Year: 1863




Letter from Vancouver.


VANCOUVER, Aug 18th, 1868.


READERS of THE STATESMAN How
many of you have ever been at this place
and how many of you ever sat down and
mused upon the scenes which have been en-
acted here Lei US 60 inside of the ruins
of old Fort Vancouver, aud within its des.
olated walls, shut out from the world,
think of the past-the time when the Col
munbia, or as Irving has it, 'the Oregon
rolled on in its majestic course to the ocean,
and heard no sound save its own dashngs"
Upon the placid face of this grand river
sixty years ago, Lewis and Clark, its first
explorers, gIided in their canoes Now,
these waters are stirred daily by the swift
steamer as it passes to and fro to supply
the wants of the thousands of people who
are aocking into and searching thoroughly
the mountain faStnesses, then for the first
time seen by the eye Of the white man.
Within these walls now crumbling to decay
was once the emporium Of all the trade Of
the mountains here the Indian came 10
trade the products Of the chase, for the
fruits Of civilization. Here once or twice
a year ship after performing the long and
tedious voyage from England, doubling
Cape Horn, aud twice crossing the equa-
tor, unloaded the goods and chattes Of the
trader. and brought the news Of events
that had transpired six months before on
the other side of the Atlantic Now these
ruined tenements thus recalling the past,
are within the reach of six days time from
the Atlantic and twelve days from London.
In yonder house, whose crumbiug caves
and foorless rooms are the abodes of bats
aud heas, once lived the present Governor
Of British Columbia, then a simple minded
factor Of the Hudson Bay Company, and
little thinking that he would ever attain
the high position he now holds. In yonder
building, looking like row of sheds, used
to be the stores and warehouses Of the II.
B. Company How much wealth has
passed under those doors, and if they could
talk of all that has occurred within them
what scenes could they not relate? The
yard now overgrown with weeds was once
alive with the busy hum of trade as the
"brgades" arrived from the interior; upon
its face The eyes of many refugee has
looked with pleasure when he reached it
safe from the pursuit of the Indian and
now nought is left to disturb its repose but
the occasional passing of the soldier, or the
COW as it hunts up some fresh patch whereou
to Craze. Above these ruins and overlook
ing them on the Northeast corner of the
enclosure stands The Old block house baS-
tion. 1t leans little to one side as though
it had began 10 feel the pressing of the
hand of time and would soon lie with its
fellow tenemeuts in the dust. Its port
holes and loop holes still look oat in all d.
reciOns as though trying in vain to discov-
er the aborigiuces who used to hover around
| the groves of timber within rife shot. Now
the tall flag staff near by holds aloft the
stars and stripes and under their ample
! fods as they wave, we feel that the empire
Of the Indian has passed away, and the
sceptre which swayed the soil has passed
from them into the bands Of a mightier and
more favored race In the yard in the rear
of the stockade enclosure, are rows Of APP
pie trees whose gnarled and deadened limbs
as they peer through the scanty foliage
/ seem as though they too were feeling the
advancing age and were getting ready to
/ give way to the young and thrifty growth
which characterize the gratis of to-day.
! Leaving thus The remnants of the past
and the meditations called mp by them, let
US go and see the 'last thing out, viz: the
/ patent self setting-back acting compound
! lever-ratchetelevat machinery This
machine is late invention of one Of the
geniuses Of Vancouver, aud when it is com
peted will be one of the most powerful of
| the many mechanical contrivauces, for eesa-
ting great weights with small power. If
were to tell you how it is made and de-
scribe it accurately the inventor would pur-
sue me with sharp stick and sue me for
belraying his patent, SO that will only say
that by use of this contrivance a quarter of
a pound will raise forty pounds; or a man,
by machine constructed in proportion to
the model, with an exertion of only one
hundred pounds, can raise eight tons. The
only thing that now remains for humau in
genuty to cOntrve is a machine which at all
times and under all circumstances will never
fail TO raise the wind.


Before leaving the theme of Vancouver,
however, l will say one word about it's fu-
ture When time shall have left its build
ingS Wondering in decay, when the research
es Of the antiquary in future ages will be
devoted to its name, location and inhabt
ants, it will shine as the Gretna Green of
the Pacific, where lovers unwilling to sub
NIT to the wholesome restraints of the new
marriage law of Oregon, come to be joined
in wedlock under the genial sky and mlder
laws inaugurated by The Legislators of
Washington Many have already stolen
away from the sister State aud come to this
spot so soon destined to be classic ground
and standing alone and unattended in the
coy little parlor of the Alta Hotel have ta-
ken one another by the hand and promised
to love honor and obey until death does
them part; and the honorable judge of the
court as be stands up and prouounces his
benedictiOn upon them seems to realize the
solemnity of the occasion fully as much as
the few by-standerS aud


YoqRs l'AEly,


Letter from Colville.


CoLvILLE VALLEY, Aug. IL, SO


MEssRs EDs:-I am not yet sufficiently
Ill ! L