Peter's Cemetery in Sapperton. Slumach is mentioned for the first time as the first discoverer of the legendary gold of Pitt Lake by Wilbur Armstrong, a Washington prospector, in an interview in 1915 article in a Wisconsin newspaper reprinted in the US by other newspapers. In Canada the first mention of Slumach in association with Pitt Lake gold was in a 1926 article saying: “Slumach died and with him died the secret of a great gold mine somewhere up in that wild Pitt Lake country.” Evidently the story of Slumach and Pitt Lake gold was circulating among prospectors at that time. Only in 1939 did Slumach become a permanent part of the Pitt Lake Gold legend when Jack Mahony interviewed pioneer Hugh Murray. Although the article contains mostly “romantic fiction” it became the source of many stories about Slumach and the treasure at Pitt Lake.The imaginary “Slummock” in this article is a middle-aged “half-breed Red River Indian” hanged for murdering another “half-breed” prospector by drowning. Hugh Murray would have known the real facts. He grew up in Port Moody, not far from New Westminster and he was in his thirties when Slumach died. Gothic tales In his article Mahony added more murders, hidden gold and maidens to the story of a hanged man. He presented the legendary “Slummock” as a middle-aged man, still capable of looking for gold in the mountains, who struck it rich in the late nineties and frequently came to New Westminster with “a well-filled ‘poke’ of nuggets,” spending his money freely, but keeping its source a secret. Mahoney stated that “…it was believed but never proven, that he had drowned three of his Indian ‘wives’ near Shiwash Rock at the mouth of Pitt Lake to prevent them from divulging the location [of his gold mine].” That last theme grew out into gothic tales such as “The Bluebeard of Lost Creek Mine” and “The gold mine murders of nine British Columbian women.” Hugh Murray told Mahoney that a local physician, a Dr. Hall visited “Slummock” in his death cell trying to find out, but he went to his death “with the burning question of the community unanswered.” At the time of the trial none of the local newspapers of that community even hinted on the possibility that Slumach knew of gold. Mr. Allard, who had been a court interpreter at the time of the trial also knew