a more multiethnic approach to history. In this article he uses both primary sources found in the newspaper and other important documents of the time, but he also uses Indigenous oral traditions to back up his arguments. Which will lead to a better understanding of Indigenous people’s role in this time period.

 

 

Bibliography

Mica Jorgensen, “Into That Country to Work,” BC Studies 185 (2015): 109-136.

[1] Mica Jorgensen, “Into That Country to Work,” BC Studies 185 (2015): 135.

[2] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 120.

[3] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 118.

[4] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 118.

[5] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 122.

[6] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 129.

[7] Jorgensen, “Into That Country,” 132.