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BEjIL

BBITIS H COLO MBIA.

Band Bros., need no references. Thej have offices at
Victoria, New Westminster and Vanco* ver (Coal Harbor),
and ure better prepared to do business with strangers tlian
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BUBEBT DUN8MUIR, President.
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A. anMX. MauaiMr.

PROSPECTORS' MANUftL

Kt'injr a lull iiiMi compU'tc History aiul Description of the
iM'wly (liscovcrcd Oold MiiM'son

ailANlTE CREEK,

The (.'anyoti of tlie Tuliinieen lliver, and other
new mineral discoveries in

The Similkamecn Country,

Witli full Instructions as how to get there and
what to (h) on arriving there.

-:Ar.so:-

Its matty advantages as an Agricultural, Stock
liaising and Lumbering Country.

I)KSI(iNi;i) Koii THK rsK Ol'

Emigrants, Tourists, Sportsmen and
(tOld Seekers,

IJV V. L. THOIIT.

± a a (z

«^§*-:>conti:nts. <^^u

Tlu' Histdry ot(iruiiil«' Crt'ck 1

OtluT paying licn-ations 7

(ii'iicral (iHMcrlption of tlu' Crivk 13

How IMaccr Mining is<U)m'on (Jranite Creek und elsewhere 17

How to ge( tliere, Port Hope t mil '21

Till tie of (listnnees '27

Is lilt' country health v? 28

The trail from Kagle I'aHs through the Spellanieheen Country L'i>

From whom information may he gained 30

What to do when you get there 'M

Information for the Workingman .'l')

(reneral description of the Country and information, for the sports-
man and tourist H7

Advantages of the Canadian I'acitlc Railway :5h

The trail from Nicola valley and Kandoops... 41

To LumlH'rmen 4<")

Stock raisers and agriculturists 47

(}eologi(.'al History ol (Jranite Creek andprohahle origin of the (Jold
deposits, Keview of some of the more popular theories ')!

Ottieial Keport of Deputy Trovincial Secretary Klwyn U4

The Stephenson Lode 04

Tlu' latest news from the nnnes (54

KKIIATA.

Page 4, for "sordial" read ''sordid."

Paget), for "prosecuting," rend "prospecting."

The newly discovered Slate creek is, on the maj). called "Eight
Mile creek."

NoTK. — The richness of the hench claims, noticed on page 58, can
he accounted for hy the fact that they are in the old hed of the river,
descrihed on page t>3.

• >•>

ll^-

GRANITE CREEK.

ITS HISTORY.

to
.Co

Granite Creek was disoovereti about the middle of July
last, 1885, by John Chance, and like many other great dis-
coveries that have added much to the material wealth of the
world, it was a purely chance discovery. The concealed
wealth, that for untold ages lay in the bottom of this
now famous creek, was brought to the notice of the
world by a cowboy — one of the genuine stamp, much like
those we read about — a regular whoop 'er up, in-with-the-
boys, dare devil cowboy from Arizona, or some other south-
ern locality perhaps not quite so far away, but at all events
a fair specimen of this now noted type of humanity.

It seems that about the middle of July last, for some
reason best known to himself, Mr. (chance undertook the
task of riding up the canyon of Granite creek for a mile or
more, a task about as difficult as some other ventures that
have made cowboys famous, such as riding up the stairs in a
hotel, riding into church, etc. However, while on this ex-
pedition he noticed small pieces of gold in the cracks of the
rocks. Realizing that he had discovered a bonanza, he in-
formed three of his friends, who were mining down the
Sirailkameeu, who came up and located the discovery claim
about one-half mile above where the town now stands.
Their choice proved to be very fortunate, work was com-
menced at once, and the first sluice boxes on the creek were
worked by VVm. Jenkins & Co:, who, with Mr. Chance, con-

CD
CO

siituted the tliscovery purtj. TIjo rennlt nmli/tul i\ui rtumi
MHiiguine expectfttioiiH, iim from fifteen to twenty ounctfs of
j^old wuH the result of the first <hiy's operation; this wiis after-
wards increased to :J7()0 from one sluice box ah)ne, or over
one hundred doUars to the man employed.

Mr. Chance, immediately after the location, sold his
share of the discovery claim to the (.hinose, who have
worked it ever since. About three-fourths of a mile above
the discovery claim Joseph Florence located a claim which
proved very rich, and immediately above him on the creek
was opened out the Hrumley and Biggs claim. This proved
one of the richest, if not the richest, claim on the creek; a
single pan of dirt when washed out having been known to
contain by actual weighing thirty-three dollars, and as much
as three hundred dollars have been washed out in a single
day with a rocker. It is hardly likely that this record has
been surpassed anywhere on the creek. Al)ove this dai'i.
the rocky walls that thus far rise on eit/ier side of the creek
almost perpendicular for several hundred feet, now overhang
it, thus constituting what is culled the first canyon, and this
was considered by most of the miners, until the middle of
August, tt) l>e as far up the creek iis any of the paying claims
would extend. About this time french Loui's claim was
<)pened U}), and he and his two half-breed boys rocked out
an average of about one hundred dollars per day. This
proved that th« limit of the gold-producing region had
not yet been reached, and shortly afterwards the Hope claim,
about half a mile still further up, turned out gold in paying
(juantities; then Beery and Murphy, between those two last
mentioned claims, proved also to be rich. Before the end
of August nearly all the claims below the first canyon were
worked and found to pay wed, and above this canyon, as far
as the Hope clain), by the middle of September, paying
claims were the rule, and non-paying ones the exception;
and before the end of September every claim on the creek
from the Hope claim down was thoroughly ])rospected.

Even in the ounyoiin where it whh not believed poHsi-
ble to be ni\y guhl, on account of their not bein^ a Burticient
amount of gravel to nuike any di^^f^ingn, it was found that
even there, there was gold behind and under everv large
boulder, and every HUiall crack and crevice proved rich, ho
much HO indeed, that on Heveral of the ciainiH on th« creek a
rockor wan UHelewH, the pieceH of gold being ho large that
they would not readily pasH through the weive, and a con-
siderable part of one or two claims have on this account
been washed out with a ))<in. I have known of as much as
several ounces of gold to be taken out of a crack not more
than half an inch in width. The disiioverer of the creek,
John (Uiance, claims f > have taken one hundred and
thirty dollars in a single aay out of the rocks with his jack-
knife. This may s<^ in an exaggeration, yet it is nevertheless
a fact well known, that even u month after the creek was dis-
covered people strolline; up and down it have made in this
same way twenty, thirty and forty dollars, and even as high
as fifty dollars in a single day. The South Fork Co. have
tlumed several hundred feet of the iirst canyon I have already
described ; this, for two months after the creek was discov-
ered, was not considered worth the trouble of staking out,
there being nothing in the creek except some gravel and
V)oulders in the deep places. The result so far, according
to Mr. Kootlie, the principal share-holder in the company, is
from twenty-five to thirty dollars per day to the man. The
month of September had nearly passed away and no nlaini
up the creek further than the Hope claim, was found to be
productive, all eflorts to find anything paying above this
claim seemed useless, and the conviction was gradually fixing
itself in the minds of nearly every one that a rocky gulch
coming in from the south-east side of the creek, a short dis-
tance above the Hope claim, was the boundary of the gold-
producing region. The first event that occurred to disturb
the soundness of this theory was the discovery of gold in pay-
ing quantities about three miles up from the Hope claim by

Pof»ue <fe Co., on what is callnd the South Fork, but it should
be noticed here, and insisted on, that what is called the
South fork of Granite creek is not the South fork but Gran-
ite creek itself, the North fork not containing the one-
imndredth part of the amount of water that there is in the
so-called South fork. On Granite creek then, and not the
South fork, ahout three miles above the Hope claim, Pogue
& Co. found gold in paying quantities. This was about the
1st of October. A few days later ivhat is now believed to
have been the richest spot on the whole creek, was struck by
A. Mclntyre, about a mile above the Hope claim. This
discovery caused much excitement, and stimulated the claim
owners immediately below him to vigorous efforts to discover
the concealed wealth which they felt sure existed somewhere
in their property. They did not search in vain, as it is a fact
that all the claims in that part of the creek, with only a few
exceptions, are now paying. Between this claim and the
forks (as they are improperly called) no pay had been found
in the bed of the creek before the first of November, although
several low bench claims had been found rich. The reason
for the ill-success in this part of the creek has very lately been
been satisfactorily explained. The creek here is much wider
than further down, an 1 the bed-rock deeper, and of course
the pay-streak, if any existed, harder to find. Of course, the
great problem was, did any pay-streak exist ? This was
satisfactorily settled on the 5th or 6th of November by find-
ing it on the claim of Suchel & Cockhill, and immediately
before 1 left I heard that it was again struck on Wm. Jenkins
(feCo.'sclaim, immediately below the forks. That the history
of this part of the creek will only be a repetition of what I have
now recorded regarding other parts of the creek, 1 have not
the slighest doubt, and it is more than likely that when Gran-
ite creek is completely worked out it will be on record that
this part of the creek, which I have just mentioned, will be
found to have yielded quite as much of the "sordial dust," and
contributed a share to the substantial wealth of the country

(juite equal lu any other part of the same length, on any
other portion of tiio creek. The reasons for which are too
apparent to deserve a consideration. How much further up
the creek this pay streak runs is uncertain. Gold has been
found in paying quantities on at least one claim. There are
reports of several others striking it rich, but I have not seen
them, and as nothing but well attested facts should go into
a work of this kind, I refrain from going into particulars. It
is an old saying **gold is where you find it," or as I have
often heard it remarked "you are sure of it when itis in your
pocket, and until then everything in regard to it is uncertain."
I will, however, venture an opinion as that ought to be
worth something to those who have never seen the creek,
which is that for at least two miles above the forks gold will
be found in sufficient quantity to pay good wages to those
who try to find it. About the 2nd or 3rd of November a
report reached our town that a very rich find had been struck
on the South fork, or Granite Creek itself, about ten miles
from its mouth, This caused what is called in mining com-
munities, a stampede^ or a wild rush to the new diggings
which is done with about as much energy and spirit as if the
life of every person depended on his being there on a given
time, and that time had nearly expired when he started. On
this eccasion they were leaving at all hours of the night on
what I believe to be the darkest and most disagreeable night
T saw in my whole experience in the country. There was
neither moon nor stars. It was neither raining or snowing
exactly, but doing its best at both, All the bushes, which
in this country are evergreen, were loaded with slush. In-
deed it seemed that all the efforts of nature were combined
to make the night disagreeable to an incomparable degree,
yet, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, about the middle
of the night when everybody supposed everybody else was
asleep, about two-thirds of the entire population quietly
moved away, and followed a mountain trail over mountains
and rocks and along the edge of prcipices where n single

misstep would have caused a fall of over a thousand feet, yet
forgetful of all those dangers, forgetful of provisions or
blankets, or anything to shelter from the inclemency of the
weather, in fact forgetful of everything except how to get
there, they rushed to the new diggings and staked off several
miles of the creek. As a heavy fall of snow occurred at that
time on the highlands, it was resolved to petition the com-
missioner to lay the claims over until the spring, which he
accordingly did, and of course nothing will be certainly
known in regard to their richness until the spring opens up
when a thorough test will probably be made. What will be
the outcome from these new diggings I will not venture an
opinion. It is very unfortunate indeed that this find was not
made a month earlier, as it would then be thoroughly tested
before the winter set in. If there is nothing in it the pub-
lic generally should know it. If it is as rich as reported
then Granite creek is yet young, its best days are still to
come, and by far the greater part of its wealth remains still
untouched, As for myself I did not go with the stampede.
I had a trial of it before, and that was sufficient. I saw but
very little poetry, romance or sentiment in it and, therefore,
stayed at home. I had, however, been on the same ground
about two months before on one of my prosecuting tours,
but could see nothing that indicated to me the immense
amount of hidden weath that is said to lie there waiting to
be revealed in the sluice-boxes whenever they are erected.
r3ut still the fact that I saw no indication of it is no proof
that it is not there. If it is there it is not the first time that
I have walked unsaspectingly over wealth that would have
midimi irninfiis^lv lii^h. However, if it should prove a
total failure my faith in Granite creek would not, by any
means, be shaken, as I siw on that very ground what seemed
to me indications that would warrant any miner in believfng
that further up, if not there, the creek was rich. Indeed, I
might say that after an experience of over three months pros-
pecting and mining in this country, I have come to the con-
clusion that the head-waters of the Similkameen is going to
be a better gold field than was Cariboo in its palmiest days.

OTHER PAYING LOCATIONS.

Granite creek is not bv any means the only paying one
in the Simiikameen country. The north fork of the Similka-
lueen drains several thousand square miles of country and
when it is remembered that the first sluice boxes on Granite
Creek were put up on the 23rd of August, a -ood idea can
formed of how much time there has been for prospecting.
The miners on Granite creek knowing that the season was
pretty well past when they (Commenced, and not knowing at
what moment their works might be swept away by a flood
found their time well occupied in testing what ' Granite
creek would produce.

Along in the month of June Hie attention of about a
dozen miners, who had been working down the Smilkameen
and on the south fork, was directed to the north fork of this
.iver by rumors that the Chinese were finding gold, and the
first, as near as I can learn, to come up the river in actual
search of this precious metal was Joseph Florence, M. Saff^ron
one or two of the Brumleys, John enhance. Thos. Currie
and Mr, Cutter. The prospecting was continued along the
liver until Granite creek was struck in July. As this was
by far the richest strike yet made in the country no further
effort was made at prospecting. In the latter part of Sep-
tember James E. Rice went past the mouth of Granite creek
with a large prospe<-ting outfit, and as no one knew where he
was going it began to be whispered around that a new creek
had been discovered. This news caused a genuine stampede
to Bear Oeek, about fourteen miles distant, and several
mileg of the creek was staked off by the starapeders, but the
result did not equal their expectations and (me after another

returned, sadder but wiser men. Mr. Eice has been gener-
ally blamed for this stampede; this, however, is doing him
an injustice, as his object evidently was to go there and
prospect the creek without any person outside knowing any-
thing about it. This secrecy, however, was misintepreted.
People generally supposed that he had found something
good and wished to reap all the benefit for himself, hence
the rush. After prospecting for a short time, and not find-
ing gold in paying quantities, they concluded to quit and
await the results of the prospecting on the discovery claim.
Mr. Rice and the discovery party kept at work until they
reached the bed rock, which they found to be rich, but as
their means were not sufficient to work it in a proper shape
work was suspended until the spring opened, when work on
a larger scale will probably be commenced. In the mean-
time parties on Granite creek who had taken up claims on
Bear creek, finding that the discovery claim was likely to
prove a success, began to move back and give the creek a
further trial. When last heard from the news was that sev-
eral claims on the creek were worked with good results, and
all those who had recorded clai ns on the creek seemed
anxious to hold them, and give them a good trial in the
spring. If this creek proves a success, which seems now
quite probable, then the richness of the immense gold fields
of the Similkameen is assured, as there is certainly not a
more unfavorably located creek in the whole district. My
reasons for this will be explained in the chapter on the geo-
logical formations on Granite creek. Shortly after the Bear
Creek excitement, gold was struck in paying quantities in
Collin's Gulch about four miles above Granite creek. After
this announcement a mile or two of the creek was f „ .ed off,
but as the creek was very small, all the water in it being hard-
y sufficient to fill a sluice box, and it being choked up with
rock slides, there were only a few claims in it that could be
prospected to af' vantage; these claims were worked with
sluice boxes, with what result I have never learned, but it

PASSENGERS

FOR THE EAST

Will find it to their advantage to purdiase their tickets of the
O. II. & N. Co., C.P.iV.Co. building, Wharf St., Victoria.

m CLASS PASSENGERS

Travel with express trains from Vict«»ria to destination, and

save It between Victoria and Portland bv

pnrchasing here.

n. IFi."VT3Sr<3-. -A.gen.t.

