Across northern British Columbia, rivers, trails, and communities carry the name Giscome — a lasting marker of a Jamaican-born prospector whose journey stretched from the Caribbean to the frontiers of North America. John Robert Giscome left St. Mary, Jamaica and travelled through Central America and the United States before arriving in Canada during the gold rush era. There, he built success as a miner and explorer whose work helped open routes into the province’s interior while accumulating wealth at a time when few Black men were afforded such opportunity. Today, his name remains embedded in Canada’s geography, tied to the pathways he helped establish more than a century ago.
From Jamaica to Panama
John Robert Giscome was born in 1832 in the parish of St. Mary, Jamaica, the eldest of three children. Little documentation survives about his early upbringing, but historical accounts note that he and his brother Peter left Jamaica as young men seeking work abroad during a period of expanding Caribbean labour migration.
The brothers travelled to Central America where they worked on the Panama Railroad, one of the most ambitious engineering projects of the nineteenth century. Completed in 1855, the railway connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans decades before the Panama Canal and relied heavily on Caribbean labourers. The experience placed Giscome within an emerging network of migration and opportunity linking the Caribbean, the United States, and the developing frontier economies of North America.
From California to British Columbia
After railway construction ended, Giscome moved to California during the gold rush years. While the region promised economic opportunity, Black miners faced discriminatory laws, racial hostility, and financial barriers that limited long-term prospects despite their labour and skill.
In 1858, gold discoveries along the Fraser River prompted many Black prospectors to relocate north to British Columbia, where Governor Sir James Douglas encouraged settlement. Giscome joined this migration among the earliest waves of Black settlers into what is now Canada, beginning the chapter of his life that would secure his historical legacy.
Blazing Trails in British Columbia
In British Columbia, Giscome worked as a miner and prospector across interior goldfields including Barkerville, the Omineca region, Peace River country, and McDame’s Creek. Prospecting required constant movement through rugged terrain by canoe and overland trail, and he spent years navigating areas that remained unfamiliar to many newcomers.
A turning point came in 1862 when he met Bahamian-born prospector Henry McDame in Quesnel. The two partnered and set out to explore northern territories in search of new goldfields. Their expedition into the Peace River region depended heavily on Indigenous knowledge. Guided by a First Nations traveller, they followed established waterways and, on the guide’s advice, travelled via the Salmon River toward McLeod Lake. They became the first non-Indigenous men recorded travelling that path. Although the journey yielded limited gold, its geographic importance proved far greater, and Giscome later reported the route in the Daily British Colonist, bringing wider attention to what became known as Giscome Portage.
Giscome and McDame continued prospecting with growing success. They worked at Germansen Creek during the Omineca Gold Rush before turning north, where in 1874 McDame discovered gold along a tributary of the Dease River, then known as Dease Creek — a find that directly triggered the Cassiar Gold Rush. The creek was later renamed McDame Creek in his honour. The partners formed the Discovery Company and mined the area successfully for years. Fun fact, in 1877 the largest recorded gold nugget in British Columbia, weighing seventy-two ounces, was recovered there, cementing the men’s place in gold rush history.
Giscome Portage Regional Park
Contributions and Recognition
The impact of Giscome’s and McDame’s prospecting expeditions extended beyond individual gold finds. Their explorations helped improve access to northern British Columbia at a time when movement determined whether mining districts could develop. Reliable interior routes allowed prospectors, supplies, and trade to reach new territories more efficiently, and the pathway later associated with Giscome’s name became part of the transportation network that supported the province’s expanding resource economy.
Today, the Giscome Portage Trail is formally recognised for its historical importance, having been designated an official Heritage Site in 1997 and later a Protected Area in 2000. Other landmarks across British Columbia also bear his name, including Giscome Rapids, Giscome Canyon, the community of Giscome, and several roads. Together, these geographic markers acknowledge his contribution to the exploration and economic development of the region and illustrate how early travel routes helped shape settlement and growth during and after the gold rush era.
Giscome, McDame, and their Indigenous guide also became linked to one of the most sombre episodes of the northern gold rush. During their travels, the party came upon the remains of the ill-fated Rennie expedition. The group investigated the abandoned camp and documented evidence of what had occurred. Giscome later reported the discovery to The British Colonist newspaper in Victoria, which published the account under the headline “A Fearful Tragedy.” Though macabre, the episode forms part of the historical record of exploration in northern British Columbia and highlights Giscome’s role not only in charting routes but also in documenting events that shaped understanding of life and danger on the frontier.
Retirement and Legacy
After decades on the mining frontier, Giscome settled in Victoria, British Columbia, a wealthy and successful prospector. While many miners struggled to retain their earnings, records show that Giscome invested wisely in real estate, spending the final two decades of his life buying and selling property. When he died in 1907 at the age of 75, he left an estate valued at approximately $21,000 — equivalent to roughly half a million dollars today.
He is buried at Ross Bay Cemetery, far from the parish of St. Mary where his journey began. His legacy of discovery endures across northern British Columbia, where routes, waterways, and communities continue to bear his name — lasting evidence of a Jamaican pioneer whose work helped open Canada’s interior long before Caribbean migration reshaped the country’s major urban centres.
