570 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Mr. Todd, an old servant and pensioner of the Company. 

A House of Assembly composed of seven members, representing the
seven districts of the Island as follows: 

Dr. Helmcken, Speaker, Staff Doctor of the Company, and son-in-
law of the Governor. 

Mr. Pemberton, acting Colonial Surveyor. 

Mr. McKay, Clerk of the Company. 

Mr. Muir, a former servant of the Company, and father of the
Sheriff. 

Mr. Skinner, agent of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. 

Dr. Kennedy, a retired officer of the Company, appointed by the Gov-
ernor and Council to represent the district of Nanaimo. 

Mr. J. Yates, Merchant. 

Judiciary Department: — D. Cameron, Esq., Chief Justice; brother-
in-law of the Governor. 

Collector of the Customs: — Mr. A. C. Anderson, retired Chief
Trader of the Company. 

MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTERS 

I 

< 

t— « 

o
o 

(2 

pi
p: 

c 

566 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Port Townsend and Watcom. Watcom, in spite of its mud-banks
and other disadvantages, became the more popular of the two, espe-
cially when the enterprising residents annexed Sehome so as to pro-
vide better docking facilities. Other places on Puget Sound or
adjacent waters— Semiahmoo, for instance — perhaps the best site of
all — attracted the attention of the American speculator, but none of
them ever attained the size or importance of Port Townsend or Wat-
com. As a matter of fact none of these places would have been
thought of as clearing houses for the trade of the placer mines of
British Columbia, if it had not been for the strong desire of the
American press and people to build up a distinctly American city at
the expense of the newly organized British Colony. As it was, the
studied exploitation of the American ports recoiled upon the head
of the townsite promoter and real estate gambler, but not before many
an unfortunate miner had been duped by their specious promises and
brazen stories. 

Thus some four or five great cities were projected, each of them
to rely upon the placers of the Fraser River for industries and wealth,
and upon the nomadic miners of the Pacific Slope for population. It
was the golden age of the speculator in the primeval wilderness bor-
dering upon Puget Sound, and he made the most of his opportunities;
but as week after week passed and the promised easy road to the
mines was not completed, or much of it even built, the impatient and
sorely-tried miners, who had been lured to Watcom, Port Townsend
and other points, realized that they had been tricked by their unscru-
pulous compatriots. Then the bubble burst and the Bellingham Bay
Trail became a byword and a reproach. It was that then that Vic-
toria — at first shunned by American citizens, or at least by a great
number of them — came to be generally recognized as the one and
proper place of departure for the Fraser River. In the midst of
all this excitement of planning great cities, no one had given much
thought to Victoria. Indeed at the time when Port Townsend, Wat-
com and Semiahmoo were at the height of their meteoric boom in
the spring of 1858 Victoria was scarcely mentioned in the California
newspapers. "And yet," Alfred Waddington observes, "after all
Victoria was the place for a big city, as everybody might have found
out a good deal sooner" — which goes to show the prescience of the
writer.*^ 

'' Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 12. 

OLD VIEW OF VICTORIA, SHOWING JAMES BAY, SINCE FILLED IN 

THK FIRST ST. AWE'S CONVKNT 

OLD VIEW OF VICTORIA. OVERLOOKING IIARROUR 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 567 

People now began to leave the embryo American towns to come
to Victoria. At first miners had been allowed to go up the river
without hindrance, but as the number of adventures increased the
Colonial authorities thought it advisable to levy a tax of six dollars
upon each canoe or open boat and twelve dollars upon each decked
vessel. The necessary papers could be obtained at Victoria or at
Fort Langley, upon the Fraser River. This order naturally tended to
increase the population of Victoria because it drew hither many who
otherwise would have proceeded directly to the mines from Puget
Sound. Then at length it was proved that the Fraser was navigable
by small steamers as far as Hope, and a little later that vessels of small
tonnage could reach even Fort Yale, which at once became the centre
of the new gold fields. That intelligence dissolved into thin air the
speculator's dream regarding the future of Port Townsend, Watcom
and Semiahmoo. As soon as the news became public the influx of
population to Victoria was overwhelming. One is able to form some
idea of the extraordinary conditions brought about by the sudden
turning of the human tide towards Vancouver Island, and of what it
all meant to the little settlement of Victoria, from a contemporary
writer's brilliant and realistic description of that notable movement.
This is what he says: 

