BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Further Papers relating to the Affairs of British Columbia.

GOVERNOR DOUGLAS, writing from Victoria, Vancouver Island, in the months of February and March, 1860, gave an account of the progress of the colony, and recommended that some encouragement should be given to the establishment of an ordained and educated clergy in British Columbia, by making free grants of land for their use. The last intelligence respecting gold was not so favourable. British Columbia was becoming highly attractive to the Chinese, who were arriving in great numbers. In May Governor Douglas made a tour to Pitt Lake, distant about forty miles from New Westminster, part of which he described as follows:

The banks of Pitt River are exceedingly beautiful; extensive meadows sweep gracefully from the very edge of the river towards the distant line of forest and mountain. The rich alluvial soil produces a thick growth of grass interspersed with the Michaelmas daisy, the wild rose, and scattered groups of willows. This fine district contains an area of 20,000 acres of good arable land, requiring no clearing from timber, and ready for the immediate operations of the plough. Many parts of it are, however, exposed to overflow, through the periodical inundations of the Fraser, which commence about the first week in June, and generally subside before the middle of July. Owing to this circumstance the Pitt River meadows are not adapted for raising wheat and other cereals which require the entire season to mature, but may be turned to good account in growing hay and every kind of root crop, and may also be used extensively for pasturing cattle, and for the purposes of the dairy.

The Brunette, Coquitlum, and Whytus, the latter opposite the site of Derby, are streams accessible by boat or canoe for some distance from their debouche into Fraser River; their importance to the district, as an easy and inexpensive means of communication, is very great, seeing that they form a series of natural canals, intersecting the country in all directions, and admirably adapted for the transport of goods and produce to and from the navigable waters of the Fraser.

The banks of Fraser River are almost everywhere covered with woods. Varieties of pine and firs of prodigious size, and large poplar-trees, predominate. The vine and soft maple, the wild apple-tree, the white and black thorn, and deciduous bushes in great variety, form the massive undergrowth. The vegetation is luxuriant almost beyond conception, and at this season of the year presents a peculiarly beautiful appearance. The eye never tires of ranging over the varied shades of the fresh green foliage, mingling with the clustering white flowers of the wild apple-tree, now in full blossom, and filling the air with delicious fragrance. As a boat, gliding swiftly over the surface of the smooth waters, occasionally sweeps beneath the overhanging boughs which form a canopy of leaves, impervious to the sun's scorching rays, the effect is enchanting; yet amidst all this wealth and luxuriance of nature, one cannot repress the wish that those gorgeous forests might soon be swept away by the efforts of human industry, and give place to cultivated fields and the other accessories of civilization. This, however, will be a work of time, though there is no doubt that the facilities and inducements now held out to settlers in this colony by the pre-emptive law and other enactments, might enable thousands of the

destitute poor of Britain, by a few years of steady industry, to secure for themselves happy homes and a comfortable independence for life. In his progress through Hope and Yale the Governor had occasion to suggest improvements in the means of communication.

In October, 1860, the Governor gave a further description of another excursion he had through the country, as follows:-The country between Douglas and Cayoosh probably contains a smaller proportion of agricultural land than any other district in British Columbia. The whole district may be truly described as a succession of valleys and mountains covered with woods almost to their rocky summits, and abounding in rivers and streams of every size. Forests of magnificent trees and great water-power constitute its natural advantages; its metalliferous resources, though probably vast, having yet to be explored.

Houses and fields begin, here and there, to break the cheerless solitude of the valleys, and in no instance that came under the Governor's notice, has the husbandman been disappointed of his reward. Its genial climate may be inferred from the fact that tomatoes ripen in the open air, and had come to full maturity at the end of August; when melons raised in the same manner were nearly fit for use. The settlers, though few in number, were full of hope and confidence; pleased with the country, and satisfied from experience that the climate is one of the healthiest in the world. The winters are moderate, the minimum temperature being zero, Fahrenheit; but the cold is seldom so severe. The lakes have never been known to freeze, nor the snow to lie so deep as to interrupt the ordinary traffic of the road.

The district was, in short, not wanting in any of those conditions which contribute to the comfort and happiness of man; and should the explorations now in progress add the precious metals to its known elements of wealth, there will be no want of inducements to attract and retain an industrious population.

As the road advances from Port Seaton towards Fraser River, a marked change is observable in the character of the country; the mountains are left behind, the massive forests gradually disappear, and are succeeded by green hills and open plains, dotted with fine old trees of the species pinus ponderosa. The change is grateful, the contrast bringing into bolder relief the charming scenery of Cayoosh, which is situated about half a mile from Fraser River.

