People/miner, financier

Fanny Bendixen

Fanny Bendixen (1–1899), miner, financier, from France. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Drawn from California to the Fraser and Cariboo rushes, she opened her first Barkerville saloon in 1866 and built an independent business.1

The downfall

A September 1868 fire destroyed her Bella Union saloon, with losses estimated at 5,000 dollars.1

Legacy

Ran saloons in Barkerville, Van Winkle and Stanley and was the only woman regularly listed in Barkerville's business directory into the 1890s. Her will was disputed after her death.1

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1857 to 1858Fraser River gold rush2
Drag to turn the globe

Where next

Events

Worked atFraser River gold rushDrawn from California to the Fraser and Cariboo rushes.1

Places

Worked atBarkervilleShe ran saloons in Barkerville and was its only listed businesswoman.1

Sources

  1. BENDIXEN, FANNY Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  2. Fort Langley National Historic Site: History Parks Canada

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

The Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · WorldwideGold drill-hole columns over the Abitibi on a satellite map of QuébecData storyUnder QuébecDrill holes · QuébecAn underground loader carrying a full bucket of rock through a dark mine roomEquipmentUnderground mining equipmentUnderground · FleetHistory of miningGold fever: the rushes that filled continents1848-1900

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0).