The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-28 00:00:00

there can be no doubt that the country is auri-

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

(From the Corresposdent of the Times.)
VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, MAY 10.
The following is a summary of the mining news
for the last fortnight :
The correspondent of the Victoria Gazette, at
present travelling in the mines on a tour of inspec-
tion, writes that the mining locations which extlen e
from about 15 miles below Fort Hope to that p ae a
on Fraser river yield an average of 5 dols. a day to
the hand, but that the miners, not satisfied with so
small a return, had gone higher up, to the Canoe
Country, in search of richer digglse.se The town of
to the town
Fort Hope is growing rapidly. C
dry diggings were producing such results as 6c. to
" bars" on the
the pan of earth. Several of h
river were yielding 5 dohs. to 8 dols a day to the
man. One man, with a rocker, made 39 dols. in
five days, and the week after_ made 21 dols. in
three days. e This is a little above the average,
none making less than 5 dols. per day, and some
reaching 8 dols." Of the mining between Fort
Hope and Fort Yale, a distance of 15 miles, we
learn that—
" This side of Yale many of the miners are taking out
big amounts of gold daily, some of them almost fabulous.
ri
Victoa bar is at present the scene of some as profitable
mining as any reasonable man could desire. Puget Sound
Bar is also yielding a handsome return to several com-
panies. On Texas, Emory's, and other bars, where the
4 pay-dire lies high up, so that the work will not be ret.
tarded by the high water, many of the miners will, dc..ucabn
less, stop the entire season. And 'on Union,
Sound, Victoria, and Hill's Bars good. Avenl.ageries.sariet
made; and upon the latter, which works 40 sluice neaa
is safe to put down the receipts at 6,000 dols: per day, dealtdy
sluices
are 42,000 dole. per week, clear of all expenses.
are taking out from 300 dole. to 500 deb. per day each;
one miner on Hill's Bar, who has been laid up with sick-
ness for some time, says his share has paid him 100 dols.
per day for the last month, he hiring a man to work in. his
place. I think Hill's Bar more nearlyresembles the richer
bars of California in its general features, location, &c., than
any I have seen on this river, and induces the opinion that
the gold is there deposited by the downward tending cur-
rent."
Of the town of Fort Yale, which contains 152
houses, the writer says
:
"The appearance of the settlement as we approach from
below is somewhat imposing, although there are no large or
prominent buildings to attract the eye. Some of the houses
are tastefully painted, and have an air of decided comfort
as well as permanency. The court-house, gaol (now empty),
post-office, and gold commissioner's-office are the only pub-
lic edifices here at present, and I am told most of the struc-
tures now occupied for these purposes are temporary, it be-
ing the intention of Government to erect more suitable and
substantial buildings on the Government reserve at a future
day. The lower flat, now the site of the principal street, it
Is said, will also be vacated, with a view to the introduction
of a string of sluices and washing for gold."
The streets of Yale may be said, without a
stretch of the imagination, to "be paved with
gold." But far more interesting and important is
the pleasing account of a Sunday at Yale :
"Every Sunday morning a sermon is preached by the
Rev. Mr. Robson, Wesleyan missionary, in the Court-
house. In the afternoon, this zealous Christian preaches
at one of the bars on the river, and again in the evening at
Fort Hope, where he is about to erect a church and par-
sonage. One of the novelties of missionary labour on this
river consists in the preacher paddling his own canoe up
the rapid stream from Hope on Saturday, and returning,
preaching at intervals, on the Sabbath, to the place of
starting, with the current. The town is much more quiet
and orderly than I had expected to find it ; not a broil or
disturbance of any description having marred the harmony
of the place since my arrival, if I may except the not un-
musical chant of the savages last Wednesday, upon the oc-
casion of celebrating the nuptials of their medical tyhee
and a dusky maiden."
The account of Fort Yale is wound up with the
following remarks. The " Little Canon" men-
tioned is the first gorge of Fraser river, which opens
a short way beyond the town :
" Considerable excitement is created here to-day by the
development of more auriferous wealth near the Little
Canon, where parties are said to be taking out a bit to the
pan, with pay-dirt five feet deep. The more I see of this
country the more thoroughly am I convinced that it has
not been even prospected as yet, and every man who now
leaves it I believe tramples his own fortune in the dust."
The journey has been continued up the Fraser
river ; and for the first 20 miles beyond Fort Yale
the writer reports at all the mining locations much
more than average wages are being made, and that
any man who is willing to seek gold under the sur-
face of the ground can find it. The word
" under " is emphasized in allusion to numbers of
idle men who " wait on Providence," " speculating
on the chances of something turning up," without
labour, on the surface. Like Mr. Micawber, they
will have "to wait " a long time. At one place at
which the writer had arrived " one party of five
men weighed 118 dols., the result of the day's
labour."
