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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29885-8.txt b/29885-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7395d09 --- /dev/null +++ b/29885-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3141 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cariboo Trail, by Agnes C. Laut + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cariboo Trail + A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia + +Author: Agnes C. Laut + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29885] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARIBOO TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island + + _Back Row_--J. W. M'Kay, J. D. Pemberton, J. Porter (Clerk) + _Front Row_--T. J. Skinner, J. S. Helmcken, M. D., James Yates + + After a Photograph] + + + + + +THE + +CARIBOO TRAIL + + A Chronicle of the Gold-fields + of British Columbia + + +BY + +AGNES C. LAUT + + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1916 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + +{v} + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + I. THE 'ARGONAUTS' . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. THE PROSPECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 + III. CARIBOO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 + IV. THE OVERLANDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 + V. CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS . . . . . . . . . 68 + VI. QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS . . . . . . . . . . 80 + VII. LIFE AT THE MINES . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 + VIII. THE CARIBOO ROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . 110 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + + + + +{vii} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF + VANCOUVER ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + After a photograph. + +THE CARIBOO COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 1 + Map by Bartholomew. + +SIR JAMES DOUGLAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 10 + From a portrait by Savannah. + +INDIANS NEAR NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . " " 12 + From a photograph by Maynard. + +IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 28 + From a photograph. + +A GROUP OF THOMPSON RIVER INDIANS . . . . . . . . . . . " " 36 + From a photograph by Maynard. + +SIR MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 38 + From a portrait by Savannah. + +A RED RIVER CART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 58 + From a photograph. + +WASHING GOLD ON THE SASKATCHEWAN . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 62 + From a photograph. + +{viii} + +IN THE YELLOWHEAD PASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 64 + From a photograph. + +UPPER M'LEOD RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 66 + From a photograph. + +THE CARIBOO ROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 100 + From a photograph. + +INDIAN GRAVES AT LYTTON, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 102 + From a photograph. + + + + +[Illustration: Map of the Cariboo Country] + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE 'ARGONAUTS' + +Early in 1849 the sleepy quiet of Victoria, Vancouver Island, was +disturbed by the arrival of straggling groups of ragged nondescript +wanderers, who were neither trappers nor settlers. They carried +blanket packs on their backs and leather bags belted securely round the +waist close to their pistols. They did not wear moccasins after the +fashion of trappers, but heavy, knee-high, hobnailed boots. In place +of guns over their shoulders, they had picks and hammers and such stout +sticks as mountaineers use in climbing. They did not forgather with +the Indians. They shunned the Indians and had little to say to any +one. They volunteered little information as to whence they had come or +whither they were going. They sought out Roderick Finlayson, chief +trader for the Hudson's Bay Company. They wanted provisions from the +company--yes--rice, flour, ham, salt, pepper, sugar, and tobacco; and +at the smithy they {2} demanded shovels, picks, iron ladles, and wire +screens. It was only when they came to pay that Finlayson felt sure of +what he had already guessed. They unstrapped those little leather bags +round under their cartridge belts and produced in tiny gold nuggets the +price of what they had bought. + +Finlayson did not know exactly what to do. The fur-trader hated the +miner. The miner, wherever he went, sounded the knell of fur-trading; +and the trapper did not like to have his game preserve overrun by +fellows who scared off all animals from traps, set fire going to clear +away underbrush, and owned responsibility to no authority. No doubt +these men were 'argonauts' drifted up from the gold diggings of +California; no doubt they were searching for new mines; but who had +ever heard of gold in Vancouver Island, or in New Caledonia, as the +mainland was named? If there had been gold, would not the company have +found it? Finlayson probably thought the easiest way to get rid of the +unwelcome visitors was to let them go on into the dangers of the wilds +and then spread the news of the disappointment bound to be theirs. + +He handled their nuggets doubtfully. Who knew for a certainty that it +was gold anyhow? {3} They bade him lay it on the smith's anvil and +strike it with a hammer. Finlayson, smiling sceptically, did as he was +told. The nuggets flattened to a yellow leaf as fine and flexible as +silk. Finlayson took the nuggets at eleven dollars an ounce and sent +the gold down to San Francisco, very doubtful what the real value would +prove. It proved sixteen dollars to the ounce. + +For seven or eight years afterwards rumours kept floating in to the +company's forts of finds of gold. Many of the company's servants +drifted away to California in the wake of the 'Forty-Niners,' and the +company found it hard to keep its trappers from deserting all up and +down the Pacific Coast. The quest for gold had become a sort of +yellow-fever madness. Men flung certainty to the winds and trekked +recklessly to California, to Oregon, to the hinterland of the country +round Colville and Okanagan. Yet nothing occurred to cause any +excitement in Victoria. There was a short-lived flurry over the +discovery in Queen Charlotte Islands of a nugget valued at six hundred +dollars and a vein of gold-bearing quartz. But the nugget was an +isolated freak; the quartz could not be worked at a profit; and the +movement suddenly died out. {4} There were, however, signs of what was +to follow. The chief trader at the little fur-post of Yale reported +that when he rinsed sand round in his camp frying-pan, fine flakes and +scales of yellow could be seen at the bottom.[1] But gold in such +minute particles would not satisfy the men who were hunting nuggets. +It required treatment by quicksilver. Though Maclean, the chief factor +at Kamloops, kept all the specks and flakes brought to his post as +samples from 1852 to 1856, he had less than would fill a half-pint +bottle. If a half-pint is counted as a half-pound and the gold at the +company's price of eleven dollars an ounce, it will be seen why four +years of such discoveries did not set Victoria on fire. + +It has been so with every discovery of gold in the history of the +world. The silent, shaggy, ragged first scouts of the gold stampede +wander houseless for years from hill to hill, from gully to gully, up +rivers, up stream beds, up dry watercourses, seeking the source of +those yellow specks seen far down the mountains near the sea. +Precipice, rapids, avalanche, winter storm, take their toll of dead. +Corpses are washed down in the spring floods; or the {5} thaw reveals a +prospector's shack smashed by a snowslide under which lie two dead +'pardners.' Then, by and by, when everybody has forgotten about it, a +shaggy man comes out of the wilds with a leather bag; the bag goes to +the mint; and the world goes mad. + +Victoria went to sleep again. When men drifted in to trade dust and +nuggets for picks and flour, the fur-traders smiled, and rightly +surmised that the California diggings were playing out. + +Though Vancouver Island was nominally a crown colony, it was still, +with New Caledonia, practically a fief of the Hudson's Bay Company. +James Douglas was governor. He was assisted in the administration by a +council of three, nominated by himself--John Tod, James Cooper, and +Roderick Finlayson. In 1856 a colonial legislature was elected and met +at Victoria in August for the first time.[2] But, {6} in fact, the +company owned the colony, and its will was supreme in the government. +John Work was the company's chief factor at Victoria and Finlayson was +chief trader. + +Because California and Oregon had gone American, some small British +warships lay at Esquimalt harbour. The little fort had expanded beyond +the stockade. The governor's house was to the east of the stockade. A +new church had been built, and the Rev. Edward Cridge, afterwards known +as Bishop Cridge, was the rector. Two schools had been built. Inside +the fort were perhaps forty-five employees. Inside and outside lived +some eight hundred people. But grass grew in the roads. There was no +noise but the church bell or the fort bell, or the flapping of a sail +while a ship came to anchor. Three hundred acres about the fort were +worked by the company as a farm, which gave employment to about two +dozen workmen, and on which were perhaps a hundred cattle and a score +of brood mares. The company also had a saw-mill. Buildings of huge, +squared timbers flanked three sides of the inner stockades--the +dining-hall, the cook-house, the bunk-house, the store, the trader's +house. There were two bastions, and from each cannon pointed. Close +to the {7} wicket at the main entrance stood the postoffice. Only a +fringe of settlement went beyond the company's farm. The fort was +sound asleep, secure in an eternal certainty that the domain which it +guarded would never be overrun by American settlers as California and +Oregon had been. The little Admiralty cruisers which lay at Esquimalt +were guarantee that New Caledonia should never be stampeded into a +republic by an inrush of aliens. Then, as now, it was Victoria's boast +that it was more English than England. + +So passed Christmas of '57 with plum-pudding and a roasted ox and +toasts to the crown and the company, though we cannot be quite sure +that the company was not put before the crown in the souls of the +fur-traders. + +Then, in March 1858, just when Victoria felt most secure as the capital +of a perpetual fur realm, something happened. A few Yankee prospectors +had gone down on the Hudson's Bay steamer _Otter_ to San Francisco in +February with gold dust and nuggets from New Caledonia to exchange for +money at the mint. The Hudson's Bay men had thought nothing of this. +Other treasure-seekers had come to New Caledonia before and had gone +back to San Francisco disappointed. But, in March, these {8} men +returned to Victoria. And with them came a mad rabble of gold-crazy +prospectors. A city of tents sprang up overnight round Victoria. The +smithy was besieged for picks, for shovels, for iron ladles. Men stood +in long lines for their turn at the trading-store. By canoe, by +dugout, by pack-horse, and on foot, they planned to ascend the Fraser, +and they mobbed the company for passage to Langley by the first steamer +out from Victoria. Goods were paid for in cash. Before Finlayson +could believe his own eyes, he had two million dollars in his safe, +some of it for purchases, some of it on deposit for safe keeping. +Though the company gave no guarantee to the depositors and simply +sealed each man's leather pouch as it was placed in the safe, no +complaint was ever made against it of dishonesty or unfair treatment. + +Without waiting instructions from England and with poignant memory of +Oregon, Governor Douglas at once clapped on a licence of twenty-one +shillings a month for mining privileges under the British crown. Thus +he obtained a rough registration of the men going to the up-country; +but thousands passed Victoria altogether and went in by pack-train from +Okanagan or rafted across from Puget Sound. {9} The month of March had +not ended when the first band of gold hunters arrived and settled down +a mile and a half below Yale. Another boat-load of eight hundred and +fifty came in April. In four months sixty-seven vessels, carrying from +a hundred to a thousand men each, had come up from San Francisco to +Victoria. Crews deserted their ships, clerks deserted the company, +trappers turned miners and took to the gold-bars. Before Victoria +awoke to what it was all about, twenty thousand people were camped +under tents outside the stockade, and the air was full of the wildest +rumours of fabulous gold finds. + +The snowfall had been heavy in '58. In the spring the Fraser rolled to +the sea a swollen flood. Against the turbid current worked tipsy rafts +towed by wheezy steamers or leaky old sailing craft, and rickety +row-boats raced cockle-shell canoes for the gold-bars above. Ashore, +the banks of the river were lined with foot passengers toiling under +heavy packs, wagons to which clung human forms on every foot of space, +and long rows of pack-horses bogged in the flood of the overflowing +river. By September ten thousand men were rocking and washing for gold +round Yale. + +As in the late Kootenay and in the still later {10} Klondike stampede, +American cities at the coast benefited most. Victoria was a ten-hour +trip from the mainland. Whatcom and Townsend, on the American side, +advertised the advantages of the Washington route to the Fraser river +gold-mines. A mushroom boom in town lots had sprung up at these points +before Victoria was well awake. By the time speculators reached +Victoria the best lots in that place had already been bought by the +company's men; and some of the substantial fortunes of Victoria date +from this period. Though the river was so high that the richest bars +could not be worked till late in August, five hundred thousand dollars +in gold was taken from the bed of the Fraser during the first six +months of '58. This amount, divided among the ten thousand men who +were on the bars around Yale, would not average as much as they could +have earned as junior clerks with the fur company, or as peanut pedlars +in San Francisco; but not so does the mind of the miner work. Here was +gold to be scooped up for nothing by the first comer; and more vessels +ploughed their way up the Fraser, though Governor Douglas sought to +catch those who came by Puget Sound and evaded licence by charging six +dollars toll each for all {11} canoes on the Fraser and twelve dollars +for each vessel with decks. Later these tolls were disallowed by the +home authorities. The prompt action of Douglas, however, had the +effect of keeping the mining movement in hand. Though the miners were +of the same class as the 'argonauts' of California, they never broke +into the lawlessness that compelled vigilance committees in San +Francisco. + +[Illustration: Sir James Douglas. From a portrait by Savannah] + +Judge Howay gives the letter of a treasure-seeker who reached the +Fraser in April, the substance of which is as follows: + + +We're now located thirty miles above the junction of the Fraser and the +Thompson on Fraser River... About a fourth of the canoes that attempt +to come up are lost in the rapids which extend from Fort Yale nearly to +the Forks. A few days ago six men were drowned by their canoe +upsetting. There is more danger going down than coming up. There can +be no doubt about this country being immensely rich in gold. Almost +every bar on the river from Yale up will pay from three dollars to +seven dollars a day to the man at the present stage of water. When the +river gets low, which will be about August, the bars will pay very +well. One hundred and ninety-six dollars was taken out by one man last +winter in a few hours, but the water was then at its lowest stage. The +gold on the bars is all very fine and hard to save in a rocker, but +with quicksilver properly {12} managed, good wages can be made almost +anywhere on the river as long as the bars are actually covered with +water. We have not yet been able to find a place where we can work +anything but rockers. If we could get a sluice to work, we could make +from twelve dollars to sixteen dollars a day each. We only commenced +work yesterday and we are satisfied that when we get fully under way we +can make from five dollars to seven dollars a day each. The prospect +is better as we go up the river on the bars. The gold is not any +coarser, but there is more of it. There are also in that region +diggings of coarser gold on small streams that empty into the main +river. A few men have been there and proved the existence of rich +diggings by bringing specimens back with them. The Indians all along +the river have gold in their possession that they say they dug +themselves, but they will not tell where they get it, nor allow small +parties to go up after it. I have seen pieces in their possession +weighing two pounds. The Indians above are disposed to be troublesome +and went into a camp twenty miles above us and forcibly took provisions +and arms from a party of four men and cut two severely with their +knives. They came to our camp the same day and insisted that we should +trade with them or leave the country. We design to remain here until +we can get a hundred men together, when we will move up above the falls +and do just what we please without regard to the Indians. We are at +present the highest up of any white men on the river, and we must go +higher to be satisfied. {13} I don't apprehend any danger from the +Indians at present, but there will be hell to pay after a while. There +is a pack-trail from Hope, but it cannot be travelled till the snow is +off the mountains. + +The prices of provisions are as follows: flour thirty-five dollars per +hundred-weight, pork a dollar a pound, beans fifty cents a pound, and +other things in proportion. Every party that starts from the Sound +should have their own supplies to last them three or four months, and +they should bring the largest size chinook canoes, as small ones are +very liable to swamp in the rapids. Each canoe should be provided with +thirty fathoms of strong line for towing over swift water, and every +man well armed. The Indians here can beat anything alive stealing. +They will soon be able to steal a man's food after he has eaten it. + +[Illustration: Indians near New Westminster, B.C. From a photograph by +Maynard.] + + +Within two miles of Yale eighty Indians and thirty white men were +working the gold-bars; and log boarding-houses and saloons sprang up +along the river-bank as if by magic. Naturally, the last comers of '58 +were too late to get a place on the gold-bars, and they went back to +the coast in disgust, calling the gold stampede 'the Fraser River +humbug.' Nevertheless, men were washing, sluicing, rocking, and +digging gold as far as Lillooet. Often the day's yield ran as high as +eight hundred dollars a man; and the higher up the treasure-seekers +{14} pushed their way, the coarser grew the gold flakes and grains. +Would the golden lure lead finally to the mother lode of all the yellow +washings? That is the hope that draws the prospector from river to +stream, from stream to dry gully bed, from dry gully to precipice edge, +and often over the edge to death or fortune. + +Exactly fifty-six years from the first rush of '58 in the month of +April, I sat on the banks of the Fraser at Yale and punted across the +rapids in a flat-bottomed boat and swirled in and out among the eddies +of the famous bars. A Siwash family lived there by fishing with clumsy +wicker baskets. Higher up could be seen some Chinamen, but whether +they were fishing or washing we could not tell. Two transcontinental +railroads skirted the canyon, one on each side, and the tents of a +thousand construction workers stood where once were the camps of the +gold-seekers banded together for protection. When we came back across +the river an old, old man met us and sat talking to us on the bank. He +had come to the Fraser in that first rush of '58. He had been one of +the leaders against the murderous bands of Indians. Then, he had +pushed on up the river to Cariboo, travelling, as he told us, by {15} +the Indian trails over 'Jacob's ladders'--wicker and pole swings to +serve as bridges across chasms--wherever the 'float' or sign of mineral +might lead him. Both on the Fraser and in Cariboo he had found his +share of luck and ill luck; and he plainly regretted the passing of +that golden age of danger and adventure. 'But,' he said, pointing his +trembling old hands at the two railways, 'if we prospectors hadn't +blazed the trail of the canyon, you wouldn't have your railroads here +to-day. They only followed the trail we first cut and then built. We +followed the "float" up and they followed us.' + +What the trapper was to the fur trade, the prospector was to the mining +era that ushered civilization into the wilds with a blare of +dance-halls and wine and wassail and greed. Ragged, poor, roofless, +grubstaked by 'pardner' or outfitter on a basis of half profit, the +prospector stands as the eternal type of the trail-maker for finance. + + + +[1] The same, of course, may be done to-day, with a like result, at +many places along the Fraser and even on the Saskatchewan. + +[2] This was the first Legislative Assembly to meet west of Upper +Canada in what is now the Canadian Dominion. It consisted of seven +members, as follows: J. D. Pemberton, James Yates, E. E. Langford, J. +S. Helmcken, Thomas J. Skinner, John Muir, and J. F. Kennedy. +Langford, however, retired almost immediately after the election and J. +W. M'Kay was elected in his stead. The portraits of five of the +members are preserved in the group which appears as the frontispiece to +this volume. The photograph was probably taken at a later period; at +any rate, two of the members, Muir and Kennedy, are missing. + + + + +{16} + +CHAPTER II + +THE PROSPECTOR + +By September, when mountain rivers are at their lowest, every bar on +the Fraser from Yale to the forks of the Thompson was occupied. The +Hudson's Bay steamer _Otter_ made regular trips up the Fraser to Fort +Langley; and from the fort an American steamer called the _Enterprise_, +owned by Captain Tom Wright, breasted the waters as far as the swift +current at Yale. At Yale was a city of tents and hungry men. Walter +Moberly tells how, when he ascended the Fraser with Wright in the +autumn of '58, the generous Yankee captain was mobbed by penniless and +destitute men for return passage to the coast. Many a broken +treasure-seeker owed his life to Tom Wright's free passage. +Fortunately, there was always good fishing on the Fraser; but salt was +a dollar twenty-five a pound, butter a dollar twenty-five a pound, and +flour rarer than nuggets. So hard up were some of the {17} miners for +pans to wash their gold, that one desperate fellow went to a log shack +called a grocery store, and after paying a dollar for the privilege of +using a grindstone, bought an empty butter vat at the pound price of +butter--twelve dollars for an empty butter tub! Half a dollar was the +smallest coin used, and clothing was so scarce that when a Chinaman's +pig chewed up Walter Moberly's boots while the surveyor lay asleep in +his shack, Mr Moberly had to foot it twenty-five miles before he could +find another pair of boots. Saloons occupied every second shack at +Yale and Hope; revolvers were in all belts and each man was his own +sheriff; yet there was little lawlessness. + +With claims filed on all gold-bearing bars, what were the ten thousand +men to do camped for fifty miles beyond Yale? Those who had no +provisions and could not induce any storekeeper to grubstake them for a +winter's prospecting, quit the country in disgust; and the price of +land dropped in the boom towns of the Fraser as swiftly as it had been +ballooned up. Prospecting during the winter in a country of heavy +snowfall did not seem a sane project. And yet the eternal question +urged the miners on: from what mother lode are {18} these flakes and +nuggets washed down to the sand-bars of the Fraser? Gold had also been +found in cracks in the rock along the river. Whence had it come? The +man farthest upstream in spring would be on the ground first for the +great find that was bound to make some seeker's fortune. So all stayed +who could. Fortunately, the winter of '58-'59 was mild, the autumn +late, the snowfall light, and the spring very early. Fate, as usual, +favoured the dauntless. + +In parties of twos and tens and twenties, and even as many as five +hundred, the miners began moving up the river prospecting. Those with +horses had literally to cut the way with their axes over windfall, over +steep banks, and round precipitous cliffs. Where rivers had to be +crossed, the men built rude rafts and poled themselves over, with their +pack-horses swimming behind. Those who had oxen killed the oxen and +sold the beef. Others breasted the mill-race of the Fraser in canoes +and dugouts. Governor Douglas estimated that before April of '59 as +many as three hundred boats with five men in each had ascended the +Fraser. Sometimes the amazing spectacle was seen of canoes lashed +together in the fashion of pontoon bridges, with wagons full of +provisions {19} braced across the canoes. These travellers naturally +did not attempt Fraser Canyon. + +Before Christmas of '59 prospectors had spread into Lillooet and up the +river as high as Chilcotin, Soda Creek, Alexandria, Cottonwood Canyon, +Quesnel, and Fort George. It was safer to ascend such wild streams +than to run with the current, though countless canoes and their +occupants were never heard of after leaving Yale. Where the turbid +yellow flood began to rise and 'collect'--a boatman's phrase--the men +would scramble ashore, and, by means of a long tump-line tied--not to +the prow, which would send her sidling--to the middle of the first +thwart, would tow their craft slowly up-stream. I have passed up and +down Fraser Canyon too often to count the times, and have canoed one +wild rapid twice, but never without wondering how those first +gold-seekers managed the ascent in that winter of '59. + +There was no Cariboo Road then. There was only the narrow footpath of +the trapper and the fisherman close down to the water; and when the +rocks broke off in sheer precipice, an unsteady bridge of poles and +willows spanned the abyss. A 'Jacob's ladder' a hundred feet above a +roaring whirlpool without {20} handhold on either side was one thing +for the Indian moccasin and quite another thing for the miner's +hobnailed boot. The men used to strip at these places and attempt the +rock walls barefoot; or else they cached their canoe in a tree, or hid +it under moss, lashed what provisions they could to a dog's back, and, +with a pack strapped to their own back, proceeded along the bank on +foot. The trapper carries his pack with a strap round his forehead. +The miner ropes his round under his shoulders. He wants hands and neck +free for climbing. Usually the prospectors would appoint a rendezvous. +There, provisions would be slung in the trees above the reach of +marauding beasts, and the party would disperse at daybreak, each to +search in a different direction, blazing trees as he went ahead so that +he could find the way back at night to the camp. Distress or a find +was to be signalled by a gunshot or by heliograph of sunlight on a +pocket mirror; but many a man strayed beyond rescue of signal and never +returned to his waiting 'pardners.' Some were caught in snowslides, +only to be dug out years later. + +Many signs guided the experienced prospector. Streams clear as crystal +came, he knew, from upper snows. Those swollen at midday {21} came +from near-by snowfields. Streams milky or blue or peacock green came +from glaciers--ice grinding over rock. + +Heavy mists often added to the dangers. I stood at the level of eight +thousand feet in this region once with one of the oldest prospectors of +the canyon. He had been a great hunter in his day. A cloud came +through a defile of the peaks heavy as a blanket. Though we were on a +well-cut bridle-trail, he bade us pause, as one side of the trail had a +sheer drop of four thousand feet in places. 'Before there were any +trails, how did you make your way here to hunt the mountain goat when +this kind of fog caught you?' I asked. + +'Threw chips of stone ahead and listened,' he answered, 'and let me +tell you that only the greenest kind of tenderfoot ever takes risks on +a precipice.' + +And nine men out of ten were such green tenderfoots that winter of +'58-'59, when five thousand prospectors overran the wild canyons and +precipices of the Fraser. Two or three things the prospector always +carried with him--matches, a knife, a gun, rice, flour, bacon, and a +little mallet-shaped hammer to test the 'float.' What was the 'float'? +A sandy chunk of gravel perhaps flaked with {22} yellow specks the size +of a pin-head. He wanted to know where that chunk rolled down from. +He knocked it open with his mallet. If it had a shiny yellow pebble +inside only the size of a pea, the miner would stay on that bank and +begin bench diggings into the dry bank. By the spring of '59 dry bench +diggings had extended back fifty miles from the river. If the chunk +revealed only tiny yellow specks, perhaps mixed with white quartz, the +miner would try to find where it rolled from and would ascend the +gully, or mountain torrent, or precipice. Queer stories are told of +how during that winter almost bankrupt grocers grubstaked prospectors +with bacon and flour and received a half-interest in a mine that +yielded five or six hundred dollars a day in nuggets. + +But for one who found a mine a thousand found nothing. The sensations +of the lucky one beggared description. 'Was it luck or was it +perseverance?' I asked the man who found one of the richest +silver-mines in the Big Bend of the Columbia. 'Both and mostly +dogged,' he answered. 'Take our party as a type of prospectors from +'59 to '89, the thirty years when the most of the mining country was +exploited. We had come up, eleven {23} green kids and one old man, +from Washington. We had roughed it in East and West Kootenay and were +working south to leave the country dead broke. We had found "float" in +plenty, and had followed it up ridges and over divides across three +ranges of mountains. Our horses were plumb played out. We had camped +on a ridge to let them fatten up enough to beat it out of British +Columbia for ever. Well, we found some galena "floats" in a dry gully +on the other side of the valley. We had provisions left for only +eleven days. Some of the boys said they would go out and shoot enough +deer to last us for meat till we could get out of the country. Old +Sandy and I thought we would try our luck for just one day. We +followed that "float" clear across the valley. We found more up the +bed of a raging mountain torrent; but the trouble was that the stream +came over a rock sheer as the wall of a house. I was afraid we'd lose +the direction if we left the stream bed, but I could see high up the +precipice where it widened out in a bench. You couldn't reach it from +below, but you could from above, so we blazed the trees below to keep +our direction and started up round the hog's back to drop to the bank +under. By now it was nightfall, and we hadn't had {24} anything to eat +since six that morning. Old Sandy wanted to go back, but I wouldn't +let him. He was trembling like an aspen leaf. It is so often just the +one pace more that wins or loses the race. We laboured up that slope +and reached the bench just at dark. We were so tired we had hauled +ourselves up by trees, brushwood branches, anything. I looked over the +edge of the rock. It dropped to that shelf we had seen from the gully +below. It was too dark to do anything more; we knew the fellows back +at the camp on the ridge would be alarmed, but we were too far to +signal.' + +'How far?' I asked. + +'About twenty-two miles. We threw ourselves down to sleep. It was +terribly cold. We were high up and the fall frosts were icy, I tell +you! I woke aching at daybreak. Old Sandy was still sleeping. I +thought I would let myself down over the ledge and see what was below, +for there were no mineral signs where we were. I crawled over the +ledge, and by sticking my fingers and toes in the rocks got down to +about fifteen feet from the drop to a soft grassy level. I looked, +hung for a moment, let go, and "lit" on all fours. Then I looked up! +The sun had just come over that east ridge and hit the rocks. I can't +talk {25} about it yet! I went mad! I laughed! I cried! I howled! +There wasn't an ache left in my bones. I forgot that my knees knocked +from weakness and that we had not had a bite for twenty-four hours. I +yelled at Old Sandy to wake the dead. He came crawling over the ledge +and peeked down. "What's the matter?" says he. "Matter," I yelled. +"Wake up, you old son of a gun; we are millionaires!" There, sticking +right out of the rock, was the ledge where "float" had been breaking +and washing for hundreds of years; so you see, only eleven days from +the time we were going to give up, we made our find. That mine paid +from the first load of ore sent out by pack-horses.' + +Other mines were found in a less spectacular way. The 'float' lost +itself in a rounded knoll in the lap of a dozen peaks; and the miners +had to decide which of the benches to tunnel. They might have to bring +the stream from miles distant to sluice out the gravel; and the largest +nuggets might not be found till hundreds of feet had been washed out; +but always the 'float,' the pebbles, the specks that shone in the sun, +lured them with promise. Even for those who found no mine the search +was not without reward. There was {26} the care-free outdoor life. +There was the lure of hope edging every sunrise. There was the +fresh-washed ozone fragrant with the resinous exudations of the great +trees of the forest. There was the healing regeneration to body and +soul. Amid the dance-halls and saloons the miner with money becomes a +sot. Out in the wilds he becomes a child of nature, simple and clean +and elemental as the trees around him or the stars above him. + +I think of one prospector whose range was at the headwaters of the +Athabaska. In the dance-halls he had married a cheap variety actress. +When the money of his first find had been dissipated she refused to +live with him, and tried to extort high alimony by claiming their +two-year-old son. The penniless prospector knew that he was no equal +for law courts and sheriffs and lawyers; so he made him a raft, got a +local trader to outfit him, and plunged with his baby boy into the +wilderness, where no sheriff could track him. I asked him why he did +not use pack-horses. He said dogs could have tracked them, but 'the +water didn't leave no smell.' In the heart of the wilderness west of +Mounts Brown and Hooker he built him a log cabin with a fireplace. In +that cabin he daily hobbled his little son, so {27} that the child +could not fall in the fire. He set his traps round the mountains and +hunted till the snow cleared. By the time he could go prospecting in +spring he had seven hundred dollars' worth of furs to sell; and he kept +the child with him in the wilds till his wife danced herself across the +boundary. Then he brought the boy down and sent him to school. When +the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the Rockies, that man became one +of the famous guides. He was the first guide I ever employed in the +mountains. + +Up-stream, then, headed the prospectors on the Fraser in that autumn of +'58. The miner's train of pack-horses is a study in nature. There is +always the wise old bell-mare leading the way. There is always the +lazy packer that has to be nipped by the horse behind him. There are +always the shanky colts who bolt to stampede where the trail widens; +but even shanky-legged colts learn to keep in line in the wilds. At +every steep ascent the pack-train halts, girths are tightened, and sly +old horses blow out their sides to deceive the driver. At first colts +try to rub packs off on every passing tree, but a few tumbles heels +over head down a bank cure them of that trick. + +Always the course in new territory is {28} according to the slope of +the ground. River-bank is followed where possible; but where windfall +or precipice drives back from the bed of the river over the mountain +spurs, the pathfinder takes his bearings from countless signs. Moss is +on the north side of tree-trunks. A steep slope compels a zigzag, +corkscrew ascent, but the slope of the ground guides the climber as to +the way to go; for slope means valley; and in valleys are streams; and +in the stream is the 'float,' which is to the prospector the one +shining signal to be followed. Timber-line is passed till the forests +below look like dank banks of moss. Cloud-line is passed till the +clouds lie underneath in grey lakes and pools. A 'fool hen' or +mountain grouse comes out and bobbles her head at the passing +packtrain. A whistling marmot pops up from the rocks and pierces the +stillness. Redwings and waxbills pick crumbs from every camp meal; and +occasionally a bald-headed eagle utters a lonely raucous cry from +solitary perch of dead branch or high rock. + +[Illustration: In the Rocky Mountains. From a photograph.] + +Naturally enough, the pack-train unconsciously follows the game-trail +of deer and goat and cougar and bear across the slope to the +watering-places where springs gush out from the rocks. One has only to +look close enough {29} to see the little cleft footprint of the deer +round these springs. To the miners, penetrating the wilds north of the +Fraser, the caribou proved a godsend during that lean first winter. +The miners spelled it 'cariboo,' and thus gave the great gold area its +name. + +The population of Yale that winter consisted of some eight hundred +people, housed in tents and log shacks roofed with canvas. Between +Yale and Hope remained two thousand miners during the winter. Meals +cost a dollar, served on tin plates to diners standing in long rows +waiting turn at the counter. The regular menu at all meals was bacon, +salmon, bread, and coffee. Of butter there was little; of milk, none. +Wherever a sand-bar gave signs of mineral, it was tested with the +primitive frying-pan. If the pan showed a deposit, the miner rigged up +a rocker--a contraption resembling a cradle with rockers below, about +four feet from end to end, two feet across, and two deep. The sides +converged to bottom. At the head was a perforated sheet-iron bottom +like a housewife's colander. Into this box the gravel was shovelled by +one miner. The man's 'pardner' poured in water and rocked the +cradle--cradled the sand. The water ran through the perforated bottom +to a second {30} floor of quicksilver or copperplate or woolly blanket +which caught the gold. On a larger scale, when streams were directed +through wooden boxes, the gold was sluiced; on a still larger scale, +the process was hydraulic mining, though the same in principle. In +fact, in huge free milling works, where hydraulic machinery crushes the +gold-bearing quartz and screens it to fineness before catching the gold +on delicate sieves, the process is only a complex refinement of the +bar-washer cradling his gold. + +Fires had not yet cleared the giant hemlock forests, as they have +to-day along the Cariboo Trail, and prospectors found their way through +a chartless sea of windfall--hemlocks criss-crossed the height of a +house with branches interlaced like wire. Cataracts fell over lofty +ledges in wind-blown spray. Spanish moss, grey-green and feathery, +hung from branch to branch of the huge Douglas firs. Sometimes the +trail would lead for miles round the edge of some precipices beyond +which could be glimpsed the eternal snows. Sometimes an avalanche slid +over a slope with the distant appearance of a great white waterfall and +the echo of muffled thunder. Where the mountain was swept as by a +mighty besom, the pack-train kept an anxious eye on the snow {31} amid +the valleys of the upper peaks; for, in an instant, the snowslide might +come over the edge of the upper valley to sweep down the slope, +carrying away forests, rocks, trail, pack-train and all. The story is +told of one slide seen by the guide at the head of a long pack-train. +He had judged it to be ten miles away; but out from the upper valley it +came coiling like a long white snake, and before he could turn, it had +caught him. In a slide death was almost certain, from suffocation if +not from the crush of falling trees and rocks. Miners have been taken +from their cabins dead in the trail of a snowslide that swept the shack +to the bottom of the valley without so much as a hair of their heads +being injured. Though the logs were twisted and warped, the dead +bodies were not even bruised. + +When a hushed whisper came through the trees, travellers looked for +some waterfall. At midday, when the thaw was at its full, all the +mountain torrents became vocal with the glee of disimprisoned life +running a race of gladness to the sea. The sun sets early in the +mountains with a gradual hushing of the voice of glad waters and a red +glow as of wine on the encircling peaks. Camp for the night was always +near water for the horses; and every {32} star was etched in replica in +river or lake. Sunrise steals in silence among the mountain peaks. +There is none of that stir of song and vague rustling of animal life +such as are heard at lower levels. Nor does the light gradually rise +above the eastern horizon. The walled peaks cut off the skyline in +mid-heaven. The stars pale. Trees and crags are mirrored in the lake +so clearly that one can barely tell which is real and which is +reflection. Then the water-lines shorten and the rocks emerge from the +belts and wisps of mist; and all the sunset colours of the night before +repeat themselves across the changing scene. As you look, the clouds +lift. The cook shouts 'breakfast!' And it is another day. + +Such was the trail and the life of the prospector who beat his way by +pack-train and canoe up the canyons of the Fraser to learn whence came +the wash of gold flake and nugget which he found in the sand-bars below. + + + + +{33} + +CHAPTER III + +CARIBOO + +Indian unrest was probably first among the causes which led the miners +to organize themselves into leagues for protection. The Indians of the +Fraser were no more friendly to newcomers now than they had been in the +days of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser.[1] They now professed +great alarm for their fishing-grounds. Men on the gold-bars were +jostled and hustled, and pegs marking limits were pulled up. A danger +lay in the rows of saloons along the water-front--the well-known danger +of liquor to the Indian. So the miners at Yale formed a vigilance +committee and established self-made laws. The saloons should be +abolished, they decreed. Sale of liquor to any person whomsoever was +forbidden. All liquor, wherever found, was ordered spilled. Any one +selling liquor to an Indian should be seized and whipped thirty-nine +lashes on the {34} bare back. A standing committee of twelve was +appointed to enforce the law till the regular government should be +organized. + +It was July '58 when the miners on the river-bars formed their +committee. And they formed it none too soon, for the Indians were on +the war-path in Washington and the unrest had spread to New Caledonia. +Young M'Loughlin, son of the famous John M'Loughlin of Oregon, coming +up the Columbia overland from Okanagan to Kamloops with a hundred and +sixty men, four hundred pack-horses and a drove of oxen, had three men +sniped off by Indians in ambush and many cattle stolen. At Big Canyon +on the Fraser two Frenchmen were found murdered. When word came of +this murder the vigilance committee of Yale formed a rifle company of +forty, which in August started up to the forks at Lytton. At Spuzzum +there was a fight. Indians barred the way; but they were routed and +seven of them killed in a running fire, and Indian villages along the +river were burned. Meanwhile a hundred and sixty volunteers at Yale +formed a company to go up the river under Captain Snyder. The +company's trader at Yale was reluctant to supply arms, for the +company's policy had ever been to conciliate the Indians. {35} But, +when a rabble of two thousand angry miners gathered round the store, +the rifles were handed over on condition that forty of the worst +fire-eaters in the band should remain behind. Snyder then led his men +up the river and joined the first company at Spuzzum. At China Bar +five miners were found hiding in a hole in the bank. With a number of +companions they had been driven down-stream from the Thompson by +Indians and had been sniped all the way for forty miles. Man after man +had fallen, and the five survivors in the bank were all wounded. + +When the Indians saw the company of armed men under Snyder, they fled +to the hills. Flags of truce were displayed on both sides and a peace +was patched up till Governor Douglas could come up from the coast. +Not, however, before there occurred an unfortunate incident. At Long +Bar, when an Indian chief came with a flag of truce, two of the white +men snatched it from him and trampled it in the mud. On the instant +the Indians shot both the white men where they stood. + +Douglas had been up as far as Yale in June, but was now back in +Victoria, where couriers brought him word of the open fight in August. +He promptly organized a force of Royal {36} Engineers and marines and +set out for the scene of the disorders. Royal Engineers to the number +of a hundred and fifty-six and their families had come out from England +for the boundary survey; and their presence must have seemed +providential to Douglas, now that the miners were forming vigilance +committees of their own and the Indians were on the war-path. He went +up the river in a small cruiser and reached Hope on the 1st of +September. Salutes were fired as he landed. Douglas knew how to use +all the pomp of regimentals and formality to impress the Indians. He +opened a solemn powwow with the chiefs of the Fraser. As usual, the +white man's fire-water was found to be the chief cause of the trouble. +Without waiting for legislative authority, Douglas issued a royal +proclamation against the sale of liquor and left a mining recorder to +register claims. He also appointed a justice of the peace. Then he +went on to Yale. At Yale he considered the price of provisions too +high, and by arbitrarily reducing the price at the company's stores, he +broke the ring of the petty dealers. This won him the friendship of +the miners. Within a week he had allayed all irritation between white +man and Indian. In a quarrel over a claim a {37} white man had been +murdered on one of the bars. Douglas appointed magistrates to try the +case. The trial was of course illegal, for colonial government had not +been formally inaugurated in New Caledonia or British Columbia, as it +was soon to be known, and Douglas's authority as governor did not +extend beyond Vancouver Island. But so, for that matter, were illegal +all his actions on this journey; yet by an odd inconsistency of fact +against law, they restored peace and order on the river. + +[Illustration: A group of Thompson River Indians. From a photograph by +Maynard.] + +It was not long, however, before the formal organization of the new +colony took place. Hardly had Douglas returned to Victoria when ships +from England arrived bringing his commission as governor of British +Columbia. Arrived, also, Matthew Baillie Begbie, 'a Judge in our +Colony of British Columbia,' and a detachment of Royal Engineers under +command of Colonel Moody. At Fort Langley, on November 19, 1858, the +colony of British Columbia was proclaimed under the laws of England. + +Then, in January, just as Douglas and the officers of his government +had again settled down comfortably at Victoria, came word of more riots +at Yale, led by a notorious desperado {38} and deposed judge of +California named Ned M'Gowan. The possibility of American occupation +had become an obsession at Victoria. There were undoubtedly those +among the American miners who made wild boasts. Douglas gathered up +all his panoply of war and law. Along went Colonel Moody, with a +company of his Royal Engineers, Lieutenant Mayne of the Imperial Navy +with a hundred bluejackets, and Judge Matthew Begbie, to deal out +justice to the offenders. Douglas remembered the cry 'fifty-four forty +or fight,' and he remembered what had happened to his chief, +M'Loughlin, in Oregon when the American settlers there had set up +vigilance committees. He would take no chances. The party carried +along a small cannon. Lieutenant Mayne could not take his cruiser the +_Plumper_ higher than Langley; and there the forces were transferred to +Tom Wright's stern-wheeler, the _Enterprise_. But, when they arrived +at Hope, the whole affair looked like semi-comic vaudeville. Yale, +too, was as quiet as a church prayer-meeting; and Colonel Moody +preached a sermon on Sunday to a congregation of forty in the +court-house--the first church service ever held on the mainland of +British Columbia. + +[Illustration: Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie. From a portrait by +Savannah.] + +{39} + +The trouble had happened in this way. Christmas Day had been +celebrated hilariously. At Yale a miner of Hill's Bar, some miles down +the river, had beaten up a negro. The Yale magistrate had issued a +warrant for the miner's arrest--poor magistrate, he had found little to +do since his appointment in September! The miner, now sobered, fled +back to his bar. The warrant was sent after him to the local peace +officer for execution, but this officer had already issued a warrant +for the arrest of the negro at Yale; so there it stood--each fighter +making complaint against the other and the two magistrates in lordly +contempt of each other! The man who tried to arrest the negro was +insolent and was jailed by the Yale magistrate. Ned M'Gowan, the +Californian down on the bar, then came up to Yale with a posse of +twenty men to arrest the magistrate for arresting the man who had been +sent to arrest the negro. Bursting with rage, the astonished dignitary +at Yale was bundled into a canoe. He was fined fifty dollars for +contempt of court. + +It was at this stage of the comedy of errors that Moody, Begbie, and +Mayne came on the scene. At first M'Gowan showed truculence and +assailed Moody; but when he saw the {40} force of engineers and +bluejackets and saw the big gun hoisted ashore, he apologized, paid his +fine for the assault, and invited the officers to a champagne dinner on +Hill's Bar. Both sides to the quarrel cooled down and the riots ended. +The army stayed only to see the miners wash the gold and then put back +to Victoria. The miners had learned that an English judge and a field +force could be put on the ground in a week. September had settled +disorder among the Indians. January settled disorder among the whites. + +In the wild remote regions of the up-country there was much 'claim +jumping.' A man lost his claim if he stopped mining for seventy-two +hours, and when the place of registration was far from the find, +'pardners' camped on the spot in dugouts or in lean-tos of logs and +moss along the river-bank. There were fights and there was killing, +and sometimes the river cast up its dead. The marvel is that there +were not more crimes. In every camp is a species of human vulture +living off other men's risk. Whenever a lone man came in from the +hills and paid for his purchase in nuggets, such vultures would trail +him back to his claim and make what they could out of his discovery. + +So, by pack-train and canoe, the miners {41} worked up to Alexandria, +to Quesnel, to Fort George. Towards spring, when the prospectors had +succeeded in packing in more provisions, they began striking back east +from the main river, following creeks to their sources, and from their +sources over the watershed to the sources of creeks flowing in an +opposite direction. Late in '59 men reached Quesnel Lake and Cariboo +Lake. Binding saplings together with withes, the prospectors poled +laboriously round these alpine lagoons, and where they found creeks +pouring down from the upper peaks, they followed these creeks up to +their sources. Pockets of gravel in the banks of both lakes yielded as +much as two hundred dollars a day. On Horse Fly Creek up from Quesnel +Lake five men washed out in primitive rockers a hundred ounces of +nuggets in a week. The gold-fever, which had subsided when all the +bars of the Fraser were occupied, mounted again. Great rumours began +to float out from the up-country. Bank facings seemed to indicate that +the richest pay-dirt lay at bed-rock. This kind of mining required +sluicing, and long ditches were constructed to bring the water to the +dry diggings. By the autumn of '59 a thousand miners were at work +round Quesnel Lake. By the spring {42} of '60 Yale and Hope were +almost deserted. Men on the upper diggings were making from sixty to a +hundred dollars a day. Only Chinamen remained on the lower bars. + +It was in the autumn of the year '60 that Doc Keithley, John Rose, +Sandy MacDonald, and George Weaver set out from Keithley Creek, which +flows into Cariboo Lake, to explore the cup-like valley amid the great +peaks which seemed to feed this lake. They toiled up the creek five +miles, then followed signs up a dry ravine seven miles farther. +Reaching the divide at last, they came on an open park-like ridge, +bounded north and east by lofty shining peaks. Deer and caribou tracks +were everywhere. It was now that the region became known as Cariboo. +They camped on the ridge, cooked supper, and slept under the stars. +Should they go on, or back? This was far above the benches of +wash-gravel. Going up one of the nameless peaks, they stepped out on a +ledge and viewed the white, silent mountain-world. Marmots stabbed the +lonely solitude with echoing whistle. Wind came up from the valley in +the sibilant sigh of a sea. It was doubtful if even Indians had ever +hunted this ground. The game was so tame, it did not know enough to be +afraid. The men {43} could see another creek shining in the sunrise on +the other side of the ridge. It seemed to go down to a valley benched +by gravel flanks. They began wandering down that creek and testing the +gravel. Before they had gone far their eyes shone like the wet pebbles +in their hands. The gravel was pitted with little yellow stones. +Where rain and spring-wash had swept off the gravel to naked rock, +little