One hundred and 20 years after Bill Miner came to the Similkameen country, he is still probably Canada’s best known desperado. Miner was known as George Edwards around Princeton where he played the part of a soft-spoken cattleman and prospector —kind to children and generous to all. In fact, he made his living rustling cattle, smuggling Chinese immigrants and opium across the border, and robbing trains. When Indigenous trackers led police to his camp after a 1906 train holdup, his carefully crafted story started to fall apart, casting an unflattering light on gilded age British Columbia.

Greg Dickson, who presented this story to the BC Historical Federation conference in Princeton this year, is a former CBC Radio journalist and a co-author of three best-selling books on BC history with collaborator Mark Forsythe. In 2014, they received the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for historical writing.