This being the centre of a flourishing trade, where all goods brought from Douglas are necessarily deposited in their transit to the interior, and the chief town of a valuable mining district, a stipendiary magistrate, Mr. Thomas Elwyn, who also acted as gold commissioner, was stationed here. Successful attempts at cultivation have been made on a small scale near the town, and streams of water from the neighbouring hills have been skilfully diverted from their natural course and applied to the important purposes of mining, and of irrigating the soil, which thereby acquires a degree of fertility and productiveness otherwise unattainable in a climate seldom visited by summer showers. Cayoosh was thus a place of much real and prospective importance. The Governor found nothing defective in the state of the public administration. The people were satisfied with the laws. The district accounts appeared to be kept with order and regularity, and returns of the local revenue have been duly made at proper intervals to the colonial treasurer. The regular establishment consists of a magistrate and one constable, who attend to all duties connected with the public

service; the former being, however, fully authorized to employ casual aid whenever emergencies arise.

There appeared to be no local grievance affecting the interests of the town or district, nor was any change suggested in the mining or general laws of the country. All that was urged was the early sale of town lots at Cayoosh, protection for the Chinese miners, and the removal of stake nets and all obstructions having the effect of preventing the ascent of salmon from the sea to the inland rivers.

The country situated between Lytton and Rock Creek was highly attractive, and no other part of British Columbia, nor of the United States territory north of Columbia River, offered so many inducements in point of soil and climate to the enterprising emigrant. Its distance from the coast, and difficulties of access have hitherto almost excluded it from intercourse; but as those impediments are removed by the formation of roads, now in rapid progress, from the navigable points of Fraser River, it will no doubt become a centre of population and the seat of flourishing settlements. The Governor did not attempt to describe its physical aspect; but to give a general idea in a few words, he observed that it formed an elevated tableland of great extent, sometimes rising into hills, and is traversed by many noble valleys, and watered by numberless streams flowing into its great arteries, the Thompson, Shimilkomeen, and Okanagon Rivers. There are many varieties of soils, much arable land, and a great deal that is fit only for pasture; but as a remark generally applicable, he observed that the valleys contain a large extent of good open land; while the steeply swelling hills are mostly covered with trees formed into groups, or growing with park-like regularity, widely apart and free from brush or underwood; but the peculiar feature of the country is the profusion of grass that covers both woodland and meadow, affording rich pastures for domestic animals, a circumstance which gives to this district an extraordinary value, as every part of the surface, whether hill or valley, may be turned to account and made available either for tillage or stock farming.

The climate, like that of all other parts of the colony, was perfectly healthy; and there was much less humidity at all seasons than in the districts bordering on Fraser River. Vegetation was, nevertheless, fresh and green to a degree that was hardly to be expected at that time of the year. The seasons exhibited no extremes of temperature, the summers being warm, and the winters sharp but not severe. The lakes, except the Okanagon, and all the rivers, freeze in winter; and there are occasional falls of snow, but it seldom lies in the valleys more than a few weeks at a time. The fact that horses and domestic cattle are left out all winter to shift for themselves, and generally thrive without any care on the range of the country, is probably, however, a better criterion of the temperature than any other circumstance that can be adduced. It is, in short, a very pleasant and desirable part of the colony, possesses a healthy climate and many other advantages, pastures being already formed where thousands of cattle may find food; and the industrious colonist will find it much better and easier to raise crops than in the woodland districts, where it takes much labour and expense to clear a small space.

After five days' travel in a fine open country, the party reached the main branch of the Shimilkomeen River, a few miles below the lately discovered gold diggings, where 80 or 100 miners were at work, all seemingly in high spirits, pleased with the country, and elated with their prospects and earnings.

Many of them were engaged in putting up log-huts, and making other preparations, as they intended to winter there if they succeed in having supplies of flour and other necessaries brought from Hope before the mountains become impassable from snow. As that was clearly impossible without greater facilties of communication, it was evident they would have no alternative but to desert their claims and leave the country, at a serious loss to themselves and to the colony.

In November, 1860, Governor Douglas sent some extracts from a communication, dated Alexandria, 17th of October, by Mr. Philip H. Nind, Magistrate and Gold Commissioner for Alexandria, from which it appeared that he had, from various causes, encountered much detention on his route to Alexandria. His arrival in the district was hailed with a general feeling of satisfaction, and his services were immediately called into requisition by the complaints of the inhabitants against a few notorious evil-doers who had taken refuge there, and become the terror of the place. The most vigorous measures were at once set on foot to bring them to justice, and one of the number was soon afterwards apprehended and committed for trial; but the others could nowhere be found, and are supposed to have fled over the frontier into Oregon. Mr. Nind had temporarily established his head-quarters at William's Lake, on account of its central position, from whence diverge, as from a common focus, all the routes leading to the upper and lower country. The rate of wages to hired labourers was five and six dollars a day, and of provisions and other necessaries about the same as at Alexandria, in some instances a little lower from the great amount of competition.

