Cultivated plants i wilderness as signs of stampeders?

Hello,
My name is Daniel, I am a swedish fiction novelist, presently working on a chapter that sets in British Columbia, around Atlin and Lake Lewes (Lewis), present time.

My question is - let's say that a person would try to find the remains of a lone gone settlement from the days of the Gold rush. A "hidden" gold mine. What kind of plants, still present after 100 years, could these settlers have left behind? Apple trees for instance? Raspberries? In Sweden we have for instance the Syringa vulgarism, and the Urtica dioica. For instance - if you find lots of Urtica dioica - you can almost certain know that there once was av barn och small building at the sight, since the often grow around foundations.

I just need a few examples. I would be so grateful if you could help me, or if you know whom I should turn to instead.


Many thanks in advance.
Best regards

Dr. Daniel Sjölin

 

Up in Atlin, you are highly unlikely to find cane fruits or fruit trees left from old settlements: it's an extremely short growing season, and there's lots of bears.

One of the sure-fire indicator plants around old gold rush settlements is the Oriental Poppy: I know for a fact that these grow wild around Atlin, usually brought by Chinese miners/merchants. I also recall that the ditches around Atlin often sprout a lot of rhubarb, and suppose that this was a plant oft-grown by settlers of the era: it attains a huge size in the short but long growing season, and Atlin is in a distinct micro-climate.

Anyone from B.C. who has spent anytime exploring the old settlements and mines you will be describing knows the ubiquitous presence of the poppy, more than any other plant. Where they sprout in the bush, a settlement once was....

 

I have seen old apple and pear trees in the interior from times gone passed, also I know that where there was Japanese laborers for the forest industry and rail road you have populations of the very invasive Japanese knotweed still around

 

Have you been here Daniel S ? Condor airlines has direct non-stop flights from Frankfurt to Whitehorse in the summer, and from here its a 2 1/2 hour drive to Atlin.
No fruit trees would have survived. Raspberries and strawberries are wild. I'm not sure how old the poppies are, and we've seen wild Iris at Discovery (10 minutes east of Atlin), but I don't know how recent they are either. I'll check with my friends who have thoroughly tramped through the surrounding bush. I think Rhubarb is a good bet.
Cheers
Carl
Postscript: You are more likely to find evidence of settlement by the presence of a garbage midden or rotten wood in an unnatural pattern.

 

Lilac was mentioned -- does that strike those familiar with the area as another possibility? Also, what about Siberian peashrub?

 

Thank you so much all of you! This was indeed interesting. Of course I have dream of one day be able to go to BC and se Atlin myself. If the book is success, i will afford it...
Thank you once more!

Daniel S

 

One thing I have noticed about old homestead sites is that there can be a subtle difference in the color of the grass if seen from a distance; this has to do with man-made "leftover" that have rusted away or leeched into the soils.
If the homestead or mine site had been occupied for any length of time you will find some signs of old roads - a "trail" through the forest where the trees are a different type or size as the surrounding ones or in the case of grasslands, parallel ruts can still be seen if they are deep enough. If you are looking for old mines, you will always find leftovers laying around - rusting tools, garbage, cut timbers etc. I have never come across any homestead or mine site without finding artifacts laying around. In the case of a mine you may not find any sign of the entrance if it has been re-sealed but even after 100 years there will be something left, even if it is a pile of rotting wood from the buildings.

You can also look for straight lines, as you do not exist in nature.

FYI, there are still apple trees growing in Prixdeau Haven (Desolation Sound) on an old homestead site....don't know how much fruit (if any they produce). This homestead - and other abandoned ones in the area - are mentioned in M. Wylie Blanchet's "Curve of Time"......she explored the coast of BC with her children in the 1920's.
These apple trees have been there for almost 100 years and the last time I saw them they were the only thing remaining, the cabin having been torn down by visiting boaters for firewood :( However, I doubt they would survive as far north as Atlin.

 

Wow! Thanks again. Now my protagonist will seem sharper than Sherlock... or hmm... maybe it's better if she hookes up with a local expert...
Anyway: i've struck gold here - thanks to you.
Best regards!
DS

 

You can also have your protagonist look for old logging signs - if there were trees around, no homesteader or miner is going to pack in lumber. Cut trees look very different from those that have naturally fallen and if you see old stumps there is a good bet some sort of building will be or was near by. And for swampy or hilly areas you may even find remnants of old corduroy (wooden) roads.