r each vessel with decks. Later these tolls were disallowed by the
home authorities. The prompt action of Douglas, however, had the
effect of keeping the mining movement in hand. Though the miners were
of the same class as the 'argonauts' of California, they never broke
into the lawlessness that compelled vigilance committees in San
Francisco.

[Illustration: Sir James Douglas. From a portrait by Savannah]

Judge Howay gives the letter of a treasure-seeker who reached the
Fraser in April, the substance of which is as follows:

We're now located thirty miles above the junction of the Fraser and the
Thompson on Fraser River... About a fourth of the canoes that attempt
to come up are lost in the rapids which extend from Fort Yale nearly to
the Forks. A few days ago six men were drowned by their canoe
upsetting. There is more danger going down than coming up. There can
be no doubt about this country being immensely rich in gold. Almost
every bar on the river from Yale up will pay from three dollars to
seven dollars a day to the man at the present stage of water. When the
river gets low, which will be about August, the bars will pay very
well. One hundred and ninety-six dollars was taken out by one man last
winter in a few hours, but the water was then at its lowest stage. The
gold on the bars is all very fine and hard to save in a rocker, but
with quicksilver properly {12} managed, good wages can be made almost
anywhere on the river as long as the bars are actually covered with
water. We have not yet been able to find a place where we can work
anything but rockers. If we could get a sluice to work, we could make
from twelve dollars to sixteen dollars a day each. We only commenced
work yesterday and we are satisfied that when we get fully under way we
can make from five dollars to seven dollars a day each. The prospect
is better as we go up the river on the bars. The gold is not any
coarser, but there is more of it. There are also in that region
diggings of coarser gold on small streams that empty into the main
river. A few men have been there and proved the existence of rich
diggings by bringing specimens back with them. The Indians all along
the river have gold in their possession that they say they dug
themselves, but they will not tell where they get it, nor allow small
parties to go up after it. I have seen pieces in their possession
weighing two pounds. The Indians above are disposed to be tro