Novel resurrects pioneer, prospector Jack Fisher

Jack Fisher, a prospector with a Canadian mountain peak and a Libby area river named for him, lies in an unmarked grave at Conrad Memorial Cemetery.

Thanks to Cranbrook, British Columbia, author Keith Powell, Fisher’s adventures — from discovering gold on Wild Horse Creek to making a second haul in the Libby gold rush — come to life again in his historical novel called “Living in the Shadow of Fisher Peak.”

The title explains how the author and publisher came to write the book. As a lifelong resident of the Kootenays, Powell actually lives in the shadow of the mountain with a mystery.

“No one knew why it was called Fisher Peak,” he said. “I did a little research and found out it was named after Jack Fisher.”

With a little more research, he found that Fisher had spent much of his adult life living around Flathead Lake. Some historians name him as one of the first non-natives to live in the valley.

The more Powell learned, the more Fisher’s life story sounded like a first-class adventure story. A few parts were missing with hints at the real story so Powell used his creativity to flesh out and write an engaging tale.

“I combined history with a novel and tried to keep it true to form,” he said.

Powell provides an author’s note at the end of the novel in which he delineates the facts from conjecture and pure creative license. In his note, he laments the loss of the true details.

“Though I have tried in this historical novel to capture the essence of the life and times of Jack Fisher, chances are, if we knew the complete details of his life, this account would pale in comparison.”

Powell, a part owner of Koocanusa Publications and owner of Wild Horse Creek Press, said he has always had an interest in local history. The publisher of an RV Directory, he put together a tour of the gold rush area at Wild Horse Creek.

Upwards of 5,000 people joined the stampede to the area near Fort Steele but most of the buildings disappeared in the final days to recover gold in the claim located under the town that was called Fisherville.

It’s still an interesting area to visit at just a 12-mile drive from Fort Steele Heritage Town near Cranbrook. Powell included a  description of the site and a map at the back of his book.

Visitors are allowed to pan gold within the Provincial Heritage Site and get a taste of life of the 1860s.

“The historical society put up signs at Fisherville,” he said.

Although the town was nearly leveled, the majestic mountain peak reaching 9,336 feet into the Canadian horizon retains the name the history forgot. Powell hiked up Fisher Peak to ceremoniously unveil his first historical novel.

“It’s the highest peak in the southern Rockies,” he said.

So far, he has sold close to a thousand copies. Powell jokes that it became a Kootenay best seller when he passed the 200 sold mark.

In the Flathead, “In the Shadow of Fisher Peak” is available at Borders Books, The Museum at Central School and Bookworks in Whitefish. Kootenai House and Mountain Gifts have the book in Eureka.

The author said he has had a positive response from readers to the tale that begins with Fisher at 16 deciding to escape poverty in Philadelphia by joining the California gold rush as an original ’49er. When that strike played out, he followed the rumors of new riches in Kootenay Country in British Columbia.

“No one knew where it was,” Powell said. “He had heard from natives that there was gold up there.”

A real life race to the area ensued between Fisher and rival prospector Bob Dore to the mouth of Wild Horse Creek. To get an edge, Dore snuck out of camp in the middle of the night, reportedly putting gunny sacks over his horses’ hooves to keep from waking Fisher and his partners.

According to Powell, Fisher’s party had a few tricks of their own. They followed a shorter but rugged route through Missoula and up through the Flathead and beat Dore to Wild Horse Creek by about two hours.

In 1864, Fisher reaped the reward and glory of the incredibly rich discovery claim where he scooped out nuggets like gravel. The author said a mining group out of Cranbrook has recently renewed a claim in the area because of its potential for more recovery with modern methods.

“Fisher made the first discovery but Dore made an incredible amount of money anyway,” Powell said.

The author weaves fact and conjecture into his novel when Fisher faces a major foe mightier than rival prospectors — the British government determined to levy a 50 percent tax on gold. His tale uses Sophie Morigeau, the real life proprietor of Roosville Cash Store, to out fox the tax man.

An enterprising woman, Morigeau packed goods up to the gold camps across the border.

“There was speculation that she smuggled Jack Fisher’s gold back over the border,” Powell said. “My premise is she kept valuables under her long flowing dress. She had quite a reputation with 13 husbands.”

His book includes an historic photo of Morigeau, leaning in the doorway of her Roosville store and post office with three horses and riders out front.

Even with gold at just $16 an ounce, Fisher left Wild Horse Creek a rich man. At today’s prices, his fortune would equate to many millions of dollars.

A boomer to the core, Fisher managed to go through his fortune in just six months. Powell speculates that Fisher’s strong taste for whiskey helped liquidate his fortune in the big city.

“He went to San Francisco with $80,000 and came back with nothing,” Powell said.

Not to worry. Fisher moved to Missoula and the Flathead, where he used his uncanny ability to find pay dirt again during the Libby stampede.

In his novel, Powell reprints Fisher’s obituary from the Daily Inter Lake at his death in February of 1906. His age was in dispute at somewhere between 72 and 82 or older but not his propensity to find and lose gold dust.

His obituary laments that Fisher always scattered his fortunes “with a liberal hand,” probably sending thousands to his sisters in Philadelphia.

His last years were spent in the care of friends, especially George Lakin of Bigfork. His remains were buried at Conrad Cemetery, where Powell was appalled to find he had an unmarked grave.

The author writes a very entertaining epilogue of his visit with Conrad’s Sexton James Korn, looking for Jack Fisher’s grave record. Korn had better luck when Powell recalled Fisher’s given name was John.

With the right name, Korn quickly found his card, listing his grave’s location. Powell writes of his visit in July 2009 to the grave site, which Korn had marked with a piece of yellow ribbon.

“I had the feeling that I may have been the first person in over a century to take the time and trouble to locate his grave. A brisk wind suddenly came up and the yellow ribbon marking the grave site whipped back and forth. The pine trees swayed in the distance and the aspen poplars shuddered in the heavy breeze.”

Powell ends the epilogue with this poignant notation.

“John (Jack) Fisher lay in Section F, lot number 242, Plot 6, in an unmarked grave in Kalispell’s Conrad Memorial Cemetery, his remarkable life all but forgotten.”

The author has vowed to right this wrong by donating a dollar from the first 500 books sold to a legacy fund he created. He invites readers interested in helping buy a marker to contact him for details at keithp57@gmail.com.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.