Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-08-21
The Last Frazer River News Unfa-
YOrabIC.

The arrival of the California steamship St.
Louis. at New York, gives us further news
from Frazer River, and the new gold dggings,
the accounts from which as to the abundance
of gold there are somewhat contradictory,
but Oh the whole un!avorable. The Cali
fornia papers, it is true. contain good many
individual statements, affirming and re-afiirm-
ing tie existence of rich deposits all along the
riyer-but to offset these, we have columns
upon columns of letters from emgrants, in
fiat contradiction, all uniting in the opinion
that the whole business is magnificent
swindle, gotten up by the Hudson Bay Com
pany and the steamship owners, for their es
pecial benefit. Real estate we are told, has
fallen one hundred per cent.-there are no
provisions in tn. country-tLousand Of peo-
pie on the verge O. starvation, and thousands
more are wishing the .nseves back in Califor-
mia, if they could only raise the means; while
to crown all, the Indians are represented to
be marshallng their forces for general on
slaught upon the pale faces, thus threatening
the gold seekers with war as well as famine.
There is doubtless much of exaggeration in
these gloomy pictures, and due allowance
must be made on the score of the bitter dis
appointments under which they seem to have
been written,-but allowance must likewise
be made for exaggerations and over colorings
on the other SIDE by parties interested in
keeping up and stimulating emigration.
The San Francisco Daily Bulletin of July
18th says:
"The reaction has set in Frazer River,
for the present, is as dead as door nail For
this We have looked. 1t has come a little
sooner than we expected but not soon enough
to prevent the untold sufierings that must
follow from the folly of those who have 50
blindy rushed into the inhospitable regions of
the North.
That there is gold on the river no one dis
putes. OF It's richness and the nature of the
deposits il will be impossible t. learn any
thing definite until the latter part of Septem-
Der or October. There are already miners
enough on Frazer River, waiting for the fall
waters to cover every foot of ground on the
bars. Then why not follow the advise we
have been perslstently giving from day to day,
and await the result of prospecting?
Unless dry diggings are discovered, the
gold on the bars will be speedily exhausted.
From information obtained from old miner
it would seem that the deposit of gold on the
bars in Frazer river is entirely different
from that on the rivers in California They
are said to he impressed with the idea that
the Frazer river deposit is the washings of a
very recent date from far up in the interior
of the country, and that it has been brought
down since the bars on the river were form
ed 1t has SO far been surface diggngs. On
the bed rock nothing has been discovered. 1t
is our belief that gold in great abundance will
be 'und at the heads of Frazer river, Thomp-
son and other rivers, but we have never be-
heved it would be more productive than that
to be had at this day in California The diff
ficnlties of getting to it, tie dangers to be
encountered from Indians, aud otherwise. the
short season for working, the expense of get
ting provisions to the MINES, and other diff
entities, will always give this State the decld
ed advantage.