Higher up he came to a mining location of which
the following is his report :
" Island Bar is one of the richest localities of the Lower
Fraser. During the month of March a company of three
men took out the snug little sum of 10,000 dols. and last
winter when they were compelled to build bonfires upon
the claim, in order to thaw the ground, they averaged 25
dols. per day to the man. Several parties are possessed of
good claims, and when the water recedes all the modern
improvements will be brought into use to wing-dam the
river here. The last. pan of dirt taken out of the claim
while the water was rising a short time since paid four dol-
lars. It is believed by many old California miners that the
river has deposited this vast bed of wealth, and they will
stick to the claims until the now rising water again
recedes."
Of the mining country many miles beyond the
places just mentioned, near the junction of the
Fraser and Thomson rivers, we are informed on
good authority that the dry diggings are producing
from 8 dols. to 10 dols. a day. Several " fiats" in
this vicinity are being profitably worked—a fact
corroborated by the announcements that " the
miners are bringing in a ditch of some miles in
length for the purpose of working them, that they
have located themselves permanently, and have a
good season's work before them." Of several other
" bars" on the Fraser, near this place, it is also
reported that some " are paying handsomely'' and
others " paying well," while on the Thomson
river, at several of the " locations," the miners " are
making 15 dols. to 30 dols. per day to the man."
Such is the tenor of the intelligence received
from British Columbia during the last 14 days.
In my last letter I mentioned that a general
exodus of the miners was taking place from the
Lower Fraser to the Canoe Country. This country
begins at a distance of about 120 miles north-west
of the Forks of Thompson and Fraser rivers. It
is distant about 360 miles from the mouth of
Fraser river, by which it is watered ; and it ex-
tends to New Caledonia. It is a level country,
affording abundant pasture and capable of much
agricultural improvement. Being beyond the coast
range of mountains, it is drier and milder than the
country lower down, and is on the whole,
supposed to be a desirable place for settlement
where agricultural produce could be raised for the
supply of the mineral regions of British Columbia.
Some short time back th most extravagant reports
of its mineral wealth got spread among the mining
population on the Fraser and Thompson rivers,
which had the effect of exciting the fervid imagina-
tions of the miners to a degree which impelled them
thither from their paying locations—from such
places as I have just above described, and which
ought to have satisfied ordinary cupidity-_in search
of the fabulous wealth of the new Dorado.
The remoteness of the Canoe Country, in a country
without roads, carried the miners beyond the reach
of supplies. The traders could not follow them
with sufficient despatch to meet their daily wants ;
their own small stocks, carried on their backs, soon
became exhausted, and they, in consequence, soon
became " disgusted," to use their own term when
they wish to express dissatisfaction, and they re-
turned in shoals " sadder" and, it is to be hoped,
" wiser men " than they went to the Canoe
Country; some complaining that tkey " were
taken in," others reproaching themselves for having
left good paying " locations" for a will-o'-the-wisp,
and a large number hurling anathemas on the
" merchants" for overcharging in the prices, and
on the muleteers for " laying it on so thick" on the
freight of provisions. The merchants andnewspaper
writers gave the complaint another turn. They
' blamed " the Government" for not making roads.
" Roads," " roads to the mines," " roads to the
Up per Country," " roads" everywhere are the
burdens of the songs sung at present, and I suppose
they will continue in vogue until a " new grievance"
is started. The Government has made one road, and
it cost £14,000, and if it had the means it would
extend and improve this road and make more ; but
when I hear side by side with the cry for roads the
refusal to pay the miners' license fee, and a strong
Censure upon all taxation of a feasible and just
character, I really cannot see how the Government
is to get the money to make roads with. Roads,
like other
good th.ngs, will come in time • and un-
til their advent ,
should it would be well that the miners
remain on the Lower Fraser River, where
they can, with ordinary industry and perseverance,
make such earnings as I have reported in the first
portion of this letter on the authority of an eye-
witness, and whose testimony is corroborated by-
gentlemen who have very lately traversed the same
ground. They will thus save the reproach of one
of their own number, who writing from the spot,
says of Hill's Bar, near
Fort Yale, and the first
rendered famous by its richness, and quite within
the reach of all the necessaries, and of many of the
comforts of life, "the accounts are almost incredible,
yet I am acquainted with several who sold their
claims early last fall, declaring that in a month the
bar would be worked out," who started off for
" richer locations " in the Canoe Country ; and
who are now returned " to see their old claims pay-
ing well, while they have fooled away all they had
made."
In the conflict of accounts touching the Canoe
Country, I am not able to say whether it is really
rich in gold or not ; but as the Fraser flows through
it, and as we know that gold comes from " above,"

ferous.
The one universal conclusion that every one
arrives at—those who, like myself, have been in the
mines, and those who derive reliable information
from miners and travellers—is that there is plenty
of gold in British Columbia, and that population
alone is wanting to get it out.
