Gaynor, Michael J. “Mike”

Mike Gaynor was born around 1865 in Barrie, Ontario. He died in Princeton in March 5, 1938 at the home of Mrs. Green where he had been staying since his release from the Princeton Hospital.

He came to the Princeton area around 1908. He was a prospector, miner, guide, camp cook, packer, road depot operator.

The first time his name appears in the Similkameen Star is in May 1908. The newspaper reported that he was “up from Hedley” and headed towards Summit to do some assessment work on some mineral properties there. By November 1908, he was living in Tulameen.

In July 1909, he was assisting Judge Murphy (See: Murphy, Thomas Herbert ‘Judge’) to clear a trail at Bear Creek above Tulameen.

He mined and prospected in many areas: Bridge River, Coronation Claim (Bralorne), Granite Creek, Lillooet, Kettle River, Siwash Creek, Badger Creek, Sandon, Slocan, Kootenays, Coeur D’Alene

Mike Gaynor was the unofficial mayor of Granite Creek in 1921, where he re-prospected the Granite Creek area in 1912.

In July 1915, his partner of many years, Tom Johnston, died in Penticton. They had spent the summer working claims on Siwash Creek (silver).

In July 1918, he accompanied Eugene Petovine (mineralogist with the Department of Mines in Ottawa, ON.) to the Lac La Hache area as a packer and camp tender.

In 19212, he donated $1 to the Princeton General Hospital.

He was hired as the cook/packer for the late 1922-early 1923 government delegation examining the Hope-Princeton route. He was back home in Granite Creek in March 1923.

The Princeton Star reported on July 7, 1924, that he was able to settle a dispute over a bone find near Granite Creek – the bones weren’t prehistoric nor those of a horse. The bones were the remains of a mule that Mike himself had helped bury.

He was part of the search party for Nurse Warburton in 1926. He searched the Tulameen side of the route. In April 1927, he received a letter of congratulations on behalf of Premier John Oliver.

At Summit Camp in January 1927, he was operating a road depot for truck drivers and teamsters at Kelly Creek.

Later that year, in July, he was hired as the cook for a delegation of media representatives (Vancouver Province, Vancouver Morning Star, British Columbian (New Westminster) and possible others) who were invited by the Princeton Board of Trade to travel the proposed route for the Hope-Princeton road. They came by train, fed breakfast and then transported by “motor car” to the end of the Dewdney Trail at Nine Mile Bridge where they then mounted saddle horses for the remainder of the trip to Hope. The object of the trip was to bring attention of the public to the merits of the route.

His obituary in 1938 describes him as a self-confident, light-hearted man who “travelled a lot, prospected in many parts, but never diligently.” At the time of his death, he had to claims.