nuggets lay exposed. The men began washing the gravel. The +first pan gave an ounce; the second pan gave nuggets to the weight of a +quarter of a pound. The excited prospectors forgot time. Dark was +falling. They slept under their blankets and awoke at daybreak below +twelve inches of snow. + +They were out of provisions. Somebody had to go back down to Cariboo +Lake for food. Each man staked out a claim. And, while two built a +log cabin, the other two set off over the hills for food. There was +some sort of a log store down at Cariboo Lake. The one thing these +prospectors were determined on was secrecy till they could get their +claims registered. Bands of nondescript men hung round the +provision-store of Cariboo Lake awaiting a breath to fan their flaming +hopes of fortune. What let the secret out at the store is not {44} +known. Perhaps too great an air of secrecy. Perhaps too strenuous +denials. Perhaps the payment of provisions in nuggets. But when these +two packed back over the hills on snowshoes, they were trailed. +Followers came in with a whoop behind them on Antler Creek. Claims +were staked faster than they could be recorded. The same claims were +staked over and over, the corner of one overlapping another. When the +gold commissioner came hurriedly across the country in March, he found +the MacDonald-Rose party living in a cabin and the rest of the camp +holding down their claims by living in holes which they had dug in the +ground. + +This was the spring of '61; and Antler Creek proved only the beginning +of the rush to Cariboo. Over the divide in mad stampede rushed the +gold-seekers northward and eastward. Ed Stout and Billy Deitz and two +others found signs that seemed very poor on a creek which they named +William's after Deitz. The gold did not pan a dollar a wash; but in +wild haste came the rush to William's Creek. Crossing a creek one +party of prospectors was overtaken by a terrific thunderstorm, with +rock-shattering flashes of lightning. Shivering in the canyon, but +afraid to stand under trees {45} or near rocks, with the gravel +shelving down all round them, one of the men exclaimed sardonically, +'Well, boys, this _is_ lightning.' The stream became known as +Lightning Creek and proved one of the richest in Cariboo. William's +Creek was panning poorer and poorer and was being called 'Humbug +Creek,' when miners staked near by decided to see what they could find +beneath the blue clay. It took forty-eight hours to dig down. The +reward was a thousand dollars' worth of wash-gravel. Back surged the +miners to William's Creek. They put shafts and tunnels through the +clay and sluiced in more water for hydraulic work. Claims on William's +Creek produced as high as forty pounds of gold in a day. From another +creek, only four hundred feet long, fifty thousand dollars' worth of +gold was washed within a space of six weeks. Lightning Creek yielded a +hundred thousand dollars in three weeks. In one year gold to the value +of two and a half million dollars was shipped from Cariboo. + +Millions were not so plentiful in those days, and the reports which +reached the outside world sounded like the _Arabian Nights_ or some +fairy-tale. The whole world took fire. Cariboo was on every man's +lips, as were Transvaal {46} and Klondike half a century later. The +New England States, Canada, the Maritime Provinces, the British +Isles--all were set agog by the reports of the new gold-camps where it +was only necessary to dig to find nuggets. By way of Panama, by way of +San Francisco, by way of Spokane, by way of Victoria, by way of +Winnipeg and Edmonton came the gold-seekers, indifferent alike to +perils of sea and perils of mountain. Men who had never seen a +mountain thought airily that they could climb a watershed in a day's +walk. Men who did not know a canoe from a row-boat essayed to run the +maddest rapids in America. People without provisions started blindly +from Winnipeg across the width of half a continent. In the mad rush +were clerks who had never seen 'float,' English school-teachers whose +only knowledge of gold was that it was yellow, and dance-hall girls +with very little possession of anything on earth but recklessness and +slippers; and the recklessness and the slippers danced them into +Cariboo, while many a solemn wight went to his death in rockslide or +rapids. By the opening of '62 six thousand miners were in Cariboo, and +Barkerville had become the central camp. How these people ever gained +access to the centre of the wilderness before the famous Cariboo Road +had {47} been built is a mystery. Some arrived by pack-train, some by +canoe, but the majority afoot. + +Governor Douglas could not regulate prices here, and they jumped to war +level. Flour was three hundred dollars a barrel. Dried apples brought +two dollars and fifty cents a pound; and for lack of fruit many miners +died from scurvy. Where gold-seekers tramped six hundred miles over a +rocky trail, it is not surprising that boots commanded fifty dollars a +pair. Of the disappointed, countless numbers filled unknown graves, +and thousands tramped their way out starving and begging a meal from +the procession of incomers. + +The places of the gold deposits were freakish and unaccountable. +Sometimes the best diggings were a mother lode at the head of a creek. +Sometimes they were found fifty feet under clay at the foot of a creek +where the dashing waters swerved round some rocky point into a river. +Old miners now retired at Yale and Hope say that the most ignorant +prospector could guess the place of the gold as well as the geologist. +Billy Barker, after whom Barkerville was named, struck it rich by going +fifty feet below the surface down the canyon. Cariboo Cameron, the +luckiest of all the miners and not originally a prospector, {48} found +his wealth by going still lower on the watercourse to a vertical depth +of eighty feet. + +For seven miles along William's Creek worked four thousand men. +Cariboo Cameron took a hundred and fifty thousand out of his claim in +three months. In six months of '63 William's Creek yielded a million +and a half dollars, and this was only one of many rich creeks. From +'59 to '71 came twenty-five million dollars in gold from the Cariboo +country. By '65 hydraulic machinery was coming in and the prospectors +were flocking out; but to this day the Cariboo mines have remained a +freakish gamble. Mines for which capitalists have paid hundreds of +thousands have suddenly ended in barren rock. Diggings from which +nuggets worth five hundred dollars have been taken have petered out +after a few hundred feet. Even where the gravel merged to whitish gold +quartz, the most expert engineer in the camp could not tell when the +vein would fault and cease as entirely as if cut off. And the +explanation of this is entirely theoretical. The theory is that the +place of the gold was the gravel bed of an old stream, an old stream +antedating the petrified forests of the South-west, and that, when vast +alluvial deposits were carried over a great part of the {49} continent +by inland lakes and seas, the gold settled to the bottom and was buried +beneath the deposits of countless centuries. Then convulsive changes +shook the earth's surface. Mountains heaved up where had been sea +bottom and swamp and watery plain. In the upheaval these subterranean +creek beds were hoisted and thrown towards the surface. Floods from +the eternal snows then grooved out watercourses down the scarred +mountainsides. Frost and rain split away loose debris. And man found +gold in these prehistoric, perhaps preglacial, creek beds. However +this may be, there was no possible scientific way of knowing how the +gold-bearing area would run. A fortune might come out of one claim of +a hundred feet and its next-door neighbour might not yield an atom of +gold. Only the genii of the hidden earth held the secret; and modern +science derides the invisible pixies of superstition, just as these +invisible spirits of the earth seem to laugh at man's best efforts to +ferret out their secrets. + +What became of the lucky prospectors? I have talked with some of them +on the lower reaches of the Cariboo Road. They are old and poor +to-day, and the memory of their fortune is as a dream. Have they not +lived at {50} Hope and Yale and Lytton for fifty years and seen their +trail crumble into the canyon, with not a dozen pack-trains a year +passing to the Upper country? John Rose, who was one of the men to +find Cariboo, set out in the spring of '63 to prospect the Bear River +country. He set out alone and was never again seen alive. Cariboo +Cameron, a 'man from Glengarry,' went back to Glengarry by the Ottawa +and established something like a baronial estate; but he lost his money +in various investments and died in 1888 in Cariboo a poor man. Billy +Deitz, after whom a famous creek was named, died penniless in Victoria; +and the Scottish miner who rhymed the songs of Cariboo died unwept and +unknown to history. + +The romance of the trail is almost incredible to us, who may travel by +motor from Ashcroft to Barkerville. In October '62 a Mr Ireland and a +party were on the trail when snow began falling so heavily that it was +unsafe to proceed. They halted at a negro's cabin. Out of the heavy +snowfall came another party struggling like themselves. Then a packer +emerged from the storm with word that five women and twenty-six men +were snowbound half a mile ahead. Ireland and his party set out to the +rescue; but they lost the trail and {51} could only find the cabin +again by means of the gunshots that the others kept firing as a signal. +Two dozen people slept that night in the log shack; and when dawn came, +four feet of snow lay on the ground and the great evergreens looked +like huge sugar-cones. On snowshoes Ireland and three others set out +to find the lost men and women on the lower trail. They found them at +sundown camped in a ravine beside a rock, with their blankets up to +keep off the wind, thawing themselves out before a fire. A high wind +was blowing and it was bitterly cold. The lost people had not eaten +for three days. Twenty men from the cabin dug a way through the drifts +with their snowshoes and brought horses to carry the women back to the +coloured man's roof. + + +But it was not of the perils of the trail that the outside world heard. +The outside world heard of claims which any man might find and from +which gold to the value of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars could +be dug and washed in three months. The outside world thought that gold +could be picked up amid the rocks of British Columbia. Necessity is +the mother of invention. She is also the hard foster-mother of +desperation and folly. Times {52} were very hard in Canada. The East +was hard up. Farming did not pay. All eyes turned towards Cariboo; +and no wonder! Many of the treasure-seekers holding the richest claims +had gone to Cariboo owning nothing but the clothes on their backs. A +season's adventure in a no-man's-land of bear and deer, above +cloud-line and amid wild mountain torrents, had sent them out to the +world laden with wealth. Some ran the wild canyons of the Fraser in +frail canoes and crazy rafts with their gold strapped to their backs or +packed in buckskin sacks and carpet-bags. And some who had won fortune +and were bringing it home went to their graves in Fraser Canyon. + + + +[1] See _Pioneers of the Pacific Coast_ in this Series. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE OVERLANDERS + +When the Cariboo fever reached the East, the public there had heard +neither of the Indian massacres in Oregon nor that the Sioux were on +the war-path in Dakota. Promoters who had never set foot west of +Buffalo launched wild-cat mining companies and parcel express devices +and stages by routes that went up sheer walls and crossed unbridged +rivers. To such frauds there could be no certain check; for it took +six months to get word in and out of Cariboo. Eastern papers were full +of advertisements of easy routes to the gold-diggings. Far-off fields +look green. Far-off gold glittered the brighter for the distance. +Cariboo became in popular imagination a land where nuggets grew on the +side of the road and could be picked by the bushel-basket. Besides, +times were so hard in the East that the majority of the youthful +adventurers who were caught by the fever had nothing to lose except +their lives. + +{54} + +A group of threescore young men from different parts of Canada, from +Kingston, Niagara, and Montreal, having noticed advertisements of an +easy stage-route from St Paul, set out for the gold-diggings in May +1862. Tickets could be purchased in London, England, as well as in +Canada, for when these young Canadians reached St Paul, they found +eighteen young men from England, like themselves, diligently searching +the whereabouts of the stage-route. That was their first inkling that +fraudulent practices were being carried on and that they had been +deceived, that there was, in fact, no stage-route from St Paul to +Cariboo. A few of them turned back, but the majority, by ox-cart and +rickety stagecoach, pushed on to the Red River and went up to a point +near the boundary of modern Manitoba, where lay the first steamboat to +navigate that river, about to start on her maiden trip. On this +steamboat, the little _International_, afterwards famous for running +into sand-banks and mud-bars, the troops of Overlanders took passage, +and stowed themselves away wherever they could, some in the cook's +galley and some among the cordwood piled in the engine-room. + +The Sioux were on a rampage in Minnesota {55} and Dakota, but Alexander +Dallas, governor of Rupert's Land for the Hudson's Bay Company, and Mgr +Taché, bishop of St Boniface, were aboard, and their presence afforded +protection. On the way to the vessel some of the Overlanders had +narrowly escaped a massacre. The story is told that as they slowly +made their way in ox-carts up the river-bank, a band of horsemen swept +over the horizon, and the travellers found themselves surrounded by +Sioux warriors. The old plainsman who acted as guide bethought him of +a ruse: he hoisted a flag of the Hudson's Bay Company and waved it in +the face of the Sioux without speaking. The painted warriors drew +together and conferred. The oxen stood complacently chewing the cud. +Indians never molested British fur-traders. Presently the raiders went +off over the horizon as swiftly as they had come, and the gold-seekers +drove on, little realizing the fate from which they had been delivered. + +There had been heavy rains that spring on the prairie, and trees came +jouncing down the muddy flood of the Red River. The little +_International_, like a panicky bicycle rider, steered straight for +every tree, and hit one with such impact that her smokestack came +toppling down. At another place she pushed {56} her nose so deep in +the soft mud of the riverbank that it required all the crew and most of +the passengers to shove her off. But everybody was jubilant. This was +the first navigation of the Red River by steam. The Queen's Birthday, +the 24th of May, was celebrated on board the vessel pottle-deep to the +tune of the bagpipes played by the governor's Scottish piper. But the +governor's wife was heard to lament to Bishop Taché that the +_International's_ menu consisted only of pork and beans alternated with +beans and pork, that the service was on tin plates, and that the +dining-room chairs were backless benches. + +The arrival of the steamer at Fort Garry (Winnipeg) was celebrated with +great rejoicing. Indians ran along the river-bank firing off rifles in +welcome, and opposite the flats where the fort gate opened, on what is +now Main Street, the company's men came out and fired a royal salute. +The people bound for Cariboo camped on the flats outside Fort Garry. +Here was a strange world indeed. Two-wheeled ox-carts, made wholly of +wood, without iron or bolt, wound up to the fort from St Paul in +processions a mile long, with fat squaws and whole Indian families +sitting squat inside the crib-like structure of the cart. Men and boys +{57} loped ahead and abreast on sinewy ponies, riding bareback or on +home-made saddles. Only a few stores stood along what is now Main +Street, which ran northward towards the Selkirk Settlement. With the +Indians, who were camped everywhere in the woods along the Assiniboine, +the Overlanders began to barter for carts, oxen, ponies, and dried +deer-meat or pemmican. An ox and cart cost from forty to fifty +dollars. Ponies sold at twenty-five dollars. Pemmican cost sixteen +cents a pound, and a pair of duffel Hudson's Bay blankets cost eight or +ten dollars. Instead of blankets, many of the travellers bought the +cheaper buffalo robes. These sold as low as a dollar each. + +John Black, the Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' preached +special sermons on Sunday for the miners. And on a beautiful June +afternoon the Overlanders headed towards the setting sun in a +procession of almost a hundred ox-carts; and the fort waved them +farewell. One wonders whether, as the last ox-cart creaked into the +distance, the fur-traders realized that the miner heralded the settler, +and that the settler would fence off the hunter's game preserve into +farms and cities. A rare glamour lay over the plains {58} that June, +not the less rare because hope beckoned the travellers. The unfenced +prairie billowed to the horizon a sea of green, diversified by the +sky-blue waters of slough and lake, and decked with the hues of +gorgeous flowers--the prairie rose, fragrant, tender, elusive, and +fragile as the English primrose; the blood-red tiger-lily; the brown +windflower with its corn-tassel; the heavy wax cups of the sedgy +water-lily, growing where wild duck flackered unafraid. Game was +superabundant. Prairie chickens nestled along the single-file trail. +Deer bounded from the poplar thickets and shy coyotes barked all night +in the offing. Night in June on the northern prairie is but the +shadowy twilight between two long days. The sun sets between nine and +ten, and rises between three and four, and the moonlight is clear +enough on cloudless nights for campers to see the time on their watches. + +[Illustration: A Red River cart. From a photograph.] + +The trail followed was the old path of the fur-trader from fort to fort +'the plains across' to the Rockies. From the Assiniboine the road ran +northerly to Forts Ellice and Carlton and Pitt and Edmonton.[1] Thomas +M'Micking {59} of Niagara acted as captain and eight others as +lieutenants. A scout preceded the marchers, and at sundown camp was +formed in a big triangle with the carts as a stockade, the animals +tethered or hobbled inside. Tents were pitched outside with six men +doing sentry duty all night. At two in the morning a halloo roused +camp. An hour was permitted for harnessing and breaking camp, and then +the carts creaked out in line. They halted at six for breakfast and +marched again at seven. Dinner was at two, supper at six, and tents +were seldom pitched before nine at night. On Sunday the procession +rested and some one read divine service. The oxen and ponies foraged +for themselves. By limiting camp to five hours, in spite of the slow +pace of the oxen, forty to fifty miles a day could be made on a good +trail in fair weather. While the scout led the way, the captain and +his lieutenants kept the long procession in line; and the travellers +for the most part dozed lazily in their carts, dreaming of the fortunes +awaiting them in Cariboo. Some nights, when the captain permitted a +longer halt than usual and when camp-fires blazed before the tents, men +played the violin and sang and danced. Each man was his own cook. +Three or four occupied {60} each tent. In the company was one woman, +with two children. She was an Irishwoman; but she bore the name of +Shubert, from which we may infer that her husband was not an Irishman. + +Sunday having intervened, the travellers did not reach Portage la +Prairie until the fourth day out. Another week passed before they +arrived at Fort Ellice. Heavy rains came on now, and James M'Kay, +chief trader at Fort Ellice, opened his doors to the gold-seekers. +Harness and carts repaired and more pemmican bought, the travellers +crossed the Qu'Appelle river in a Hudson's Bay scow, paying toll of +fifty cents a cart. From the Qu'Appelle westward the journey grew more +arduous. The weather became oppressively hot and mosquitoes swarmed +from the sloughs. At Carlton and at Fort Pitt the fur-traders' 'string +band'--husky-dogs in wolfish packs--surrounded the camp of the +Overlanders and stole pemmican from under the tent-flaps. From Fort +Pitt westward the trail crossed a rough, wooded country, and there were +no more scows to take the ox-carts across the rivers. Eleven days of +continuous rain had flooded the sloughs into swamps; and in three days +as many as eight corduroy bridges had to be built. Two {61} long trees +were felled parallel and light poles were laid across the floating +trees. Where the trees swerved to the current, some one would swim out +and anchor them with ropes till the hundred carts had passed safely to +the other side. + +It was the 21st of July when the travellers came out on the high banks +of the North Saskatchewan, flowing broad and swift, opposite Fort +Edmonton. There had been floods and all the company's rafts had been +carried away. But the ox-carts were poled across by means of a big +York boat; and the travellers were welcomed inside the fort. + +The arrival of the Overlanders is remembered at Edmonton by some +old-timers even to this day. Salvoes of welcome were fired from the +fort cannon by a half-breed shooting his musket into the touch-hole of +the big gun. Concerts were given, with bagpipes, concertinas, flutes, +drums, and fiddles, in honour of the far-travellers. Pemmican-bags +were replenished from the company's stores. + +Miners often uttered loud complaints against the charges made by the +fur-traders for provisions, forgetting what it cost to pack these +provisions in by dog-train and canoe. If the Hudson's Bay officials at +Fort Garry and {62} Edmonton had withheld their help, the Overlanders +would have perished before they reached the Rockies. Though the miner +did everything to destroy the fur trade--started fires which ravaged +the hunter's forest haunts, put up saloons which demoralized the +Indians, built wagon-roads where aforetime wandered only the shy +creatures of the wilds--though the miner heralded the doom of the fur +trade--yet with an unvarying courtesy, from Fort Garry to the Rockies, +the Hudson's Bay men helped the Overlanders. + +The majority of the travellers now changed oxen and carts for +pack-horses and _travois_, contrivances consisting of two poles, within +which the horses were attached, and a rude sledge. A few continued +with oxen, and these oxen were to save their lives in the mountains. + +[Illustration: Washing gold on the Saskatchewan. From a photograph.] + +The farther the Overlanders now plunged into the wilderness, the more +they were pestered by the husky-dogs that roamed in howling hordes +round the outskirts of the forts. The story is told of several +prospectors of this time, who slept soundly in their tent after a day's +exhausting tramp, and awoke to find that their boots, bacon, rope, and +clothes had been devoured by the ravenous dogs. They {63} asked the +trader's permission to sleep inside the fort. + +'Why?' asked the amused trader. 'Why, now, when the huskies have +chewed all you own but your instruments? You are locking the stable +door after your horse has been stolen.' + +'No,' answered the prospectors. 'If those husky-dogs last night could +devour all our camp kit without disturbing us, to-night they might +swallow us before we'd waken.' + +The next pause was at St Albert, one of Father Lacombe's missions. +What surprised the Overlanders as they advanced was the amazing +fertility of the soil. At Fort Garry, at Pitt, at Edmonton, at St +Albert, at St Ann, they saw great fields of wheat, barley, and +potatoes. Afterwards many who failed in the mines drifted back to the +plains and became farmers. The same thing had happened in California, +and was repeated at a later day in the rush to the Klondike. Great +seams of coal, too, were seen projecting from the banks of the +Saskatchewan. Here some of the men began washing for gold, and, +finding yellow specks the size of pin-heads in the fine sand, a number +of them knocked up cabins for themselves and remained west of Edmonton +{64} to try their luck. Later, when these belated Overlanders decided +to follow on to Cariboo, they suffered terrible hardships. + +The Overlanders were to enter the Rockies by the Yellowhead Pass, which +had been discovered long ago by Jasper Hawse, of the Hudson's Bay +Company. This section of their trail is visible to the modern +traveller from the windows of a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway train, just +as the lower sections of the Cariboo Trail in the Fraser Canyon are to +be seen from the trains of the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian +Northern. First came the fur-trader, seeking adventure through these +passes, pursuing the little beaver. The miner came next, fevered to +delirium, lured by the siren of an elusive yellow goddess. The settler +came third, prosaic and plodding, but dauntless too. And then came the +railroad, following the trail which had been beaten hard by the +stumbling feet of pioneers. + +[Illustration: In the Yellowhead Pass. From a photograph.] + +At St Ann a guide was engaged to lead the long train of pack-horses +through the pass from Jasper House on the east to Yellowhead Lake on +the west. Colin Fraser, son of the famous piper for Sir George Simpson +of the Hudson's Bay Company, danced a Highland fling at the gate of the +fort to speed the {65} departing guests. And to the skirl of the +bagpipes the procession wound away westward bound for the mountains. + +Instead of the thirty miles a day which they had made farther east, the +travellers were now glad to cover ten miles a day. Fallen trees lay +across the trail in impassable ramparts and floods filled the gullies. +Scouts went ahead blazing trees to show the way. Bushwhackers +followed, cutting away windfall and throwing logs into sloughs. Horses +sank to their withers in seemingly bottomless muskegs,[2] so that packs +had to be cut off and the unlucky bronchos pulled out by all hands +straining on a rope. + +Somewhere between the rivers Pembina and M'Leod the travellers were +amazed to see what the wise ones in the party thought a volcano--a +continuous and self-fed fire burning on the crown of a hill. Science +of a later {66} day pronounced this a gas well burning above some +subterranean coal seam. + +At length the Overlanders were ascending the banks of the M'Leod, whose +torrential current warned them of rising ground. Three times in one +day windfall and swamp forced the party to ford the stream for passage +on the opposite side. The oxen swam and the ox-carts floated and the +packs came up the bank dripping. For eleven days in August every soul +of the company, including Mrs Shubert's babies, travelled wet to the +skin. At night great log fires were kindled and the Overlanders sat +round trying to dry themselves out. Then the trail lifted to the +foothills. And on the evening of the 15th of August there pierced +through the clouds the snowy, shining, serrated peaks of the Rockies. + +[Illustration: Upper M'Leod River. From a photograph.] + +A cheer broke from the ragged band. Just beyond the shining mountains +lay--Fortune. What cared these argonauts, who had tramped across the +width of the continent, that the lofty mountains raised a sheer wall +between them and their treasure? Cheer on cheer rang from the +encampment. Men with clothes in tatters pitched caps in air, proud +that they had proved themselves kings of their own fate. It is, +perhaps, well that we have to climb our {67} mountains step by step; +else would many turn back. But there were no faint-hearts in the camp +that night. Even the Irishwoman's two little children came out and +gazed at what they could not understand. + +The party now crossed a ravine to the main stream of the Athabaska. It +was necessary to camp here for a week. A huge raft was built of pine +saplings bound together by withes. To the stern of this was attached a +tree, the branch end dipping in the water, as a sweep and rudder to +keep the craft to its course. On this the Overlanders were ferried +across the Athabaska. And so they entered the Yellowhead Pass. + + + +[1] See the map in _The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay_ in this +Series. + +[2] Perhaps the distinction should be made here between the muskeg and +the slough. The slough was simply any depression in the ground filled +with mud and water. The muskeg was permanent wet ground resting on +soft mud, covered over on the top with most deceiving soft green moss +which looked solid, but which quaked to every step and gave to the +slightest weight. Many muskegs west of Edmonton have been formed by +beavers damming the natural drainage of a small river for so many +centuries that the silt and humus washed down from the mountains have +formed a surface of deep black muck. + + + + +{68} + +CHAPTER V + +CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS + +Like many lowland dwellers, the Overlanders had thought of a pass as a +door opening through a rock wall. What they found was a forested slope +flanked on both sides by mighty precipices down which poured cataracts +with the sound of the voice of many waters. Huge hemlocks lay +criss-crossed on the slope. Above could be seen the green edge of a +glacier, and still higher the eternal snows of the far peaks. The tang +of ice was in the air; but in the valleys was all the gorgeous bloom of +midsummer--the gaudy painter's brush, the shy harebell, the tasselled +windflower, and a few belated mountain roses. Long-stemmed, slender +cornflowers and bluebells held up their faces to the sun, blue as the +sky above them. Everywhere was an odour as of incense, the fragrance +of the great hemlocks, of grasses frost-touched at night and sunburnt +by day, of the unpolluted earth-mould of a thousand years. + +{69} + +Where was the trail? None was visible! The captain led the way, +following blazes chipped in the bark of the trees, zigzagging up the +slope from right to left, from left to right, hanging to the horse's +mane to lift weight from the saddle, with a rest for breathing at each +turn as they climbed; and, when the ridge of the foothill was +surmounted, a world of peacock-blue lakes lay below, fringed by +forests. The cataracts looked like wind-blown ribbons of silver. +Instead of dipping down, the trail led to the rolling flank of another +great foothill, and yet another, round sharp saddlebacks connecting the +mountains. Here, ox-carts were dangerous and had to be abandoned. It +was with difficulty that the oxen could be driven along the narrow +ledges. + +Jasper House, Whitefish Lake, the ruins of Henry House, they saw from +the height of the pass. One foaming stream they forded eight times in +three hours, driven from side to side by precipice and windfall; and in +places they could advance only by ascending the stream bed. This was +risky work on a fractious pony, and some of the riders preferred wading +to riding. At noon on the 22nd of August the riders crossed a small +stream and set up their tents on the border of a sedgy lake. Then {70} +somebody noticed that the lake emptied west, not east; and a wild +halloo split the welkin. They had crossed the Divide. They were on +the headwaters of the Fraser, where a man could stand astride the +stream; and the Fraser led to the Cariboo gold-diggings. They still +had four hundred miles to travel. Their boots were in shreds and their +clothes in tatters; but what were four hundred miles to men who had +tramped almost three thousand? + +But their progress had been so slow that the provisions were running +short. The first snow of the mountains falls in September, and it was +already near the end of August. There was not a moment to lose in +resting. What had been a lure of hope now became a goad of +desperation. So it is with all life's highest emprises. We plunge in +led by hope. We plunge on spurred by fate. When the reward is won, +only God and our own souls know that, even if we would, we could not +have done otherwise than go on. + +Those travellers who had insisted on bringing oxen had now to kill them +for meat. Chipmunks were shot for food. So were many worn-out horses. +Hides were used to resole boots and make mitts. Not far from Moose +Lake the last bag of pemmican was eaten. {71} Perhaps it was a good +thing at this time that the band of Overlanders began to spread out and +scatter along the trail; for hungry men in large groups are a tragic +danger to themselves. Those of the advance-party were now some ten +days ahead of their companions in the rear. Mrs MacNaughton, whose +husband was with the rear party, of which we shall hear more anon, +relates the story of a young fellow so ravenous that he fried the +deer-thong he had bought for a tump-line back at one of the company's +forts. Fortunately, somewhere west of Moose Lake, the travellers came +on a band of Shuswap Indians who traded for matches and powder enough +salmon and cranberry cakes to stave off actual famine. + +Trees with chipped bark pointed the way down the Fraser. For three +days the party followed the little stream that had come out of the lake +hardly wider than the span of a man's stride. With each mile its +waters swelled and grew wilder. On the third day windfall and +precipice drove the riders back from the river bed into the heavy +hemlock forest, where festoons of Spanish moss overhead almost shut out +the light of the sun and all sense of direction. And when they came +back to the bank of the stream they saw a {72} wild cataract cutting +its way through a dark canyon. There was no mistake. This was the +Fraser, and it was living up to its reputation. + +And yet the Overlanders were sorely puzzled. There were no more blazes +on the trees to point the way; and, if this was the Fraser, it seemed +to flow almost due north. Where was Cariboo? Mr M'Micking, who was +acting as captain, tried to find out from the Indians. They made him a +drawing showing that if he crossed another watershed he would come on a +white man's wide pack-road. That must lead to Cariboo; but the snow +lay already a foot deep on this road; and unless the Overlanders +hastened they would be snowbound for the winter. On the other hand, if +the white men continued to follow the wild river canyon north, it would +bring them to Fort George on the main Fraser in ten days. There was no +time to waste on chance travelling. The Overlanders knew that +somewhere south from Moose Lake must lie the headwaters of the +Thompson, which would bring them to Kamloops. Was that what the +Indians meant by their drawings of a white man's road? If that were +true, between Moose Lake and the Thompson must lie the land of their +desire, {73} Cariboo; but to cross another unknown divide in winter +seemed risky. To follow the bend of the Fraser north might be the long +way round, but it was sure. + +It was decided to let the party separate. Let those with provisions +still remaining try to push overland to Cariboo. If they failed to +find it, they could build cabins and winter on their pack animals. +Twenty men joined this group. The rest decided to stick to the river. +Behind were straggling a score more of the travellers, who were left to +follow as they could. Mrs Shubert with her children joined the band +going overland to find the Thompson. + +The Indians traded canoes for horses and showed the Overlanders how to +put rafts together to run the Fraser. Axes had been worn almost to the +haft. Cutting the huge trees and splitting them into suitable timbers +was slow work. It was September before the rafts were ready to be +launched. There were four. Each had a heavy railing round it like +that of a ferry, with some flat stones on which fires could be lighted +to cook meals without pausing to land. When we recall the experiences +of Mackenzie and Fraser on this river, it seems almost incredible that +these landsmen made {74} the descent on rafts with their few remaining +ponies and oxen tied to the railings; yet so they did. If we imagine +rafts, with horses and oxen tied to the railings, trying to run the +whirlpool below Niagara, we shall have some conception of what this +meant. + +The canoes sheered out of the way and the rafts were unmoored. The +Scarborough raft, with men from Whitby and Scarborough, near Toronto, +swirled out to midstream on the afternoon of the 1st of September. +'Poor, poor white men,' sighed the Indians; 'no more see white men'; +but the men in the canoes rapped the gunnels with their paddles and +uttered rousing cheers. Then the _Ottawa_ and the _Niagara_ and the +_Huntingdon_ rafts slipped out on the current. All went well for four +days. Sweeps made of trees with the branch ends turned down and long, +slim poles kept the rafts in mid-current. Meals were cooked as the +unwieldy craft glided along the river-bank. Two or three men kept +guard at night, so that the rafts were delayed for only a few hours +during the darkest part of the night. The sun shone hot at midday and +there were hard frosts at night; but the rest in this sort of travel +was wonderfully refreshing after four months of toil across prairie and +{75} mountain. But on the afternoon of the 5th of September the rafts +began to bounce and swirl. The banks raced to the rear, and before the +crews realized it, a noise as of breaking seas filled the air, and the +_Scarborough_ was riding her first rapid. Luckily, the water was deep +and the rocks well submerged. The _Scarborough_ ran the rapid without +mishap and the other rafts followed. On the next day, however, the +waters 'collected' and began running in leaps and throwing back spume. +Some one shouted 'Breakers! head ashore!' and the galloping rafts +bumped on the bank of the river. The banks here were steep for +portaging; and the Scarborough boys, brought up on the lake-front, east +of Toronto, decided, come what might, to run the rapids. They let go +the mooring-rope and went churning into a whirlpool of yeasty spray. +All hands bent their strength to the poles. The raft dipped out of +sight, but was presently seen riding safely and calmly below the rapids. + +Those watching the _Scarborough_ from the bank breathed freely again +and plucked up heart; but the worst was yet ahead. The oily calm below +the first rapid dropped into another maelstrom of angry waters. Into +this the _Scarborough_ was drawn by the terrible undertow. For a +moment the watchers on the bank could see nothing but the horns of the +bellowing, frightened oxen tied to the railing. Then the raft was +mounting the waves again. The seaworthiness of a raft is, of course, +well known. It may dip under water, or even split, but it seldom +upsets and never swamps or sinks. Before the other rafts ran the +rapids, two of them were first lightened of their loads. The men +preferred to pack their provisions over the precipices rather than take +the risk of losing them in the rapid. Nor was the packing child's +play. There was a narrow portage-trail along the ledges of the rocks, +and where the slabs of granite had split off Indians had laid rickety +poles across. Over these frail bridges the packers, with great +difficulty, carried the loads of the two rafts. Fortunately most of +them had long since discarded boots for moccasins. + +All the rafts came through safely. The canoes were not so fortunate. +When the _Scarborough_ reached a sand-bar at the foot of the rapids, +the men were surprised to find three of their Toronto friends, who had +gone ahead in a canoe, now stranded high and dry. The canoe had sidled +to the waves, swamped, and sunk with everything the Toronto men {77} +owned, including their coats, tents, and boots. For two days they had +been awaiting the coming of the rafts. They were almost dead from +exposure and hunger. + +Nine canoes in all were wrecked at this spot. One split on the reef. +Another was caught in the backwater. Others sank in the whirlpool +below the rapids. Others went under at the first leap into the +cataract. Two of the canoes had foolishly been lashed abreast. They +sidled, shipped a billow, and sank. All the men clung to the gunnels; +but one who was a powerful swimmer struck out for the shore. The +canoes stranded on the shore below and the clinging men saved +themselves. When they looked for their friend who had struck out for +the shore, he was no longer to be seen. These men were all from +Goderich, brought up on the banks of Lake Huron. + +A similar fate befell a crew of four men from Toronto. Two of them +undertook to portage provisions along the bank of the canyon, while the +other two, named Carpenter and Alexander, tried to run the canoe down +the rapids. The episode has some interest for students of psychology. +Carpenter walked down the bank of the canyon a short distance to +reconnoitre the different channels of the {78} rapids. He was seen to +take out his notebook and write an entry. He then put the note-book in +the inner pocket of his coat, took off the coat, and slung it in a tree +on the bank. When he came back to the canoe, he seemed preoccupied. +The canoe ripped on a rock in midstream, flattened, and sank. +Carpenter went down insensible as though his head had struck and he had +been stunned. Alexander was washed ashore. He found himself on the +side of the bank opposite the rest of the party. Going below to calmer +waters, he swam across. Carpenter's coat hung on the trees. In the +pocket was the note-book, in which Alexander read the astounding words: +'Arrived at Grand Canyon. Ran the canyon and was drowned.' Carpenter +left a wife and child in Toronto, for whom, evidently, he had written +the message. But if he was of sound mind, desiring to live, and so +certain of death that he was able to write his own fate in the past +tense, why did he attempt the rapids? His friends had no explanation +of the curious incident. + +There is another gruesome story of a sand-bar in the very middle of +this raging canyon. It will be remembered that some of the Overlanders +had straggled far to the rear. Some {79} time before spring a party of +them attempted to run this canyon. They were never again seen alive. +Some treasure-seekers who came over the trail in spring stranded on +this sand-bar. They found the bodies of the missing men. All but one +had been torn and partly devoured. It need not be told here that no +wild beast could have stemmed the rapids from either side. Unless +wolves or cougars had accidentally been washed to the sand-bar, and +washed away again, the wild solitude must have witnessed a horror too +terrible to be told; for the body of the man who had apparently died +last was fully clothed and unmolested. As absolutely nothing more is +known of what happened than has been set down here, it seems well that +there is no record of the names of these castaways. + + + + +{80} + +CHAPTER VI + +QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS + +The walls of the river lowered and widened, the current slackened, and +the surviving canoes and rafts were presently gliding peacefully down a +smooth stream. That night the Overlanders slept dead with weariness; +but a fearful depression rested on the company. Gold had begun to +collect its toll, and the price appalled every soul. Who would be the +next? How soon would the unknown river turn west and south? Where was +Fort George? What perils yet lay between the fort and the gold camp? + +As the heavy mists lifted at daybreak, the travellers observed that the +river was narrowing again and that the wooded banks had begun to fly +past very swiftly. There was no mistaking the signs. They were +approaching more rapids. But the trick of guiding the craft down +rapids had now been learned; so the flotilla rode the furious waters +unharmed for fifteen miles. + +{81} + +It was almost dark when canoes and rafts swung round a curve in the +river and saw a flag waving above the little walled fur-post of Fort +George. The tired wanderers were welcomed in by clerks too amazed to +speak, while a howling chorus of husky-dogs set up their serenade. A +young Englishman, who had joined the Overlanders at St Paul, died from +the effects of exposure a few minutes after being carried into the +fort. Next morning the body was rolled in blankets, placed in a canoe, +and buried under a rude wooden cross, with stones piled above the grave +to prevent the ravaging of huskies and wolves. + +The chief factor was away, but the young clerks in charge sent Indians +along to pilot the Overlanders through the rapids below Fort George, +known as the most dangerous on the Fraser. These rapids, it will be +recalled, had wrecked Alexander Mackenzie and had almost cost Simon +Fraser his life. But the treasure-seekers did not have to go as far +south as Alexandria, where Mackenzie had turned back. With guides who +knew the waters, they ran the rapids below Fort George safely, and +moored at Quesnel, the entrance to Cariboo, on the 11th of +September--four months after they had left Canada. + +{82} + +Quesnel was at this time a rude settlement of perhaps a dozen log +shacks--chiefly bunkhouses and provision-stores. North of Yale the +Cariboo Road had not yet been opened, and all provisions had been +brought in from the lower Fraser by pack-horse and dog-train at +enormous cost and risk. Food sold at extortionate prices. A meal cost +two dollars and fifty cents, for beans, bacon, and coffee. Salmon, of +course, was cheap. Fortunately, there was little whisky; so, though +tattered miners were everywhere in the woods, order was maintained +without vigilance committees. On one spectacle the far-travelled +ragged Overlanders feasted their tired eyes. They saw miners +everywhere along the banks of creeks washing gold. But there were more +gold-seekers than claims, and those without claims were full of +complaints and fears for the winter. They declared the country was +over-rated and a humbug. The question was how 'to get out' to +Victoria. Overlanders, who had tramped across the breadth of a +continent, did not relish the prospect, as one Yankee miner described +it, of 'hoofing it five hundred miles farther.' Some of the +disappointed Overlanders floated on down to Alexandria, where they sold +their rafts and took jobs on the {83} government road which was being +constructed along the canyon. This ensured them safety from starvation +for the winter at least. + +Other Overlanders followed these first pioneers 'the plains across.' +And we have seen that some of those who had crossed the prairie with +the first party had fallen behind. These stragglers did not reach +Yellowhead Pass till the first week of September. They were entirely +out of food; but they had matches, and each box of fifty bought a huge +salmon from the Shuswaps. + +Some of the men pushed ahead, built a raft, and launched it on the +Fraser. The raft ripped on a rock in midstream and stuck there at an +angle of forty-five degrees. Money, tools, food, and clothing +slithered into the tow of the rapids, while the men clung in +desperation to the upper railing of the wreck. One man let go and +dropped into the water. Swimming and drifting and rolling over and +over, he gained the shore, and hurried back to the pass with word of +the accident. Friends, accompanied by Indians, came in canoes to the +rescue, and, by means of ropes, every man was brought off the wrecked +raft alive. + +But the party now stood in a more desperate predicament than ever, for +lack of food and {84} clothing. The Shuswaps saved the whites from +starvation. They took the white men to a pool in the Fraser, where +salmon, exhausted from the long run up the river, could be speared or +clubbed by the boat-load. And while some of the men chopped down trees +to build dugout canoes, others speared, cleaned, and dried the salmon. +Night and day they worked, and forgot sleep in their desperate haste. +At length they launched their craft on the Fraser. On the way down the +dangerous canyon they saw the wrecked canoes of those who had gone +before. The tenth day after leaving Yellowhead Pass they reached Fort +George. Their story has been told by Mrs MacNaughton, whose husband +was of the party. They arrived at Fort George mostly barefoot, +coatless, and trousers and shirts in tatters. Their hair and beards +were long and unkempt. It is supposed that they must have lost the +salmon in some of the rapids, or else the supply was insufficient; for +they were so weak from hunger that they had to be carried into the +fort. They arrived at Quesnel a month after the first Overlanders, +when the snow was too deep in the mountains for prospecting or mining. +The majority of this party also took work on the government road. + +{85} + +Meanwhile, how had fared that band of the Overlanders who had gone over +the hills south from the pass in search of the upper branches of the +Thompson? A Shuswap accompanied them as guide, and for a few days +there was a well-defined game-trail. Then the trail meandered off into +a dense forest of hemlock and windfall, which had to be cut almost +every mile of the way. They did not average six miles a day; but they +finally came to the steep bank of a wild river flowing south which they +judged must be a branch of the Thompson. The mountains were so steep +that it was impossible to proceed farther with horses and oxen; so they +abandoned these in the woods, and cut trees for rafts. For seven days +they ran rapid after rapid. One of the rafts stranded on a rock and +remained for two days before companions came to the rescue. At another +point a canoe was smashed in midstream. The crew struggled to a +slippery rock and hung to the ledge. A man named Strachan attempted to +swim ashore to signal distress to those above. They saw him ride the +waves. Then a roll of angry waters swept over him and he passed out of +sight. His companions clung to the rock till another canoe came +shooting down-stream, when lines {86} were hoisted to the castaways, +and they were hauled ashore. + +Where the Clearwater comes into the Thompson they found the +fur-trader's horse-trail and tramped the remaining hundred miles +overland south to Kamloops. On the last lap of their terrible march +all were so exhausted they could scarcely drag themselves forward. +Some would lie down and sleep, then creep on a few miles. About twenty +miles from the mouth of the Thompson they came to a field of potatoes +planted by some rancher of Kamloops. The starving Overlanders could +scarcely credit their eyes. No one occupied the windowless log cabin; +but there was the potato patch--an oasis of food in a desert of +starvation. They paused long enough at the cabin to boil a great +kettleful and to feast ravenously. This gave them strength to tramp on +to Kamloops. We saw that the Irish mother, Mrs Shubert, with her two +children, accompanied this party. The day after reaching Kamloops she +gave birth to a child. + +Did the Overlanders find the gold which each man's rainbow hopes had +dreamed? They had followed the rainbow over the ends of earth. Was +the pot of gold at the end of {87} the rainbow? You will find an +occasional Overlander passing the sunset of his days in quiet retreat +at Yale or Hope or Quesnel or Barkerville. He does not wear evidence +of great earthly possessions, though he may refer wistfully to the +golden age of those long-past adventurous days. The leaders who +survived became honoured citizens of British Columbia. Few came back +to the East. They passed their lives in the wild, free, new land that +had given them such harsh experiences. + + + + +{88} + +CHAPTER VII + +LIFE AT THE MINES + +Fortunately, in that winter of '62-'63, there was a great deal of work +to be done in the mining country, and men were in high demand. The +ordinary wage was ten dollars a day, and men who could be trusted, and +who were brave enough to pack the gold out to the coast, received +twenty and even as high as fifty dollars a day. There is a letter, +written by Sir Matthew Begbie, describing how the mountain trails were +infested that winter by desperadoes lying in wait for the miners who +came staggering over the trail literally weighted down with gold. The +miners found what the great banks have always found, that the presence +of unused gold is a nuisance and a curse. They had to lug the gold in +leather sacks with them to their work, and back with them to their +shacks, and they always carried firearms ready for use. There was very +little shooting at the mines, but if a bad man 'turned up missing,' no +one {89} asked whether he had 'hoofed' it down the trail, or whether he +hung as a sign of warning from a pole set horizontally at a proper +height between two trees. In a mining camp there is no mercy for the +crook. If the trail could have told tales, there would have been many +a story of dead men washed up on the bars, of sneak-thieves given +thirty-nine lashes and like the scapegoat turned out into the mountain +wilds--a rough-and-ready justice administered without judge or jury. + +But a woman was as safe on the trail as in her own home--a thing that +civilization never understands about a wild mining camp. Mrs Cameron, +wife of the famous Cariboo Cameron, lived with her husband on his claim +till she died, and many other women lived in the camps with their +husbands. When the road opened, there was a rush of hurdy-gurdy girls +for dance-halls; but that did not modify the rough chivalry of an +unwritten law. These hurdy-gurdy girls, who tiptoed to the concertina, +the fiddle, and the hand-organ, were German; and if we may believe the +poet of Cariboo, they were something like the Glasgow girls described +by Wolfe as 'cold to everything but a bagpipe--I wrong them--there is +not one that does not melt away {90} at the sound of money.' Sings the +poet of Cariboo: + + They danced a' nicht in dresses licht + Fra' late until the early, O! + But O, their hearts were hard as flint, + Which vexed the laddies sairly, O! + + The dollar was their only love, + And that they loved fu' dearly, O! + They dinna care a flea for men, + Let them court hooe'er sincerely, O! + + +Cariboo was what the miners call a 'he-camp.' Not unnaturally, the +'she-camps' heard 'the call from Macedonia.' The bishop of Oxford, the +bishop of London, the lord mayor of London, and a colonial society in +England gathered up some industrious young women as suitable wives for +the British Columbia miners. Alack the day, there was no poet to send +letters to the outside world on this handling of Cupid's bow and arrow! +The comedy was pushed in the most business-like fashion. Threescore +young girls came out