The Gold Rush of 1858
By Curt Cunningham

During the spring of 1858, rumors of a new gold discovery on the Fraser River made its way to Puget Sound. Captain Jones of the schooner Wild Pigeon, brought word that gold could be found along the river between Fort Yale and the forks of the Thompson River. He said that most of the inhabitants around Fort Victoria and Fort Langley had already left for the diggings. The trappers were now becoming prospectors. The Chief Factor of Fort Langley immediately left the fort with food and merchandise, leaving only a clerk in charge. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) blacksmith had been working day and night making picks and shovels for these new miners.

The HBC knew about gold on the Fraser River long before the Americans found out about it. They had kept this information a secret, mostly because they did not want a great swarm of Americans invading their new territory. The memory of being pushed out of the lower Columbia River was still fresh in their minds, and the HBC was not that fond of the Americans to begin with. The Indians were the ones who first found gold on the Fraser. They would bring gold to Fort Langley and Fort Hope and trade it for an equal amount of lead. I am sure the British were very happy to cheat the Indians and turn their lead into gold.

In 1856, HBC Governor James Douglas, started to become worried that their secret would get out and droves of Americans would stream into British territory. He began to write letters back to England asking for some direction in what to do. He wanted to stop the Americans from coming into their territory. Douglas, who was an HBC official, was also the British Governor of Vancouver Island, but his authority did not extend to the mainland of British Columbia. At the time there were only a few tiny settlements and the HBC wanted the area to remain wild and uninhabited by Europeans. The British Government in 1858 still hadn’t fully realized the extent of the wealth or importance of their new domain.

The Governor never received permission from Britain, and chose to go ahead and protect the interests of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and signed a proclamation on December 28, 1857, that read; “Whereas by law all mines of gold and all gold in its natural place of deposit within the district of Fraser’s River and the Thompson River commonly known as Qua-atlan, Courteau, and Shuswap countries, whether on the lands of the Queen or any of her Majesty’s subjects, belongs to the Crown and any person attempting to disturb the soil in search of gold or that takes any gold or gold bearing ore from the land within the said districts shall be subject to the penalty of the law.”

After February 1, 1858, miners would have to purchase a license which cost 21 Shillings (about 5 dollars US) paid in advance and the licenses were only issued at Victoria. This meant that anyone, even the British subjects who wanted to dig for gold, had to somehow get to Victoria to purchase a license. It has been argued that Douglas did not have the authority to issue the licenses and the funds received were never given to the Crown but instead filled the coffers of the company.

People did whatever it took to get over to Victoria. Those who could not pay for a ride on a steamer or hire a canoe built makeshift boats and rafts to get there. This was extremely dangerous as the waters of the Puget Sound and the Salish Sea can become violent when the weather is bad, swallowing up small boats and makeshift vessels. It will never be known how many poor souls never made it to Victoria, and perished in these cold dark waters.

The license requirement was only enforced at Victoria, and at the mouth of the Fraser River. This may have been due to the fact that the Governor didn’t have the manpower to enforce the law and he really had no authority to issue the licenses in the first place. In the beginning few knew about the license requirement and the newspapers were saying to just go along with the annoyance so as not to cause a conflict.

Many miners who arrived at Fort Yale never paid for a license. One reason for not paying was that nobody was there to issue a license, the HBC did not have collectors in the field and there was nobody at Fort Langley actively selling licenses. If someone was worried about getting caught or wanted to do the “right thing” and asked someone where to buy one, I am sure the HBC would have been more than willing to assist the miner and take his money. In the beginning, most did not want to chance it and traveled to Victoria to purchase a license.

The “official route” to the mines would begin at Victoria and then it was by steamer, canoe or raft, across the Straights of Georgia to the mouth of the Fraser River. From there it was about 25 miles upriver to Fort Langley. From the fort, it was another 40 miles up the river to Fort Hope and then 12 more miles to Fort Yale. In the beginning, only canoes traveled up river from Fort Langley, but later, it was found that when the river was high, the smaller steamers could travel to Fort Hope. There was also a rough pack trail from Fort Langley to Fort Hope. In 1849, the HBC had built a Brigade Trail between these forts.

