San Andreas independent., 1858-07-24
Letter from Frazer River.

p L.
and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of this Camp
one who has witnessed,tke rise and growth
of the mining interest in this State, and
is not likely to be. deceived by false ap-
pearsnees- we have no hesitation in
mdorsing, as true, whatever he may say:
FoRr HOPE, July 7th, 1858.
Dear Sir take this opportunity to
inform you that / am well. landed here
July 9th, but have not prospected any
yet; the river is very high and it has risen
about two feet in the last two days; before
that time itwas falling, and it had fallen
from four to ten feet this season-some
say four and others say ten. As for gold
being here, there is no doubt about it, but
whether it is rich enough to pay man
for his trip or not, | cannot say. I am
in company with Jack, Bob Hubbard and
Bill [ VIM Stein] the butcher; we bought
our grub together at Victoria Miners
are not allowed to take more than 200
lbs. to the man the steamboat will not
take passenger with more than that
amount; and also, they will not take him
unless he gets license, which costs $5
When we landed, there was about 1000
people here, all waiting for the water to
fall, but as they are going up the river
every day, there is now not more than
about 500 to 600 here; they 90 up in
canoes it costs from So to SIS to get up
as far as Fort Yale, which is lS miles, but
above that it is impossible to- get at pres
ent. There are bars between this and
that, where, it is said, men are making
from 500 to $50 per day to the man
with rockers. Jack and Bob went up
to-day to see if they can find place to
pitch in; they will be gone day or two; j;
this is a HI of a river; man cannot
get up at all without canoe; the noun
talns all stand on end, and if a man val
ues his life very high, he had better not
come at all, for you hear of canoes getting
upset almost every day, and somebody
being drowned; yesterday there was six
In one party drowned between this and
Fort Yale. The trail starts from here to
Fort Thompson, which is from l2O to $50
miles distant, on Thompson river, and the
first 40 miles is over an Internal rough
and mountainous country, but the remain
der of the' way is passable; there is no
yUa nf 70
river, at present, but to foot it and carry
your grub, for there is no animals to be
had. | have seen and heard of several
men who have returned from there, and
some of them were in a starving condi-
ton, for there is no grub to be had for
love nor money, up there. Some men
that came back say mule msat is selling
for 75 cents per pound, aud scarce at that
About 400 men have started out in the
last two days for Thompson river, with
their blankets, tools and grub on their
backs. They take from so to 80 lbs. of
grub to the man, besides tools and blank
cts. If the boys in this place do not find
claims that will pay something, between
this and Fort Yale, antIf the water falls,
[ will start for Thompson's, s, in about four
days, | think. | do not think the other
boys will go with me. am watching
around now for the Indians to bring in
some animals, and if they do l will have
one if it takes my bottom dollar. This is
not the way for Californians to come to
the mines of this country III was back
in California again, [ would either start
overland from there, or GO to the mouth
of the Columbia river by water, and thence
by land. BY way of Bellingham Bay is
the best way of all, if they ever get the
trail cut through; but by all can hear,
it will take at least two months yet to get
it through. We bought our grub at Vie
toria, and paid for -four sl0per hundred; ;
bacon 378 cts. per h.; sugar l6 cts, and
other things at about the same rate. Here
at Fort Hope, flour ranges from SIC to
S25; bacon, 10 to 80 cts; and some
things it is impossible to get all the
scarcest articles here or at Victoria, are
cooking utensils and tin ware. If you do
not hear from me any more, you need not
think it strange, for | have not got my
life insured, and if | 90 across to Thomp-
sons river, which is almost certain, the
chances are strongly against me. English
George is mining on the river above here,
and John Freese was here, but him and
his wife left here about ten days ago with
the Hudson Bay pack train for Fort
Thompson I heard his wife is going to
stop at the Fort; the man having it in
charge has family living there, and he
was down here and told Mrs. F. that if
she would go and stop with his family he
would take her and her things up free,
and she could stop there as long as she
wished, without charge.
saw man last night who told me that
Judge Garretsce was here, but that he
had gone down the river few days ago.
Dutch Pete is above, somewhere, and
Miller, from Upper Calaveritas, is also
up the river. Big Bill came up on the
same boat that | did, and Palmer, from
Mokelumne Hill; they both went on up
towards Fort Yale. | am sitting in a
tent, and while writing, can look out and
see the snow on the tops of the mountains.
do not think # is two miles off To-day