Will*, ' 
 
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 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 1918 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 British Columb a for settlers :its mines 
 
 3 1924 023 507 357 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023507357 
 
BEITISH COLUMBIA FOE SETTLEKS 
 
CHAPMAN & HALL L™, LONDON. 
 
CHAPMAN & HALL L™, LONDON 
 
BBITISH COLUMBIA 
 FOB SETTLEBS 
 
 ITS MINES, TRADE, AND AGBICULTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES MACNAB 
 
 ATJTHOK OP "ON VELDT AND FARM," "BEMCS," ETC. 
 
 WITH THREE MAPS 
 
 LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, id. 
 
 1898 
 Gc 
 
Fit 
 
 \sf %~9~0& 
 
 Ifo-cm^t-i J^a^iAU^u. zt /<f~S~J- 
 
TO 
 
 THE " TRAIL-BLAZERS," 
 
 WHOM I MET ON MY TRAVELS, 
 
 AND TO ALL WHO SMOOTHED MY PATHS 
 
 IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS 
 
 BOOK. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The reader must accept the following pages as a sketch 
 of the great work which might be written upon British 
 Columbia were more time allowed for it. 
 
 While it would be impossible to compress the whole 
 of so large a subject into a book for the information 
 of emigrants, it is hoped that, by breadth of treatment, 
 some idea may be conveyed in a handy compass of 
 both the inducements and drawbacks offered to careers 
 in that Colony. 
 
 I have to acknowledge the courtesy of Lord Strathcona 
 for permission to reproduce the Government agricultural 
 map of British Columbia and Mr. Ogilvy's map of the 
 Klondyke. I am indebted to the C.P.B. for furnishing 
 me with their map of Canada, and for assisting me to 
 reproduce the other maps. 
 
 These notes are the result of travels undertaken 
 during the summer months of last year, and I have 
 to thank the following gentlemen for the good advice, 
 assistance, and encouragement given me in what I 
 found to be an arduous, in fact, an almost impossible, 
 task : — Colonel the Hon. James Baker, the Hon. 
 J. Turner, Sir William van Home and the officials 
 of the C.P.R., Charles Hosmer, Esq., Major Dupont, 
 the Bev. Dr. Bobertson, Messrs. Allan & Bros., the 
 managers of the Bank of Montreal, and many friends, 
 too numerous to be named, but whose kindness it is a 
 lasting pleasure to remember. 
 
 THE AUTHOE. 
 
 South Weald, 
 
 January 1, 1898. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Introductory 
 
 PASS 
 1 
 
 ir. 
 
 Mines ... ... ... 
 
 12 
 
 in. 
 
 Trade 
 
 ... 28 
 
 IV. 
 
 Agriculture ... 
 
 59 
 
 v. 
 
 Toe Chinese ... ... ... . ... 
 
 ... 74 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Red Indians ... 
 
 90 
 
 VII. 
 
 Commencement or Itinerary 
 
 ... 104 
 
 VIII. 
 
 From Ottawa to Winnipeg 
 
 119 
 
 IX. 
 
 From Winnipeg to Calgary 
 
 ... 128 
 
 X. 
 
 Calgary to the Hookies 
 
 142 
 
 XL 
 
 The Bookies to Victoria ... 
 
 ... 154 
 
 XII. 
 
 To the Albeiini Mikes, ... 
 
 174 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Alberki ... 
 
 ... 182 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The Mines 
 
 193 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Bush to Klondyke. Salmon Fisheries. 
 
 Harbi- 
 
 
 son Lake 
 
 ... 207 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Chilliwack 
 
 220 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Agassiz 
 
 ... 234 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Vernon 
 
 244 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Eelowna and Coldstream ... 
 
 ... 255 
 
 XX. 
 
 Grand Fbaieie to Trail 
 
 267 
 
 XXI. 
 
 BOSSLAND ... 
 
 ... 283 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Grand Forks and Spokane 
 
 292 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Nelson ... ... ... ... ... 
 
 ... 311 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Fort Steele by the Columbia River ... 
 
 319 
 
 XXV. 
 
 CRANBROOK-'CONCLUeiON 
 
 ... 339 
 
 
 Appendix 
 
 353 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTBODUCTOBY. 
 
