Vital Creek

Vital Creek is a creek located in the Omineca Country region of British Columbia, flowing eastward from its source in the Vital Range to meet Silver Creek, joining that creek from the west about 5 miles from its mouth into the Omineca River, about 41 km northeast of Takla Landing.

History

The gold deposits of Vital Creek were discovered in 1869 by Vital Laforce, who had also been among the four discoverers of gold along Williams Creek, which was the foundation of Barkerville. This was the first creek mined in the Omineca. Late in the mining season of 1870, $7,000 was taken out by a party of 15 Chinese miners, giving some hope that significant gold might yet be found in the region.

The creek has been mined for gold and silver, which occurred simultaneously and were unusual to find in that way. It has been hydraulicked and mined by Chinese syndicates like Gow Sing and Co. The bulk of the gold was obtained on bedrock and in crevices and cracks.

Initial exploration and mining work was carried out by means of drift diggings, followed by ground sluicing and hydraulicking later. Drift mining and hydraulicking were both abandoned in the 1930s as there were no dumping facilities for mining waste. Later exploration to bedrock in pursuit of hard-rock ores met with little success.