As the main partner to Ivel (Joel)
Abbott, William Jourdan co-owned one of the richest gold claims during the Cariboo Gold
Rush according to
this despatch.
Initially, Jourdan found very little gold on his claim, but when he left to get provisions,
he returned after two days to find
Abbott with
fifty ounces of nuggets from the new lower zone.
1 Soon the claim was producing
pounds of gold, not ounces.
2
In two despatches from
September and
October 1861, Jourdan comes to the attention of Governor
Douglas because of the sheer quantity of gold the Abbott-Jourdan Claim produced and the reported
flour sack of Gold 14 inches high.
Unlike the tales of
Abbott’s debauchery, little is known about Jourdan.
- 1. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Chronicle, 1847-1871 (Victoria: Discovery Press, 1977), 212.
- 2. Ibid.