A revised edition of a book about the legend of Slumach's gold is packed with plenty of new stories and beautiful pictures of the Pitt Lake area.
'Slumach's Gold: In Search of a Legend – and a Curse' is the fourth edition for brothers Brian and Rick Antonson, and friend Mary Trainer.
"We tell the tales of the gold seekers," explained Brian, a Mission resident.
It is a coffee table book with picturesque photos of the region and brand new maps – more detailed than they have published before.
The Antonson brothers were hooked on the story of Slumach's gold from childhood.
They would hear stories about the legendary gold as they sat around the campfire, explained Brian, who was only nine-years-old at the time, and his brother only eight.
Legend has it that a Katzie First Nation man named Slumach discovered gold somewhere at the north end of Pitt Lake. This was around the late 1800s, during the time of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush.
In 1890, Slumach murdered a man named Louie Bee and was hanged for his crime in 1891, explained Brian.
If he did find gold, he took his secret to the grave. But many still believe there is treasure to be found.
Brian noted the first indication of anybody searching for the gold was in 1897.
"This is the mystery. Nobody knows what happened between his hanging and when somebody announced in a little thing in the paper the Slumach Mining Company, trying to raise money to go look for the mine," he said.
The Antonson brothers were set on heading out to search for the gold themselves, until they learned that others had died doing just that.
Instead, later in life (in the late 1960s), they decided to write a book, after meeting Trainer, who also had a keen interest in the legend.
The first edition of their book was published in 1972. It was a 56-page book which sold 10,000 copies.
In the following years, the publishing company sold the rights to a much larger publishing company called Heritage House, which publishes books on regional and pioneer history.
The company asked the trio to update their first book.
So, in 2007 they published a revised edition, with 160 pages.
Then, the authors planned and published a coffee table book which came out after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brian believes there is gold to be found.
However, he added, to their knowledge, nobody has ever found anything in the area which has made them rich.
It's such a big story, he said, that if anybody were to have stumbled on the gold mine, they would know about it.
He also gave credit to those working on the show 'Deadman's Curse' on the History Channel, whom, he said, did a lot of diligent searching.
"Nobody has found anything, yet," he chuckled.
Brian is calling this fourth book, that is now 224 pages, their capstone edition, because they are all now in the mid-70s and he feels it will be their last.
But, if somebody finds the treasure, the trio is willing to write a final chapter.
'Slumach's Gold: In Search of a Legend — and a Curse' is available at: https://heritagehouse.ca.
