The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-25 00:00:00

THE GOLD DIGGINGS OF BRITISH

COLUMBIA.

(From the Correspondent of the Times}

VICTORIA,! VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, JAN. 20.
I shall send this letter by express via Panama,
because I am informed that the mail stages across
the continent have broken down. It may take
longer to reach you, but the old route is much safer
than the overland route. In my last letter I gave
a detailed account of the mining operations in
British Columbia during the season of 1861. in
this letter I propose to give a general sketch of the
mineral region, with the view of conveying to such
as have not been in the country a definite concep-
tion of the extent and capabilities of the goldfield.
Beginning with Fraser River, the main artery of
the auriferous region, I may state that gold is known
to exist and has been worked at a great many places
in the river and on its banks from a point about 45
miles from the mouth of the river up to near its
source in the Rocky Mountains; in other words,
from the 49th up to the 53d parallel of north lati-
tude, a distance (taking in the windings) of some 800
miles. The south branch of the Fraser has its sources
near Mount Brown, in the Rocky Mountains, in
about 53 deg. north latitude, 118 deg. 40 min. west
longitude. Thence this branch flows for 290 miles
to Fort George, a post of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. The north branch rises in an opposite di-
rection. It receives its supply from a series of lakes
lying between 54 deg. and 55 deg. of north lati-
tude, longitude about 124 deg. 50 min. west, and
runs a course of 260 miles to its junction with the
south branch, some miles below the 54th parallel of
north latitude. Here the union of the two branches
forms the Fraser River proper. Adding the north
branch, which is also a gold-bearing stream, and
which was " worked" last season to the other arm,
the two will give us a continuous stretch of aurife-
rous riverain territory upwards of 1,000 miles in
length, extending for many miles back into the
country on both sides, but not including the tribu-
tary rivers which fall into the Fraser. In short
the river itself is now known to be auriferous
and to pass through a gold-bearing country
throughout its whole course. Geld is also
found in most of the tributaries of the Fraser, of
which no less than 59 are known. The great length
of the main river, and the number of its tributaries
will give some idea of the auriferous resources of
the country.
But these facts do not by any means convey a
comprehensive or accurate view of the vast extent
of the area of the goldfield, because they are limited
to the central portions of the country, while the
whole of the upper portions of British Columbia,
from its southern to its northern boundary, is
auriferous.

Besides the gold found in the beds and on the
shores of these streams, the Fraser itself and many
of its tributaries are skirted or bordered by ter-
races, all of which yield gold also. These terraces,
or " benches," as the miners call them, run at in-
tervals along both sides of the rivers for miles in
length, and they recede, where the mountains re-
tire, for distances back into the valleys, varying
from a few acres to a few miles in breadth. They
are objects of curiosity and speculation, and add
much to the beauty of the rude scenes in which
they occur from the regularity and evenness of
their structure. They generally occur on both
sides of the river (opposite to each other), at the
same place, sometimes at the same elevations on
both sides, sometimes at different elevations, high
on this and low on the other side of the river ; and
in some places they are multiplied into several suc-
cessive level parallel plateaux, rising one above the
other as they recede from the bank. These terraces
are composed of the ordinary alluvial deposits—
loam, gravel, stones, sand, and boulders ; and they
are thick masses generally rising to a height of
150 to 200 ft.
This geological formation occurs more fre-
quently on the Fraser than on the other rivers.
The terraces are also larger on the main river,
in some cases assuming the proportions of hills, all
with regular and perpendicular faces. Their for-
mation is, perhaps, due to the fact, that the valleys
between the mountains were at one period filled up,
or perhaps, formed lakes. Each bench" may
mark successive periods of drainage or subsidence of
the water ; and their present elevation above the
rivers may be due to their having bcen cut away by
the rapid-flowing streams. The tumultuous and
swift-flowing Fraser would soon cut 13. bed for itself
(as it has done) down to the rock.
Leaving the solution of their formation to the
learned in such matters I w ill hasten to explain
their value to the miner. They contain vast depo-
sits of gold, and to be worked to advan tags the
" bench diggings" must command a stream of water
supplied from a source higher than their own sur-
faces, so as to give a fall to enable the miner to apply
the water to the face of the " bench" by it hose.
The force of the stream is due to the height of the ,