Several miners have lately left the country for
California. The croakers are disheartened at this
circumstance, and prognosticate dire effects from
it—stagnation of business, and the stoppage of
immigration. For my own part, the fact gives me
no uneasiness. The departures have not been
much in excess of the arrivals for the last three
months. Some go away for the best of all reasons,
that they have made their " piles," and that they
prefer enjoying the fruits of their toil in their own
country in a more agreeable calling than mining.
Some go to return ; and others go whose absence
is preferable to their company ; in shprt, the ac-
count is nearly balanced. Miners, like all me. n
who lead a life of excitement, are
.very esily dis.-
satisfied with their lot. lam quite certain that if
the first years of California mining-life the miners
in that country had had a place of refuge so near
to them as San Francisco is to Victoria, with the
same facilities of conveyance, thousands of " dis-
gusted" miners would have left California.
The gold shipped in April from Victoria to San
Francisco by two express companies amounted to
108,236 dollars. How much was sent by mer-
chants and others in business, and how much taken
by private hands, I have no means of ascertaining.
125,000 dollars have been shipped this month in
the last two steamers ; and the Northerner, hourly
expected, will take about 100,000 dollars.
To show the " chances" of mining, I may mention
that two miners from Fraser river brought down
with them to Victoria a few days ago 5,000 dollars,
the result of 13 days' sluice-washing of dirt which
they had been throwing up for 40 days previous at
Hill's Bar, already so frequently alluded to—nearly
£l9 a-day. Such results, extravagant as they
seem, agree with what I saw at Hill's Bar in Sep-
tember. The statement is corroborated by the
' deposit of the 5,000 dollars above-mentioned in a
house of business here. Another miner came down
some short time ago with £4,000, the fruits of his
labour in the Canoe Country.
There tire instances of " lucky hits," but where
all can make a minimum of £1 a-day, all should be
satisfied.
All kinds of labour has risen in Victoria in con-
sequence of the success of the miners, the miners'
average earnings being the standard of value of all
other labour. For instance, an Essex labour whom
I employ refused 16s. a rod for trenching my gar-
den the other day; £1 a rod was the lowest rate
he would accept, which, for working 161 feet
square of land, ought to make him " a purse"
quickly.
Mechanics and labourers are in great demand, as
considerable improvements are in progress in Vic-
toria.
A good deal of excitement exists respecting
Queen Charlotte's Island, where I lately mentioned
gold had been discovered. Parties are preparing to
go to " prospect," that is, to explore the island in
quest of " diggings."
Her Majesty's ship Tribune, Captain Hornby,
and her Majesty's ship Satellite, Captain Prevost,
are in Esquimault Harbour. The Satellite has just
returned from a reconnaissance of Bunard's Inlet,
on the coast of British Columbia, and has brought
back Colonel Hawkins, the Land Boundary Com-
missioner, from Semiamhoo Bay, where he accom-
panied Captain Prevost, the Ocean Boundary Com-
missioner, to meet Mr. Campbell, the United States
Commissioner.
The Plumper is surveying in Fraser river. The
Pylades, Captain De Courcy, went to sea under
sealed orders last week, and has not yet returned.
There was a sale by auction of some land belong-
ing to Government in Victoria last Tuesday, which
brought such high prices as would evince a strong
confidence in the future growth of the town.
A sale by auction of town lots in Queenborough,
the new capital of British Columbia, takes place in
Victoria on the Ist of June.
For the number of our population, the trade of
the colony has been very fair of late. The imports
for the first quarter of this year amounted to
503,933 dols. 25c., showing an excess over the
previous quarter of 109,264 dols. 92c.
Batches of Chinamen are beginning so find their
way to Victoria, bound for the mines. I trust the
prejudices against their countrymen both in
Australia and in:California will not spring up in
this country. It is a great mistake to think that
these persons do no good to the country. They
are, in fact, considerable consumers, and they prac-
tise a "good faith" in keeping their engagements
that many Christians might imitate with advan-
tage to their own morality, and to their creditors'
profit and loss account.
It is to be hoped the Imperial Government will
do something to assist labourers to emigrate from
England, Ireland and Scotland to this country
where they are so much wanted, where such high
rates of wages prevail, and where the scarcity of
labour sadly impedes the progress of the colony.
I believe the usual course is for a colony to remit
funds to defray the expense of immigrants ; but at
first this is out of the question in the cases of Van-
couver's Island and of British Columbia, for neither
colony has any money. All the funds of the former
have been applied rigidly to internal improve•
ments, and the latter has not had time to collect
any revenue ; nor, indeed, is it possible to extract
much from so small a population. I am quite
sure, however, that both colonies would willingly
agree to tax themselves to defray gradually
any debt which would be contracted to the
home Government in sending out emigrants of a
suitable class. Both the colonies are at present
sadly in want of more people to develope their
very abundant resources, and profitable employ-
ment awaits all who come to settle in a country
abounding in a rich soil, and blessed with a healthy
and agreeable climate.
I can say that, after some considerable wander-
ing in some of the finest climates in the world, I
know no more agreeable place to settle in than
Vancouver's Island.
!st 1