The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-30 00:00:00

tact with some unseen rock !" About 10 miles
above Harrison river we met the Sea Bird, bound
up. We went past her like a shot, and anchored
off Fort Langley at 8 a.m. The next trip she will
come down in much less time.

The same evening we arrived at Bellingham Bay,
having been detained some two hours on the sands
at the mouth of the river. I hardly recognised the
place. I was here before the gold fever broke out,
and altogether there were about ten houses.
Where there stood a dense wood before was now the
town of "Sehome !" Whilst on the other side of
the coal mine was "Whatcom" larger than Sehome,
but having the drawback of about a mile of bar in
front of it, at low water. There were, as nearly as
I could judge, about 1,000 men here, nearly all
busy staking out water lots, about which there
seems to be great trouble brewing. Others were
making preparations for starting out on the trail ;
but by far the greater part were apparently in-
tending to go no further. The pack train had just
left, and as I was told, charged 20 cts. par pound
for goods.

Provisions at Bellingham Bay were plenty and
cheap. Flour was $l6 per bbl ; bacon, 30 cts. per lb.
As those are the two grand staples, the rest were
priced accordingly.
About 120 passengers came aboard here, and
the Surprise returned to Victoria. There, on the
12th June, the Republic armed with her crowd
of passengers, the majority of whom went on to
Bellingham Bay.

The same day (yesterday) I left in a canoe
with six Indians bound for Port Townsend,
where I arrived an hour ago, to find it deserted
of the crowd I heard was there. The fact ap-
peared to me that it has " gone in," a' the saying
36uiekeepers were seemingly ruminating
on the past four weeks' excitement, and as they
smoked their cigars, wondering where the deuce
the people bad gone to.
On my way over I stopped at San Juan Island,
where the late fracas occurred between the In-
dians and Mr. Hubbs, the U.S. Inspector there;
and found that a crowd of Coquille Indians, in
eight canoes, had arrived on a small island con-
tiguous to it, where they had captured, or rather
"corralled" three Americans, who had stopped
there to camp, taking everything away from them.
The Indians also stated that they had shot a
Kanaka, but I do not know how true it was. Mr.
Hubbs was not there when I arrived, having gone
to the place to see about the affair. As I had
need of urgent haste to reach Port Townsend, I
did not stop long.
I return to Victoria immediately, and from thence
I will go up the river again, whence I shall write.
The Surprise will run regularly between Victoria
and Fort Hope or Fort Yale, connecting with the
mail steamer from San Francisco. Thus any one
can slip aboard a steamer in San Francisco and
get off on any bar they may wish to stop at this
side of Fort Yale. In my opinion, to talk of any
other route is a farce to men from San Francisco.
Now that the water is high, the trails must be re-
sorted to, to get up to the Forks; but when the river
is even moderately high, canoes can be taken as high
up the river as desired, making but one or two fifty-
yard portages, at the Grand Falls and one rapid.
However, I shill write from my experience soon,
though my authority is good for the preceding.
The maps of Frazer river, which are so plentiful,
are poor ; the course of the river is not right ; and
whilst a great number of imaginary streams are put
down, the great number of large and well known
ones are not to be found. A great number of
places on the river are now known by distinctive
names, none of which appear on the published
maps. The sketch of the river which I lately sent
you is correct to the time it was drawn. I suppose
that after the places get a little better known, the
maps will be correct enough.

STATEMENT OF A RETURNED. MINE R
FROM FRASER RIVER.

Mr. George B. Wilbur, a brother of one of the
firm of Strobridge and Co., who his just arrived
on the Panama, has called upon us, and given some
• rsf ma experience in the
Fraser River min's, which will be found below.

He left San Francisco on the 20th April, on
board the steamer Colombia ; stopped at Port
Townsend one day. Himself and party, composed
of seven others, bought a canoe for 50 dols. and
started for Frazer River. Were ten days making
the distance from Port Townsend to Fort Yale,
about 250 miles. At Fort Yale they went on about
12 miles, and came to rapids, where they had to
make a portage of about eight miles—one mile of
which they were compelled to pack even their
canoe upon their backs. At " Sailors' Digging"
they camped and mined ; and continued to move
slowly up the river, prospecting as they went along
the river's banks. They found gold everywhere.
At some places more, at others less—sometimes
they took out as much as four bits to the pan, at
other times five cents. They went up about 25 miles
further than Fort Yale, and were prevented from
ascending higher by some rapids or falls, where
the water fell near 15 feet over the rocks. It
was impossible to take a canoe higher. Near the
Falls they prospected and found gold very plenty.
They noticed as a characteristic of the mines, that
the higher up the river they went, the coarser
was the gold.
Near the Falls, and scattered along the river
banks, from Sailor's Bar up, were many miners at
work—all with rockers, as the gold was too fine
to be saved in any other way. They had to put
blankets in the rockers to save the fine particles.
The average was from two to three ounces per
day to the rocker, requiring two men to the
rocker. Some places were much richer than
others.

The Indians were very troublesome. They
would seize upon the dust dug by the whites
and wash out the gold. They would even take
the tools from the miners. The whites were
afraid to resist, as, they would have been over-
whelmed by numbers. In five minutes time five
hundred Indians could be gathered at Hill's
Bar. These Indians were very expeit thieves.
They would steal the pistols from under the
head of a sleeping man, and the very clothes
from his person.

From the fact that the gold is only found on
the river banks, Mr. Wilburn is certain that the
gold-bearing country is above. The river is about
a quarter of a mile in average width. It is full c f
bars, that are exposed when the waters subside, all
of which must be full of gold. When the freshet
is over, the miners can ascend higher—and the
higher up they go, the richer and coarser the gold
appears to be. Canoes were selling at Fort L'lngley
for one hundred dollars each. The Indians were
very treacherous, and had to be watched. They
would cut the tow-line of canoes they were hired to
tow up, and sometimes would jump out and desert
you when on the rocks.