Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-10-10
BROOKS HOSkINS Tells
OF life In CANADA
IS, "A LONG WAYS FROM clvILIZA
TON BUT HE SEEMS TO EN-
JOY iT.
Comes to the Front With Fish
: story and Says He Is Feeling All
Right.

" In letter received here on Satur-
day, Oct. 9th, which was written on
Sept. 22d, from his camp in the
northern part of British Columbia,
Brooks Hoskins gives his parents
glimpse of what he is doing in that
country.
He states that he Is in the employ
of the Quesnelle Forks Hydraulic
Mining Company, which seems to be
an American company, with head
quarters in Philadelphia. Brooks
left the line of the Canadian Pacific
railroad company at Ashcroft, a sta
ton some two hundred miles east of
Vancouver. From this point he took
the stage due north for over three
hundred miles, using conveyance
that is portion Of what the owners
Of the line state is the longest stage
line in North America, they operating
over $50 miles of this means of .:av-
el At the end of his stage route he
hiked twenty-six miles to the head
quarters of his employers and from
this point they sent him forward an-
other twenty-five miles. An old class
mate at Grand Forks, Mr.. Cecil Ma
hon, is also there in the employ of
the same concern. Judging from his
letter the boys are engaged in work.
ing for a company that seems to be
putting in lot Of money preparing
to mine gold on an extensive scale.
The following excerpts from his let
ter may prove Of interest:
Dubois Camp, Quesnelle Forks, Bri-
fish Columbia:
''It seems kind of useless to write
but expect you may get it some time.
Let's see; this is Sept. 22d. Last time
I heard from anybody was in Tacoma
on Sept. 5th. But there Is hope. You
see mail goes to Quesnelle Forks
once a week, gets there Thursday.
Now the road camp, (where Cecil
Mahon isl is ~ miles from there, so
there is no chance of its getting
through until Friday. 1 am on the
Swift river and rs miles from the
road camp. There is pack train go
ing between the two places and it
takes two days to get through, that
is four days for the round trip. Oh,
this is out of the way alright. The
company l am working for is called
the Quesnelle Forks Hydraulic Gold
Mining Co.. and has its headquarters
in Phil4delphia. They have, a few
mountains OF placer gold, but no
water. so the proposition is to get
water. They are putting up dam
on the swift river so feet high and
running 81 flume to the gravel, 40
miles. Part of the way is over tres
tie ninety feet high. There are two
tunnels, one over $500 feet long, and
two inverted siphons on the job.
The company is also building 40 miles
of wagon road to haul in supplies
over. NJ
"Since got here 1 have been max
ing a map of the country around the
dam, using both transit and level. AS
soon as a few more men get here,
which will be in a few days, have a
party of ten and start the final stalk
ing of the ditch. 1t is pretty fine
work and slow. The party will be
composed of axemen, rodmen, cham
men and q cook, besides myself.
speaking about the weather:
Since l left the road camp it has rain
ed every day, hailed once and showed
once. Have not been dry since
started work and do not expect to be
until it freezes up and is cold all the
time. Get dry and warm at night.
though. We have two log cabins,
with eight persons in each. A few
of the fellows sleep in tents until
more cabins are put up. Have little
stove and sleep on fir Feathers so
are quite comfortable, except day
times.
Have pretty good cook and there
are lots of beans, rice and potatoes.
Once in a while we get beef stew,
which is quite a treat. The Cow
is canned and so is most of the rest
of the stun, but we are hungry and
it all goes good. Have trout stream
going by the door, but it is late and
the fishing is poor. It took about
half an hour to get twenty one night,
running from nine inches to a foot
long. I thought that pretty good,
but every one else said it was poor.
See bear, sign every day; have seen
elk, deer, moose and cariboo. This
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