"Miners now came flocking over, together with all that hetero-
geneous class of adventurers commonly called the 'pioneers of civili-
zation.' Adopted citizens and others who had consulted their
American patriotism rather than their interests, by stopping at Wat-
com, loudly lamented the necessity of stepping on British soil,
whereas others, Britishers by birth and Americans by adoption, were
now re-whitewashed and became Englishmen again. This immigra-
tion was so sudden, that people had to spend their nights in the streets
or bushes, according to choice, for there were no hotels sufficient to
receive them. Victoria, had at last been discovered, everybody was
bound for Victoria, nobody could stop anywhere else, for there, and
there alone, were fortunes, and large fortunes, to be made. And as
the news of such a flourishing state of things soon found its way to
California, it was not long before the steamers brought up fresh
crowds." 

Naturally the 'sudden and unprecedented demand for supplies of
all sorts taxed the resources of the little community to the utmost. 

568 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Even the Hudson's Bay Company, with all its large stock, could
scarcely cope with the situation. 

''As to goods, the most exorbitant prices were asked and realized,
for though the Company had a large assortment, their store in the
Fort was literally besieged from morning to night; and when all
were in such a hurry, it was not every one that cared to wait three or
four hours, and sometimes half a day, for his turn to get in. The
consequence was, that the five or six stores that were first established
did as they pleased." 

The able author just quoted then sums up the character of the
population in the following striking phrases: 

"So far none but miners, mechanics, retail traders, or men of small
means, had made their appearance; but merchants and people of
standing, men who had so far hesitated, now began to arrive. Some
of them without exactly understanding the situation, or caring to
understand it, for the sake of a trip and solely out of curiosity. But
others might be seen coming on shore with certain heavy bags full
of gold coin, which they were obliged to have carried. They had
expected to get ground lots for nothing, and buy the whole city cheap,
and were sadly disappointed to find they had come a little too late.
Many of them had the trouble of taking their bags of gold back with
them, without even opening them, and all of them cursed the place. 

"These 'big bugs' were closely followed by another class, and Vic-
toria was assailed by an indescribable array of Polish Jews, Italian
fishermen, French cooks, jobbers, speculators of every kind, land
agents, auctioneers, hangers on at auctions, bummers, bankrupts, and
brokers of every description. Many of these seemed to think very
little about the gold diggings, the Company's rights, or their conse-
quences. Nor did they trouble themselves much about the state of
the interior, the hostile feelings of the Indians, or anything else of
the kind. They took it for granted that gold would soon be coming
down, and whether it did or not was not their object. They came to
sell and to speculate, to sell goods, to sell lands, to sell cities, to buy
them and sell them again to greenhorns, to make money and begone." 

To these may be added, so Waddington affirms, a fair seasoning
of gamblers, swindlers, thieves, drunkards and jail birds, "let loose
by the Government of California for the benefit of mankind" ; besides
the halt, lame, blind and mad.^- The infamous Paddy Martin, the 

J2 Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. i8. 

I 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 569 

Californian desperado, followed the crowd to Victoria, looking for
new fields wherein to exercise his fiendish wits; but the French popu-
lation forced him to leave the town for shame. Bad men of the type
of Boone Helm, a noted desperado who found his way to the Fraser
River overland in 1859, ''' joined in the first rush to British Columbia,
but they did not find the administration of law in the colony to their
liking, so they left it with a curse, or if they remained either came
face to face with Justice or turned over a new leaf. Wadding-
ton refers to the heterogeneous of the memorable year of 1858 as "the
outpourings of a population containing, like that of California, the
outscourings of the world," but he qualifies this harsh criticism with
the remark : ''Let it be said here to the credit of the town of Victoria,
that some of the worst of these characters kept away." He is careful
to add : 

"Mixed up among all these, however, was a large body of re-
spectable emigrants; patient hardworking miners, and others; honest
men who had come here to live by their industry, hoping to assist
their families and better their position; quiet law-abiding citizens, if
ever there were. Many of these have been sadly disappointed, whilst
others, more successful, have remained here and form a considerable
portion of our present population, as exemplary a one as is to be met
with." 

