Separate

Resuming the Subject of my Report on British Columbia, marked
Separate, of the 9th of the

present month, I proceed to inform Your
Grace that on leaving Lytton, accompanied by Mr Good, Private
Secretary and four mounted attendants, my course was directed towards
Shimilkomeen and Rock Creek, the latter being about 228 Miles from
Lytton.

2. It is not my intention, neither does it appear
necessary, that I should occupy Your Grace's time with
a narrative of the incidents of the journey.

I will
therefore in continuing this report dwell on subjects
only which serve to elucidate the present state of the
Country, its natural capabilities as a Colony, and the
effect of its institutions on the development of its resources.

3. With the exception of the Miners assembled on
Thompson River at Rock Creek and Shimilkomeen, the part
of British Columbia through which my route lay, is still
exclusively

occupied by the Native Indian Tribes, a race
of bold and active hunters, forming, when mustered in force
on their hardy native horses, an imposing array. I fell in
with detachments at different points of the route, where
they had assembled to offer a rude but cordial welcome.

4. I received them with every mark of respect and
kindness, entered freely into conversation with the Chiefs,
assuring them of

the warm regard of Her Majesty's Government,
and leading them into the discussion of their own affairs in
order to discover if they entertained any real or fancied
grievance which might lead to disaffection, or induce them
to make reprisals on the white settlers.

5. There was one subject which especially pre-occupied
their minds, as I discovered by the frequent allusions they
made to it, namely the abject

condition to which the cognate
Native Tribes of Oregon have been reduced by the American
system of removing whole Tribes from their native homes
into distant reserves where they are compelled to stay,
and denied the enjoyment of that natural freedom and liberty
of action without which existence becomes intolerable.
They evidently looked forward with dread to their own future
condition, fearing lest the same wretched

fate awaited the natives of British Columbia. I succeeded is dis-abusing
their minds of those false impressions by fully explaining
the views of Her Majesty's Government, and repeating in
substance what I have in a former part of this report
informed Your Grace was said on the same subject to the
Assembled Tribes at Cayoosh and Lytton.

6. Those communications

had the effect of re-assuring their minds
and eliciting assurances of their fidelity and attachment.

7. An appalling Indian outrage committed in the
neighbouring State of Oregon, as related with its attendant
horrors in a Slip enclosed herewith from the "Vancouver
Chronicle," will shew better than comment the impolicy of
the American system, and how careful we should be in
guarding

against the contagion of evil example, by treating
the Natives with justice, and removing when necessary,
every cause of distrust as to the ultimate views and policy
of Her Majesty's Government with respect to them.

*

8. The country situated between Lytton and Rock Creek
is highly attractive, and no other part of British Columbia,
nor of the United

States Territory north of Columbia River,
offers so many inducements in point of soil and climate to
the enterprising emigrant. Its distance from the Coast,
and difficulties of access have hitherto almost excluded
it from intercourse, but as those impediments are removed
by the formation of Roads, now in rapid progress, from
the navigable points of Fraser River, it will no

doubt
become a centre of population, and the seat of flourishing settlements.

9. I will not attempt to describe its physical aspect;
but to give a general idea in few words, I will observe that
it forms an elevated table-land of great extent sometimes
rising into hills, and is traversed by many noble valleys and
watered by numberless streams flowing into its

great arteries
the Thompson, Shimilkomeen, and Okanagon Rivers. There are
many varieties of soils—much arable land, and a great
deal that is fit only for pasture; but as a remark generally
applicable, I may observe that the valleys contain a large
extent of good open land; while the steeply swelling hills
are mostly covered with trees

formed into groups, or growing
with park-like regularity, widely apart, and free from brush
or underwood: but the peculiar feature of the Country is the
profusion of grass that covers both woodland and meadow,
affording rich pastures for domestic animals, a circumstance
which gives to this District an extraordinary value, as
every part of the surface, whether hill or

valley, may be turned
to account and made available either for tillage, or stock farming.

10. The climate, like that of all other parts of the
Colony, is perfectly healthy; and there is much less
humidity at all seasons, than in the Districts bordering
on Fraser River. Vegetation was nevertheless fresh and
green to a degree that was hardly to be expected at that
time

of the year. The seasons exhibit no extremes of temperature, the
summers being warm, and the winters sharp, but not severe.

The Lakes, except the Okanagon, and all the Rivers,
freeze in winter; and there are occasional falls of snow,
but it seldom lies in the valleys more than a few weeks
at a time. The fact that horses and domestic cattle are
left out all winter to shift

for themselves, and generally
thrive without any care on the range of the country, is
probably, however, a better criterion of the temperature
than any other circumstance that can be adduced. It is
in short, a very pleasant and desirable part of the Colony,
possesses a healthy climate, and many other advantages;
pastures being already formed where thousands of cattle
may

find food; and the industrious colonist will find it
much better and easier to raise crops than in the woodland
districts, where it takes much labour and expense to clear
a small space.

