_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P._
Victoria, Vancouver's Island, May 8, 1858.
Since I had the honour of addressing you on the 6th of April last on the
subject of the "Couteau" gold mines, they have become more than ever a
source of attraction to the people of Washington and Oregon territories,
and it is evident from the accounts published in the latest San
Francisco papers, that intense excitement prevails among the inhabitants
of that stirring city on the same subject.
The "Couteau" country is there represented and supposed to be in point
of mineral wealth a second California or Australia, and those
impressions are sustained by the false and exaggerated statements of
steamboat owners and other interested parties, who benefit by the
current of emigration which is now setting strongly towards this
quarter.
Boats, canoes, and every species of small craft, are continually
employed in pouring their cargoes of human beings into Fraser River, and
it is supposed that not less than one thousand whites are already at
work and on the way to the gold districts. Many accidents have happened
in the dangerous rapids of that river; a great number of canoes have
been dashed to pieces, and their cargoes swept away by the impetuous
stream, while of the ill-fated adventurers who accompanied them many
have been swept into eternity.
The others, nothing daunted by the spectacle of ruin and buoyed up by
the hope of amassing wealth, still keep pressing onward towards the
coveted goal of their most ardent wishes.
On the 25th of last month, the American steamer "Commodore" arrived in
this port direct from San Francisco, with 450 passengers on board, the
chief part of whom are gold miners for the "Couteau" country.
Nearly 400 of those men were landed at this place, and have since left
in boats and canoes for Fraser River.
I ascertained from inquiries on the subject that those men are all well
provided with mining tools, and that there was no dearth of capital or
intelligence among them. About sixty British subjects, with an equal
number of native born Americans, the rest being chiefly Germans, with a
smaller proportion of Frenchmen and Italians, composed this body of
adventurers.
They are represented as being, with some exceptions, a specimen of the
worst of the population of San Francisco; the very dregs, in fact, of
society. Their conduct while here would have led me to form a very
different conclusion; as our little town, though crowded to excess with
this sudden influx of people, and though there was a temporary scarcity
of food, and dearth of house accommodation, the police few in number,
and many temptations to excess in the way of drink, yet quiet and order
prevailed, and there was not a single committal for rioting,
drunkenness, or other offences during their stay here.
The merchants and other business classes of Victoria are rejoicing in
the advent of so large a body of the people in the colony, and are
strongly in favour of making this port a stopping point between San
Francisco and the gold mines, converting the latter, as it were, into a
feeder and dependency of this colony.
Victoria would thus become a depot and centre of trade for the gold
districts, and the natural consequence would be an immediate increase in
the wealth and population of the colony.
To effect that object it will be requisite to facilitate by every
possible means the transport of passengers and goods to the furthest
navigable point on Fraser River; and the obvious means of accomplishing
that end is to employ light steamers in plying between, and connecting
this port (Victoria) with the Falls of Fraser River, distant 130 miles
from the discharge of that river, into the Gulf of Georgia; those falls
being generally believed to be at the commencement of the remunerative
gold diggings, and from thence the miners would readily make their, way
on foot, or, after the summer freshets, by the river into the interior
of the country.
By that means also the whole trade of the gold regions would pass
through Fraser River and be retained within the British territory,
forming a valuable outlet for British manufactured goods, and at once
creating a lucrative trade between the mother country and Vancouver's
Island.
Taking a view of the subject, simply in its relations to trade and
commerce, apart from considerations of national policy, such perhaps
would be the course most likely to promote the interests of this colony;
but, on the contrary, if the country be thrown open, to indiscriminate
immigration, the interests of the empire may suffer from the
introduction of a foreign population, whose sympathies may be decidedly
anti-British.
Taking this view of the question, it assumes an alarming aspect, and
suggests a doubt as to the policy of permitting the free entrance of
foreigners into the British territory for residence, without in the
first place requiring them to take the oath of allegiance, and otherwise
to give such security for their conduct as the Government of the country
may deem it proper and necessary to require at their hands.
The opinion which I have formed on the subject leads me to think that,
in the event of the diggings proving remunerative, it will now be found
impossible to check the course of immigration, even by closing Fraser
River, as the miners would then force a passage into the gold district
by way of the Columbia River, and the valuable trade of the country in
that case be driven from its natural course into a foreign channel, and
entirely lost to this country.
On the contrary, should the diggings prove to be unremunerative, a
question which as yet remains undecided, the existing excitement, we may
suppose, will die away of itself; and the miners, having no longer the
prospect of large gains, will naturally abandon a country which no
longer holds out any inducement for them to remain.
Until the value of the country as a gold-producing region be established
on clearer evidence than can now be adduced in its favour--and the point
will no doubt be decided before the close of the present year--I would
simply recommend that a small naval or military force should be placed
at the disposal of this Government, to enable us to maintain the peace,
and to enforce obedience to the laws.
The system of granting licences for digging gold has not yet come into
operation.
Perhaps a similar method of raising a revenue would be to impose a
customs' duty on imports, to be levied on all supplies brought into the
country, whether by Fraser or the Columbia River.
The export of gold from the country is still inconsiderable, not
exceeding 600 ounces since I last addressed you. The principal diggings
are reported to be at present, and will probably continue, flooded for
several months to come, so that unless other diggings apart from the
river beds are discovered, the production of gold will not increase
until the summer freshets are over, which will probably happen about the
middle of August next. In the meantime the ill-provided adventurers who
have gone hither and thither will consume their stock of provisions, and
probably have to retire from the country until a more favourable season.
I shall be most happy to receive your instructions on the subject in
this letter.