The following is what a miner had said about the trip to Victoria; “All who undertake to come by way of the Sound and river in small boats of canoes should be well prepared to meet heavy seas and strong currents. Canoes should be well strengthened with iron bars passing on the inside from edge to edge and have several hundred feet of rope, a good anchor and splash boards 6 inches high on each side. We came and left Whidbey’s Island or between the island and the mainland through the Canoe Passage, which can be found with little trouble as large Indian ranches are plenty the way down.”

When word of the Fraser discovery made it to the Puget Sound, all of the mill workers and longshoremen at Port Townsend, Port Ludlow and Port Gamble, along with most of the sailors, quit their jobs and rushed to the gold region. This resulted in a long delay for the ships that were to sail back to San Francisco. This delay also slowed the news of the gold discovery. These San Francisco lumber ships carried all the communication between the Puget Sound and California. When the news of the discovery finally reached San Francisco, practically all of the available labor left town for the diggings and the scarcity of workers caused wages to increase. Mining equipment had become extremely scarce, and the price of an Ames shovel increased 500%.

Sailing vessels leaving San Francisco were so overloaded that some were 3 times the legal capacity. Special agent of the United States, John Nugent, estimated that during May, June, and July, of 1858, 23,000 people traveled from San Francisco by sea, and about 8,000 took the Applegate Trail to Portland.

After purchasing a license, the miners now had to find a way to get up the river. Most paid for passage on the steamers to Fort Langley and then took canoes up the river. When the river was high, some of the smaller steamers could reach Fort Hope. The rest who couldn’t afford a ticket took hundreds of smaller vessels of all kinds and tried to make their way up. It wasn’t long before river became congested and there were many accidents and drownings. The ones who didn’t hire pilots, were left to the mercy of the river, and these poor souls had to navigate on an unknown river, through swift currents and hidden snags. Many didn’t make it.

On April 30, 1858, W. H Woods had written a letter from Fort Yale saying that he had about 7 more miles to go before he reached the place he wanted to dig. He said the last 2 or 3 miles getting to Fort Yale was the worst part of the whole trip. To reach their camping spot, they had to carry all the supplies on their backs, with the exception of a few bundles that they left in the largest canoe. When they tried to bring this canoe up the rapids, it capsized and everything was lost.

Luckily, the 2 Indians that were steering it were pulled out safely. Because of the trouble bringing up the canoes, they had to go back to Fort Hope and get more help. They finally were able to get their 4 canoes above the rapids. It would be only an hour later, that 2 more canoes tried to go up the same rapids and both capsized in the exact place as Woods had trouble. These canoes ended up getting caught in the current and were smashed to pieces on the rocks downstream. One of the canoes belonged to Mr. McAlmond of Dungeness. Woods then gave instructions on how to reach the gold diggings safely;

“Parties coming up the Fraser River should have canoes if possible, and manned by Indians; and they ought to keep watch every night and day, for the other Indians on this river will steal any and everything within their reach. In going up the river, they should never interfere with them and let them go by any route they see fit to select and to load the canoes as they please. When at Fort Hope, the miner should be very careful to select a good crew and have one who can speak the Chinook Jargon."

“Whatever an Indian in the canoe says, should be carefully observed, for the Indians know the river very well and they will do the best they can. If they are left alone, there will be less risk of accidents. The first crew should be hired from Point Roberts to Fort Langley, then a crew from there to the diggings. Indians from Fort Langley to Fort Hope are paid $1 a day, with provisions. From Fort hope to the diggings it is $1 a day with no provisions. Major William Tidd and Mr. Finnegan have returned from the river and say that miners are making at least $10 per day.”

The Fraser River Warning

During the late spring of 1858, the Fraser River began to rise from the freshets of the melting snow. It took until August for the river to recede, and then it started to slowly rise again. This stalled the thousands who had rushed to the river in search of gold. The consequence of this idleness, was that hundreds if not thousands failed to ever find anything but pain and misery.

At the beginning of May 1858, Heil Barnes took a voyage to Victoria on a steamer and then traveled up the Fraser River to Fort Yale. When he arrived, the river was still 15 feet too high and was told it would be 8 more weeks or longer until it became low enough for prospecting. Barnes was thoughtful enough to send a letter back to Whatcom and Seattle and gave a dire warning to others not to travel to the Fraser River. He also said that there must be over 10,000 people along the river banks from the mouth to the fort, and no one is doing anything but just waiting for the river to lower.

