The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

BRITISH
_COLUMBIA.-THE GOLD

DIGGINGS.

(From the American Papers.)
iIOW TO GET TO FRASER RITER.
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, July 14.
The recent gold discoveries at Fraser River have
awakened quite a lively interest in this community, as we
believe the most feasible !route to be through Saint Paul
for that region of country, as another season will make
evident.
That part of British America lying north of
late this,da and
extending to the Pacific, has, until within a te,
been a terra incognita to most intelligent people, owing
to the care which the Hudson's Bay Company has exer-
cised in suppressing all information of the richness,
fertility, and exuberance of the soil, and salubrity of the
climate of a large territory over which their chartered
rights have extended. From the little knowledge gained
of that tract the desire to know more of it has been quick-
ened, and has thus far resulted in the organisation of two
exploring expeditions by the British Government, one of
which will proceed from the east and the other from the
west. The excitement occasioned by the discovery of the
rich auriferous valley of the Fraser River in British Oregon
will very much hasten the development of the vast re-
sources of the most favoured route to the Pacific coast for
either rail or waggon road.
With a desire to give to the public the nest reliable in-
formation in regard to the country over which emigrant
trains from this point to the gold-bearing portiens of
Oregon will have to pass, several meetings have been held
is this city, and reports made, which give to any one wish-
ing information all the knowledge they can desire.
Prom these reports we learn that the distance from Saint
Paul to the Gold Mines on Fraser River is as follows :
St. Paul to Pembina
Pembina to Carlton House
Carlton House to Edmonton 4OO miles.
Edmonton to Fraser River (a branch of Fraser) 2OO

Total 1,650 miles.
It is estimated that in ♦iew of the facilities afforded by the
face of the country, and the continuous line of Hudson's
Bay Company's posts, that this journey can be accom-
plished in 70 days, at an expense to a company of 10 per-
sons of $lBO each.
There are many reasons why the above-mentioned route
Is the best from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pncific.
One is, it has more water, timber, and game than those
which start from the Missouri. Another is, there is no
danger of molestation from Indians on this northern route.
Another and very important one is, that the ridge of the
Rocky Mountains, which, west of Missouri, hunches up like
a camel's back, gradually flattens out; so the transit on the
northern route is comparatively easy. _ _ _

The fact must be kept id mind, also, which is verified by
" Blodget's Climatology," that there is a rapid Increase of
heat in going westward from Minnesota on a line of latitude,
and this, even where the elevation increases, so that the
climate of St. Paul is carried far north into the Valley of the
Saskatchewan, to the Rocky Mountains, beyond which we
find a climate very similar to that of England, mild and
humid.
The; region of country through whieh this route to the
Pacific passes, besides being well watered, well timbered,
aid abounding in game, as well as being the most easy
of creasing the mountains, is also the healthiest of any
which has yet been traversed. In the report made by
Governor Stephens, to the War Department, of the route
to be surveyed for a railroad to the Pacific, taking this
point as our terminus, is the report of the surgeon of
the expedition, in which he says the climate on the line
of their surveys is so highly salubrious that the average
amount of sickness, with all the exposures incident to a
constant march, was far less than when the troops are in
garrison. Such, in tenor, is also the report of the explorers,
surveyors, and voyageurs on the northern route.
It would not be at all surprising should the Fraser River
gold tract, which Governor Stephens states extends into our
possessions as far down as Southern Oregon, be found the
richest on the continent. The discoveries and yield thus
far warrant such a belief. Then, there must of necessity be
some more direct communication with the Pacific than we
now have with California, and, as an enthusio‘tic railroad
projector once said of another route, " The finger or the
Almighty has indicated the route " by way of St. Paul, the
valleys of the Red and Saskatchewan Rivers, over the great
depression of the Rocky Mountains, in about the s'2d deg.
of north latitude, is the most feasible, and in all respects
desirable, to the auriferous regions of the Pacific.