Heyo i’m backkkkkkk.
Long time no see huh? Well if I was a prospector in 1858 then it probably would have been a much longer time until we spoke again! Haha cheesy terrible gold rush joke. But yep that perfectly introduces the topic of this project, the BC gold rush.
Project intro and Driving Q
How did the discovery of gold shape our province and it’s people?
The gold rush brought the attention of the world to BC for the first time. Thousands of prospectors from all across the globe came to our great province and it has never been the same since. The gold rush caused British to declare BC an official province and brought a huge economy boost to the small settlements that soon turned into bustling cities. It also brought diversity, culture, infrastructure, and exploration to an area largely unpopulated by europeans. So one thing is for sure, without gold, BC would be a totally different place than it is today.
The goal of this project was to 1) learn about the BC gold rushes, 2) learn about the people during these times, and 3) write the story of those people. So without further ado here is a closer look on what I accomplished in this project.
Jewish Migrants in The Gold Rush
My specific topic of research in this project was originally going to be focused on the Europeans that came to BC during the gold rush. But while researching I fell down a rabbit hole of specific Jewish people that made an impact in Victoria during the gold rush. So I decided to focus specifically on the Jewish migrants and the role they played in the gold rush. Some specific people that I researched were Alexander Aaron Phillips, Kady Gambits, and Selim Franklin. They were all business men and pioneers in Victoria in 1858, paving the way and providing important services that allowed Victoria to grow and become a suitable town for the thousands of prospectors who passed through. You can find the complete document of the research and information that I collected on Jewish Migrants by clicking this link. I am very proud of the research that I did so it is great to be able to share it with you today.
Creation
So as I briefly mentioned earlier, one of the goals and technically the “final product” of this project was to write a short story of the group of people you researched. The story could be of a real or fictional character and so I decided to create a fictional chatter that was a mash-up of the three individual people that I researched. His name is Jacob Myers and here is a character card to tell you more about him.
So when it actually came down to writing his story I had a rough idea of how I wanted it to start and end. I wanted to show him arriving in Victoria, start his own store, go struggle a little bit, and then settle down and start a family. Here is what my planning looked like using the “3 Act Structure”.
So unfortunately I hit a little bump when writing my story and it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted. I made sure that I got all of my main points in somewhere but I feel that the last few bits of the story are quote abrupt and don’t have a nice flow to them at all. I would have liked to spend more time adding flavour and depth to the story if I could go back and do it again. But unfortunately sometimes life has its ways where things don’t always go as planned. Anyway I guess I’m still proud that I was able to write the story even though I know that it is nowhere near reaching my quality standards. Here is my short story about a Jewish migrant during BC’s gold rush;
Jacob Myers, Jewish in Victoria
Conclusion
Even though I am not super proud of my story end product, I am very proud of the work I did along the way. My research was thoughtful and deep and I definitely learned a lot about how the gold rush shaped our fine province. And I would say that my planning for the story was also quite good even though the writing itself did not turn out. My next steps are going to be about moving on from this project and trying to put my best foot forward for the next one. Anyway thanks for reading my first blog post of grade 10!!! See you soon!!
As Always, Brooke.