He then told of several people drowning in the river over the past week and that one body was a woman. The day he wrote the letter another person drowned. People would start up the river and would never be seen again. Some would pay an Indian guide for the trip only to upset him and then somewhere along the way, the guide would disappear and the miner would be left to die from the elements. Barnes encountered hundreds of boats full of people going back every week. Many more became destitute and could not afford to pay or find work to make enough money to get back home. Barnes goes on to say that if he had to do it all over again he would have taken Yakima Pass from Seattle and gone to Colville.

The Whatcom Trail

Before gold was discovered on the Fraser River, Whatcom was a sleepy little village. The Fraser River gold rush put an end to that. When news of the strike made it to Puget Sound, Whatcom exploded, and during April of 1858, the town had the appearance of San Francisco during its boom in 1848. Houses were going up in every direction and on any spot that would fit a structure, even in the streets, alleyways and on the beach.
About a mile south of Whatcom, the town of Sehome was laid out, and lots were quickly purchased by San Francisco businesses. There was a large force of workers who had built a wharf and many were in constant employment clearing the land, and the forest was quickly disappearing.

The merchants in Whatcom did over $20,000 in business in just one week and miners were arriving and departing every day while making their stay as short as possible. The American miners did not want to buy supplies from the HBC at Fort Langley or Victoria, so they made their way to Whatcom. One party left town and had proceeded as far as Fort Hope, when they ran into a large company of miners who had just come down from the diggings. They ended up disposing all of their provisions to these miners at a mark up of 400% above their cost. The miners instantly retraced their steps while the others returned to Whatcom. When miners came into town from the gold region, the first thing they would ask is; “what’s the price for provisions,” then they would buy what they needed and immediately race back.

There was a fellow by the initials of U. E. H. who gave his opinion on the towns of Whatcom, and Sehome during the summer of 1858; “Whatcom is as near like the city of Sodom of old as ever a town could well become in this advanced day of the world, and if fire does not come down out of heaven and devour it soon, I feel confident that it will lay Sodom and Gomorrah in the shade. However, if I judge alright, there is a fair prospect of a volcano erupting from its own “internal fires.” Vice and immorality of every description is practiced there, even at noon. This will require the firm arm of a vigilance committee to stop.”

“I presume there is at this time nearly 3,000 people in and around Bellingham Bay, and a large proportion of whom, if not a majority, are living in tents and canvas houses, and under the shade of trees. I include Whatcom and Sehome under the general name of Whatcom, alias “Sodom.” Improvements are driving ahead, however, at a rapid pace, wharves building, timber burning, houses going up as fast as lumber can be procured, and everything raging, ripping and roaring, all striving for the same thing, “the root of all evil.”

There where thousands of miners using the Fraser River route and the town merchants of Whatcom, wanted a direct land connection to Fort Hope. This route would bypass the hassle of having to go to Victoria to buy a license and the dangerous crossings of the Straights of Georgia. The water route from Whatcom to Fort Hope via Victoria was an arduous 14 day 200 mile voyage. The new trail would be a short 65 mile journey to Fort Hope in open defiance of the Governor’s license requirement.

Whatcom needed money to get this project started and early in April of 1858, the residents held a public meeting. They wanted to widen the Nooksack trail so pack trains could reach the Fraser River. This trail had been used by the Nooksack people for thousands of years between Bellingham bay, the Sumas prairies and the Fraser River.

The committee made arrangements for obtaining subscriptions from the thousands camped on the beach waiting for the trail to open. During the meeting, Charles Vail pointed out that great obstacles in river navigation would be avoided by taking the trail. River navigation above Fort Langley was much easier. Work immediately began, and wages for the road workers was $3 per day, or $2 per day with meals.

From Whatcom, the trail snaked through a dense forest for about 15 miles to the Nooksack prairies. This prairie extended two miles to the upper crossing of the Nooksack River at Everson. After crossing the river, the trail ran in a NE direction about 10 miles to Sumas Lake. At the 35 mile mark, the Fraser River is met. This was about 70 miles from its mouth. The final leg of the journey to Fort Hope was 20 more miles in a canoe or along the river on the HBC trail. Over 10,000 people heard about this new “Whatcom trail,” and traveled to Bellingham Bay before work had even started.

