BRITISH COLUMBIA AND HER GOLD FIELDS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1720, 29 April 1862, Page 3

BRITISH COLUMBIA AND HER GOLD FIELDS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THF DAILY POST. Sir, —I have recently arrived in this country from Vancouver Island aud British Cdumbia and have been frequently applied to for information respecting these colonies. As a means of answering those inquiries, and affording in formation to others who might feel interested on the subject, I would respectfully beg the favour of your inserting the following statement, which I have drawn up. — I am Sir your obedient servant, WM. R. MELDRUM. Liverpool, 11th December, 1861, Before proceeding to speak of the gold mines of British Columbia, it may be well, as a means of illustrating their position, and routes of approach, to allude to the geography and natural features of the country in which they are located. British Columbia lies between the 49th and 57t!i degrees of North latitude ; is 500 miles long from North to South, and 400 wide — thus containing nearly 200,000 square miles. It is bounded on the North by Simson's River and the Finlay branch of Peace River: on the East by the main chain of the Rocky Mountains : on the South by Washington Territory, and on the West by the Pacific Ocean. It embraces within its limits Queen Charlotte's Island and all the other islands adjacent to the coast except that of Vancouver. The Rocky, Cascade, and Coast Range Mountains with their various spurs, cross tbe Southern and middle portion of British Columbia. Their average height is between foar and five thousand feet. Many of the peaks are much more lofty. The Northern part of tbe territory is more level. There are in it many lakes of a large size and great depth; also numberless rivers and streams, nearly all of which feed the Frazer, which, taking its rise in the Rocky Mountains, runs South through the centre of the territory, as far as Hope, whence it takes a Westerly course, and enters the Gulf of Georgia, opposite the Island of Vancouver. Tbe Southern portion of British Columbia, with the exception of a few prairies is densely wooded. About the mouth of the Frazer, and extending up the valley of the liver forty or fifty miles, the country is mostly level and somewhat swampy. The lower portions of this flat land, near the mouth of the river, are overflowed by the stream at its higher stages. Ou the Smess prairie's about 30 miles south from Langley, which is situated on the Frazer, 25 miles from its mouth, there are many thousand acres covered with wild tim ttliy and other grasses growing very thick, andstaiding four or five feet high. Along the Chilliwaick, a small river entering the Frazer, five miles below Harrison River, there are also several thousand acres of fine timothy, for which a good markets could be easily obtained, the Chilliwaick being navigable for boats of light draft. Tbe Lillooeite meadows at the head of Like Lillohette are nearly as extensive as the Smess, and toe glasses of which are as good. The traffic on tlie Lillooette route to the upper country, creates a large demand for hay and other agricultural products. The soil on these prairies consists of a rich sandy loam, rendering them most valuable for agricultural purposes. .

The prevailing timber everywhere is pine hemlock, and cedar. There are also imgle, birch, oak, ash, and yew. North of the 49th parallel trees exceeding 10 feet in diameter and 250 feet in height are seldom to be' met with, but everywhere the size of the timber varies with altitude, that in tbe lower valleys being of gigantic dimensions, and dwindling, as the mounI tains are ascended, into mere shrubbery. The most valuable timber in British Columbia and Vancouver Island is the Douglas pine, as it affords the best material for spars and every species of lumber. This timber, not only the strongest and most durable of its kind, is the most abundant, there being sufficient to supply all the navy yards of the world for years without materially affecting the supply. There may be seen in the arboretum of Kevv a flagstaff of unrivalled height and symmetry, made aof the Douglas pine from Vancouver Island. It is 159 feet in height, 22 inches in diameter at the base, tapering to 8 inches at tbe summit. Its weight is 3 tons, and it contains 157 square feet of timber. The tree from which this fligstaff was made was 250 years old, indicated by con* centric rings. This splendid spar was seat by Messrs. E. Stamp & Co., of Vancouver Island, a firm largely engaged in the timber trade of that colony, to Messrs. Bilbe & Co., of Rotherhithe, and by them erected in the royal gardens at Kew, where, besides being the largest pole adapted for a flagstaff ever known in Europe, it setves to illustrate tbe size, beauty, and utility for naval purposes of the Dougla3 pine. Owing to the southern district being heavily timbered, and until this year the want of roads leading to the upper country, which is more open, there is yet scarcely any farming popula tion. But now that there is a good route, no country in the world presents finer prospects for the farming classes than British Columbia does now. Although varying with locality, the climate of British Columbia is