The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-08-13
TIE rRAsER RIgER eoLD MNEs
irrou, lAo San Francisco eore.poaa'pl ofiAo Herald


Iron lho San correspondent Of tho Herald
SAN FBAsclsoo, July 20 1858.
There can be no doubt but that The excitement respect
I'D, the gold discoveries upon Frazer and Thompson fiv
G in the British possessions, Is much less now than 1t
as two weeks ago Leters upon letten have been re-
,,d from parties who, having failed Immediately b.
s,mpish the objects Of their emigration made their
communications tho reflection Of their own individual
ceilings These letters have been Published extensively
d The newspapers OF this city and all the State The
Acct is as might DC expected. reyulsion In public
pnon has taken place concerning the mines and where
e fullest faith was held Of their richness and extent,
ucreuy and rdicule Of the whole matter are now ex
pressed Several have united to bring about the
change The great majority OF the journals published In
California have waged against The excitement,
nny 10 check the emigration which seriously threat
ened to dcpopuIae the State The inbospitblo climate
Of Fraser river the scarcity Of provisions and the diff
Guilty of supplying the large number OF miners with The
neces-es of life the iiberal policy OF the Hudsonb
Law Company, which exercised rigid monopoly Of all
trade and the perils Of river navigation, all de-
picted with power and telling effect
lcorresponaonce 0 the San Francisco Hcrald.l
VICTORIA, July a. 1868.
have been horc since yesterday and oday had the
GOOD fortune to meet with Captain Travaillot who has
,st returned from away up the Fraser and Ihomp-
on rivers and tho information he gives il perfectly as
founding and renders certain the c that there is much
gold be had for the digging the bars and banks of
those streams.
Captain Travalot has been on the head -waters of
those for the last eighteen months, and reports
positively that the diggings rich that the gold IL
found in dry diggings we'll in the streams and
ines that he knows men (chicny from OTegon) making
in dry diggin from fifty to two hundred dollars per day
This is the TRUTH and could you the honest open
cOlntenancc of the captain you would readily believe
what he says to be true He also says TINT the winter is
the best time to dig, and that it docs not freeze In the
valleys in the winter as to deter from mining. Men
worked comfortably all last winter with the exception Of
uv.. x. Z.
month OF September The Indians not hostile to the
whites after August but that during August the whites
would interfere with the of the salmon upon which
they chiefly subsist during the year He says the gold
on Thompson river Is smallest particles seen
by him being worth about ten CENTS and the largest
piece valued ut fourteen dollars thscoarsc gold is taken
from the dry diggngs.
There is peculiarty that he cannot account for and
that is the absence Of quartz among the gold Inc coun
try is full of cactus, that II Is almost impossible to
travel with occsins and it is well known that frost is
death to the cactus Ii is not therefore, frozen region
the banks of the streams and in the valleys The
mountain tops, Of course, covered with snow and it
is intensely cold there but that the valleys comfort
ably habitablc during the winter.
Now for the distances it is one hundred and eight
miles from Fort Hope to the forks OF Fraser and Thomp-
rivers, and there good diggngs all the way up
that distance From the forks to Mormon bar it is six
miles from Mormon bar to Fosters bar, twenty nine
miles, from la Fontaine to the Canoe, one hundred and
six miles, ad that is high enough to supply the world
with gold) These distances all Fraser river.
Everywhere that the miners have prospccted they have
found sufficient gold to reward them
STEAMER SIERRA NEVADA, July 7, 1853
A Frenchman at Victoria, formerly captain made
some statements the extent of the Fraser gold fields
which do not credit The statements were made IN the
presence of Mr. Wallace who understand has reported
them putting full credence in all that the Frcnchman
said do not doubt the sincerity of Mr. Wallace but
question the vecy of his informant for the following
IIa iye1v ed rio
(WHICH he said extensive enough to supply the
world in latitude As deg SO min, one mile within
American territory. He asccrtainod the latitude with
small sextant and his observations entirely in his
memorandum book from which, ALSO he made table Of
per diem products of several rockers He also says there
is frost where he mining. tropical climate
the Upper Fraser river
This gentleman is contradicted by Mr. Alexander, who
was'present, and from the same dggings Alexander
says that there dry dggings and that the mining
region is limited to the bars Of the river and win bear
comparison with the California mines.
nothing in the representations of the Frenchman,
taking into consideration the fact that he contradcted
by others, and that he has made different statements
other OCCASIONS to conflict with the following conclusions
First That there the bars of Lower Fraser good
disgings every foot Of which is occupied.
Second That on Upper Fraser and Thompson rivers
there dry diggingsat least there no evidence
Of any and several persons from those mines and
have been Mt Victoria who have prospcced the country
and found none.
Lhcfelb no west Oh Inc noun
tains, except ON the bars Of the river.
Fourth That gold dust found the bars is exceed
ngy fine, and not found below six inches from the
face - aE s
Fifth That no gold bearing quartz has yet been dis
covered
Sixth That the poverty of many of the bars is such
that, while one two make three or four ounces
day, hundreds of miners do not make over q dollar
day.
The above conclusions have drawn from personal OK
animation Of those who know the Fraser river mines and
are fresh from them. ss
find also that there is gold dust in circulation at
Victoria, Wbatcom, Sehome, any other place. That
the Hudson's Bay Company have known of the exist
ence of these mines for long period of time and
have never received in the aggregate $4,000 or
$4,000 The balance of the gold dust that is yet to
rich the world at the bottom Of Fraser and Thomson
rivers That so apprehcnsvc is Gov. Douglas of fam
Inc IN the mines, he has opened Fraser river to all
ses His proclamation to this effect to be issued the
day after the Sierra Nevada sailed If you inquire of the
thousands congregatcd at Victoria and Whatcum for
sight at the gold dust YOU referred to San Francisco
They have none