under the auspices of the society and the Church, +carefully shepherded by a clergyman and a stern matron. They reached +Victoria in September of '62 and were housed in the barracks. Miners +camped on every inch of ground from which the barracks could be {91} +watched; and when the girls passed to and from their temporary lodging, +their progress was like a royal procession through a silent, gaping, +but most respectful lane of whiskered faces. A man looking anything +but respect would have been knocked down on the spot. We laugh now! +Victoria did not laugh then. It was all taken very seriously. On the +instant, every girl was offered some kind of situation, which she +voluntarily and almost immediately exchanged for matrimony. In all, +some ninety girls came out under these auspices in '62-'63. The +respectable girls fitted in where they belonged. The disreputable also +found their own places. And the mining camp began to take on an +appearance of domesticity and home. + +Matthew Begbie, later, like Douglas, given a title for his services to +the Empire, had, as we have seen, first come out under direct +appointment by the crown; and when parliamentary government was +organized in British Columbia his position was confirmed as chief +justice. He had less regard for red tape than most chief justices. +Like Douglas, he first maintained law and order and then looked up to +see if he had any authority for it. No man ever did more for a mining +camp than Sir {92} Matthew Begbie. He stood for the rights of the +poorest miner. In private life he was fond of music, art, and +literature; but in public life he was autocratic as a czar and sternly +righteous as a prophet. He was a vigilance committee in himself +through sheer force of personality. Crime did not flourish where +Begbie went. Chinaman or Indian could be as sure of justice as the +richest miner in Cariboo. From hating and fearing him, the camp came +almost to worship him. + +Many are the stories of his circuits. Once a jury persisted in +bringing in a verdict of manslaughter in place of murder. + +'Prisoner,' thundered Begbie, 'it is not a pleasant duty to me to +sentence you _only_ to prison for life. You deserve to be hanged. Had +the jury performed their duty, I might have the painful satisfaction of +condemning you to death. You, gentlemen of the jury, permit me to say +that it would give me great pleasure to sentence you to be hanged each +and every one of you, for bringing in a murderer guilty only of +manslaughter.' + +On another occasion, when an American had 'accidentally' shot an +Indian, the coroner rendered a verdict 'worried to death by a dog.' +Begbie ordered another inquest. This {93} time the coroner returned a +finding that the Indian 'had been killed by falling over a cliff.' +Begbie on his own authority ordered the American seized and taken down +to Victoria. On his way down the prisoner escaped from the constable. +This type of hair-trigger gunmen at once fled the country when Begbie +came. + +Mr Alexander, one of the Overlanders of '62, tells how 'Begbie's +decisions may not have been good law, but they were first-class +justice.' His 'doctrine was that if a man were killed, some one had to +be hanged for it; and the effect was salutary.' A man had been +sandbagged in a Victoria saloon and thrown out to die. His companion +in the saloon was arrested and tried. The circumstantial evidence was +strong, and the judge so charged the jury. But the jury acquitted the +prisoner. Dead silence fell in the court-room. The prisoner's counsel +arose and requested the discharge of the man. Begbie whirled: +'Prisoner at the bar, the jury have said you are not guilty. You can +go, and I devoutly hope the next man you sandbag will be one of the +jury.' On another occasion a man was found stabbed on the Cariboo +Road. The man with whom the dead miner had been quarrelling was {94} +arrested, tried, and, in spite of strong evidence against him, +acquitted. Begbie adjourned the court with the pious wish that the +murderer should go out and cut the throats of the jury. + +But, in spite of his harsh manner towards the wrong-doer, 'the old +man,' as the miners affectionately called him, kept law and order. In +the early days gold commissioners not only settled all mining disputes, +but acted as judge and jury. Against any decision of the gold +commissioners Begbie was the sole appeal, and in all the long years of +his administration no decision of his was ever challenged. + +The effect of sudden wealth on some of the hungry, ragged horde who +infested Cariboo was of a sort to discount fiction. One man took out +forty thousand dollars in gold nuggets. A lunatic escaped from a +madhouse could not have been more foolish. He came to the best saloon +of Barkerville. He called in guests from the highways and byways and +treated them to champagne which cost thirty dollars and fifty dollars a +bottle. When the rabble could drink no more champagne, he ordered +every glass filled and placed on the bar. With one magnificent drunken +gesture of vainglory he swept the glasses in a clattering crash to the +{95} floor. There was still a basket of champagne left. He danced the +hurdy-gurdy on that basket till he cut his feet. The champagne was all +gone, but he still had some gold nuggets. There was a mirror in the +bar-room valued at hundreds of dollars. The miner stood and proudly +surveyed his own figure in the glass. Had he not won his dearest +desire and conquered all things in conquering fortune? He gathered his +last nuggets and hurled them in handfuls at the mirror, shattering it +in countless pieces. Then he went out in the night to sleep under the +stars, penniless. He settled down to work for the rest of his life in +other men's mines. + +The staid Overlanders, who had risked their lives to reach this wild +land of desire, who had come from such church-going hamlets as Whitby, +such Scottish-Presbyterian centres as Toronto and Montreal, hardly knew +whether they were dreaming or living in a country of crazy pixies who +delved in mud and water all day and weltered in champagne all night. +The Cariboo poet sang their sentiments in these words: + + I ken a body made a strike. + He looked a little lord. + He had a clan o' followers + Amang a needy horde. + +{96} + + Whane'er he'd enter a saloon, + You'd see the barkeep smile-- + His lordship's humble servant he + Wi'out a thought o' guile! + + A twalmonth passed an' a' is gane, + Baith freends and brandy bottle! + An' noo the puir soul's left alane + Wi' nocht to weet his throttle! + + +In Barkerville, which became the centre of Cariboo, saloons and +dance-halls grew up overnight. Pianos were packed in on mules at a +rate of a dollar a pound from Quesnel. Champagne in pint bottles sold +at two ounces of gold. Potatoes retailed at ninety dollars a +hundredweight. Nails were cheap at a dollar a pound. Milk was +retailed frozen at a dollar a pound. Boots still cost fifty dollars. +Such luxuries as mirrors and stoves cost as high as seven hundred +dollars each. The hurdy-gurdy girls with true German thrift charged +ten dollars or more a dance--not the stately waltz, but a wild fling to +shake the rafters and tire out the stoutest miners. + +A newspaper was published in Barkerville. And it was in it that James +Anderson of Scotland first issued _Jeames's Letters to Sawney_. + + Your letter cam' by the express, + Eight shillin's carriage, naethin' less! + {97} + You maybe like to ken what pay + Miners get here for ilka day? + Jus' twa poond sterling', sure as death-- + It should be four, between us baith-- + For gin ye coont the cost o' livin', + There's naethin' left to gang an' come on. + Sawney, had ye yer taters here + And neeps and carrots--dinna speer + What price; though I might tell ye weel, + Ye'd ainly think me a leein' chiel. + + The first twa years I spent out here + Werena sae ill ava'; + But hoo I've lived syne; my freend, + There's little need to blaw. + Like fitba' knockit back and fore, + That's lang in reachin' goal, + Or feather blown by ilka wind + That whistles 'tween each pole-- + E'en sae my mining life has been + For mony a weary day. + + +Later, when the dance-hall became the theatre of Barkerville, James +Anderson used to sing his rhymes to the stentorious shouting and loud +stamping of the shirt-sleeved audience. + + He thinks his pile is made, + An' he's goin' hame this fall, + To join his dear auld mither, + His faither, freends, and all. + His heart e'en jumps wi' joy + At the thocht o' bein' there, + An' mony a happy minute + He's biggin' castles in the air! + +{98} + + But hopes that promised high + In the springtime o' the year, + Like leaves o' autumn fa' + When the frost o' winter's near. + Sae his biggin' tumbles doon, + Wi' ilka blast o' care, + Till there's no stane astandin' + O' his castles in the air. + + + + +{99} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CARIBOO ROAD + +When the railway first went through the Fraser Canyon, passengers +looking out of the windows anywhere from Yale to Ashcroft were amazed +to see something like a Jacob's ladder up and down the mountains, +appearing in places to hang almost in mid-air. Between Yale and Lytton +it hugged the mountain-side on what looked like a shelf of rock +directly above the wildest water of the canyon. Crib-work of huge +trees, resembling in the distance the woven pattern of a willow basket, +projected out over the ledges like a bird's nest hung from some +mountain eyrie. The traveller almost expected to see the thing sway +and swing to the wind. Then the train would sweep through a tunnel, or +swing round a sharp bend, and far up among the summits might be seen a +mule-team, or a string of pack-horses winding round the shoulders of +the rock. It seemed impossible that any man-made {100} highway could +climb such perpendicular walls and drop down precipitous cliffs and +follow a trail apparently secure only for a mountain goat. The first +impression was that the thing must be an old Indian war-path, along +which no enemy could pursue. But when the train paused at a water +tank, and the traveller made inquiry, he was told that this was nothing +less than the famous Cariboo Road, one of the wonders of the world. + +[Illustration: The Cariboo Road. From a photograph.] + +As long as the discovery of gold was confined to the Fraser river-bars, +the important matter of transportation gave the government no +difficulty. Hudson's Bay steamers crossed from Victoria to Langley on +the Fraser, which was a large fort and well equipped as a base of +supplies for the workers in the wilderness. Stern-wheelers, canoes, +and miscellaneous craft could, with care, creep up from Langley to Hope +and Yale; and the fares charged afforded a good revenue to the Hudson's +Bay Company. Even when prospectors struck above Yale, on up to +Harrison Lake and across to Lillooet, or from the Okanagan to the +Thompson, the difficulties of transportation were soon surmounted. A +road was shortly opened from Harrison Lake to Lillooet, built by the +miners themselves, under the direction of the Royal {101} Engineers; +and, as to the Thompson, there was the well-worn trail of the +fur-traders, who had been going overland to Kamloops for fifty years. + +It was when gold was discovered higher up on the Fraser and in Cariboo, +after the colony of British Columbia had taken its place on the +political map, that Governor Douglas was put to the task of building a +great road. Henceforth, for a few years at least, the miners would be +the backbone, if not the whole body, of the new colony. How could the +administration be carried on if the government had no road into the +mining region? + +And so the governor of British Columbia entered on the boldest +undertaking in roadbuilding ever launched by any community of twenty +thousand people. The Cariboo Road became to British Columbia what the +Appian Way was to Rome. It was eighteen feet wide and over four +hundred and eighty miles long. It was one of the finest roads ever +built in the world. Yet it cost the country only two thousand dollars +a mile, as against the forty thousand dollars a mile which the two +transcontinental railways spent later on their roadbeds along the +canyon. It was Sir James Douglas's greatest monument. + +{102} + +Five hundred volunteer mine-workers built the road from Harrison Lake +to Lillooet in 1858 at the rate of ten miles a day; and when the road +was opened in September, packers' charges fell from a dollar to +forty-eight cents and finally to eighteen cents a pound. But presently +the trend of travel drew away from Harrison Lake to the line of the +Fraser. At first there was nothing but a mule-trail hacked out of the +rock from Yale to Spuzzum; but miners went voluntarily to work and +widened the bridle-path above the shelving waters. From Spuzzum to +Lytton the river ledges seemed almost impassable for pack animals; yet +a cable ferry was rigged up at Spuzzum and mules were sent over the +ledges to draw it up the river. When the water rose so high that the +lower ledges were unsafe, the packers ascended the mountains eight +hundred feet above the roaring canyon. Where cliffs broke off, they +sent the animals across an Indian bridge. The marvel is not that many +a poor beast fell headlong eight hundred feet down the precipice. The +marvel is that any pack animal could cross such a trail at all. 'A +traveller must trust his hands as much as his feet,' wrote Begbie, +after his first experience of this trail. + +[Illustration: Indian graves at Lytton, B.C. From a photograph.] + +{103} + +But by 1862 cutting and blasting and bridge-building had begun under +the direction of the Royal Engineers; and before 1865 the great road +was completed into the heart of the mining country at Barkerville. +Henceforth passengers went in by stage-coach drawn by six horses. +Road-houses along the way provided relays of fresh horses. Freight +went in by bull-team, but pack-horses and mules were still used to +carry miners' provisions to the camps in the hills which lay off the +main road. It was while the road was still building that an +enterprising packer brought twenty-one camels on the trail. They were +not a success and caused countless stampedes. Horses and mules took +fright at the slightest whiff of them. The camels themselves could +stand neither the climate nor the hard rock road. They were turned +adrift on the Thompson river, where the last of them died in 1905. + +There was something highly romantic in the stage-coach travel of this +halcyon era. The driver was always a crack whip, a man who called +himself an 'old-timer,' though often his years numbered fewer than +twenty. Most of the drivers, however, knew the trail from having +packed in on shanks's mare and camped under the stars. At the log +taverns known {104} as road-houses travellers could sleep for the night +and obtain meals. + +On the down trip bags were piled on the roof with a couple of +frontiersmen armed with rifles to guard them. Many were the devices of +a returning miner for concealing the gold which he had won. A fat +hurdy-gurdy girl--or sometimes a squaw--would climb to a place in the +stage. And when the stage, with a crack of the whip and a prance of +the six horses, came rattling across the bridge and rolling into Yale, +the fat girl would be the first to deposit her ample person at the bank +or the express office, whence gold could safely be sent on down to +Victoria. And when she emerged half an hour later she would have +thinned perceptibly. Then the rough miner, who had not addressed a +word to her on the way down, for fear of a confidence man aboard, would +present 'Susy' with a handsome reward in the form of a gaudy dress or a +year's provisions. + +Start from a road-house was made at dawn, when the clouds still hung +heavy on the mountains and the peaks were all reflected in the glacial +waters. The passengers tumbled dishevelled from log-walled rooms where +the beds were bench berths, and ate breakfast in a {105} dining-hall +where the seats were hewn logs. The fare consisted of ham fried in +slabs, eggs ancient and transformed to leather in lard, slapjacks, +known as 'Rocky Mountain dead shot,' in maple syrup that never saw a +maple tree and was black as a pot, and potatoes in soggy pyramids. Yet +so keen was the mountain air, so stimulating the ozone of the resinous +hemlock forests, that the most fastidious traveller felt he had fared +sumptuously, and gaily paid the two-fifty for the meal. Perhaps there +was time to wash in the common tin basin at the door, where the towel +always bore evidence of patronage; perhaps not; anyhow, no matter. +Washing was only a trivial incident of mountain travel in those days. + +The passenger jumped for a place in the coach; the long whip cracked. +The horses sprang forward; and away the stage rattled round curves +where a hind wheel would try to go over the edge--only the driver +didn't let it; down embankments where any normal wagon would have +upset, but this one didn't; up sharp grades where no horses ought to be +driven at a trot, but where the six persisted in going at a gallop! +The passenger didn't mind the jolting that almost dislocated his spine. +He didn't mind the negro who sat on {106} one side of him or the fat +squaw who sat on the other. He was thankful not to be held up by +highwaymen, or dumped into the wild cataract of waters below. Outside +was a changing panorama of mountain and canyon, with a world of forests +and lakes. Inside was a drama of human nature to outdo any +curtain-raiser he had ever witnessed--a baronet who had lost in the +game and was going home penniless, perhaps earning his way by helping +with the horses; an outworn actress who had been trying her luck at the +dance-halls; a gambler pretending that he was a millionaire; a +saloon-keeper with a few thousands in his pockets and a diamond in his +shirt the size of a pebble; a tenderfoot rigged out as a veteran, with +buckskin coat, a belt full of artillery, fearfully and wonderfully made +new high-boots, and a devil-may-care air that deceived no one but +himself; a few Shuswaps and Siwashes, fat, ill-smelling, insolent, and +plainly highly amused in their beady, watchful, black, ferret eyes at +the mad ways of this white race; a still more ill-smelling Chinaman; +and a taciturn, grizzled, ragged fellow, paying no attention to the fat +squaw, keeping his observations and his thoughts inside his high-boots, +but likely as not to turn out the man who {107} would conduct the squaw +to the bank or the express office at Yale. + +If one could get a seat outside with the guards and the driver--one who +knew how to unlock the lore of these sons of the hills--he was lucky; +for he would learn who made his strike there, who was murdered at +another place, how the sneak-thief trailed the tenderfoot somewhere +else--all of it romance, much of it fiction, much of it fact, but no +fiction half so marvellous as the fact. + +Bull-teams of twenty yokes, long lines of pack-horses led by a +bell-mare, mule-teams with a tinkling of bells and singing of the +drivers, met the stage and passed with happy salute. At nightfall the +camp-fires of foot travellers could be seen down at the water's edge. +And there was always danger enough to add zest to the journey. +Wherever there are hordes of hungry, adventurous men, there will be +desperadoes. In spite of Begbie's justice, robberies occurred on the +road and not a few murders. The time going in and out varied; but the +journey could be made in five days and was often made in four. + +The building of the Cariboo Road had an important influence on the camp +that its builders could not foresee. The unknown El {108} Dorado is +always invested with a fabulous glamour that draws to ruin the reckless +and the unfit. Before the road was built adventurers had arrived in +Cariboo expecting to pick up pails of nuggets at the bottom of a +rainbow. Their disillusionment came; but there was an easy way back to +the world. They did not stay to breed crime and lawlessness in the +camp. 'The walking'--as Begbie expressed it--'was all down hill and +the road was good, especially for thugs.' While there were ten +thousand men in Cariboo in the winter of '62 and perhaps twenty +thousand in the winter of '63, there were less than five thousand in +'71. + +This does not mean that the camp had collapsed. It had simply changed +from a poor man's camp to a camp for a capitalist or a company. It +will be remembered that the miners first found the gold in flakes, then +farther up in nuggets, then that the nuggets had to be pursued to +pay-dirt beneath gravel and clay. This meant shafts, tunnels, +hydraulic machinery, stamp-mills. Later, when the pay-dirt showed +signs of merging into quartz, there passed away for ever the day of the +penniless prospector seeking the golden fleece of the hills as his +predecessor, the trapper, had sought the pelt of the little beaver. + +All unwittingly, the miner, as well as the {109} trapper, was an +instrument in the hands of destiny, an instrument for shaping empire; +for it was the inrush of miners which gave birth to the colony of +British Columbia. Federation with the Canadian Dominion followed in +1871; the railway and the settler came; and the man with the pick and +his eyes on the 'float' gave place to the man with the plough. + + + + +{110} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The episode of Cariboo is so recent that the bibliography on it is not +very complete. _British Columbia_, by Judge Howay and E. O. S. +Scholefield, provincial librarian, is the last and most accurate word +on the history of that province, though one could wish that the authors +had given more human-document records in the biographical section. In +a very few years there will be no old-timers of the trail left; and, +after all, it is the human document that gives colour and life to +history. It was my privilege to know some of the Overlanders +intimately. One of the companies who rafted down the Fraser came from +the county where I was born; and though they preceded my day, their +terrible experiences were a household word. With others I have poled +the Fraser on those very tempestuous waters that took such toll of life +in '62. Others have been my hosts. I have gone up and down the Arrow +Lakes in a steamer as a guest of the man who came through the worst +experiences of the Overlanders. Chance conversations are shifty guides +on dates and place-names. For these, regarding the Overlanders, I have +relied on Mrs MacNaughton's _Cariboo_. + +{111} + +Gosnell's _British Columbia Year Book_ and Hubert Howe Bancroft's +_British Columbia_ are very full on this era. Walter Moberly's +pamphlets on the building of the trail and Mr Alexander's casual +addresses are excellent. Old files of the Kamloops _Sentinel_ and the +Victoria _Colonist_ are full of scattered data. Anderson's _Hand Book +of 1858_, Begbie's Report to the London Geographical Society, 1861; +Begg's _British Columbia_; _Fraser's Journal_; Mayne's _British +Columbia_, 1862; Milton and Cheadle's _North West Passage_, 1865; +Palliser's _Report_, 1859; Waddington's _Fraser River Mines_--all +afford sidelights on this adventurous era. On the prospector's daily +life there is no book. That must be learned from him on the trail; and +on many camp trips in the Rockies, with prospectors for guides, I have +picked up such facts as I could. + + + + +{113} + +INDEX + +Alexander, Mr, his tragic experience on the Fraser, 77-8; quoted, 93, +111. + +Anderson, James, the Scottish miner poet, 50, 90, 95-8. + +Antler Creek, 44. + + +Barker, Billy, 47. + +Barkerville, 46; life in, 94-8; the Cariboo Road terminus, 103. + +Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, chief justice of British Columbia, 37, 38, +39, 88; his popularity with the miners, 91-4, 102, 108, 111. + +Big Canyon, 34. + +Black, John, Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' 57. + +British Columbia, proclaimed a crown colony, 37; and the building of +the Cariboo Road, 100-1; and the miners, 109. See Cariboo, Fraser +river, Vancouver. + + +Cameron, Cariboo, 47-8, 50. + +Cameron, Mrs, 89. + +Cariboo, prospecting in, 41-5; the mad rush for, 45-6, 51-2, 53-4; the +mines a freakish gamble, 47-8; changes in, 107-9. See Barkerville and +Overlanders. + +Cariboo Road, 19; the building of the, 82, 99-103; its effect on the +mines, 107-9; stagecoach travel on, 103-7. + +Cariboo Trail, perils of the, 50-51; evolution of, 64. See Cariboo +Road. + +China Bar, 35. + +Cridge, Rev. Edward, 6. + + +Dallas, Alexander, governor of Rupert's Land, 55. + +Deitz, Billy, 44, 50. + +Douglas, Sir James, governor of Vancouver Island, 5, 8, 10; quells +disturbances on the Fraser, 35-7, 37-8; governor of British Columbia, +37, 38; builds the Cariboo Road, 101. + + +Edmonton, the Overlanders at, 61. + + +Finlayson, Roderick, chief trader at Victoria, 1-3, 5, 6, 8 + +Fort George, the Overlanders at, 81, 84. + +Fort Langley, British Columbia proclaimed at, 37, 100. + +Fraser, Colin, and the Overlanders, 64-5. + +Fraser, Simon, explorer, 81. + +Fraser Canyon 14, 19, 64 + +Fraser river, the quest for gold on, 8-9, 10, 11-22, 27-32, 51-2; +disturbances among the Indians, 33-5; and the whites, 37-40; the +Overlanders on, 70, 71-2. See Gold-fields, Miners. + + +Gold, prospecting for, 17-18, 20-21, 27-8; the lure of the 'float,' +21-2, 23-5, 25-6, 28; mining for, 29-30. See Gold-fields, Miners. + +Gold-fields, the price of commodities in, 13, 16-17, 29, 47, 96, 105; +'claim jumping,' 40; unused gold a curse, 88-9, 104; hurdy-gurdy girls, +89-90, 96, 104. + + +Hope, 29, 36, 38, 42. + +Horse Fly Creek, 41. + +Howay, Judge, quoted, 11, 110. + +Hudson's Bay Company, and the quest for gold, 1-4; and Vancouver +Island, 5-6; and the diggings on the Fraser, 16, 100; and the Indians, +34-5; and the Overlanders, 55, 57, 60, 61-3. + + +Indians of the Fraser, and the quest for gold, 12-13; their hostility, +33-6; and the Overlanders, 81. See Shuswaps. + +Ireland, Mr, his rescue party, 50-1. + + +Kamloops, 86-7. + +Keithley, Doc, 42-4. + + +Langley, 37, 100. + +Lightning Creek, 45. + +Long Bar, 35. + + +MacDonald, Sandy, 42-4. + +M'Gowan, Ned, his affair on the Fraser, 37-40. + +M'Kay, James, chief trader at Fort Ellice, 60. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, explorer, 81. + +Maclean, chief factor at Kamloops, 4. + +M'Loughlin, John, 34. + +M'Micking, Thomas, captain of the Overlanders, 58-9, 69, 72. + +MacNaughton, Mrs, quoted, 71, 84, 110. + +Mayne, Lieutenant, and the Yale riots, 38, 39, 111. + +Miners, in the wilds, 26; disappointed gold-seekers, 13, 16; some lucky +prospectors, 22-5, 47-51; the miner and his boy, 26-7; their +packhorses, 27, 103; form vigilance committees, 33-5; their +rough-and-ready justice, 89; their chivalry, 89, 91; the effect of +sudden wealth on, 94-6; a device for concealing gold, 104, 106-7; an +instrument for shaping empire, 109. See Fraser river, Gold, +Gold-fields. + +Moberly, Walter, his experiences on the Fraser, 16, 17, 111. + +Moody, Colonel, and the Yale riots, 37-9. + +Muskeg and slough, the difference between, 65 n. + + +Overlanders, the, at St Paul, 54; their meeting with the Sioux +warriors, 55; on the Red River steamer, 54, 55-6; and the Hudson's Bay +Company, 55, 57, 60, 61-3; at Winnipeg, 56-7; on the trail to Edmonton, +57-61; and the husky-dogs, 60, 62-3; reach Yellowhead Pass, 62, 63-7; +cross the Divide and reach the Fraser, 68-72; the party separate, 71, +73; on the Fraser, 73-81, 83-4; a question for psychologists, 77-8; a +gruesome story, 78-9; reach Quesnel, 81, 84; Kamloops, 85-7. + + +Prospecting for gold on the Fraser, 17-22, 25-6, 27-9, 30-32, 40; some +lucky prospectors and their fate, 47-51; theory regarding gold +deposits, 48-9. + +Psychology, a question of, 77-8. + + +Queen Charlotte Islands, discovery of gold in, 3. + +Quesnel, 81-3, 84. + +Quesnel Lake, 41. + + +Red River, the first steamer on, 54-6; Red River carts, 56-7. + +Rose, John, 42-4, 50. + + +Saskatchewan, the quest for gold on the, 63-4. + +Shubert, Mrs, with the Overlanders, 60, 66, 67, 73, 86. + +Shuswaps, the, and the Overlanders, 71, 72, 73, 74, 83, 84. + +Sioux, the, 54-5. + +Snyder, Captain, leads attack on the Indians, 34-5. + +Spuzzum, a fight with Indians at, 34-5. + +Stout, Ed, 44. + + +Taché, Mgr, bishop of St Boniface, 55, 56. + + +Vancouver Island, the first Council and Legislative Assembly of, 5 and +note. See Victoria. + +Victoria, and the quest for gold, 1, 5, 6-7; and the rush for the +Fraser, 7-8, 9, 10; and the matrimonial scheme, 90-91. See Vancouver +Island. + +Weaver, George, 42-4. + +William's Creek, 44, 45, 48. + +Winnipeg, 56-7. + +Work, John, chief factor at Victoria, 6. + +Wright, Captain Tom, a Yankee skipper on the Fraser, 16, 38. + + +Yale, 9, 13, 16, 29, 33, 34, 36, 37-40, 42. + +Yellowhead Pass, 64, 67, 68. + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + + +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cariboo Trail, by Agnes C. Laut + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARIBOO TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 29885-8.txt or 29885-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/8/29885/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Laut +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-top: 0% ; + margin-bottom: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cariboo Trail, by Agnes C. Laut + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cariboo Trail + A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia + +Author: Agnes C. Laut + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29885] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARIBOO TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island" BORDER="2" WIDTH="497" HEIGHT="432"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 497px"> +The first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island +</H4> +<H5 CLASS="h5center" STYLE="width: 497px"> +<I>Back Row</I>—J. W. M'Kay, J. D. Pemberton, J. Porter (Clerk) <BR> +<I>Front Row</I>—T. J. Skinner, J. S. Helmcken, M. D., James Yates +<BR><BR> +After a Photograph +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE +</H2> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +CARIBOO TRAIL +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Chronicle of the Gold-fields<BR> +of British Columbia<BR> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AGNES C. LAUT +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO +<BR> +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +<BR> +1916 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Copyright in all Countries subscribing to<BR> +the Berne Convention</I><BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pv"></A>v}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Page</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE 'ARGONAUTS'</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 1</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE PROSPECTOR</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 16</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CARIBOO</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 33</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE OVERLANDERS</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 53</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 68</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 80</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">LIFE AT THE MINES</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 88</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE CARIBOO ROAD</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 99</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#biblio">BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 110</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#index">INDEX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 112</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvii"></A>vii}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF VANCOUVER ISLAND</A> <BR> + After a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +<I>Frontispiece</I> +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-001"> +THE CARIBOO COUNTRY</A> <BR> + Map by Bartholomew. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +<I>Facing page</I> 1 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-010"> +SIR JAMES DOUGLAS</A> <BR> + From a portrait by Savannah. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 10 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-012"> +INDIANS NEAR NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.</A> <BR> + From a photograph by Maynard. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 12 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-028"> +IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 28 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-036"> +A GROUP OF THOMPSON RIVER INDIANS</A> <BR> + From a photograph by Maynard. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 36 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-038"> +SIR MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE</A> <BR> + From a portrait by Savannah. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 38 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-058"> +A RED RIVER CART</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 58 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-062"> +WASHING GOLD ON THE SASKATCHEWAN</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 62 +</TD></TR> + +</TABLE> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pviii"></A>viii}</SPAN> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-064"> +IN THE YELLOWHEAD PASS</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 64 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-066"> +UPPER M'LEOD RIVER</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 66 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-100"> +THE CARIBOO ROAD</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 100 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-102"> +INDIAN GRAVES AT LYTTON, B.C.</A> <BR> + From a photograph. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 102 +</TD></TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-001"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-001.jpg" ALT="Map of the Cariboo Country" BORDER="2" WIDTH="861" HEIGHT="763"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 861px"> +Map of the Cariboo Country +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE 'ARGONAUTS' +</H4> + +<P> +Early in 1849 the sleepy quiet of Victoria, Vancouver Island, was +disturbed by the arrival of straggling groups of ragged nondescript +wanderers, who were neither trappers nor settlers. They carried +blanket packs on their backs and leather bags belted securely round the +waist close to their pistols. They did not wear moccasins after the +fashion of trappers, but heavy, knee-high, hobnailed boots. In place +of guns over their shoulders, they had picks and hammers and such stout +sticks as mountaineers use in climbing. They did not forgather with +the Indians. They shunned the Indians and had little to say to any +one. They volunteered little information as to whence they had come or +whither they were going. They sought out Roderick Finlayson, chief +trader for the Hudson's Bay Company. They wanted provisions from the +company—yes—rice, flour, ham, salt, pepper, sugar, and tobacco; and +at the smithy they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +demanded shovels, picks, iron ladles, and wire +screens. It was only when they came to pay that Finlayson felt sure of +what he had already guessed. They unstrapped those little leather bags +round under their cartridge belts and produced in tiny gold nuggets the +price of what they had bought. +</P> + +<P> +Finlayson did not know exactly what to do. The fur-trader hated the +miner. The miner, wherever he went, sounded the knell of fur-trading; +and the trapper did not like to have his game preserve overrun by +fellows who scared off all animals from traps, set fire going to clear +away underbrush, and owned responsibility to no authority. No doubt +these men were 'argonauts' drifted up from the gold diggings of +California; no doubt they were searching for new mines; but who had +ever heard of gold in Vancouver Island, or in New Caledonia, as the +mainland was named? If there had been gold, would not the company have +found it? Finlayson probably thought the easiest way to get rid of the +unwelcome visitors was to let them go on into the dangers of the wilds +and then spread the news of the disappointment bound to be theirs. +</P> + +<P> +He handled their nuggets doubtfully. Who knew for a certainty that it +was gold anyhow? +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +They bade him lay it on the smith's anvil and +strike it with a hammer. Finlayson, smiling sceptically, did as he was +told. The nuggets flattened to a yellow leaf as fine and flexible as +silk. Finlayson took the nuggets at eleven dollars an ounce and sent +the gold down to San Francisco, very doubtful what the real value would +prove. It proved sixteen dollars to the ounce. +</P> + +<P> +For seven or eight years afterwards rumours kept floating in to the +company's forts of finds of gold. Many of the company's servants +drifted away to California in the wake of the 'Forty-Niners,' and the +company found it hard to keep its trappers from deserting all up and +down the Pacific Coast. The quest for gold had become a sort of +yellow-fever madness. Men flung certainty to the winds and trekked +recklessly to California, to Oregon, to the hinterland of the country +round Colville and Okanagan. Yet nothing occurred to cause any +excitement in Victoria. There was a short-lived flurry over the +discovery in Queen Charlotte Islands of a nugget valued at six hundred +dollars and a vein of gold-bearing quartz. But the nugget was an +isolated freak; the quartz could not be worked at a profit; and the +movement suddenly died out. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +There were, however, signs of what was +to follow. The chief trader at the little fur-post of Yale reported +that when he rinsed sand round in his camp frying-pan, fine flakes and +scales of yellow could be seen at the bottom.[<A NAME="chap01fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn1">1</A>] But gold in such +minute particles would not satisfy the men who were hunting nuggets. +It required treatment by quicksilver. Though Maclean, the chief factor +at Kamloops, kept all the specks and flakes brought to his post as +samples from 1852 to 1856, he had less than would fill a half-pint +bottle. If a half-pint is counted as a half-pound and the gold at the +company's price of eleven dollars an ounce, it will be seen why four +years of such discoveries did not set Victoria on fire. +</P> + +<P> +It has been so with every discovery of gold in the history of the +world. The silent, shaggy, ragged first scouts of the gold stampede +wander houseless for years from hill to hill, from gully to gully, up +rivers, up stream beds, up dry watercourses, seeking the source of +those yellow specks seen far down the mountains near the sea. +Precipice, rapids, avalanche, winter storm, take their toll of dead. +Corpses are washed down in the spring floods; or the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> +thaw reveals a +prospector's shack smashed by a snowslide under which lie two dead +'pardners.' Then, by and by, when everybody has forgotten about it, a +shaggy man comes out of the wilds with a leather bag; the bag goes to +the mint; and the world goes mad. +</P> + +<P> +Victoria went to sleep again. When men drifted in to trade dust and +nuggets for picks and flour, the fur-traders smiled, and rightly +surmised that the California diggings were playing out. +</P> + +<P> +Though Vancouver Island was nominally a crown colony, it was still, +with New Caledonia, practically a fief of the Hudson's Bay Company. +James Douglas was governor. He was assisted in the administration by a +council of three, nominated by himself—John Tod, James Cooper, and +Roderick Finlayson. In 1856 a colonial legislature was elected and met +at Victoria in August for the first time.[<A NAME="chap01fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn2">2</A>] But, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +in fact, the +company owned the colony, and its will was supreme in the government. +John Work was the company's chief factor at Victoria and Finlayson was +chief trader. +</P> + +<P> +Because California and Oregon had gone American, some small British +warships lay at Esquimalt harbour. The little fort had expanded beyond +the stockade. The governor's house was to the east of the stockade. A +new church had been built, and the Rev. Edward Cridge, afterwards known +as Bishop Cridge, was the rector. Two schools had been built. Inside +the fort were perhaps forty-five employees. Inside and outside lived +some eight hundred people. But grass grew in the roads. There was no +noise but the church bell or the fort bell, or the flapping of a sail +while a ship came to anchor. Three hundred acres about the fort were +worked by the company as a farm, which gave employment to about two +dozen workmen, and on which were perhaps a hundred cattle and a score +of brood mares. The company also had a saw-mill. Buildings of huge, +squared timbers flanked three sides of the inner stockades—the +dining-hall, the cook-house, the bunk-house, the store, the trader's +house. There were two bastions, and from each cannon pointed. Close +to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +wicket at the main entrance stood the postoffice. Only a +fringe of settlement went beyond the company's farm. The fort was +sound asleep, secure in an eternal certainty that the domain which it +guarded would never be overrun by American settlers as California and +Oregon had been. The little Admiralty cruisers which lay at Esquimalt +were guarantee that New Caledonia should never be stampeded into a +republic by an inrush of aliens. Then, as now, it was Victoria's boast +that it was more English than England. +</P> + +<P> +So passed Christmas of '57 with plum-pudding and a roasted ox and +toasts to the crown and the company, though we cannot be quite sure +that the company was not put before the crown in the souls of the +fur-traders. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in March 1858, just when Victoria felt most secure as the capital +of a perpetual fur realm, something happened. A few Yankee prospectors +had gone down on the Hudson's Bay steamer <I>Otter</I> to San Francisco in +February with gold dust and nuggets from New Caledonia to exchange for +money at the mint. The Hudson's Bay men had thought nothing of this. +Other treasure-seekers had come to New Caledonia before and had gone +back to San Francisco disappointed. But, in March, these +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +men +returned to Victoria. And with them came a mad rabble of gold-crazy +prospectors. A city of tents sprang up overnight round Victoria. The +smithy was besieged for picks, for shovels, for iron ladles. Men stood +in long lines for their turn at the trading-store. By canoe, by +dugout, by pack-horse, and on foot, they planned to ascend the Fraser, +and they mobbed the company for passage to Langley by the first steamer +out from Victoria. Goods were paid for in cash. Before Finlayson +could believe his own eyes, he had two million dollars in his safe, +some of it for purchases, some of it on deposit for safe keeping. +Though the company gave no guarantee to the depositors and simply +sealed each man's leather pouch as it was placed in the safe, no +complaint was ever made against it of dishonesty or unfair treatment. +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting instructions from England and with poignant memory of +Oregon, Governor Douglas at once clapped on a licence of twenty-one +shillings a month for mining privileges under the British crown. Thus +he obtained a rough registration of the men going to the up-country; +but thousands passed Victoria altogether and went in by pack-train from +Okanagan or rafted across from Puget Sound. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> +The month of March had +not ended when the first band of gold hunters arrived and settled down +a mile and a half below Yale. Another boat-load of eight hundred and +fifty came in April. In four months sixty-seven vessels, carrying from +a hundred to a thousand men each, had come up from San Francisco to +Victoria. Crews deserted their ships, clerks deserted the company, +trappers turned miners and took to the gold-bars. Before Victoria +awoke to what it was all about, twenty thousand people were camped +under tents outside the stockade, and the air was full of the wildest +rumours of fabulous gold finds. +</P> + +<P> +The snowfall had been heavy in '58. In the spring the Fraser rolled to +the sea a swollen flood. Against the turbid current worked tipsy rafts +towed by wheezy steamers or leaky old sailing craft, and rickety +row-boats raced cockle-shell canoes for the gold-bars above. Ashore, +the banks of the river were lined with foot passengers toiling under +heavy packs, wagons to which clung human forms on every foot of space, +and long rows of pack-horses bogged in the flood of the overflowing +river. By September ten thousand men were rocking and washing for gold +round Yale. +</P> + +<P> +As in the late Kootenay and in the still later +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +Klondike stampede, +American cities at the coast benefited most. Victoria was a ten-hour +trip from the mainland. Whatcom and Townsend, on the American side, +advertised the advantages of the Washington route to the Fraser river +gold-mines. A mushroom boom in town lots had sprung up at these points +before Victoria was well awake. By the time speculators reached +Victoria the best lots in that place had already been bought by the +company's men; and some of the substantial fortunes of Victoria date +from this period. Though the river was so high that the richest bars +could not be worked till late in August, five hundred thousand dollars +in gold was taken from the bed of the Fraser during the first six +months of '58. This amount, divided among the ten thousand men who +were on the bars around Yale, would not average as much as they could +have earned as junior clerks with the fur company, or as peanut pedlars +in San Francisco; but not so does the mind of the miner work. Here was +gold to be scooped up for nothing by the first comer; and more vessels +ploughed their way up the Fraser, though Governor Douglas sought to +catch those who came by Puget Sound and evaded licence by charging six +dollars toll each for all +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> +canoes on the Fraser and twelve dollars +for each vessel with decks. Later these tolls were disallowed by the +home authorities. The prompt action of Douglas, however, had the +effect of keeping the mining movement in hand. Though the miners were +of the same class as the 'argonauts' of California, they never broke +into the lawlessness that compelled vigilance committees in San +Francisco. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-010"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-010.jpg" ALT="Sir James Douglas. From a portrait by Savannah" BORDER="2" WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="522"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 366px"> +Sir James Douglas. From a portrait by Savannah +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Judge Howay gives the letter of a treasure-seeker who reached the +Fraser in April, the substance of which is as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P STYLE="font-size: 90%"> +We're now located thirty miles above the junction of the Fraser and the +Thompson on Fraser River... About a fourth of the canoes that attempt +to come up are lost in the rapids which extend from Fort Yale nearly to +the Forks. A few days ago six men were drowned by their canoe +upsetting. There is more danger going down than coming up. There can +be no doubt about this country being immensely rich in gold. Almost +every bar on the river from Yale up will pay from three dollars to +seven dollars a day to the man at the present stage of water. When the +river gets low, which will be about August, the bars will pay very +well. One hundred and ninety-six dollars was taken out by one man last +winter in a few hours, but the water was then at its lowest stage. The +gold on the bars is all very fine and hard to save in a rocker, but +with quicksilver properly +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +managed, good wages can be made almost +anywhere on the river as long as the bars are actually covered with +water. We have not yet been able to find a place where we can work +anything but rockers. If we could get a sluice to work, we could make +from twelve dollars to sixteen dollars a day each. We only commenced +work yesterday and we are satisfied that when we get fully under way we +can make from five dollars to seven dollars a day each. The prospect +is better as we go up the river on the bars. The gold is not any +coarser, but there is more of it. There are also in that region +diggings of coarser gold on small streams that empty into the main +river. A few men have been there and proved the existence of rich +diggings by bringing specimens back with them. The Indians all along +the river have gold in their possession that they say they dug +themselves, but they will not tell where they get it, nor allow small +parties to go up after it. I have seen pieces in their possession +weighing two pounds. The Indians above are disposed to be troublesome +and went into a camp twenty miles above us and forcibly took provisions +and arms from a party of four men and cut two severely with their +knives. They came to our camp the same day and insisted that we should +trade with them or leave the country. We design to remain here until +we can get a hundred men together, when we will move up above the falls +and do just what we please without regard to the Indians. We are at +present the highest up of any white men on the river, and we must go +higher to be satisfied. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +I don't apprehend any danger from the +Indians at present, but there will be hell to pay after a while. There +is a pack-trail from Hope, but it cannot be travelled till the snow is +off the mountains. +</P> + +<P STYLE="font-size: 90%"> +The prices of provisions are as follows: flour thirty-five dollars per +hundred-weight, pork a dollar a pound, beans fifty cents a pound, and +other things in proportion. Every party that starts from the Sound +should have their own supplies to last them three or four months, and +they should bring the largest size chinook canoes, as small ones are +very liable to swamp in the rapids. Each canoe should be provided with +thirty fathoms of strong line for towing over swift water, and every +man well armed. The Indians here can beat anything alive stealing. +They will soon be able to steal a man's food after he has eaten it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="img-012"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-012.jpg" ALT="Indians near New Westminster, B.C. From a photograph by Maynard." BORDER="2" WIDTH="541" HEIGHT="417"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 541px"> +Indians near New Westminster, B.C. From a photograph by Maynard. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR> + +<P> +Within two miles of Yale eighty Indians and thirty white men were +working the gold-bars; and log boarding-houses and saloons sprang up +along the river-bank as if by magic. Naturally, the last comers of '58 +were too late to get a place on the gold-bars, and they went back to +the coast in disgust, calling the gold stampede 'the Fraser River +humbug.' Nevertheless, men were washing, sluicing, rocking, and +digging gold as far as Lillooet. Often the day's yield ran as high as +eight hundred dollars a man; and the higher up the treasure-seekers + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +pushed their way, the coarser grew the gold flakes and grains. +Would the golden lure lead finally to the mother lode of all the yellow +washings? That is the hope that draws the prospector from river to +stream, from stream to dry gully bed, from dry gully to precipice edge, +and often over the edge to death or fortune. +</P> + +<P> +Exactly fifty-six years from the first rush of '58 in the month of +April, I sat on the banks of the Fraser at Yale and punted across the +rapids in a flat-bottomed boat and swirled in and out among the eddies +of the famous bars. A Siwash family lived there by fishing with clumsy +wicker baskets. Higher up could be seen some Chinamen, but whether +they were fishing or washing we could not tell. Two transcontinental +railroads skirted the canyon, one on each side, and the tents of a +thousand construction workers stood where once were the camps of the +gold-seekers banded together for protection. When we came back across +the river an old, old man met us and sat talking to us on the bank. He +had come to the Fraser in that first rush of '58. He had been one of +the leaders against the murderous bands of Indians. Then, he had +pushed on up the river to Cariboo, travelling, as he told us, by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> + +the Indian trails over 'Jacob's ladders'—wicker and pole swings to +serve as bridges across chasms—wherever the 'float' or sign of mineral +might lead him. Both on the Fraser and in Cariboo he had found his +share of luck and ill luck; and he plainly regretted the passing of +that golden age of danger and adventure. 'But,' he said, pointing his +trembling old hands at the two railways, 'if we prospectors hadn't +blazed the trail of the canyon, you wouldn't have your railroads here +to-day. They only followed the trail we first cut and then built. We +followed the "float" up and they followed us.' +</P> + +<P> +What the trapper was to the fur trade, the prospector was to the mining +era that ushered civilization into the wilds with a blare of +dance-halls and wine and wassail and greed. Ragged, poor, roofless, +grubstaked by 'pardner' or outfitter on a basis of half profit, the +prospector stands as the eternal type of the trail-maker for finance. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap01fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn1text">1</A>] The same, of course, may be done to-day, with a like result, at +many places along the Fraser and even on the Saskatchewan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn2text">2</A>] This was the first Legislative Assembly to meet west of Upper +Canada in what is now the Canadian Dominion. It consisted of seven +members, as follows: J. D. Pemberton, James Yates, E. E. Langford, J. +S. Helmcken, Thomas J. Skinner, John Muir, and J. F. Kennedy. +Langford, however, retired almost immediately after the election and J. +W. M'Kay was elected in his stead. The portraits of five of the +members are preserved in the group which appears as the frontispiece to +this volume. The photograph was probably taken at a later period; at +any rate, two of the members, Muir and Kennedy, are missing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE PROSPECTOR +</H4> + +<P> +By September, when mountain rivers are at their lowest, every bar on +the Fraser from Yale to the forks of the Thompson was occupied. The +Hudson's Bay steamer <I>Otter</I> made regular trips up the Fraser to Fort +Langley; and from the fort an American steamer called the <I>Enterprise</I>, +owned by Captain Tom Wright, breasted the waters as far as the swift +current at Yale. At Yale was a city of tents and hungry men. Walter +Moberly tells how, when he ascended the Fraser with Wright in the +autumn of '58, the generous Yankee captain was mobbed by penniless and +destitute men for return passage to the coast. Many a broken +treasure-seeker owed his life to Tom Wright's free passage. +Fortunately, there was always good fishing on the Fraser; but salt was +a dollar twenty-five a pound, butter a dollar twenty-five a pound, and +flour rarer than nuggets. So hard up were some of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +miners for +pans to wash their gold, that one desperate fellow went to a log shack +called a grocery store, and after paying a dollar for the privilege of +using a grindstone, bought an empty butter vat at the pound price of +butter—twelve dollars for an empty butter tub! Half a dollar was the +smallest coin used, and clothing was so scarce that when a Chinaman's +pig chewed up Walter Moberly's boots while the surveyor lay asleep in +his shack, Mr Moberly had to foot it twenty-five miles before he could +find another pair of boots. Saloons occupied every second shack at +Yale and Hope; revolvers were in all belts and each man was his own +sheriff; yet there was little lawlessness. +</P> + +<P> +With claims filed on all gold-bearing bars, what were the ten thousand +men to do camped for fifty miles beyond Yale? Those who had no +provisions and could not induce any storekeeper to grubstake them for a +winter's prospecting, quit the country in disgust; and the price of +land dropped in the boom towns of the Fraser as swiftly as it had been +ballooned up. Prospecting during the winter in a country of heavy +snowfall did not seem a sane project. And yet the eternal question +urged the miners on: from what mother lode are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +these flakes and +nuggets washed down to the sand-bars of the Fraser? Gold had also been +found in cracks in the rock along the river. Whence had it come? The +man farthest upstream in spring would be on the ground first for the +great find that was bound to make some seeker's fortune. So all stayed +who could. Fortunately, the winter of '58-'59 was mild, the autumn +late, the snowfall light, and the spring very early. Fate, as usual, +favoured the dauntless. +</P> + +<P> +In parties of twos and tens and twenties, and even as many as five +hundred, the miners began moving up the river prospecting. Those with +horses had literally to cut the way with their axes over windfall, over +steep banks, and round precipitous cliffs. Where rivers had to be +crossed, the men built rude rafts and poled themselves over, with their +pack-horses swimming behind. Those who had oxen killed the oxen and +sold the beef. Others breasted the mill-race of the Fraser in canoes +and dugouts. Governor Douglas estimated that before April of '59 as +many as three hundred boats with five men in each had ascended the +Fraser. Sometimes the amazing spectacle was seen of canoes lashed +together in the fashion of pontoon bridges, with wagons full of +provisions +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +braced across the canoes. These travellers naturally +did not attempt Fraser Canyon. +</P> + +<P> +Before Christmas of '59 prospectors had spread into Lillooet and up the +river as high as Chilcotin, Soda Creek, Alexandria, Cottonwood Canyon, +Quesnel, and Fort George. It was safer to ascend such wild streams +than to run with the current, though countless canoes and their +occupants were never heard of after leaving Yale. Where the turbid +yellow flood began to rise and 'collect'—a boatman's phrase—the men +would scramble ashore, and, by means of a long tump-line tied—not to +the prow, which would send her sidling—to the middle of the first +thwart, would tow their craft slowly up-stream. I have passed up and +down Fraser Canyon too often to count the times, and have canoed one +wild rapid twice, but never without wondering how those first +gold-seekers managed the ascent in that winter of '59. +</P> + +<P> +There was no Cariboo Road then. There was only the narrow footpath of +the trapper and the fisherman close down to the water; and when the +rocks broke off in sheer precipice, an unsteady bridge of poles and +willows spanned the abyss. A 'Jacob's ladder' a hundred feet above a +roaring whirlpool without +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> +handhold on either side was one thing +for the Indian moccasin and quite another thing for the miner's +hobnailed boot. The men used to strip at these places and attempt the +rock walls barefoot; or else they cached their canoe in a tree, or hid +it under moss, lashed what provisions they could to a dog's back, and, +with a pack strapped to their own back, proceeded along the bank on +foot. The trapper carries his pack with a strap round his forehead. +The miner ropes his round under his shoulders. He wants hands and neck +free for climbing. Usually the prospectors would appoint a rendezvous. +There, provisions would be slung in the trees above the reach of +marauding beasts, and the party would disperse at daybreak, each to +search in a different direction, blazing trees as he went ahead so that +he could find the way back at night to the camp. Distress or a find +was to be signalled by a gunshot or by heliograph of sunlight on a +pocket mirror; but many a man strayed beyond rescue of signal and never +returned to his waiting 'pardners.' Some were caught in snowslides, +only to be dug out years later. +</P> + +<P> +Many signs guided the experienced prospector. Streams clear as crystal +came, he knew, from upper snows. Those swollen at midday +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> +came +from near-by snowfields. Streams milky or blue or peacock green came +from glaciers—ice grinding over rock. +</P> + +<P> +Heavy mists often added to the dangers. I stood at the level of eight +thousand feet in this region once with one of the oldest prospectors of +the canyon. He had been a great hunter in his day. A cloud came +through a defile of the peaks heavy as a blanket. Though we were on a +well-cut bridle-trail, he bade us pause, as one side of the trail had a +sheer drop of four thousand feet in places. 'Before there were any +trails, how did you make your way here to hunt the mountain goat when +this kind of fog caught you?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Threw chips of stone ahead and listened,' he answered, 'and let me +tell you that only the greenest kind of tenderfoot ever takes risks on +a precipice.' +</P> + +<P> +And nine men out of ten were such green tenderfoots that winter of +'58-'59, when five thousand prospectors overran the wild canyons and +precipices of the Fraser. Two or three things the prospector always +carried with him—matches, a knife, a gun, rice, flour, bacon, and a +little mallet-shaped hammer to test the 'float.' What was the 'float'? +A sandy chunk of gravel perhaps flaked with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> +yellow specks the size +of a pin-head. He wanted to know where that chunk rolled down from. +He knocked it open with his mallet. If it had a shiny yellow pebble +inside only the size of a pea, the miner would stay on that bank and +begin bench diggings into the dry bank. By the spring of '59 dry bench +diggings had extended back fifty miles from the river. If the chunk +revealed only tiny yellow specks, perhaps mixed with white quartz, the +miner would try to find where it rolled from and would ascend the +gully, or mountain torrent, or precipice. Queer stories are told of +how during that winter almost bankrupt grocers grubstaked prospectors +with bacon and flour and received a half-interest in a mine that +yielded five or six hundred dollars a day in nuggets. +</P> + +<P> +But for one who found a mine a thousand found nothing. The sensations +of the lucky one beggared description. 'Was it luck or was it +perseverance?' I asked the man who found one of the richest +silver-mines in the Big Bend of the Columbia. 'Both and mostly +dogged,' he answered. 'Take our party as a type of prospectors from +'59 to '89, the thirty years when the most of the mining country was +exploited. We had come up, eleven +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +green kids and one old man, +from Washington. We had roughed it in East and West Kootenay and were +working south to leave the country dead broke. We had found "float" in +plenty, and had followed it up ridges and over divides across three +ranges of mountains. Our horses were plumb played out. We had camped +on a ridge to let them fatten up enough to beat it out of British +Columbia for ever. Well, we found some galena "floats" in a dry gully +on the other side of the valley. We had provisions left for only +eleven days. Some of the boys said they would go out and shoot enough +deer to last us for meat till we could get out of the country. Old +Sandy and I thought we would try our luck for just one day. We +followed that "float" clear across the valley. We found more up the +bed of a raging mountain torrent; but the trouble was that the stream +came over a rock sheer as the wall of a house. I was afraid we'd lose +the direction if we left the stream bed, but I could see high up the +precipice where it widened out in a bench. You couldn't reach it from +below, but you could from above, so we blazed the trees below to keep +our direction and started up round the hog's back to drop to the bank +under. By now it was nightfall, and we hadn't had +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +anything to eat +since six that morning. Old Sandy wanted to go back, but I wouldn't +let him. He was trembling like an aspen leaf. It is so often just the +one pace more that wins or loses the race. We laboured up that slope +and reached the bench just at dark. We were so tired we had hauled +ourselves up by trees, brushwood branches, anything. I looked over the +edge of the rock. It dropped to that shelf we had seen from the gully +below. It was too dark to do anything more; we knew the fellows back +at the camp on the ridge would be alarmed, but we were too far to +signal.' +</P> + +<P> +'How far?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'About twenty-two miles. We threw ourselves down to sleep. It was +terribly cold. We were high up and the fall frosts were icy, I tell +you! I woke aching at daybreak. Old Sandy was still sleeping. I +thought I would let myself down over the ledge and see what was below, +for there were no mineral signs where we were. I crawled over the +ledge, and by sticking my fingers and toes in the rocks got down to +about fifteen feet from the drop to a soft grassy level. I looked, +hung for a moment, let go, and "lit" on all fours. Then I looked up! +The sun had just come over that east ridge and hit the rocks. I can't +talk +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +about it yet! I went mad! I laughed! I cried! I howled! +There wasn't an ache left in my bones. I forgot that my knees knocked +from weakness and that we had not had a bite for twenty-four hours. I +yelled at Old Sandy to wake the dead. He came crawling over the ledge +and peeked down. "What's the matter?" says he. "Matter," I yelled. +"Wake up, you old son of a gun; we are millionaires!" There, sticking +right out of the rock, was the ledge where "float" had been breaking +and washing for hundreds of years; so you see, only eleven days from +the time we were going to give up, we made our find. That mine paid +from the first load of ore sent out by pack-horses.' +</P> + +<P> +Other mines were found in a less spectacular way. The 'float' lost +itself in a rounded knoll in the lap of a dozen peaks; and the miners +had to decide which of the benches to tunnel. They might have to bring +the stream from miles distant to sluice out the gravel; and the largest +nuggets might not be found till hundreds of feet had been washed out; +but always the 'float,' the pebbles, the specks that shone in the sun, +lured them with promise. Even for those who found no mine the search +was not without reward. There was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +the care-free outdoor life. +There was the lure of hope edging every sunrise. There was the +fresh-washed ozone fragrant with the resinous exudations of the great +trees of the forest. There was the healing regeneration to body and +soul. Amid the dance-halls and saloons the miner with money becomes a +sot. Out in the wilds he becomes a child of nature, simple and clean +and elemental as the trees around him or the stars above him. +</P> + +<P> +I think of one prospector whose range was at the headwaters of the +Athabaska. In the dance-halls he had married a cheap variety actress. +When the money of his first find had been dissipated she refused to +live with him, and tried to extort high alimony by claiming their +two-year-old son. The penniless prospector knew that he was no equal +for law courts and sheriffs and lawyers; so he made him a raft, got a +local trader to outfit him, and plunged with his baby boy into the +wilderness, where no sheriff could track him. I asked him why he did +not use pack-horses. He said dogs could have tracked them, but 'the +water didn't leave no smell.' In the heart of the wilderness west of +Mounts Brown and Hooker he built him a log cabin with a fireplace. In +that cabin he daily hobbled his little son, so +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> +that the child +could not fall in the fire. He set his traps round the mountains and +hunted till the snow cleared. By the time he could go prospecting in +spring he had seven hundred dollars' worth of furs to sell; and he kept +the child with him in the wilds till his wife danced herself across the +boundary. Then he brought the boy down and sent him to school. When +the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the Rockies, that man became one +of the famous guides. He was the first guide I ever employed in the +mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Up-stream, then, headed the prospectors on the Fraser in that autumn of +'58. The miner's train of pack-horses is a study in nature. There is +always the wise old bell-mare leading the way. There is always the +lazy packer that has to be nipped by the horse behind him. There are +always the shanky colts who bolt to stampede where the trail widens; +but even shanky-legged colts learn to keep in line in the wilds. At +every steep ascent the pack-train halts, girths are tightened, and sly +old horses blow out their sides to deceive the driver. At first colts +try to rub packs off on every passing tree, but a few tumbles heels +over head down a bank cure them of that trick. +</P> + +<P> +Always the course in new territory is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +according to the slope of +the ground. River-bank is followed where possible; but where windfall +or precipice drives back from the bed of the river over the mountain +spurs, the pathfinder takes his bearings from countless signs. Moss is +on the north side of tree-trunks. A steep slope compels a zigzag, +corkscrew ascent, but the slope of the ground guides the climber as to +the way to go; for slope means valley; and in valleys are streams; and +in the stream is the 'float,' which is to the prospector the one +shining signal to be followed. Timber-line is passed till the forests +below look like dank banks of moss. Cloud-line is passed till the +clouds lie underneath in grey lakes and pools. A 'fool hen' or +mountain grouse comes out and bobbles her head at the passing +packtrain. A whistling marmot pops up from the rocks and pierces the +stillness. Redwings and waxbills pick crumbs from every camp meal; and +occasionally a bald-headed eagle utters a lonely raucous cry from +solitary perch of dead branch or high rock. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-028"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-028.jpg" ALT="In the Rocky Mountains. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="379" HEIGHT="530"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 379px"> +In the Rocky Mountains. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Naturally enough, the pack-train unconsciously follows the game-trail +of deer and goat and cougar and bear across the slope to the +watering-places where springs gush out from the rocks. One has only to +look close enough +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +to see the little cleft footprint of the deer +round these springs. To the miners, penetrating the wilds north of the +Fraser, the caribou proved a godsend during that lean first winter. +The miners spelled it 'cariboo,' and thus gave the great gold area its +name. +</P> + +<P> +The population of Yale that winter consisted of some eight hundred +people, housed in tents and log shacks roofed with canvas. Between +Yale and Hope remained two thousand miners during the winter. Meals +cost a dollar, served on tin plates to diners standing in long rows +waiting turn at the counter. The regular menu at all meals was bacon, +salmon, bread, and coffee. Of butter there was little; of milk, none. +Wherever a sand-bar gave signs of mineral, it was tested with the +primitive frying-pan. If the pan showed a deposit, the miner rigged up +a rocker—a contraption resembling a cradle with rockers below, about +four feet from end to end, two feet across, and two deep. The sides +converged to bottom. At the head was a perforated sheet-iron bottom +like a housewife's colander. Into this box the gravel was shovelled by +one miner. The man's 'pardner' poured in water and rocked the +cradle—cradled the sand. The water ran through the perforated bottom +to a second +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> +floor of quicksilver or copperplate or woolly blanket +which caught the gold. On a larger scale, when streams were directed +through wooden boxes, the gold was sluiced; on a still larger scale, +the process was hydraulic mining, though the same in principle. In +fact, in huge free milling works, where hydraulic machinery crushes the +gold-bearing quartz and screens it to fineness before catching the gold +on delicate sieves, the process is only a complex refinement of the +bar-washer cradling his gold. +</P> + +<P> +Fires had not yet cleared the giant hemlock forests, as they have +to-day along the Cariboo Trail, and prospectors found their way through +a chartless sea of windfall—hemlocks criss-crossed the height of a +house with branches interlaced like wire. Cataracts fell over lofty +ledges in wind-blown spray. Spanish moss, grey-green and feathery, +hung from branch to branch of the huge Douglas firs. Sometimes the +trail would lead for miles round the edge of some precipices beyond +which could be glimpsed the eternal snows. Sometimes an avalanche slid +over a slope with the distant appearance of a great white waterfall and +the echo of muffled thunder. Where the mountain was swept as by a +mighty besom, the pack-train kept an anxious eye on the snow +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +amid +the valleys of the upper peaks; for, in an instant, the snowslide might +come over the edge of the upper valley to sweep down the slope, +carrying away forests, rocks, trail, pack-train and all. The story is +told of one slide seen by the guide at the head of a long pack-train. +He had judged it to be ten miles away; but out from the upper valley it +came coiling like a long white snake, and before he could turn, it had +caught him. In a slide death was almost certain, from suffocation if +not from the crush of falling trees and rocks. Miners have been taken +from their cabins dead in the trail of a snowslide that swept the shack +to the bottom of the valley without so much as a hair of their heads +being injured. Though the logs were twisted and warped, the dead +bodies were not even bruised. +</P> + +<P> +When a hushed whisper came through the trees, travellers looked for +some waterfall. At midday, when the thaw was at its full, all the +mountain torrents became vocal with the glee of disimprisoned life +running a race of gladness to the sea. The sun sets early in the +mountains with a gradual hushing of the voice of glad waters and a red +glow as of wine on the encircling peaks. Camp for the night was always +near water for the horses; and every +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +star was etched in replica in +river or lake. Sunrise steals in silence among the mountain peaks. +There is none of that stir of song and vague rustling of animal life +such as are heard at lower levels. Nor does the light gradually rise +above the eastern horizon. The walled peaks cut off the skyline in +mid-heaven. The stars pale. Trees and crags are mirrored in the lake +so clearly that one can barely tell which is real and which is +reflection. Then the water-lines shorten and the rocks emerge from the +belts and wisps of mist; and all the sunset colours of the night before +repeat themselves across the changing scene. As you look, the clouds +lift. The cook shouts 'breakfast!' And it is another day. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the trail and the life of the prospector who beat his way by +pack-train and canoe up the canyons of the Fraser to learn whence came +the wash of gold flake and nugget which he found in the sand-bars below. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CARIBOO +</H4> + +<P> +Indian unrest was probably first among the causes which led the miners +to organize themselves into leagues for protection. The Indians of the +Fraser were no more friendly to newcomers now than they had been in the +days of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser.[<A NAME="chap03fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap03fn1">1</A>] They now professed +great alarm for their fishing-grounds. Men on the gold-bars were +jostled and hustled, and pegs marking limits were pulled up. A danger +lay in the rows of saloons along the water-front—the well-known danger +of liquor to the Indian. So the miners at Yale formed a vigilance +committee and established self-made laws. The saloons should be +abolished, they decreed. Sale of liquor to any person whomsoever was +forbidden. All liquor, wherever found, was ordered spilled. Any one +selling liquor to an Indian should be seized and whipped thirty-nine +lashes on the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> +bare back. A standing committee of twelve was +appointed to enforce the law till the regular government should be +organized. +</P> + +<P> +It was July '58 when the miners on the river-bars formed their +committee. And they formed it none too soon, for the Indians were on +the war-path in Washington and the unrest had spread to New Caledonia. +Young M'Loughlin, son of the famous John M'Loughlin of Oregon, coming +up the Columbia overland from Okanagan to Kamloops with a hundred and +sixty men, four hundred pack-horses and a drove of oxen, had three men +sniped off by Indians in ambush and many cattle stolen. At Big Canyon +on the Fraser two Frenchmen were found murdered. When word came of +this murder the vigilance committee of Yale formed a rifle company of +forty, which in August started up to the forks at Lytton. At Spuzzum +there was a fight. Indians barred the way; but they were routed and +seven of them killed in a running fire, and Indian villages along the +river were burned. Meanwhile a hundred and sixty volunteers at Yale +formed a company to go up the river under Captain Snyder. The +company's trader at Yale was reluctant to supply arms, for the +company's policy had ever been to conciliate the Indians. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +But, +when a rabble of two thousand angry miners gathered round the store, +the rifles were handed over on condition that forty of the worst +fire-eaters in the band should remain behind. Snyder then led his men +up the river and joined the first company at Spuzzum. At China Bar +five miners were found hiding in a hole in the bank. With a number of +companions they had been driven down-stream from the Thompson by +Indians and had been sniped all the way for forty miles. Man after man +had fallen, and the five survivors in the bank were all wounded. +</P> + +<P> +When the Indians saw the company of armed men under Snyder, they fled +to the hills. Flags of truce were displayed on both sides and a peace +was patched up till Governor Douglas could come up from the coast. +Not, however, before there occurred an unfortunate incident. At Long +Bar, when an Indian chief came with a flag of truce, two of the white +men snatched it from him and trampled it in the mud. On the instant +the Indians shot both the white men where they stood. +</P> + +<P> +Douglas had been up as far as Yale in June, but was now back in +Victoria, where couriers brought him word of the open fight in August. +He promptly organized a force of Royal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +Engineers and marines and +set out for the scene of the disorders. Royal Engineers to the number +of a hundred and fifty-six and their families had come out from England +for the boundary survey; and their presence must have seemed +providential to Douglas, now that the miners were forming vigilance +committees of their own and the Indians were on the war-path. He went +up the river in a small cruiser and reached Hope on the 1st of +September. Salutes were fired as he landed. Douglas knew how to use +all the pomp of regimentals and formality to impress the Indians. He +opened a solemn powwow with the chiefs of the Fraser. As usual, the +white man's fire-water was found to be the chief cause of the trouble. +Without waiting for legislative authority, Douglas issued a royal +proclamation against the sale of liquor and left a mining recorder to +register claims. He also appointed a justice of the peace. Then he +went on to Yale. At Yale he considered the price of provisions too +high, and by arbitrarily reducing the price at the company's stores, he +broke the ring of the petty dealers. This won him the friendship of +the miners. Within a week he had allayed all irritation between white +man and Indian. In a quarrel over a claim a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +white man had been +murdered on one of the bars. Douglas appointed magistrates to try the +case. The trial was of course illegal, for colonial government had not +been formally inaugurated in New Caledonia or British Columbia, as it +was soon to be known, and Douglas's authority as governor did not +extend beyond Vancouver Island. But so, for that matter, were illegal +all his actions on this journey; yet by an odd inconsistency of fact +against law, they restored peace and order on the river. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-036"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-036.jpg" ALT="A group of Thompson River Indians. From a photograph by Maynard." BORDER="2" WIDTH="539" HEIGHT="420"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 539px"> +A group of Thompson River Indians. From a photograph by Maynard. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It was not long, however, before the formal organization of the new +colony took place. Hardly had Douglas returned to Victoria when ships +from England arrived bringing his commission as governor of British +Columbia. Arrived, also, Matthew Baillie Begbie, 'a Judge in our +Colony of British Columbia,' and a detachment of Royal Engineers under +command of Colonel Moody. At Fort Langley, on November 19, 1858, the +colony of British Columbia was proclaimed under the laws of England. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in January, just as Douglas and the officers of his government +had again settled down comfortably at Victoria, came word of more riots +at Yale, led by a notorious desperado +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> +and deposed judge of +California named Ned M'Gowan. The possibility of American occupation +had become an obsession at Victoria. There were undoubtedly those +among the American miners who made wild boasts. Douglas gathered up +all his panoply of war and law. Along went Colonel Moody, with a +company of his Royal Engineers, Lieutenant Mayne of the Imperial Navy +with a hundred bluejackets, and Judge Matthew Begbie, to deal out +justice to the offenders. Douglas remembered the cry 'fifty-four forty +or fight,' and he remembered what had happened to his chief, +M'Loughlin, in Oregon when the American settlers there had set up +vigilance committees. He would take no chances. The party carried +along a small cannon. Lieutenant Mayne could not take his cruiser the +<I>Plumper</I> higher than Langley; and there the forces were transferred to +Tom Wright's stern-wheeler, the <I>Enterprise</I>. But, when they arrived +at Hope, the whole affair looked like semi-comic vaudeville. Yale, +too, was as quiet as a church prayer-meeting; and Colonel Moody +preached a sermon on Sunday to a congregation of forty in the +court-house—the first church service ever held on the mainland of +British Columbia. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-038"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-038.jpg" ALT="Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie. From a portrait by Savannah." BORDER="2" WIDTH="363" HEIGHT="509"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 363px"> +Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie. From a portrait by Savannah. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> + +<P> +The trouble had happened in this way. Christmas Day had been +celebrated hilariously. At Yale a miner of Hill's Bar, some miles down +the river, had beaten up a negro. The Yale magistrate had issued a +warrant for the miner's arrest—poor magistrate, he had found little to +do since his appointment in September! The miner, now sobered, fled +back to his bar. The warrant was sent after him to the local peace +officer for execution, but this officer had already issued a warrant +for the arrest of the negro at Yale; so there it stood—each fighter +making complaint against the other and the two magistrates in lordly +contempt of each other! The man who tried to arrest the negro was +insolent and was jailed by the Yale magistrate. Ned M'Gowan, the +Californian down on the bar, then came up to Yale with a posse of +twenty men to arrest the magistrate for arresting the man who had been +sent to arrest the negro. Bursting with rage, the astonished dignitary +at Yale was bundled into a canoe. He was fined fifty dollars for +contempt of court. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this stage of the comedy of errors that Moody, Begbie, and +Mayne came on the scene. At first M'Gowan showed truculence and +assailed Moody; but when he saw the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +force of engineers and +bluejackets and saw the big gun hoisted ashore, he apologized, paid his +fine for the assault, and invited the officers to a champagne dinner on +Hill's Bar. Both sides to the quarrel cooled down and the riots ended. +The army stayed only to see the miners wash the gold and then put back +to Victoria. The miners had learned that an English judge and a field +force could be put on the ground in a week. September had settled +disorder among the Indians. January settled disorder among the whites. +</P> + +<P> +In the wild remote regions of the up-country there was much 'claim +jumping.' A man lost his claim if he stopped mining for seventy-two +hours, and when the place of registration was far from the find, +'pardners' camped on the spot in dugouts or in lean-tos of logs and +moss along the river-bank. There were fights and there was killing, +and sometimes the river cast up its dead. The marvel is that there +were not more crimes. In every camp is a species of human vulture +living off other men's risk. Whenever a lone man came in from the +hills and paid for his purchase in nuggets, such vultures would trail +him back to his claim and make what they could out of his discovery. +</P> + +<P> +So, by pack-train and canoe, the miners +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +worked up to Alexandria, +to Quesnel, to Fort George. Towards spring, when the prospectors had +succeeded in packing in more provisions, they began striking back east +from the main river, following creeks to their sources, and from their +sources over the watershed to the sources of creeks flowing in an +opposite direction. Late in '59 men reached Quesnel Lake and Cariboo +Lake. Binding saplings together with withes, the prospectors poled +laboriously round these alpine lagoons, and where they found creeks +pouring down from the upper peaks, they followed these creeks up to +their sources. Pockets of gravel in the banks of both lakes yielded as +much as two hundred dollars a day. On Horse Fly Creek up from Quesnel +Lake five men washed out in primitive rockers a hundred ounces of +nuggets in a week. The gold-fever, which had subsided when all the +bars of the Fraser were occupied, mounted again. Great rumours began +to float out from the up-country. Bank facings seemed to indicate that +the richest pay-dirt lay at bed-rock. This kind of mining required +sluicing, and long ditches were constructed to bring the water to the +dry diggings. By the autumn of '59 a thousand miners were at work +round Quesnel Lake. By the spring +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +of '60 Yale and Hope were +almost deserted. Men on the upper diggings were making from sixty to a +hundred dollars a day. Only Chinamen remained on the lower bars. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the autumn of the year '60 that Doc Keithley, John Rose, +Sandy MacDonald, and George Weaver set out from Keithley Creek, which +flows into Cariboo Lake, to explore the cup-like valley amid the great +peaks which seemed to feed this lake. They toiled up the creek five +miles, then followed signs up a dry ravine seven miles farther. +Reaching the divide at last, they came on an open park-like ridge, +bounded north and east by lofty shining peaks. Deer and caribou tracks +were everywhere. It was now that the region became known as Cariboo. +They camped on the ridge, cooked supper, and slept under the stars. +Should they go on, or back? This was far above the benches of +wash-gravel. Going up one of the nameless peaks, they stepped out on a +ledge and viewed the white, silent mountain-world. Marmots stabbed the +lonely solitude with echoing whistle. Wind came up from the valley in +the sibilant sigh of a sea. It was doubtful if even Indians had ever +hunted this ground. The game was so tame, it did not know enough to be +afraid. The men +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +could see another creek shining in the sunrise on +the other side of the ridge. It seemed to go down to a valley benched +by gravel flanks. They began wandering down that creek and testing the +gravel. Before they had gone far their eyes shone like the wet pebbles +in their hands. The gravel was pitted with little yellow stones. +Where rain and spring-wash had swept off the gravel to naked rock, +little nuggets lay exposed. The men began washing the gravel. The +first pan gave an ounce; the second pan gave nuggets to the weight of a +quarter of a pound. The excited prospectors forgot time. Dark was +falling. They slept under their blankets and awoke at daybreak below +twelve inches of snow. +</P> + +<P> +They were out of provisions. Somebody had to go back down to Cariboo +Lake for food. Each man staked out a claim. And, while two built a +log cabin, the other two set off over the hills for food. There was +some sort of a log store down at Cariboo Lake. The one thing these +prospectors were determined on was secrecy till they could get their +claims registered. Bands of nondescript men hung round the +provision-store of Cariboo Lake awaiting a breath to fan their flaming +hopes of fortune. What let the secret out at the store is not +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> +known. Perhaps too great an air of secrecy. Perhaps too strenuous +denials. Perhaps the payment of provisions in nuggets. But when these +two packed back over the hills on snowshoes, they were trailed. +Followers came in with a whoop behind them on Antler Creek. Claims +were staked faster than they could be recorded. The same claims were +staked over and over, the corner of one overlapping another. When the +gold commissioner came hurriedly across the country in March, he found +the MacDonald-Rose party living in a cabin and the rest of the camp +holding down their claims by living in holes which they had dug in the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +This was the spring of '61; and Antler Creek proved only the beginning +of the rush to Cariboo. Over the divide in mad stampede rushed the +gold-seekers northward and eastward. Ed Stout and Billy Deitz and two +others found signs that seemed very poor on a creek which they named +William's after Deitz. The gold did not pan a dollar a wash; but in +wild haste came the rush to William's Creek. Crossing a creek one +party of prospectors was overtaken by a terrific thunderstorm, with +rock-shattering flashes of lightning. Shivering in the canyon, but +afraid to stand under trees +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +or near rocks, with the gravel +shelving down all round them, one of the men exclaimed sardonically, +'Well, boys, this <I>is</I> lightning.' The stream became known as +Lightning Creek and proved one of the richest in Cariboo. William's +Creek was panning poorer and poorer and was being called 'Humbug +Creek,' when miners staked near by decided to see what they could find +beneath the blue clay. It took forty-eight hours to dig down. The +reward was a thousand dollars' worth of wash-gravel. Back surged the +miners to William's Creek. They put shafts and tunnels through the +clay and sluiced in more water for hydraulic work. Claims on William's +Creek produced as high as forty pounds of gold in a day. From another +creek, only four hundred feet long, fifty thousand dollars' worth of +gold was washed within a space of six weeks. Lightning Creek yielded a +hundred thousand dollars in three weeks. In one year gold to the value +of two and a half million dollars was shipped from Cariboo. +</P> + +<P> +Millions were not so plentiful in those days, and the reports which +reached the outside world sounded like the <I>Arabian Nights</I> or some +fairy-tale. The whole world took fire. Cariboo was on every man's +lips, as were Transvaal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> +and Klondike half a century later. The +New England States, Canada, the Maritime Provinces, the British +Isles—all were set agog by the reports of the new gold-camps where it +was only necessary to dig to find nuggets. By way of Panama, by way of +San Francisco, by way of Spokane, by way of Victoria, by way of +Winnipeg and Edmonton came the gold-seekers, indifferent alike to +perils of sea and perils of mountain. Men who had never seen a +mountain thought airily that they could climb a watershed in a day's +walk. Men who did not know a canoe from a row-boat essayed to run the +maddest rapids in America. People without provisions started blindly +from Winnipeg across the width of half a continent. In the mad rush +were clerks who had never seen 'float,' English school-teachers whose +only knowledge of gold was that it was yellow, and dance-hall girls +with very little possession of anything on earth but recklessness and +slippers; and the recklessness and the slippers danced them into +Cariboo, while many a solemn wight went to his death in rockslide or +rapids. By the opening of '62 six thousand miners were in Cariboo, and +Barkerville had become the central camp. How these people ever gained +access to the centre of the wilderness before the famous Cariboo Road +had +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> +been built is a mystery. Some arrived by pack-train, some by +canoe, but the majority afoot. +</P> + +<P> +Governor Douglas could not regulate prices here, and they jumped to war +level. Flour was three hundred dollars a barrel. Dried apples brought +two dollars and fifty cents a pound; and for lack of fruit many miners +died from scurvy. Where gold-seekers tramped six hundred miles over a +rocky trail, it is not surprising that boots commanded fifty dollars a +pair. Of the disappointed, countless numbers filled unknown graves, +and thousands tramped their way out starving and begging a meal from +the procession of incomers. +</P> + +<P> +The places of the gold deposits were freakish and unaccountable. +Sometimes the best diggings were a mother lode at the head of a creek. +Sometimes they were found fifty feet under clay at the foot of a creek +where the dashing waters swerved round some rocky point into a river. +Old miners now retired at Yale and Hope say that the most ignorant +prospector could guess the place of the gold as well as the geologist. +Billy Barker, after whom Barkerville was named, struck it rich by going +fifty feet below the surface down the canyon. Cariboo Cameron, the +luckiest of all the miners and not originally a prospector, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +found +his wealth by going still lower on the watercourse to a vertical depth +of eighty feet. +</P> + +<P> +For seven miles along William's Creek worked four thousand men. +Cariboo Cameron took a hundred and fifty thousand out of his claim in +three months. In six months of '63 William's Creek yielded a million +and a half dollars, and this was only one of many rich creeks. From +'59 to '71 came twenty-five million dollars in gold from the Cariboo +country. By '65 hydraulic machinery was coming in and the prospectors +were flocking out; but to this day the Cariboo mines have remained a +freakish gamble. Mines for which capitalists have paid hundreds of +thousands have suddenly ended in barren rock. Diggings from which +nuggets worth five hundred dollars have been taken have petered out +after a few hundred feet. Even where the gravel merged to whitish gold +quartz, the most expert engineer in the camp could not tell when the +vein would fault and cease as entirely as if cut off. And the +explanation of this is entirely theoretical. The theory is that the +place of the gold was the gravel bed of an old stream, an old stream +antedating the petrified forests of the South-west, and that, when vast +alluvial deposits were carried over a great part of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> +continent +by inland lakes and seas, the gold settled to the bottom and was buried +beneath the deposits of countless centuries. Then convulsive changes +shook the earth's surface. Mountains heaved up where had been sea +bottom and swamp and watery plain. In the upheaval these subterranean +creek beds were hoisted and thrown towards the surface. Floods from +the eternal snows then grooved out watercourses down the scarred +mountainsides. Frost and rain split away loose debris. And man found +gold in these prehistoric, perhaps preglacial, creek beds. However +this may be, there was no possible scientific way of knowing how the +gold-bearing area would run. A fortune might come out of one claim of +a hundred feet and its next-door neighbour might not yield an atom of +gold. Only the genii of the hidden earth held the secret; and modern +science derides the invisible pixies of superstition, just as these +invisible spirits of the earth seem to laugh at man's best efforts to +ferret out their secrets. +</P> + +<P> +What became of the lucky prospectors? I have talked with some of them +on the lower reaches of the Cariboo Road. They are old and poor +to-day, and the memory of their fortune is as a dream. Have they not +lived at +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> +Hope and Yale and Lytton for fifty years and seen their +trail crumble into the canyon, with not a dozen pack-trains a year +passing to the Upper country? John Rose, who was one of the men to +find Cariboo, set out in the spring of '63 to prospect the Bear River +country. He set out alone and was never again seen alive. Cariboo +Cameron, a 'man from Glengarry,' went back to Glengarry by the Ottawa +and established something like a baronial estate; but he lost his money +in various investments and died in 1888 in Cariboo a poor man. Billy +Deitz, after whom a famous creek was named, died penniless in Victoria; +and the Scottish miner who rhymed the songs of Cariboo died unwept and +unknown to history. +</P> + +<P> +The romance of the trail is almost incredible to us, who may travel by +motor from Ashcroft to Barkerville. In October '62 a Mr Ireland and a +party were on the trail when snow began falling so heavily that it was +unsafe to proceed. They halted at a negro's cabin. Out of the heavy +snowfall came another party struggling like themselves. Then a packer +emerged from the storm with word that five women and twenty-six men +were snowbound half a mile ahead. Ireland and his party set out to the +rescue; but they lost the trail and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +could only find the cabin +again by means of the gunshots that the others kept firing as a signal. +Two dozen people slept that night in the log shack; and when dawn came, +four feet of snow lay on the ground and the great evergreens looked +like huge sugar-cones. On snowshoes Ireland and three others set out +to find the lost men and women on the lower trail. They found them at +sundown camped in a ravine beside a rock, with their blankets up to +keep off the wind, thawing themselves out before a fire. A high wind +was blowing and it was bitterly cold. The lost people had not eaten +for three days. Twenty men from the cabin dug a way through the drifts +with their snowshoes and brought horses to carry the women back to the +coloured man's roof. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But it was not of the perils of the trail that the outside world heard. +The outside world heard of claims which any man might find and from +which gold to the value of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars could +be dug and washed in three months. The outside world thought that gold +could be picked up amid the rocks of British Columbia. Necessity is +the mother of invention. She is also the hard foster-mother of +desperation and folly. Times +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +were very hard in Canada. The East +was hard up. Farming did not pay. All eyes turned towards Cariboo; +and no wonder! Many of the treasure-seekers holding the richest claims +had gone to Cariboo owning nothing but the clothes on their backs. A +season's adventure in a no-man's-land of bear and deer, above +cloud-line and amid wild mountain torrents, had sent them out to the +world laden with wealth. Some ran the wild canyons of the Fraser in +frail canoes and crazy rafts with their gold strapped to their backs or +packed in buckskin sacks and carpet-bags. And some who had won fortune +and were bringing it home went to their graves in Fraser Canyon. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap03fn1text">1</A>] See <I>Pioneers of the Pacific Coast</I> in this Series. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE OVERLANDERS +</H4> + +<P> +When the Cariboo fever reached the East, the public there had heard +neither of the Indian massacres in Oregon nor that the Sioux were on +the war-path in Dakota. Promoters who had never set foot west of +Buffalo launched wild-cat mining companies and parcel express devices +and stages by routes that went up sheer walls and crossed unbridged +rivers. To such frauds there could be no certain check; for it took +six months to get word in and out of Cariboo. Eastern papers were full +of advertisements of easy routes to the gold-diggings. Far-off fields +look green. Far-off gold glittered the brighter for the distance. +Cariboo became in popular imagination a land where nuggets grew on the +side of the road and could be picked by the bushel-basket. Besides, +times were so hard in the East that the majority of the youthful +adventurers who were caught by the fever had nothing to lose except +their lives. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> + +<P> +A group of threescore young men from different parts of Canada, from +Kingston, Niagara, and Montreal, having noticed advertisements of an +easy stage-route from St Paul, set out for the gold-diggings in May +1862. Tickets could be purchased in London, England, as well as in +Canada, for when these young Canadians reached St Paul, they found +eighteen young men from England, like themselves, diligently searching +the whereabouts of the stage-route. That was their first inkling that +fraudulent practices were being carried on and that they had been +deceived, that there was, in fact, no stage-route from St Paul to +Cariboo. A few of them turned back, but the majority, by ox-cart and +rickety stagecoach, pushed on to the Red River and went up to a point +near the boundary of modern Manitoba, where lay the first steamboat to +navigate that river, about to start on her maiden trip. On this +steamboat, the little <I>International</I>, afterwards famous for running +into sand-banks and mud-bars, the troops of Overlanders took passage, +and stowed themselves away wherever they could, some in the cook's +galley and some among the cordwood piled in the engine-room. +</P> + +<P> +The Sioux were on a rampage in Minnesota +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +and Dakota, but Alexander +Dallas, governor of Rupert's Land for the Hudson's Bay Company, and Mgr +Taché, bishop of St Boniface, were aboard, and their presence afforded +protection. On the way to the vessel some of the Overlanders had +narrowly escaped a massacre. The story is told that as they slowly +made their way in ox-carts up the river-bank, a band of horsemen swept +over the horizon, and the travellers found themselves surrounded by +Sioux warriors. The old plainsman who acted as guide bethought him of +a ruse: he hoisted a flag of the Hudson's Bay Company and waved it in +the face of the Sioux without speaking. The painted warriors drew +together and conferred. The oxen stood complacently chewing the cud. +Indians never molested British fur-traders. Presently the raiders went +off over the horizon as swiftly as they had come, and the gold-seekers +drove on, little realizing the fate from which they had been delivered. +</P> + +<P> +There had been heavy rains that spring on the prairie, and trees came +jouncing down the muddy flood of the Red River. The little +<I>International</I>, like a panicky bicycle rider, steered straight for +every tree, and hit one with such impact that her smokestack came +toppling down. At another place she pushed +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> +her nose so deep in +the soft mud of the riverbank that it required all the crew and most of +the passengers to shove her off. But everybody was jubilant. This was +the first navigation of the Red River by steam. The Queen's Birthday, +the 24th of May, was celebrated on board the vessel pottle-deep to the +tune of the bagpipes played by the governor's Scottish piper. But the +governor's wife was heard to lament to Bishop Taché that the +<I>International's</I> menu consisted only of pork and beans alternated with +beans and pork, that the service was on tin plates, and that the +dining-room chairs were backless benches. +</P> + +<P> +The arrival of the steamer at Fort Garry (Winnipeg) was celebrated with +great rejoicing. Indians ran along the river-bank firing off rifles in +welcome, and opposite the flats where the fort gate opened, on what is +now Main Street, the company's men came out and fired a royal salute. +The people bound for Cariboo camped on the flats outside Fort Garry. +Here was a strange world indeed. Two-wheeled ox-carts, made wholly of +wood, without iron or bolt, wound up to the fort from St Paul in +processions a mile long, with fat squaws and whole Indian families +sitting squat inside the crib-like structure of the cart. Men and boys +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +loped ahead and abreast on sinewy ponies, riding bareback or on +home-made saddles. Only a few stores stood along what is now Main +Street, which ran northward towards the Selkirk Settlement. With the +Indians, who were camped everywhere in the woods along the Assiniboine, +the Overlanders began to barter for carts, oxen, ponies, and dried +deer-meat or pemmican. An ox and cart cost from forty to fifty +dollars. Ponies sold at twenty-five dollars. Pemmican cost sixteen +cents a pound, and a pair of duffel Hudson's Bay blankets cost eight or +ten dollars. Instead of blankets, many of the travellers bought the +cheaper buffalo robes. These sold as low as a dollar each. +</P> + +<P> +John Black, the Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' preached +special sermons on Sunday for the miners. And on a beautiful June +afternoon the Overlanders headed towards the setting sun in a +procession of almost a hundred ox-carts; and the fort waved them +farewell. One wonders whether, as the last ox-cart creaked into the +distance, the fur-traders realized that the miner heralded the settler, +and that the settler would fence off the hunter's game preserve into +farms and cities. A rare glamour lay over the plains +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> +that June, +not the less rare because hope beckoned the travellers. The unfenced +prairie billowed to the horizon a sea of green, diversified by the +sky-blue waters of slough and lake, and decked with the hues of +gorgeous flowers—the prairie rose, fragrant, tender, elusive, and +fragile as the English primrose; the blood-red tiger-lily; the brown +windflower with its corn-tassel; the heavy wax cups of the sedgy +water-lily, growing where wild duck flackered unafraid. Game was +superabundant. Prairie chickens nestled along the single-file trail. +Deer bounded from the poplar thickets and shy coyotes barked all night +in the offing. Night in June on the northern prairie is but the +shadowy twilight between two long days. The sun sets between nine and +ten, and rises between three and four, and the moonlight is clear +enough on cloudless nights for campers to see the time on their watches. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-058"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-058.jpg" ALT="A Red River cart. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="554" HEIGHT="401"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 554px"> +A Red River cart. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The trail followed was the old path of the fur-trader from fort to fort +'the plains across' to the Rockies. From the Assiniboine the road ran +northerly to Forts Ellice and Carlton and Pitt and Edmonton.[<A NAME="chap04fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn1">1</A>] Thomas +M'Micking +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +of Niagara acted as captain and eight others as +lieutenants. A scout preceded the marchers, and at sundown camp was +formed in a big triangle with the carts as a stockade, the animals +tethered or hobbled inside. Tents were pitched outside with six men +doing sentry duty all night. At two in the morning a halloo roused +camp. An hour was permitted for harnessing and breaking camp, and then +the carts creaked out in line. They halted at six for breakfast and +marched again at seven. Dinner was at two, supper at six, and tents +were seldom pitched before nine at night. On Sunday the procession +rested and some one read divine service. The oxen and ponies foraged +for themselves. By limiting camp to five hours, in spite of the slow +pace of the oxen, forty to fifty miles a day could be made on a good +trail in fair weather. While the scout led the way, the captain and +his lieutenants kept the long procession in line; and the travellers +for the most part dozed lazily in their carts, dreaming of the fortunes +awaiting them in Cariboo. Some nights, when the captain permitted a +longer halt than usual and when camp-fires blazed before the tents, men +played the violin and sang and danced. Each man was his own cook. +Three or four occupied +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +each tent. In the company was one woman, +with two children. She was an Irishwoman; but she bore the name of +Shubert, from which we may infer that her husband was not an Irishman. +</P> + +<P> +Sunday having intervened, the travellers did not reach Portage la +Prairie until the fourth day out. Another week passed before they +arrived at Fort Ellice. Heavy rains came on now, and James M'Kay, +chief trader at Fort Ellice, opened his doors to the gold-seekers. +Harness and carts repaired and more pemmican bought, the travellers +crossed the Qu'Appelle river in a Hudson's Bay scow, paying toll of +fifty cents a cart. From the Qu'Appelle westward the journey grew more +arduous. The weather became oppressively hot and mosquitoes swarmed +from the sloughs. At Carlton and at Fort Pitt the fur-traders' 'string +band'—husky-dogs in wolfish packs—surrounded the camp of the +Overlanders and stole pemmican from under the tent-flaps. From Fort +Pitt westward the trail crossed a rough, wooded country, and there were +no more scows to take the ox-carts across the rivers. Eleven days of +continuous rain had flooded the sloughs into swamps; and in three days +as many as eight corduroy bridges had to be built. Two +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +long trees +were felled parallel and light poles were laid across the floating +trees. Where the trees swerved to the current, some one would swim out +and anchor them with ropes till the hundred carts had passed safely to +the other side. +</P> + +<P> +It was the 21st of July when the travellers came out on the high banks +of the North Saskatchewan, flowing broad and swift, opposite Fort +Edmonton. There had been floods and all the company's rafts had been +carried away. But the ox-carts were poled across by means of a big +York boat; and the travellers were welcomed inside the fort. +</P> + +<P> +The arrival of the Overlanders is remembered at Edmonton by some +old-timers even to this day. Salvoes of welcome were fired from the +fort cannon by a half-breed shooting his musket into the touch-hole of +the big gun. Concerts were given, with bagpipes, concertinas, flutes, +drums, and fiddles, in honour of the far-travellers. Pemmican-bags +were replenished from the company's stores. +</P> + +<P> +Miners often uttered loud complaints against the charges made by the +fur-traders for provisions, forgetting what it cost to pack these +provisions in by dog-train and canoe. If the Hudson's Bay officials at +Fort Garry and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +Edmonton had withheld their help, the Overlanders +would have perished before they reached the Rockies. Though the miner +did everything to destroy the fur trade—started fires which ravaged +the hunter's forest haunts, put up saloons which demoralized the +Indians, built wagon-roads where aforetime wandered only the shy +creatures of the wilds—though the miner heralded the doom of the fur +trade—yet with an unvarying courtesy, from Fort Garry to the Rockies, +the Hudson's Bay men helped the Overlanders. +</P> + +<P> +The majority of the travellers now changed oxen and carts for +pack-horses and <I>travois</I>, contrivances consisting of two poles, within +which the horses were attached, and a rude sledge. A few continued +with oxen, and these oxen were to save their lives in the mountains. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-062"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-062.jpg" ALT="Washing gold on the Saskatchewan. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="546" HEIGHT="396"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 546px"> +Washing gold on the Saskatchewan. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The farther the Overlanders now plunged into the wilderness, the more +they were pestered by the husky-dogs that roamed in howling hordes +round the outskirts of the forts. The story is told of several +prospectors of this time, who slept soundly in their tent after a day's +exhausting tramp, and awoke to find that their boots, bacon, rope, and +clothes had been devoured by the ravenous dogs. They +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> +asked the +trader's permission to sleep inside the fort. +</P> + +<P> +'Why?' asked the amused trader. 'Why, now, when the huskies have +chewed all you own but your instruments? You are locking the stable +door after your horse has been stolen.' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' answered the prospectors. 'If those husky-dogs last night could +devour all our camp kit without disturbing us, to-night they might +swallow us before we'd waken.' +</P> + +<P> +The next pause was at St Albert, one of Father Lacombe's missions. +What surprised the Overlanders as they advanced was the amazing +fertility of the soil. At Fort Garry, at Pitt, at Edmonton, at St +Albert, at St Ann, they saw great fields of wheat, barley, and +potatoes. Afterwards many who failed in the mines drifted back to the +plains and became farmers. The same thing had happened in California, +and was repeated at a later day in the rush to the Klondike. Great +seams of coal, too, were seen projecting from the banks of the +Saskatchewan. Here some of the men began washing for gold, and, +finding yellow specks the size of pin-heads in the fine sand, a number +of them knocked up cabins for themselves and remained west of Edmonton + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +to try their luck. Later, when these belated Overlanders decided +to follow on to Cariboo, they suffered terrible hardships. +</P> + +<P> +The Overlanders were to enter the Rockies by the Yellowhead Pass, which +had been discovered long ago by Jasper Hawse, of the Hudson's Bay +Company. This section of their trail is visible to the modern +traveller from the windows of a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway train, just +as the lower sections of the Cariboo Trail in the Fraser Canyon are to +be seen from the trains of the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian +Northern. First came the fur-trader, seeking adventure through these +passes, pursuing the little beaver. The miner came next, fevered to +delirium, lured by the siren of an elusive yellow goddess. The settler +came third, prosaic and plodding, but dauntless too. And then came the +railroad, following the trail which had been beaten hard by the +stumbling feet of pioneers. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-064"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-064.jpg" ALT="In the Yellowhead Pass. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="511" HEIGHT="398"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 511px"> +In the Yellowhead Pass. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +At St Ann a guide was engaged to lead the long train of pack-horses +through the pass from Jasper House on the east to Yellowhead Lake on +the west. Colin Fraser, son of the famous piper for Sir George Simpson +of the Hudson's Bay Company, danced a Highland fling at the gate of the +fort to speed the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> +departing guests. And to the skirl of the +bagpipes the procession wound away westward bound for the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of the thirty miles a day which they had made farther east, the +travellers were now glad to cover ten miles a day. Fallen trees lay +across the trail in impassable ramparts and floods filled the gullies. +Scouts went ahead blazing trees to show the way. Bushwhackers +followed, cutting away windfall and throwing logs into sloughs. Horses +sank to their withers in seemingly bottomless muskegs,[<A NAME="chap04fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn2">2</A>] so that packs +had to be cut off and the unlucky bronchos pulled out by all hands +straining on a rope. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhere between the rivers Pembina and M'Leod the travellers were +amazed to see what the wise ones in the party thought a volcano—a +continuous and self-fed fire burning on the crown of a hill. Science +of a later +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> +day pronounced this a gas well burning above some +subterranean coal seam. +</P> + +<P> +At length the Overlanders were ascending the banks of the M'Leod, whose +torrential current warned them of rising ground. Three times in one +day windfall and swamp forced the party to ford the stream for passage +on the opposite side. The oxen swam and the ox-carts floated and the +packs came up the bank dripping. For eleven days in August every soul +of the company, including Mrs Shubert's babies, travelled wet to the +skin. At night great log fires were kindled and the Overlanders sat +round trying to dry themselves out. Then the trail lifted to the +foothills. And on the evening of the 15th of August there pierced +through the clouds the snowy, shining, serrated peaks of the Rockies. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-066"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-066.jpg" ALT="Upper M'Leod River. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="547" HEIGHT="403"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 547px"> +Upper M'Leod River. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +A cheer broke from the ragged band. Just beyond the shining mountains +lay—Fortune. What cared these argonauts, who had tramped across the +width of the continent, that the lofty mountains raised a sheer wall +between them and their treasure? Cheer on cheer rang from the +encampment. Men with clothes in tatters pitched caps in air, proud +that they had proved themselves kings of their own fate. It is, +perhaps, well that we have to climb our +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +mountains step by step; +else would many turn back. But there were no faint-hearts in the camp +that night. Even the Irishwoman's two little children came out and +gazed at what they could not understand. +</P> + +<P> +The party now crossed a ravine to the main stream of the Athabaska. It +was necessary to camp here for a week. A huge raft was built of pine +saplings bound together by withes. To the stern of this was attached a +tree, the branch end dipping in the water, as a sweep and rudder to +keep the craft to its course. On this the Overlanders were ferried +across the Athabaska. And so they entered the Yellowhead Pass. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap04fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn1text">1</A>] See the map in <I>The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay</I> in this +Series. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn2text">2</A>] Perhaps the distinction should be made here between the muskeg and +the slough. The slough was simply any depression in the ground filled +with mud and water. The muskeg was permanent wet ground resting on +soft mud, covered over on the top with most deceiving soft green moss +which looked solid, but which quaked to every step and gave to the +slightest weight. Many muskegs west of Edmonton have been formed by +beavers damming the natural drainage of a small river for so many +centuries that the silt and humus washed down from the mountains have +formed a surface of deep black muck. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS +</H4> + +<P> +Like many lowland dwellers, the Overlanders had thought of a pass as a +door opening through a rock wall. What they found was a forested slope +flanked on both sides by mighty precipices down which poured cataracts +with the sound of the voice of many waters. Huge hemlocks lay +criss-crossed on the slope. Above could be seen the green edge of a +glacier, and still higher the eternal snows of the far peaks. The tang +of ice was in the air; but in the valleys was all the gorgeous bloom of +midsummer—the gaudy painter's brush, the shy harebell, the tasselled +windflower, and a few belated mountain roses. Long-stemmed, slender +cornflowers and bluebells held up their faces to the sun, blue as the +sky above them. Everywhere was an odour as of incense, the fragrance +of the great hemlocks, of grasses frost-touched at night and sunburnt +by day, of the unpolluted earth-mould of a thousand years. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> + +<P> +Where was the trail? None was visible! The captain led the way, +following blazes chipped in the bark of the trees, zigzagging up the +slope from right to left, from left to right, hanging to the horse's +mane to lift weight from the saddle, with a rest for breathing at each +turn as they climbed; and, when the ridge of the foothill was +surmounted, a world of peacock-blue lakes lay below, fringed by +forests. The cataracts looked like wind-blown ribbons of silver. +Instead of dipping down, the trail led to the rolling flank of another +great foothill, and yet another, round sharp saddlebacks connecting the +mountains. Here, ox-carts were dangerous and had to be abandoned. It +was with difficulty that the oxen could be driven along the narrow +ledges. +</P> + +<P> +Jasper House, Whitefish Lake, the ruins of Henry House, they saw from +the height of the pass. One foaming stream they forded eight times in +three hours, driven from side to side by precipice and windfall; and in +places they could advance only by ascending the stream bed. This was +risky work on a fractious pony, and some of the riders preferred wading +to riding. At noon on the 22nd of August the riders crossed a small +stream and set up their tents on the border of a sedgy lake. Then +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> +somebody noticed that the lake emptied west, not east; and a wild +halloo split the welkin. They had crossed the Divide. They were on +the headwaters of the Fraser, where a man could stand astride the +stream; and the Fraser led to the Cariboo gold-diggings. They still +had four hundred miles to travel. Their boots were in shreds and their +clothes in tatters; but what were four hundred miles to men who had +tramped almost three thousand? +</P> + +<P> +But their progress had been so slow that the provisions were running +short. The first snow of the mountains falls in September, and it was +already near the end of August. There was not a moment to lose in +resting. What had been a lure of hope now became a goad of +desperation. So it is with all life's highest emprises. We plunge in +led by hope. We plunge on spurred by fate. When the reward is won, +only God and our own souls know that, even if we would, we could not +have done otherwise than go on. +</P> + +<P> +Those travellers who had insisted on bringing oxen had now to kill them +for meat. Chipmunks were shot for food. So were many worn-out horses. +Hides were used to resole boots and make mitts. Not far from Moose +Lake the last bag of pemmican was eaten. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +Perhaps it was a good +thing at this time that the band of Overlanders began to spread out and +scatter along the trail; for hungry men in large groups are a tragic +danger to themselves. Those of the advance-party were now some ten +days ahead of their companions in the rear. Mrs MacNaughton, whose +husband was with the rear party, of which we shall hear more anon, +relates the story of a young fellow so ravenous that he fried the +deer-thong he had bought for a tump-line back at one of the company's +forts. Fortunately, somewhere west of Moose Lake, the travellers came +on a band of Shuswap Indians who traded for matches and powder enough +salmon and cranberry cakes to stave off actual famine. +</P> + +<P> +Trees with chipped bark pointed the way down the Fraser. For three +days the party followed the little stream that had come out of the lake +hardly wider than the span of a man's stride. With each mile its +waters swelled and grew wilder. On the third day windfall and +precipice drove the riders back from the river bed into the heavy +hemlock forest, where festoons of Spanish moss overhead almost shut out +the light of the sun and all sense of direction. And when they came +back to the bank of the stream they saw a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +wild cataract cutting +its way through a dark canyon. There was no mistake. This was the +Fraser, and it was living up to its reputation. +</P> + +<P> +And yet the Overlanders were sorely puzzled. There were no more blazes +on the trees to point the way; and, if this was the Fraser, it seemed +to flow almost due north. Where was Cariboo? Mr M'Micking, who was +acting as captain, tried to find out from the Indians. They made him a +drawing showing that if he crossed another watershed he would come on a +white man's wide pack-road. That must lead to Cariboo; but the snow +lay already a foot deep on this road; and unless the Overlanders +hastened they would be snowbound for the winter. On the other hand, if +the white men continued to follow the wild river canyon north, it would +bring them to Fort George on the main Fraser in ten days. There was no +time to waste on chance travelling. The Overlanders knew that +somewhere south from Moose Lake must lie the headwaters of the +Thompson, which would bring them to Kamloops. Was that what the +Indians meant by their drawings of a white man's road? If that were +true, between Moose Lake and the Thompson must lie the land of their +desire, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +Cariboo; but to cross another unknown divide in winter +seemed risky. To follow the bend of the Fraser north might be the long +way round, but it was sure. +</P> + +<P> +It was decided to let the party separate. Let those with provisions +still remaining try to push overland to Cariboo. If they failed to +find it, they could build cabins and winter on their pack animals. +Twenty men joined this group. The rest decided to stick to the river. +Behind were straggling a score more of the travellers, who were left to +follow as they could. Mrs Shubert with her children joined the band +going overland to find the Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +The Indians traded canoes for horses and showed the Overlanders how to +put rafts together to run the Fraser. Axes had been worn almost to the +haft. Cutting the huge trees and splitting them into suitable timbers +was slow work. It was September before the rafts were ready to be +launched. There were four. Each had a heavy railing round it like +that of a ferry, with some flat stones on which fires could be lighted +to cook meals without pausing to land. When we recall the experiences +of Mackenzie and Fraser on this river, it seems almost incredible that +these landsmen made +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> +the descent on rafts with their few remaining +ponies and oxen tied to the railings; yet so they did. If we imagine +rafts, with horses and oxen tied to the railings, trying to run the +whirlpool below Niagara, we shall have some conception of what this +meant. +</P> + +<P> +The canoes sheered out of the way and the rafts were unmoored. The +Scarborough raft, with men from Whitby and Scarborough, near Toronto, +swirled out to midstream on the afternoon of the 1st of September. +'Poor, poor white men,' sighed the Indians; 'no more see white men'; +but the men in the canoes rapped the gunnels with their paddles and +uttered rousing cheers. Then the <I>Ottawa</I> and the <I>Niagara</I> and the +<I>Huntingdon</I> rafts slipped out on the current. All went well for four +days. Sweeps made of trees with the branch ends turned down and long, +slim poles kept the rafts in mid-current. Meals were cooked as the +unwieldy craft glided along the river-bank. Two or three men kept +guard at night, so that the rafts were delayed for only a few hours +during the darkest part of the night. The sun shone hot at midday and +there were hard frosts at night; but the rest in this sort of travel +was wonderfully refreshing after four months of toil across prairie and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +mountain. But on the afternoon of the 5th of September the rafts +began to bounce and swirl. The banks raced to the rear, and before the +crews realized it, a noise as of breaking seas filled the air, and the +<I>Scarborough</I> was riding her first rapid. Luckily, the water was deep +and the rocks well submerged. The <I>Scarborough</I> ran the rapid without +mishap and the other rafts followed. On the next day, however, the +waters 'collected' and began running in leaps and throwing back spume. +Some one shouted 'Breakers! head ashore!' and the galloping rafts +bumped on the bank of the river. The banks here were steep for +portaging; and the Scarborough boys, brought up on the lake-front, east +of Toronto, decided, come what might, to run the rapids. They let go +the mooring-rope and went churning into a whirlpool of yeasty spray. +All hands bent their strength to the poles. The raft dipped out of +sight, but was presently seen riding safely and calmly below the rapids. +</P> + +<P> +Those watching the <I>Scarborough</I> from the bank breathed freely again +and plucked up heart; but the worst was yet ahead. The oily calm below +the first rapid dropped into another maelstrom of angry waters. Into +this the <I>Scarborough</I> was drawn by the terrible undertow. For a +moment the watchers on the bank could see nothing but the horns of the +bellowing, frightened oxen tied to the railing. Then the raft was +mounting the waves again. The seaworthiness of a raft is, of course, +well known. It may dip under water, or even split, but it seldom +upsets and never swamps or sinks. Before the other rafts ran the +rapids, two of them were first lightened of their loads. The men +preferred to pack their provisions over the precipices rather than take +the risk of losing them in the rapid. Nor was the packing child's +play. There was a narrow portage-trail along the ledges of the rocks, +and where the slabs of granite had split off Indians had laid rickety +poles across. Over these frail bridges the packers, with great +difficulty, carried the loads of the two rafts. Fortunately most of +them had long since discarded boots for moccasins. +</P> + +<P> +All the rafts came through safely. The canoes were not so fortunate. +When the <I>Scarborough</I> reached a sand-bar at the foot of the rapids, +the men were surprised to find three of their Toronto friends, who had +gone ahead in a canoe, now stranded high and dry. The canoe had sidled +to the waves, swamped, and sunk with everything the Toronto men +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +owned, including their coats, tents, and boots. For two days they had +been awaiting the coming of the rafts. They were almost dead from +exposure and hunger. +</P> + +<P> +Nine canoes in all were wrecked at this spot. One split on the reef. +Another was caught in the backwater. Others sank in the whirlpool +below the rapids. Others went under at the first leap into the +cataract. Two of the canoes had foolishly been lashed abreast. They +sidled, shipped a billow, and sank. All the men clung to the gunnels; +but one who was a powerful swimmer struck out for the shore. The +canoes stranded on the shore below and the clinging men saved +themselves. When they looked for their friend who had struck out for +the shore, he was no longer to be seen. These men were all from +Goderich, brought up on the banks of Lake Huron. +</P> + +<P> +A similar fate befell a crew of four men from Toronto. Two of them +undertook to portage provisions along the bank of the canyon, while the +other two, named Carpenter and Alexander, tried to run the canoe down +the rapids. The episode has some interest for students of psychology. +Carpenter walked down the bank of the canyon a short distance to +reconnoitre the different channels of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +rapids. He was seen to +take out his notebook and write an entry. He then put the note-book in +the inner pocket of his coat, took off the coat, and slung it in a tree +on the bank. When he came back to the canoe, he seemed preoccupied. +The canoe ripped on a rock in midstream, flattened, and sank. +Carpenter went down insensible as though his head had struck and he had +been stunned. Alexander was washed ashore. He found himself on the +side of the bank opposite the rest of the party. Going below to calmer +waters, he swam across. Carpenter's coat hung on the trees. In the +pocket was the note-book, in which Alexander read the astounding words: +'Arrived at Grand Canyon. Ran the canyon and was drowned.' Carpenter +left a wife and child in Toronto, for whom, evidently, he had written +the message. But if he was of sound mind, desiring to live, and so +certain of death that he was able to write his own fate in the past +tense, why did he attempt the rapids? His friends had no explanation +of the curious incident. +</P> + +<P> +There is another gruesome story of a sand-bar in the very middle of +this raging canyon. It will be remembered that some of the Overlanders +had straggled far to the rear. Some +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +time before spring a party of +them attempted to run this canyon. They were never again seen alive. +Some treasure-seekers who came over the trail in spring stranded on +this sand-bar. They found the bodies of the missing men. All but one +had been torn and partly devoured. It need not be told here that no +wild beast could have stemmed the rapids from either side. Unless +wolves or cougars had accidentally been washed to the sand-bar, and +washed away again, the wild solitude must have witnessed a horror too +terrible to be told; for the body of the man who had apparently died +last was fully clothed and unmolested. As absolutely nothing more is +known of what happened than has been set down here, it seems well that +there is no record of the names of these castaways. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS +</H4> + +<P> +The walls of the river lowered and widened, the current slackened, and +the surviving canoes and rafts were presently gliding peacefully down a +smooth stream. That night the Overlanders slept dead with weariness; +but a fearful depression rested on the company. Gold had begun to +collect its toll, and the price appalled every soul. Who would be the +next? How soon would the unknown river turn west and south? Where was +Fort George? What perils yet lay between the fort and the gold camp? +</P> + +<P> +As the heavy mists lifted at daybreak, the travellers observed that the +river was narrowing again and that the wooded banks had begun to fly +past very swiftly. There was no mistaking the signs. They were +approaching more rapids. But the trick of guiding the craft down +rapids had now been learned; so the flotilla rode the furious waters +unharmed for fifteen miles. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> + +<P> +It was almost dark when canoes and rafts swung round a curve in the +river and saw a flag waving above the little walled fur-post of Fort +George. The tired wanderers were welcomed in by clerks too amazed to +speak, while a howling chorus of husky-dogs set up their serenade. A +young Englishman, who had joined the Overlanders at St Paul, died from +the effects of exposure a few minutes after being carried into the +fort. Next morning the body was rolled in blankets, placed in a canoe, +and buried under a rude wooden cross, with stones piled above the grave +to prevent the ravaging of huskies and wolves. +</P> + +<P> +The chief factor was away, but the young clerks in charge sent Indians +along to pilot the Overlanders through the rapids below Fort George, +known as the most dangerous on the Fraser. These rapids, it will be +recalled, had wrecked Alexander Mackenzie and had almost cost Simon +Fraser his life. But the treasure-seekers did not have to go as far +south as Alexandria, where Mackenzie had turned back. With guides who +knew the waters, they ran the rapids below Fort George safely, and +moored at Quesnel, the entrance to Cariboo, on the 11th of +September—four months after they had left Canada. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> + +<P> +Quesnel was at this time a rude settlement of perhaps a dozen log +shacks—chiefly bunkhouses and provision-stores. North of Yale the +Cariboo Road had not yet been opened, and all provisions had been +brought in from the lower Fraser by pack-horse and dog-train at +enormous cost and risk. Food sold at extortionate prices. A meal cost +two dollars and fifty cents, for beans, bacon, and coffee. Salmon, of +course, was cheap. Fortunately, there was little whisky; so, though +tattered miners were everywhere in the woods, order was maintained +without vigilance committees. On one spectacle the far-travelled +ragged Overlanders feasted their tired eyes. They saw miners +everywhere along the banks of creeks washing gold. But there were more +gold-seekers than claims, and those without claims were full of +complaints and fears for the winter. They declared the country was +over-rated and a humbug. The question was how 'to get out' to +Victoria. Overlanders, who had tramped across the breadth of a +continent, did not relish the prospect, as one Yankee miner described +it, of 'hoofing it five hundred miles farther.' Some of the +disappointed Overlanders floated on down to Alexandria, where they sold +their rafts and took jobs on the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> +government road which was being +constructed along the canyon. This ensured them safety from starvation +for the winter at least. +</P> + +<P> +Other Overlanders followed these first pioneers 'the plains across.' +And we have seen that some of those who had crossed the prairie with +the first party had fallen behind. These stragglers did not reach +Yellowhead Pass till the first week of September. They were entirely +out of food; but they had matches, and each box of fifty bought a huge +salmon from the Shuswaps. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the men pushed ahead, built a raft, and launched it on the +Fraser. The raft ripped on a rock in midstream and stuck there at an +angle of forty-five degrees. Money, tools, food, and clothing +slithered into the tow of the rapids, while the men clung in +desperation to the upper railing of the wreck. One man let go and +dropped into the water. Swimming and drifting and rolling over and +over, he gained the shore, and hurried back to the pass with word of +the accident. Friends, accompanied by Indians, came in canoes to the +rescue, and, by means of ropes, every man was brought off the wrecked +raft alive. +</P> + +<P> +But the party now stood in a more desperate predicament than ever, for +lack of food and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> +clothing. The Shuswaps saved the whites from +starvation. They took the white men to a pool in the Fraser, where +salmon, exhausted from the long run up the river, could be speared or +clubbed by the boat-load. And while some of the men chopped down trees +to build dugout canoes, others speared, cleaned, and dried the salmon. +Night and day they worked, and forgot sleep in their desperate haste. +At length they launched their craft on the Fraser. On the way down the +dangerous canyon they saw the wrecked canoes of those who had gone +before. The tenth day after leaving Yellowhead Pass they reached Fort +George. Their story has been told by Mrs MacNaughton, whose husband +was of the party. They arrived at Fort George mostly barefoot, +coatless, and trousers and shirts in tatters. Their hair and beards +were long and unkempt. It is supposed that they must have lost the +salmon in some of the rapids, or else the supply was insufficient; for +they were so weak from hunger that they had to be carried into the +fort. They arrived at Quesnel a month after the first Overlanders, +when the snow was too deep in the mountains for prospecting or mining. +The majority of this party also took work on the government road. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> + +<P> +Meanwhile, how had fared that band of the Overlanders who had gone over +the hills south from the pass in search of the upper branches of the +Thompson? A Shuswap accompanied them as guide, and for a few days +there was a well-defined game-trail. Then the trail meandered off into +a dense forest of hemlock and windfall, which had to be cut almost +every mile of the way. They did not average six miles a day; but they +finally came to the steep bank of a wild river flowing south which they +judged must be a branch of the Thompson. The mountains were so steep +that it was impossible to proceed farther with horses and oxen; so they +abandoned these in the woods, and cut trees for rafts. For seven days +they ran rapid after rapid. One of the rafts stranded on a rock and +remained for two days before companions came to the rescue. At another +point a canoe was smashed in midstream. The crew struggled to a +slippery rock and hung to the ledge. A man named Strachan attempted to +swim ashore to signal distress to those above. They saw him ride the +waves. Then a roll of angry waters swept over him and he passed out of +sight. His companions clung to the rock till another canoe came +shooting down-stream, when lines +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +were hoisted to the castaways, +and they were hauled ashore. +</P> + +<P> +Where the Clearwater comes into the Thompson they found the +fur-trader's horse-trail and tramped the remaining hundred miles +overland south to Kamloops. On the last lap of their terrible march +all were so exhausted they could scarcely drag themselves forward. +Some would lie down and sleep, then creep on a few miles. About twenty +miles from the mouth of the Thompson they came to a field of potatoes +planted by some rancher of Kamloops. The starving Overlanders could +scarcely credit their eyes. No one occupied the windowless log cabin; +but there was the potato patch—an oasis of food in a desert of +starvation. They paused long enough at the cabin to boil a great +kettleful and to feast ravenously. This gave them strength to tramp on +to Kamloops. We saw that the Irish mother, Mrs Shubert, with her two +children, accompanied this party. The day after reaching Kamloops she +gave birth to a child. +</P> + +<P> +Did the Overlanders find the gold which each man's rainbow hopes had +dreamed? They had followed the rainbow over the ends of earth. Was +the pot of gold at the end of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> +the rainbow? You will find an +occasional Overlander passing the sunset of his days in quiet retreat +at Yale or Hope or Quesnel or Barkerville. He does not wear evidence +of great earthly possessions, though he may refer wistfully to the +golden age of those long-past adventurous days. The leaders who +survived became honoured citizens of British Columbia. Few came back +to the East. They passed their lives in the wild, free, new land that +had given them such harsh experiences. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LIFE AT THE MINES +</H4> + +<P> +Fortunately, in that winter of '62-'63, there was a great deal of work +to be done in the mining country, and men were in high demand. The +ordinary wage was ten dollars a day, and men who could be trusted, and +who were brave enough to pack the gold out to the coast, received +twenty and even as high as fifty dollars a day. There is a letter, +written by Sir Matthew Begbie, describing how the mountain trails were +infested that winter by desperadoes lying in wait for the miners who +came staggering over the trail literally weighted down with gold. The +miners found what the great banks have always found, that the presence +of unused gold is a nuisance and a curse. They had to lug the gold in +leather sacks with them to their work, and back with them to their +shacks, and they always carried firearms ready for use. There was very +little shooting at the mines, but if a bad man 'turned up missing,' no +one +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> +asked whether he had 'hoofed' it down the trail, or whether he +hung as a sign of warning from a pole set horizontally at a proper +height between two trees. In a mining camp there is no mercy for the +crook. If the trail could have told tales, there would have been many +a story of dead men washed up on the bars, of sneak-thieves given +thirty-nine lashes and like the scapegoat turned out into the mountain +wilds—a rough-and-ready justice administered without judge or jury. +</P> + +<P> +But a woman was as safe on the trail as in her own home—a thing that +civilization never understands about a wild mining camp. Mrs Cameron, +wife of the famous Cariboo Cameron, lived with her husband on his claim +till she died, and many other women lived in the camps with their +husbands. When the road opened, there was a rush of hurdy-gurdy girls +for dance-halls; but that did not modify the rough chivalry of an +unwritten law. These hurdy-gurdy girls, who tiptoed to the concertina, +the fiddle, and the hand-organ, were German; and if we may believe the +poet of Cariboo, they were something like the Glasgow girls described +by Wolfe as 'cold to everything but a bagpipe—I wrong them—there is +not one that does not melt away +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +at the sound of money.' Sings the +poet of Cariboo: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +They danced a' nicht in dresses licht<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Fra' late until the early, O!</SPAN><BR> +But O, their hearts were hard as flint,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Which vexed the laddies sairly, O!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The dollar was their only love,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And that they loved fu' dearly, O!</SPAN><BR> +They dinna care a flea for men,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Let them court hooe'er sincerely, O!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Cariboo was what the miners call a 'he-camp.' Not unnaturally, the +'she-camps' heard 'the call from Macedonia.' The bishop of Oxford, the +bishop of London, the lord mayor of London, and a colonial society in +England gathered up some industrious young women as suitable wives for +the British Columbia miners. Alack the day, there was no poet to send +letters to the outside world on this handling of Cupid's bow and arrow! +The comedy was pushed in the most business-like fashion. Threescore +young girls came out under the auspices of the society and the Church, +carefully shepherded by a clergyman and a stern matron. They reached +Victoria in September of '62 and were housed in the barracks. Miners +camped on every inch of ground from which the barracks could be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +watched; and when the girls passed to and from their temporary lodging, +their progress was like a royal procession through a silent, gaping, +but most respectful lane of whiskered faces. A man looking anything +but respect would have been knocked down on the spot. We laugh now! +Victoria did not laugh then. It was all taken very seriously. On the +instant, every girl was offered some kind of situation, which she +voluntarily and almost immediately exchanged for matrimony. In all, +some ninety girls came out under these auspices in '62-'63. The +respectable girls fitted in where they belonged. The disreputable also +found their own places. And the mining camp began to take on an +appearance of domesticity and home. +</P> + +<P> +Matthew Begbie, later, like Douglas, given a title for his services to +the Empire, had, as we have seen, first come out under direct +appointment by the crown; and when parliamentary government was +organized in British Columbia his position was confirmed as chief +justice. He had less regard for red tape than most chief justices. +Like Douglas, he first maintained law and order and then looked up to +see if he had any authority for it. No man ever did more for a mining +camp than Sir +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +Matthew Begbie. He stood for the rights of the +poorest miner. In private life he was fond of music, art, and +literature; but in public life he was autocratic as a czar and sternly +righteous as a prophet. He was a vigilance committee in himself +through sheer force of personality. Crime did not flourish where +Begbie went. Chinaman or Indian could be as sure of justice as the +richest miner in Cariboo. From hating and fearing him, the camp came +almost to worship him. +</P> + +<P> +Many are the stories of his circuits. Once a jury persisted in +bringing in a verdict of manslaughter in place of murder. +</P> + +<P> +'Prisoner,' thundered Begbie, 'it is not a pleasant duty to me to +sentence you <I>only</I> to prison for life. You deserve to be hanged. Had +the jury performed their duty, I might have the painful satisfaction of +condemning you to death. You, gentlemen of the jury, permit me to say +that it would give me great pleasure to sentence you to be hanged each +and every one of you, for bringing in a murderer guilty only of +manslaughter.' +</P> + +<P> +On another occasion, when an American had 'accidentally' shot an +Indian, the coroner rendered a verdict 'worried to death by a dog.' +Begbie ordered another inquest. This +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +time the coroner returned a +finding that the Indian 'had been killed by falling over a cliff.' +Begbie on his own authority ordered the American seized and taken down +to Victoria. On his way down the prisoner escaped from the constable. +This type of hair-trigger gunmen at once fled the country when Begbie +came. +</P> + +<P> +Mr Alexander, one of the Overlanders of '62, tells how 'Begbie's +decisions may not have been good law, but they were first-class +justice.' His 'doctrine was that if a man were killed, some one had to +be hanged for it; and the effect was salutary.' A man had been +sandbagged in a Victoria saloon and thrown out to die. His companion +in the saloon was arrested and tried. The circumstantial evidence was +strong, and the judge so charged the jury. But the jury acquitted the +prisoner. Dead silence fell in the court-room. The prisoner's counsel +arose and requested the discharge of the man. Begbie whirled: +'Prisoner at the bar, the jury have said you are not guilty. You can +go, and I devoutly hope the next man you sandbag will be one of the +jury.' On another occasion a man was found stabbed on the Cariboo +Road. The man with whom the dead miner had been quarrelling was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +arrested, tried, and, in spite of strong evidence against him, +acquitted. Begbie adjourned the court with the pious wish that the +murderer should go out and cut the throats of the jury. +</P> + +<P> +But, in spite of his harsh manner towards the wrong-doer, 'the old +man,' as the miners affectionately called him, kept law and order. In +the early days gold commissioners not only settled all mining disputes, +but acted as judge and jury. Against any decision of the gold +commissioners Begbie was the sole appeal, and in all the long years of +his administration no decision of his was ever challenged. +</P> + +<P> +The effect of sudden wealth on some of the hungry, ragged horde who +infested Cariboo was of a sort to discount fiction. One man took out +forty thousand dollars in gold nuggets. A lunatic escaped from a +madhouse could not have been more foolish. He came to the best saloon +of Barkerville. He called in guests from the highways and byways and +treated them to champagne which cost thirty dollars and fifty dollars a +bottle. When the rabble could drink no more champagne, he ordered +every glass filled and placed on the bar. With one magnificent drunken +gesture of vainglory he swept the glasses in a clattering crash to the + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +floor. There was still a basket of champagne left. He danced the +hurdy-gurdy on that basket till he cut his feet. The champagne was all +gone, but he still had some gold nuggets. There was a mirror in the +bar-room valued at hundreds of dollars. The miner stood and proudly +surveyed his own figure in the glass. Had he not won his dearest +desire and conquered all things in conquering fortune? He gathered his +last nuggets and hurled them in handfuls at the mirror, shattering it +in countless pieces. Then he went out in the night to sleep under the +stars, penniless. He settled down to work for the rest of his life in +other men's mines. +</P> + +<P> +The staid Overlanders, who had risked their lives to reach this wild +land of desire, who had come from such church-going hamlets as Whitby, +such Scottish-Presbyterian centres as Toronto and Montreal, hardly knew +whether they were dreaming or living in a country of crazy pixies who +delved in mud and water all day and weltered in champagne all night. +The Cariboo poet sang their sentiments in these words: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I ken a body made a strike.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">He looked a little lord.</SPAN><BR> +He had a clan o' followers<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Amang a needy horde.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Whane'er he'd enter a saloon,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">You'd see the barkeep smile—</SPAN><BR> +His lordship's humble servant he<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Wi'out a thought o' guile!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +A twalmonth passed an' a' is gane,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Baith freends and brandy bottle!</SPAN><BR> +An' noo the puir soul's left alane<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Wi' nocht to weet his throttle!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In Barkerville, which became the centre of Cariboo, saloons and +dance-halls grew up overnight. Pianos were packed in on mules at a +rate of a dollar a pound from Quesnel. Champagne in pint bottles sold +at two ounces of gold. Potatoes retailed at ninety dollars a +hundredweight. Nails were cheap at a dollar a pound. Milk was +retailed frozen at a dollar a pound. Boots still cost fifty dollars. +Such luxuries as mirrors and stoves cost as high as seven hundred +dollars each. The hurdy-gurdy girls with true German thrift charged +ten dollars or more a dance—not the stately waltz, but a wild fling to +shake the rafters and tire out the stoutest miners. +</P> + +<P> +A newspaper was published in Barkerville. And it was in it that James +Anderson of Scotland first issued <I>Jeames's Letters to Sawney</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Your letter cam' by the express,<BR> +Eight shillin's carriage, naethin' less!<BR> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> +You maybe like to ken what pay<BR> +Miners get here for ilka day?<BR> +Jus' twa poond sterling', sure as death—<BR> +It should be four, between us baith—<BR> +For gin ye coont the cost o' livin',<BR> +There's naethin' left to gang an' come on.<BR> +Sawney, had ye yer taters here<BR> +And neeps and carrots—dinna speer<BR> +What price; though I might tell ye weel,<BR> +Ye'd ainly think me a leein' chiel.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The first twa years I spent out here<BR> +Werena sae ill ava';<BR> +But hoo I've lived syne; my freend,<BR> +There's little need to blaw.<BR> +Like fitba' knockit back and fore,<BR> +That's lang in reachin' goal,<BR> +Or feather blown by ilka wind<BR> +That whistles 'tween each pole—<BR> +E'en sae my mining life has been<BR> +For mony a weary day.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Later, when the dance-hall became the theatre of Barkerville, James +Anderson used to sing his rhymes to the stentorious shouting and loud +stamping of the shirt-sleeved audience. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +He thinks his pile is made,<BR> +An' he's goin' hame this fall,<BR> +To join his dear auld mither,<BR> +His faither, freends, and all.<BR> +His heart e'en jumps wi' joy<BR> +At the thocht o' bein' there,<BR> +An' mony a happy minute<BR> +He's biggin' castles in the air!<BR> +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +But hopes that promised high<BR> +In the springtime o' the year,<BR> +Like leaves o' autumn fa'<BR> +When the frost o' winter's near.<BR> +Sae his biggin' tumbles doon,<BR> +Wi' ilka blast o' care,<BR> +Till there's no stane astandin'<BR> +O' his castles in the air.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CARIBOO ROAD +</H4> + +<P> +When the railway first went through the Fraser Canyon, passengers +looking out of the windows anywhere from Yale to Ashcroft were amazed +to see something like a Jacob's ladder up and down the mountains, +appearing in places to hang almost in mid-air. Between Yale and Lytton +it hugged the mountain-side on what looked like a shelf of rock +directly above the wildest water of the canyon. Crib-work of huge +trees, resembling in the distance the woven pattern of a willow basket, +projected out over the ledges like a bird's nest hung from some +mountain eyrie. The traveller almost expected to see the thing sway +and swing to the wind. Then the train would sweep through a tunnel, or +swing round a sharp bend, and far up among the summits might be seen a +mule-team, or a string of pack-horses winding round the shoulders of +the rock. It seemed impossible that any man-made +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +highway could +climb such perpendicular walls and drop down precipitous cliffs and +follow a trail apparently secure only for a mountain goat. The first +impression was that the thing must be an old Indian war-path, along +which no enemy could pursue. But when the train paused at a water +tank, and the traveller made inquiry, he was told that this was nothing +less than the famous Cariboo Road, one of the wonders of the world. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-100"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-100.jpg" ALT="The Cariboo Road. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="363" HEIGHT="537"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 363px"> +The Cariboo Road. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +As long as the discovery of gold was confined to the Fraser river-bars, +the important matter of transportation gave the government no +difficulty. Hudson's Bay steamers crossed from Victoria to Langley on +the Fraser, which was a large fort and well equipped as a base of +supplies for the workers in the wilderness. Stern-wheelers, canoes, +and miscellaneous craft could, with care, creep up from Langley to Hope +and Yale; and the fares charged afforded a good revenue to the Hudson's +Bay Company. Even when prospectors struck above Yale, on up to +Harrison Lake and across to Lillooet, or from the Okanagan to the +Thompson, the difficulties of transportation were soon surmounted. A +road was shortly opened from Harrison Lake to Lillooet, built by the +miners themselves, under the direction of the Royal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +Engineers; +and, as to the Thompson, there was the well-worn trail of the +fur-traders, who had been going overland to Kamloops for fifty years. +</P> + +<P> +It was when gold was discovered higher up on the Fraser and in Cariboo, +after the colony of British Columbia had taken its place on the +political map, that Governor Douglas was put to the task of building a +great road. Henceforth, for a few years at least, the miners would be +the backbone, if not the whole body, of the new colony. How could the +administration be carried on if the government had no road into the +mining region? +</P> + +<P> +And so the governor of British Columbia entered on the boldest +undertaking in roadbuilding ever launched by any community of twenty +thousand people. The Cariboo Road became to British Columbia what the +Appian Way was to Rome. It was eighteen feet wide and over four +hundred and eighty miles long. It was one of the finest roads ever +built in the world. Yet it cost the country only two thousand dollars +a mile, as against the forty thousand dollars a mile which the two +transcontinental railways spent later on their roadbeds along the +canyon. It was Sir James Douglas's greatest monument. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> + +<P> +Five hundred volunteer mine-workers built the road from Harrison Lake +to Lillooet in 1858 at the rate of ten miles a day; and when the road +was opened in September, packers' charges fell from a dollar to +forty-eight cents and finally to eighteen cents a pound. But presently +the trend of travel drew away from Harrison Lake to the line of the +Fraser. At first there was nothing but a mule-trail hacked out of the +rock from Yale to Spuzzum; but miners went voluntarily to work and +widened the bridle-path above the shelving waters. From Spuzzum to +Lytton the river ledges seemed almost impassable for pack animals; yet +a cable ferry was rigged up at Spuzzum and mules were sent over the +ledges to draw it up the river. When the water rose so high that the +lower ledges were unsafe, the packers ascended the mountains eight +hundred feet above the roaring canyon. Where cliffs broke off, they +sent the animals across an Indian bridge. The marvel is not that many +a poor beast fell headlong eight hundred feet down the precipice. The +marvel is that any pack animal could cross such a trail at all. 'A +traveller must trust his hands as much as his feet,' wrote Begbie, +after his first experience of this trail. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-102"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-102.jpg" ALT="Indian graves at Lytton, B.C. From a photograph." BORDER="2" WIDTH="476" HEIGHT="405"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 476px"> +Indian graves at Lytton, B.C. From a photograph. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> + +<P> +But by 1862 cutting and blasting and bridge-building had begun under +the direction of the Royal Engineers; and before 1865 the great road +was completed into the heart of the mining country at Barkerville. +Henceforth passengers went in by stage-coach drawn by six horses. +Road-houses along the way provided relays of fresh horses. Freight +went in by bull-team, but pack-horses and mules were still used to +carry miners' provisions to the camps in the hills which lay off the +main road. It was while the road was still building that an +enterprising packer brought twenty-one camels on the trail. They were +not a success and caused countless stampedes. Horses and mules took +fright at the slightest whiff of them. The camels themselves could +stand neither the climate nor the hard rock road. They were turned +adrift on the Thompson river, where the last of them died in 1905. +</P> + +<P> +There was something highly romantic in the stage-coach travel of this +halcyon era. The driver was always a crack whip, a man who called +himself an 'old-timer,' though often his years numbered fewer than +twenty. Most of the drivers, however, knew the trail from having +packed in on shanks's mare and camped under the stars. At the log +taverns known +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +as road-houses travellers could sleep for the night +and obtain meals. +</P> + +<P> +On the down trip bags were piled on the roof with a couple of +frontiersmen armed with rifles to guard them. Many were the devices of +a returning miner for concealing the gold which he had won. A fat +hurdy-gurdy girl—or sometimes a squaw—would climb to a place in the +stage. And when the stage, with a crack of the whip and a prance of +the six horses, came rattling across the bridge and rolling into Yale, +the fat girl would be the first to deposit her ample person at the bank +or the express office, whence gold could safely be sent on down to +Victoria. And when she emerged half an hour later she would have +thinned perceptibly. Then the rough miner, who had not addressed a +word to her on the way down, for fear of a confidence man aboard, would +present 'Susy' with a handsome reward in the form of a gaudy dress or a +year's provisions. +</P> + +<P> +Start from a road-house was made at dawn, when the clouds still hung +heavy on the mountains and the peaks were all reflected in the glacial +waters. The passengers tumbled dishevelled from log-walled rooms where +the beds were bench berths, and ate breakfast in a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> +dining-hall +where the seats were hewn logs. The fare consisted of ham fried in +slabs, eggs ancient and transformed to leather in lard, slapjacks, +known as 'Rocky Mountain dead shot,' in maple syrup that never saw a +maple tree and was black as a pot, and potatoes in soggy pyramids. Yet +so keen was the mountain air, so stimulating the ozone of the resinous +hemlock forests, that the most fastidious traveller felt he had fared +sumptuously, and gaily paid the two-fifty for the meal. Perhaps there +was time to wash in the common tin basin at the door, where the towel +always bore evidence of patronage; perhaps not; anyhow, no matter. +Washing was only a trivial incident of mountain travel in those days. +</P> + +<P> +The passenger jumped for a place in the coach; the long whip cracked. +The horses sprang forward; and away the stage rattled round curves +where a hind wheel would try to go over the edge—only the driver +didn't let it; down embankments where any normal wagon would have +upset, but this one didn't; up sharp grades where no horses ought to be +driven at a trot, but where the six persisted in going at a gallop! +The passenger didn't mind the jolting that almost dislocated his spine. +He didn't mind the negro who sat on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +one side of him or the fat +squaw who sat on the other. He was thankful not to be held up by +highwaymen, or dumped into the wild cataract of waters below. Outside +was a changing panorama of mountain and canyon, with a world of forests +and lakes. Inside was a drama of human nature to outdo any +curtain-raiser he had ever witnessed—a baronet who had lost in the +game and was going home penniless, perhaps earning his way by helping +with the horses; an outworn actress who had been trying her luck at the +dance-halls; a gambler pretending that he was a millionaire; a +saloon-keeper with a few thousands in his pockets and a diamond in his +shirt the size of a pebble; a tenderfoot rigged out as a veteran, with +buckskin coat, a belt full of artillery, fearfully and wonderfully made +new high-boots, and a devil-may-care air that deceived no one but +himself; a few Shuswaps and Siwashes, fat, ill-smelling, insolent, and +plainly highly amused in their beady, watchful, black, ferret eyes at +the mad ways of this white race; a still more ill-smelling Chinaman; +and a taciturn, grizzled, ragged fellow, paying no attention to the fat +squaw, keeping his observations and his thoughts inside his high-boots, +but likely as not to turn out the man who +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> +would conduct the squaw +to the bank or the express office at Yale. +</P> + +<P> +If one could get a seat outside with the guards and the driver—one who +knew how to unlock the lore of these sons of the hills—he was lucky; +for he would learn who made his strike there, who was murdered at +another place, how the sneak-thief trailed the tenderfoot somewhere +else—all of it romance, much of it fiction, much of it fact, but no +fiction half so marvellous as the fact. +</P> + +<P> +Bull-teams of twenty yokes, long lines of pack-horses led by a +bell-mare, mule-teams with a tinkling of bells and singing of the +drivers, met the stage and passed with happy salute. At nightfall the +camp-fires of foot travellers could be seen down at the water's edge. +And there was always danger enough to add zest to the journey. +Wherever there are hordes of hungry, adventurous men, there will be +desperadoes. In spite of Begbie's justice, robberies occurred on the +road and not a few murders. The time going in and out varied; but the +journey could be made in five days and was often made in four. +</P> + +<P> +The building of the Cariboo Road had an important influence on the camp +that its builders could not foresee. The unknown El +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> +Dorado is +always invested with a fabulous glamour that draws to ruin the reckless +and the unfit. Before the road was built adventurers had arrived in +Cariboo expecting to pick up pails of nuggets at the bottom of a +rainbow. Their disillusionment came; but there was an easy way back to +the world. They did not stay to breed crime and lawlessness in the +camp. 'The walking'—as Begbie expressed it—'was all down hill and +the road was good, especially for thugs.' While there were ten +thousand men in Cariboo in the winter of '62 and perhaps twenty +thousand in the winter of '63, there were less than five thousand in +'71. +</P> + +<P> +This does not mean that the camp had collapsed. It had simply changed +from a poor man's camp to a camp for a capitalist or a company. It +will be remembered that the miners first found the gold in flakes, then +farther up in nuggets, then that the nuggets had to be pursued to +pay-dirt beneath gravel and clay. This meant shafts, tunnels, +hydraulic machinery, stamp-mills. Later, when the pay-dirt showed +signs of merging into quartz, there passed away for ever the day of the +penniless prospector seeking the golden fleece of the hills as his +predecessor, the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +trapper, had sought the pelt of the little beaver. +</P> + +<P> +All unwittingly, the miner, as well as the trapper, was an instrument +in the hands of destiny, an instrument for shaping empire; for it was +the inrush of miners which gave birth to the colony of British +Columbia. Federation with the Canadian Dominion followed in 1871; the +railway and the settler came; and the man with the pick and his eyes on +the 'float' gave place to the man with the plough. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> + +<A NAME="biblio"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +The episode of Cariboo is so recent that the bibliography on it is not +very complete. <I>British Columbia</I>, by Judge Howay and E. O. S. +Scholefield, provincial librarian, is the last and most accurate word +on the history of that province, though one could wish that the authors +had given more human-document records in the biographical section. In +a very few years there will be no old-timers of the trail left; and, +after all, it is the human document that gives colour and life to +history. It was my privilege to know some of the Overlanders +intimately. One of the companies who rafted down the Fraser came from +the county where I was born; and though they preceded my day, their +terrible experiences were a household word. With others I have poled +the Fraser on those very tempestuous waters that took such toll of life +in '62. Others have been my hosts. I have gone up and down the Arrow +Lakes in a steamer as a guest of the man who came through the worst +experiences of the Overlanders. Chance conversations are shifty guides +on dates and place-names. For these, regarding the Overlanders, I have +relied on Mrs MacNaughton's <I>Cariboo</I>. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> + +<P> +Gosnell's <I>British Columbia Year Book</I> and Hubert Howe Bancroft's +<I>British Columbia</I> are very full on this era. Walter Moberly's +pamphlets on the building of the trail and Mr Alexander's casual +addresses are excellent. Old files of the Kamloops <I>Sentinel</I> and the +Victoria <I>Colonist</I> are full of scattered data. Anderson's <I>Hand Book +of 1858</I>, Begbie's Report to the London Geographical Society, 1861; +Begg's <I>British Columbia</I>; <I>Fraser's Journal</I>; Mayne's <I>British +Columbia</I>, 1862; Milton and Cheadle's <I>North West Passage</I>, 1865; +Palliser's <I>Report</I>, 1859; Waddington's <I>Fraser River Mines</I>—all +afford sidelights on this adventurous era. On the prospector's daily +life there is no book. That must be learned from him on the trail; and +on many camp trips in the Rockies, with prospectors for guides, I have +picked up such facts as I could. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> + +<A NAME="index"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INDEX +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alexander, Mr, his tragic experience on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P77">77-8</A>; quoted, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, +<A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anderson, James, the Scottish miner poet, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95-8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Antler Creek, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Barker, Billy, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Barkerville, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>; life in, <A HREF="#P94">94-8</A>; the Cariboo Road terminus, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, chief justice of British Columbia, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, +<A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; his popularity with the miners, <A HREF="#P91">91-4</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Big Canyon, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Black, John, Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' <A HREF="#P57">57</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +British Columbia, proclaimed a crown colony, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>; and the building of +</P> +<P CLASS="index"> +the Cariboo Road, <A HREF="#P100">100-1</A>; and the miners, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>. See Cariboo, Fraser +</P> +<P CLASS="index"> +river, Vancouver. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cameron, Cariboo, <A HREF="#P47">47-8</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cameron, Mrs, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cariboo, prospecting in, <A HREF="#P41">41-5</A>; the mad rush for, <A HREF="#P45">45-6</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51-2</A>, <A HREF="#P53">53-4</A>; the +mines a freakish gamble, <A HREF="#P47">47-8</A>; changes in, <A HREF="#P107">107-9</A>. See Barkerville and +Overlanders. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cariboo Road, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>; the building of the, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99-103</A>; its effect on the +mines, <A HREF="#P107">107-9</A>; stagecoach travel on, <A HREF="#P103">103-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cariboo Trail, perils of the, <A HREF="#P50">50-51</A>; evolution of, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>. See Cariboo +Road. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +China Bar, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cridge, Rev. Edward, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dallas, Alexander, governor of Rupert's Land, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Deitz, Billy, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Douglas, Sir James, governor of Vancouver Island, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; quells +disturbances on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P35">35-7</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37-8</A>; governor of British Columbia, +<A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; builds the Cariboo Road, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edmonton, the Overlanders at, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Finlayson, Roderick, chief trader at Victoria, <A HREF="#P1">1-3</A>, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort George, the Overlanders at, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Langley, British Columbia proclaimed at, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fraser, Colin, and the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P64">64-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fraser, Simon, explorer, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fraser Canyon <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fraser river, the quest for gold on, <A HREF="#P8">8-9</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11-22</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27-32</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51-2</A>; +disturbances among the Indians, <A HREF="#P33">33-5</A>; and the whites, <A HREF="#P37">37-40</A>; the +Overlanders on, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71-2</A>. See Gold-fields, Miners. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gold, prospecting for, <A HREF="#P17">17-18</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20-21</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27-8</A>; the lure of the 'float,' +</P> +<P CLASS="index"> +<A HREF="#P21">21-2</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23-5</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25-6</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; mining for, <A HREF="#P29">29-30</A>. See Gold-fields, Miners. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gold-fields, the price of commodities in, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16-17</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>; +'claim jumping,' <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; unused gold a curse, <A HREF="#P88">88-9</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; hurdy-gurdy girls, +<A HREF="#P89">89-90</A>, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hope, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Horse Fly Creek, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Howay, Judge, quoted, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hudson's Bay Company, and the quest for gold, <A HREF="#P1">1-4</A>; and Vancouver +Island, <A HREF="#P5">5-6</A>; and the diggings on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; and the Indians, +<A HREF="#P34">34-5</A>; and the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Indians of the Fraser, and the quest for gold, <A HREF="#P12">12-13</A>; their hostility, +<A HREF="#P33">33-6</A>; and the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>. See Shuswaps. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ireland, Mr, his rescue party, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kamloops, <A HREF="#P86">86-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Keithley, Doc, <A HREF="#P42">42-4</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Langley, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lightning Creek, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Long Bar, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +MacDonald, Sandy, <A HREF="#P42">42-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Gowan, Ned, his affair on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P37">37-40</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Kay, James, chief trader at Fort Ellice, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mackenzie, Alexander, explorer, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Maclean, chief factor at Kamloops, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Loughlin, John, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Micking, Thomas, captain of the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P58">58-9</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +MacNaughton, Mrs, quoted, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mayne, Lieutenant, and the Yale riots, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Miners, in the wilds, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>; disappointed gold-seekers, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>; some lucky +prospectors, <A HREF="#P22">22-5</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47-51</A>; the miner and his boy, <A HREF="#P26">26-7</A>; their +packhorses, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>; form vigilance committees, <A HREF="#P33">33-5</A>; their +rough-and-ready justice, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>; their chivalry, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; the effect of +sudden wealth on, <A HREF="#P94">94-6</A>; a device for concealing gold, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106-7</A>; an +instrument for shaping empire, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>. See Fraser river, Gold, +Gold-fields. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Moberly, Walter, his experiences on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Moody, Colonel, and the Yale riots, <A HREF="#P37">37-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Muskeg and slough, the difference between, <A HREF="#P65">65</A> n. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Overlanders, the, at St Paul, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>; their meeting with the Sioux +warriors, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>; on the Red River steamer, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55-6</A>; and the Hudson's Bay +Company, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61-3</A>; at Winnipeg, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>; on the trail to Edmonton, +<A HREF="#P57">57-61</A>; and the husky-dogs, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62-3</A>; reach Yellowhead Pass, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63-7</A>; +cross the Divide and reach the Fraser, <A HREF="#P68">68-72</A>; the party separate, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, +<A HREF="#P73">73</A>; on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P73">73-81</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83-4</A>; a question for psychologists, <A HREF="#P77">77-8</A>; a +gruesome story, <A HREF="#P78">78-9</A>; reach Quesnel, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; Kamloops, <A HREF="#P85">85-7</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Prospecting for gold on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P17">17-22</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25-6</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27-9</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30-32</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; some +lucky prospectors and their fate, <A HREF="#P47">47-51</A>; theory regarding gold +deposits, <A HREF="#P48">48-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Psychology, a question of, <A HREF="#P77">77-8</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Queen Charlotte Islands, discovery of gold in, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Quesnel, <A HREF="#P81">81-3</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Quesnel Lake, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Red River, the first steamer on, <A HREF="#P54">54-6</A>; Red River carts, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rose, John, <A HREF="#P42">42-4</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saskatchewan, the quest for gold on the, <A HREF="#P63">63-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shubert, Mrs, with the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shuswaps, the, and the Overlanders, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sioux, the, <A HREF="#P54">54-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Snyder, Captain, leads attack on the Indians, <A HREF="#P34">34-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Spuzzum, a fight with Indians at, <A HREF="#P34">34-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stout, Ed, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Taché, Mgr, bishop of St Boniface, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vancouver Island, the first Council and Legislative Assembly of, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> and +note. See Victoria. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Victoria, and the quest for gold, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6-7</A>; and the rush for the +Fraser, <A HREF="#P7">7-8</A>, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; and the matrimonial scheme, <A HREF="#P90">90-91</A>. See Vancouver +Island. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Weaver, George, <A HREF="#P42">42-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +William's Creek, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Winnipeg, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Work, John, chief factor at Victoria, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wright, Captain Tom, a Yankee skipper on the Fraser, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yale, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37-40</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yellowhead Pass, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty +at the Edinburgh University Press +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART I +<BR> +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART II +<BR> +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Bennett Munro.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Chapais.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART III +<BR> +THE ENGLISH INVASION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Arthur G. Doughty.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IV +<BR> +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART V +<BR> +THE RED MAN IN CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Ethel T. Raymond.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VI +<BR> +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Lawrence J. Burpee.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VII +<BR> +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Alfred D. DeCelles.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Lawson Grant.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Archibald MacMechan.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VIII +<BR> +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By A. H. U. Colquhoun.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Sir Joseph Pope.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IX +<BR> +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +31. ALL AFLOAT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cariboo Trail, by Agnes C. 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Laut + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cariboo Trail + A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia + +Author: Agnes C. Laut + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29885] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARIBOO TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island + + _Back Row_--J. W. M'Kay, J. D. Pemberton, J. Porter (Clerk) + _Front Row_--T. J. Skinner, J. S. Helmcken, M. D., James Yates + + After a Photograph] + + + + + +THE + +CARIBOO TRAIL + + A Chronicle of the Gold-fields + of British Columbia + + +BY + +AGNES C. LAUT + + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1916 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + +{v} + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + I. THE 'ARGONAUTS' . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. THE PROSPECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 + III. CARIBOO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 + IV. THE OVERLANDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 + V. CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS . . . . . . . . . 68 + VI. QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS . . . . . . . . . . 80 + VII. LIFE AT THE MINES . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 + VIII. THE CARIBOO ROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . 110 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + + + + +{vii} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF + VANCOUVER ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + After a photograph. + +THE CARIBOO COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 1 + Map by Bartholomew. + +SIR JAMES DOUGLAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 10 + From a portrait by Savannah. + +INDIANS NEAR NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . " " 12 + From a photograph by Maynard. + +IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 28 + From a photograph. + +A GROUP OF THOMPSON RIVER INDIANS . . . . . . . . . . . " " 36 + From a photograph by Maynard. + +SIR MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 38 + From a portrait by Savannah. + +A RED RIVER CART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 58 + From a photograph. + +WASHING GOLD ON THE SASKATCHEWAN . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 62 + From a photograph. + +{viii} + +IN THE YELLOWHEAD PASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 64 + From a photograph. + +UPPER M'LEOD RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 66 + From a photograph. + +THE CARIBOO ROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 100 + From a photograph. + +INDIAN GRAVES AT LYTTON, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 102 + From a photograph. + + + + +[Illustration: Map of the Cariboo Country] + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE 'ARGONAUTS' + +Early in 1849 the sleepy quiet of Victoria, Vancouver Island, was +disturbed by the arrival of straggling groups of ragged nondescript +wanderers, who were neither trappers nor settlers. They carried +blanket packs on their backs and leather bags belted securely round the +waist close to their pistols. They did not wear moccasins after the +fashion of trappers, but heavy, knee-high, hobnailed boots. In place +of guns over their shoulders, they had picks and hammers and such stout +sticks as mountaineers use in climbing. They did not forgather with +the Indians. They shunned the Indians and had little to say to any +one. They volunteered little information as to whence they had come or +whither they were going. They sought out Roderick Finlayson, chief +trader for the Hudson's Bay Company. They wanted provisions from the +company--yes--rice, flour, ham, salt, pepper, sugar, and tobacco; and +at the smithy they {2} demanded shovels, picks, iron ladles, and wire +screens. It was only when they came to pay that Finlayson felt sure of +what he had already guessed. They unstrapped those little leather bags +round under their cartridge belts and produced in tiny gold nuggets the +price of what they had bought. + +Finlayson did not know exactly what to do. The fur-trader hated the +miner. The miner, wherever he went, sounded the knell of fur-trading; +and the trapper did not like to have his game preserve overrun by +fellows who scared off all animals from traps, set fire going to clear +away underbrush, and owned responsibility to no authority. No doubt +these men were 'argonauts' drifted up from the gold diggings of +California; no doubt they were searching for new mines; but who had +ever heard of gold in Vancouver Island, or in New Caledonia, as the +mainland was named? If there had been gold, would not the company have +found it? Finlayson probably thought the easiest way to get rid of the +unwelcome visitors was to let them go on into the dangers of the wilds +and then spread the news of the disappointment bound to be theirs. + +He handled their nuggets doubtfully. Who knew for a certainty that it +was gold anyhow? {3} They bade him lay it on the smith's anvil and +strike it with a hammer. Finlayson, smiling sceptically, did as he was +told. The nuggets flattened to a yellow leaf as fine and flexible as +silk. Finlayson took the nuggets at eleven dollars an ounce and sent +the gold down to San Francisco, very doubtful what the real value would +prove. It proved sixteen dollars to the ounce. + +For seven or eight years afterwards rumours kept floating in to the +company's forts of finds of gold. Many of the company's servants +drifted away to California in the wake of the 'Forty-Niners,' and the +company found it hard to keep its trappers from deserting all up and +down the Pacific Coast. The quest for gold had become a sort of +yellow-fever madness. Men flung certainty to the winds and trekked +recklessly to California, to Oregon, to the hinterland of the country +round Colville and Okanagan. Yet nothing occurred to cause any +excitement in Victoria. There was a short-lived flurry over the +discovery in Queen Charlotte Islands of a nugget valued at six hundred +dollars and a vein of gold-bearing quartz. But the nugget was an +isolated freak; the quartz could not be worked at a profit; and the +movement suddenly died out. {4} There were, however, signs of what was +to follow. The chief trader at the little fur-post of Yale reported +that when he rinsed sand round in his camp frying-pan, fine flakes and +scales of yellow could be seen at the bottom.[1] But gold in such +minute particles would not satisfy the men who were hunting nuggets. +It required treatment by quicksilver. Though Maclean, the chief factor +at Kamloops, kept all the specks and flakes brought to his post as +samples from 1852 to 1856, he had less than would fill a half-pint +bottle. If a half-pint is counted as a half-pound and the gold at the +company's price of eleven dollars an ounce, it will be seen why four +years of such discoveries did not set Victoria on fire. + +It has been so with every discovery of gold in the history of the +world. The silent, shaggy, ragged first scouts of the gold stampede +wander houseless for years from hill to hill, from gully to gully, up +rivers, up stream beds, up dry watercourses, seeking the source of +those yellow specks seen far down the mountains near the sea. +Precipice, rapids, avalanche, winter storm, take their toll of dead. +Corpses are washed down in the spring floods; or the {5} thaw reveals a +prospector's shack smashed by a snowslide under which lie two dead +'pardners.' Then, by and by, when everybody has forgotten about it, a +shaggy man comes out of the wilds with a leather bag; the bag goes to +the mint; and the world goes mad. + +Victoria went to sleep again. When men drifted in to trade dust and +nuggets for picks and flour, the fur-traders smiled, and rightly +surmised that the California diggings were playing out. + +Though Vancouver Island was nominally a crown colony, it was still, +with New Caledonia, practically a fief of the Hudson's Bay Company. +James Douglas was governor. He was assisted in the administration by a +council of three, nominated by himself--John Tod, James Cooper, and +Roderick Finlayson. In 1856 a colonial legislature was elected and met +at Victoria in August for the first time.[2] But, {6} in fact, the +company owned the colony, and its will was supreme in the government. +John Work was the company's chief factor at Victoria and Finlayson was +chief trader. + +Because California and Oregon had gone American, some small British +warships lay at Esquimalt harbour. The little fort had expanded beyond +the stockade. The governor's house was to the east of the stockade. A +new church had been built, and the Rev. Edward Cridge, afterwards known +as Bishop Cridge, was the rector. Two schools had been built. Inside +the fort were perhaps forty-five employees. Inside and outside lived +some eight hundred people. But grass grew in the roads. There was no +noise but the church bell or the fort bell, or the flapping of a sail +while a ship came to anchor. Three hundred acres about the fort were +worked by the company as a farm, which gave employment to about two +dozen workmen, and on which were perhaps a hundred cattle and a score +of brood mares. The company also had a saw-mill. Buildings of huge, +squared timbers flanked three sides of the inner stockades--the +dining-hall, the cook-house, the bunk-house, the store, the trader's +house. There were two bastions, and from each cannon pointed. Close +to the {7} wicket at the main entrance stood the postoffice. Only a +fringe of settlement went beyond the company's farm. The fort was +sound asleep, secure in an eternal certainty that the domain which it +guarded would never be overrun by American settlers as California and +Oregon had been. The little Admiralty cruisers which lay at Esquimalt +were guarantee that New Caledonia should never be stampeded into a +republic by an inrush of aliens. Then, as now, it was Victoria's boast +that it was more English than England. + +So passed Christmas of '57 with plum-pudding and a roasted ox and +toasts to the crown and the company, though we cannot be quite sure +that the company was not put before the crown in the souls of the +fur-traders. + +Then, in March 1858, just when Victoria felt most secure as the capital +of a perpetual fur realm, something happened. A few Yankee prospectors +had gone down on the Hudson's Bay steamer _Otter_ to San Francisco in +February with gold dust and nuggets from New Caledonia to exchange for +money at the mint. The Hudson's Bay men had thought nothing of this. +Other treasure-seekers had come to New Caledonia before and had gone +back to San Francisco disappointed. But, in March, these {8} men +returned to Victoria. And with them came a mad rabble of gold-crazy +prospectors. A city of tents sprang up overnight round Victoria. The +smithy was besieged for picks, for shovels, for iron ladles. Men stood +in long lines for their turn at the trading-store. By canoe, by +dugout, by pack-horse, and on foot, they planned to ascend the Fraser, +and they mobbed the company for passage to Langley by the first steamer +out from Victoria. Goods were paid for in cash. Before Finlayson +could believe his own eyes, he had two million dollars in his safe, +some of it for purchases, some of it on deposit for safe keeping. +Though the company gave no guarantee to the depositors and simply +sealed each man's leather pouch as it was placed in the safe, no +complaint was ever made against it of dishonesty or unfair treatment. + +Without waiting instructions from England and with poignant memory of +Oregon, Governor Douglas at once clapped on a licence of twenty-one +shillings a month for mining privileges under the British crown. Thus +he obtained a rough registration of the men going to the up-country; +but thousands passed Victoria altogether and went in by pack-train from +Okanagan or rafted across from Puget Sound. {9} The month of March had +not ended when the first band of gold hunters arrived and settled down +a mile and a half below Yale. Another boat-load of eight hundred and +fifty came in April. In four months sixty-seven vessels, carrying from +a hundred to a thousand men each, had come up from San Francisco to +Victoria. Crews deserted their ships, clerks deserted the company, +trappers turned miners and took to the gold-bars. Before Victoria +awoke to what it was all about, twenty thousand people were camped +under tents outside the stockade, and the air was full of the wildest +rumours of fabulous gold finds. + +The snowfall had been heavy in '58. In the spring the Fraser rolled to +the sea a swollen flood. Against the turbid current worked tipsy rafts +towed by wheezy steamers or leaky old sailing craft, and rickety +row-boats raced cockle-shell canoes for the gold-bars above. Ashore, +the banks of the river were lined with foot passengers toiling under +heavy packs, wagons to which clung human forms on every foot of space, +and long rows of pack-horses bogged in the flood of the overflowing +river. By September ten thousand men were rocking and washing for gold +round Yale. + +As in the late Kootenay and in the still later {10} Klondike stampede, +American cities at the coast benefited most. Victoria was a ten-hour +trip from the mainland. Whatcom and Townsend, on the American side, +advertised the advantages of the Washington route to the Fraser river +gold-mines. A mushroom boom in town lots had sprung up at these points +before Victoria was well awake. By the time speculators reached +Victoria the best lots in that place had already been bought by the +company's men; and some of the substantial fortunes of Victoria date +from this period. Though the river was so high that the richest bars +could not be worked till late in August, five hundred thousand dollars +in gold was taken from the bed of the Fraser during the first six +months of '58. This amount, divided among the ten thousand men who +were on the bars around Yale, would not average as much as they could +have earned as junior clerks with the fur company, or as peanut pedlars +in San Francisco; but not so does the mind of the miner work. Here was +gold to be scooped up for nothing by the first comer; and more vessels +ploughed their way up the Fraser, though Governor Douglas sought to +catch those who came by Puget Sound and evaded licence by charging six +dollars toll each for all {11} canoes on the Fraser and twelve dollars +for each vessel with decks. Later these tolls were disallowed by the +home authorities. The prompt action of Douglas, however, had the +effect of keeping the mining movement in hand. Though the miners were +of the same class as the 'argonauts' of California, they never broke +into the lawlessness that compelled vigilance committees in San +Francisco. + +[Illustration: Sir James Douglas. From a portrait by Savannah] + +Judge Howay gives the letter of a treasure-seeker who reached the +Fraser in April, the substance of which is as follows: + + +We're now located thirty miles above the junction of the Fraser and the +Thompson on Fraser River... About a fourth of the canoes that attempt +to come up are lost in the rapids which extend from Fort Yale nearly to +the Forks. A few days ago six men were drowned by their canoe +upsetting. There is more danger going down than coming up. There can +be no doubt about this country being immensely rich in gold. Almost +every bar on the river from Yale up will pay from three dollars to +seven dollars a day to the man at the present stage of water. When the +river gets low, which will be about August, the bars will pay very +well. One hundred and ninety-six dollars was taken out by one man last +winter in a few hours, but the water was then at its lowest stage. The +gold on the bars is all very fine and hard to save in a rocker, but +with quicksilver properly {12} managed, good wages can be made almost +anywhere on the river as long as the bars are actually covered with +water. We have not yet been able to find a place where we can work +anything but rockers. If we could get a sluice to work, we could make +from twelve dollars to sixteen dollars a day each. We only commenced +work yesterday and we are satisfied that when we get fully under way we +can make from five dollars to seven dollars a day each. The prospect +is better as we go up the river on the bars. The gold is not any +coarser, but there is more of it. There are also in that region +diggings of coarser gold on small streams that empty into the main +river. A few men have been there and proved the existence of rich +diggings by bringing specimens back with them. The Indians all along +the river have gold in their possession that they say they dug +themselves, but they will not tell where they get it, nor allow small +parties to go up after it. I have seen pieces in their possession +weighing two pounds. The Indians above are disposed to be troublesome +and went into a camp twenty miles above us and forcibly took provisions +and arms from a party of four men and cut two severely with their +knives. They came to our camp the same day and insisted that we should +trade with them or leave the country. We design to remain here until +we can get a hundred men together, when we will move up above the falls +and do just what we please without regard to the Indians. We are at +present the highest up of any white men on the river, and we must go +higher to be satisfied. {13} I don't apprehend any danger from the +Indians at present, but there will be hell to pay after a while. There +is a pack-trail from Hope, but it cannot be travelled till the snow is +off the mountains. + +The prices of provisions are as follows: flour thirty-five dollars per +hundred-weight, pork a dollar a pound, beans fifty cents a pound, and +other things in proportion. Every party that starts from the Sound +should have their own supplies to last them three or four months, and +they should bring the largest size chinook canoes, as small ones are +very liable to swamp in the rapids. Each canoe should be provided with +thirty fathoms of strong line for towing over swift water, and every +man well armed. The Indians here can beat anything alive stealing. +They will soon be able to steal a man's food after he has eaten it. + +[Illustration: Indians near New Westminster, B.C. From a photograph by +Maynard.] + + +Within two miles of Yale eighty Indians and thirty white men were +working the gold-bars; and log boarding-houses and saloons sprang up +along the river-bank as if by magic. Naturally, the last comers of '58 +were too late to get a place on the gold-bars, and they went back to +the coast in disgust, calling the gold stampede 'the Fraser River +humbug.' Nevertheless, men were washing, sluicing, rocking, and +digging gold as far as Lillooet. Often the day's yield ran as high as +eight hundred dollars a man; and the higher up the treasure-seekers +{14} pushed their way, the coarser grew the gold flakes and grains. +Would the golden lure lead finally to the mother lode of all the yellow +washings? That is the hope that draws the prospector from river to +stream, from stream to dry gully bed, from dry gully to precipice edge, +and often over the edge to death or fortune. + +Exactly fifty-six years from the first rush of '58 in the month of +April, I sat on the banks of the Fraser at Yale and punted across the +rapids in a flat-bottomed boat and swirled in and out among the eddies +of the famous bars. A Siwash family lived there by fishing with clumsy +wicker baskets. Higher up could be seen some Chinamen, but whether +they were fishing or washing we could not tell. Two transcontinental +railroads skirted the canyon, one on each side, and the tents of a +thousand construction workers stood where once were the camps of the +gold-seekers banded together for protection. When we came back across +the river an old, old man met us and sat talking to us on the bank. He +had come to the Fraser in that first rush of '58. He had been one of +the leaders against the murderous bands of Indians. Then, he had +pushed on up the river to Cariboo, travelling, as he told us, by {15} +the Indian trails over 'Jacob's ladders'--wicker and pole swings to +serve as bridges across chasms--wherever the 'float' or sign of mineral +might lead him. Both on the Fraser and in Cariboo he had found his +share of luck and ill luck; and he plainly regretted the passing of +that golden age of danger and adventure. 'But,' he said, pointing his +trembling old hands at the two railways, 'if we prospectors hadn't +blazed the trail of the canyon, you wouldn't have your railroads here +to-day. They only followed the trail we first cut and then built. We +followed the "float" up and they followed us.' + +What the trapper was to the fur trade, the prospector was to the mining +era that ushered civilization into the wilds with a blare of +dance-halls and wine and wassail and greed. Ragged, poor, roofless, +grubstaked by 'pardner' or outfitter on a basis of half profit, the +prospector stands as the eternal type of the trail-maker for finance. + + + +[1] The same, of course, may be done to-day, with a like result, at +many places along the Fraser and even on the Saskatchewan. + +[2] This was the first Legislative Assembly to meet west of Upper +Canada in what is now the Canadian Dominion. It consisted of seven +members, as follows: J. D. Pemberton, James Yates, E. E. Langford, J. +S. Helmcken, Thomas J. Skinner, John Muir, and J. F. Kennedy. +Langford, however, retired almost immediately after the election and J. +W. M'Kay was elected in his stead. The portraits of five of the +members are preserved in the group which appears as the frontispiece to +this volume. The photograph was probably taken at a later period; at +any rate, two of the members, Muir and Kennedy, are missing. + + + + +{16} + +CHAPTER II + +THE PROSPECTOR + +By September, when mountain rivers are at their lowest, every bar on +the Fraser from Yale to the forks of the Thompson was occupied. The +Hudson's Bay steamer _Otter_ made regular trips up the Fraser to Fort +Langley; and from the fort an American steamer called the _Enterprise_, +owned by Captain Tom Wright, breasted the waters as far as the swift +current at Yale. At Yale was a city of tents and hungry men. Walter +Moberly tells how, when he ascended the Fraser with Wright in the +autumn of '58, the generous Yankee captain was mobbed by penniless and +destitute men for return passage to the coast. Many a broken +treasure-seeker owed his life to Tom Wright's free passage. +Fortunately, there was always good fishing on the Fraser; but salt was +a dollar twenty-five a pound, butter a dollar twenty-five a pound, and +flour rarer than nuggets. So hard up were some of the {17} miners for +pans to wash their gold, that one desperate fellow went to a log shack +called a grocery store, and after paying a dollar for the privilege of +using a grindstone, bought an empty butter vat at the pound price of +butter--twelve dollars for an empty butter tub! Half a dollar was the +smallest coin used, and clothing was so scarce that when a Chinaman's +pig chewed up Walter Moberly's boots while the surveyor lay asleep in +his shack, Mr Moberly had to foot it twenty-five miles before he could +find another pair of boots. Saloons occupied every second shack at +Yale and Hope; revolvers were in all belts and each man was his own +sheriff; yet there was little lawlessness. + +With claims filed on all gold-bearing bars, what were the ten thousand +men to do camped for fifty miles beyond Yale? Those who had no +provisions and could not induce any storekeeper to grubstake them for a +winter's prospecting, quit the country in disgust; and the price of +land dropped in the boom towns of the Fraser as swiftly as it had been +ballooned up. Prospecting during the winter in a country of heavy +snowfall did not seem a sane project. And yet the eternal question +urged the miners on: from what mother lode are {18} these flakes and +nuggets washed down to the sand-bars of the Fraser? Gold had also been +found in cracks in the rock along the river. Whence had it come? The +man farthest upstream in spring would be on the ground first for the +great find that was bound to make some seeker's fortune. So all stayed +who could. Fortunately, the winter of '58-'59 was mild, the autumn +late, the snowfall light, and the spring very early. Fate, as usual, +favoured the dauntless. + +In parties of twos and tens and twenties, and even as many as five +hundred, the miners began moving up the river prospecting. Those with +horses had literally to cut the way with their axes over windfall, over +steep banks, and round precipitous cliffs. Where rivers had to be +crossed, the men built rude rafts and poled themselves over, with their +pack-horses swimming behind. Those who had oxen killed the oxen and +sold the beef. Others breasted the mill-race of the Fraser in canoes +and dugouts. Governor Douglas estimated that before April of '59 as +many as three hundred boats with five men in each had ascended the +Fraser. Sometimes the amazing spectacle was seen of canoes lashed +together in the fashion of pontoon bridges, with wagons full of +provisions {19} braced across the canoes. These travellers naturally +did not attempt Fraser Canyon. + +Before Christmas of '59 prospectors had spread into Lillooet and up the +river as high as Chilcotin, Soda Creek, Alexandria, Cottonwood Canyon, +Quesnel, and Fort George. It was safer to ascend such wild streams +than to run with the current, though countless canoes and their +occupants were never heard of after leaving Yale. Where the turbid +yellow flood began to rise and 'collect'--a boatman's phrase--the men +would scramble ashore, and, by means of a long tump-line tied--not to +the prow, which would send her sidling--to the middle of the first +thwart, would tow their craft slowly up-stream. I have passed up and +down Fraser Canyon too often to count the times, and have canoed one +wild rapid twice, but never without wondering how those first +gold-seekers managed the ascent in that winter of '59. + +There was no Cariboo Road then. There was only the narrow footpath of +the trapper and the fisherman close down to the water; and when the +rocks broke off in sheer precipice, an unsteady bridge of poles and +willows spanned the abyss. A 'Jacob's ladder' a hundred feet above a +roaring whirlpool without {20} handhold on either side was one thing +for the Indian moccasin and quite another thing for the miner's +hobnailed boot. The men used to strip at these places and attempt the +rock walls barefoot; or else they cached their canoe in a tree, or hid +it under moss, lashed what provisions they could to a dog's back, and, +with a pack strapped to their own back, proceeded along the bank on +foot. The trapper carries his pack with a strap round his forehead. +The miner ropes his round under his shoulders. He wants hands and neck +free for climbing. Usually the prospectors would appoint a rendezvous. +There, provisions would be slung in the trees above the reach of +marauding beasts, and the party would disperse at daybreak, each to +search in a different direction, blazing trees as he went ahead so that +he could find the way back at night to the camp. Distress or a find +was to be signalled by a gunshot or by heliograph of sunlight on a +pocket mirror; but many a man strayed beyond rescue of signal and never +returned to his waiting 'pardners.' Some were caught in snowslides, +only to be dug out years later. + +Many signs guided the experienced prospector. Streams clear as crystal +came, he knew, from upper snows. Those swollen at midday {21} came +from near-by snowfields. Streams milky or blue or peacock green came +from glaciers--ice grinding over rock. + +Heavy mists often added to the dangers. I stood at the level of eight +thousand feet in this region once with one of the oldest prospectors of +the canyon. He had been a great hunter in his day. A cloud came +through a defile of the peaks heavy as a blanket. Though we were on a +well-cut bridle-trail, he bade us pause, as one side of the trail had a +sheer drop of four thousand feet in places. 