Intending travellers can procnre full information by writing
or applying in person at the above office.

€HAS. S. BEDF£BN.

WATCHMAKER AND JEWELLER,

(loveniment Street, Victoria, B. 0.

Chronometers, AYatches, Clocks and ;Tewellery Re^jaired and

Guaranteed. Orders by mail or express promptly

attended to. Optical goods in great variety.

M. R. C. S., England ; L. S. A., London.

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Street, near Fort. Offiok IIoi ks— 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 6 p.
m. to 8:30 p.m. Women- -2 to 4 p.m. Post Office Box
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'^•ng^mmi^i^mmmimiimmm

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BH.EDTx

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rm.

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better prepared to supply the trade and families than any
other brewery in the city. City and Mainland orders prompt-
ly attended to. Orders solicited. Brewery on tlie corner of
Herald and Government streets. P.O. Box 376, Victoria.

SURGICAL & MECHANICAL

All operations performed with ease and skill, n id warrant-
ed satisfactory. Hare-Lip and Clef Palate treated and a per-
fect restoration guaranteed. Fine GOLD work a specialty.
Office over Victoria House (D enny^s) Gov't St., Victoria

G.OROWTHER,

Writing, Ornamental and General

ENGRAVER & STENCIL GUTTER.

Inscriptions on gold and silver door and coffin plates. Arms,
crests, ciphers and monogi'ams neatly engraved. Fort Street
near Blanchard, Victoria, B. C. '

2) ,'

ER.

Arms,
Street,

evidently has been sfttiafactory, as they have continued to
work it from the time it was discovered in September, until
along in November when I left the country. On the opposite
side of the North fork of t he Similkameen is a small creek
that is worked by some white men. The result, at least to
me, is unknown. On eight mile Creek still further up some
claims are worked by the Chinese. The only information
that can be got from them is " two bittie some days, and four
bittie, and some days six bittie." As this is with them a
stereotyped answer, and would be just the same whether it
was four bits or four hundred dollars they were making per
day, this is just the same as no information at all, and the
fact that they are working there, is the only proof that the}'
are making anything. There is a falls on this creek, ' jich
is so extremely difficult to get over that it, as far as I have
learned, has ended all prospecting tours on the creek.
Above this creek on the main river, for five or six miles at
least, is, I feel well assured, the best gold diggings in the
country, Granite creek not excepted. The river here flows
through a canyon that much resembles the canyon of Granite
creek. This rich spot was discovered by Chinamen early in
the Spring, but with the wonderful talent that they have for
keeping their business to themselves, it was strongly sus-
pected, but never certainly known, until this fall, what they
were doing. There is now good reason to believe that this
canyon is immensely richer than Granite creek, and that this
summer a vastly greater amount of gold has been taken out
of it; one Chinaman alone carrying away twelve thousand
dollars. What the total result has been can only be guessd.
From the looks of their sluice boxes, that I saw on one of
my prospecting tours, I inferred that five or six hundred
dollars a day was not an unusual wash-up. As there were
two or three hundred mining along this river, it is not be-
yond the bounds of probability to say that the total amount
would not be less than two hundred thousand dollars. The
nuggets are much larger and plumper looking than those on

Granite creek. One of them, Mr. Allistou says, weighed
i|^147. The eighty-four dolhir nugget which Mr. Allister
showed around Victoria also came from there. The worst
of this is, this immense yield of the precious metal adds little
or nothing to the aggregate wealth of the country ; as near
as I can learn, this amount which should add just that much
to the intrinsic wealth of the country might, as far as bene-
titting the country is concerned, have been thrown into the
sea. What makes this peculiarly aggravating is that these
Chinamen, nearly if not quite all, worked without a license,
without which a man is violating the law to work at all, he
cannot be sworn in court, cannot collect any wages, in fact
has no rights at all that any one is under any obligation to
respect. This part of the law is always rigidly enforced and
taken advantage of with white men in mining camps every-
where, but for some reason or other the Chinamen were al-
lowed to take out this enormous amount of wealth without
recording claims, taking out litiences, or adding anything to
the revenue. They have been allowed to utterly disregard
the miners' laws in every particular. I must, however, say,
in justice to Mr. AUiston, that on several occasions he has
urged parties to go up there and stake off their claims and
work them, and he would see that they were protected iu
their rights. It is to be hoped that a well organized effort
will be made in the Spring to see this set right. Above this
canyon the river forks into several branches, one or two of
which is about the size of Granite creek; as I had seriously
injured my wrist by a fall from a rock I could do nothing in
the way of prospecting when I was there, but as far as ap-
pearances went everything seemed to m& to indicate a rich
bed rock. I went several miles above the last Chinese dig-
gings, but could not see the slightest indication that ever
a human being had been there before me. Since then John
Chance, with a party of two or three reliable men, have gone
up there to prospect and had not returned at the time I left
Granite creek. I shall be much disappointed if they do not

weighed
AUister
he worst
dds little
; as near
liat much
as bene-
L into the
hat these
Ei license,
Ett all, he
8, in fact
gation to
)rced and
ps every-
i were al-
1 without
lything to
disregard
aver, say.
Ins he has
aims and
)tected iu
zed effort
bove this
V two of
seriously
othing in
:ar as ap-
ite a rich
nese dig-
hat ever
len John
ave gone
me I left
ly do not

bring back good news, but shall not loose my faith in the
richness of that part until I prospect it myself. The Simil-
kameen below this canyon is evidently rich, but the immense
deposits of gravel have made the work of finding the bed-
rock extremely difficult, and no attempts have so far been
made. Nevertheless behind almost every point on the river
there is a camp of Chinamen, from which every person can
draw his own inference, as that is all that is known about
the river. Around the mouth of Granite creek several white
men have been sluicing out the bars. Mr. Goodfellow, who
is one of them, told me that two of them cleaned up forty
dollars as a result of the first six days work, but they ex-
pected to double that when everything got in working order.
This I think is about what can be done in almost any part of
the river. Had they used quicksilver the return would un-
doubtedly have been much greater, This country differs
very materially from almost any other gold country that I
ever heard tell of. It is both a gold producing country, and
also a good grazing country, and a grazing country
is supposed to be coven d with grass, and grass and
the soil in which it grows will effectually cover up all surface
indications of mineral wealth. In Nevada and Utah a good
mineral ledge can be seen for miles, and will attract the
notice of any miner who goes anywhere in the neighborhood
of it. Not so is it in the Similkameen country. Mountains
and valleys alike are covered with trees and grass, and the
vegetable soil that is necessary to their existence, and it is
only here and there in the canyons and places washed bare
by the streams and from the small outcropping on the
mountains, that any idea can be gained of what mineral
wealth there is in the country. When we know therefore
that not more than probably the millionth part of the surface
of the rocks is exposed to view, should we not feel hopeful
in regard to the future of this as a mineral country. With
these almost overwhelming disadvantages an immense
amount of mineral wealth has already been discovered.

There is a seam of the very best bituminous coal running
through the country. How many more there are similar to it
will probably never be known. There may be a hundred
more, as the country has not been explored and of course no
one can tell. There is a copper mine on the south Similk-
ameen which it is quite possible will far surpass the Cal-
umet and Hecla, of Michigan, but of course it will remain
unworked until railway facilities are provided. Mr. R.
Stephenson has discovereti a quartz ledge somewhere near
the head of Granite creek that is altogether too rich to be
believed by all the readers of this book. I will not say what
it assayed as I did not see the report, but would refer all
who may be interested to the above named gentleman. His
address, I believe, is Chilliwhack, B. C. John Chance also
claims to have discovered a ledge of unparalleled richness.
There are also quartz ledges discovered in different parts of
the country, but they are too numerous to be mentioned in
detail. In conclusion I think it proper to say that I have
no interest in any quartz ledge or mining property of any
description i*nywiiere in British Columbia. I make this
statement as it is possible that it may be thought that the
facts recorded might be colored on account of ^self-interest.

1 running
lilar to it

hundred
50urse no
i Similk-

the Cal-
1 remain
Mr. R.
lere near
ich to be
say what

refer all
m. His
mce also
ichness.
parts of
ioned in
.t I have
y of an J
ake this
that the
interest.

9CALE :/lCh.%,fhelhc}u

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THE

PAY/ A/a PORTION

GRAA//TE CHEEK

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,^a«»l

GENEIIAL DESCUUPTION OK OIIAMTE (UlEEK.

Gninito crook rifio > in tlio moiiiitaiiiM ii<vir tlio Hope
trail; iit first it runs oastwardly, tlion sonthorly, uud iift(!r
the small stream called tlin North fork joins it its general
course is due soutlmast. Its entire length is from twenty-
five to thirty miles. Its volume of wattu* is about twice
that of Yale creek. Thoso who appear to know most about
it say that it begins to riso about the tirst of May and is
hifijln^st about the first of Juno when it bej^ins to subside
and the water continues to grow less until the fall rains
commence. In the spring, during the months of March
and April, the wati^r is s lid to Ix? the lowest that it is dur-
ing the whole year. H')w all this information has been
obtained I never could learn, but think it extremely reason-
able that it is in the main correct. As the creek was only
discovered in July huit nothing is known in regard to it pre-
vious to that month, but judging from what we know of
other creeks that are sitnilarly situated we infer that the
water should be at its highest about tln^ first of June, the
snow does not go ofi* the mountains where the Hope trail
crosses until about the first of July; the period when the
greatest amount of snow would be raeltod would be about
the first of June, and as the months of March and April are
the months when the least snow would be melted on the
mountains, it is reasonable to suppose that at that time the
creek would be lower than at any other period. When we
arrived at Granite creek, about the tenth of August, we
found the creek higher then than it was at any time during
our stay with the exception of the freshet that occurred
about the thirteentii of September and lasted for two or
three days. From the mouth of the creek for about fi ^e or
six miles it may be said to flow through a canyon the bottom
of which is but little wider than the creek in low water and

,. ^!

not any wider than the creek itself in high water. Even in
low water there is hardly sufficient room on the nmrgin of
the creek for the tirst three miles to either set a tent or
build a cabin, and nearly all the miners on the creek have
their habitations upon small beaches in the side of the
mountain at heights varying from one hundred and fifty to
five and seven hundred feet, and have to travel up and down
for all the water they use. Some of them, when I first ar-
rived, had to use a rope to cling to in going up and down.
About a mile and a half from the mouth there is a small
creek which has been named after the discoverer of Granite
creek; around this creek at an elevation of seven or eight
hundred feet above the bed of the main stream a small vil-
lage has grown up of some twenty or thirty dwellings most
of the inhabitants of which walk or rather climb down to
their work in the morning and up at uight Several enter-
prising villagers undertook the work of sinkiug a shaft here
which they did in a thoroughly miner-like manner. When
1 last heard from them they were down about fifty feet and
had struck some slide rock, but had not as far as I could
learn found any of the precious metal. They did not how-
ever seem to be in the least discouraged and intended to run
an audit from the side of the mountain below to drain it.
About two miles further on there is a place where the can-
yon on the north west side of the creek ceases, and the bank
is comparatively easy of ascent and descent. Around this
another villiage has grown, much larger than the one jusi:
mentioned, but much scattered around and taking up a much
larger area of the mountain side, here they have a store well
filled with miners' supplies It is expected that here a work
of considerable magnitude will be undertaken either this
winter or early next spring; a company has been formed of
some of our leading citizens who intend to run a tunnel
through a bank or ridge for about a thousand feet. The
cause of this bank or ridge seems to be that an immense
mass of rock fell out of the side of the mountain, this is sup-

posed to Jiave happened previous to the glacial period, and
during that period the gorge or canyon of the creek was filled
with drift as high as the top of the fallen rock. Daring the
time that has elapsed since while the creek wp« wearing out
its bed it was turned behind this fallen rock and this ridge
from the rock to the north west bank is a part of the glacial
drift tl'.a't ul 'e filled the whole canyon to this level, and has
not yet been washed down or sluiced out, the object of the
company is to explore the old bed of the creek whicii is somo
eight or nine feet lower than its present bed. There is also a
company at work fiuming the creek in this neighborhood, and
it is also near here where Archie Mclntyre, struck what is
probably the richest spot in the whole creek. I mean the rich-
est but not the largest or best in every respect. Above this the
creek is wider and the bed rock deeper and here and there,
there is room to erect a small house or tent on the bank. The
creek now widens out in places, and in one place immediate-
ly below the forks, there is a bar over one hundred feet in
width, I have heard several give it as an opinion that there
is enough gold in that bar to pay the national debt, but of
course no one knows nor ever will know until a large amount
of time and n'.ouey is expended. I have however heard just
before I left that the men who were working there had after
about a month of patient toil struck it rich. If this be true
then it is indeed a bonanza.

Above this bar Granite creek assumes its old canyon-like
appearance for about a quarter of a mile or more, when it
slightly widens out until it reaches Pogue & Co.'s upper
claim, when it again assumes its canyon-like appearance.
The north fork of Granite creek has so far been but little
prospected. As the creek is but small and the masses of
rock that form its banks are almost perpendicular, there is in
many places rock slides to be removed before the bed can be
reached. I am of the opinion, and so are several others,
whose opinions I much respect, that for at least half a mile
on the north side of this creek, about half a mile above where

it joJDS Granite creek, gold in payinf; quantities will be
found. There have been reports of gold having been found
up the stream two or three miles, but it is not likelj, as it is
certain that very little prospecting has ever been done on
the creek. About a mile above Pogue <fe Co.'s claim, on the
main stream or Granite creek, another alHuent joins it about
twice the size of the north fork. I have on the map called
it Quartz creek, on account of a lode of quartz, by far the
greatest in width that 1 have yet seen in the country. It is
white quartz; tlie ledge or lode being about eleven feet in
width. I could not, however, see any indications of gold.
On Granite creek, about a half mile below the mouth of this
creek, there is a short turn, making the bend considerably
less than a right angle. In the corner as we may say, or at
the apex of this angle, is a quartz lode by far the best look-
ing of any I had yet seen. It is about two feet in width and
walled up on either side with very soft slate. There were
also veins of slate three or four inches wide in the quartz.
I spent considerable time testing the quality, but all my
eftbrts to find indications of gold or other precious minerals
were useless. About two miles further up, the canyon of
Granite creek cet? es altogether, and the creek that I believe
from its mouth up would average nearly two feet of fall or
descent in the hundred, now will not average more than a
fall of six inches in the hundred feet; this continues for
about three miles, when th': descent of water is more rapid.
We now come to the new diggings discovered about the 5th
of November last. I saw no indications of their richness
when 1 passed over them on the 22iid of September. I,
however, noticed that the gravel contained very small flakes
of gold. I inferred from this that the diggings were not there
but that the creek was rich several miles further up. This was
just the conclusion that I and an old California miner came
to when we were digging on a part of the creek that was
afterwards taken up by A. Mclntyre. As near as I can learn
we were digging right over a piece of bed rock that after-

will be
11 found

as it is
:loiie on
, on the
it about
p called

far the
. It is

feet in
of gold.
1 of this
iderably
Lj, or at
:^st look-
dth and
jre were
I quartz.
t all my
minerals
,nyon of
[ believe
)f fall or

than a
aues for
[•e rapid,
t the 5th
richness
ber. I,
ill flakes
not there
This was
ler came
that was
jan learn
lat after-

II '

1 '

JOSEPH SEARS,
PAINTER, GLAZIER AND PAPER-HANGER,

Dealer in all kinds of

57 Yates Street, Victoria, B. V.

FELL & CO.»

