How many gold seekers arrived in the Victoria area during the Fraser River gold rush?

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Victoria Provincial Parliament Buildings, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

During the 1858 Fraser River gold rush, the region—including Victoria—was transformed by an influx of approximately 25,000 to 30,000 gold seekers.1

Most of these individuals, many of whom were of American or Chinese descent, utilized Victoria as their primary port of entry to the mainland and as a central supply hub for their mining ventures. This sudden arrival of fortune seekers caused Victoria’s population to grow rapidly from a few hundred residents to several thousand, fundamentally altering the city's development and history.1