As a matter of fact the men of i8c;8 were western pioneers of a
high type. Naturally there was a small residue of disreputable ele-
ment, but these were soon eliminated. The early history of no settle-
ment, launched in such peculiar and trying circumstances, is so free
from crime as the early history of British Columbia, and that in itself
shows the high calibre of the men who first came to the land. 

In this connection it is interesting to recall the names of the offi-
cials of tJK- Colony of Vancouver Island, who were called upon to
b"ar the heat and burden of the day. They were as follows:
The Governor — Mr. James Douglas. 

A Council of Three, or sort of House of Lords, except that its delib-
erations are secret. This Council is composed of
Mr. John Work, second Chief Factor under Chief Factor Douglas 

(the Governor) .
Mr. R. Finlavson, Chief Trader of the Company. 

'^ Emerson Hoiigli, Story of the Outlaw, Chapter VIII. 

562 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 

But none of them knew aught of New Caledonia. "Naturally
enough," says an eye-witness of this extraordinary scene, "the greatest
ignorance prevailed among the miners respecting the geography of
the northern country." New Caledonia — who had ever heard of
New Caledonia? Where was it situated and what was it like? "And
the Fraser River — where was it? No one knew. It was known only
that gold could be found there, and that was enough to send hundreds f |
of men into the wilderness to make their fortunes or to die in the
attempt. I must confess, I had no idea of the existence of such a
country or such a river. I did not even know that Great Britain had
any possessions on the Pacific Coast of North America, and my fel-
low-miners were no better informed." '' 

Then began the historic exodus — the gold-seekers leaving Cali-
fornia in thousands with their picks, pans and shovels. It was stated
at the time by the newspapers of San Francisco that no less than
thirty thousand men left that town for the north in 1858. A miscel-
laneous fleet of odd craft — steamers and sailing ships — plied north-
ward to Esquimau or Victoria, the only known British ports in that
region. Vessel after vessel arrived to unload her human freight.
"Never perhaps was there so large an immigration," wrote one of
the pioneers, "in so short a space of time into so small a place. Unlike
California, where the distance from the Eastern States and Europe
precluded the possibility of an immediate rush, the proximity of Vic-
toria to San Francisco on the contrary, afiforded every facility, and
converted the whole matter into a fifteen dollar trip. Steamers and
sailing vessels were put in requisition, and old ships and tubs of every
description actively employed in bringing up passengers, something
like to a fair."'' 

Victoria — the sleepy little backwoods trading post — was sud-
denly changed into a populous rendezvous. By the wood-fringed
shores of the harbour and of the little arm of the sea called James
Bay — since filled in — a city of canvas sprang up, and on either side
of the Johnson Street ravine the miners pitched their tents. All was
activity and excitement, yet the cosmopolitan throng, little as it had
been accustomed to restraint in the mining camps of the south, and
although it numbered many turbulent spirits, generally behaved well. 

"A Miner's Experience on the Pacific Slope, Thos. Seward. Colonist, Feh. 26, 1905.
' Waddington, Fraser Mines, 1858, pp. 16-17. 

I'frv 

suil- 

was 

and 

V-. 

C
O 

C 

V. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 563 

The miners perhaps were surprised to Hnd law and order and a rep-
resentative form of government already established in this secluded
corner of the world, but they acknowledged the fact and governed
themselves accordingly. Now and then, it is true, a iew misguided
citizens of the United States would talk, blatantly of seizing the
country, but they soon realized the absurdity of such a notion. The
ships of war lying at anchor in Esquimalt Harbour were evidence
enough of the power which stood behind the Governor of the little
Colony of Vancouver Island. 