WHOLESALE AND FAMILY

a-2

7 ^fy

Fort Street, Victoria, V. L,
ARE IIV A POSITION TO SFPPLl

And all large consumers of groceries on

ADVANTAGEOUS TERMS FOR GASH.

Goods packed and sent to any part of B. 0. or north coast.

!0),IK1L,^),***I^

•J>

TO MINERS!

Go to Powell's Blacksmith Shop to buy the l)est warranted
Miners' Picks in the market, wholesale and retail. Carriages
of all descriptions neatly and promptly repaired. Jlastern
Oak, Hickory, Maple, Ash, and Elm for sale cheap. |

SHOP — Oorner Johnson and Proad Sts., Victoria.

wards yielded gold at the rate of about two ounces an liour
to the raau, and had Ave gone but a foot or two farther we
Avould have struck it. That this may be the way with the
diggings on the south fork lately discovered is as far as I am
able to judge quite possible, but I cannot say that I even
hope to hear any such good news. However T shall listen
with great interest to any news that may come from those
new locations.

lASH.

coast.

HOW PLACER-MINING IS GENERALLY DONE ON
GRANITE CREEK AND ELSEWHERE.

The way in which claims on Granite creek are usually
worked is about as follows: A wing-dam, as it is called, is
first constructed, which is done by first clearing out the bed
of the creek along the site of the proposed wing-dam; then
erecting two parallel stone walls, about two feet apart, length-
ways with the creek, until the up stream end of the part de-
sired to be worked is reached, when the walls are turned into
the bank, thus enclosing about half the creek. All the
water in the creek is thus turned to one side of this dam.
The dam is not, however, finished until the space between
those walls is filled with earth taken out of the sides of the
bank; the cracks between the stones that form this dam
being well chinked up with grass gathered off the sides of
the mountains. Where timber is plenty wood is often used,
and the daius are constructed on the crib principle. As
there are no wheelbarrows in this country, boxes made out
of split cedar are generally used for carrying dirt from the
bank to fill in the dam. After the dam is completed and
made as near water-tight as possible, a sluice box is erected.
This <;ousists of a number of sections of troughs, rather than

boxes, which are made of boards usually 12 feet long. The
bottom board in each of those sections being 12 feet long,
12 inches wide at one end and ten at the other. The sides
are generally 10 inches high, thus enabling the down-stream
end of one section of the sluice box to slip easily into the
up stream end of the section below it. Riffles to catch the
gold, or rather to keep the gold from washing out at the
lower end of the box, are put in at the lower end of these
pactions. These riffles consist of a number of pieces of
small timber, about an inch and a half in diameter, and
iiattened on two sides until they are all of the same thick-
ness, and are generally ten and a half inches long. They
are put in a row about half an inch apart, and a piece about
a half an inch tliick nailed on their ends, thus constituting
a frame similar to a ladder with the rounds very close
together, measuring aboat twelve inches in width, and
from three to four feet in length. These riffles, however,
are sometimes put in lengthways, and those small pieces of
timber are four feet long instead of ten and a half inches.
Which is the best way can be determined by experiment,
as they are easily made, and every person can be easily
suited, which ever style he prefers. If the sluice box is
made water-tight, and the riffles put in and the water
turned into the up stream end, the work of sluicing out the
gravel in the side of the creek, enclosed by the wing, dam is
commenced. It generally requires four or five men to shovel
into the sluice box, and one to stand in the water at the
lower end to shovel away the tailings. The water in the
sluice box has to have a current sufficiently strong to wash
away all the stones and gravel thrown into it. As gold is
supposed to be heavier than anything else, it takes more
force to carry it over those riffles, and therefore finds its
way down between them, and remains in the bottom until
the riffles are taken out. This is generally done in the eve-
ning, and all the gravel and sand washed away. There is,
however, a black sand that seems to always accomv Any gold,

and as it is much heavier tlian any other sand found in
creeks it stays with the gold, and is generally taken out of
the sluice box with it. There are also small pieces of iron
rock, called the devil's dice, that are afterwards picked out
in the wash-pan. The gold, while hi the wash-pan, is then
placed over a fire and thoroughly dried, after which a mag-
net is used to take the black sand out of it. As this sand
seems to be like iron filings in every respect it adheres to
the magnet, and is taken out and the sand brusheJ off.
There is, however, a curious metal found, more or less, in
every wash-up of gold on Granite creek. It is of the same
weight as the gold, at least so near that I could not detect
any difference, and I have known several others who have
tried it, and came to the same conclusion. If there was any
difference at all between it and the gold it was the heaviest,.
In shape it exactly resemble.-? the gold, and I believe that
had it been of the same color no person up to the present
time would have suspected that it was anything else. It was
at first thought to be platina, as that is the only metal that
is generally supposed to be heavier than gold. It was said
afterwards to be irridium, and again an amalgam of silver,
called arquerate of iron. I understand that some of it has
been sent to Montreal, to be thoroughly tested. The result
will be watched by all enquiring minds with considerable
interest. Quicksilver is also used on the riffle-principle
to keep the gold from washing out of the sluice box; the
well-known fact that gold is heavier than quicksilver being
taken advantage of, and everything else that is thrown into
the sluice box being lighter than gold, and also lighter than
quicksilver, and everything having to pass over a small pool
of quicksilver, of course nothing but the gold sinks to the
bottom. Quicksilver is seldom used unless the gold is in
very small particles, when a small pool of it is placed near
the lower end of the sluice box, to catch the small particles
that naturally drift farther than the rest. As the gold on
Granite creek is very coarse, the use of quicksilver is alto-

gether unnecessary, and I am not aware of it having been
used in a single instance. It is, however, generally used
along both forks of the Similkameen — on bars along the
river, and in places where bed-rock cannot be reached.
The rocker is generally used in testing claims — finding out
whether they are likely to pay or not; and frequently, for
want of means, and on account of the difficulty of procuring
lumber, and there not being a, sufficient descent of water in
the creek, and for many other reasons, the rocker is all that
is used for working out claims. This resembles an ordinary
wooden box, placed on rockers similar to those of a cradle,
A sieve is placed over an opening in the top of the box, and
filled with the pay dirt, a man stands alongside of this box,
with one hand rocking it from side to side, and with the
other bailing water into the sieve; all the gold, as well as the
stones small enough to pass through the seive are washed
down an incline, along which riffles are placed, and out at
one end of the box. On account of the smallness of the
space the incline is first in one direction and then the oppo-
site. The first incline nearest the top often consists of a
frame with small slats several inches apart, over which a
piece of woolen blanket is spread, the spaces between those
slats where the blanket sags serving for riffles to catch the
gold.

How the wash-pan is used, is hardly worth the trouble
of describing to a person of good common sense. The
directions for its use are — Fill it nearly full of dirt, then quite
full of water, and shake it until you think all the gold in it
has settled to the bottom; then put the pan under water,
and as gently as possible wash all the dirt out of it, taking
care all the time to keep the gold down to the lowest place.
This is done by giving the pan an occasional shake side-
ways, and thus, by continual washing and shaking, you will
come to about half an inch of black sand in the turn at the
bottom of the pan. You can find out whether there is any
gold there or not by patiently washing it away, or washing

-ft

it
hi

it over the bottom of the pan. If there is any gold there
you will see it at once, as the bhick sand forms an excellent
back ground. The only word of caution meded is — Dont
let the w'sh-pan get greasy. This may be considered un-
necessary; but when the gold-pan is also used for mixing
bread in and baking it, as well as for frying meat and
washing dishes, this advice might save many persons coji-
siderable annoyance.

HOW TO GET THERE.— THE HOPE TKAIL.

opening

The most convenient way for persons who live on the
Pacific coast to get to Granite creek is by the Hope trail,
which runs from Fort Hope on the Eraser River to the jun-
ction of the North and South forks of the Similkameen.
The distance by this route to the mines on Granite creek is 78
miles. In a direct line however the distance is not much more
than half that traversed by the present route; but
it is now too late in the season too talk of
any new routes the present Hope trail is the one
that wiji be used in the great rush that is certain to
ensue as soon as the spring opens. I propose therefore to
give all persons who contemplate going there in the spring as
correct an idea as I possibly can of the difficulties, dangers,
and privations, that will certainly have to be undergone by
every person who is determined to get there. I think, there-
fore, that I can do no better service than give my own ex-
perience, that is give the details of the journey I under-
took over the Hope trail during the month of August last,
(1885) and relate my impressions in regard to the journey,
and everything else that I think would interest the seekers of
the precious metal in the Similkameen country. I might

also say that I am a man in the prime of life, considerably
above the average size, and possess more than the average
power of endurance, and persons who may r'^ad the facts now
laid before them can arrive at their own conclusions in re-
gard to the best way to meet the difficulties of the undertak-
ing. I will also, as I proceed, show what I would have
done were I to undertake the same journey again, and also
give to the readers of this the benefit of an experience of
three months and a half in the country, and two trips over
this trail.

I left Yale about noon on the 5th of August and came
down on the train to Hope. I crossed over the Fraser River
in the ferry canoe, got an outfit of provisions at Mr, Wad-
dell's store, and about five o'clock in the evening, after tak-
ing a good square meal at one of the hotels, I, with six
others that constituted our party, started on our journey.
Our outfit consisted of provisions for four days, blankets,
some clothing and mining implements, which averaged about
sixty or seventy pounds to the man. The trail for the first
twenty-five miles has at one time been a waggon road,
but as nothing in the way of repairs has been done on it for
over twenty years there is not more than a mile or two in any
part of it that can be travelled with a waggon. The trail
that constitutes the balance of the route is in good condition
and considering the difficulties that have been encountered
it may be considered first-class. After leaving Hope we
made four miles when night closed in on us; we spread our
blankets under a tree and built a fire. As we were prepar-
ing to turn in for the night the sound of footsteps were
heard and a party of officers of the law came up, who de-
manded our names, and we all had to pass inspection. They
went away satisfied that the man they were looking for did
not belong to our party. In the morning we resumed our
up-hill journey, which was a continual ascent until near
noon, when we reached the heighth of land or the divide
which separates the waters of the Skagit from that which

flows into the Fraser. Our plan before leavinj^ Hope was to
reach the Fourteen-mile House by noon the next day, then
get to cedar flats that night and get seven or eight miles the
other side of the summit by the following night, and make
Mr. Alliston's ranch the next day. After reachiny: the
heighth of land we saw a small lake on the right hand side
of our trail, this had evidently buen the crater of a volcano
which had been in fiction at some time since the glacial
epoch. We had now followed the Nicolume river its whole
length and Inid ntached the head waters of the Sumallow,
which is a branch of the Skagit, and empties its waters into
Puget Sound a little north of Whatcom. The trail now
for a considerable distance is comparatively level. When
we arrived at the Fourteen-mile House, or where the
Fourteen-mile House was said to be, we neither found
the Fourteen-mile House, or any other kind of a house. I
concluded, therefore, that it existed only in the mind of
some theorist, who thought that some such place might,
could, would, should, or ought to be there. It was, how-
ever, told, for my special benefit, that the house iiad been
there, but had been burned down about twenty-five years
ago. This may have been a fact, although I did not see
even a handful of ashes, or aay other indication that a house
ever existed in the locality. However, it is certain thdt the
Fourteen-mile House of to-day is not a myth, but an actual
bona-fide log cabin, covered with shakes, but minus a door,
and I have heard say that for the small sum of four bits a
man can have the soft side of a plank split out of a cedar log
to sleep on and rest his weary limbs. This some may call
rough, but it is luxurious compared with situations that
miners are often placed in. Along in the afternoon we met
a pack-train coming in from the mines. The men in charge
of it gave such a discouraging account of the mines that
several of our party became disheartened, and one young
man, a half breed, became completely discouraged, and
turned back. The rest of the party kept on, Mnd we camped

at iiiglit on tho banks of the crook, uiulor an almost porpon-
(lienlar wall of rock over three thousand feet high. On my
return from the mines I travelled from twelve o'clock until
night in the shade of this rock, never at any time obtaining
a single glimpse of the sun. We passed ctnlar Hats about
11 o'clock the next day, and that night we encamped in about
three miles of the summit. That evening we met a young
man, with whom we were all well acquainted, who was re-
turning from the inin«!s completely disgusted. He told us
that there was not more than a mile and a half of tho creek
good for anything; what gold there was was in pockets, and
it cost more to find those pockets or pay streaks than they
were worth after they were found, and there was no chance
for a man to get anything without g(nng to an expense of
several hundred dollars on a wing-dam, and nothing could
be done, not even i)rospecting, without a wing-dam, etc.
However we were not discouraged, but started on the next
morning, and, after a long up-hill tramp, where the trail
had to be made in a zig-zag fashion, as the hill was too
steep to be ascended any other way, we reached the summit.
The mountain scenery around the head of the Skagit is the
grandest I ever beheld. There is also along the trail we
traversed this morning what seems tome to be unmistakable
evidence of a rich gold-producing region; and I shall be
much disappointed if rich diggings are not yet found in this
neighborhood. It should here be remarked that from the
end of the wagon road, at the head of the Skagit to the
summit, there is another trail besides the one I have been
describinj^^, called the canyon trail. To follow this would
make the journey a little longer, but it is a consideration to
those who j>re traveling with horses to know that there is
more grass along this trail than the one we traveled. On
reaching the summit we found everything looking as though
it was the month of April or May, instead of August. The
weather was balmy, the grass fresh and green. Strawberries
were just getting ripe, and spring flowers of every descrip-

<JRE AI. ♦ ESTATES*

BRITISH^^COLUISaCBIil..

