Lured to California by the gold rush, John Jeffries had assembled a sizeable herd of cattle. By 1860 he trailed them along the Columbia River up the old Brigade trail through the OkanaganValley. They Wintered near Cache creek and John reaped a handsome profit selling them in the Cariboo gold fields the next spring.
John’s brother Oliver joined him in 1861 and they started quite a business, buying cattle in Oregon and trailing them to the carboo several times a year. In 1861 the Jeffries brothers drove 800 head of cattle across the border at Osoyoos with the intention of cornering the Cariboo cattle market. In 1863, an effort to stop the competition, told cattlemen of Oregon that the US Government was not allowing cattle to cross into British Territory. But that didn’t stop the flow of cattle from south of the border.
James and Oliver were sympathetic to the confederate cause during the U.S. Civil war and along with fellow confederates Jerome and Thadeus Harper they outfitted a private ship with guns and ammunition to intercept a U.S. vessel carrying millions of dollars in gold as it left San Francisco. They were intercepted by an armed union steamer and the plot failed.
John and Oliver Left the Colony of British Columbia when the gold rush faded in the late 1860s but, between the two of them, brought in close to 5000 head of cattle, the foundation herds of the BC cattle industry