 The condition of British Columbia is one of gradual 
 unfolding. There is no other word which will describe 
 the process taking place in that country. The peculiar 
 interest in the subject centres round inclinations pointing 
 to certain conditions of industry, which possibly prevail 
 nowhere else to the same extent. We are not watching 
 the rapid rolling back of a long-closed scroll, finished 
 and brought to perfection ages ago. It is not the case of 
 patching new methods upon an old, effete, and yet 
 glorious civilization. It is something which is being 
 born in our own day ; and, like the slow and original 
 work of Nature, there follows a sequence of events — first 
 the bud and then the leaf, the shoot, the flower. This 
 generation may not gather the fruit or harvest the 
 seed, but at least it will see a wholly new and distinct 
 branch of life produced with all its hopefulness and 
 promise. 
 
 Under the two fur-trading companies — the Hudson's 
 Bay and the North-West — who first exploited a territory 
 which, considered geographically, is as large as Europe — 
 tbis colony was merely a hunting-ground for fur-bearing 
 animals. Gold washed from the sands of the Fraser 
 river allured men from the coast fisheries and lumber 
 trade, and brought into the country a race of brave and 
 
2 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 hardy pioneers. Then followed within a period of a few 
 years two great gold rushes — that to Wild Horse Creek, 
 at the foot of the Rockies across the American border ; 
 the other to Cariboo, south indeed of Alaska, but 
 considerably north of Kootenay. 
 
 In the excitement of the chase for gold, the old fur- 
 companies fell into the background — much as does a 
 sheath which through winter and the storms of spring, 
 protected the bud. To this day old wooden forts can be 
 seen, surrounded with, and overbuilt by, houses, shops, 
 stores, and hotels. The names of the factors are 
 immortalized by great rivers, and the largest store in 
 most towns bears above the doorway the proud lettering, 
 " Hudson's Bay Company. Incorporated, 1647." But 
 while the sealing industry is arrested ' and threatened 
 with extinction, and fur-bearing animals are becoming 
 more and more rare, the stores carry on a retail business 
 in grocery, haberdashery, millinery, and upholstery. 
 This change alone is remarkable in a country which 
 was once considered the ultima ihule of Canada. 
 
 Two obstacles placed a check upon the development 
 of British Columbia. The great double range of 
 mountains which shut it off from the North-West 
 territories, and the other range which formed a barrier 
 along the coast, the only means of crossing which was 
 by navigating in canoes treacherous and dangerous 
 rivers, through dense forests, inhabited by savage tribes. 
 
 Then followed the advent of the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, or, as it is called, the C.P.R., which was at 
 that time reaching out to lay hold of commerce in the 
 Orient, and based its hope of success on the directness 
 of the route it offered from Liverpool to Japan, China, 
 and the South Seas. This great enterprise brought 
 with it a trail of population which formed clusters at 
 the section-points and timber-yards. The railway 
 found work, it brought money, and then came the 
 demand for fresh farm produce. That was a time of 
 high prices for the produce-growers, and the Hudson 
 Bay Company's factors, who had cultivated patches 
 
INTBODUGTOBT. 3 
 
 of land, or bought cattle, and pastured them on the 
 ranches, reaped good returns on their enterprise, 
 
 Hitherto the gold-mining operations had been confined 
 to that known as placer-mining and gold-washing. 
 Picks, shovels, and pans are attractive implements to 
 the poor; while placer-mining produces rich results 
 with a rapidity impossible by other methods. The 
 real source, however, to which British Columbia looks 
 as the foundation of her future wealth, is the ore 
 and gold-bearing quartz, of which many of her rocks 
 are composed. The exploration of these mines is a 
 very large industry, necessitating the support of a large 
 population, which cannot dig out the gold and retreat, 
 but must perforce settle in the country and build towns. 
 Until recently, the cost of machinery and the intractable 
 nature of the ore have been barriers against success in 
 mining; but with the cheap transport of the railway, 
 and the new methods lately discovered for treating ores, 
 these difficulties are gradually vanishing; and more 
 than one Johannesburg is growing up in British 
 Columbia. 
 
