Teaching Resources

Welcome to our teacher's corner! Our resources here are designed to help teachers prepare lessons on historic Wells, hardrock mining and gold. Though the exercises and lessons outlined are aimed at grades 5 and 10, most can be adapted to any grade level planning an virtual or actual visit to Wells. As a general guideline, use the grade 5 outline and links for elementary levels and the grade 10 exercises and outline for the high school level.

Most school districts in British Columbia visit nearby (8 kilometres away) Barkerville Historic Town in grades 5 and 10 as a part of their curriculum, so this is a unique opportunity to include Wells in your Barkerville tour.

The benefits of visiting both towns include learning about two different types of mining rushes (placer mining in Barkerville and lode mining in Wells) in separate time periods (1860's Barkerville vs. 1930's Wells). It provides students with an opportunity to study and analyze in depth an important Canadian natural resource industry. Wells also has a special distinction of being one of the few communities to thrive during the Great Depression that hit most of North America and Europe during the 1930's. While the rest of the world was enduring great hardship and employment was at an all time low, Wells was riding on an economic high. This makes Wells an excellent case-study for this time period.

Below are some suggested activities by grade: grade 5 (elementary level) or grade 10 (high school level).

Online Study Guide for Teachers

The following is an outline which can be used for classes studying the community of Wells and the mining sites surrounding it. Since Wells was built in the 1930s, this is the time period that we will be dealing with. We will be discussing hydraulic and hardrock mining in this area.
This study guide is to assist teachers who are not familiar with the Wells area and can be used in addition to the website. We hope that this guide will give you information on what to expect when you travel to Wells and assist you in preparing and planning for your trip.

The material in this guide is arranged under six headings:

  1. Hydraulic and hard-rock mining of the 30s
  2. Community cycle of Wells over the years
  3. Architecture
  4. Transportation
  5. Understanding "Heritage buildings"
  6. Daily Life of the 30's

Grade 5

Projects and Exercises

  1. Aural history -Have your students interview a parent or a grandparent in regard to a specified period (1930's in our case). Decide on a series of questions to be answered ahead of time. Some of your students may have parents or grandparents who were in the Wells area in the 1930-1940's. In places like Wells where the history is relatively 'new' as compared to histories of hundreds/thousands of years, this is a way of compiling history.
  2. Have the students make costumes for use in class of the era of 1930's.
  3. Have the students make costumes for use in class of the era of 1930's.
  4. Write a play using some of the characters met in the Mining the Motherlode story.
  5. Pick a building and do a complete inventory on it: measurements, materials, windows, doors etc. Draw a picture of a Wells building.
  6. Draw a map of the transportation routes. Pick a country from which miners came to Wells. Trace the route taken. Compare conditions and customs in the homeland and compare with those in Wells. Think about the changes and adjustments you would have to make. Have the students make a list of all the contents they would have brought if they lived in Wells in the 1930's.
  7. Write a diary depicting a day in the life of: a miner working for one of the hard rock mining companies. a child living in Wells, school life (one room school), chores, play time, entertainment (no t.v.). a woman living in Wells (duties to family, church, leisure activities, difference in role as compared to today).

Grade 10

Projects & Exercises for your students

  1. Aural history -Have your students interview a parent or a grandparent in regard to a specified period (1930's in our case). Decide on a series of questions to be answered ahead of time. Some of your students may have parents or grandparents who were in the Wells area in the 1930-1940's. In places like Wells where the history is relatively 'new' as compared to histories of hundreds/thousands of years, this is a way of compiling history.
  2. Essay Topics:
    1. Discuss the differences between life in Wells and Life anywhere else in Canada suffering the effects of 'The Great Depression'. Why was Wells NOT affected by this world-wide economic slump?
    2. Explain how the development of the 'cyanide process' of extracting gold changed the mining industry. (Hint: change from placer to lode mining, cost)
    3. How did this technological development (from question 2) affect the settlement of British Columbia and/or Wells?
    4. How did World War Two affect Wells? The town people? Economics? Mining Companies? Families?In a positive or negative light? (Hints: Mining was designated a non-war industry).
    5. What was the difference between the effects of The Depression and the effects of World War Two? Why was Wells effected by one event but escaped the effects of the other?
    6. Wells was and still is an active sporting community with it's own ski hill, horse race track and a golf course at one time. Discuss how sports & leisure benefitted the community?
    7. Wells was built as a company town. What is a company town? In what ways is it different from other mining towns like nearby Barkerville?

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