Hand Urns, luvd un rffcrcncc^. Tli«>v liavc offlctcrt at Vic-
toria, New Wt'Htminritoi' aii<l Van<M>uv»T (Coal llarlior), aiul
are better |)rej)ai-e(l to «lo ImHiiieHs with ntraii^ei-s than any
otlier tinn in the Provinee. ItenuMiiher the name,

REAL ESTATE BROKERS, FINANCIAL & INSURANCE AGENTS,

Victoria, \ew Westminster and Vancouver (Coal Ilarlior),

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

N. R— Messrs. WllEELEIi cV- IIAXEV represent Rand
Bros, at Granite Creek, H. C.

ALBION [RON WORKS CO., Li«m

VICTORIA, B. C.

ENGINEERS, IRON & BRASS FOUNDERS, &G.

Woi'ks on Store, Discovery, Chatham and Herald Sts.
Offices on Chatliam Street.

Manufactnrera of Marine and Land EnKipen and Boilern of every deHi^n, Saw Mills.
Mining and AKriuultural MachiniTy, HoiHtint; EuKineH, Uteain PumpH. Hydraulic
PumpH and PrwBHes, Hydraulic Piping, Ht'r«w and Lever PresseR, CraneH, Winces,
Derricks, Jackscrews.

BRASH GOODS— InjectofH. lubricators, check and tfhibe valves, cocks, steam
Kauges, safety valves, bells, hose couplings, etc,, etc,

CONTRA(rrOR8' PLANT— Car wheels, bridge bolts and couplings, etc.

STOVE DEPARTMENT— A complete set of i|iiproved modern imtterns, suitable to
the requirements of the Province, and of heavier and more dnrable construction than

liHh fenders, tea kettles, fire dogs,, fountains, etc.

ROBERT DUNSMUIR, President. li, P. RITHET, Vice-Persident,

W. F, HULLEN, Secretary. A. Gk . if, Manager.

Government St., Victoria, B. C.

^«THOS. C J^BRXNGTOM^

Importer of and dealer in

CROCKERY,

Ji.

Glassware, Table Cutlery, and Lamp Stock, etc.

WOODENWARE, WILLOW-WARE, BRUSHES, FIRE
IRONS, BROOMS, FENDERS, COAL SCUT-
TLES AND TOILET SETS.

COUNTRY ORDERS PROMPRY EXECUTED.

Address, P. O. Box 586, Victoria, B. C.

'S/^m^

Direct Importer of

MINING SUPPLIES A SPECIALTY.

I keep a very large stock of goods suitable for miners,
farmers, blacksmiths and traders, all of which I offer at the
LOWEST PRICES possible. Having had a long practical
pvinerience in the mines, I am ccmpetent to buy goods which
I tnow will suit my customers. Wend for prices to

Government St., "Victoria. Telephone 57. P.O.Box 37.

■M

ners,
the
tical

tion were in full bloom. On passing the summit a very
marked change was noticeti. The country on the other side
of the summit looked like some old deserted farm, the
grass looking green and fresh, and the country having the
appearance of a rolling prairie. This kind of country
continued until we reached the corral, whore we had dinner.
We traveled on the rest of the day, until we reached the
nine-mile creek, where we encamped for the night. Here
we were overtaken by our half-breed companion who had
turned back in disgust. It seems that on his way back he
felt ashamed of his conduct, and followed on after us. It
might be interesting to know that about five weeks after
this he left the creek with over 500 dollars in gold. The
rest of our lournev to Mr. Alliston's ranch, which is called
on the maps Princeton, was through a beautiful grazing
country, where we arrived about noon. Here, for the first
time, I met John Chance, the discoverer of Granite creek,
who showed sonoe specimens of the gold, and gave rr ^ his
history of itt. discovery, and told me how he had found the
blue gravel belt, and had traced it all the way from Cali-
fornia, and had followed it up till he reached the blow-out,
and referred me to Humbolt's Cosmos for proof of his
theory. I found him whole-souled, warm-hearted, and ready
and willing to oblige in any way. This, howover, I might
say of all the cow-boys I have met in the country It s<5ems
to be only when they get outside of a certain quantity of
whisky that they are disposed to those acts of lawlessness
that have made them famous all over the world. In the
morning following we stiirted to finish our journey of twelve
miles to Granite creek. We had very wisely employed an
Indian, or Siwash as they are called here, to carry our packs
on horseback to the end of our journey, and reached Gra::ite
creek about noon. There is a mountain two or three thou-
sand feet high to be passed over between Alliston's and
Granite creek. There is a creek before you commence the
ascent, and no more water until you get pretty well ov«r it-

37.

l^ravelets carrying l>eavy packs^ not aware of this, have
often suffered from thirst. Our journey was completed
about noon on Saturday, thus making four and a half days
of actual travel. I do not however wish it to be inferred
that it cannot be done in less timow On my returb trip t
traveled alone> aud left Granite creek on Thursday, about
2 o'clock, and arrived at Hope about noon on the Sunday fol«
lowing, thus making ^t on foot in less than three days. I
would, however^ advise any person who wishes to make this
journey, before he leaves Hope, to purchase a horse> or one
of those small ponies owned by the Indians, which are
called cay uses. These are sold on an average of from twenty
to thirty dollars each; and if it were for nothing other than
looks I would say buy a cayuse, if yor »^ not altogether
dead-broke, or buy a cayuse if yon . ru /'/bow. You will
then have i. horse to ride after you g ^ c: ...o, and as this is
looked on as a patent of nob^'ity, or a lamd of certificate
that you at some time hud been somebody, it becomes an
almost actual necessity for you to have one. Of course,
when you get there you will have to turn him out to grass on
the mountains, and the likelihood of your ever seeing him
again, without costing quite as much as the animal is worth,
is not by any means encouraging; but then, if you don't find
him, buy another. Look after your dignity; the usages ot
society must not be disregarded. When horses pre only
twenty dollars each a man must indeed be a h'.«$:ti*|« who
would walk. Therefore, I would say to everycr c **" iaast
to every small party of men: — Buy a horse and a ui' '• aj^ -d'e.
'You. need not put any bridle or halter on him. Ju&' (?nve
him on ahead of you, and he will pick his living as he goesv
'Yon require to take a rope with you, forty or fifty feet long,
so that you can stake him out at night. In this way you can
travel comfortably, and when you get to Granite creek you
'cau go into town with enough diguitv to make the impression
that you are not a beat or a tramp, »a- most li' ly a man of
means. I should mention also that by the r > ; the ru»h

oommenoes in the spring many of the inoonveniences of
travel will have disappeared. There is now a fourteen-mile
house, and very shortly there will be a twenty-nine mile
house opened, and a house the other side of the summit I
am told is soon to be erected - These, with the house on
Brumley's ranch, will furnish all the stopping places needed
on the route. I do not know of any more that I could say
that would he of any benefit, other than it will not pay to
take any mining implements with you, as these can be obrr
taiued there at far less prices than yon would be willing to
carry them there for, A. tent and two pair of blankets you
must have if you wish to do any prospecting. These, howr
bver, can also be obtained there; but it is always wise to be
sure iliat you are comfortable at night when traveling among

TABLE OF DISTANCES,

The town at the mouth of Granite creek is distant

FROM ^ILES.

Hope , 78

Yale... 93

Bpence's Bridge ^ . . - r lOQ

Kamloops , . . . . 107

Eagle Pass (via Oakonagou lake) 158

Victoria (via Fort Hope) ,,...,. 234

Victoria (via Spence's Bridge) .....,......,., 366

Niiuaimo , . , . , 172

Nicob Valle; 65

Kittle Rive* country . . , lOd

Oakonagon Lake 62

Oakonagon Mission 107

Kootenay , 246

TABLE OF DISTANCES— CONTINUED.
FROM. MILES.

Tlie summit on the Hope trail 35

Ariston's raiich 11

Brumley's ranch (by the new trail) 12'

The mouth of Bear Creek. . . .'. 12|

The Edines on B^rtr Creek .' 14

The mouth of Eagle Creek ..... .

The mouth of Collins' Gulch.

The north fork of Granite Creek

The canyon on the north Similkameen

21
4

3f
13

Hope, in a direct line : . , 42

IS THE COUNTRY HEALTHY ?

The country is healthy. There never was a healthier
place under the sun. These are a sample of the answers that
will be given in every instance to persons who ask the above
question. I am not sure that anjr person there has been sick
of more than what are called ordinary indispositions; and I
am sure that no person has died there since the mining ex-
citement started, unless within the last v eek, or since the
latest news came from there. There was a doctor — a man of
acknowledged ability — one of the best in the country, came
out there to practice at the tiii>e the rainy season com-
menced, the most unhealthy time during the year, but it was
no use, there was nothing for him to do there, so he packed
up and left.

A CURIOUS INCIDENT.

When in Eastern Canada I heard of a place out in the
Western states so healthy that thty had to shoot a man to
start a burying ground. But a better story than this can be
told about Granite creek, as it seems that even 'a that way

■*»•;

the}- cannot start a burying ground. I saw a coWboj shoot a
man in the foi'ehead with the raost murderous-looking re-
volver I ever saw, and at a distance of not more than two
or three rods. Whether the above object was what he in-
tended, or what it was I do not know; but the facts of the
case are: When shot the man fell like an ox, but was instantly
on his feet again, and has been going around attending to his
business ever since. His name is James Newlan. How it
was that he lived is a mystery that I cannot explain; neither
have I ever heard any explanation given that seemed at all
satisfactory in regard to it.

THE TRAIL FROM EAGLE PASS THROUGH THE
SPILLAMACHEEN COUNTRY.

This trail is by far the best to be taken by any person com-
ing from the East who wishes to see the country, and form for
himself some idea of its capabilities, and would be the route
best suited to the agriculturist, stock-raiser, or sportsman. The
first thirty miles is taken by a steamer. This brings the trav
eler to the Spiilamacheen country. Here he will see some ex-
cellent farming land undergoing a high state of cultivation.
A journey of twenty miles, over a good wagon road, will
bring him to the head of Oakonagon lake. He can now take
the east side, and go as far as the Mission, and then cross
the lake, or he can take a sail-boat that plies on the lake,
and go the whole length of it if he chooses; or he can take
the west side, and twenty-five miles will bring him to Short's
hotel. From Short's hotel to Princeton there is an old
Hudson Bay trail that would be thirty miles shorter than
going down to the southern end of the lake. This trail has
probably been opened up since the gold excitement broke

out. If not, he will have to go south thirty -five miles, and
then up the Similkameen forty miles, when he will arrive at
Princeton. From Princeton it is eleven miles up the north
fork to the mouth of Granite creek. The town at the mouth
of this creek is now, and is likely to be, the great centre of
the mining industry of the Similkameen country. If you
think of engaging in mining operations this is to be your
head quarters. If you have not yet seen any agricultural or
grazing land to suit you, you can move on up the river along
the Otter river trail to Nicola Valley, From there you can
go either to Spence's Bridge, or Kamloops. But, if it is
possible to suit you, you must certainly have been satisfied,
ds no better farming or grazing land is to be seen anywhere.

FROM WHOM INFORMATION MAT BE GAINED.

Persons desiring further information would do well to
write to the following gentlemen, via. : Capt. Sherbourne,
Henry Nicholson, of Granite creek, and J. F, AUiston, of
Princeton, Similkameen country.

Henry Nicholson is the Recorder for the Granite creek
district, and, until recently, was the owner, along with
Thomas Cole, of a claim about half a mile from the mouth of
the creek. Capt. Sherbourne is the proprietor of the best
known claim on the creek, it being right in front of the
business part of the town, and has had a record of over seven
hundred dollars per day, of 24 hours. The captain is a man
well known as a gentleman, because he cannot be anything
else, it being natural to him. He is strictly honest,
straightforward and square in his dealings, and thoroughly
reliable. Mr. Alliston is the cattle-king of this country,
and has resided here for over twenty years, and has filled

the office of Gold Commissioner, I believe, for about that
length of time. He is unquestionably the best authority
there is in regard to the stock-raising and agricultural in>
terests. As I do not think he han seen enough of Granite
creek to form any correct idea of what there is there, I could
not recommend him as an authority on mining matters. The
other gentlemen, however, are thoroughly practical miners,
and have been on the creek ever since it was discovered. I
have taken the liberty of using the names of those gentle-
men without permission. I am, however, satisfied from
what I know of the captain that he would cheerfully and
promptly answer any honest enquiry, although it costs fifty
cents to get a letter, and the same to mail one; and as no one,
except a beat or a trarap or a thief, ever expects to get any*
thing in this world without giving some value in return, I
would recommend all who wish for information to use some
■of the ^nanticU grease thai, keeps the world moving, as it is
likely that it will add to th<3 qualitj, as well as the quantity,
of the information received^

WHAT TO DO WHEN tOU GET THERE.

This is a very important consideration, and can bottec
be determined on arriving than toid six months before yon
are there. Bwt it is well known that every person can do
better in the second attempt than he can the first. So it is
not possible for a man to know as well what to do on arriving
at Granite creek as one who had spent several months tiiere
already. When you arrive next spring Granite creek may
have lost its prestige, and be only a second or third-rate
creek, or it may then be what it is now — the best in the
country. If this should be the case, then you had better try

voiir luck in the best placH you can find on the creek. All
the claims on the creek have been laid over until the 15th of
June, 1860, so that if the Gold Commissioner does not issue
any new orders, on the 18th of June, or three days afterward,
all the claims on the creek that are not represented will be
forfeited, unless so.ne reasonable cause can be shown for
their non-rei)resentation. It is more than likely that there
will be a large number of claims unrepresented. If there is
improve your chance. Take the first claim you come to. If
you should have the choice of several, take the one on the
lee side of some point; if there is a high blufl'of rock, your
chances for finding it rich are much greater. This rocky
point, should be on the north-west side of the creek. If you
should happen to get on a good claim, you are pretty sure to
be accused of being hoggish, or called a claim-jumper, by
those who were not quite so fortunate; but if you have a
good claim you can afii^rd to stand a little abuse. It is
hardly to be expected that a good business man will let a
good chance slip just for the sake of manners. Besides
it is business; and no business man will find any fault with
another for taking a lawful advaniage when he knows that he
is right and the way is clear. Of course, the great point is
to be sure that you are right. It often happens when claims
Ave staked out that the names of more persons than are there
are put on the stakes, aud it also frequently happens that
claims are taken by persons who do not intend to work them,
and lire held for speculative purposes. It is your privilege,
or rather your duty, to fetch all such persons to time, and
the law gives you all the power that you require to do so.
[f you hear of some person on the creek that has four hun-
dred feet of it, and you go there and find that there is only
two men working there, and you are thoroughly convinced
that those two are all that ever had worked there, then, if
you want a claim, all you need to do is stake it off, and go
and record it. Your title to it is then as good as it possibly
ean be. Of course, if you wish to speculate in claims there

isiblv
there

THE OCCIDENTAL BARBER SHOP,

108 (Tovernmeut St., Victoria, l). O.

Shaving 15c;; Hair-Cuttiiig^ 25o.

All work done in first-class style.

Hair-Cutting a Specialty.

H. FRIED, Proprietor.

W. G. BOWMAN,

M¥im¥illlk/BE Bf AIM

Broad street, opposite Trounce Alley, and View street,
opposite Driard House, Victoria, B. C.

VICTORIA AND ESQUIMALT MAIL— FOUR
TIMES DAILY EACH WAY.