Ferguson's or Rich Bar when first discovered proved highly auriferous, as much as 60 dollars a day to the hand having been made; but after the pay-streak near the river became exhausted, the flat in the rear had to be pierced, and the gravel wheeled over plank roads for some hundreds of yards to be rocked out at the river; the profits, consequently, of the day's labour considerably decreased, so that the average receipts were from seven to ten dollars a day to the hand. As soon, however, as water can be brought on for sluicing there is no doubt but that high wages will be made. Unlike the bars on the Lower Fraser, the ground is here unobstructed by heavy timber or roots, and the miner finds that not only does the pay-streak yield gold, but also the sand overlying it in sufficient quantities to pay for the washing. It is the general opinion that there will be employment on this bar for more than a hundred men, and that it will not be exhausted in less than two or three years. The introduction of water is an operation requiring considerable capital and engineering skill. The ditch is cut from a lake situated between four and five miles to the north-east, and has to be brought on by means of a long tunnel; the expense of completing it is calculated at 12,000 dollars.

Three miles below Ferguson's Bar is British Bar, where a company of six Cornishmen are bringing in a ditch about five miles in length for their own use. The bar is but of small size. No miners were noticed between here and Alexandria, though there were signs of work done in the spring. The Fraser, between Alexandria and Quesnel River, is a swift but not turbulent river, averaging from 200 to 300 yards across; it has a few small ripples, but none of the dangerous whirlpools so common in its lower course; the navigation does not appear difficult; Ferguson's Bar being supplied with necessaries by boats from Alexandria, which make the trip of sixty miles in about two days and a half.

Between Alexandria and Fort George, there were but two impediments to steamboat navigation which it would be difficult to surmount, viz., two passes or cañons where the river narrows and rushes violently through precipitous rocks. The physical features on the Upper Fraser, that attract the attention of the miner, are three:-1st. Its benches, bars, and flats; 2nd. Its earth-slides, and high banks, displaying several strata of wash gravel; 3rd. The water in its vicinity that can be made available for mining. The first are very extensive, and some have been worked with rockers; but rockers are really only an advanced kind of prospecting apparatus, and stand in the same relation to sluicing and the hydraulic-pipe as the Chilian arastra does to the Californian quartz-mill; in both cases the deposit of gold must be very large to yield remuneration to the employers of so limited and primitive a method of obtaining it. Respecting the second feature, the earth-slides and high banks yield the "colour" to prospectors, and in many cases, two or three cents to the pan; were the hydraulic-pipe brought to bear upon them, ground that is now unemployed would be highly remu

nerative.

Respecting water, this great essential to extensive mining operations can be procured without much difficulty, though not without labour and expense; for if streams are less frequently met with descending from these wooded hills than flow from the snow-topped mountains of the Lower Fraser, yet the great number of lakes situated within accessible distances of either bank, would afford a supply entirely independent of rain-fall or melting snow. At present the country is struggling against the high rate of provisions and necessaries; the class of men that arrive in the spring have but enough money to purchase a few weeks' provisions, they cannot afford to work for the future, but must make money immediately or return, so that a thorough testing or development of the auriferous resources of this particular section of country, till very considerable reduction takes place in the price of things, is not to be looked for. The Governor conversed with many men who have been prospecting from Alexandria to the furthest point hitherto reached, and he found even amongst the unsuccessful no disbelief in the richness of the mines, but a general impression to return next year and try their luck again. Amongst the geological phenomena of this portion of Fraser River, there is much to attract attention, more particularly a dark brown substance which the people call coal; on Ferguson's Bar and the adjacent banks many detached pieces lie scattered about, and the Governor was informed by a person on that bar that he had used it for blacksmithing purposes and found it to answer. Some eight or nine miles above Alexandria, where the river, from a north and south course, makes an almost rectangular bend to the east, a high bank displays a complete stratum of this singular formation. The Governor collected some specimens of it, and found on examination that its specific gravity was much lighter than that of coal, that it did not soil the fingers, and that the grain of the wood was distinctly visible. He apprehended it to be lignite in a transition state, but whether it could be utilized for commercial purposes, he was unable to judge. The banks of the river here are of considerable altitude, and are composed of a kind of indurated clay, called by the miners trap-stone; they have been worn by the action of the water into cylindrical forms, and assume the appearance of buttresses and columns. The trail between Alexandria and Ferguson's Bar passes through some exceedingly rich open land, consisting of heavy black loam with a subsoil of clay, apparently well adapted to the