The idled miners caused the town of Whatcom and Sehome to fill up beyond what they could hold. People were pitching tents everywhere, even on the beach. With all these idle miners waiting for the river to drop, food, booze and other necessities, became scarce and the prices for what was available were extremely high. This caused many miners to run out of supplies and they would have to dig for clams out in the mud flats if they wanted a meal. This extended wait, caused many to run out of money and the hope of ever reaching the mines. The prolonged wait forced many to begin the trek back home.

By the beginning of May, only 15 miles of trail had been completed, and packers could make it as far as Sumas Lake and from there they had to hire Indians for $1 day to transport 60 lbs of supplies through the forest to the Fraser River.

When news of a new discovery on the Thompson River began to circulate, this prompted the citizens of Whatcom to call a meeting on May 4, 1858 for the purpose of building a trail over the Cascade mountains to link up with the HBC trail that ran between Fort Hope and Fort Thompson. Road builder Captain Walter W. DeLacy was hired to locate the trail starting from the southeast edge of Chilliwack Lake.

The delay of the trail forced many miners to travel the "official route" to Victoria, with even more skipping the license requirement and dangerous trip across the straights and travel direct to Fort Langley. The congestion from the enormous amount of vessels making their way across the straights and up the river caused many accidents and drownings. When the Governor got word of the multitude of boats and steamers going up the river without paying for a license, he issued a proclamation on May 8, 1858, to ensure that the HBC was getting it’s tribute in the form of a mining license and to stop the Americans from selling merchandise to the miners;

“All ships, boats and vessels, together with the goods laden on board, found in Fraser’s River, or in any of the bays, rivers, or creeks of the said British Possessions on the north west coast of America, not having a license from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and a sufferance from the proper officer of the Customs of Victoria, shall be liable to forfeiture, and will be seized and condemned according to law.”

Governor Douglas also made arrangements with the various American Steamship companies, and for a fee of $600 a year, paid in advance the American steamers would be allowed to navigate up the Fraser River. The rules of operation were; 1. The boat could not carry any goods that were not purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company. 2. That all weaponry is from the United Kingdom. 3. The owner of the boat cannot carry anyone who does not purchase a mining license. 4. The boat owner cannot conduct business with the Indians. Now the miners could buy a license, when they purchased their ticket onboard the steamer. Individual miners could only carry with them 6 months worth of supplies.

To enforce his decree, Governor Douglas asked Captain J. C. Prevost to sail the H.M.S. Satellite, to the mouth of the Fraser. The ship was in the area on a mission for the NW Boundary Commission and could only assist the Governor for a short time.

The HBC was making a killing off the sale of goods and soon they were not able to keep up with the demand, so the HBC began to buy from the Americans in San Francisco. Governor Isaac Stevens was incensed that the HBC would purchase supplies from the Americans and then turned around and resell them to the miners at a 400% to 1000% markup. Stevens was also angered that the HBC was profiting from this venture in the name of the British Crown, who either looked the other way or never knew about it.

This was a big problem for Samuel McCaw of Steilacoom; he had brought with him $2,000 worth of merchandise to resell at the diggings. The HBC seized his goods when he tried to sail up the Fraser River. They did not confiscate his merchandise, but told him he had to go back. This also happened to Tilton and Gibson, who almost had their vessel, the Black Duck, confiscated. They too were let go and they all returned to Point Roberts.

The Duped Miner

In the spring of 1858, as word of the gold rush spread through California, a correspondent from the Oregon Sentinel decided to travel to Whatcom and take the new trail to the diggings. Things didn’t work out as planned and he was stranded at Whatcom for weeks until a steamer arrived to take him to Fort Langley.

On May 1, 1858, our lone adventurer left Jacksonville, Oregon on a Clugage and Drum livery horse and on the first day, he made as far as Kerbyville, OR (now called Kerby) where he dropped off the horse at one of their stations. The next day he boarded a McClellan & Co. & Mann’s stage coach for a ride to Crescent City. He could have taken a horse from the George Johnson & Co. but he wanted to test out the wagon road, which he found in good shape. He only had to stay in Crescent City for a day when the steamer arrived from San Francisco, loaded with Fraser River bound passengers. He then paid for a first class ticket direct for Whatcom.

Along the way, the steamer passed numerous sailing boats filled with hopeful prospectors and after an uneventful voyage, they landed in Whatcom. The first thing he did after disembarking, was to look for the best hotel he could find, given this town was just coming out of its infancy and the choices weren’t that great. That night after a meal of rabbit and wild turkey, he took to his room and decided he was going to leave early in the morning, but the bartender told him that the trail was not yet completed and instead of an 80 or 90 mile journey, it was now a 2 week voyage of 200 miles.