Leaves Victoria 8 and 11 a.m., and 2 and 5 ]).m. Leaves
Esquinmlt 9 a.m, 12 m., and 3 and 6 p.m. Fare, 15c.

I^argeflt and Best Livery Sttible in the Province. HorseB, Wagons, Carriage s, etc. ,
on hire. Careful and experienced drivers, well acquainted with all places of in-
terest in and about Victoria, furnished to tourists at reasonable rates.

3^^ -^--^ r^^

Importers of

PIANOS, ORGANS, AND ALL KINDS
OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Book and Sheet Music. Pianos rented and sold on easy
terms. (Tovernment St., next to T. N. llibhen & Co's.

HALL & LOWE,

THE LEADING

Govenmieut Street, Victoria, H. C, .

And 499 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

lALBION HOUSE

^^Proprietors.

BBOHTM*^

We particularly call the attention of Visitors and
our numerous Customers to the large and varied
stock of Dry Goods, both in Staple and Fancy De-
partments, to be found at our Establishment. We ai'e
constantly in receipt of all the Latest Fashions from
Europe. We make a specialty of Dolmans, J,ackets,
Ulsters, Silks, Satins, Gloves, Umln-ellas, tfec.

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Government Street,

Victoria, B. C

HENRY SHORT,

GUN & RIFLE MAKER

Importer of Guns, Kifles, Pilstols, Shot Belts, Aininnni-
tion, Fouches, Powder Flasks, Plated Ware, Pocket and Ta-
ble Cutlery, Fishing Taickle of all kinds. Gims and ' Rifles
made to order, and all kinds of liepairing neatly done.

Fort Street, near Government, Victoria, B. C.

'■''

SOI

kii

ar(
wli

III

SOI

riMi

is iiotliiiif,' tu hindt'i- you or any one else trying' your liaml
at it. But you will see by the act that all claims must be
worked, or else they are forfeited, ho it will cost any person
who wishes to speculate in mining pro[)eity on Granit<'
creek, just four dollars per day for every hundrt-d feet of
the creek he tries to hold— that is the wages of one man for
every hundred feet which the law recpiires must be repre-
s(!nted. This, every one knows, is too much interest alto-
gether for the investment, and speculating in mining pro-
perty will never get a consideration from any person that
knows anything about the way things are generally done
around placer mines. If, thcirefore, you know of any person
who wishes to speculate, go for him stravj/d, see that he has
no more <j[round than is "faithfullv and not colorably"
worked, as that is just what the law re(piires, and make him
dig or get out, and give place to some one who will work it
as it ought to be worked. T have >io doubt that there are
some who will say that this is encouraging claim-jumping,
and apt to cause trouble; but I feel well assured that if these
remarks produce any effect it will be exactly the opposite.
My experience is, that the worst trouble arises when the law-
is so seldom enforced that people get it into their heads that
it is a hardship to have it enforced at all, and this state of
things continues until loose, careless ways of doing things
are the rule. There should be no fault fouml with any per-
son for taking advantage of anyone wd\o may be violating
the law, as it will make others realize that it is to their ad-
vantage to have thiiigs done just right; and when everything
is done just according to law, all danger of troul)le is avoided.
You cannot, therefore, be too particular in seeing that your
ground is properly staked in exr.. r) / the way described in the
act. This is the first thing that you have to do to secure the
property; and if you have )-ecorded it, you can go on and w.)rk
the claim out, and as long as you are (piietly working there' is
no danrrer of beinji- molested. Your claim mav be rich, al-

r i

tliouglj you may .see tio indication of richness for the first two
or three feet. You catinotget any i<lea of what you are going
to get until you are near the bed-rock. If you should come
to five or six inches of hard, stitt clay before you rcjach the
be<l-rock you have struck a fortune. After you reach the
bed-rock yoii will have to be very careful to thoroughly clean
out all the cracks and crevices, as it is there that probably
the greatest amount of the wealth of your claim lies. You
caiuioG be too particular. You, should in fact use a sledge-
hammer, and break the surface of the rock down, and smooth it
ort' and wash it thoroughly. If Granite creek .should be con-
sidered next spring to be only a second-rate creek, and some
of the new discoveries should attract the most attention, I
would say, if you can get any hold on Granite creek stay with
it Its richness has been thoroughly tested; and "a bird in
the hand is worth two in th jush " But it is quite possible
that there may not for many v/ho read this book be even a
ghost of a chance on Granite creek. T' 's being the case all
you can do is to try the next creek tha ' hear about, and
if there has been gold discovered on it, scake out a claim as
near as you possibly can to where the gold has been found.
If the creek flows from the north it is hardly possible for it
to be rich. The reason for this 1 will explain in the chapter
on the origin of the gold deposits. If it flows from the south
or west it is possible that it may be rich; a south-eastwardly
direction is also favorable. If it flows from the north or
north-west, and proves rich, it is I believe an exception to all
the creeks in British Columbia. What has been said about
the lee-side of points m the north and north-west sides of
creeks will I think apply to all creeks everywhere. If the
ledges of rock cross the stream at nearly a right angle with its
general course, and those ledges are principally loose slate,
this might be taken as a very favorable sign. If the rock of
whatever kind is much decomposed, and easily falls to pieces
I>articularly where it is called red-iron rock, it is likely that

the bo<l-i<)ck in the creek is rich it' tliere is any g(»l<l in the
neighborhood.

1 think it also j)roper to say that if you liave n
revolver and Itovvic-knife it vvouhl l)e well for yon to hiuve
them at home, unless you think that the revoIv(»r vvouhl he
useful in killing grouse, and the bowie-knife in slicing up
bacon. If you intend the»n for any othe)- usu yon are only
making resolves that you know in your own heart and soul
you will never carry out. But if you are deternnned to
carry out any such pm'pose you will maki; either a nnu'derc!'
or a regular ass of yourself, the chances being over a hinidred
to one that it will be the latter. I am assurcMl, by the
highest and best authority, that the law will \m as strictly
and rigidly enforced on Granite creek next summer as it has
been in other parts of the country. There is to be a new
order of things, and the law administtred in a way that will
command respect, and make any pe/son who thought of
taking it into his ovvn hands ashamed to think that such an
idea ever occurred to him. The country is now furnished with
a good example of what is likely to result from a man think-
ing that he can make weapons useful in asserting his mining
rights and privileges. The man to whom I refer is R. E. Sproule^
of the Kootenay district, who it seems entertained this idea,
and put it into practice with the result that he has been ar
rested, tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged
on the 6th of March next.

TO WORKINGMEN.

To those who go there and do not inteml to take up claims
or work them, but simply work at whatever they can find to
<1o, I cannot say that the pro.spect is particularly assuring.

Thatwreat curse of the wliolc Pacific Coast (the ."Chinamen) is
licre as w ■! as everywhere else, and will work at whatever he
can find to do, and persons who work at ordinary labor for a
living are obliged to compete wnth this miserable race if
heathen slaves. Although T never knew as high wages paid
to them as to white men, still there is no reasonable d(;ubt
but that the wages paid would be nearly double what they are
if it were not tor the presence of this Asiatic curse. The
cfiptain, who has had the most men employed of any claim-
owner on the creek, has paid three dollars per day, wldch 1
think is the highest he ever paid for any kind of work.
Board by thj week is seven doHars, or fifty cents per meal.
Any person wishing to work at mining must provide himself
with a pair of india-rubber, or gum boots, which here cost
from 8 to 12 dollars, and a pick and a sV.ovel, which will cost
from 5 to 7 dollars. The work is not of tlie kind that poets
and romance writers prefer to picture their lieroes engaged in.
It is to stand in the bottom of a pit, in water up to your
knees, and pitch gravel into a sluice box filled with water,
and perhaps several feet higl;er than your head, or perhaps
vca may have the iob of shovelinij; tailinos away from the
lower end of a sluice bo:: or be enyaijed in cleaninfj out the
stones out of the bottom of the creek, or else carrying dirt
out from the l)ank in a box. This work is easy, and w^ould
not be n- ticed if a man is working for himself, and expects
to find several thousand doUai's when he reaches luvl-rock:
but when a man is working for wages, and those wages are
what he considers small, it goes rather hard. I think the
wages paid for mining up the creek are, as a rule, three doHars
and board; at least I have heard of that amount being paid.
But still T am of the opinion that three dollars per day wdU be
about the most that any ordinary laborer can expect to re-
ceive next summer. Carpenters and tradesmen of every sort
receive about the same. The business that gives employment
to a large number of men is whip-sawing. The price of lum-

ber when I first went to Granite creek was tift(^,en cents per
foot. Afterwards it was reduced to twelve, and tinaily to ten.
*. wdiich price it has remained firm ever .since, and is likely to
remain so. It is expected that a sawmill will be put up some-
where around here next summer; but still the whip-saw bu.si-
nes.s will go on as lively as ever. As there are no roads in'
this country all the lurid)er has to be carried on mejn's shoul-
ders, and of course the distance adds much to the exp^ftje,. and
it will be found easier and cheaper to whip-saw the lumber
and have it just where it is wanted. Splittino- out cedar
shakes and building houses is another occupation that gives
employment to a cimsiderable nundier of men. Drawing in
logs for houses wnll, I expect, give employment to several
teams and teamsters at good wages. 1 do not know just
what was paid for a day's work of a man and his team, I think
about seven dollars; but the work was generally done by the
job — that is drawing in logs by the piece; a dollar a log I have
heard is the usual charge. I know of one man who declared
that he could not make anything at teaming, nor do I think
this unlikely, as five cents per pound is the usual price for
hay, and six cents a pound for oats. Of course next spring
things will be entirely different in this respect. From a
general review of the situation J will say to ,.ny man who de-
pends on his day labor for a living, if you come here make uj»
your mind to go at mining for yourself, but if you cannot I do
not see any reason why your chances will not l)e as good here
as in an}' other part of British Columbia.

INFORMATION FOR THE TO'JRIST AND SPORTSMAN.

To tliose ijfentlemen in Toronto and Hamilton, who are

n the habit of spending a month or two of the summer in

camping out in the neighborhood of Muskoka Lake, 1 would

say: Next summer make a little change in the programme,
and come to a place where musquitoes, black flies, and other in-
sect pests of that description are almost unknown. You had
the.a better figure and arrange things so that you can take
the C. P. Railway and come to British Columbia, and spend
' whatever time you have to spare in the Similkameen country.
You would, by thus doing patronize a railway that deserves
your patronage.

The Canadian Pacific Company is the most enterprising
railway company in the world, and have undertaken greater
risks, with less prospect of immediate return, than any other
corporation of the kind on the continent; and its interests are
more linked with the future of oui country than any other
railway is, or can be. I do not know whether the Northern
extension is completed up to Lake Nippising or not. If it is
you can take the route by your favorite Muskoka Lake to
Callander, and thence by the C. P. R. around north of the
Georgian Bay and Lake Superior to Port Arthur. But I
would recommend the route by what was once the T. G. & B.
Railway to Owen Sound; thence by steamer to Port Arthur,
where you will take the C. P. Railway for Winnipeg. To
those who are in any way interested in machinery, I would
say stop at Fort William and take a look at the new elevator.
It has a capacity of one million three hundred thousand
bushels. The rubber belh that drives the machinery is prob-
ably the largest in the world. It is four feet wide, 16 ply (I
think), and weighs I do i^ot remem' jr how many tons, and is
three or four hundred feet long. If you care to look at
scenery you should take a day at Rat Portage. This will
,i,fford you a little relaxation, after a ride about the same dis-
tance as from Montreal to Toronto. Here you will have all
your Muskoka Lake scenery reproduced — only more interest-
ing and magnificent. The falls on the Winnipeg river
will well repay for the trouble and cost of a visit. I will
not take the trouble to describe the route, as it has been re-

ferred to in another place. I will only say that after you
pass through Manitoba, and thai, "lone land that is destined
to be homes for the teeming millions of Europe," the
Rocky Mountains, the Selkirks, the Gold range, and aci-oss
the Columbia River twice, you will find yourself on the
shore of Shushwap Lake at a small town called Eagle Pass.
You can, if you choose, take a steamer, and go thirty miles south
to the Spillamacheen country. After you are there you can
buy a horse at a price tliat will suit, which price ranges all
the way from ten, fifteen and twenty dollars, np to a hundred
the average price being al>out twenty-five dollars. After you
have purchased a horse and a camping outfit, you can start
out and go just where j'OU please. The country, for hun-
dreds of miles, is covered with grass and trees that do not at
all interfere with a person traveling on horseback. You can,
if you choose, take the route I have described through the
Spillamacheen country. But, perhaps, when you arrive at
Eagle Pass your better plan would be to stick to the train a
little while longer, and go on to Kamloops. You will thus be
enabled to take a view of the magnificent scenery around Sal-
mon arm. I spent about four weeks here last spring, along
with the engineers who were leveling the railroad. So numer-
ous were the wild ^LLse and swans in the neighborhood that
it was difficult to get to sleep at night on ace au of the in-
cessant noise they kept up; ilic mouth of Salmon River being
a stopping and pairing place foi' them on their way north.
Kamloops is the largest and most important i land town in
British Columbia, and it is almost certain that it will continue
to maintain this reputation. You, o. each of your party,
when you arrive here can buy a horse to ride, and one or two
j)ack-hor.ses or mules, or whatever numlx'v wanted for the
size of the party. If there are any lad i . in the party they
will enjoy the trip as well as the men. The country is all
covered with grass, over which the fire occasionally sweeps,
Inirning up all the brush and fallen timbtn-, and leaving ordy

ohi' larii't' trees .standiriir. The result of this is, no small
brush is allowed to grow, and only the trees that have a very
thick bark, on which the prairie tires do not have any ert'eci
This being- the casi! all ov(!r the country, it, for hundreds
of miles, resembles an olJ English park, the trees being
nearly all of the fir and white pine variety, or rather
a very soft kind of Norway, called here Imli pine, or
sugar vpine. These trees being very large, and not more
than tive or six on an average to the acre, are nt) more
in the way of a person riding on horseback than if
the)' were not there at all. Tliey have coujparatively
short trunks and sprejiding tops, and shade the ground just
enough to protect the grass from the withering effects of the
hot sun, and keep it looking fresh and green. This country,
particularly down towards the south fork of the Similkanieen.
is, during the fall months, swarming with deer, principally
of the l)lack-tailed variety. They are, in many respects, dif-
ferent from the deer in Ontario and Michigan. They are of
;i darker color, and shorter in the legs and plumper and heavier
in the body. They are not so wild: neither do they run as
fast. The lad, however, is the most distinguishing feature.
There are, also, the nmle deer. This country, it seems to me,
uuist be a perfect Pai-adise for sportsmen. Here a party of
gentlemen and ladies on horseback, going through the coun-
try, c;)uM occasionally start u[) a her<l of dec, or a coyote.
')r a fox, or a jack-ass rabbit, find chase it for hours
without having any ditches, or stiles, or farms, or fences,
or in fact anything to interfere with the chase, thus putting-
out of time the livelit'st foxhunt ever seen in the old countiy.
The deer, in the spring time and during the grea^^er part of
the summer, are found on the high lands. Here they remain,
as the air is cooler, and the grass greener and fresher, until
the latter part of September, when they come down and re-
main in the low lands all winter. Along the sides of the
mountains they have trails si. well beat and worn that it is

limMQXEir. & CO.,

Wholesale and Retail

DRUGGISTS

Established 1858,

Sole agents in Britfsh Columbia for Perry Davis' Pain
Killer: Bnrdoek Blood Bitters; Warner's Safe Cnre Medi-
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ups, etc.; Syrup of Figs; Nash's liheujuatic Chire; Syrup of
Eucalyptus; Itigand & (V)'8 Perfumes; Ayer & Go's ('lierry
Pectoral, etc; Willey's Discovery; etc., etc., etc.

