The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-17 00:00:00

junction of Fraser and Thompson Rivers, and in-
cluding the mining country about Bridge River, he
reports very favourably. Of the country on the
Fraser River, at a distance from its mouth of about
220 miles, he remarks :—" The two banks of the
river at this place, and to a great extent for a long
distance above and below, consist of benches, or
table lands, rising with great regularity the one
above the other. Seen at a distance, they resemble
terraces, and from the uniformity of the slopes and
level surfaces, look like works of art rather than of
nature. They are covered, as are also the adjacent
mountains and bottoms, with a luxuriant growth of
bunch grass, and beautified with scatterer g pine
trees. Over these plateaus it is easy and plea-
sant travelling, they being so clear and level
that waggons can pass with facility over them
everywhere, except where they are cut by water
courses. In some places you may travel over them
for miles withouut deviating from a direct line, or
meeting with the slightest obstruction."
In this neighbourhood he found miners making
as follows :—" A Frenchman earning 20 dols. a
day.; 15 to 20 men working with rockers variously
making from 3 to 15 dols. a day to the hand. With
sluices they think 10 dols. could be made at all
seasons of the year. Going on 12 or 15 miles, and
passing some 20 miners scattered along the river
making from four to eight dollars a day, I reached
' Rose's Bar,' on which there are now 30 or 40
miners making 3to 15 dols. a day. The average
pay is at least 5 dols. a day to the hand."
He then passes on to " Foster's Bar," of which he
spots were found upon it at
says :—"Many rich
low water, and as high as 50 dols. to the hand was
taken out for many days in succession. It still pays
moderately well with the rocker. Large wages
can hereafter only be made by sluicing. About 50
men on the Bar working with rockers."
The next place visited was "Fountain Bar,"
lying in an indentation of the table land on which
the town of Fountainville was situated, and
about two miles below it :—A good deal of work
has been done here with rockers, the dirt paying
even when carried several hundred yards to the
water .Last fall, a company composed of Germans,
French, and Italians, having claims here, dug a
ditch to bring water from a small lake a few miles
east of the fountain. This ditch at present sup-
plies three or four sluice-heads, and could easily
be made to furnish more. It was the first work of
the kind completed in this vicinity, and cost about
5,000 dols., more than. half of which consisted of
their own labour. They paid their hands 6 dols.,
and the whip-sawyers 8 dols. a day and board, while
at work on it. The company have put up com-
fortable cabins, and ate now running three sluices,
and working 15 men, with an average yield of
twelve dollars a day to the hand. They have
dirt enough to last them for years, the entire
top dirt paying three feet down, and if well
managed, the enterprise can hardly fail to enrich
its owners. I was informed by one of their number
that they took out 1,500 dol. in one dayin October,
a statement I found confirmed in other quarters."
I never want a better criterion of the riches of a
mining location than the rate of wages. Here the
miners were paying 6 dol. and 8 dol. besides board,
costing at least a dollar a-day more for assistance,
a clear proof thatthe " claim' would give the miner
a return sufficient to pay such high wages and. leave
a profit to himself. Passing numerous isolated
camps for 30 miles beyond Fountainville, the tra-
veller found the miners realising 10 dol. a-day to the
hand, 5 dol. and 6 dol. a-day, from 3 dol. to 6 dol.
a-day, until he arrived at a place bearing the
euphonous title of Dancing Bill's Bar. Here the
miners told him they could make 40 dol. a-week to
the man with ease. At Strangler's Bar the men
were doing about the same as at the place last men-
tioned. Coming down he fell in with two men pro-
specting along the water's edge, a little above the
mouth of Bridge River. They had been at work
three hours, and on cleaning up found 21 dol. and a
bit in the rocker. He then gets to Bridge River,
of which we have lately heard a good deal of a
favourable character, on account of the gold on it
being coarser than that found on the Fraser. This
river is a tributary of the Fraser and falls into it on
the west side, midway between the Upper and Lower
Fountain villages, some 60 miles beyond the junction
of Thompson's River. The correspondent discourses
of the river and its products very intelligently :
" OR arriving at Bridge River I proceeded up it
some 20 miles, making inquiries and inspecting
operations everywhere as I went along. This is an
impetuous stream, rushing through a canal-like
channel worn deeply into a hard slate rock, leaving
little chance for bars to form upon it. There are
about 200 men now on this river working with vari-
ous results—a man making 20 dol. or 30 dol. one day
and hardly as many cents the next. The gold here
lies much in pockets and crevices, causing great
variations in the daily yield. The dust is coarser
than that generally found on the Fraser, though
the average pay is not so large. Four dollars a day
would probably be a fair estimate of the wages made
here with rockers. There are five or six parties
working with sluices and making about double that
sum. The gold found here consists of thin scales
quite uniform in shape and much resembling small
shot flattened out. It assays rather better than the
Fraser dust, a lot of it lately sent to the Mint giv-
ing, as I am informed, 16 dols. 60c. to the ounce,
while the latter assayed but 15 dols. 90e. This is
owing not likely to any difference in the quality of
the dust itself, but to the fact that Fraser River
dust, being finer, is worked with quicksilver, while
the other is not.
