The Lost Gold Bars of Camp McKinney

 
Matt Roderick robbed gold bricks being transported by, George McCaulay, part owner of the Cariboo McKinney Mining and Milling Co. on a beautiful August day in 1896 near Midway.

Eyewitness Arthur K. W. Cosens wrote the original historical account of this incident.
Camp McKinney was a one man camp, which meant the Cariboo McKinney Mining and Milling Co. was the sole employer of the miners and labourers.  There were independent prospectors and claim owners with local interests in the area; otherwise, everyone worked for the mining company, and no one suspected those hired by the monopoly would rob from the employer.

At 7 o’clock on that warm August morning McCaulay was driving his buckboard when a voice hollered from the spruces along the route.  A masked man stepped onto the road, and said: “Throw down your bullion, and keep going.”  McCaulay complied with the villain’s demands.
He then drove hard, racing eight miles to C.W. Hozier’s ranch, not daring to return to the camp. Once there, McCauley asked for help from Hozier’s son, Leonard.  He wanted the boy to ride to Camp McKinney immediately to inform the company of the robbery.  McCauley then continued on to Midway to report the crime to the authorities.

Leonard Hozier, 12, rode the ten miles to Camp McKinney to inform Superintendent Joe Keane of the theft.  When the young boy walked into the store, two people were present, Arthur Cosens, the storekeeper, and Matt Roderick.  Cosens thought he saw a smile flicker across Roderick’s face when the excited boy told his story of the stolen gold.

A search party was sent out to find the thief, but the prospectors, turned “Pinkertons,” found nothing but a few whiskey bottles and the discarded gunnysack that had held the three gold bricks valued at $14,000.  One of the bars was valued at $1600…the other two at $6200 each.
 

Matt Roderick was from Tacoma, Washington, and at the time of the robbery was “feeling ill.”  Cosens records that he looked pale, and because of his illness it was no surprise that he would be in the store to buy some medicine.

Roderick was a strong, quiet man who didn’t drink or smoke, but he was an “inveterate gambler.”  On payday he would regularly pay his bills to the company store then gamble till his money was gone…even missing his shift while playing cards for two or three days. 
A few days after the robbery, Roderick asked Superintendent Joe Keane, “Perhaps, I should go home to improve my health?”  Keane agreed.  

As Roderick got on the morning stagecoach for Tacoma, Keane appeared.  Roderick asked him, “Will it be alright for me to come back to work when I feel better, Joe?”
Keane replied, “You needn’t bother coming back, Matt.”  Cosens, overhearing the conversation, assumed that because of Roderick’s habit of gambling and not showing up for shifts during these times, Roderick was not welcome to return.

After some time, Cariboo McKinney Mining hired a detective firm in the state of Washington to monitor the few miners who had left since the robbery to account for their actions since leaving Camp McKinney.  Roderick was discovered to have paid off a huge tax debt on his property in Tacoma, while spending money quite freely, and reportedly gambling. 

Keane realized that the blankets he had seen rolled up next to Roderick on the stagecoach likely had held the small gold brick, as the rolled blankets were too small to wield all three.  Not having all three bars on his person also confirmed the reason that Roderick had asked to return to Camp McKinney.  Roderick wanted to collect the two larger, heavier bars of gold.  Keane therefore made arrangements for the inevitable return of Matt Roderick.

Alexine, an “intelligent and wood-crafting Indian” from Inkanip (present-day Osoyoos), was stationed at the convergence of Sidley Road from Anarchist Mountain, and Fairview Road running through the Okanagan, to watch for Matt Roderick.  The two roads came together two miles away from Camp McKinney. 

On October 26, 1896 at 10 pm, Provincial Constables Cuppage and Deane sat with Joe Keane in Hughie Cameron’s saloon.  Arthur Cosens had closed the store and was watching the card games being played at various tables.  A knock was heard at the door…it was Alexine.

“He is coming,” Alexine said to Keane.

Cosens was told to open the firearms cupboard in the closed store.  Keane wanted those pursuing the thief to be armed.  Superintendent Keane was a quick man and was on the move before his companions.  He left the Constables still choosing their weapons in the store.  A mile from the camp Keane came across a man leading a horse towards the convergence of Sidley and Fairview Roads.

“Is that you, Matt?” Keane asked.

In the pitch black darkness, Keane had almost tripped onto Roderick and when the figure in front of him turned, Keane saw a rifle muzzle and fired.  The bullet from Keane’s pistol ripped into Roderick’s chest, piercing right through his heart. 

Upon later inspection, Roderick’s rifle was found to have a rag shoved into its muzzle, and his six-shooter was rusty.  Both of his firearms were inoperable.  In a further search of Roderick’s corpse, $100 was found, along with a canvas harness that had two pockets hidden beneath his coat.  The pockets of the harness were reported to be the size of the missing bricks of gold and hung just below Roderick’s armpits.  The gold bars were not in the pockets.

On Monday June 14, 1897 at the Spring Assizes in Vernon with Chief Justice McCall presiding, Keane claimed, "I had to do it or he would have shot me."  Keane was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to one day in prison…the day of imprisonment had already been served.

The gold has never been found according to Cosen’s account of 1937.  In a 1977 issue of the magazine Lost Treasure, H. M. Darby claims the lost bars to be worth $100,000.  As stated earlier, the mine claimed the three bars of gold to be worth $14,000 in 1896; Roderick had cashed in on the $1,600 bar.  What would $12,400 in gold bullion from 1896 be worth today? At $400 an ounce the lost gold is guessed to be worth at least $240,000--I believe gold prices are nearer $1500 an ounce at present. 

Treasure hunt, anyone?