Now he had to travel to Victoria, buy a license and then take the river route. This put a damper on his plans and after further inquiry; he learned that the route up the Fraser River was very dangerous as to prove fatal to a number of lives that had tried to make it to Fort Hope. After 2 weeks of waiting, he had just enough money left for passage on a steamer and the final canoe ride to the mines, and like many others, he had to go down to the mud flats and dig clams so he would have something to eat. One day he got lucky and caught a salmon and was happy to have a good meal.

The easing of the rules on the steamers was good news for our traveler, as the steamer Surprise landed at Whatcom, and our miner was able to book a passage to Fort Langley for $20.00 with $5.00 going to the Hudson’s Bay Company for a mining license. He didn’t have to travel to Victoria.

After reaching Fort Langley on June 6, 1858 he and 5 others hired Indians to take them on the perilous journey up the river in a canoe passing through a multitude of dangers. When they reached Fort Hope, he heard stories that $10 to $100 a day could be had. There was another story of some miners who had lost all their tools, and by scratching with their hands and washing with a hat, they made $1,200 in two days. Our traveler secretly was hoping to find his El Dorado and quit his job with the newspaper.

The Steamers

After the steamers got their permits, they quickly raced to Whatcom, loaded up and steamed away leaving the town deserted. On May 23, 1858, D. F. Newsom wrote that Whatcom was quiet now and the starving clam eaters have moved on. He said that there were 11 well stocked stores, 2 butcher shops, 3 bakeries, 2 restaurants, which included the “Whatcom house” which was run by William Littlejohn, plus numerous boarding houses. The town would not stay quiet for very long.

The Commodore arrived on May 10, 1858 with 400 passengers. Over 200 disembarked and headed for the unfinished Whatcom trail. There were barely 100 people in Whatcom on that spring day after the Commodore left town and those that remained, would be leaving shortly. Miners were also arriving back from the Fraser River and they were bringing in from 5 to 100 ounces of gold per person. They said it was impracticable to go up the Fraser River right now, and instead, they recommended that miners take the Brigade trail from Fort Hope to the new gold discovery in the Shuswap area near Fort Thompson at the future town of Kamloops.

The NW Boundary Commission Pack Trail

After the treaty of 1846, the NW Border Commission which was comprised of British and Americans, had the task of surveying the new border along the 49th parallel west of the Rocky Mountains. The commission had set up their main camp on the Semiahmoo Spit across from the future town of Blaine. From the mainland they had to construct a pack trail to get supplies and equipment into the interior so they could survey the line. During May of 1858, a party of employees from the NW Boundary Commission started working on the pack trail from Semiahmoo Bay and they followed as close as possible along the border toward Colville, where they set up a base camp at the future town of Marcus.

They first traveled by boat up the Fraser River and landed near Chilliwack. The party then hiked up the Chilliwack valley, and established a camp at the head of Chilliwack lake. (Chilliwack lake was originally called Summit lake). They then had to use canoes to get across the lake. Presumably, a hotel was constructed and the place which became known as Miller’s landing.

The Indian trail was then widened for pack animals east to the Skagit River, and the Similkameen River, before it reached the open country at Oroville. From there the trail continued eastward toward Colville. Nearly 200 men were required for the expedition. This group consisted of 2 astronomical parties and 3 survey groups. The small army included astronomers, surveyors, topographers, computers, chain men, target men, instrument carriers, cooks, packers, a surgeon, a geologist, a quartermaster, an artist, a chief guide, axemen, laborers, Indian guides and messengers who received $1 per day.

The Whatcom Trail Illusion

On May 4, 1858, the citizens of Whatcom held another meeting to discuss the construction of a pack trail to the Thompson River. They wanted to link the Whatcom trail to the NW Border Commission's trail at the Chilliwack River and then from the Skagit River find a pass to connect to the HBC trail leading to Fort Thompson.

The trail from Whatcom to the Fraser River was completed by July of 1858, and miners could pack to a point about 20 miles downstream from Fort Hope and then have Indians take them in canoes the rest of the way to the fort or they could just take the HBC trail which ran along the river's edge. On July 2, 1858, DeLacy reported that 50 miners have gone out with pack mules on the Whatcom trail and most of them branched off and followed the completed trail to the Fraser River about 12 miles below Fort Hope.

