I beg to enclose you a copy of my last letter, April 8. 1850, since
which time no opportunity has occurred of dispatching letters with any
degree of certainty. Nothing of importance has since occurred in the
colony, no settlers or immigrants have arrived nor have any land sales
been effected. Coal has not yet been discovered, though the miners have
not yet, I am happy to say, abandoned all hope.
An American Company have commenced running a line of Mail steam
packets between San Francisco and Oregon, they have not yet decided what
port in Oregon will be their terminus, Could coal have been supplied
from Vancouvers Island they would have chosen Nisqually in Pugets Sound,
which would have greatly facilitated the communication between
Vancouvers Island and England, but as it cannot be obtained, they will
probably select Portland on the Columbia river. The Hudsons Bay Company
have commenced a survey of the land reserved to themselves, which is
bounded by a line drawn nearly due North from the head of Victoria
harbour to a hill marked on the charts as Cedar Hill, or Mount Douglas,
and thence running due East to the Canal de Arro. The extent is
estimated at about ten miles (square). A tract adjoining, of similar
extent is reserved for the Puget Sound Agricultural Association, the
Hudson Bay company under another name, for the Association has no real
existence, this last contains the harbour of Esquimalt, the only harbour
in the southern part of the Island worthy of notice, as it is of large extent, has good anchorage, is easy of access at all times and in all
weather, is well watered and in many places the water is of sufficient
depth to allow ships anchoring along shore. Victoria Harbour where the
Hudson's Bay Companys settlement is established, is very small the
entrance is narrow, tortuous, and shallow, no vessels can enter except
at high tide with favourable wind and weather, and there is no water
near, the water required for the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company is
brought from a distance of two miles, and during summer and autumn they
are kept on allowance as at sea.
I have received news from Oregon, of the discovery of very rich
gold mines on the Spokan River the whole population of that territory
are flocking to the spot; should the favourable accounts of these mines
prove correct, I fear that it will draw away all the Hudson's Bay
Company's servants from Vancouvers Island, and at present they form the
entire population.