Explorers from Seabird Island and Chilliwack have documented the journey of a lifetime.
The History Channel announced a new series called “Deadman’s Curse,” a reality-style chronicle bringing four B.C. explorers together to solve the legend of Slumach’s gold. Along for the journey
Somewhere in the mountains of Pitt Lake, B.C., it is said there is a source of gold worth billions of dollars. Historian Fred Braches said rumor of the “place deposit” lured prospectors to the area to search for gold. According to legend, Slumach – a Katzie First Nations man – was the only person who knew of the location of the gold. Slumach was convicted of murder in the early 1890s for killing a man named Louis Bee. Before he was hanged, Slumach was reported to have uttered a curse – “Nika memloose, mine memloose”, roughly translated from Chinook as “when I die, the mine dies.”
Many have tried to find the gold, some have died doing it and thus far, all have failed.
The series features Taylor Starr – the great-great-niece of Slumach – and her father Don Froese from Seabird Island, mountaineer Adam Palmer of Chilliwack and MMA fighter turned prospector Kru Williams. Notably, Palmer teaches mountain skills at Sts’ailes Community School; back in 2020, he and his students made the news when they discovered the wreckage of a plane that crashed near Harrison Lake that may have been the plane of Walter Dalton, who crashed near Harrison Lake in 1957.
The first episode introduced the legendary gold, early clues of its whereabouts and dove deeper into the faction and fiction of Slumach’s life, and his legendary curse. Throughout the “Deadman’s Curse” series, the four explorers will sift through cryptic clues and brave elements and unforgiving weather all in hopes of tapping into untold wealth and the truth about Slumach.
“Deadman’s Curse” premieres on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. Pacific on History.
– With files from
Colleen Flanagan