Orders Promptly ESxecuted

AT THE LOWEST MARKET RATES.

Yates Street, Victoria, B. V.

■ J

ONDON FISH AND OYSTER MABR

\ates Street, Victoi'ia, B. (),

FPIESH FISH TDJ^XILTZ:

Salt and Oanned Fish, Smoked Salmon, Herring, etc.

EASTERN OYSTERS, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL.

P.O. B,.x 4(,r). WM. JEHSEH. Telephon.- 24

PEOPLES' BOOT AND SHOE STORE

Makes a Specialty of
And which are

Sold eit Bottom

Remember the place 40 Johnson St., Victoria, B. (\

J. II. BAKER.

,[. FITLLERTON.

fmmtmm^^V^w^^i" 1 fi^j 111

VICTORIA CRACKER COMPANY

M. K. SMITH, Proprietor,

Manufacturer of Hard Bread, Soda Biscuit, and all kinds of
Small Cakes for the Trade, Hotels or Families.

THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLETE BAKERY

UTESr IMPROVED MACHINERY USED THROUGHOUT.

ALL GOODS
UbmKpmv tbxa objol be Imported.

All orders promptly attended to.
P. O. Box 289. Telephone 121.

JAPANESE BAZAAR

Government Street, Victoria, B. C.

Japanese Goods of every description. Specialties in Silk
Hanakerchiefs, Silk Socks, Silk Umbrellas, Silk Stits, Ladies'
Silk Stockings, Silk-lined Satins and Brocaded E -ess Silks,
Silk Crape, Screens, Fans, &c. Work Baskets, assortment
of Japanese Porcelain Wares.

CHARLES GABEIEL & CO.

a!9i|&

BOOK-BINDER, PAPER-RULER

And Blank-Book Manufacturer,

Maps and Drawing- Papaer Mounted, Checks Numbered
and Perforated. Government St., Victoria, B. C.

. . 41

hard to believe that they wore not the work of man. They
were the engineers tliat laid out the trail up Granite creek,
and all the other trails on tbe sides of th(! mountains.

Another kind of game is the mountain sheep. This is
a wild sheep that is found along the snow-line on the moun-
tains. In the months of August and September it will be
found only high up in the mountains. As many of the tops
of the cascades are covered with perpetual snow, a sheep
hunt up to the snow-line would be a very interesting trip,
particularly if the hunter made the study of botany a part
of the object of the expedition. He would ifind strawberries
fully ripe, and further u; they would be in bloom, and then
the earliest spring flowers. He would also be likely to see
the celebrated ice-fiovver, (I do not know any other name
for it) growing out of the ice, or rather out of holes through
the ice. Bears in some parts of this country are numerous,
but they are harmless brutes. The coyote, an animal that
seems to bo a cross between the fox and the wolf, is also
seen here. I have heard of their being seen frequently be-
tween the Nicola river and the north fork, but never south
of the last-mentioned river. There are three different kinds
of grouse — the most numerous is a kind that resembles the
par^'-idge of Ontario in every respect. There is also the
pi. ..d chicken — much smaller — and a very large kind, thie
hlae grouse, which is a game bird, second only to the wild
turkey. Wild geese and swans are at some seasons of the
year very numerous, and at all seasons, when the lakes are
not frozen over, they are literally swarming with a great
variety of ducks. Beaver along the Otter river are very
numerous, and are to be found on every stream suitable to
their mode of existence. Other fur-bearing animals are
numerous, such as the marten, mink, musk-rat, etc.

To persons coming into a countrj' where there are no
roads, or wheels, or hotels, or restaurants, a few words as
to how, when and where to camp, and, the methods of trans-

port generally in use in this coantry, forms by no means
the least valuable part of a traveler's experience. A tent
should always form a part of a traveler's equipment. Camp-
ing out is all very well. Sleeping with no other canopy
than the starry vault sounds very romantic and pretty, but
no one with a grain of experience would voluntHrily Hieep in
the open air if a tent was procurable. If you can't do what
you like, you must do what you can. In the absence of can-
vass a sky roof is about the only alternative. Assuming that
a tent is available, the kind of tent that I whoald
recommend is a "gable-end," or "dog-kennel," twelve-ell tent,
with a seven-foot ridge pole, and two six feet upright poles.
Or, if this kind of tent is not procurable, .and nothing better
can be done, you can buy 20 yards of ordinary drilling, and
cut it into five yard lengths, and stitch the edges together.
Tou would then have what is called a fly, which would be- a
shelter from the rain, and would be all that would be abso-
lutely essential in traveling in the summer time. Tou need
not carry tent-poles, as tJiere are numberless streams of the
purest water, and your camping place will necessarily be
near one of them, and there is always a sufficient amount of
young timber in the neighborhood for that purpose. For
bed, a horse-hair mattress, three feet six inches wide
and six feet long, two blankets, a buffalo skin, and water-
proof wrapper to spread on the ground, and roll the blan-
kets in; when traveling it can be easily carried with a
tent, and will be found very pleasuut to sleep on at night,
or lounge on in the day. Great care should be exercised in
packing up the bedding. Bain is apt to come just when you
least expect it. If the bed be well rolled up it should be
impervious to water, and therefore safe against any accident
from wet. Finding the bedding soaked on camping takes
much of the romance out of such a trip . As for tools, a
three and a half pound axe is about all that is needed. A
strong case-knife, such as pork butchers use, is by far the

best knife for general purposes. A frying-pan, for baking
or frying; a large tin pan, for mixing bread; a pot to boil
coffee, or make tea; a tin pannakin, and a pail to dip water
and keep near the camp fire for any purpose, are about all
the cooking utensils needed. A. water-proof bag, made of
strong canvas painted (such as sailors use) is very handy,
in which note books and writing gear can be stowed away.
For clothing, I give the preference to good Scotch tweed, as
a material better suited to stand wear and tear, and supply
warmth without weight than any fabric I have ever tried.
Skin shoes iicd moccasins do very well for Indians, whose
feet are an hard and tough as a saddle-flap, but take advice,
and get u pair of long boots, or a pair of strong " lace-ups"
with heavy soles. How to put on a pack is hardly worth
describing, as a man who has had no experience of any kind
with horses could no more learn how he could do it right
than he could to play on a flute from reading printed
directions. He must learn from seeing it done, and from
doing it himself. The best way, therefore, for a party who
never had any experience in traveling on this coast is to em-
ploy a Siwash (Indian) to accompany them through the
whole trip. He will make a first-class guide, will look after
the packing, will see the animals put out to grass at night
and collected in the morning, and be useful in many ways.
His charges will not be exhorbitant, and, unlike the Indians
of Eastern Canada, when he gets all you agreed to pay him
he is satisfied. They are perfectly trustworthy. Pilfering
or stealing from anything committed to their care is some-
thing I never knew them to be charged with. They will
carry 'lases of whisky just as safely as they will any other
kind of merchandise.

For packing purposes mules are much preferable to
horses, as they can live on less, put up with worse treat-
ment, and possess greater power of endurance. Stubborn-
ness and mischievousness are their principal faults. They

* m

.«;'■

may, by ^ood treatment, by petting aiicl firm, but gentle
dealing, become very much attached to tlieir owner or master.
I knew an old miner who had a mule for about fifteen years
that would follow him like a dog wherever he happened to
go, and would never be out of his night for any great length
of time, and never needed tying up by night or day. Their
respect for and attachment to the bell-mare is something
extraordinary. In all mule trains a grey mare with a bell
always goes ahead, and the mules, no matter how many, are
sure to follow. At night the bell-mare can be staked out, or
hobbled, and none of the mules will stray out beyond the
sound of the bell. The mare must be gray, and have a bell
on in order to command respect from the mulish herd.
Why no other kind but a gray mare can command their
respect is something not easily explained. It is certain that
the bell-mare has no respect for them. If they come too
close to her she will rush furiously at them with her teeth,
and use her hind feet vigorously to keep them at a respect-
able distance.

On leaving Kamloops you can take the trail to Nicola
Lake, past the Nicola Mining and Milling Cora[)any's pro-
perty, Quilchcnna and Scott's hotel. At the latter place
you have the choice of two routes if your destination is
Granite creek. You can go by the way of Princeton, or by
the shorter trail down the valley of the Cold-water and Otter
rivers. If any of the party are desirous of sketching they
will find the scenery around Nicola lake and the lakes along
the valley of the Otter river ail that the most fastidious
could desire for the exercise of their ability in this respect.
At the mouth of the Otter river, where it flows into the
north fork of the Similkafneeu, there is a broad flat a little
more than a half mile square, called on the map the camp-
ment des J'emmes, which is bounded on three sides by the
Otter lake, Otter river, and the Sirailkamean — a place of
surpassing beauty and loveliness, and for richness of soil

liard to bo excelled. I do not think tliut uny i)erH()n need
to be possessed of the j^ift of prophecy, or anything more
than good, sound common sense, to be jibie to |)redict that
at no distant day this place will become a pleasure resort,
aM well as a great business centre. I see, by the latest news
from Granite creek, that a company, called the California
and Beaver Mining Company, have commenced operations on
the Similkameen, only a little distance above this place.
They are going to dam up the river, and change its couise,
and work out 4,000 feot of its bed. My opinion is, that
above this place next summer there will be far more mining
done than there will on Granite (ueek. It is positively cer-
tain that the Chinese have taken out more gold in this neigh-
borhood last summer than has been taken out of Granite
creek. If something could only be done with this curse
of the Pacific coast — "this abomination of desolation" — this
— whenever I think of the Asiatic plague with which this
country is afHicted, I am completely at a loss for words to
tell what I do think of it, or of any person who is so
miserably, damnably shorl-siyhted and stupid as to be unable
to see that the country is going to ruin on account of them
financially, morally, socially, and every other way that I can
think of — but then I must keep to the sidjjeot. I was de-
scribing to a party visiting this country where to go— now
you are within eight miles of Granite creek, so shift for
yourselves— you will get there all right, and find plenty
there to tell you what to do.

TO LUMBERMEN.

The lowest price over paid for sawed lumber at Granite
creek is $100 per M. The timbei-, it' you are a free miner,
ouglit GO cost nothing; but I dave not say that it will. Cut-

ting the logs is l»ut little more than it is anywhere else. The
timber is not (jiiite as soft as the white pine of Eastern
(.Janada, but much softer than the Norway. It is almost en-
tirely free from punk, wind shakes, and heart cracks. The
lumber, when sawed, can hardly be distinguished from good
white pine, and I think can serve every purpose for which
white pine is used. It grows in this country everywhere, and
seems to be peculiar to a grassy country. Hills, mountains,
and valleys are covered with it. Let us now consider the
chances there are of making money in this country with a
saw-raill. Lumber, at a hundred dollars per thousand, and
logs costing nothing, and a mill that will cut ten thousand in
a day, and the expenses, say wages of five men at tiuee
dollars per day, tifteen dollars; cost of cutting and delivering
logs, say four dollars per thou.sand, and other expenses tifteen
dollars; total, $70. Value of luml)er $1,000. Profit for one
day's work, $9.S0. This is. perhaps, the way that it might V»o
looked at a loni; way off, but when here thinjjs take on a
somewhat different aspect. A mill will, of course, saw just 'is
much lumber here as it will anywhere else with the :9n^'»
amount of power. The logs are no harder to get out, and
the cost of cutting them is not materially greater than in other
places; and as for selling the lumber, I might say that there
will be many hundreds of thousands of feet wanted next
■iummer for sluice boxes and flumes. The town of (Jranite
creek will be greatly enlarged, and lumber, instead of logs.
would be used if it could be procured. Mr. AUiston told me
he intended to build tifteen miles of fence next summer, and
he would build it of boards if he could get them. Why then

is there not money in a saw-mill? There probably is. But 1
would be doing an injustice were I to leave this subject with-
out mentioning some of the drawbacks, of which the principal
ones are the following:

1st. There is no way of getting a saw-mill in here ex-
cept on the backs of mules or horses. This can be done, but
it is costly.

2nd. As there are no roads in this country the luinhtT.
like everything else, will have to Ix* carried, after it is sawe<l,
either on mules or horses, or on the shoulders of men. As
lumVjer cannot be carried on mules or horses to any advantaj^e
at all, your business will therefore extend just as far from
your mill as men will be willing to carry the hnnber on their
shoulders, and no further.

3rd. As the river is so rapid that it is useless for float-
ing logs, there being no way of stopping them where you
want them, your only chance for saw-lo^'s are the trees grow-
ing in the immediate neighborhood of your mill, and as there is
only two or three logs at most in a tree, and only a few of
those on an acre, the supply is soon exhausted. As truck-
wheels cannot be got in here you will have to move your mill
to your new timber location.

4th, Wherever your saw-mill is the market is sure to
be glutted, and you will be obliged to sell at a much less price
than elsewhere.

Such are some of the difficulties in the way of a man
making money out of a saw-null. They are not imaginary,
but real, although perhaps not noticed by a person unused to
such a country as this. It is quite probaV)le that a consider-
able part of Granite creek will be flumed next summer; but
no person who ever .saw the creek will think for a moment
that a saw-mill will ever saw the lumber. A quarter of a mile
above the town is the outside limit for lumber sawed in a
saw-mill. It is not worth while giving any reasons why this
mast be so.

THE SIMILKAMEEN AS AN AGRICULTURAL AND
GRAZING COUNTRY.

The aspect of the country during the months of August

and September is beautiful in tlie extreme. To look over
some parts of the rolling prairie a person could hardly be-
lieve tliat he was not looking over an old cleared up farii>,
and that the hills were covered with golden grain ready for
the reiipcr. This, of course, is not the case. The Similk-
ameen, taken as a vvhole, is not a farming country. It is
true there are some patches of OKiellent farming land, but
as far as cerals are concerned, that is wheat, barlej', rye,
etc., the country is not well adapted for their growth. It is
more thai^ likely that in the near future the country will be
divided up into ranches. That is, along the rivers farms of
IGO and 320 acres will be taken up; these will grow all the
cerals and roots that the farmer may need, but his great re-
source will be raising iheep, cattle and horses, for which the
country is peculiarly adapted, i have been told by men who
have several thousand head of cattle that the expense for
each head for one year did not amount to more than seventy-
five cents. The isothermal line that would pass through this
country would also p;iss in the neighborhood of Philadel-
phia and Baltimore. There are occassional severe spells
during the vrinter, during which cattle will need looking
after, but they are not frec^uent. However, if hay is wanted
it can be had for the trouble of cutting, raking it up and
stacking, and the ground is so smooth that a mov/er, or a
sulky rake, can be driven over the country for miles, and a
good crop of hay can be gathered up.

