William Downie

Who was William Downie?

William Downie was a Scottish prospector and explorer involved in the gold rushes in California and British Columbia of the mid-19th Century. Downie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Ayrshire.

In gold rush-era California, Downie led an expedition up the North Fork of the Yuba River. Major Downie's travels are documented in his 1893 autobiography, "Hunting for Gold" Downie was the first mayor of Downieville, California, in 1849, until which time it had been named "The Forks".

Downie explored British Columbia at the request of Governor James Douglas, in 1858 investigating the route from Bute Inlet to the Cariboo via the Homathko River an attempted development of which led to the Chilcotin War a few years later. At the onset of the Big Bend Gold Rush of 1865, Downie travelled up the Columbia River before steamboat service on that route began. Downie died on December 27, 1893 on board the steamer City of Puebla just before disembarking in San Francisco from Victoria, British Columbia.