The San Juan River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 on southern Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, draining into the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 at Port San Juan, the harbour for Port Renfrew

Port Renfrew, British Columbia

Port Renfrew is a community on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 2 hours' drive west of Victoria, British Columbia. Port Renfrew is the western terminus of the Juan de Fuca Trail. Tall Tree Music Festival also calls Port Renfrew home, proving to be...

, which is at the limit of the Strait of Juan de Fuca

Strait of Juan de Fuca

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...

, which lies south and southeast of the river. Its name is derived from that or Port San Juan, which is also the namesake of San Juan Ridge

San Juan Ridge

The San Juan Ridge is a geographic featureextending approximately east-northeast between the South and Middle Yuba Rivers in the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains...

, which lies on the south side of the river's final W-E course.

Gold Rush Era

The First Nations of Vancounver Island have a legend of a Spanish trading Schooner which arrived on the Island's southwestern coast in 1777. The Spanish anchored in the Harbour and traded with the Nitinat Natives. The Spanish discovered gold in the San Juan River and tried to recover the gold. The Nitinat Natives slaughtered the Spanish expedition. Two Spanish women were taken as slaves. The woman were later released to another Spanish expedition who discovered them. The later expedition inadvertently infected the Nitinat Natives with small pocks. There is some evidence to support this story. Spanish ships such as the Santiago investigated the west coast in the 1700s. There also records of attacks on Spanish by First Nations. This is the first alleged discovery of gold in the San Juan River.

In 1885 an American prospector named Foster found gold in the San Juan River. Foster returned in 1907 to find more gold. Every year Foster returned looking for the gold. He returned year after year because he couldn't find the original spot on the San Juan River. Foster died in 1917 in Salt Lake City. The people of Port Renfrew heard about Foster's search. Many people from Port Renfrew searched all over the San Juan River looking for Foster's old gold site. It was never discovered. In 1893 the Minister of Mines said "Gold has been found in nearly all the streams draining into the San Juan Harbour. There are some good looking quartz ledges between McDonald and Fleetwood Creeks, which flow into the San Juan river where the Leech Trail strikes it."