For wool growing I cannot see how this country can be
surpassed. There is not, in my mind, the slightest doubt
l)ut that tais country will immod-ately be occupied by stock-
men raising cattle, shr^ep, and horses. "Similkarac^vm beef
is even now talked of much tlie same 's ISouthdown mutton
is by Enghshm'^ti, a^.d in the future will always find a
readier marLet than that from other parts. •'' ^ ' ' ' "* ^ *^ ^

A stock raiser's life seems to me a most enviable one.
He is a gentlemai? --a lord, I raig'i.t say — right from the time

C. B. ROBELEE,

Wharf St., near Johnson, Victoria, B. C,

CONTRACTOR & BUILDER,

Plans and Estimates Furnished.

SHIF JOIiq"Ei=l.

KoBERT Ward A Co., Victoria, Royal Swedish & Norwegian Consulate.

Eepresented in London by Messrs. H. J. Gordinei' & Co., 1 Gresham

Buildings, Basinghall Street E. C.

ROBERT WARD & CO,

VICTOBIA, B. C,

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SHIPPING AND INSURANCE AGENTS.

General Agents for Royal Insurance Co., London & Lancashire Fire
Insurance C, Standard Life Assurance Col, Union Marine Insurance Co.
Bisks accepted, policies issued, and losses promptly adjusted in Victoria.

Sole Agents for Curtis's & Harvey's sporting and blasting Powder,
Jules Robin .% Co's Choice Brandy, Joseph Kirkman & Son's Prize
Medal Piano-Fortes.

Importer's of Wines, Liquors, Havana Cigars, Oilmen's Stores, Giant

Powder, Caps, Fuse, Tin Plates, Fishing Nets, Twines, <fec. Agents for

Ew^en «te Co's celebrated "Lion" brand canned salmon (silver medal at

Antwerp, 1885), and "Spratt's Ark" brand (bronze medal, Antwerp, 1885.)

ROBERT WARD & CO., Wharf St., Victoria, B. C.

-.«

VICTORIA WIRE WORKS,

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Stands and Baskets, Sand Screens, Window
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North Park St., near Cook, - - - - Victoria, B. C.

H. A. HAKBI8»1N.

C. M LACHLAr.

VICTORIA <' CO AL> WOOD ♦ ANJ] ♦ LUMBER ♦ YARD

Agency of the Ohemainufe Sawmill, Jiave on hand Wood ar/J
Wellington Coal, al&o Romgh and Dressed Lnmber of every
description; Shingles, I^aths, etc; Seasoned Lnmber a
Specialty. City office, Government Street, next new Bank
of Briti^ Cokirabia. P.O. box 571. Telephone 590.

QUEEN'S MARKET,

Government Street,,
Victoria, B. C.

! l'a/l^( «'«»'"ri 4 •■'••KK»"i«3<F'.M« «i

UWREHGE
GOODACRE,

Proprietor.

WHOLESALE &RETAIL BUTCHER.

THE URGEST RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT ON PACIFIC COAST.

"1/-

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SHIPPIHC SUPPLIED AT LOWEST RATES.

IP, ©©HWM,

.jA^ Jt^ C^IE2 X JL J±jCI!'X'

Galpin's Block, Government St., Victoria, B. C

he commences, and all that it costs him to be that is to pre-
empt 320 acres of land, and he can take his pick out of
some thousands of square miles of beautiful country. It
will cost him two dollars for recording, and then he has to
pay for the land $320, or one dollar per acre, in four equal
annual installments; the first to be paid in one year from
the date of recording. He can then, without any expense
for clearing, fencing, or building more than a log habitation
in which to live, commence to buy his stock. He will,
of course, have to make improvements on his ranch sufficient
to show that he means to live there. Ke can purchf 3 a bull
and as many cows as his means will permit. He will brand
them and let them graze wherever they please. The calves
will have to be branded before they are done sucking, and
this is about all the attention the herd requires. As soon
as the calves are grown to the adult size you can gather up
the steers and drive them off to market. The cows you will
keep until you may think it unprofitable, on account of their
age; and thus, without any great amount of care or exertion,
a man grows rich so certainly and gradually that he is rich
before he is aware of it.

But this country has a far better destiny than being a
place for raising stock. The hills and mountains, it is likely
for all time to come, will be used for that purpose; but the
valleys and the low lands are destined to blossom like the
rose. I believe this is just the country for fruits — for or-
chards and vineyards. Peaches, grapes, almonds, peanuts,
etc., flourish one hundred miles north of here; but this country
is so new tiiat nothing of the kind has been trie-1, '\nd, of
course, it is impossible to tell just what it will produce. The
part of this country best adapted to cereals seems bo be
around and north of Lake Oakouagon. I regret much since
I undertook to write about this country that I did not spend
more time in looking at it — that is, that i diJ not see the
country around Kittle River, Lake Osooyos, the Nahoil-a-pit-

ka, and the southern part of Lake Oakonagon. I have so far
described and mentioned only what I have seen, and ray great
regret is that it has l)een so little. I came into this country
to look for gold, and when a man is engaged in this kind of a
.■search his attention is pretty well occupied; he is not likely
to take much notice of anything else. But a man must be
hopelesslj^ stupid and short-sighted that could not see the im-
mense advantages that this country posesses for others besides
the gold-seekers. Perhaps what made a greater impression
on me more than some others was that it was so different
from what I expected to see. It never once occured to me
that a beautiful, grass}'^ country like this could possibly be a
gold country. It is quite probable that no such anomaly as
this is to be seen in any other part of the world. I would, in
conclusion, say to the people of Eastern Canada, who may
have their attention directed to that great lone land, destined
t » be homes for the teeming millions of Europe: Let the
teeming millions of Europe have it; but get you right straight
through, and come to aland far better than that. We have
.>iomething better than that right here; and we don't want such
a beautiful country as this filled up with Poles, Hungarians,
Jews and Russians. It is altogether too good for them, and
we will have it for ourselves. Those that we want most to
>iee are those grown-up boys and girls of Ontario who have
had a taste of pioneer life. We want you here — we lount you
fxid. We want you because you are like ourselves, and we
feel interested in you, and we know that you will be better
suited here than any other place in the whole British domin-
ion. You de.serve the choicest spot, and you shall have it, 1
believe this country was made for just such people as you,
and you will only be claiming your rightful heritage. Here,
then, is the place for you. You had better fetch money
enough with you to start a ranch; but, if you come soon
enough, you will run a good chance of getting it out of the
bottom of some of our creeks. But, most of all, we want you

* ^

here because we know that you will give us a helpin^:, hand in
ridding the country of this intolerable Asiatic pest that is now
desolating it. I know that you look on the Cliinese now as
quite an interesting people; and so they are a very interesting
people to one in no way interested in them, and who has
nothing to do but look at theui. The penitentiary is a very
interesting place to a man who has nothing to do but look at
it; but if he had to spend the whole of his lifetime there it
would not look so interesting. The difference, however, would
be no greater than it is between those who have to compete
with the Chinese in the struggle for life and those who have
not. If you do not regard them as a greater evil than the
potato bugs, or the small-pox, or any other calamity, you are
different from any man, woman, or child on this coast who has
to work for a living.

I do not think I will be charged with plagarism — that is
copying from other reports on this country — for the simple
reason that there are no such reports. I have hunted through
every blue-book, and every otlier kind of book that said any-
thing about British Columbia, but could not find a single sen-
tence about this country. The fact is, until within the last
six months, the country drained by the north fork of the
Similkameen was to all the rest of the world a terra incognita,
and the river itself was as little known as the Lualaba, or
Niger, and Granite creek, as far as our knowledge of it was
concerned, might as well have been in another planet, and
other streams marked on the map had no existence except in
the imagination.

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE SIMILKAMEEN
COUNTRY— PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE GOLD
DEPOSITS.

REVIEW OF SOME OF THE MORE POPULAR THEORIES.

As long as the world lasts the mountains of this prcnineo

will he its moat distinguishing feature. It can hardly be be-
lieved to be possible that a country of its size should include
nothing but mountains, and the valleys that cause them to be
mountains; y^et nevertheless such is the fact. The traveler in
coming westward, after leaving Rat Portage, will have con-
siderably over a thousand miles of almost level prairie to pass
over that will seem to him almost as monotonous as a journey
across the ocean, and if he has no idea of what is ahead of him
he will wish and pray for a look at mountains again. This
prayer he will get answered in a way that will make him think
of the farmer in the Eastern fable who prayed for rain, and
had the river Ganges turned into his land. It will be moun-
tains succeeding mountains until his brain is dizzy, and the
muscles of his neck stiff in his efforts to get a peep at the
blue sky over their tops. Why British Columbia should be so
abundantly blessed, or cursed, or why Nature should be so
lavish in eiving this province the lion's share of the moun-
tains and valleys is a question for the learned geologist; but as
he cannot be everywhere and see everything, the opinion
of one who has at least been a close observer of them, and
has had splendid opportunities of observing, might be read
with interest and profit. According to Prof. Proctor, who is
unquestionably the farthest advanced in astronomical science
of any of his time, the earth was at one time in a gasseous
condition, and at a later time in a fluid condition. To illus-
trate how this may be possible, it might be said that a piece
of ice which is a solid may, on account of the presence of heat,
assume first a liquid, and then a gasseous, condition, and by
the presence of cold this gasseous condition may be changed
back into a liquid, and then into a solid, the only difference
between a piece of ice and a piece of rock in this respect being
the amount of heat required to effect this change. The earth,
then, if sufficiently hot, would be neither in a solid nor a liquid,
but in a gasseous condition. According to Proctor not only has
the earth been in this condition, but he undertakes to tell how

long since it was so; nor is this problem anything like so diffi-
cult as it at first appears. The earth, then, according to Prof.
Proctor, about one thousand million years ago, was a glowing
mass like the sun. The first indication of a cooling pro-
cess having commenced would be spots appearing on its
surface similar to those we now see on the sun's disc; still
later those spots would grow so numerous that they would
appear like belts. This is the appearance of Jupiter, wnich
is a young planet. The cooling process continuing, those belts
would widen, until a pellicle or crust would cover the entire
surface. The cooling process still continuing, the conditions
in which oxygen and hydrogen unite would be pretjent, and
then rains would come, oceans be formed, and the earth, by
the action of tides, snows, rains, dews, glaciers, and constant
upheavals and depressions, would be caused to assume the ap-
pearance that it now presents. It is natural, then, that the
cooling process would greatly diminish its size, and as it
diminished in size the pellicle or crust would become wrinkled.
Those wrinkles on the face of old mother earth, as she may
very properly be called, are what we know as mountain
chains, or ranges, and are caused in just the same way that
all other wrinkles are caused. The most important of all
those wrinkles on the face of the earth is the great Rocky
mountain chain — the backbone, as it is sometimes called, of
the western hemisphere. The reason why this range is more
important than any other is that it is younger, or came into
existence later than many others, and also because the shrink-
age of the earth when cooling was greater through the equator
than through the poles. Judging from what we know of the
much younger planet Jupiter, although over a thousand times
larger than the earth, it revolves an its axis in less than half
the time of the earth's revolution. The planet Mars, sup-
posed to be older than the earth, takes a greater length of
time; and the moon, which is only a withered corpse of what
was once a planet, takes nearly a month to revolve on its

axis. Besides, it has not only been proved that the earth's
motion is .slowinj^; up, but it has been demonstrated just how
much that motion is being retarded, which slowing-up is said
to be caused by the fricton of the tides. From these and many
other evidences, it is certain that the motion of the earth on
its axis at one time was much faster than it is now. This
being the case, its equatorial diameter was much greater than
its polar diameter, and a natural result of the earth shrinking
in size, and at the same time diminishing in speed on its axis,
would be to cause it to assume a more globe-like form. Thii
equatorial shrinkage would cause the wrinkles or mountain
chains to ran north and south. The polar shrinkage would
cause them to run east and west. On this continent, as a rule,
those east and west wrinkles seem to have been formed tirst,
and the north and south wrinkles later. An example of the
results of the polar shrinkage is seen in the country around
Lake Superior, the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers, and
I might also add the Similkameen country, as well as the
country around Spence's Bridge and Savona Ferry, and, if I
have been correctly informed, a large strip, extending as far
north as the Peace river country. The northern part of On-
tario, and the whole of the province of Quebec, was at one time
a "sea of mountains," similar to British Columbia; but during
the almost eternity of ages that have since elapsed, the
ijrosive effect of glaciers, snow, rain, storms, accompanied with
natural decay, have worn down their summits, and tilled up
the valleys between ' em, so that they are now called rocky
ridges, except where the drift has been washed away from
their bases, as on the north shore of Lake Superior and the
Georgian Bay. There they are dignified with the name of
mountains. As will be seen, by examining the rock-cuts on
the 0. P. Railway, the layers of rock stand almost perpen-
dicular, and so uniform are they in their direction, nearly
due east aud west, that the lines of rock can serve to tell the
direction as well as a compass. Luring the age of those up-

hcavals British Colunbia was then, as it is now, a mountain-
ous country ; but th«^ general direction of the ranges was
oast and west. This condition of things prevailed for an im-
mensely long period; but, in the course of time, the shrinkage
of the earth, from east to west, being much greater than that
through the poles, upheavals began to appear first along the
Pacific coast, and gradually extend inland. The probable or-
<ler in which those upheavals occurred were — first the coast
mountains, second the Gold range, then the Cascades, after that
the Selkirks, and last and youngest of all are the Rockies.
As the equatorial diameter is still eight miles greater than the
polar diameter, this upheaving process will still go on, and
there can hardly be a reasonable doubt but that it is still
going on, and the Rocky mountains are still encroaching on
the prairie country to the east of them. This upheaving pro-
cess along the coast of British Columbia has ceased ages ago,
and there is now evidence that Vancouver island, and the
whole coast is slowly but surely sinking beneath the waters
of the ocean. That part of British Columbia known as the
Similkameen country lies between the Gold range and the
Cascades. The strata or ledges of the rock here lie in a
<lirection almost due east and west, plainly indicating that the
upheavals here were caused by the polar shrinkage to which
1 have already alluded. To tell how long it has been since
those rocks were deposited and formed out of the primeval
mud, and afterwards stood upon their edge, is a problem mere
difficult than to tell the age of the earth itself. All that we
certainly know is that the rocks are the oldest-looking of any
we ever saw. They are hoary-looking, and actually rotten,
and falling to pieces with sheer age. The poet who said—

"THE DEKP DIB BOT,"

would say, on seeing these rocks, that they died from old age,
and kind nature covered them up with her mantle of green as
with a pall, to hide them from sight. Those ledges of rock
have thus far withstood the enormous pressure that resulted

from the equatorial shrinkage of the earth's surface — thet
caused the upheaval of the Cascades on the west side and the
Gold range and the Selkirks on the east. This country has
been saved from the wreck and ruin caused by upheavals in
other parts of this province, and is now the same as it was
"before the mountains were brought forth," except that it
has gone through nature's mill, (I mean the glacial epoch), and
has had the tops of its mountains worn down, its valleys filled
up, its lake beds scooped out, the course of its rivers changed,
and its surface thoroughly scoured and polished.

