Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1858-08-20
Further news from Frazer River.

FARTHER News from Frazer River.
The great absorbing topic of interest
now throughout the whole country is HE !
discovery of rich gold mines on Frazert
River. in the British possessions. and the I
probable consequence to our own aurifes, |
Gus region Ia California. as wells8as the !
future effect upon the commercial rela-
tions Of the United States aHd Great Rri-
tain. In view. therefore, of the vast in
terest attached to the subject. we subioin
slime extracts frenalettersteeeiyed by The
last Calaesaia steameraoA San Francis
CO correspondent OF the New York Journ
at=of=eomutsrcss=writiug7on theE3d= inst.,
says:s az OF aE4SfS Es.
Four steamers aIe now running direct
TO Puget Sound tBking eight =loads@a
MONTH Now nine , steamers carry
passengers. to-. Erazer river. land since
klast Wtote,, 1000 persons have gone up,
s-WhSciT makes: about i4.oe0 in, all within.
che past sixty, days. The news is.favor->
able, aud the. mines are Tich.E The river
bars are very rich : but the country has
'notayst been prospectedj' sufficiently for
'smesto say it-isSrich also--bIt + have mo-
doubt oft p The Indians, are too! numGr-
+oas to allow the4niners 70 leave the river,
unless iularge bodies. There will, chow
ever, soon be enough to prospect in all
directions Should the country prove
rich as anticipated, our State will be de-
populated. The whole Interior is now
crazy on the subject. Wages have ad-
Yanced so much that most of the quartz
mills have stopped. and [ look for great
falling off in our receipts Of gold. Sill. q
country " ich gives five or six millions
of gold every aaonth, cannot long suffer.
they have great trouble'in getting men
for their streams. Nothing else is spoken
Of bit Frazer river, and people are GET
ting biue as to the effect to pc produced
ot our own State, and this city in partic-
afar. The excitement may cease as sud-
denly as it commenced but think not.
Up to this time it is safe to say that at
least t1csnty JSpe thousand able-bodisd men
fCaliforuians) have already left this State
Z aud gone to the North. These embrace
men Of all classes. The majority are in
dustrious miners, who have been toiling
'9lsboriously for months or years, digging
in our own mines at So to $40 per day,
but believing that Frazer river mines
would pay better. say So to $35 per day,
they have been tempted to sell out their
old claims, and packing up their shovel
hoe and pick, and shouldering their era
die, have gone off to the new and unex
pfored mines, in hopes of lettering theil
fortunes. All the idle men of the cities
have also gone North, and If the ne VS.
yet to DO received during the presen
month is con6rmatory of what has pre-
ceded it, we believe that California will
lose at least oue>sixth of her working
population. Our interior cities of Stock
ton and Sacramento have already suffer
ed terribly. Particularly is this true Of
Sacramento city. Stores and dwellings
are being closed out, the inmates leaving
at any sacrifice for the North. Brick
stores on J street that have heretofore
rented forsone or two thousand dollars
per month can now be hired for one dol.
lar per day. ..'
HOW THE FRAZER GOLD MINES IN THE BRIT
ISL POSSESSIONS WERE DISCOVERED.
The first white miner who worked on
Frazer's river was a Scotchman named
Adams. He happened to be travelling
through New Caledonia early last year,
on his way to see some relatives, and be
stopped at one of the trading posts of the
Hudson's Bay Company, where he met a
brother Sawney, and an old acquaintance.
named AcLane. The latter entertained
him in a friendly manner, and told him
how the Indians living on Frazer river
had been bringing gold dust to the post
to trade with, saying that they had dug
It on the river bank. This statement W as
listened to by Adams with greedy ears,
and bis resolution was soon taken to ex-
S1ko 10 f. L;noeoIs l.
had been a miner in California, and knew
how to go to work. He accordingly pro-
vided himself with a pick. shovel and
large tin pan. and went to the dwelling
place OF certain family that bad been in
the hapit of bringing gold and the gold
dust to the post. He found the squaws
engaged in washing in baskets, and he
soon satisfied himself by washing a few
pans Of gravel that he was in rich Dig
gipgs. He returned to the post, made a
rocker. purchased some provisions, went
back to his diggings. hired couple of
Indians to help him. and worked iudustri
susly for three months. in which time he
dug upward of $1,000. During all this
time he never saw a white man save
when he went to the trading post to pur-
chase provisions. for which he was com
PEELED to pay extravaSant prices: flour at
one dollar per pound being the cheapest
article.
In the autumn he became tired of liv-
ing away from white society, and he went
down to Puget Sound, where he engaged
as a sailor on board the American steam.
er Constitution. He told his story there,
showed his gold dust, and attempted to
induce various persons to return with