The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-10-21

Those who desire to better their fortunes by cold
digging, will scarcely venture to do So at this
time by joining tine miners on Frazer river
During the past four months some ten or twelve
thousand ardent and thoughtless Adventures
embracing men of all classes and conditions, have
quilted the State of California and the territories
of Oregon and Washington, TO explore, and work
the gold fields in the wilderness of British Column
bia. Nearly all have met with disappointment
and but few can claim to have been more than
moderately successful. Ever since last June, four
thousand miners have camped out on the banks
of Frazer river, between Fort Hope and Fort Yale,
waiting for the waters to subside, and working,
in the meanwhile, in the shadows. Nine tenths
of these adventures are described by an eye
witness, to be in the most wretchcd condition i'm
aginable. They are without hats, or Shoes and
are in deplorable want of clothing; but they en-
deavor to exc out a scanty subsistence, Y the
meagre product of their labors, and by appeals to
the charity of the newcomers. 1t is a melancholy
spectacle to contemplate, that of a body of men,
flushed with high hopes and extravagant expecta-
tions leaving behind them friends. kindred and
acquaintance, occupations not wholly unremune-
to dare the perils of long journey, and to find
themselves, at last, hemmed in by rugged noun
tains, with the golden promise not only unfnl-
filed but with starvation staring them in the face
How many lives have been lost already, and how
many constitutions have been irretrievably shat
tered in this eager quest after gold, it is imposs-
BILE to compute. Some we know, have died by
+l,o bov banp bot h,rp f1,-in
savages, and some have been drowned in the
turbulent rapids of Frazer river. Yet the en-
perience so dearly bought by the survivors, and
the moral it conveys, have not deferred others
fiom following in their footsteps. Several thou
sand emigrants have recently left the Atlantic
States, bound for British Columbia; deceived by
the false reports that have been circulated by in
terested parties with respect to the that the
miners have met WITH and the extraordinary
product of the placers That gold has been found
in British Columbia there can be no doubt what
ever; but the quantity received at Fort Vancouver
has, thus far, not exceeded few hundred ounces
and we have no positive evidence that the yield
is likely to increase. Some of the bars, on Fra
zer's and Thompson's rivers, may possibly be rich
in metal; but it is questionable whether the re-
turns will ever compensate the miners for the
dangers they have braved, and the time they have
already lost 1t must also he taken into consd-
Grafton. in any estimate that may be made of the
present, or prospective value of the gold placers
of British Columbia that, in all the explorations
which have been made, up to the present Time
there have been no dry diggngs discovered, nor
any veins of gold bearing quartz. All the min
ing operations must, therefore, be necessari-
" restricted to the beds of the rivers, and
&c these are overhowed for seven or eight
months of every year, it follows that
the profits of the mines cannot, under ordinary
circumstances be very great. fit was possible TO
engage in agricultural pursuits, during the spring
and summer months when the waters are high,
and in mining operations during the remaining
norton of the year, success in the one vocation,
would offset the risks and casualties that are COM
mon in the other; but, unfortunately, the broken
and mountainous character of the gold bearing
REGION renders it utterly impracticable for farming
nur,,oses Nor does the wide stretch of country
lv;no 70 the Eastward of Frazer river and between
the coast range and the Rocky Mountains, present
snch inviting opportunities for settlement as would
induce emigrants to make it their permanent home
in preference to the more Southerly territories of
Washington and Oregon. Those, therefore, who
seek to improve their fortunes by going TO British
Columbia, can only hope to succeed in one of two
ways-they must either engage in trade, or they
must take their chances at the mines. In
either case, the probabilities are that they would
fail to accomplish their desires. 1t is true that we
hear, occasionally, of instances in which adyen-
turers have been Fortunate even on Frazer river;
but when we are informed, on good authority, that
out of four thousand men encamped between Fort
Hope and Fort Yale, thirty-six hundred of them
are in state of utter desrtution it is not difficult
10 imagine, in what a deplorable condition other