Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1892-11-18
GOLD MINING IN CANADA.

history Of British Columbia
Victoria, the capital, was a Hudson
Bay post established in 1843, ant
Vancouver, Queen Charlotte's, ant
tho other islands, as we'll as tn
mainland, were OF interest to onl,
. few white men as parts of a grss
fur-trading field with small
Indian population. Tho frs
nugget of gold was found at wha
is now called Gold Hsrbor, on the
west coast OF Queen Charlotte
islands, by an Indian woman, in
1851. A part OF it, weighing four
to five ounces, was taken by the
Indians to Fort Simpson and sold
The Hudson Bay company which
has done little IN every line OF
business in its day, sent brigan-
tine to the spot, and found quartz
vein traceable so feet, and yielding
a high percentage of gold. Blast
ing was begun and the vessel was
loaded with ore, but she WAS lost on
the return voyage.
An American vessel, ashore at
Esquimault, near Vict.ria, was
purchased, renamed the Recovery,
and sent to Gold Harbor with
thirty miners, who worked the vein
until the vessel was loaded and
sent to England. News of the
mine travelled, and in another year
a small feet OF vessels came up.
from San Francisco; but the supply
was seen to bs very limited, and
after $4,000 in all had been taken
out, the field was abandoned.
In 1855 gold was found by 4
Hudson Bay Company's employe
at T ort Colville, now in the State OF
Washington, near the boundary.
Some Thompson river Indians who
went to Walla Walla spread a re-
port there that gold, like that dis
covered at Colville, WAS to be
found in the valley Of the Thomp-
son. A party of Canadians and
half. breeds went to the region re-
'erred to and found p,acers nine
miles above the mouth of the |
river. By 1853 the news and the
0. i. s.i-rec the
miners of California, and an as
invasion of the virgin
province began. 1t is said that in
he spring OF 1853 more than co.
700 persons reached Victoria from
San Francisco by sea, distending
he little fur-trading post of few
lundred inhabitants into what
would even now be called . con-
'iderable city-a city of canvass,
however.
simultaneously third as many
miners made their way to the new
province on land. But the land
vss covered with mountains and
|ense forests; the only route to its
Interior for them was the violent,
lmost boiling, Fraser river, and
here was nothing on which the
ives of this horde OF men could be I
ustained. BY the end of the year
ut OF nearly 10000 Adventures,
My tenth part renamed. Those q
tho did stay worked the bars of the l
,wer Fraser river until in five
lonths they had shipped from q
'ictoria moro than half million c
ollars' worth of gold. From a
istorical point of view it is a /
eculiar coincidence that in 1859,
hen the attention of the world was Q
rs. attracted to this new country,
,e charter of the Hudson Bay +
expired, and the terri 9
,ry passed from its control to be-
,me like any other crown colony.
In 1860, the gold miners, seeking Q
,e source OF the "four" gold they a
,und in such abundance in the
ID of the river, pursued their :
arch into the heart and almost Z
,e center Of that forbidding and t
,broken territory. The Quesnel f'
y.r became the seat of their p
,erations. Two years later came b
,other extraordinary immigra- v
On. This year was not sur-i