This glacial period is said to have occurred about 300,000
years ago, and is thought to have lasted not less than 50,000
years. All theories so far advanced that pretend to explain
the cause of this terrible phenomena are not well enough
supported by known facts to deserve the name of anything
better than mere speculati' ms. Those who do not kn- w
enough about geology to know that there ever was a glacial
period will not take the trouble to read this chapter, so it will
be only a waste of time to attempt to prove that there ever
was such a period. Previous to this period, or during the
middle and latter parts of the tertiary epoch called the Mio-
cene and Pliocene, British America possessed a tropical climate,
which extended to the Arctic sea, and its mountains, val-
leys and plains were covered with a more picturesque flora,
and inhabited by a more diversified fauna than they are now,
here were the homes and feeding grounds of a variety of
animals different to any that we have ever seen; and in all
respects, except one (the absence of man), this continent was
more interesting then than it is now. But when that awful
change did come — more terrible than I have language to de-
scribe, this country was turned into one vast howling wilder-
ness, and a deluge of snow covered mountains and valleys
alike. This kept on increasing until the lakes and streams
were all frozen up, and a mantle of ice, that in this latitude
must have been several thousand feet in thickness, covered

the whole country, and extended as far south as the .S6th
parallel. This enormous mass is said to have moved south at
the rate of about a foot in 24 hours. In its passage over the
Similkanieen country all those gorges that crossed its main
course were filled up with glacial drift. The general course
of the north fork of the Similkaraeen from Otter river down to
the forks being in an easterly and south-easterly direction,
would, during the time when the mass of ice was the thickest,
be partially fille 1 with drift; but when the period was passing
away the general course of the glacier would be more in the
general direction of the great valleys. The ice would then
move directly down the valley of the north fork, which it
evidently did, as is evidenced by the enormous banks of drift
just below the forks in the neighborhood of Mr. Alliston's
ranch. During this part of the glacial period the canyon of
Granite creek, the canyon of the Tulameen, and every other
paying creek and gulch that h^s so far been discovered, or I
belie'^e ever will be discovered, was crossed at nearly right
angles by the glacier, and, of course, was filled up with glacial
drift. As in Granite creek there is very little of the drift
there at present, the natural supposition would he that it has
been sluiced out. If this be the correct theory, and all the
gold that ever was in this enormous amount of drift is just
what has been and will be found in the bed of the creek, then
the chances of the Similkanieen ever being a rich gold-pro-
ducing country are poor indeed, and hydraulic mining need
never be attempted.

Although I do not favor the idea of the canyon of Granite
creek ever being an immense sluice box, as this theory would
imply, yet I know that there are others who will favor it;
and as my business is to present facts just as I find them, re-
gardless of what theory they favor, I will call attention to
what seems to be confirmatory evidence of this theory — that
is, the richness of the bench claims. The facts in regard to
these are: There are claims on benches about one hundred and

fifty and two hundred feet above the l>ed of the creek that
are said to have prospected fifty cents to the pan. If the
whole of the claim was as rich as this it would mean about
one hundred dollars a day to the man sluicinj^. If the theory
that the whole of this canyon has been sluiced out is correct,
then wherever the bed-rock in the creek is rich that also on
the Ijenches Hhould also l>e rich in proportion to the hi ight of
the bench above the creek. There are, so far, but two bench
claims on the creek that are worked. These are Suchel &
Cockill's claim, which is about fifteen or twenty feet above
the creek. The other claim is about two hundred feet farther
up the creek on the opposite side, and about fifty feet above
the creek level. The first mentioned claim I do not think
ever paid wages. I am sure that the latter has. I saw one
nugget, weighing over ten dollars, that came out of the latter
claim. Those claims are near the forks, aViOut three and a
half miles from the mouth of the creek. Nbthing is known
of the claims towards the mouth of the creek more than what
has been said about what they have prospected; and those re-
ports I am inclined to take at a discount. I washed several
pans on some of those claims that are said to be rich. I found
gold, but not fifty cents to the pan. It seems to me more
than likely that they are richest around the edge just where
the prospecting has been done. It is much to be wished that
those claims may prove rich, for in them lies the future of the
town at the moutb of the creek I make this statement, be-
cause I do not think that it would be proper for me to con-
ceal or disguise the fact that the Chinese are fast becoming
possessors of the creek claims. Full possession of all the claims
would mean absolute ruin to every business carried on there.
[ sliall now undertake to explain what seems to me to have
actually occurred in connection with thedepositiim of the gold
in Granite creek, and then leave the readers of this chapter to
judge for themselves whether the conclusions arrived at are
sufficiently well supported by what we know to be facts to

[■

warrant thorn a fair and impartial consideration. That the
canyon of (Jranitc creek was once filled up with jrlacial drift
is abundantly attested to l»y the immense hanks that have ac-
cumulat^id at its mouth, and hy the places in the creek where
the present bed is considerably higher than its original bedi
iuid also by the looks of the pin e where the canyon seems to
end on the south fork, or rather the main stream'' Although
the canyon seems to end, yet it does not. It exists still
further up (juite as much as it does below, but has not yet
had time to get washed out. The canyon of Granite creek,
we have every reason to l)elieve, was worn out by the action
of ice and water during the tercia y perip<l, and was an ancient
creek, having much the sauie appearance that it has now at
the l>eginning of the Quaternary. During the glacial epoch,
when the valley of the Similkameen was filled with ice
Granite creek was filled up with drift; but, long after the
valley of the Similkameen was clear, the canyon of Granite
creek, on account of having its source up in the mountains,
would for several hundred years remain a river of ice, con-
stantly moving down to the valley of the main river. So
enormous was the amount of drift forced out of the canyon
by the ice that the valley of the Similkameen was completely
dammed up, and all above the mouth of Granite creek for some
miles was turned into a lake. This is witnessed to by the
long row of benches extending for miles up the river, all ex-
actly the same level on top, and very nearly corresponding in
height with the high bank of drift on the left hand side of
the mouth of the canyon, and just opposite the town Of
course, when this immense amount of drift was forced out of
the canyon, all the gold in the drift went out with it. That
the ice made a clean sweep down to the bottom of the creek
is proved by the scratches and polishing that is to be seen on
the rocks near the water level in the first canyon, and in
many other places. The only patches of drift that would
remain would be the banks of clay that would be left in the

sheltered places bshind the points of rock jutting out into
the stream. These banks, of course, have long since been
sluiced away, and all the gold contained in them left
in the bottom of the creek. The bed-rock, also, on ac-
count o' being sheltered, and not being subjected to the
grinding of the ice, was left in a better condition to act as
riffles to keep the gold from washing down the creek. As
soon as I became thoroughly convinced of the truth of this
theory, I made an examinaiio i of the whole of the paying
portion of the creek. I found iust as I had expected — that
in nine out of ten of the paying claims the gold was
behind tho sheltered points on the north-west side of the
craek, and the richness of the claim depended much on the
height of the rocky point that sheltered it; all the claims
found paying on the south-east side had to be peculiarly
well sheltercjd. If there was gold in any other places in the
creek it was sheltered by si lae large boulder, or was situated
in a way that would be additional confirmation of this theory.
An iilustraticn is afforded in the history of the captain's
claim, which every person who has gone to Granite creek
knows something about, as it is situated in the creek imme-
diately in front of the town. When the creek was first dis-

*■'

covered three hundred feet of this claim was taken up by
Michael Saffron, and worked for several weeks in a good
miner-like manner, and not being found to pay, was sold to
the captain and his partner, Resdale, for considerable less
money tban had been expended on it. The captain then
workod it for five or six weeks, as near as I can learn, with-
out paying expenses. He then thought of changing his wing-
dam and Avorking the other side of the creek, and sunk a
prospect shaft, to the depth of about twenty feet, without
any promising result. He then let the upper half of his
claim on that side of the creek to Chinamen to work on
shares. This was much against his principles, but, as no
white man seemed inclined to have anything to do with it,

of course there was no other way. However the Chinamen,
who had been all summer camped on the bank, took hold of
it and changed the dam, and set up sluice boxes, and
washed out three hundred dollars the first day. This record
was increased to four or five hundred. The captain then
went vigorously to work on the lower end of his claim, and
for over a month washed gold out at the rate of five, six,
and even seven hundred dollars in twenty-four hours.
All this good fortune was owing to a streak of clay that ex-
tended down stream through the whole length of his claim.
This clayey streak evMently was the last remnant of a bank
that had formed behind a point of rock at the up-stream end
of his claim; and had not that rock been there no clayey
streak ever would have been formed on the claim; or had
the rock becL in just the same position on the other side of
the creek the chances of the claim being rich would not
have been greater than one to twenty, as the ice-pressure
was all on that side, and in the direction of the base of the
high bench, just below the mouth of the canyon. The gold
then, if this theory be correct, came from the north-west
along with the glacial drift. There must, therefore, be
somewhere in that direction quartz ledges of surpassing
richness. Where those ledges are no one knows, and per-
haps no one ever will know; but if ever found it is likely that
they will make a millionaire of their discoverer. As the
canyon of the Tulameen is in about the direction from which
the glacial drift must have come, these ledges are to the north
or north-west of this canyon, and somewhere between this
canyon and Granite creek. Whatever thare may be between
this canyon and Granite creek it is certain that there is an nu-
mensely rich ledge between it and the Coquahola. Whether
all the gold in the country came from there or not is uncer-
tain, but at first sight looks to be quite possible' The gold in
the canyon is coarser than that in Granite creek, and thai in
Granite creek is coarser than that in the south fork of the

Siinilkameen, and as those three gold-producing streams are
just in the line of the glacial movement, it would be quite
natural to suppose that it all came from there, because we
know that the coaser gold is the sooner it will find its restinj;
place, and the finer and more scaly it is the further it will
travel. We can, therefore, by this rule tell v/hen we are going
in the right direction. The reasons for thinking: that all the
gold in Granite creek did not come from the north of this
canyon are the appearance of many of the nuggets, which
plainly indicate that they did not travel that far; besides there
is a noticeable difierence in the color of Granite creek gold,
which would indicate ?t least three or four ledges. All the
indications I have yet seen indicate that the gold came out
of ledges of white quartz. This is proved by finding small
pieces of this kind of quartz imbedded in the nuggets. It is,
therefore, extremely probable that there is one or more ledges
between this canyon and Granite creek. Those ledges, unle.ss
they have been interfered with by the Cascade upheaval, will
run nearly due east and west, and will probably be so much
decomposed that a pick can be used in taking out the rock.
The theory that the gold came out of the rock that forms the
walls or banks of Granite creek I do not hardly think worth
a consideration, although it is generally believed among
♦^.he miners there, some of whom I much respect, but
can say nothing in favor of the theory, because I do not know
of any actual faets that I could notice that would warrant such
a conclusion. Another theory that receives considerable sup-
port is, that the gold has been washed down the creek from
some quartz ledges that exist somewhere up the creek. This I
think quite impossible, because it is well known that water
will not carry coarse gold very far, and if it came down the
creek, then the creek should grow richer as you neared the
place where the gold came from. This everyone knows is not
the case; besides up the creek is the place where every person
has been looking that expected to find paying quart? ledges.

Yet, as far as 1 have been able to learn, I am not aware that
even a color has yet been found in any (juartz le(l<^e yet dis-
covered on Granite creek, or anywhere in the neighborhood
of it.

About three-fourths of a mile above the town, there*
is an old bed of the north Similkameen river, which
flowed there before Granite creek had worn down
to its present level. Thi.s old bed is crossed by the
new trail to Brumley's ranch, about four miles down the
river. On the opposite side of the canyon of Granite Creek
the old bed is filled up with banks of drift, which were crowd-
ed into it by the ice ; persons going up Granite creek pass
along the tops of those drift-heaps on the trail and can see the
old bed on either side. There is another old river bed, simi-
lar to this, about a mile and a half further up, and three
or four hundred feet higher. It is indeed i-emarkable that
there should he :x river bod at such a height, but what makes
it peculiarly interesting is the fact that the wat<irs that once
fillt*«i this ancient channel flowed towards the west, or in a
different direction to all the streams in the country.

I might mention that there is a depression across
this country that pretty v 11 corresponds in direction with
that which caused the Frascr river to take its westward course
from Hope to the Sound, and which may possibly, be-
fore the Cascade upheaval, have caused it to take a
course similar, in general direction, to that of the Columbia.
The best place to observe this depression is from the side of
the mountain on the trail to Ailiston's, about four and a half
miles from the mouth of Granite creek.

I would also like to say, that I would strongly
recommend that the name Tulameen, which is appli-
ed to the north fork of the Similkaraeen, be altogether
abandoned, as it is misleading, and apt to cause a confu-
sion of ideas, and is altogether unnecessary; also, if the

name Tulameeu is to be retained, then where the gold
is found is not in the Similkameen, but in the Tulameen
country. Besides if it is proper to call the south fork of this
river, the South Fork, then what is called the Tulameen
is certainly the north fork, and when you speak of the Tula-
meen around Granite creek, no person seems to know what
you are referring to. The creek on the map called the
Whipoo, which flows from the summit down into the south
fork of the Similkameen, along in the neighborhood of the
Hope trail, is not the Whipoo, but the Whipsaw creek. I
speak thus because I am sure that I am right. None of
the old settlers ever knew it to be called anything else ; and
Mr. Jameson, who has lived near its mouth for over twenty
years, says that it received its name from an old whipsaw
found on its banks shortly after he came into the country.

EXTRACTS FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE
DEPUTY PROVINCIAL SECRETARY.

Nov. 23th., 1885.

" From near the mouth of the creek to a point about
four miles up no claim that has been testedonbothsideshasfailed
to yii'ld good returns, and it may be safely said that the
ground for that distance will average over an ounce a day to
the hand. * * * I have not so far seen any reports in the new^s-
papers that has gone beyond the truth. The statements made
about Sherbourne & Rashdale's claim, and Brumley & Biggs,
taking out $400 in an afternoon with a rocker, are quite
correct. Messrs Pierce & Harvey, on the 1st inst., washed
out 45 ounces the work of eight men for thirty hours. * * * *
I believe that the discoveries on Granite creek will lead
to the opening up of aa extensive g ^Id field —

FROM THE COLONIST JANUABT IOTH, 188C.

" Tile Stephenson lode, fifty miles from Hope, and twenty
miles from Granite creek, is soon to be actively worked. The
San B'rancisco assay test is.i^4,676 and $11,247."

THE LATEST NEWS.

Yale, Jan. 10. — The weather a6 the mines is mild with
about six inches of snow. The prospect along the whole of
the Tulameen is very encouraging. The latest discovery is
on Slate creek, there are alread / 300 men located there.

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Snlphureted Hydrogen
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Chloride of Sodium
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