With that strange assortment of adventures which came to the
Colony in 1858 were a number of strong and able men, who achieved
distinction in one way or another in their adopted country. One of
the first and ablest of this eminent corps of pioneers bore the name
Alfred Waddington. From the moment of his arrival at Victoria,
where he pursued the avocation of merchant with some success, he
displayed an active and intelligent interest in the commercial and
political affairs of the island and the mainland. Looking with pro-
phetic eye into the future, he recognized even then the commanding
geographical position of what is now Canada's western seaboard; he
foresaw a great transT-'acific commerce which was to enrich cities
yet unborn ; he realized as a few pregnant minds had done before him,
that if British North America were to become a coherent and har-
monious whole it would be first of all necessary to weld that vast
territory with common ties and mutual interests; and — having the
vision — he resolved to devote the remainder of his life to the uniting
of the British North American possessions with a band of steel, which
was as fascinating a project as it was of the greatest practical value.
Waddington, however, like many another man whose noble ideals
but not their attainments, are recorded in history, lived in advance
of his age. Consumed with zeal, and with his imagination fired with
his grand conception, he thought and talked of naught but a British
trans-continental railway — while practical men of affairs smiled
indulgently at the man's idiosyncrasy, little thinking that that vast
enterprise, which then seemed so impracticable, was soon to become
an integral part of the policv of Canadian statesmen. It is to be
feared indeed that this enlightened advocate of an Imperial highway
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, came to be looked upon as a well-
meaning but visionarv fellow, perhaps even something of a bore — 

564 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

obsessed with an impracticable idea. Nevertheless the visionary
triumphed in the end — no one can tell how much Sir John A. Mac-
donald may have been indebted to him in the framing of his trans-
continental railway policy. 

Alfred Waddington died at Ottawa, where he had taken up his
residence in order the better to promote his object, before the
Canadian trans-continental railway became an accomplished fact, but
not before the completion of the undertaking was assured by British ■
Columbia's treaty with Canada, familiarly known as the Terms of
Union. But had the man never concerned himself at all with
such weighty matters, he would still be justly entitled to the respectful
consideration of the historian of British Columbia, because in
November, 1858, he published an admirable book entitled "The
Fraser Mines Vindicated or The History of Four Months," which
enjoys the distinction of being the first book printed on Vancouver
Island, if the statement in the preface to that effect is reliable.*
Impartial and accurate descriptions of the extraordinary conditions
brought about by the immigration of 1858 are by no means numerous
^in spite of all that was written upon the subject at the time — and
therefore Waddington's graphic portrayal of Victoria in transforma-
tion, and of the character of the men who came from California in
the first mad rush, is an important source of information respecting
that peculiar era in the history of British Columbia. The author's
vivid picture re-creates the little settlement on Vancouver Island at
the time of the gold excitement. "On landing in Victoria," he writes,
"we found a quiet village of about 800 inhabitants. No noise, no
bustle, no gamblers, no speculators or interested parties to preach up
this or underrate that. A few quiet gentlemanly behaved inhabitants,
chiefly Scotchmen, secluded as it were from the whole world, and
reminding one forcibly of the line of Virgil : 

"Et pene toto divisos ex orbe Britannos." 

"Though not perhaps quite so shrewd as Californians, they evi-
dently understood the advantages of the situation, were quietly await-
ing the results, and more or less acquainted with the country, seemed
rather surprised that a people so sharp as the Californians were
supposed to be, should be running after such an impossible air bubble 

*This little work came from the Press of the Pioneer Printer, P. de Garro, Wharf Street,
Victoria. It was sold at fifty cents a copy, but on account of its extreme rarity it now commands a
high price. There are two copies in the Provincial Library. 