" No gold has been found on Bridge River higher
than 35 miles from its mouth, the country along
it at that point becoming flat and its banks allu-
vial, One favourable indication on this stream is,
the bars grow richer almost everywhere as the
water subsides, giving ground to believe some rich
strikes will be made when it shall have reached a
low stage."
Returning from Bridge River, and pursuing
his course down the west bank of the Fraser
River, he says he " encountered no more miners
until reaching French Bar, two miles below.
This bar, like Rose's, Foster's, Mormon, and
some others, has been pretty well worked over.
and, like those, paid largely at an early day. A
ditch has just been completed, bringing water on
this bar sufficient to work three or four sluices.
There is no work being done now with rockers, but
those working with sluices make from 12 dols. to
14 dols. a-day to the hand. The bar is large and
the pay dirt will probably last a long time."
This gentleman concludes his letter, from which
I have been quoting, with the following remarks :
" I have thus presented you with results of my
inquiries, made with diligence and care during a
journey of nearly 200 miles continuously through
the heart of the goldfields of the Upper Fraser.
My statements as to the yield of mines I am satisfied
are very nearly correct. Of course I found parties
making more than any sum I have named, and
others less than the lowest mentioned. In fact, I
consider these diggings extremely variable and un-
certain. I have seen one man making large wages
in his claim, while another but a few yards distant
could make nothing. And it frequently happens
that a party, by striking a lead or pocket, will take
out several ounces in a day, and not make half an
ounce for a week after. This feature of
the diggings, while it tends to stimulate the
more hopeful and sanguine, is equally calculated
to dishearten those of an opposite temperament,
and hence the conflicting opinions entertained as
to the character of these mines even by those
who have worked in them, and the difficulty of
arriving at a fair average of wages. I do not desire
to become the ardent advocate of these mines, or to
encourage any one to come to them at this late
stage of the season. The weather here is growing
cold ; some snow has fallen even in the valleys,
and there are indications that winter is at hand.
It still remains to be seen whether men can work
at mining here during the winter months or not.
I fear they will be able to do but little."
This letter was written on the 22d of November.
On
n theup on Fraser
Nov. the same gentleman writes a
a second letter from Pavilion village, a place still
higher
W
orraeesre so
ciaPble Fraser River. This second letter
perfectly with
of
thea
accounts which
spokenhi
chlhaovtechoand-
ys so much information of an interesting charac-
ter, and so completely overturns the depreciatory
accounts published of British Columbia by the Cali-
fornia press, that I think it ought to be generally
circulated as a fair statement of facts. I therefore
copy 34
"Pavilion,
.13—er Fraser River Nov 28 1858
it in exten
In my last letter, written ' ' ' •
at the Fountain two
days since, I gave you a brief account of a tour
through this section of the mines, promising in my
next to say something as to their probable extent,
duration, and productiveness. This promise I pro-
ceed to redeem :

" MAGNITUDE OF THE GOLDFIELDS OP BRITISH
COLUMBIA.
" That the auriferous deposits of this region are
spread over a considerable scope of country is ap_
parent from the fact that paying diggings have
already been found on the Fraser River, extending
from Fort Hope almost to Fort Alexander, a con-
tinuous distance of nearly 400 miles. Among the
tributaries of this stream, Thompson and Bridge
rivers are known to be auriferous—the latter
sufficiently so to have already richly rewarded
those who have laboured upon it as high up as
35 or 40 miles from its mouth, while the former
has been ascertained to have many bars that
will pay in its bed. On two of its confluents—Ni-
cholas and Bonaparte Rivers—good diggings are
reported to have been recently discovered. How
mains re a m s
tos hbael
seen, yet b
lei t foundtle or
no abounding
prospecting
m,tany more of the numerous branches of these
thus in gold re
been done upon them. Nor is the extent