'Before there were any +trails, how did you make your way here to hunt the mountain goat when +this kind of fog caught you?' I asked. + +'Threw chips of stone ahead and listened,' he answered, 'and let me +tell you that only the greenest kind of tenderfoot ever takes risks on +a precipice.' + +And nine men out of ten were such green tenderfoots that winter of +'58-'59, when five thousand prospectors overran the wild canyons and +precipices of the Fraser. Two or three things the prospector always +carried with him--matches, a knife, a gun, rice, flour, bacon, and a +little mallet-shaped hammer to test the 'float.' What was the 'float'? +A sandy chunk of gravel perhaps flaked with {22} yellow specks the size +of a pin-head. He wanted to know where that chunk rolled down from. +He knocked it open with his mallet. If it had a shiny yellow pebble +inside only the size of a pea, the miner would stay on that bank and +begin bench diggings into the dry bank. By the spring of '59 dry bench +diggings had extended back fifty miles from the river. If the chunk +revealed only tiny yellow specks, perhaps mixed with white quartz, the +miner would try to find where it rolled from and would ascend the +gully, or mountain torrent, or precipice. Queer stories are told of +how during that winter almost bankrupt grocers grubstaked prospectors +with bacon and flour and received a half-interest in a mine that +yielded five or six hundred dollars a day in nuggets. + +But for one who found a mine a thousand found nothing. The sensations +of the lucky one beggared description. 'Was it luck or was it +perseverance?' I asked the man who found one of the richest +silver-mines in the Big Bend of the Columbia. 'Both and mostly +dogged,' he answered. 'Take our party as a type of prospectors from +'59 to '89, the thirty years when the most of the mining country was +exploited. We had come up, eleven {23} green kids and one old man, +from Washington. We had roughed it in East and West Kootenay and were +working south to leave the country dead broke. We had found "float" in +plenty, and had followed it up ridges and over divides across three +ranges of mountains. Our horses were plumb played out. We had camped +on a ridge to let them fatten up enough to beat it out of British +Columbia for ever. Well, we found some galena "floats" in a dry gully +on the other side of the valley. We had provisions left for only +eleven days. Some of the boys said they would go out and shoot enough +deer to last us for meat till we could get out of the country. Old +Sandy and I thought we would try our luck for just one day. We +followed that "float" clear across the valley. We found more up the +bed of a raging mountain torrent; but the trouble was that the stream +came over a rock sheer as the wall of a house. I was afraid we'd lose +the direction if we left the stream bed, but I could see high up the +precipice where it widened out in a bench. You couldn't reach it from +below, but you could from above, so we blazed the trees below to keep +our direction and started up round the hog's back to drop to the bank +under. By now it was nightfall, and we hadn't had {24} anything to eat +since six that morning. Old Sandy wanted to go back, but I wouldn't +let him. He was trembling like an aspen leaf. It is so often just the +one pace more that wins or loses the race. We laboured up that slope +and reached the bench just at dark. We were so tired we had hauled +ourselves up by trees, brushwood branches, anything. I looked over the +edge of the rock. It dropped to that shelf we had seen from the gully +below. It was too dark to do anything more; we knew the fellows back +at the camp on the ridge would be alarmed, but we were too far to +signal.' + +'How far?' I asked. + +'About twenty-two miles. We threw ourselves down to sleep. It was +terribly cold. We were high up and the fall frosts were icy, I tell +you! I woke aching at daybreak. Old Sandy was still sleeping. I +thought I would let myself down over the ledge and see what was below, +for there were no mineral signs where we were. I crawled over the +ledge, and by sticking my fingers and toes in the rocks got down to +about fifteen feet from the drop to a soft grassy level. I looked, +hung for a moment, let go, and "lit" on all fours. Then I looked up! +The sun had just come over that east ridge and hit the rocks. I can't +talk {25} about it yet! I went mad! I laughed! I cried! I howled! +There wasn't an ache left in my bones. I forgot that my knees knocked +from weakness and that we had not had a bite for twenty-four hours. I +yelled at Old Sandy to wake the dead. He came crawling over the ledge +and peeked down. "What's the matter?" says he. "Matter," I yelled. +"Wake up, you old son of a gun; we are millionaires!" There, sticking +right out of the rock, was the ledge where "float" had been breaking +and washing for hundreds of years; so you see, only eleven days from +the time we were going to give up, we made our find. That mine paid +from the first load of ore sent out by pack-horses.' + +Other mines were found in a less spectacular way. The 'float' lost +itself in a rounded knoll in the lap of a dozen peaks; and the miners +had to decide which of the benches to tunnel. They might have to bring +the stream from miles distant to sluice out the gravel; and the largest +nuggets might not be found till hundreds of feet had been washed out; +but always the 'float,' the pebbles, the specks that shone in the sun, +lured them with promise. Even for those who found no mine the search +was not without reward. There was {26} the care-free outdoor life. +There was the lure of hope edging every sunrise. There was the +fresh-washed ozone fragrant with the resinous exudations of the great +trees of the forest. There was the healing regeneration to body and +soul. Amid the dance-halls and saloons the miner with money becomes a +sot. Out in the wilds he becomes a child of nature, simple and clean +and elemental as the trees around him or the stars above him. + +I think of one prospector whose range was at the headwaters of the +Athabaska. In the dance-halls he had married a cheap variety actress. +When the money of his first find had been dissipated she refused to +live with him, and tried to extort high alimony by claiming their +two-year-old son. The penniless prospector knew that he was no equal +for law courts and sheriffs and lawyers; so he made him a raft, got a +local trader to outfit him, and plunged with his baby boy into the +wilderness, where no sheriff could track him. I asked him why he did +not use pack-horses. He said dogs could have tracked them, but 'the +water didn't leave no smell.' In the heart of the wilderness west of +Mounts Brown and Hooker he built him a log cabin with a fireplace. In +that cabin he daily hobbled his little son, so {27} that the child +could not fall in the fire. He set his traps round the mountains and +hunted till the snow cleared. By the time he could go prospecting in +spring he had seven hundred dollars' worth of furs to sell; and he kept +the child with him in the wilds till his wife danced herself across the +boundary. Then he brought the boy down and sent him to school. When +the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the Rockies, that man became one +of the famous guides. He was the first guide I ever employed in the +mountains. + +Up-stream, then, headed the prospectors on the Fraser in that autumn of +'58. The miner's train of pack-horses is a study in nature. There is +always the wise old bell-mare leading the way. There is always the +lazy packer that has to be nipped by the horse behind him. There are +always the shanky colts who bolt to stampede where the trail widens; +but even shanky-legged colts learn to keep in line in the wilds. At +every steep ascent the pack-train halts, girths are tightened, and sly +old horses blow out their sides to deceive the driver. At first colts +try to rub packs off on every passing tree, but a few tumbles heels +over head down a bank cure them of that trick. + +Always the course in new territory is {28} according to the slope of +the ground. River-bank is followed where possible; but where windfall +or precipice drives back from the bed of the river over the mountain +spurs, the pathfinder takes his bearings from countless signs. Moss is +on the north side of tree-trunks. A steep slope compels a zigzag, +corkscrew ascent, but the slope of the ground guides the climber as to +the way to go; for slope means valley; and in valleys are streams; and +in the stream is the 'float,' which is to the prospector the one +shining signal to be followed. Timber-line is passed till the forests +below look like dank banks of moss. Cloud-line is passed till the +clouds lie underneath in grey lakes and pools. A 'fool hen' or +mountain grouse comes out and bobbles her head at the passing +packtrain. A whistling marmot pops up from the rocks and pierces the +stillness. Redwings and waxbills pick crumbs from every camp meal; and +occasionally a bald-headed eagle utters a lonely raucous cry from +solitary perch of dead branch or high rock. + +[Illustration: In the Rocky Mountains. From a photograph.] + +Naturally enough, the pack-train unconsciously follows the game-trail +of deer and goat and cougar and bear across the slope to the +watering-places where springs gush out from the rocks. One has only to +look close enough {29} to see the little cleft footprint of the deer +round these springs. To the miners, penetrating the wilds north of the +Fraser, the caribou proved a godsend during that lean first winter. +The miners spelled it 'cariboo,' and thus gave the great gold area its +name. + +The population of Yale that winter consisted of some eight hundred +people, housed in tents and log shacks roofed with canvas. Between +Yale and Hope remained two thousand miners during the winter. Meals +cost a dollar, served on tin plates to diners standing in long rows +waiting turn at the counter. The regular menu at all meals was bacon, +salmon, bread, and coffee. Of butter there was little; of milk, none. +Wherever a sand-bar gave signs of mineral, it was tested with the +primitive frying-pan. If the pan showed a deposit, the miner rigged up +a rocker--a contraption resembling a cradle with rockers below, about +four feet from end to end, two feet across, and two deep. The sides +converged to bottom. At the head was a perforated sheet-iron bottom +like a housewife's colander. Into this box the gravel was shovelled by +one miner. The man's 'pardner' poured in water and rocked the +cradle--cradled the sand. The water ran through the perforated bottom +to a second {30} floor of quicksilver or copperplate or woolly blanket +which caught the gold. On a larger scale, when streams were directed +through wooden boxes, the gold was sluiced; on a still larger scale, +the process was hydraulic mining, though the same in principle. In +fact, in huge free milling works, where hydraulic machinery crushes the +gold-bearing quartz and screens it to fineness before catching the gold +on delicate sieves, the process is only a complex refinement of the +bar-washer cradling his gold. + +Fires had not yet cleared the giant hemlock forests, as they have +to-day along the Cariboo Trail, and prospectors found their way through +a chartless sea of windfall--hemlocks criss-crossed the height of a +house with branches interlaced like wire. Cataracts fell over lofty +ledges in wind-blown spray. Spanish moss, grey-green and feathery, +hung from branch to branch of the huge Douglas firs. Sometimes the +trail would lead for miles round the edge of some precipices beyond +which could be glimpsed the eternal snows. Sometimes an avalanche slid +over a slope with the distant appearance of a great white waterfall and +the echo of muffled thunder. Where the mountain was swept as by a +mighty besom, the pack-train kept an anxious eye on the snow {31} amid +the valleys of the upper peaks; for, in an instant, the snowslide might +come over the edge of the upper valley to sweep down the slope, +carrying away forests, rocks, trail, pack-train and all. The story is +told of one slide seen by the guide at the head of a long pack-train. +He had judged it to be ten miles away; but out from the upper valley it +came coiling like a long white snake, and before he could turn, it had +caught him. In a slide death was almost certain, from suffocation if +not from the crush of falling trees and rocks. Miners have been taken +from their cabins dead in the trail of a snowslide that swept the shack +to the bottom of the valley without so much as a hair of their heads +being injured. Though the logs were twisted and warped, the dead +bodies were not even bruised. + +When a hushed whisper came through the trees, travellers looked for +some waterfall. At midday, when the thaw was at its full, all the +mountain torrents became vocal with the glee of disimprisoned life +running a race of gladness to the sea. The sun sets early in the +mountains with a gradual hushing of the voice of glad waters and a red +glow as of wine on the encircling peaks. Camp for the night was always +near water for the horses; and every {32} star was etched in replica in +river or lake. Sunrise steals in silence among the mountain peaks. +There is none of that stir of song and vague rustling of animal life +such as are heard at lower levels. Nor does the light gradually rise +above the eastern horizon. The walled peaks cut off the skyline in +mid-heaven. The stars pale. Trees and crags are mirrored in the lake +so clearly that one can barely tell which is real and which is +reflection. Then the water-lines shorten and the rocks emerge from the +belts and wisps of mist; and all the sunset colours of the night before +repeat themselves across the changing scene. As you look, the clouds +lift. The cook shouts 'breakfast!' And it is another day. + +Such was the trail and the life of the prospector who beat his way by +pack-train and canoe up the canyons of the Fraser to learn whence came +the wash of gold flake and nugget which he found in the sand-bars below. + + + + +{33} + +CHAPTER III + +CARIBOO + +Indian unrest was probably first among the causes which led the miners +to organize themselves into leagues for protection. The Indians of the +Fraser were no more friendly to newcomers now than they had been in the +days of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser.[1] They now professed +great alarm for their fishing-grounds. Men on the gold-bars were +jostled and hustled, and pegs marking limits were pulled up. A danger +lay in the rows of saloons along the water-front--the well-known danger +of liquor to the Indian. So the miners at Yale formed a vigilance +committee and established self-made laws. The saloons should be +abolished, they decreed. Sale of liquor to any person whomsoever was +forbidden. All liquor, wherever found, was ordered spilled. Any one +selling liquor to an Indian should be seized and whipped thirty-nine +lashes on the {34} bare back. A standing committee of twelve was +appointed to enforce the law till the regular government should be +organized. + +It was July '58 when the miners on the river-bars formed their +committee. And they formed it none too soon, for the Indians were on +the war-path in Washington and the unrest had spread to New Caledonia. +Young M'Loughlin, son of the famous John M'Loughlin of Oregon, coming +up the Columbia overland from Okanagan to Kamloops with a hundred and +sixty men, four hundred pack-horses and a drove of oxen, had three men +sniped off by Indians in ambush and many cattle stolen. At Big Canyon +on the Fraser two Frenchmen were found murdered. When word came of +this murder the vigilance committee of Yale formed a rifle company of +forty, which in August started up to the forks at Lytton. At Spuzzum +there was a fight. Indians barred the way; but they were routed and +seven of them killed in a running fire, and Indian villages along the +river were burned. Meanwhile a hundred and sixty volunteers at Yale +formed a company to go up the river under Captain Snyder. The +company's trader at Yale was reluctant to supply arms, for the +company's policy had ever been to conciliate the Indians. {35} But, +when a rabble of two thousand angry miners gathered round the store, +the rifles were handed over on condition that forty of the worst +fire-eaters in the band should remain behind. Snyder then led his men +up the river and joined the first company at Spuzzum. At China Bar +five miners were found hiding in a hole in the bank. With a number of +companions they had been driven down-stream from the Thompson by +Indians and had been sniped all the way for forty miles. Man after man +had fallen, and the five survivors in the bank were all wounded. + +When the Indians saw the company of armed men under Snyder, they fled +to the hills. Flags of truce were displayed on both sides and a peace +was patched up till Governor Douglas could come up from the coast. +Not, however, before there occurred an unfortunate incident. At Long +Bar, when an Indian chief came with a flag of truce, two of the white +men snatched it from him and trampled it in the mud. On the instant +the Indians shot both the white men where they stood. + +Douglas had been up as far as Yale in June, but was now back in +Victoria, where couriers brought him word of the open fight in August. +He promptly organized a force of Royal {36} Engineers and marines and +set out for the scene of the disorders. Royal Engineers to the number +of a hundred and fifty-six and their families had come out from England +for the boundary survey; and their presence must have seemed +providential to Douglas, now that the miners were forming vigilance +committees of their own and the Indians were on the war-path. He went +up the river in a small cruiser and reached Hope on the 1st of +September. Salutes were fired as he landed. Douglas knew how to use +all the pomp of regimentals and formality to impress the Indians. He +opened a solemn powwow with the chiefs of the Fraser. As usual, the +white man's fire-water was found to be the chief cause of the trouble. +Without waiting for legislative authority, Douglas issued a royal +proclamation against the sale of liquor and left a mining recorder to +register claims. He also appointed a justice of the peace. Then he +went on to Yale. At Yale he considered the price of provisions too +high, and by arbitrarily reducing the price at the company's stores, he +broke the ring of the petty dealers. This won him the friendship of +the miners. Within a week he had allayed all irritation between white +man and Indian. In a quarrel over a claim a {37} white man had been +murdered on one of the bars. Douglas appointed magistrates to try the +case. The trial was of course illegal, for colonial government had not +been formally inaugurated in New Caledonia or British Columbia, as it +was soon to be known, and Douglas's authority as governor did not +extend beyond Vancouver Island. But so, for that matter, were illegal +all his actions on this journey; yet by an odd inconsistency of fact +against law, they restored peace and order on the river. + +[Illustration: A group of Thompson River Indians. From a photograph by +Maynard.] + +It was not long, however, before the formal organization of the new +colony took place. Hardly had Douglas returned to Victoria when ships +from England arrived bringing his commission as governor of British +Columbia. Arrived, also, Matthew Baillie Begbie, 'a Judge in our +Colony of British Columbia,' and a detachment of Royal Engineers under +command of Colonel Moody. At Fort Langley, on November 19, 1858, the +colony of British Columbia was proclaimed under the laws of England. + +Then, in January, just as Douglas and the officers of his government +had again settled down comfortably at Victoria, came word of more riots +at Yale, led by a notorious desperado {38} and deposed judge of +California named Ned M'Gowan. The possibility of American occupation +had become an obsession at Victoria. There were undoubtedly those +among the American miners who made wild boasts. Douglas gathered up +all his panoply of war and law. Along went Colonel Moody, with a +company of his Royal Engineers, Lieutenant Mayne of the Imperial Navy +with a hundred bluejackets, and Judge Matthew Begbie, to deal out +justice to the offenders. Douglas remembered the cry 'fifty-four forty +or fight,' and he remembered what had happened to his chief, +M'Loughlin, in Oregon when the American settlers there had set up +vigilance committees. He would take no chances. The party carried +along a small cannon. Lieutenant Mayne could not take his cruiser the +_Plumper_ higher than Langley; and there the forces were transferred to +Tom Wright's stern-wheeler, the _Enterprise_. But, when they arrived +at Hope, the whole affair looked like semi-comic vaudeville. Yale, +too, was as quiet as a church prayer-meeting; and Colonel Moody +preached a sermon on Sunday to a congregation of forty in the +court-house--the first church service ever held on the mainland of +British Columbia. + +[Illustration: Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie. From a portrait by +Savannah.] + +{39} + +The trouble had happened in this way. Christmas Day had been +celebrated hilariously. At Yale a miner of Hill's Bar, some miles down +the river, had beaten up a negro. The Yale magistrate had issued a +warrant for the miner's arrest--poor magistrate, he had found little to +do since his appointment in September! The miner, now sobered, fled +back to his bar. The warrant was sent after him to the local peace +officer for execution, but this officer had already issued a warrant +for the arrest of the negro at Yale; so there it stood--each fighter +making complaint against the other and the two magistrates in lordly +contempt of each other! The man who tried to arrest the negro was +insolent and was jailed by the Yale magistrate. Ned M'Gowan, the +Californian down on the bar, then came up to Yale with a posse of +twenty men to arrest the magistrate for arresting the man who had been +sent to arrest the negro. Bursting with rage, the astonished dignitary +at Yale was bundled into a canoe. He was fined fifty dollars for +contempt of court. + +It was at this stage of the comedy of errors that Moody, Begbie, and +Mayne came on the scene. At first M'Gowan showed truculence and +assailed Moody; but when he saw the {40} force of engineers and +bluejackets and saw the big gun hoisted ashore, he apologized, paid his +fine for the assault, and invited the officers to a champagne dinner on +Hill's Bar. Both sides to the quarrel cooled down and the riots ended. +The army stayed only to see the miners wash the gold and then put back +to Victoria. The miners had learned that an English judge and a field +force could be put on the ground in a week. September had settled +disorder among the Indians. January settled disorder among the whites. + +In the wild remote regions of the up-country there was much 'claim +jumping.' A man lost his claim if he stopped mining for seventy-two +hours, and when the place of registration was far from the find, +'pardners' camped on the spot in dugouts or in lean-tos of logs and +moss along the river-bank. There were fights and there was killing, +and sometimes the river cast up its dead. The marvel is that there +were not more crimes. In every camp is a species of human vulture +living off other men's risk. Whenever a lone man came in from the +hills and paid for his purchase in nuggets, such vultures would trail +him back to his claim and make what they could out of his discovery. + +So, by pack-train and canoe, the miners {41} worked up to Alexandria, +to Quesnel, to Fort George. Towards spring, when the prospectors had +succeeded in packing in more provisions, they began striking back east +from the main river, following creeks to their sources, and from their +sources over the watershed to the sources of creeks flowing in an +opposite direction. Late in '59 men reached Quesnel Lake and Cariboo +Lake. Binding saplings together with withes, the prospectors poled +laboriously round these alpine lagoons, and where they found creeks +pouring down from the upper peaks, they followed these creeks up to +their sources. Pockets of gravel in the banks of both lakes yielded as +much as two hundred dollars a day. On Horse Fly Creek up from Quesnel +Lake five men washed out in primitive rockers a hundred ounces of +nuggets in a week. The gold-fever, which had subsided when all the +bars of the Fraser were occupied, mounted again. Great rumours began +to float out from the up-country. Bank facings seemed to indicate that +the richest pay-dirt lay at bed-rock. This kind of mining required +sluicing, and long ditches were constructed to bring the water to the +dry diggings. By the autumn of '59 a thousand miners were at work +round Quesnel Lake. By the spring {42} of '60 Yale and Hope were +almost deserted. Men on the upper diggings were making from sixty to a +hundred dollars a day. Only Chinamen remained on the lower bars. + +It was in the autumn of the year '60 that Doc Keithley, John Rose, +Sandy MacDonald, and George Weaver set out from Keithley Creek, which +flows into Cariboo Lake, to explore the cup-like valley amid the great +peaks which seemed to feed this lake. They toiled up the creek five +miles, then followed signs up a dry ravine seven miles farther. +Reaching the divide at last, they came on an open park-like ridge, +bounded north and east by lofty shining peaks. Deer and caribou tracks +were everywhere. It was now that the region became known as Cariboo. +They camped on the ridge, cooked supper, and slept under the stars. +Should they go on, or back? This was far above the benches of +wash-gravel. Going up one of the nameless peaks, they stepped out on a +ledge and viewed the white, silent mountain-world. Marmots stabbed the +lonely solitude with echoing whistle. Wind came up from the valley in +the sibilant sigh of a sea. It was doubtful if even Indians had ever +hunted this ground. The game was so tame, it did not know enough to be +afraid. The men {43} could see another creek shining in the sunrise on +the other side of the ridge. It seemed to go down to a valley benched +by gravel flanks. They began wandering down that creek and testing the +gravel. Before they had gone far their eyes shone like the wet pebbles +in their hands. The gravel was pitted with little yellow stones. +Where rain and spring-wash had swept off the gravel to naked rock, +little nuggets lay exposed. The men began washing the gravel. The +first pan gave an ounce; the second pan gave nuggets to the weight of a +quarter of a pound. The excited prospectors forgot time. Dark was +falling. They slept under their blankets and awoke at daybreak below +twelve inches of snow. + +They were out of provisions. Somebody had to go back down to Cariboo +Lake for food. Each man staked out a claim. And, while two built a +log cabin, the other two set off over the hills for food. There was +some sort of a log store down at Cariboo Lake. The one thing these +prospectors were determined on was secrecy till they could get their +claims registered. Bands of nondescript men hung round the +provision-store of Cariboo Lake awaiting a breath to fan their flaming +hopes of fortune. What let the secret out at the store is not {44} +known. Perhaps too great an air of secrecy. Perhaps too strenuous +denials. Perhaps the payment of provisions in nuggets. But when these +two packed back over the hills on snowshoes, they were trailed. +Followers came in with a whoop behind them on Antler Creek. Claims +were staked faster than they could be recorded. The same claims were +staked over and over, the corner of one overlapping another. When the +gold commissioner came hurriedly across the country in March, he found +the MacDonald-Rose party living in a cabin and the rest of the camp +holding down their claims by living in holes which they had dug in the +ground. + +This was the spring of '61; and Antler Creek proved only the beginning +of the rush to Cariboo. Over the divide in mad stampede rushed the +gold-seekers northward and eastward. Ed Stout and Billy Deitz and two +others found signs that seemed very poor on a creek which they named +William's after Deitz. The gold did not pan a dollar a wash; but in +wild haste came the rush to William's Creek. Crossing a creek one +party of prospectors was overtaken by a terrific thunderstorm, with +rock-shattering flashes of lightning. Shivering in the canyon, but +afraid to stand under trees {45} or near rocks, with the gravel +shelving down all round them, one of the men exclaimed sardonically, +'Well, boys, this _is_ lightning.' The stream became known as +Lightning Creek and proved one of the richest in Cariboo. William's +Creek was panning poorer and poorer and was being called 'Humbug +Creek,' when miners staked near by decided to see what they could find +beneath the blue clay. It took forty-eight hours to dig down. The +reward was a thousand dollars' worth of wash-gravel. Back surged the +miners to William's Creek. They put shafts and tunnels through the +clay and sluiced in more water for hydraulic work. Claims on William's +Creek produced as high as forty pounds of gold in a day. From another +creek, only four hundred feet long, fifty thousand dollars' worth of +gold was washed within a space of six weeks. Lightning Creek yielded a +hundred thousand dollars in three weeks. In one year gold to the value +of two and a half million dollars was shipped from Cariboo. + +Millions were not so plentiful in those days, and the reports which +reached the outside world sounded like the _Arabian Nights_ or some +fairy-tale. The whole world took fire. Cariboo was on every man's +lips, as were Transvaal {46} and Klondike half a century later. The +New England States, Canada, the Maritime Provinces, the British +Isles--all were set agog by the reports of the new gold-camps where it +was only necessary to dig to find nuggets. By way of Panama, by way of +San Francisco, by way of Spokane, by way of Victoria, by way of +Winnipeg and Edmonton came the gold-seekers, indifferent alike to +perils of sea and perils of mountain. Men who had never seen a +mountain thought airily that they could climb a watershed in a day's +walk. Men who did not know a canoe from a row-boat essayed to run the +maddest rapids in America. People without provisions started blindly +from Winnipeg across the width of half a continent. In the mad rush +were clerks who had never seen 'float,' English school-teachers whose +only knowledge of gold was that it was yellow, and dance-hall girls +with very little possession of anything on earth but recklessness and +slippers; and the recklessness and the slippers danced them into +Cariboo, while many a solemn wight went to his death in rockslide or +rapids. By the opening of '62 six thousand miners were in Cariboo, and +Barkerville had become the central camp. How these people ever gained +access to the centre of the wilderness before the famous Cariboo Road +had {47} been built is a mystery. Some arrived by pack-train, some by +canoe, but the majority afoot. + +Governor Douglas could not regulate prices here, and they jumped to war +level. Flour was three hundred dollars a barrel. Dried apples brought +two dollars and fifty cents a pound; and for lack of fruit many miners +died from scurvy. Where gold-seekers tramped six hundred miles over a +rocky trail, it is not surprising that boots commanded fifty dollars a +pair. Of the disappointed, countless numbers filled unknown graves, +and thousands tramped their way out starving and begging a meal from +the procession of incomers. + +The places of the gold deposits were freakish and unaccountable. +Sometimes the best diggings were a mother lode at the head of a creek. +Sometimes they were found fifty feet under clay at the foot of a creek +where the dashing waters swerved round some rocky point into a river. +Old miners now retired at Yale and Hope say that the most ignorant +prospector could guess the place of the gold as well as the geologist. +Billy Barker, after whom Barkerville was named, struck it rich by going +fifty feet below the surface down the canyon. Cariboo Cameron, the +luckiest of all the miners and not originally a prospector, {48} found +his wealth by going still lower on the watercourse to a vertical depth +of eighty feet. + +For seven miles along William's Creek worked four thousand men. +Cariboo Cameron took a hundred and fifty thousand out of his claim in +three months. In six months of '63 William's Creek yielded a million +and a half dollars, and this was only one of many rich creeks. From +'59 to '71 came twenty-five million dollars in gold from the Cariboo +country. By '65 hydraulic machinery was coming in and the prospectors +were flocking out; but to this day the Cariboo mines have remained a +freakish gamble. Mines for which capitalists have paid hundreds of +thousands have suddenly ended in barren rock. Diggings from which +nuggets worth five hundred dollars have been taken have petered out +after a few hundred feet. Even where the gravel merged to whitish gold +quartz, the most expert engineer in the camp could not tell when the +vein would fault and cease as entirely as if cut off. And the +explanation of this is entirely theoretical. The theory is that the +place of the gold was the gravel bed of an old stream, an old stream +antedating the petrified forests of the South-west, and that, when vast +alluvial deposits were carried over a great part of the {49} continent +by inland lakes and seas, the gold settled to the bottom and was buried +beneath the deposits of countless centuries. Then convulsive changes +shook the earth's surface. Mountains heaved up where had been sea +bottom and swamp and watery plain. In the upheaval these subterranean +creek beds were hoisted and thrown towards the surface. Floods from +the eternal snows then grooved out watercourses down the scarred +mountainsides. Frost and rain split away loose debris. And man found +gold in these prehistoric, perhaps preglacial, creek beds. However +this may be, there was no possible scientific way of knowing how the +gold-bearing area would run. A fortune might come out of one claim of +a hundred feet and its next-door neighbour might not yield an atom of +gold. Only the genii of the hidden earth held the secret; and modern +science derides the invisible pixies of superstition, just as these +invisible spirits of the earth seem to laugh at man's best efforts to +ferret out their secrets. + +What became of the lucky prospectors? I have talked with some of them +on the lower reaches of the Cariboo Road. They are old and poor +to-day, and the memory of their fortune is as a dream. Have they not +lived at {50} Hope and Yale and Lytton for fifty years and seen their +trail crumble into the canyon, with not a dozen pack-trains a year +passing to the Upper country? John Rose, who was one of the men to +find Cariboo, set out in the spring of '63 to prospect the Bear River +country. He set out alone and was never again seen alive. Cariboo +Cameron, a 'man from Glengarry,' went back to Glengarry by the Ottawa +and established something like a baronial estate; but he lost his money +in various investments and died in 1888 in Cariboo a poor man. Billy +Deitz, after whom a famous creek was named, died penniless in Victoria; +and the Scottish miner who rhymed the songs of Cariboo died unwept and +unknown to history. + +The romance of the trail is almost incredible to us, who may travel by +motor from Ashcroft to Barkerville. In October '62 a Mr Ireland and a +party were on the trail when snow began falling so heavily that it was +unsafe to proceed. They halted at a negro's cabin. Out of the heavy +snowfall came another party struggling like themselves. Then a packer +emerged from the storm with word that five women and twenty-six men +were snowbound half a mile ahead. Ireland and his party set out to the +rescue; but they lost the trail and {51} could only find the cabin +again by means of the gunshots that the others kept firing as a signal. +Two dozen people slept that night in the log shack; and when dawn came, +four feet of snow lay on the ground and the great evergreens looked +like huge sugar-cones. On snowshoes Ireland and three others set out +to find the lost men and women on the lower trail. They found them at +sundown camped in a ravine beside a rock, with their blankets up to +keep off the wind, thawing themselves out before a fire. A high wind +was blowing and it was bitterly cold. The lost people had not eaten +for three days. Twenty men from the cabin dug a way through the drifts +with their snowshoes and brought horses to carry the women back to the +coloured man's roof. + + +But it was not of the perils of the trail that the outside world heard. +The outside world heard of claims which any man might find and from +which gold to the value of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars could +be dug and washed in three months. The outside world thought that gold +could be picked up amid the rocks of British Columbia. Necessity is +the mother of invention. She is also the hard foster-mother of +desperation and folly. Times {52} were very hard in Canada. The East +was hard up. Farming did not pay. All eyes turned towards Cariboo; +and no wonder! Many of the treasure-seekers holding the richest claims +had gone to Cariboo owning nothing but the clothes on their backs. A +season's adventure in a no-man's-land of bear and deer, above +cloud-line and amid wild mountain torrents, had sent them out to the +world laden with wealth. Some ran the wild canyons of the Fraser in +frail canoes and crazy rafts with their gold strapped to their backs or +packed in buckskin sacks and carpet-bags. And some who had won fortune +and were bringing it home went to their graves in Fraser Canyon. + + + +[1] See _Pioneers of the Pacific Coast_ in this Series. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE OVERLANDERS + +When the Cariboo fever reached the East, the public there had heard +neither of the Indian massacres in Oregon nor that the Sioux were on +the war-path in Dakota. Promoters who had never set foot west of +Buffalo launched wild-cat mining companies and parcel express devices +and stages by routes that went up sheer walls and crossed unbridged +rivers. To such frauds there could be no certain check; for it took +six months to get word in and out of Cariboo. Eastern papers were full +of advertisements of easy routes to the gold-diggings. Far-off fields +look green. Far-off gold glittered the brighter for the distance. +Cariboo became in popular imagination a land where nuggets grew on the +side of the road and could be picked by the bushel-basket. Besides, +times were so hard in the East that the majority of the youthful +adventurers who were caught by the fever had nothing to lose except +their lives. + +{54} + +A group of threescore young men from different parts of Canada, from +Kingston, Niagara, and Montreal, having noticed advertisements of an +easy stage-route from St Paul, set out for the gold-diggings in May +1862. Tickets could be purchased in London, England, as well as in +Canada, for when these young Canadians reached St Paul, they found +eighteen young men from England, like themselves, diligently searching +the whereabouts of the stage-route. That was their first inkling that +fraudulent practices were being carried on and that they had been +deceived, that there was, in fact, no stage-route from St Paul to +Cariboo. A few of them turned back, but the majority, by ox-cart and +rickety stagecoach, pushed on to the Red River and went up to a point +near the boundary of modern Manitoba, where lay the first steamboat to +navigate that river, about to start on her maiden trip. On this +steamboat, the little _International_, afterwards famous for running +into sand-banks and mud-bars, the troops of Overlanders took passage, +and stowed themselves away wherever they could, some in the cook's +galley and some among the cordwood piled in the engine-room. + +The Sioux were on a rampage in Minnesota {55} and Dakota, but Alexander +Dallas, governor of Rupert's Land for the Hudson's Bay Company, and Mgr +Tache, bishop of St Boniface, were aboard, and their presence afforded +protection. On the way to the vessel some of the Overlanders had +narrowly escaped a massacre. The story is told that as they slowly +made their way in ox-carts up the river-bank, a band of horsemen swept +over the horizon, and the travellers found themselves surrounded by +Sioux warriors. The old plainsman who acted as guide bethought him of +a ruse: he hoisted a flag of the Hudson's Bay Company and waved it in +the face of the Sioux without speaking. The painted warriors drew +together and conferred. The oxen stood complacently chewing the cud. +Indians never molested British fur-traders. Presently the raiders went +off over the horizon as swiftly as they had come, and the gold-seekers +drove on, little realizing the fate from which they had been delivered. + +There had been heavy rains that spring on the prairie, and trees came +jouncing down the muddy flood of the Red River. The little +_International_, like a panicky bicycle rider, steered straight for +every tree, and hit one with such impact that her smokestack came +toppling down. At another place she pushed {56} her nose so deep in +the soft mud of the riverbank that it required all the crew and most of +the passengers to shove her off. But everybody was jubilant. This was +the first navigation of the Red River by steam. The Queen's Birthday, +the 24th of May, was celebrated on board the vessel pottle-deep to the +tune of the bagpipes played by the governor's Scottish piper. But the +governor's wife was heard to lament to Bishop Tache that the +_International's_ menu consisted only of pork and beans alternated with +beans and pork, that the service was on tin plates, and that the +dining-room chairs were backless benches. + +The arrival of the steamer at Fort Garry (Winnipeg) was celebrated with +great rejoicing. Indians ran along the river-bank firing off rifles in +welcome, and opposite the flats where the fort gate opened, on what is +now Main Street, the company's men came out and fired a royal salute. +The people bound for Cariboo camped on the flats outside Fort Garry. +Here was a strange world indeed. Two-wheeled ox-carts, made wholly of +wood, without iron or bolt, wound up to the fort from St Paul in +processions a mile long, with fat squaws and whole Indian families +sitting squat inside the crib-like structure of the cart. Men and boys +{57} loped ahead and abreast on sinewy ponies, riding bareback or on +home-made saddles. Only a few stores stood along what is now Main +Street, which ran northward towards the Selkirk Settlement. With the +Indians, who were camped everywhere in the woods along the Assiniboine, +the Overlanders began to barter for carts, oxen, ponies, and dried +deer-meat or pemmican. An ox and cart cost from forty to fifty +dollars. Ponies sold at twenty-five dollars. Pemmican cost sixteen +cents a pound, and a pair of duffel Hudson's Bay blankets cost eight or +ten dollars. Instead of blankets, many of the travellers bought the +cheaper buffalo robes. These sold as low as a dollar each. + +John Black, the Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' preached +special sermons on Sunday for the miners. And on a beautiful June +afternoon the Overlanders headed towards the setting sun in a +procession of almost a hundred ox-carts; and the fort waved them +farewell. One wonders whether, as the last ox-cart creaked into the +distance, the fur-traders realized that the miner heralded the settler, +and that the settler would fence off the hunter's game preserve into +farms and cities. A rare glamour lay over the plains {58} that June, +not the less rare because hope beckoned the travellers. The unfenced +prairie billowed to the horizon a sea of green, diversified by the +sky-blue waters of slough and lake, and decked with the hues of +gorgeous flowers--the prairie rose, fragrant, tender, elusive, and +fragile as the English primrose; the blood-red tiger-lily; the brown +windflower with its corn-tassel; the heavy wax cups of the sedgy +water-lily, growing where wild duck flackered unafraid. Game was +superabundant. Prairie chickens nestled along the single-file trail. +Deer bounded from the poplar thickets and shy coyotes barked all night +in the offing. Night in June on the northern prairie is but the +shadowy twilight between two long days. The sun sets between nine and +ten, and rises between three and four, and the moonlight is clear +enough on cloudless nights for campers to see the time on their watches. + +[Illustration: A Red River cart. From a photograph.] + +The trail followed was the old path of the fur-trader from fort to fort +'the plains across' to the Rockies. From the Assiniboine the road ran +northerly to Forts Ellice and Carlton and Pitt and Edmonton.[1] Thomas +M'Micking {59} of Niagara acted as captain and eight others as +lieutenants. A scout preceded the marchers, and at sundown camp was +formed in a big triangle with the carts as a stockade, the animals +tethered or hobbled inside. Tents were pitched outside with six men +doing sentry duty all night. At two in the morning a halloo roused +camp. An hour was permitted for harnessing and breaking camp, and then +the carts creaked out in line. They halted at six for breakfast and +marched again at seven. Dinner was at two, supper at six, and tents +were seldom pitched before nine at night. On Sunday the procession +rested and some one read divine service. The oxen and ponies foraged +for themselves. By limiting camp to five hours, in spite of the slow +pace of the oxen, forty to fifty miles a day could be made on a good +trail in fair weather. While the scout led the way, the captain and +his lieutenants kept the long procession in line; and the travellers +for the most part dozed lazily in their carts, dreaming of the fortunes +awaiting them in Cariboo. Some nights, when the captain permitted a +longer halt than usual and when camp-fires blazed before the tents, men +played the violin and sang and danced. Each man was his own cook. +Three or four occupied {60} each tent. In the company was one woman, +with two children. She was an Irishwoman; but she bore the name of +Shubert, from which we may infer that her husband was not an Irishman. + +Sunday having intervened, the travellers did not reach Portage la +Prairie until the fourth day out. Another week passed before they +arrived at Fort Ellice. Heavy rains came on now, and James M'Kay, +chief trader at Fort Ellice, opened his doors to the gold-seekers. +Harness and carts repaired and more pemmican bought, the travellers +crossed the Qu'Appelle river in a Hudson's Bay scow, paying toll of +fifty cents a cart. From the Qu'Appelle westward the journey grew more +arduous. The weather became oppressively hot and mosquitoes swarmed +from the sloughs. At Carlton and at Fort Pitt the fur-traders' 'string +band'--husky-dogs in wolfish packs--surrounded the camp of the +Overlanders and stole pemmican from under the tent-flaps. From Fort +Pitt westward the trail crossed a rough, wooded country, and there were +no more scows to take the ox-carts across the rivers. Eleven days of +continuous rain had flooded the sloughs into swamps; and in three days +as many as eight corduroy bridges had to be built. Two {61} long trees +were felled parallel and light poles were laid across the floating +trees. Where the trees swerved to the current, some one would swim out +and anchor them with ropes till the hundred carts had passed safely to +the other side. + +It was the 21st of July when the travellers came out on the high banks +of the North Saskatchewan, flowing broad and swift, opposite Fort +Edmonton. There had been floods and all the company's rafts had been +carried away. But the ox-carts were poled across by means of a big +York boat; and the travellers were welcomed inside the fort. + +The arrival of the Overlanders is remembered at Edmonton by some +old-timers even to this day. Salvoes of welcome were fired from the +fort cannon by a half-breed shooting his musket into the touch-hole of +the big gun. Concerts were given, with bagpipes, concertinas, flutes, +drums, and fiddles, in honour of the far-travellers. Pemmican-bags +were replenished from the company's stores. + +Miners often uttered loud complaints against the charges made by the +fur-traders for provisions, forgetting what it cost to pack these +provisions in by dog-train and canoe. If the Hudson's Bay officials at +Fort Garry and {62} Edmonton had withheld their help, the Overlanders +would have perished before they reached the Rockies. Though the miner +did everything to destroy the fur trade--started fires which ravaged +the hunter's forest haunts, put up saloons which demoralized the +Indians, built wagon-roads where aforetime wandered only the shy +creatures of the wilds--though the miner heralded the doom of the fur +trade--yet with an unvarying courtesy, from Fort Garry to the Rockies, +the Hudson's Bay men helped the Overlanders. + +The majority of the travellers now changed oxen and carts for +pack-horses and _travois_, contrivances consisting of two poles, within +which the horses were attached, and a rude sledge. A few continued +with oxen, and these oxen were to save their lives in the mountains. + +[Illustration: Washing gold on the Saskatchewan. From a photograph.] + +The farther the Overlanders now plunged into the wilderness, the more +they were pestered by the husky-dogs that roamed in howling hordes +round the outskirts of the forts. The story is told of several +prospectors of this time, who slept soundly in their tent after a day's +exhausting tramp, and awoke to find that their boots, bacon, rope, and +clothes had been devoured by the ravenous dogs. They {63} asked the +trader's permission to sleep inside the fort. + +'Why?' asked the amused trader. 'Why, now, when the huskies have +chewed all you own but your instruments? You are locking the stable +door after your horse has been stolen.' + +'No,' answered the prospectors. 