« 

EAKI.Y \Ii:\\ OF GOVERNMENT STREET. VICTORIA
Loukiiif.' north from ''Brown Jufr Corner" 

KAUI.V \ IKW l)|- (;(l\ KUNMENT SIliEET. \ 1( I'DKIA
l^ookiii'T south Iroin "Mrown -lu'' ('ornt-r" 

I 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 565 

as the Bellingham Bay trail." The author then gives a delightful
little picture of Victoria as it was in the golden fifties: "As to busi-
ness," he says, "there was none, the streets were grown over with
grass, and there was not even a cart. Goods there were none, nor in
the midst of this 'Comedy of Errors' had a single California mer-
chant thought of sending a single bag of flour to Victoria! The con-
sequence was that shortly after our arrival the bakers were twice
short of bread, and we were obliged to replace it, first by pilot bread
and afterwards with soda crackers. At the same time flour was
worth eight dollars in Watcom." 

In the very beginning there was a marked inclination on the part
of the American miners and adventurers to give preference to the
American ports on Puget Sound, seemingly in order to avoid British
territory. Port Townsend, the port of entry for the Sound, was the
first place chosen, and forthwith streets were laid out, houses were
built, and "everyone flocked to Port Townsend," " where lots were
sold and resold at high prices. Other speculators were busy else-
where. These wished to build a city at Watcom and bitterly attacked
Port Townsend, finding little difficulty in exposing the faults of that
place — "her open roadstead, her uncertain anchorage in the stream,
and above all her distance from Eraser River." Watcom was cer-
tainly nearer the goal, but that in itself would have made little differ-
ence, if some clever speculator had not launched the idea of the
"Bellingham Bay Trail," which was to lead directly to the new
goldfields — a clear path to the placers of the Eraser and Thompson.
This trail deserves some mention because of all the extraordinary
ideas, that of cutting a perilous road through an almost impassable
country in order to avoid a navigable river, was the most extraordi-
nary. Many people, misled by promoters of the trail, not only
believed it practicable but superior to the route by the Eraser River.
The whole scheme was launched under "the spacious cover of Amer-
ican patriotism," to induce miners to buy their supplies at Watcom
in order to build up a city at that point. The California newspapers,
without knowledge of the countrv, supported the proposal and in so
doing added to the disappointments of the miner from California.*" 

In the meantime adventurers of all sorts began to assemble at 

"Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, pp. 8-9.
"* Waddingtoii, Fraser Mines Vindicated, pp. 8-9. 

CHAPTER XVII
VANCOUVER ISLAND IN TRANSFORMATION 

Victoria in 1857 was a little hamlet of a few hundred souls. The
Fort was the centre of ail activities. Here the settlers obtained their
supplies — as strangers at an advance of three hundred per cent, upon
the prime cost in London.' In this respect they were not as well
off as the settlers of Oregon who were charged but one hundred per
cent, upon the London price. Here also the Colonists sold, or
obtained credit for, their produce. The Hudson's Bay Company
controlled the market and bought or not, according to the demand.
There was no communication with the outside world but by the Com-
pany's vessels to London, to Alaska, to the Sandwich Islands, or to
American ports, and these vessels sailed only as occasion required.
There was no commercial intercourse, or any other, with Canada.
Between Vancouver Island and the British possessions in eastern
North America lay a vast unoccupied wilderness, known only to the
furtrader and to the casual explorer. This lack of communication
seriously afifected the Colonial farmer, who was dependent upon a
limited local market entirely in the hands of the Hudson's Bay
Company. 

Beyond the wooden stockade of the Fort were the fields of what
might be termed the Company's home farm, which, so it is recorded,
yielded more than forty bushels of wheat to the acre. Roads led
from the Fort in different directions. An embryo Government Street
ran along the east side of the stockade, connecting with the high-
ways leading to Saanich, Esquimalt, Metchosin and Sooke. A wind-
ing lane, running eastward by swamp and copse and meadow,
afterwards became the important thoroughfare known today as Fort
Street. Life in this beautiful spot, guarded by the blue waters of the
Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait de Haro, was idyllic in its 

'Report, Select Committee <in Hudson's Bay Co., 1857. Evidence. 