 Glancing backwards for a moment upon a scene 
 which is already disappearing, we shall see a process 
 typical of the present century. From an economical 
 point of view, the development of the territory itself by 
 the railway is still more interesting than the traffic 
 from long haulages. That Montreal should require tea, 
 Japan coal, and China wheat, is less remarkable than 
 that towns should spring into being upon prairies, or 
 amidst forests, almost simultaneously with the arrival 
 of the railway. The construction of the line brought 
 a small army of employees, and this population, which 
 was not altogether transitory, encouraged others to 
 Bettle and devote themselves to gardening in the narrow 
 valleys, and to herding cattle on the benches or foot- 
 hills of the mountains. This necessitated a certain 
 clearing of the land, the timber being frequently required 
 for the railway, or turned to account very cheaply in 
 the mills erected upon the river. The land was cheap, 
 
4 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 the life along the line was never isolated. There was 
 the occasional excitement of a fresh gold discovery. 
 Trapping and fishing, on which there was always a 
 profit, offered a change from the monotony of existence ; 
 and the railway, besides bringing mails and other 
 comforts, ensured easy transport of lumber to the coast 
 at all seasons of the year, independently of the freezing 
 of rivers. The province was retrieved by the accident 
 of a railway, which, in passing through it, aimed at 
 connecting markets thousands of miles apart, while the 
 actual wealth of the territory itself was a thing that no 
 one dreamt of. 
 
 It is scarcely wonderful that, with so many favourable 
 circumstances, the people who settled in this country 
 took life easily. So much was done for them by outside 
 enterprise, and by sheer favour of the gods, that the 
 tendency was to live in the old groove and wait for 
 another stroke of luck. What these people did not 
 foresee was, that the advent of civilization enforced 
 conditions for living and money-making which they 
 would either have to adopt, or by which they would be 
 crushed. They believed that fur-trading would last, 
 and also the high prices for agricultural produce; 
 whereas the completion of the railway meant the 
 reverse. 
 
 With very few exceptions, people were startled to find 
 that, after the railway came in, they were becoming 
 poorer. Some made an effort to reduce their expenses. 
 Others borrowed capital at an exorbitant rate of interest, 
 to launch out in fresh business, with their land mort- 
 gaged away under their feet. As the families grew up, 
 the struggle to pay the interest on money borrowed, 
 in some instances to provide maintenance, rendered 
 life intensely anxious. No margin whatever was left 
 them to take advantage of the fresh opportunities for 
 investment which the country afforded as it opened. 
 This element in the population has held the country 
 back, and still checks advance. 
 
 Eight along the southern border of, British Columbia 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 is the northern boundary of the United States of 
 America. This means the juxtaposition of a people 
 composed of the restless, dissatisfied fractions of many 
 nations. They are a people prepared for anything, 
 because they have nothing, and greedy to be rich; 
 loving both wealth and the pursuit of wealth, till the 
 value of everything is gauged by cents and dollars 
 alone. British Columbia could find and had attracted 
 the brave, hardy prospectors, men who faced the diffi- 
 culties of mountaineering in a country scantily supplied 
 with food, and possessed of a severe climate. The 
 Americans came in as promoters and mining brokers, 
 and companies were formed chiefly by capital which 
 was drawn from the States, although it may originally 
 have come from Great Britain. 
 
 The British Columbians looked on in wonder and 
 admiration at these people, who coolly risked thousands 
 where they had to pinch themselves to collect a few 
 hundreds. Moreover, they saw business handled in a 
 manner they never conceived before. They saw energy, 
 and along with it a tone of luxury which they envied. 
 
 Then it was Jot only for mining that the Americans 
 came over the border. They were not slow to see the 
 points where their own products might be traded at 
 a good profit in a country which had no manufactures, 
 where fruits were neither understood nor cared for, 
 and where even the commonest fresh vegetables could 
 scarcely be had. It was true the mines, in many 
 instances, " hung fire " ; but as more and more capital 
 was drawn into the country, the markets increased, and 
 the Americans were ready to take advantage of every 
 point.* Then, as railways became necessary, the 
 Americans ran their lines over the border, bringing up 
 supplies from Washington and Montana, and freighting 
 down bags of ore to the smelters in the States. But 
 
 * The duties paid on imports into British Columbia for 1895 include 
 the following items : — Horned cattle, $365 - C0; horses, $4069'40 ; Bheep, 
 $10,628-20; bacon and hams, $11,435-25; potatoes, $7095-10 ; tomatoes, 
 $347-17 ; condensed milk, $2833-18 ; hay, $351706. 
 