not a severe one. On the Pacific coast, it is nowhere so severe in tbe same parallel of latitude as on the Atlantic. British Columbia is no exception to this rule, neither the heat of summer nor the cold of winter reaching such extremes as in Canada. The climate is both invigorating and salubrious; and in the southern portion of Vancouver Island, where the capital is situated, it is much milder than in Eugland. In British Columbia — in the upper countrythere are fine tracts of land covering millions of acres that offer great inducements to intending settlers, being adapted to tbe raising of grain and stock. The price of these lands is 4s. 2d. per acre, Government allowing them to be occupied, or pre-empted until such time as they can be surveyed »nd brought to market. Cattle require no feeding here during the winter, except such as they can find for themselves, while grains aud fruits of every description grow with as much thrift and as little culture as in any other part of the world. The Frazer is navigable for steamers as far as Hope, about 100 miles from the mouth of tbe river. Between Hope and Yale, 12 miles further up, the river narrows, and rapids render the navigation of this portion difficult and daugerous. Above this the river passes through canons or deep clefts in the mountains, rendering navigation by steamers impossible. Below tbe junction of Thompson river with the Upper Frazer at Lytton City, and 45 miles above Yale, tbe gold diggings are mostly confined to bars along the Frazer, which have not capacity to employ more than five or six thousand men. So long as gold mining was restricted to Frazer River there was much reason in the want of confidence in British Columbia as a gold country, for however rich the claims on the Frazer might turn out, they were certain to be, through the peculiarity of the mining, of an exceedingly temporary character. Happily the Frazer is deserted for a region more suitable to establish the reputation of British Columbia as the richest gold country iv , the world. The operations' of the miner extends now to numberless streams, over a tract of land as vast as an yet found to be auriferous in other mining countries. There is a route from Yale to the Upper Fiazer by the river, ascending the rapids by boats built expressly for their navigation, but this route is nearly impracticable except at a low stage of water, and even then is attended with much danger and delay, there being several portages where not only the cargo but the boat itself has to be lifted from the water, carried over rhe rocks, and launched above tbe rapids. There is alse a mule trail along the side of the Fiazer to Lytton city, the trail rising often several thousand feet above the level of j the river. S As tbe great mass of the mining population must repair to the upper country to find profitable employment, a new route has been opened called the Lilloette Route. The traveller from Victoria, Vancouver Island, bound for the, Upper Frazer by this route, takes the steamer to New Westminster, where he is transferred to a steamer of lighter draft, which takes him to Port Douglas, at the head of the Harrison Lake. The distances are, from Victoria through the Straits of Haro to tbe mouth of the Fraztr 65 i miles ; from the mouth of the river to New ; Westminster 15 miles ; thence to the mouth of Harrison River 45 miles ; up Harrison/ River 7 miles[; across Harrison Lake to Port Douglas 43 j miles ; making the distance, thus far, from Victoria 175 miles. From Port Douglas to Cayoosh is 180 miles — 62 miles by land and 46 by water. The first road is opened through a deuse forest, 35 miles to Lilloette Lake, which is 12 miles in length. Lilloette Lake there is a road 25 miles ia length, passing through a more open country, and the extensive meadows before mentioned, to Anderson Luke which is 16 miles in length. The next portage is only one mile and a quarter ! long, to Seton Lake 18 miles long, at the head of which is the town of Cayoosh, situated 4 miles from the Upper Frazer, and above ite junction with the Thompson River. Cayoosh is now brought within two days travel of Douglas, and three days of Victoria. The British Columbia Stage Company is now carrying passengers and luggage along this route, at a cost of not one fourth the amount entailed in reaching this point two years ago. The company also cirry the mails and gold escort. Steamers carry passengers and freight across the intervening lakes. Having reached Cayoosh the traveller is over the most difficult part of his journey, good trails extending from this point in every direction to the mines and all parts of the interior. By the latest accounts from British Columbia, the utmost cheerfulness prevaded the whole of the mining population, and eveu the most unlucky were obliged to confess that the country was unsurpassed in richness. The individual cases of success have exceeded anything ever j known in a gold country. Nothing could exceed the excitement existing in the upper I country, and it is expected that a furore will be j created in spring equalling anything that has yet taken place in California or Australia. In September last, Major Downie, one of the most experienced Californian miners wrote to bis friends in Victoria, from Antler Creek, 200 miles above Cayoosh, that the /appearance of t he country is similar to the rica raining districts