11. After five days travel in a fine open country, we
reached the main branch of the Shimilkomeen River, a few
miles below the lately discovered Gold Diggings, where
80 or 100 Miners were

at work, all seemingly in high spirits,
pleased with the country, and elated with their prospects
and earnings. Many of them were engaged in putting up
dog-huts, and making other preparations as they intend to
winter there if they succeed in having supplies of flour
and other necessaries brought from Hope before the
mountains become impassable from snow. As that was
clearly impossible without greater

facilities of
communication, it was evident they would have no alternative
but to desert their claims, and leave the country at a
serious loss to themselves and to the Colony.

12. That circumstance brought the vital subject of
Roads again forcibly to mind. A Road-party working out
from Hope, had, I knew, nearly got the length of the summit-ridge,
about 36 miles distant from our

Camp, and could
means be found of cutting through to that point, and
connecting Hope with Shimilkomeen by a practicable trail
before the advent of winter, I felt assured that an important object
for the country would be gained, and I resolved to make the attempt.

Some Indian hunters were soon found who undertook to
conduct a party to the desired point, by a better and less
circuitous line

than the present almost impassable trail;
and the subject was immediately brought before the miners,
who, seeing the object of the measure, at once volunteered
in force sufficient for the work, and early the following
morning a party properly equipped with tools, provisions,
and means of transport, was dispatched with instructions to
open a path which would connect with the Horse-way from Hope.

13. Leaving Mr Good and one of my attendants at this
point to urge on the work, and to enquire into the condition
of the Miners, I pushed on without further delay with my
three other attendants in light marching order, towards Rock Creek. On the way I fell in with Mr Cox, the Revenue Officer of the Southern frontier, who joined my party, and
after three days travel we arrived at the town known

as
Rock Creek, situated at the junction of that stream and Colvile River.

14. The town contains fifteen houses, and several more in
progress, chiefly shops and buildings intended for the supply
and entertainment of Miners.

15. Nearly five hundred Miners are congregated about Rock Creek, and another tributary of the Colvile, about ten miles
below that point.

16. The Rock Creek diggings were discovered last October
by Mr Adam Beam, a native of Canada, as he was travelling
from Colvile to Shimilkomeen; he again visited the spot in
December, but did not begin to work till the 7th of May:
the following is a statement of his daily earnings with the
cradle for the first few days afterwards:

First days work produced 20 Dollars

Second days work produced 43 Dollars

Third days work produced 33 Dollars

Fourth days work produced 27 Dollars

Fifth days work produced 32 Dollars

Sixth days work produced 17 Dollars

Seventh days work produced 99 Dollars

The subsequent record of his daily earnings could not be
found, but on the 20th of June, that is, six weeks from
the day of commencement, he had made nine hundred and seventy
seven dollars in gold, valuing it at sixteen dollars to the ounce.

17. Hugh McKay, another Canadian Miner, said that

on his
claim, the bed-earth of the stream yielded nothing, but a
drift into the bank produced twenty dollars a day. I moreover
ascertained from the testimony of the miners generally, that
none of those who had succeeded in opening gold claims were
making anything less than ten dollars a day.

18. Rock Creek is supposed to indicate the course of
the gold-lead, and to be everywhere auriferous; it is also
believed that all

the Benches near the River will pay well;
and many of the miners propose running in tunnels without
delay. There is much uncertainty however, as to the real
extent and value of the lead, nor can it be ascertained until
the country comes to be more extensively prospected.

19. I met the assembled population of the place, the day
after my arrival, and addressed them on various subjects.
I did not attempt

to conceal that the object of my visit to
Rock Creek was to enquire into their conduct, and to suppress
the disorders which were reported to be prevalent in that
part of the country; and I assured them that I was agreeably
surprised to find that those reports were unfounded. After
that merited compliment, I proceeded to explain the views
of Her Majesty's Government, the general mining regulations

of the Colony, especially directing their attention to that
Section of the Act which provides for the establishment of
Mining Boards, with powers to frame Bye-Laws adapted to the
circumstances of each District; or in other words, investing
the Miners themselves with full powers to amend their own
laws. I further pointed out the nature and object of the
Pre-emption Law, passed expressly for the encouragement of
settlers, and demonstrated the fact

that the whole policy
of Her Majesty's Government was considerate and liberal in
the extreme. I then announced the appointment of Mr Cox
as Justice of the Peace, and Assistant Gold Commissioner
for the District of Rock Creek; and that he was duly
authorized to punish offences, to attend to the maintenance
of civil order, to the Registration of Mining Claims, and
to receive all dues payable to Her Majesty's Government.

I concluded by exhorting them, one and all, as they
valued, and looked to the Laws of the land for protection,
to aid and assist him on all occasions, not only as a duty
incumbent on good subjects, but as being also their manifest
interest; for I continued, if the laws are not enforced,
there can be no security, and without security there can be
no prosperity; therefore, I went on to say, as you hope
for redress yourselves when

individually suffering wrong,
you must be prepared to rally round the Magistrate charged
with the execution of the Laws.

The meeting ended pleasantly, and the measures announced
appeared to give general satisfaction.

