Panning for Gold

Faces of the Gold Rush

What's the meaning?

You be the Judge...

Thompson River First Nations

Next morning, therefore, we started, and reached Yale at three. The town was perfectly quiet, and the Colonel was received upon his entrance with the most vociferous cheering and every sign of respect and loyalty. Upon the way up we stopped at several of the bars, and made inquiries which satisfied us that the miners were doing very well, although they complained that the snow had for some days past kept them from working. The river-scenery between these two ports was beautiful, even at this season of the year. The distance is only fifteen miles, but the strength of the current is so great that in the winter five or six hours are consumed in the journey, and in the summer-when the stream is swollen by the melting snow-double that time is often taken. The only dreams of any size that feed the Fraser for this distance are the Swal-lach-Coom. which flows into it some five miles below Yale, and the Que-que-alla, which runs into it two miles above Hope. The Que-que-alla is a considerable stream, dividing into two branches further in, and contains numbers of trout. The mountains on either side are from three to four thousand feet high, and are composed almost entirely of plutonic rocks, and at their base is found the 'drift' in which the gold is contained.

As I have already said, Fort Yale presented the most peaceful aspect imaginable. The day after our arrival happening to be Sunday, Colonel Moody performed service in the courthouse. It was the first time this had over happened in Yale, and the thirty or forty miners who attended formed a most orderly and attentive congregation. After church, the difficulty which had brought us here was investigated, and the magistrate at Hill's Bar, the principal bar on this part of the river, lying a mile below Yale, was suspended from his functions. A very few words will suffice to explain it. At Hill’s Bar there was a resident magistrate, who was one of the miners though superior to most of them in position and acquirements; and at Yale two others -one who was shortly afterwards proved guilty of some rascality and discharged; the other, an honest man enough, but altogether unfit, from temperament and social position, for the discharge of his duties. These three dignitaries were not upon the best terms with one another, and two of them claimed a certain cue and prisoner an belonging each to his own district, and disputed the right of adjudicating upon them to such a degree that, one having possession of the culprit's body, and refusing to give it up to his colleague, the other went to the length of swearing in special constables to his aid, and removing the prisoner by force of arms to his jurisdiction at Hill's Bar. Among these special constables, and very possibly among the instigators of the squabble, Mr. Edward McGowan figured conspicuously; and it was the outraged magistrate's report that this worthy had been prison-breaking in his district, that gave it to the authorities at Langley and Victoria so serious an aspect. However, upon investigating the matter, he was found to have acted, if with indiscreet zeal, yet not illegally, and no charge was preferred against him on that account. But the same afternoon, while Colonel Moody, representing the majesty of the law, was still at Yale, Mr. McGowan outraged it unmistakably by committing an unprovoked assault. This, coupled with sundry other suspicious circumstances, caused Colonel Moody to think that McGowan's; friends and admirers would, if provoked, break into serious insubordination; and he at once instructed me to drop down the river to Hope and Langley, and order up the Engineers, Marines, and bluejackets left at those places.

The utmost precaution was taken about my journey. Mr. Allard, the Hudson Bay Company's officer at Yale, was instructed to have a small canoe launched unseen by the miners, who, it was thought, might endeavour to stop me, as they no doubt easily could have done. The darkness was waited for, and, the canoe being launched and dropped about half a mile down the river, Mr. Allard came to the house for me, and led me to it along the river's bank. As we dropped down the stream I was afraid even to light a pipe lest we should be stopped at Hill's Bar. Absurd as all this now seems -especially as I heard on my return that the miners knew perfectly well of my starting- it was not without its use at the time. The promptitude with which Captain Grant appeared on the spot with the Engineers at daylight next morning astonished the miners a good deal, and it need not be assumed that, because they apologised and paid their fines, they would have done so equally had coercion not been threatened.

Reaching Hope at half-past eight that night, I very much astonished Captain Grant by telling him that he was to start for Yale at once, and, landing his men below Hill's Bar on the opposite side of the river, to march thence into Yale. Having given these instructions, I embarked in the canoe again, and about midnight-spinning down the Fraser being a very different matter to struggling up against its current-reached the ‘Enterprise,’ which was to convey me to Langley, and bring the men there up. Here a slight delay took place, as the steamer could not be got ready to start until daybreak; but away we went the instant dawn broke, and reached Langley in the afternoon of the following day, where, the ‘Enterprise' having wooded, every one was got aboard, and we were struggling up against the current by six P.M. reaching Smess River by nine or ten that night, and Cornish Bar by 8.30 the following night.