in California ; <vte claim, on Williams Creek. j paying better than llie best creek claim lie had ever seen in California. Mr. J. B. Stewart, of the firm of Stewart, Meldrum, and Co., Victoria, V.1., in a letter lo the writer, of date 7th October, says:-— " I have just returned from Cayoosh, and seen the miners and the gold. I have seen plenty miners coming down with 20 lbs., 501b5., rod even 100 lbs. weight of gold. Thiee men of the name of Abbot, from Langley, whom I knew when they were fishing there, have made ia a month the handsome sum of 100,000 dols. at least. Two of the partners are coming down with the dust packed on three mules. A man whom I saw on our stage with 25 lbs. of fine dust worth 17 dols. per ounce, gambled away 30,000 dols. before he left Cariboo. A quiet nice fellow who has a farm on Salt Spring Island, and who went to Cariboo to try his luck, came down with me from Douglas (his name is is Usher), in ibree weeks dag from a space of 12 feet square, over 5,000 dols. He got it made into a bar in New Westminster, aud a very handsome bar it made. I could go on and on with such instances. There is no man coming down from the mines without some money, and all agree in stating that the country is the richest in the world." The immense quantities of gold brought down to Victoria, V.1., showing an average yield of at least 50 dollars per week per miner — which is unequalled either in California or Australia, — will operate more powerfully ou the > minds of Cahfornians than the most glowing ' newspaper reports. The Californian papers state than an exodus ' is expected of about 25,00') miners, from that \ country alone, to British Columbia, next spring. Such a number would do little m,>re than pros- , pect the Cariboo country, between the Thomp- , son and Frazer rivers. The gold is not confined j to the creeks and rivers. Experienced miners i reporit unlimited gold mines exist, at a suffi- ( cient depth from the surface, to enable the i miner to work with, comfort and convenience < during the winter months, aud sufficiently per- < manent to support a raining population for * years ; and in every auriferous country yet * discor ered, the hills and valleys have contributed the greatest quota to the gold production, and by far the most lasting mines. < Although gold is the most attractive, it is by £ no means the only valuable mineral in the r country. Silver and opper ore have been met i with in several localities, and are being worked i successfully. Coal is abundant both in Van- c couver Island and British Columbia. i lv Victoria aud other places all classes of * mechanics were in full employmeut at high * wages. • * Nothing will so materially advance the in- j terests of these colonies as a direct steam and postal comthunicaliou with this country. The local Government has not yet a revenue large ( enough to grant a subsidy to a line of steamers c for the conveyance of mails from Sin Francisco ( or Panama. At preseut the Colonies are at the t mercy of the Federal States for the conveyance c of their mails An irregular postal cummuni- 1 cation 13 a great drawback to any country, and * to none more so than Vanouver Island aud * British Columbia. Large subsidies have been * granted for the conveyance of the mails to Canada and Australia, but the Home Government have hitherto held back troiu aiding j Vancouver Island and British Columbia in this € respect; although their immense mineral re- B sources and prospective wealth might g> far to j prove that the assistance required would go far £ to prove that the assistance required would be i only for a limited time. 1 There is no question of the importance of < these colonies to the mother mmntryf nor of celerity and punctuality of postil communication with them. Instead of baring three ' mail arrivals in the Colonies per month since ( wa* broke out in the United States. the number , is reducel to one ; and in the eveut of war j betwixt England and the Federal States the f mail arrivals will be none per month in all j likelihood, so far as the Yankees are concerned ; t at least the colonies can depend on no fuither 1 favours from them iv this respect. i At no time better than the present can be I realised the importance of England aiding ' immediately these colonies. A very moderate ' subsidy from the Home Government would j enable a first class line of steamers to be placed ( on the route from Panama to Victoria iv con- , nection.witb the West India mail line. The , most expeditious mail route from Australia to England is via Panama, and should this route be.eyer adopted, the Atlantic steamers running direct to Panama, with the Australian mills might also carry the British Columbian mails; and with steamers running from Victoria to Panama, the colonies of Australia, Vancouver Island and British Columbia would be brought into direct steam communication with one another, to their mutual advantage. From the foregoing it must be obvious to every one that, on political grounds, the home Government should aid these colonies in establishing an expeditious and certain mail route with the mother country.