Everything seemed to go well with the construction. The workers were making progress, but they didn’t know what lay ahead of them and DeLacy was no where to be found. The new route became well worn for about 40 miles by miners and animals going up and then returning. There was a group of 60 who only had backpacks, and after floundering in the mountains for weeks they had to return to Whatcom.

The town leaders of Whatcom were worried a bust was eminent and kept DeLacy searching for the pass that couldn’t be found. DeLacy wrote from the Sumallo River on July 24, 1858, and reported that he supposedly found a practicable pass at the head of the Sumallo River through the mountains to the open country. He could not go all the way to the Brigade trail, on account he was running out of supplies, (or was wasting time) but he said he could see the HBC campfires in the distance.

He figured them to be about 10 to 15 miles out. He was still about 25 miles from the open country and said there will be a great deal of work to do on those last 25 miles. He also wrote another letter to Edmund Clare Fitzburg letting him know he was striving onward; “Dear Fitzburg, there is no such word as fail. I have found a fine pass to the open country. There will be 25 miles to reach it. I have just got here about an hour ago. I have guides at camp to take the working party on, and I shall return to Whatcom in a few days, for I am exhausted by fatigue. I send Pullen, who was with me, as an express, he can give you the particulars.”

On July 30, 1858, it was reported that the trail from Whatcom to the open country was completed, but this was just a rumor. Then another rumor started to float around, that DeLacy had found a way through the mountains. It was soon realized that, instead of finding a way through, he came out on one of the highest spurs of the mountains that has a perpendicular side fronting the east and he could not find a way down. So he traveled to Fort Hope and took the HBC Brigade trail to the eastern slope of the mountains and tried to find a way to Chilliwack lake from the east. He never did.

On August 6, 1858, our old friend U. E. H. wrote another letter chastising the town proprietors of Whatcom. He said they had been using deception concerning the completion of the trail and in the process, have inflicted serious injury not only upon the multitudes who have gone there from San Francisco, but upon the Washington Territory at large. He then said that the land speculators at Whatcom still continue their attempts to delude the unsuspecting and ignorant into stopping there with stories of the trail being near its completion, or it was just 2 weeks away from completion. He then said; "They had been too successful in driving from our shores thousands of victims, after robbing them of their all."

On Thursday August 19, 1858, DeLacy and B. F. Shaw, arrived at Whatcom with the cheering news that the Whatcom trail was completed to the headwaters of the Fraser and Thompson rivers. On the 23rd, the towns of Whatcom and Sehome threw a party and a public dinner for DeLacy, and those who worked on the trail. DeLacy addressed the meeting about the work done on the trail. He asserted, in his speech, as an indisputable fact, that the trail was put through, and that it was the best, in every aspect, of any known route on the whole Cascade range.

He said; “The trip from Bellingham Bay to the Thompson River can be made with pack animals from 10 to 15 days, including all delays for grazing and rest for the animals. The highest point on the Cascades is at 4,000 feet and it is certain the trail can be traveled at least 6 months of the year from June till December.”

Grass was abundant on some portions of the trail, in others it was scarce. The whole distance was remarkably free from the usual obstacles of dangerous water courses and difficult hills with only one ferry and three river crossings. DeLacy’s speech made the trail sound much better than it actually was. Most of his trail just utilized the existing Indian trails that were just rough paths through the forest. No work was ever done to actually complete the trail and few miners ever used the route.

Oregon settler Phillip Foster had returned home from a trip to Bellingham Bay, Victoria and Seattle and wrote a letter about his journey on August 8, 1858. He said he was very critical of the Fraser River route as it was too dangerous and he doubted whether the Whatcom trail would ever be finished. He said this would be a greater “humbug” than the town itself. Foster then praised Seattle for having a deep harbor and great territory and said that the Yakima Pass route was the best and most feasible way to get to the mines on the Thompson River.

The Beginning of the End

By late summer miners began to return from the Fraser River, and most were completely broke. There were too many people trying to mine very few spots and those that came too late missed out. On August 20, 1858, the Pioneer and Democrat reported that about 200 broke and desperate miners in Whatcom had commandeered the steamer Panama. They informed the captain that they were out of money and down on their luck, and that they should be compelled to call upon the generosity of the Captain to furnish them with a “gratis” passage back to San Francisco.

