Harry McDame

Who was Harry McDame?

Henry "Harry" McDame was a Bahamas-born prospector in the California and British Columbia gold rushes. He arrived in the Colony of British Columbia in 1858, along with many other blacks from California encouraged to move to the colony by Governor James Douglas and took up land near modern-day Quesnel. He and his neighbour at Quensellemouthe, Robert Giscome, explored and established a major route to the Peace River Gold Rush at what became known as Giscome Portage, connecting the northern bend of the Fraser River with the Parsnip River, thereby connecting the Fort George area to the Peace and, by a roundabout route, to the Omineca River goldfields. They explored the Peace, Nation and Smoky Rivers, as reported in a column in the British Colonist, December 15, 1863. They prospected on Germansen Creek in the Omineca area in 1870, but in 1874, like thousands of others, went to the Cassiar Country following reports of rich gold deposits around Dease Lake.

McDame and Giscome, with other partners, formed the Discovery Company and staked on what became known as McDame's Creek. British Columbia Mines Reports for 1874 for this area, by Gold Commissioner J.H.