Dally’s photographs have come to represent the gold rush experience, reproduced in countless books and articles.
Though Frederick Dally (1838-1914) spent only four years as a photographer in British Columbia, he created a singular body of photographic work documenting the landscapes of Vancouver Island and the route to the Cariboo gold fields. He also created numerous carte-de-visite portraits of settlers and First Nations people.

Of the ten Dally photograph albums in our collections, this excellent example includes 94 images of Vancouver Island colonial life and luminaries, First Nations groups, Fraser Canyon, Thompson River and Cariboo Road landscapes with an especially rich assemblage of Williams Creek and Barkerville views.

The albums were offered to the Provincial Archives by the photographer in 1914.