20. Mr Cox then proceeded to the less pleasant task of
levying the regular Customs charge on all goods found at
Rock Creek which had not been entered for importation, such
goods being really

contraband and legally forfeited, might
have been seized for the benefit of the Crown, had it not
been considered inexpedient in the circumstances to inflict
the extreme penalty of the Law.

21. I left soon afterwards on my return to Fraser River,
and have since then added another Officer to the Revenue
Establishment at Rock Creek, and authorized the employment
of any amount of force when

necessary for restraining the
illicit importation of goods into British Columbia; and
the cost of such extra establishment is to be super-added
as a Treasury fine to the import duties. It is however,
impossible I conceive, altogether to prevent smuggling at
places situated so immediately on the frontier as Rock Creek, which is within two miles of the Boundary.

The simple, and only certain means of effecting the
object is to under-sell the foreign

merchant by supplying
goods at the cheapest rate, and much may be done towards
that object by improving the communications and lessening
the cost of transport from Hope.

22. The total distance from that place to Rock Creek
is about 160 miles. By improving the channel of the
Shimilkomeen River and rendering it navigable in boats, we
may substitute 60 miles of water for land

carriage, at a
great reduction of cost. The improvement of the Shimilkomeen
would not involve an outlay of more than £1000, while it
would reduce the land carriage to 100 miles by substituting
a cheap water conveyance for the remaining 60 miles. With
that advantage the whole trade will flow towards Fraser
River.

23. The following mining statistics were collected by
Mr Good, at Shimilkomeen:

Mr Alison's claim produces £10 a day, for each man employed.

Mr Dowell's claim £12 a day, per man.

Merrill and Eddy, worked three days and made from
£10 to £12 daily, per man.

McDougal took out £26 in the Cradle the first day; in prospecting
his claim he found £1 and upwards to the pan: anticipates earning
£50 per man, when sluicing operations commence, in

about a
weeks time they will all begin to work.

On examining the country, prospects were so good, that
they all immediately commenced preparations for sluicing,
wing-damming, and other costly works for mining on a large scale.

24. The Road-party were far advanced with their task on
my return to Shimilkomeen, and I took that road to the Summit
or Punch Bowl,

where I fell upon the new Road from Hope,
which is carried over an elevation of 4000 feet without a
single gradient exceeding one foot in twelve, a fact very
creditable to Sergeant McCall and the detachment of Royal
Engineers employed in marking out the line; it moreover
suggests the possibility of converting it hereafter into a
Cart-way. It is even now a great boon to the country, yet

it will lose much of its value unless it be kept open for
traffic in winter by sending out parties of men on snow-shoes
to beat the roads after every fall of snow, a course which I
strongly recommended to the merchants at Hope.

25. The persons who held the Union and Emory Bar silver
leads near Hope are making great exertions to open the works,
with, I believe, every probability of

a most profitable result.

26. Masses of nearly pure virgin Copper have been found
in the excavations made for mining purposes above Yale; and
valuable outcrops of coal occur on the Shimilkomeen River,
but the present value of those minerals is not sufficient to
induce the investment of capital.

27. The new Horse-way from Yale to Spuzzum is

now open
for traffic. Unlike the mountain trail which it supersedes,
the new road is carried over the mountain side along the
course of Fraser River at a moderate elevation, and will be
open for travel both in summer and winter. In riding over
the face of those frowning cliffs, which a twelve month ago
seemed to defy all efforts at improvement, it was impossible
to repress a feeling of thankfulness

and intense gratification
at the successful issue of our labours, and their probable
influence on trade and the development of the country. The
arduous part of this undertaking—excavating the mountain
near Yale—was executed entirely by a Detachment of Royal
Engineers under Sergeant Major George Cann, and it has been
completed in a manner highly creditable

to themselves, and
to the officers who directed the operation.

28. The most favorable accounts continue to arrive from
the Quesnel River and Cariboeuf diggings, confirming all
the former reports of the vast auriferous wealth of those Districts.

29. An opinion is gaining ground among persons who have
closely inspected and studied the phenomena of the Gold-fields,

that there exists a zone or belt of country 50 or 60 miles in
breadth which is the matrix or depository of the gold found
in British Columbia. Its course has been partially traced
from the neighbourhood of Fort George, at the forks of
Fraser River, for nearly 60 miles in a South-South-East
direction; and the theory derives a measure of support
from the fact that the rich

diggings at Cariboeuf, Quesnel River, and Rock Creek, the latter unknown when the theory
was started, come within the limits which it prescribes.
Mr Nind, the Assistant Gold Commissioner for Quesnel River District, may probably be able to throw light upon the subject, and I await his report with much anxiety, especially
as I have had no official communication from him since his
appointment.

I learn from other sources that the Miners in
that quarter are making large profits, and that good order,
and tranquillity reign throughout the District. The want
of roads is, however, seriously felt, and has become a
general subject of complaint. As soon as those more important
communications now in progress are completed, we shall not
fail to turn our attention to the remoter Districts.

30. Some specimens exhibiting the varieties of Gold
found in British Columbia, are forwarded with this Report.