The Captain, knowing the company would never let him bring in 200 freeloaders, told the would-be pirates, that if they intend to commandeer his vessel that they would have to navigate and operate the ship themselves.
The newspaper said that if they succeeded, it served them right and said; “The steamship company was most instrumental in drumming up the excitement of gold and riches at an improper time and at too early a day, and it is but just deserts, that they should burn their fingers in just such a way and maybe they will learn then to mind their business in the future.”

W. T. Barry of California left Victoria on Friday, August 6, 1858 at which time there were about 5,000 unemployed miners and about 2,000 of these poor souls were completely broke. During all his experience in the mines of California, he had never seen such apparent destitution, and the prospect of future intense suffering and want. Aside from those that were quartered in houses around the town, there was at least a square mile of tents erected in the vicinity. The HBC authorities were completely insane to allow this at its present state, and that it could lead to the possibility of violence.

When Barry left Victoria, there were some 30 vessels in the harbor, and several more ship arrivals from San Francisco coming in every day. The percentage in the departures over the arrivals of passengers was about 3 to 1 as few are now going to Victoria, and all who could, were leaving. Real estate plummeted 100% in just a few weeks and Barry wondered how the crowds at Victoria, who were without either money or employment, managed to make a living. He was apprehensive that unless things brightened up in that direction and unless steps were taken to get these wretched souls returned to California, or taken from the island to some other locality where they could prospect for gold, or earn a livelihood, that confusion and terror will soon reign supreme on Vancouver Island. In the meantime, the employment of prospecting for clams was pursued very assiduously there.

The HBC finally came up with a way to clear out the town and profit from it. They wanted to build a pack trail from Harrison Lake to the headwaters of the Fraser River. This became known as the Harrison- Lillooet Trail. The HBC sent out word of the jobs available for $1 a day and about 500 unemployed miners quickly accepted the jobs. The stipulation was that each person working on the trail, must deposit $25 before starting, and must continue until the work was finished. The company would furnish provisions and travel free of charge. At the completion of the 60 mile trail, the $25 would be returned to them in provisions at Victoria at their “rip off” prices.

Not all Who Ventured Found El Dorado

During the spring and summer months of 1858, dozens of steamships, schooners, brigs and barks filled with miners from San Francisco were landing at the ports between Olympia and Victoria. Thousands took the journey north and for all of those hopeful prospectors who stepped off a ship from San Francisco, by the end of summer, there would be just as many disappointed and broke gold seekers boarding the same ships for the trip back home. It is said that only 1 in 10 made any real money.

The steamers that plied the Straights of Georgia and the Fraser River, were in the business to make a profit and they were not about to show any kind of generosity to those who were unable to make any money no matter if they were unable to find gold or were deceived by them or someone else. The Pioneer and Democrat accused the steamship companies of being a tad greedy and insensitive when they said; “It would seem that the steamer companies have combined and determined that having enjoyed a golden harvest in conveying passengers from California as far up Fraser River as they dared to venture, getting all their cash, that they now permit them to die there of starvation and exposure, unless they should be fortunate enough to succeed in “panning out” enough of the “needful” to pay their passage back. Very benevolent “institutions” are these steamboat companies.”

By the end of summer the rush to Whatcom had ended and the lights had gone out on September 24, 1858. The short lived Whatcom newspaper, The Northern Light also went dark and the beaches where thousands of miners had pitched their tents and dug clams were now covered with the junk they left behind. Of the 31,000 miners that trekked to the Fraser River during those 3 months, 28,000 had returned home by January of 1859.

The Whatcom trail between Bellingham and Chilliwack saw plenty of traffic. Supplies were being sent to Fort Hope on a regular basis using the trail. The NW Border Commission also used the trail extensively. In 1870 John Fravel and a crew of workers strung a telegraph line along its path. By 1879, the Whatcom trail had become a fairly good wagon road. Today the old trail is now called Telegraph Road and most of the old road is still in use.

Some have said that upwards of 100,000 souls traveled north to the Fraser River. Although some of these prospectors found riches in the mines, it will never be known how many lives perished in the frozen wilderness of the north, and also of the countless others who were ruined and lost everything, trying to find their El Dorado.