558 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

simplicity, if neither exciting or materially profitable. A little piece
of Old England, of the early Victorian era, had been transplanted in
this land and it grew and flourished even as the wild roses grew and
flourished on the country-side. The Colonists were British and they
brought with them a love of British institutions and old-fashioned
British methods, which did much to make even so remote a colony
characteristically British. The farms were modelled after those of
England — the comfortable farm-house, the well-tilled field, and the
barns and out-buildings, which were generally built in the form of a
square with the farmyard inside — all reminded the settler of his old
home and associations. The afifairs of the Hudson's Bay Company
and local happenings provided the gossip of the day, and English
newspapers, many months old, gave the news of the outside world.
No doubt the little library in the Fort was well-patronized in the
long winter days. The proceedings of the Legislative Council and
the House of Assembly and of the Court presided over by Judge
Cameron also provided topics for discussion. Now and again some
question of public policy, or some action or inaction of the Company,
would give rise to heated controversies, which divided the community
into opposing camps. A generous hospitality marked the relations
of the people one with the other. Feast-days and holidays were loy-
ally observed with picnics in summer and indoor gatherings in win-
ter, which were remarkable for bounteous displays of honest Colonial
fare. Generally, as the Governor averred on more than one occasion,
the people were industrious and happy- Perhaps Gray's beautiful
lines might be applied to this little community: 

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; 

Along the cool sequester'd vale of life 

Thev kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 

Such was Victoria in the year 1857. 

Meanwhile the Mainland slumbered. New Caledonia, as this
territory was indefinitely termed, was still under the absolute sway of
the Hudson's Bay Company, being held by the Crown Grant of the
exclusive trade with the Indians in certain parts of North America,
"Given at our Court at Buckingham Palace, 3nth day of May, 1838." 

I 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 559 

The forts of the monopoly formed the only settlements there and the
only lines of communication from one post to another were the bri-
gade trails and water-routes of the furtrader. The Indian, as from
time immemorial, still held his ancient hunting grounds and still
adhered to his time-honoured customs. The fertile valleys and great
natural pastures of this vast region had not yet attracted the atten-
tion of the prospective homebuilder. The potential resources of the
country in minerals, timber, fisheries and agriculture were altogether
unknown to the outside world. To the furtrader, however, the coun-
trv was an open book. He had travelled from one end of it to the
other and dotted the whole of it with his posts. The old Brigade
Trails have long since been abandoned and forgotten, but here and
there deep imprints mark the lines of march of the long packtrains
which moved up and down these primitive highways with their
precious loads of peltries and supplies. Year by year the brigades
for the interior left Fort Hope for Fort Kamloops, journeying
thither by Anderson's, or the Hope trail over the Cascade Mountains,
through the Similkameen country, and by Nicola Lake. From
Kamloops the brigade followed the long-established road to Fort
Ale.xandria. 

And the old forts — these too have almost wholly disappeared, but
many a rising town and many a prosperous community today bear
witness to the wisdom of the furtrader in the placing of his posts.
Life at Forts Langley, Hope, Yale, Kamloops, Alexandria and at
the New Caledonian posts, was as it had been since they were estab-
lished. Occasionallv an Indian brawl — sometimes a murder such as
that of the worthy Samuel Black at Kamloops in 1841 — would startle
the little isolated communities, but generally the trade went on in the
even tenor of its way, in accordance with established precedent. Such
was the Mainlami in 1857. 

This peaceful state of affairs might have been continued indefi-
nitely — both on Island and Mainland — but for an event of far reach-
ing import — the discovery of gold in the Fraser River which
wrought a sudden and marvelous change. Without warning and as
it were overnight the Mainland became the Mecca of the goldseekcr
and the adventurer. As there were no settlements on the seaboard of
the Mainland, the tide of immigration turned in ever-increasing vol-
ume to the only British port where supplies and information could be 

560 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

obtained; and Victoria sprang into being as an important and popu-
lous center. It has been estimated that no less than twenty thousand
miners, merchants, jobbers, speculators and adventurers of all sorts
came to Victoria in 1858. In the short space of a few months the
place was transformed — the little sleepy hollow giving way for an
alert and progressive community. Rival towns sprang up on the
shores of Puget Sound — at Port Townsend, Watcom and other
points — but those places never seriously threatened the supremacy
of the British port which at that time and for several reasons was
the most convenient point of departure for the mines of the Fraser
River. 