There the ‘Enterprise’s’ further progress was effectually barred and, taking a canoe again, I made my way to Hope, where I found that further instructions had come from the Colonel to the ettect that the bluejackets were to remain there, and only the Marines to go on to Yale. So things were looking less martial, and I was not surprised, on pushing forward to Yale next morning, to find that the short campaign was at an end, and the peace, which had hardly been disturbed, restored. Mr. McGowan, after enjoying the sensation he had caused, paid the Commissioner a formal visit, and, after making a very gentlemanlike apology for the hasty blow which had disturbed the peace of British Columbia, and entering into an elaborate and, I believe, successful defence of his previous conduct in the squabble of the rival judges, committed himself frankly into the hands of justice. What could be done with such a frank, entertaining rascal? Justice herself could not press hardly for her dues in such a case. He was fined for the assault, exonerated from all previous misdemeanours, and next day, upon Hill's Bar being visited by Mr. Begbie (the Chief Justice) and myself, he conducted us over the diggings, washed some "dirt" to show us the process, and invited us to a collation in his hut, where we drank champagne with some twelve or fifteen of his Californian mining friends. And, whatever opinion the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco might entertain of these gentlemen, I, speaking as I found them, can only say that, all things considered, I have rarely lunched with a better-spoken, pleasanter party. The word, "miner" to many unacquainted with the gold-fields conveys an impression similar, perhaps, to that of "navvy." But among them may often he found men who, by birth and education, are well qualified to hold their own in the most civilised community of Europe. Here, for instance, I was entertained in the hut of a man who -by virtue of his rascality, no doubt- had been selected to fill the office of judge among his fellows in California; while one of my neighbours had taken his degree at an American University, and may since, for aught I know, have edited a Greek play and been made a bishop. I remember afterwards travelling with two men, who, meeting casually, recognised one another as old schoolfellows and class-men. Neither was in the least surprised at the other’s condition, although one was a well-to-do surgeon with a very remunerative practice, and the other was an "express" man, penniless, and carrying letters some 130 or 140 miles for a subsistence.

As I have several times mentioned "expresses" and "express-men," I may here explain that all over California and British Columbia letters or parcels are carried with perfect safety, and, all things considered, very cheaply, by means of them. The organisation of some of these companies is most elaborate. The principal one there is Wells Fargo's, which has agencies all over the world. Their office at Victoria is one of the finest buildings there; and their house in San Francisco is as large as our General Post-office. I have never known a letter sent by them miscarry. The charge for sending anywhere in California is only 10 cents (5d.), and so great is my faith in them that I would trust anything, in even that most insecure country, in an envelope bearing the stamp of Wells Fargo and Co.'s Express. There are several minor expresses in different parts of the country- Ballou's Fraser River Express, Jeffray's Express, Freeman's Express- all of which appear to flourish; and so great is the trust reposed in them, and the speed with which they travel, that the miners, as yet, prefer sending their dust by them to the Government escort.

A few days later we dropped down the river to Hope, where the bluejackets were paraded, and our one field-piece fired the first salute over heard at Fort Hope in honour of the Colonel. The men were then got safely on board the ‘Plumper' again, which proceeded to examine the river and its north bank a few miles below Langley, and report whether it would do for the site of the capital of British Columbia -it having been decided that Derby, or New Langley, the spot first selected, was not desirable. The site of New Westminster -or Queenborough, as it was first called- is, so far as its geographical position is concerned, very good indeed, as it is also in a strategical point of view; but the bush there was very thick, while at Derby there was a large space of clear ground. The work of clearing the bush has been the great drawback to the progress of New Westminster. Dr. Campbell and I went to examine a part a little north of where the town stands, and so thick was the bush that it took us two hours to force our way in rather less than a mile and a-half. Where we penetrated it was composed of very thick willow and alder, intertwined so closely that every step of the way had to be broken through, while the ground was cumbered with fallen timber of a larger growth. During this scramble I stumbled upon a large bear, which seemed to be as much surprised to see me as 1 was at sight of him, and I dare say equally discomposed. At any rate, he showed no disposition to cultivate my acquaintance; and, as I was some way ahead of my companion and had only one barrel of my gun loaded with small shot, I was not sorry to find that our ways seemed to lie in opposite directions.

The site bit upon by Colonel Moody was a little below this thick bush, where the ground was somewhat clearer. Regarded both in a military and commercial light, it was infinitely preferable to the spot which had previously been fixed upon for this purpose higher up and on the opposite aide of the river. New Westminster has many natural advantages in which Derby is wanting, not the least being sufficient depth of water to allow the largest class of vessels capable of passing the sand-heads at the Fraser mouth to moor alongside of its wharves. I shall have occasion at a future time to speak at greater length of this and the other settlements upon the Fraser River.

Our time for some weeks after this was employed in cruising among the islands, creeks, and inlets, upon surveying work, which, however valuable to the future settlers and navigators of British Columbia, is but little likely to interest the general reader.

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