Matthew Begbie to Thomas Begbie

Here I am in the heart of the Cariboo again, spending, as I
sometimes say, my 14th Winter in the Colony—7 up here, &
7 in New Westminster or Victoria. This, so far, has been the
worst weather season I have known since 1862, which it much
resembles—generally cold rain and hail, with a touch of snow—&
fine intervals when the sun is just as hot as it usually is
in this latitude & month for half an hour or so—then cold
again & boisterous. You must recollect that Richfield is, I
calculate just about 1,000 feet higher than Snowdon, & surrounded
by much higher Mountains—& about the same latitude (I make it
53-4' N and about 4,500 feet above sea level). There is plenty
of snow yet on the Bald Mt close in view—down on the Creeks
it has long been off the ground.

The heavy rains have caused freshet after freshet to come
down the Creek: one of which unfortunately caused the filling
up of what is called the Bed Rock drain. One great difficulty
of Mining here has arisen from the extraordinary vicissitudes of
the weather, affecting the water supply: so that in May & June
what with rain & melting snow, all the ditches (leading to wheels
which work pumps to Reef the Shafts clear of underground water) are
full, & plenty of power—but the Creek comes down with a spate,
smashes one ditch, runs down another shaft or tail race, carries
away the flumes (long wooden troughs for washing the pay dirt,
generally 40 or 50 feet, sometimes 100 feet long). And in August,
when the snow has all gone from the near hills, & the weather is
dry, there is not enough water power to keep the pumps going, or
even to wash the dirt in. To remedy this, at the bottom of the large
flat below the Canon, perhaps 1 1/2 mi: below the Canon, they
commenced what they call the Bed Rock drain, which, opening there
on the Creek, and carried upwards at a very gentle inclination, soon
strikes the Bed Rock, (the Skeleton as it were both of hills &
valleys here) and thence proceeding still upwards
at the average inclination of the
Bed Rock and as near to it as possible, naturally drains by gravitation
the whole mass of variously auriferous gravel which fills up the
valley and forms the present surface on which the bed of the Creek
flows. Thus if the dotted mass [here he refers to a diagram of a
longitudinal section of the valley included in the body of the letter]
represent the present alluvial valley reposing on the Bed rock
K D C R N A S SS…B the present surface, along which Wms Creek
flows—with very numerous shafts sunk all along—40 or 50
Companies working—and a company generally has, work hands, about
20-40—the double line
A D N representing the drain, opening
on the Creek at A. You will see that the drain will carry off all
the underground water of the whole mass of alluvial matter, and
save all the Companies the expense & risk of draining by pumps.
But about a month ago the Creek being very much swollen, washed
over some neglected shaft somewhere, I suppose, and carried down
a mass of stuff which has choked the drain. All this mile or mile &
a half of ground is drowned, pro. tem. till the drain can be cleared.

Not much gold has been taken out lately—and the prospects of a
large out-turn which were so fully justified in April & May have
been quite changed. Many hundreds of men have been thrown out of
work i.e. one fourth or more of our efficient population for such
is our condition, that we have not I suppose more than a couple of
thousand men at work mining, about 300 more reported at Big Bend
(Cola) and perhaps as many more at Wild Horse Creek. But both
these districts scarcely belong to the Colony, as Gold & Miners both
go at once down Columbia River to Portland, and swell the bead
roll of treasure & passengers shipped at that port. Their
provisions &c pay B.C. Customs duties of course—but B.C.
gets none of the Credit of what they take out, which all goes to
Oregan, Idaho, &c, Credit.

One great failing out here has been that the rate of Wages being
fixed solely by the working population, has always been fixed far
too high—so high, I mean as to far surpass the average productiveness of
labor. The consequence is that Capital has been terrified—indeed
it never had a chance. Men have always been halloing out "all the
Country wants is more Capital." It might have been replied that all
they wanted was more plunder. Your Union gentlemen regulating the
rate of Wages at home without reference to any single thing than the
monetary embarrassment to which a stoppage would expose their
employers will soon drive Capital away….