The San Juan River is a river on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, draining into the Pacific Ocean at Port San Juan, the harbour for Port Renfrew,[1] which is at the limit of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which lies south and southeast of the river. Its name is derived from that or Port San Juan, which is also the namesake of San Juan Ridge, which lies on the south side of the river's final W-E course.
The First Nations of Vancounver Island have a legend of a Spanish trading Schooner which arrived on the Island's southwestern coast in 1777. The Spanish anchored in the Harbour and traded with the Nitinat Natives. The Spanish discovered gold in the San Juan River and tried to recover the gold. The Nitinat Natives slaughtered the Spanish expedition. Two Spanish women were taken as slaves. The woman were later released to another Spanish expedition who discovered them. The later expedition inadvertently infected the Nitinat Natives with small pocks. There is some evidence to support this story. Spanish ships such as the Santiago investigated the west coast in the 1700s. There also records of attacks on Spanish by First Nations. This is the first alleged discovery of gold in the San Juan River.[2]
In 1885 an American prospector named Foster found gold in the San Juan River. Foster returned in 1907 to find more gold. Every year Foster returned looking for the gold. He returned year after year because he couldn't find the original spot on the San Juan River. Foster died in 1917 in Salt Lake City. The people of Port Renfrew heard about Foster's search. Many people from Port Renfrew searched all over the San Juan River looking for Foster's old gold site. It was never discovered. [3]