6 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 few of the mines, except those owned and worked by 
 Americans, paid; so that the situation resolved itself 
 into a loss to the British Columbians. They also lost, 
 or buried for some years, their money in the mines, 
 which money they had drawn in some instances from 
 legitimate and prosperous business ; besides losing the 
 markets for produce which the mining camps in 
 Kootenay created, independently of the success or 
 failure of the mines themselves. 
 
 While the Canadian Pacific Eailway was fully occu- 
 pied in working its way to the coast, and in establishing 
 a connection with India, China, and Japan, a line of 
 railway was run from Spokane to Nelson, thus pene- 
 trating into the very heart of the mining district. 
 Telephones to Eossland rapidly followed, and with the 
 strong commercial organization at Spokane, and the 
 improved methods of agriculture in Washington and 
 Montana, it was soon far more than a mere boast on 
 the part of America that British Columbia had lost her 
 market. The import duties levied by Canada on 
 American produce were no deterrent, and in spite of 
 immense efforts among the farmers on the Lower Fraser 
 and in Okanagan, and the starting of an experimental 
 farm at Agassiz for the distribution of information, the 
 farmers of British Columbia were unable to compete 
 successfully. It was easier to send fruit from the Lower 
 Fraser to the North-West than to Kootenay. 
 
 The present time shows a decided awakening, not 
 only on the part of British Columbia but of Canada 
 in general. The North-West Provinces, Winnipeg, and 
 even Montreal, have commenced to lay hold of the 
 markets of Kootenay, and the branch of the C.P.B. at 
 present under construction through the Crow's Nest 
 pass, which it is hoped will reach Nelson before the 
 autumn of 1898, will provide direct facilities for 
 forwarding Canadian produce. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, up to a certain point, the 
 mining industry was advanced by American energy 
 faster than it would have been had it been left to the 
 
INTEODUOTOET. 7 
 
 British or Canadians themselves. The business was 
 unquestionably extremely speculative — so far as the 
 gold and copper ore were concerned. Experience soon 
 showed that mining in British Columbia required a 
 large outlay, while even the most skilful American 
 smelters found themselves baffled by the refractory ores 
 of Kossland. 
 
 The British emigrant who goes into the country now 
 will find the chief interests in the mines about equally 
 divided between Americans and Canadians, and for a 
 few years longer the struggle will probably go on 
 whether the Americans are to exploit the wealth of 
 British Columbia or not. Much depends upon the in- 
 flux of British capital directly, instead of following a 
 circuitous route: 'More still depends upon the energy, 
 determination, and intelligence of the men, whether 
 Canadians or British,' who go there to take their share 
 in this part of our Empire. They must be capable of 
 living as frugally as the Canadian, and of working as 
 incessantly as the American. 
 
 These features in the unfolding of British Columbia 
 are at the present moment epitomized in the North 
 and on the borders of Alaska. But there, in addition 
 to other difficulties, we have a climate both inclement 
 and pluvious, while rocks and bogs combine to render it 
 inaccessible. 
 
 The London Times speaks airily of the rush to the 
 Klondyke as " one of the incidents which draw attention 
 to our imperial interests in Canada," while a man at 
 Seattle foretells with shrewd recognition of hard facts, 
 that " It will be hell in two volumes, bound in calf." 
 
 Without any desire to check men going forward 
 to lay hold of the best chances which may offer in the 
 Klondyke, some warning is necessary of the dangers 
 which certainly underly any chance of success. Not 
 the least of these is the fact that the Americans have 
 already appropriated considerable claims, and show 
 every desire to exploit the territory for the benefit of 
 Seattle, San Francisco, and Tacoma. No reference is 
 
8 BSITJSH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLE BS. 
 
 made in their advertisements to the duties charged on 
 American goods entering Canada. It is a positive gain 
 to these merchant cities to send men there— provided 
 they purchase goods from them, or from their stores 
 established in the country itself. The shipping com- 
 panies and the C.P.E. share in the benefits, although 
 these last — and especially the railway, are far more 
 interested in attracting good settlers to develop British 
 Columbia. 
 
 It is with the object of thus drawing money into their 
 own tills that everything has also been done by Victoria 
 and Vancouver to promote and prolong the Klondyke 
 boom. The merchants have been waiting for a market to 
 come to them. It is comparatively easy and very cheap 
 to advertise the Klondyke, seeing the difficulty the 
 journalists of the country have in providing news. 
 Therefore the utmost is made of every rich strike, and 
 the excitement is kept up at fever pitch. 
 