Who first found gold in British Columbia and when, is not exactly
known. Many accounts of that pregnant discovery have been printed,
but they differ so much that it is not an easy matter to arrive at the
truth. It is said that a party from Colville, or that neighbourhood,
going over the country by the way of Kamloops and the Bonaparte
River to the Fraser, prospected on the way and found the precious
metal in paying quantities. These men decided to winter in the
country in order to try their fortune. The news of their success
reached the coast, for such news travels quickly even in a country
destitute of regular postal facilities, and spreading to California
caused the famous stampede of 1858." A. C. Anderson says that
gold was discovered at the mouth of the Thompson River in 1857,
but seemingly it had been found at that point before that year.^
"Gold has been discovered at Colville," so John Work told Edward
Ermatinger in a letter bearing date 8th August, 1856, "and even some
found at Thompson's River, and at Fort Hope, about 80 miles above
Langley. Some of the diggers are reported to have done well and
high expectations are entertained. . . .'' 

A little later the officer in charge of the fort at Kamloops requisi-
tioned the storekeeper at Victoria for iron ladles with which to scoop
up the auriferous gravel from the bed of the Thompson River. It
would appear, therefore, that the news took sometime to reach Cali-
fornia, whence came the great tide of goldseekers in i8i;8. As for
the exact manner and date of arrival of the news in California, it is
stated upon good authority, that in February, 1858, the Hudson's Bay
Company's steamer Otter reached San Francisco with gold dust to be 

\ 

- Vide Warrington, Fraser Mines Vindicated p. ^. 

' Vide .Anderson, Historj- of N. VV. Coast, Ms. in Provincial Archives. P. 47. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 561 

Loiiied or run into bars at the United States Mint in that city. It
soon leaked out that this treasure had been obtained from the Indians
of the Thompson River, a tributary of the Fraser. A small party of
prospectors, among them James Moore of pioneer fame in Cariboo,
left for the new field. Ascending the Fraser these hardy explorers
reached Hill's Bar, where they found rich diggings. In April, 1858,
they sent letters and gold dust to their friends in San Francisco, and
the news, being spread abroad, caused the greatest excitement Cali-
fornia has ever known. That briefly is the story of the Fraser River
excitement in California.* 

Alfred Waddington — well-known later for his persistent advo-
cacy of a British trans-continental railway — averred that the exist-
ence of gold had been known to the officers of the Hudson's Bay
Company for some years, and he even hinted that they had kept their
knowledge secret from ulterior motives. On the other hand, A. C.
Anderson — a reliable authority — categorically denied this charge.
"An impression has gone abroad," he wrote, " that the existence of
gold on the upper Fraser had long been known to the officers of the
Hudson's Bay Co. ; but that they from motives of policy concealed the
fact. Than this statement nothing can be more erroneous; no sus-
picion of the fact existed, as I can personally aver." ^ 

However that may be, very early in 1858 California was thrown
into a state of wild excitement by the news from the north that vast
auriferous deposits had been found in New Caledonia. For some
time it had been known that the more accessible placers of California
were playing out and the intelligence of the new Eldorado reached
the Golden State at the psychological moment. The news was car-
ried from camp to camp and the oft-repeated story grew in the tell-
ing. In a short while nothing was talked of but the surpassing rich-
ness of the northern gold field. The population of California was
composed of all sorts and conditions of men from all countries of the
world. Never was there a greater gathering of adventurers of all
nations than that which crowded the thoroughfares of San Francisco.
Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotsmen, Americans, Frenchmen, Germans,
Italians, Greeks, — men of all nationalities — jostled each other on the
streets, ever ready for excitement or to hazard a throw with fortune. 

■• H. B. Hobson, First Gold Excitement. In year bnok of B. C, by Gosnell, 1897, p.
' Anderson History of Northwest Coast, p. 46. 

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