'If those husky-dogs last night could +devour all our camp kit without disturbing us, to-night they might +swallow us before we'd waken.' + +The next pause was at St Albert, one of Father Lacombe's missions. +What surprised the Overlanders as they advanced was the amazing +fertility of the soil. At Fort Garry, at Pitt, at Edmonton, at St +Albert, at St Ann, they saw great fields of wheat, barley, and +potatoes. Afterwards many who failed in the mines drifted back to the +plains and became farmers. The same thing had happened in California, +and was repeated at a later day in the rush to the Klondike. Great +seams of coal, too, were seen projecting from the banks of the +Saskatchewan. Here some of the men began washing for gold, and, +finding yellow specks the size of pin-heads in the fine sand, a number +of them knocked up cabins for themselves and remained west of Edmonton +{64} to try their luck. Later, when these belated Overlanders decided +to follow on to Cariboo, they suffered terrible hardships. + +The Overlanders were to enter the Rockies by the Yellowhead Pass, which +had been discovered long ago by Jasper Hawse, of the Hudson's Bay +Company. This section of their trail is visible to the modern +traveller from the windows of a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway train, just +as the lower sections of the Cariboo Trail in the Fraser Canyon are to +be seen from the trains of the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian +Northern. First came the fur-trader, seeking adventure through these +passes, pursuing the little beaver. The miner came next, fevered to +delirium, lured by the siren of an elusive yellow goddess. The settler +came third, prosaic and plodding, but dauntless too. And then came the +railroad, following the trail which had been beaten hard by the +stumbling feet of pioneers. + +[Illustration: In the Yellowhead Pass. From a photograph.] + +At St Ann a guide was engaged to lead the long train of pack-horses +through the pass from Jasper House on the east to Yellowhead Lake on +the west. Colin Fraser, son of the famous piper for Sir George Simpson +of the Hudson's Bay Company, danced a Highland fling at the gate of the +fort to speed the {65} departing guests. And to the skirl of the +bagpipes the procession wound away westward bound for the mountains. + +Instead of the thirty miles a day which they had made farther east, the +travellers were now glad to cover ten miles a day. Fallen trees lay +across the trail in impassable ramparts and floods filled the gullies. +Scouts went ahead blazing trees to show the way. Bushwhackers +followed, cutting away windfall and throwing logs into sloughs. Horses +sank to their withers in seemingly bottomless muskegs,[2] so that packs +had to be cut off and the unlucky bronchos pulled out by all hands +straining on a rope. + +Somewhere between the rivers Pembina and M'Leod the travellers were +amazed to see what the wise ones in the party thought a volcano--a +continuous and self-fed fire burning on the crown of a hill. Science +of a later {66} day pronounced this a gas well burning above some +subterranean coal seam. + +At length the Overlanders were ascending the banks of the M'Leod, whose +torrential current warned them of rising ground. Three times in one +day windfall and swamp forced the party to ford the stream for passage +on the opposite side. The oxen swam and the ox-carts floated and the +packs came up the bank dripping. For eleven days in August every soul +of the company, including Mrs Shubert's babies, travelled wet to the +skin. At night great log fires were kindled and the Overlanders sat +round trying to dry themselves out. Then the trail lifted to the +foothills. And on the evening of the 15th of August there pierced +through the clouds the snowy, shining, serrated peaks of the Rockies. + +[Illustration: Upper M'Leod River. From a photograph.] + +A cheer broke from the ragged band. Just beyond the shining mountains +lay--Fortune. What cared these argonauts, who had tramped across the +width of the continent, that the lofty mountains raised a sheer wall +between them and their treasure? Cheer on cheer rang from the +encampment. Men with clothes in tatters pitched caps in air, proud +that they had proved themselves kings of their own fate. It is, +perhaps, well that we have to climb our {67} mountains step by step; +else would many turn back. But there were no faint-hearts in the camp +that night. Even the Irishwoman's two little children came out and +gazed at what they could not understand. + +The party now crossed a ravine to the main stream of the Athabaska. It +was necessary to camp here for a week. A huge raft was built of pine +saplings bound together by withes. To the stern of this was attached a +tree, the branch end dipping in the water, as a sweep and rudder to +keep the craft to its course. On this the Overlanders were ferried +across the Athabaska. And so they entered the Yellowhead Pass. + + + +[1] See the map in _The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay_ in this +Series. + +[2] Perhaps the distinction should be made here between the muskeg and +the slough. The slough was simply any depression in the ground filled +with mud and water. The muskeg was permanent wet ground resting on +soft mud, covered over on the top with most deceiving soft green moss +which looked solid, but which quaked to every step and gave to the +slightest weight. Many muskegs west of Edmonton have been formed by +beavers damming the natural drainage of a small river for so many +centuries that the silt and humus washed down from the mountains have +formed a surface of deep black muck. + + + + +{68} + +CHAPTER V + +CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS + +Like many lowland dwellers, the Overlanders had thought of a pass as a +door opening through a rock wall. What they found was a forested slope +flanked on both sides by mighty precipices down which poured cataracts +with the sound of the voice of many waters. Huge hemlocks lay +criss-crossed on the slope. Above could be seen the green edge of a +glacier, and still higher the eternal snows of the far peaks. The tang +of ice was in the air; but in the valleys was all the gorgeous bloom of +midsummer--the gaudy painter's brush, the shy harebell, the tasselled +windflower, and a few belated mountain roses. Long-stemmed, slender +cornflowers and bluebells held up their faces to the sun, blue as the +sky above them. Everywhere was an odour as of incense, the fragrance +of the great hemlocks, of grasses frost-touched at night and sunburnt +by day, of the unpolluted earth-mould of a thousand years. + +{69} + +Where was the trail? None was visible! The captain led the way, +following blazes chipped in the bark of the trees, zigzagging up the +slope from right to left, from left to right, hanging to the horse's +mane to lift weight from the saddle, with a rest for breathing at each +turn as they climbed; and, when the ridge of the foothill was +surmounted, a world of peacock-blue lakes lay below, fringed by +forests. The cataracts looked like wind-blown ribbons of silver. +Instead of dipping down, the trail led to the rolling flank of another +great foothill, and yet another, round sharp saddlebacks connecting the +mountains. Here, ox-carts were dangerous and had to be abandoned. It +was with difficulty that the oxen could be driven along the narrow +ledges. + +Jasper House, Whitefish Lake, the ruins of Henry House, they saw from +the height of the pass. One foaming stream they forded eight times in +three hours, driven from side to side by precipice and windfall; and in +places they could advance only by ascending the stream bed. This was +risky work on a fractious pony, and some of the riders preferred wading +to riding. At noon on the 22nd of August the riders crossed a small +stream and set up their tents on the border of a sedgy lake. Then {70} +somebody noticed that the lake emptied west, not east; and a wild +halloo split the welkin. They had crossed the Divide. They were on +the headwaters of the Fraser, where a man could stand astride the +stream; and the Fraser led to the Cariboo gold-diggings. They still +had four hundred miles to travel. Their boots were in shreds and their +clothes in tatters; but what were four hundred miles to men who had +tramped almost three thousand? + +But their progress had been so slow that the provisions were running +short. The first snow of the mountains falls in September, and it was +already near the end of August. There was not a moment to lose in +resting. What had been a lure of hope now became a goad of +desperation. So it is with all life's highest emprises. We plunge in +led by hope. We plunge on spurred by fate. When the reward is won, +only God and our own souls know that, even if we would, we could not +have done otherwise than go on. + +Those travellers who had insisted on bringing oxen had now to kill them +for meat. Chipmunks were shot for food. So were many worn-out horses. +Hides were used to resole boots and make mitts. Not far from Moose +Lake the last bag of pemmican was eaten. {71} Perhaps it was a good +thing at this time that the band of Overlanders began to spread out and +scatter along the trail; for hungry men in large groups are a tragic +danger to themselves. Those of the advance-party were now some ten +days ahead of their companions in the rear. Mrs MacNaughton, whose +husband was with the rear party, of which we shall hear more anon, +relates the story of a young fellow so ravenous that he fried the +deer-thong he had bought for a tump-line back at one of the company's +forts. Fortunately, somewhere west of Moose Lake, the travellers came +on a band of Shuswap Indians who traded for matches and powder enough +salmon and cranberry cakes to stave off actual famine. + +Trees with chipped bark pointed the way down the Fraser. For three +days the party followed the little stream that had come out of the lake +hardly wider than the span of a man's stride. With each mile its +waters swelled and grew wilder. On the third day windfall and +precipice drove the riders back from the river bed into the heavy +hemlock forest, where festoons of Spanish moss overhead almost shut out +the light of the sun and all sense of direction. And when they came +back to the bank of the stream they saw a {72} wild cataract cutting +its way through a dark canyon. There was no mistake. This was the +Fraser, and it was living up to its reputation. + +And yet the Overlanders were sorely puzzled. There were no more blazes +on the trees to point the way; and, if this was the Fraser, it seemed +to flow almost due north. Where was Cariboo? Mr M'Micking, who was +acting as captain, tried to find out from the Indians. They made him a +drawing showing that if he crossed another watershed he would come on a +white man's wide pack-road. That must lead to Cariboo; but the snow +lay already a foot deep on this road; and unless the Overlanders +hastened they would be snowbound for the winter. On the other hand, if +the white men continued to follow the wild river canyon north, it would +bring them to Fort George on the main Fraser in ten days. There was no +time to waste on chance travelling. The Overlanders knew that +somewhere south from Moose Lake must lie the headwaters of the +Thompson, which would bring them to Kamloops. Was that what the +Indians meant by their drawings of a white man's road? If that were +true, between Moose Lake and the Thompson must lie the land of their +desire, {73} Cariboo; but to cross another unknown divide in winter +seemed risky. To follow the bend of the Fraser north might be the long +way round, but it was sure. + +It was decided to let the party separate. Let those with provisions +still remaining try to push overland to Cariboo. If they failed to +find it, they could build cabins and winter on their pack animals. +Twenty men joined this group. The rest decided to stick to the river. +Behind were straggling a score more of the travellers, who were left to +follow as they could. Mrs Shubert with her children joined the band +going overland to find the Thompson. + +The Indians traded canoes for horses and showed the Overlanders how to +put rafts together to run the Fraser. Axes had been worn almost to the +haft. Cutting the huge trees and splitting them into suitable timbers +was slow work. It was September before the rafts were ready to be +launched. There were four. Each had a heavy railing round it like +that of a ferry, with some flat stones on which fires could be lighted +to cook meals without pausing to land. When we recall the experiences +of Mackenzie and Fraser on this river, it seems almost incredible that +these landsmen made {74} the descent on rafts with their few remaining +ponies and oxen tied to the railings; yet so they did. If we imagine +rafts, with horses and oxen tied to the railings, trying to run the +whirlpool below Niagara, we shall have some conception of what this +meant. + +The canoes sheered out of the way and the rafts were unmoored. The +Scarborough raft, with men from Whitby and Scarborough, near Toronto, +swirled out to midstream on the afternoon of the 1st of September. +'Poor, poor white men,' sighed the Indians; 'no more see white men'; +but the men in the canoes rapped the gunnels with their paddles and +uttered rousing cheers. Then the _Ottawa_ and the _Niagara_ and the +_Huntingdon_ rafts slipped out on the current. All went well for four +days. Sweeps made of trees with the branch ends turned down and long, +slim poles kept the rafts in mid-current. Meals were cooked as the +unwieldy craft glided along the river-bank. Two or three men kept +guard at night, so that the rafts were delayed for only a few hours +during the darkest part of the night. The sun shone hot at midday and +there were hard frosts at night; but the rest in this sort of travel +was wonderfully refreshing after four months of toil across prairie and +{75} mountain. But on the afternoon of the 5th of September the rafts +began to bounce and swirl. The banks raced to the rear, and before the +crews realized it, a noise as of breaking seas filled the air, and the +_Scarborough_ was riding her first rapid. Luckily, the water was deep +and the rocks well submerged. The _Scarborough_ ran the rapid without +mishap and the other rafts followed. On the next day, however, the +waters 'collected' and began running in leaps and throwing back spume. +Some one shouted 'Breakers! head ashore!' and the galloping rafts +bumped on the bank of the river. The banks here were steep for +portaging; and the Scarborough boys, brought up on the lake-front, east +of Toronto, decided, come what might, to run the rapids. They let go +the mooring-rope and went churning into a whirlpool of yeasty spray. +All hands bent their strength to the poles. The raft dipped out of +sight, but was presently seen riding safely and calmly below the rapids. + +Those watching the _Scarborough_ from the bank breathed freely again +and plucked up heart; but the worst was yet ahead. The oily calm below +the first rapid dropped into another maelstrom of angry waters. Into +this the _Scarborough_ was drawn by the terrible undertow. For a +moment the watchers on the bank could see nothing but the horns of the +bellowing, frightened oxen tied to the railing. Then the raft was +mounting the waves again. The seaworthiness of a raft is, of course, +well known. It may dip under water, or even split, but it seldom +upsets and never swamps or sinks. Before the other rafts ran the +rapids, two of them were first lightened of their loads. The men +preferred to pack their provisions over the precipices rather than take +the risk of losing them in the rapid. Nor was the packing child's +play. There was a narrow portage-trail along the ledges of the rocks, +and where the slabs of granite had split off Indians had laid rickety +poles across. Over these frail bridges the packers, with great +difficulty, carried the loads of the two rafts. Fortunately most of +them had long since discarded boots for moccasins. + +All the rafts came through safely. The canoes were not so fortunate. +When the _Scarborough_ reached a sand-bar at the foot of the rapids, +the men were surprised to find three of their Toronto friends, who had +gone ahead in a canoe, now stranded high and dry. The canoe had sidled +to the waves, swamped, and sunk with everything the Toronto men {77} +owned, including their coats, tents, and boots. For two days they had +been awaiting the coming of the rafts. They were almost dead from +exposure and hunger. + +Nine canoes in all were wrecked at this spot. One split on the reef. +Another was caught in the backwater. Others sank in the whirlpool +below the rapids. Others went under at the first leap into the +cataract. Two of the canoes had foolishly been lashed abreast. They +sidled, shipped a billow, and sank. All the men clung to the gunnels; +but one who was a powerful swimmer struck out for the shore. The +canoes stranded on the shore below and the clinging men saved +themselves. When they looked for their friend who had struck out for +the shore, he was no longer to be seen. These men were all from +Goderich, brought up on the banks of Lake Huron. + +A similar fate befell a crew of four men from Toronto. Two of them +undertook to portage provisions along the bank of the canyon, while the +other two, named Carpenter and Alexander, tried to run the canoe down +the rapids. The episode has some interest for students of psychology. +Carpenter walked down the bank of the canyon a short distance to +reconnoitre the different channels of the {78} rapids. He was seen to +take out his notebook and write an entry. He then put the note-book in +the inner pocket of his coat, took off the coat, and slung it in a tree +on the bank. When he came back to the canoe, he seemed preoccupied. +The canoe ripped on a rock in midstream, flattened, and sank. +Carpenter went down insensible as though his head had struck and he had +been stunned. Alexander was washed ashore. He found himself on the +side of the bank opposite the rest of the party. Going below to calmer +waters, he swam across. Carpenter's coat hung on the trees. In the +pocket was the note-book, in which Alexander read the astounding words: +'Arrived at Grand Canyon. Ran the canyon and was drowned.' Carpenter +left a wife and child in Toronto, for whom, evidently, he had written +the message. But if he was of sound mind, desiring to live, and so +certain of death that he was able to write his own fate in the past +tense, why did he attempt the rapids? His friends had no explanation +of the curious incident. + +There is another gruesome story of a sand-bar in the very middle of +this raging canyon. It will be remembered that some of the Overlanders +had straggled far to the rear. Some {79} time before spring a party of +them attempted to run this canyon. They were never again seen alive. +Some treasure-seekers who came over the trail in spring stranded on +this sand-bar. They found the bodies of the missing men. All but one +had been torn and partly devoured. It need not be told here that no +wild beast could have stemmed the rapids from either side. Unless +wolves or cougars had accidentally been washed to the sand-bar, and +washed away again, the wild solitude must have witnessed a horror too +terrible to be told; for the body of the man who had apparently died +last was fully clothed and unmolested. As absolutely nothing more is +known of what happened than has been set down here, it seems well that +there is no record of the names of these castaways. + + + + +{80} + +CHAPTER VI + +QUESNEL AND KAMLOOPS + +The walls of the river lowered and widened, the current slackened, and +the surviving canoes and rafts were presently gliding peacefully down a +smooth stream. That night the Overlanders slept dead with weariness; +but a fearful depression rested on the company. Gold had begun to +collect its toll, and the price appalled every soul. Who would be the +next? How soon would the unknown river turn west and south? Where was +Fort George? What perils yet lay between the fort and the gold camp? + +As the heavy mists lifted at daybreak, the travellers observed that the +river was narrowing again and that the wooded banks had begun to fly +past very swiftly. There was no mistaking the signs. They were +approaching more rapids. But the trick of guiding the craft down +rapids had now been learned; so the flotilla rode the furious waters +unharmed for fifteen miles. + +{81} + +It was almost dark when canoes and rafts swung round a curve in the +river and saw a flag waving above the little walled fur-post of Fort +George. The tired wanderers were welcomed in by clerks too amazed to +speak, while a howling chorus of husky-dogs set up their serenade. A +young Englishman, who had joined the Overlanders at St Paul, died from +the effects of exposure a few minutes after being carried into the +fort. Next morning the body was rolled in blankets, placed in a canoe, +and buried under a rude wooden cross, with stones piled above the grave +to prevent the ravaging of huskies and wolves. + +The chief factor was away, but the young clerks in charge sent Indians +along to pilot the Overlanders through the rapids below Fort George, +known as the most dangerous on the Fraser. These rapids, it will be +recalled, had wrecked Alexander Mackenzie and had almost cost Simon +Fraser his life. But the treasure-seekers did not have to go as far +south as Alexandria, where Mackenzie had turned back. With guides who +knew the waters, they ran the rapids below Fort George safely, and +moored at Quesnel, the entrance to Cariboo, on the 11th of +September--four months after they had left Canada. + +{82} + +Quesnel was at this time a rude settlement of perhaps a dozen log +shacks--chiefly bunkhouses and provision-stores. North of Yale the +Cariboo Road had not yet been opened, and all provisions had been +brought in from the lower Fraser by pack-horse and dog-train at +enormous cost and risk. Food sold at extortionate prices. A meal cost +two dollars and fifty cents, for beans, bacon, and coffee. Salmon, of +course, was cheap. Fortunately, there was little whisky; so, though +tattered miners were everywhere in the woods, order was maintained +without vigilance committees. On one spectacle the far-travelled +ragged Overlanders feasted their tired eyes. They saw miners +everywhere along the banks of creeks washing gold. But there were more +gold-seekers than claims, and those without claims were full of +complaints and fears for the winter. They declared the country was +over-rated and a humbug. The question was how 'to get out' to +Victoria. Overlanders, who had tramped across the breadth of a +continent, did not relish the prospect, as one Yankee miner described +it, of 'hoofing it five hundred miles farther.' Some of the +disappointed Overlanders floated on down to Alexandria, where they sold +their rafts and took jobs on the {83} government road which was being +constructed along the canyon. This ensured them safety from starvation +for the winter at least. + +Other Overlanders followed these first pioneers 'the plains across.' +And we have seen that some of those who had crossed the prairie with +the first party had fallen behind. These stragglers did not reach +Yellowhead Pass till the first week of September. They were entirely +out of food; but they had matches, and each box of fifty bought a huge +salmon from the Shuswaps. + +Some of the men pushed ahead, built a raft, and launched it on the +Fraser. The raft ripped on a rock in midstream and stuck there at an +angle of forty-five degrees. Money, tools, food, and clothing +slithered into the tow of the rapids, while the men clung in +desperation to the upper railing of the wreck. One man let go and +dropped into the water. Swimming and drifting and rolling over and +over, he gained the shore, and hurried back to the pass with word of +the accident. Friends, accompanied by Indians, came in canoes to the +rescue, and, by means of ropes, every man was brought off the wrecked +raft alive. + +But the party now stood in a more desperate predicament than ever, for +lack of food and {84} clothing. The Shuswaps saved the whites from +starvation. They took the white men to a pool in the Fraser, where +salmon, exhausted from the long run up the river, could be speared or +clubbed by the boat-load. And while some of the men chopped down trees +to build dugout canoes, others speared, cleaned, and dried the salmon. +Night and day they worked, and forgot sleep in their desperate haste. +At length they launched their craft on the Fraser. On the way down the +dangerous canyon they saw the wrecked canoes of those who had gone +before. The tenth day after leaving Yellowhead Pass they reached Fort +George. Their story has been told by Mrs MacNaughton, whose husband +was of the party. They arrived at Fort George mostly barefoot, +coatless, and trousers and shirts in tatters. Their hair and beards +were long and unkempt. It is supposed that they must have lost the +salmon in some of the rapids, or else the supply was insufficient; for +they were so weak from hunger that they had to be carried into the +fort. They arrived at Quesnel a month after the first Overlanders, +when the snow was too deep in the mountains for prospecting or mining. +The majority of this party also took work on the government road. + +{85} + +Meanwhile, how had fared that band of the Overlanders who had gone over +the hills south from the pass in search of the upper branches of the +Thompson? A Shuswap accompanied them as guide, and for a few days +there was a well-defined game-trail. Then the trail meandered off into +a dense forest of hemlock and windfall, which had to be cut almost +every mile of the way. They did not average six miles a day; but they +finally came to the steep bank of a wild river flowing south which they +judged must be a branch of the Thompson. The mountains were so steep +that it was impossible to proceed farther with horses and oxen; so they +abandoned these in the woods, and cut trees for rafts. For seven days +they ran rapid after rapid. One of the rafts stranded on a rock and +remained for two days before companions came to the rescue. At another +point a canoe was smashed in midstream. The crew struggled to a +slippery rock and hung to the ledge. A man named Strachan attempted to +swim ashore to signal distress to those above. They saw him ride the +waves. Then a roll of angry waters swept over him and he passed out of +sight. His companions clung to the rock till another canoe came +shooting down-stream, when lines {86} were hoisted to the castaways, +and they were hauled ashore. + +Where the Clearwater comes into the Thompson they found the +fur-trader's horse-trail and tramped the remaining hundred miles +overland south to Kamloops. On the last lap of their terrible march +all were so exhausted they could scarcely drag themselves forward. +Some would lie down and sleep, then creep on a few miles. About twenty +miles from the mouth of the Thompson they came to a field of potatoes +planted by some rancher of Kamloops. The starving Overlanders could +scarcely credit their eyes. No one occupied the windowless log cabin; +but there was the potato patch--an oasis of food in a desert of +starvation. They paused long enough at the cabin to boil a great +kettleful and to feast ravenously. This gave them strength to tramp on +to Kamloops. We saw that the Irish mother, Mrs Shubert, with her two +children, accompanied this party. The day after reaching Kamloops she +gave birth to a child. + +Did the Overlanders find the gold which each man's rainbow hopes had +dreamed? They had followed the rainbow over the ends of earth. Was +the pot of gold at the end of {87} the rainbow? You will find an +occasional Overlander passing the sunset of his days in quiet retreat +at Yale or Hope or Quesnel or Barkerville. He does not wear evidence +of great earthly possessions, though he may refer wistfully to the +golden age of those long-past adventurous days. The leaders who +survived became honoured citizens of British Columbia. Few came back +to the East. They passed their lives in the wild, free, new land that +had given them such harsh experiences. + + + + +{88} + +CHAPTER VII + +LIFE AT THE MINES + +Fortunately, in that winter of '62-'63, there was a great deal of work +to be done in the mining country, and men were in high demand. The +ordinary wage was ten dollars a day, and men who could be trusted, and +who were brave enough to pack the gold out to the coast, received +twenty and even as high as fifty dollars a day. There is a letter, +written by Sir Matthew Begbie, describing how the mountain trails were +infested that winter by desperadoes lying in wait for the miners who +came staggering over the trail literally weighted down with gold. The +miners found what the great banks have always found, that the presence +of unused gold is a nuisance and a curse. They had to lug the gold in +leather sacks with them to their work, and back with them to their +shacks, and they always carried firearms ready for use. There was very +little shooting at the mines, but if a bad man 'turned up missing,' no +one {89} asked whether he had 'hoofed' it down the trail, or whether he +hung as a sign of warning from a pole set horizontally at a proper +height between two trees. In a mining camp there is no mercy for the +crook. If the trail could have told tales, there would have been many +a story of dead men washed up on the bars, of sneak-thieves given +thirty-nine lashes and like the scapegoat turned out into the mountain +wilds--a rough-and-ready justice administered without judge or jury. + +But a woman was as safe on the trail as in her own home--a thing that +civilization never understands about a wild mining camp. Mrs Cameron, +wife of the famous Cariboo Cameron, lived with her husband on his claim +till she died, and many other women lived in the camps with their +husbands. When the road opened, there was a rush of hurdy-gurdy girls +for dance-halls; but that did not modify the rough chivalry of an +unwritten law. These hurdy-gurdy girls, who tiptoed to the concertina, +the fiddle, and the hand-organ, were German; and if we may believe the +poet of Cariboo, they were something like the Glasgow girls described +by Wolfe as 'cold to everything but a bagpipe--I wrong them--there is +not one that does not melt away {90} at the sound of money.' Sings the +poet of Cariboo: + + They danced a' nicht in dresses licht + Fra' late until the early, O! + But O, their hearts were hard as flint, + Which vexed the laddies sairly, O! + + The dollar was their only love, + And that they loved fu' dearly, O! + They dinna care a flea for men, + Let them court hooe'er sincerely, O! + + +Cariboo was what the miners call a 'he-camp.' Not unnaturally, the +'she-camps' heard 'the call from Macedonia.' The bishop of Oxford, the +bishop of London, the lord mayor of London, and a colonial society in +England gathered up some industrious young women as suitable wives for +the British Columbia miners. Alack the day, there was no poet to send +letters to the outside world on this handling of Cupid's bow and arrow! +The comedy was pushed in the most business-like fashion. Threescore +young girls came out under the auspices of the society and the Church, +carefully shepherded by a clergyman and a stern matron. They reached +Victoria in September of '62 and were housed in the barracks. Miners +camped on every inch of ground from which the barracks could be {91} +watched; and when the girls passed to and from their temporary lodging, +their progress was like a royal procession through a silent, gaping, +but most respectful lane of whiskered faces. A man looking anything +but respect would have been knocked down on the spot. We laugh now! +Victoria did not laugh then. It was all taken very seriously. On the +instant, every girl was offered some kind of situation, which she +voluntarily and almost immediately exchanged for matrimony. In all, +some ninety girls came out under these auspices in '62-'63. The +respectable girls fitted in where they belonged. The disreputable also +found their own places. And the mining camp began to take on an +appearance of domesticity and home. + +Matthew Begbie, later, like Douglas, given a title for his services to +the Empire, had, as we have seen, first come out under direct +appointment by the crown; and when parliamentary government was +organized in British Columbia his position was confirmed as chief +justice. He had less regard for red tape than most chief justices. +Like Douglas, he first maintained law and order and then looked up to +see if he had any authority for it. No man ever did more for a mining +camp than Sir {92} Matthew Begbie. He stood for the rights of the +poorest miner. In private life he was fond of music, art, and +literature; but in public life he was autocratic as a czar and sternly +righteous as a prophet. He was a vigilance committee in himself +through sheer force of personality. Crime did not flourish where +Begbie went. Chinaman or Indian could be as sure of justice as the +richest miner in Cariboo. From hating and fearing him, the camp came +almost to worship him. + +Many are the stories of his circuits. Once a jury persisted in +bringing in a verdict of manslaughter in place of murder. + +'Prisoner,' thundered Begbie, 'it is not a pleasant duty to me to +sentence you _only_ to prison for life. You deserve to be hanged. Had +the jury performed their duty, I might have the painful satisfaction of +condemning you to death. You, gentlemen of the jury, permit me to say +that it would give me great pleasure to sentence you to be hanged each +and every one of you, for bringing in a murderer guilty only of +manslaughter.' + +On another occasion, when an American had 'accidentally' shot an +Indian, the coroner rendered a verdict 'worried to death by a dog.' +Begbie ordered another inquest. This {93} time the coroner returned a +finding that the Indian 'had been killed by falling over a cliff.' +Begbie on his own authority ordered the American seized and taken down +to Victoria. On his way down the prisoner escaped from the constable. +This type of hair-trigger gunmen at once fled the country when Begbie +came. + +Mr Alexander, one of the Overlanders of '62, tells how 'Begbie's +decisions may not have been good law, but they were first-class +justice.' His 'doctrine was that if a man were killed, some one had to +be hanged for it; and the effect was salutary.' A man had been +sandbagged in a Victoria saloon and thrown out to die. His companion +in the saloon was arrested and tried. The circumstantial evidence was +strong, and the judge so charged the jury. But the jury acquitted the +prisoner. Dead silence fell in the court-room. The prisoner's counsel +arose and requested the discharge of the man. Begbie whirled: +'Prisoner at the bar, the jury have said you are not guilty. You can +go, and I devoutly hope the next man you sandbag will be one of the +jury.' On another occasion a man was found stabbed on the Cariboo +Road. The man with whom the dead miner had been quarrelling was {94} +arrested, tried, and, in spite of strong evidence against him, +acquitted. Begbie adjourned the court with the pious wish that the +murderer should go out and cut the throats of the jury. + +But, in spite of his harsh manner towards the wrong-doer, 'the old +man,' as the miners affectionately called him, kept law and order. In +the early days gold commissioners not only settled all mining disputes, +but acted as judge and jury. Against any decision of the gold +commissioners Begbie was the sole appeal, and in all the long years of +his administration no decision of his was ever challenged. + +The effect of sudden wealth on some of the hungry, ragged horde who +infested Cariboo was of a sort to discount fiction. One man took out +forty thousand dollars in gold nuggets. A lunatic escaped from a +madhouse could not have been more foolish. He came to the best saloon +of Barkerville. He called in guests from the highways and byways and +treated them to champagne which cost thirty dollars and fifty dollars a +bottle. When the rabble could drink no more champagne, he ordered +every glass filled and placed on the bar. With one magnificent drunken +gesture of vainglory he swept the glasses in a clattering crash to the +{95} floor. There was still a basket of champagne left. He danced the +hurdy-gurdy on that basket till he cut his feet. The champagne was all +gone, but he still had some gold nuggets. There was a mirror in the +bar-room valued at hundreds of dollars. The miner stood and proudly +surveyed his own figure in the glass. Had he not won his dearest +desire and conquered all things in conquering fortune? He gathered his +last nuggets and hurled them in handfuls at the mirror, shattering it +in countless pieces. Then he went out in the night to sleep under the +stars, penniless. He settled down to work for the rest of his life in +other men's mines. + +The staid Overlanders, who had risked their lives to reach this wild +land of desire, who had come from such church-going hamlets as Whitby, +such Scottish-Presbyterian centres as Toronto and Montreal, hardly knew +whether they were dreaming or living in a country of crazy pixies who +delved in mud and water all day and weltered in champagne all night. +The Cariboo poet sang their sentiments in these words: + + I ken a body made a strike. + He looked a little lord. + He had a clan o' followers + Amang a needy horde. + +{96} + + Whane'er he'd enter a saloon, + You'd see the barkeep smile-- + His lordship's humble servant he + Wi'out a thought o' guile! + + A twalmonth passed an' a' is gane, + Baith freends and brandy bottle! + An' noo the puir soul's left alane + Wi' nocht to weet his throttle! + + +In Barkerville, which became the centre of Cariboo, saloons and +dance-halls grew up overnight. Pianos were packed in on mules at a +rate of a dollar a pound from Quesnel. Champagne in pint bottles sold +at two ounces of gold. Potatoes retailed at ninety dollars a +hundredweight. Nails were cheap at a dollar a pound. Milk was +retailed frozen at a dollar a pound. Boots still cost fifty dollars. +Such luxuries as mirrors and stoves cost as high as seven hundred +dollars each. The hurdy-gurdy girls with true German thrift charged +ten dollars or more a dance--not the stately waltz, but a wild fling to +shake the rafters and tire out the stoutest miners. + +A newspaper was published in Barkerville. And it was in it that James +Anderson of Scotland first issued _Jeames's Letters to Sawney_. + + Your letter cam' by the express, + Eight shillin's carriage, naethin' less! + {97} + You maybe like to ken what pay + Miners get here for ilka day? + Jus' twa poond sterling', sure as death-- + It should be four, between us baith-- + For gin ye coont the cost o' livin', + There's naethin' left to gang an' come on. + Sawney, had ye yer taters here + And neeps and carrots--dinna speer + What price; though I might tell ye weel, + Ye'd ainly think me a leein' chiel. + + The first twa years I spent out here + Werena sae ill ava'; + But hoo I've lived syne; my freend, + There's little need to blaw. + Like fitba' knockit back and fore, + That's lang in reachin' goal, + Or feather blown by ilka wind + That whistles 'tween each pole-- + E'en sae my mining life has been + For mony a weary day. + + +Later, when the dance-hall became the theatre of Barkerville, James +Anderson used to sing his rhymes to the stentorious shouting and loud +stamping of the shirt-sleeved audience. + + He thinks his pile is made, + An' he's goin' hame this fall, + To join his dear auld mither, + His faither, freends, and all. + His heart e'en jumps wi' joy + At the thocht o' bein' there, + An' mony a happy minute + He's biggin' castles in the air! + +{98} + + But hopes that promised high + In the springtime o' the year, + Like leaves o' autumn fa' + When the frost o' winter's near. + Sae his biggin' tumbles doon, + Wi' ilka blast o' care, + Till there's no stane astandin' + O' his castles in the air. + + + + +{99} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CARIBOO ROAD + +When the railway first went through the Fraser Canyon, passengers +looking out of the windows anywhere from Yale to Ashcroft were amazed +to see something like a Jacob's ladder up and down the mountains, +appearing in places to hang almost in mid-air. Between Yale and Lytton +it hugged the mountain-side on what looked like a shelf of rock +directly above the wildest water of the canyon. Crib-work of huge +trees, resembling in the distance the woven pattern of a willow basket, +projected out over the ledges like a bird's nest hung from some +mountain eyrie. The traveller almost expected to see the thing sway +and swing to the wind. Then the train would sweep through a tunnel, or +swing round a sharp bend, and far up among the summits might be seen a +mule-team, or a string of pack-horses winding round the shoulders of +the rock. It seemed impossible that any man-made {100} highway could +climb such perpendicular walls and drop down precipitous cliffs and +follow a trail apparently secure only for a mountain goat. The first +impression was that the thing must be an old Indian war-path, along +which no enemy could pursue. But when the train paused at a water +tank, and the traveller made inquiry, he was told that this was nothing +less than the famous Cariboo Road, one of the wonders of the world. + +[Illustration: The Cariboo Road. From a photograph.] + +As long as the discovery of gold was confined to the Fraser river-bars, +the important matter of transportation gave the government no +difficulty. Hudson's Bay steamers crossed from Victoria to Langley on +the Fraser, which was a large fort and well equipped as a base of +supplies for the workers in the wilderness. Stern-wheelers, canoes, +and miscellaneous craft could, with care, creep up from Langley to Hope +and Yale; and the fares charged afforded a good revenue to the Hudson's +Bay Company. Even when prospectors struck above Yale, on up to +Harrison Lake and across to Lillooet, or from the Okanagan to the +Thompson, the difficulties of transportation were soon surmounted. A +road was shortly opened from Harrison Lake to Lillooet, built by the +miners themselves, under the direction of the Royal {101} Engineers; +and, as to the Thompson, there was the well-worn trail of the +fur-traders, who had been going overland to Kamloops for fifty years. + +It was when gold was discovered higher up on the Fraser and in Cariboo, +after the colony of British Columbia had taken its place on the +political map, that Governor Douglas was put to the task of building a +great road. Henceforth, for a few years at least, the miners would be +the backbone, if not the whole body, of the new colony. How could the +administration be carried on if the government had no road into the +mining region? + +And so the governor of British Columbia entered on the boldest +undertaking in roadbuilding ever launched by any community of twenty +thousand people. The Cariboo Road became to British Columbia what the +Appian Way was to Rome. It was eighteen feet wide and over four +hundred and eighty miles long. It was one of the finest roads ever +built in the world. Yet it cost the country only two thousand dollars +a mile, as against the forty thousand dollars a mile which the two +transcontinental railways spent later on their roadbeds along the +canyon. It was Sir James Douglas's greatest monument. + +{102} + +Five hundred volunteer mine-workers built the road from Harrison Lake +to Lillooet in 1858 at the rate of ten miles a day; and when the road +was opened in September, packers' charges fell from a dollar to +forty-eight cents and finally to eighteen cents a pound. But presently +the trend of travel drew away from Harrison Lake to the line of the +Fraser. At first there was nothing but a mule-trail hacked out of the +rock from Yale to Spuzzum; but miners went voluntarily to work and +widened the bridle-path above the shelving waters. From Spuzzum to +Lytton the river ledges seemed almost impassable for pack animals; yet +a cable ferry was rigged up at Spuzzum and mules were sent over the +ledges to draw it up the river. When the water rose so high that the +lower ledges were unsafe, the packers ascended the mountains eight +hundred feet above the roaring canyon. Where cliffs broke off, they +sent the animals across an Indian bridge. The marvel is not that many +a poor beast fell headlong eight hundred feet down the precipice. The +marvel is that any pack animal could cross such a trail at all. 'A +traveller must trust his hands as much as his feet,' wrote Begbie, +after his first experience of this trail. + +[Illustration: Indian graves at Lytton, B.C. From a photograph.] + +{103} + +But by 1862 cutting and blasting and bridge-building had begun under +the direction of the Royal Engineers; and before 1865 the great road +was completed into the heart of the mining country at Barkerville. +Henceforth passengers went in by stage-coach drawn by six horses. +Road-houses along the way provided relays of fresh horses. Freight +went in by bull-team, but pack-horses and mules were still used to +carry miners' provisions to the camps in the hills which lay off the +main road. It was while the road was still building that an +enterprising packer brought twenty-one camels on the trail. They were +not a success and caused countless stampedes. Horses and mules took +fright at the slightest whiff of them. The camels themselves could +stand neither the climate nor the hard rock road. They were turned +adrift on the Thompson river, where the last of them died in 1905. + +There was something highly romantic in the stage-coach travel of this +halcyon era. The driver was always a crack whip, a man who called +himself an 'old-timer,' though often his years numbered fewer than +twenty. Most of the drivers, however, knew the trail from having +packed in on shanks's mare and camped under the stars. At the log +taverns known {104} as road-houses travellers could sleep for the night +and obtain meals. + +On the down trip bags were piled on the roof with a couple of +frontiersmen armed with rifles to guard them. Many were the devices of +a returning miner for concealing the gold which he had won. A fat +hurdy-gurdy girl--or sometimes a squaw--would climb to a place in the +stage. And when the stage, with a crack of the whip and a prance of +the six horses, came rattling across the bridge and rolling into Yale, +the fat girl would be the first to deposit her ample person at the bank +or the express office, whence gold could safely be sent on down to +Victoria. And when she emerged half an hour later she would have +thinned perceptibly. Then the rough miner, who had not addressed a +word to her on the way down, for fear of a confidence man aboard, would +present 'Susy' with a handsome reward in the form of a gaudy dress or a +year's provisions. + +Start from a road-house was made at dawn, when the clouds still hung +heavy on the mountains and the peaks were all reflected in the glacial +waters. The passengers tumbled dishevelled from log-walled rooms where +the beds were bench berths, and ate breakfast in a {105} dining-hall +where the seats were hewn logs. The fare consisted of ham fried in +slabs, eggs ancient and transformed to leather in lard, slapjacks, +known as 'Rocky Mountain dead shot,' in maple syrup that never saw a +maple tree and was black as a pot, and potatoes in soggy pyramids. Yet +so keen was the mountain air, so stimulating the ozone of the resinous +hemlock forests, that the most fastidious traveller felt he had fared +sumptuously, and gaily paid the two-fifty for the meal. Perhaps there +was time to wash in the common tin basin at the door, where the towel +always bore evidence of patronage; perhaps not; anyhow, no matter. +Washing was only a trivial incident of mountain travel in those days. + +The passenger jumped for a place in the coach; the long whip cracked. +The horses sprang forward; and away the stage rattled round curves +where a hind wheel would try to go over the edge--only the driver +didn't let it; down embankments where any normal wagon would have +upset, but this one didn't; up sharp grades where no horses ought to be +driven at a trot, but where the six persisted in going at a gallop! +The passenger didn't mind the jolting that almost dislocated his spine. +He didn't mind the negro who sat on {106} one side of him or the fat +squaw who sat on the other. He was thankful not to be held up by +highwaymen, or dumped into the wild cataract of waters below. Outside +was a changing panorama of mountain and canyon, with a world of forests +and lakes. Inside was a drama of human nature to outdo any +curtain-raiser he had ever witnessed--a baronet who had lost in the +game and was going home penniless, perhaps earning his way by helping +with the horses; an outworn actress who had been trying her luck at the +dance-halls; a gambler pretending that he was a millionaire; a +saloon-keeper with a few thousands in his pockets and a diamond in his +shirt the size of a pebble; a tenderfoot rigged out as a veteran, with +buckskin coat, a belt full of artillery, fearfully and wonderfully made +new high-boots, and a devil-may-care air that deceived no one but +himself; a few Shuswaps and Siwashes, fat, ill-smelling, insolent, and +plainly highly amused in their beady, watchful, black, ferret eyes at +the mad ways of this white race; a still more ill-smelling Chinaman; +and a taciturn, grizzled, ragged fellow, paying no attention to the fat +squaw, keeping his observations and his thoughts inside his high-boots, +but likely as not to turn out the man who {107} would conduct the squaw +to the bank or the express office at Yale. + +If one could get a seat outside with the guards and the driver--one who +knew how to unlock the lore of these sons of the hills--he was lucky; +for he would learn who made his strike there, who was murdered at +another place, how the sneak-thief trailed the tenderfoot somewhere +else--all of it romance, much of it fiction, much of it fact, but no +fiction half so marvellous as the fact. + +Bull-teams of twenty yokes, long lines of pack-horses led by a +bell-mare, mule-teams with a tinkling of bells and singing of the +drivers, met the stage and passed with happy salute. At nightfall the +camp-fires of foot travellers could be seen down at the water's edge. +And there was always danger enough to add zest to the journey. +Wherever there are hordes of hungry, adventurous men, there will be +desperadoes. In spite of Begbie's justice, robberies occurred on the +road and not a few murders. The time going in and out varied; but the +journey could be made in five days and was often made in four. + +The building of the Cariboo Road had an important influence on the camp +that its builders could not foresee. The unknown El {108} Dorado is +always invested with a fabulous glamour that draws to ruin the reckless +and the unfit. Before the road was built adventurers had arrived in +Cariboo expecting to pick up pails of nuggets at the bottom of a +rainbow. Their disillusionment came; but there was an easy way back to +the world. They did not stay to breed crime and lawlessness in the +camp. 'The walking'--as Begbie expressed it--'was all down hill and +the road was good, especially for thugs.' While there were ten +thousand men in Cariboo in the winter of '62 and perhaps twenty +thousand in the winter of '63, there were less than five thousand in +'71. + +This does not mean that the camp had collapsed. It had simply changed +from a poor man's camp to a camp for a capitalist or a company. It +will be remembered that the miners first found the gold in flakes, then +farther up in nuggets, then that the nuggets had to be pursued to +pay-dirt beneath gravel and clay. This meant shafts, tunnels, +hydraulic machinery, stamp-mills. Later, when the pay-dirt showed +signs of merging into quartz, there passed away for ever the day of the +penniless prospector seeking the golden fleece of the hills as his +predecessor, the trapper, had sought the pelt of the little beaver. + +All unwittingly, the miner, as well as the {109} trapper, was an +instrument in the hands of destiny, an instrument for shaping empire; +for it was the inrush of miners which gave birth to the colony of +British Columbia. Federation with the Canadian Dominion followed in +1871; the railway and the settler came; and the man with the pick and +his eyes on the 'float' gave place to the man with the plough. + + + + +{110} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The episode of Cariboo is so recent that the bibliography on it is not +very complete. _British Columbia_, by Judge Howay and E. O. S. +Scholefield, provincial librarian, is the last and most accurate word +on the history of that province, though one could wish that the authors +had given more human-document records in the biographical section. In +a very few years there will be no old-timers of the trail left; and, +after all, it is the human document that gives colour and life to +history. It was my privilege to know some of the Overlanders +intimately. One of the companies who rafted down the Fraser came from +the county where I was born; and though they preceded my day, their +terrible experiences were a household word. With others I have poled +the Fraser on those very tempestuous waters that took such toll of life +in '62. Others have been my hosts. I have gone up and down the Arrow +Lakes in a steamer as a guest of the man who came through the worst +experiences of the Overlanders. Chance conversations are shifty guides +on dates and place-names. For these, regarding the Overlanders, I have +relied on Mrs MacNaughton's _Cariboo_. + +{111} + +Gosnell's _British Columbia Year Book_ and Hubert Howe Bancroft's +_British Columbia_ are very full on this era. Walter Moberly's +pamphlets on the building of the trail and Mr Alexander's casual +addresses are excellent. Old files of the Kamloops _Sentinel_ and the +Victoria _Colonist_ are full of scattered data. Anderson's _Hand Book +of 1858_, Begbie's Report to the London Geographical Society, 1861; +Begg's _British Columbia_; _Fraser's Journal_; Mayne's _British +Columbia_, 1862; Milton and Cheadle's _North West Passage_, 1865; +Palliser's _Report_, 1859; Waddington's _Fraser River Mines_--all +afford sidelights on this adventurous era. On the prospector's daily +life there is no book. That must be learned from him on the trail; and +on many camp trips in the Rockies, with prospectors for guides, I have +picked up such facts as I could. + + + + +{113} + +INDEX + +Alexander, Mr, his tragic experience on the Fraser, 77-8; quoted, 93, +111. + +Anderson, James, the Scottish miner poet, 50, 90, 95-8. + +Antler Creek, 44. + + +Barker, Billy, 47. + +Barkerville, 46; life in, 94-8; the Cariboo Road terminus, 103. + +Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, chief justice of British Columbia, 37, 38, +39, 88; his popularity with the miners, 91-4, 102, 108, 111. + +Big Canyon, 34. + +Black, John, Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' 57. + +British Columbia, proclaimed a crown colony, 37; and the building of +the Cariboo Road, 100-1; and the miners, 109. See Cariboo, Fraser +river, Vancouver. + + +Cameron, Cariboo, 47-8, 50. + +Cameron, Mrs, 89. + +Cariboo, prospecting in, 41-5; the mad rush for, 45-6, 51-2, 53-4; the +mines a freakish gamble, 47-8; changes in, 107-9. See Barkerville and +Overlanders. + +Cariboo Road, 19; the building of the, 82, 99-103; its effect on the +mines, 107-9; stagecoach travel on, 103-7. + +Cariboo Trail, perils of the, 50-51; evolution of, 64. See Cariboo +Road. + +China Bar, 35. + +Cridge, Rev. Edward, 6. + + +Dallas, Alexander, governor of Rupert's Land, 55. + +Deitz, Billy, 44, 50. + +Douglas, Sir James, governor of Vancouver Island, 5, 8, 10; quells +disturbances on the Fraser, 35-7, 37-8; governor of British Columbia, +37, 38; builds the Cariboo Road, 101. + + +Edmonton, the Overlanders at, 61. + + +Finlayson, Roderick, chief trader at Victoria, 1-3, 5, 6, 8 + +Fort George, the Overlanders at, 81, 84. + +Fort Langley, British Columbia proclaimed at, 37, 100. + +Fraser, Colin, and the Overlanders, 64-5. + +Fraser, Simon, explorer, 81. + +Fraser Canyon 14, 19, 64 + +Fraser river, the quest for gold on, 8-9, 10, 11-22, 27-32, 51-2; +disturbances among the Indians, 33-5; and the whites, 37-40; the +Overlanders on, 70, 71-2. See Gold-fields, Miners. + + +Gold, prospecting for, 17-18, 20-21, 27-8; the lure of the 'float,' +21-2, 23-5, 25-6, 28; mining for, 29-30. See Gold-fields, Miners. + +Gold-fields, the price of commodities in, 13, 16-17, 29, 47, 96, 105; +'claim jumping,' 40; unused gold a curse, 88-9, 104; hurdy-gurdy girls, +89-90, 96, 104. + + +Hope, 29, 36, 38, 42. + +Horse Fly Creek, 41. + +Howay, Judge, quoted, 11, 110. + +Hudson's Bay Company, and the quest for gold, 1-4; and Vancouver +Island, 5-6; and the diggings on the Fraser, 16, 100; and the Indians, +34-5; and the Overlanders, 55, 57, 60, 61-3. + + +Indians of the Fraser, and the quest for gold, 12-13; their hostility, +33-6; and the Overlanders, 81. See Shuswaps. + +Ireland, Mr, his rescue party, 50-1. + + +Kamloops, 86-7. + +Keithley, Doc, 42-4. + + +Langley, 37, 100. + +Lightning Creek, 45. + +Long Bar, 35. + + +MacDonald, Sandy, 42-4. + +M'Gowan, Ned, his affair on the Fraser, 37-40. + +M'Kay, James, chief trader at Fort Ellice, 60. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, explorer, 81. + +Maclean, chief factor at Kamloops, 4. + +M'Loughlin, John, 34. + +M'Micking, Thomas, captain of the Overlanders, 58-9, 69, 72. + +MacNaughton, Mrs, quoted, 71, 84, 110. + +Mayne, Lieutenant, and the Yale riots, 38, 39, 111. + +Miners, in the wilds, 26; disappointed gold-seekers, 13, 16; some lucky +prospectors, 22-5, 47-51; the miner and his boy, 26-7; their +packhorses, 27, 103; form vigilance committees, 33-5; their +rough-and-ready justice, 89; their chivalry, 89, 91; the effect of +sudden wealth on, 94-6; a device for concealing gold, 104, 106-7; an +instrument for shaping empire, 109. See Fraser river, Gold, +Gold-fields. + +Moberly, Walter, his experiences on the Fraser, 16, 17, 111. + +Moody, Colonel, and the Yale riots, 37-9. + +Muskeg and slough, the difference between, 65 n. + + +Overlanders, the, at St Paul, 54; their meeting with the Sioux +warriors, 55; on the Red River steamer, 54, 55-6; and the Hudson's Bay +Company, 55, 57, 60, 61-3; at Winnipeg, 56-7; on the trail to Edmonton, +57-61; and the husky-dogs, 60, 62-3; reach Yellowhead Pass, 62, 63-7; +cross the Divide and reach the Fraser, 68-72; the party separate, 71, +73; on the Fraser, 73-81, 83-4; a question for psychologists, 77-8; a +gruesome story, 78-9; reach Quesnel, 81, 84; Kamloops, 85-7. + + +Prospecting for gold on the Fraser, 17-22, 25-6, 27-9, 30-32, 40; some +lucky prospectors and their fate, 47-51; theory regarding gold +deposits, 48-9. + +Psychology, a question of, 77-8. + + +Queen Charlotte Islands, discovery of gold in, 3. + +Quesnel, 81-3, 84. + +Quesnel Lake, 41. + + +Red River, the first steamer on, 54-6; Red River carts, 56-7. + +Rose, John, 42-4, 50. + + +Saskatchewan, the quest for gold on the, 63-4. + +Shubert, Mrs, with the Overlanders, 60, 66, 67, 73, 86. + +Shuswaps, the, and the Overlanders, 71, 72, 73, 74, 83, 84. + +Sioux, the, 54-5. + +Snyder, Captain, leads attack on the Indians, 34-5. + +Spuzzum, a fight with Indians at, 34-5. + +Stout, Ed, 44. + + +Tache, Mgr, bishop of St Boniface, 55, 56. + + +Vancouver Island, the first Council and Legislative Assembly of, 5 and +note. See Victoria. + +Victoria, and the quest for gold, 1, 5, 6-7; and the rush for the +Fraser, 7-8, 9, 10; and the matrimonial scheme, 90-91. See Vancouver +Island. + +Weaver, George, 42-4. + +William's Creek, 44, 45, 48. + +Winnipeg, 56-7. + +Work, John, chief factor at Victoria, 6. + +Wright, Captain Tom, a Yankee skipper on the Fraser, 16, 38. + + +Yale, 9, 13, 16, 29, 33, 34, 36, 37-40, 42. + +Yellowhead Pass, 64, 67, 68. + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + + +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cariboo Trail, by Agnes C. Laut + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARIBOO TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 29885.txt or 29885.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/8/29885/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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