 But the story is a familiar one. History repeats 
 itself, and human nature is but one air with variations. 
 All gold rushes are manias akin to panic — and as men 
 do wild things in bicycle-riding and lawn-tennis because 
 these excitements become the rage, and one man drags 
 another — so these gold rushes become the fashion of 
 the hour in the country where they take place. As 
 with all other fashions, they wear out and become 
 forgotten. 
 
 There is one peculiarity, however, about the rush to 
 the Klondyke which is worth noting. Other rushes have 
 been famous for the population which they attracted 
 into the country. This gold rush will be remembered 
 for the population it destroys. 
 
 It will carry with it men who might have made good 
 farmers, or traders, or miners, in British Columbia 
 itself. Brave men, young men, strong men, will be 
 enticed into the harsh conditions of a severe climate 
 and scarcity of provisions, beyond the possibility of 
 retreat. Some of them will die, but a good number 
 will live to return with shattered constitutions. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 The booming of the Klondyke, the pretended anxiety 
 to exploit its wealth, has thrown into the British market 
 the prospectuses of companies which are trading con- 
 cerns on the Yukon and the district known as Klondyke ; 
 but even these are too wise to depend solely on the 
 Klondyke, and also own properties in British Columbia. 
 The Klondyke has merely been used by them as a 
 decoy to catch the ear of the public. They are fully 
 aware of the eminent uncertainty in the gold strikes in 
 Klondyke. 
 
 But beyond the actual sale of groceries, etc., and 
 the chances for advertisement, there is another reason 
 for prolonging the Klondyke boom. It is the hope 
 of inducing men who hold good prospects in the Koo- 
 tenays to sell them for less than their value, in order 
 that they may raise the capital to go to the Klondyke. 
 Each man fancies that he will do heroic things in the 
 Klondyke. Whoever else fails, he will succeed ; and he 
 burns day and night to show himself, or his luck, as a 
 light before men. It is so easy to cajole and flatter a 
 man on his pet hobby. Yet men may be successful 
 prospectors in British Columbia who would fail in the 
 Klondyke. It is the flattery of the fox to the crow 
 concerning her voice — when she held the piece of cheese 
 in her beak. 
 
 Yet there are few among the old " trail blazers " — 
 who are not ready, even for the sake of the hardships, 
 to go to the Klondyke. To these men the money made 
 is of far less consequence than the adventure. They 
 know exactly how to proceed, and their powers of 
 endurance having been tested, they are not likely to 
 give way. These men are a totally different race from 
 the city clerks, or farmers. The road to success in 
 life which lies before every man consists in his doing his 
 best at the work for which he is naturally fitted and 
 thoroughly trained. It is part of the common British 
 ignorance of things colonial to believe that any man 
 can succeed out there at anything he tries. In point of 
 fact, the same rule applies there as here, and men 
 
10 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 require as special a training for colonial life as they do 
 for the army ; but the fact is, that we do train the boys 
 before we put them into the army, whereas we send 
 boys to the colonies whose training has been in many 
 respects positively the reverse of what it should have 
 been. 
 
 Another feature of interest in British Columbia is, 
 that while she is part of the Empire of Great Britain, 
 her position is similar to that of the Southern States of 
 America or California, inasmuch as there is a sudden 
 enormous increase of wealth in a country whose con- 
 stitution is scarcely hatched — whose system of adminis- 
 tration is half -fledged, and whose laws have to be framed 
 without the light of previous experience. 
 
 There is, of course, always the outline of the con- 
 stitution and the model of British laws to fall back 
 upon. But both the outlines and the details must be 
 expanded and changed to allow the admission of 
 wholly new elements ; nor can the experience of older 
 states offer much assistance in solving the political and 
 economic problems relating to highly advanced com- 
 merce which invariably shows a determination of 
 establishing and creating a code for itself. 
 
 Is the future of British Columbia to be, as some say, 
 " merely a valuable asset to Canada, as offering handy 
 markets for the North- West " ? Will the merchants of 
 Victoria and Vancouver be content to share with the 
 States the trade in the mining centres, and see the stable 
 rural population crushed out ? Will British Columbia be 
 the dumping-ground for the products of America worked 
 up into manufactures by aliens to the Empire ? Or will 
 capital and intelligence be found equal to securing the 
 full result of her productiveness to this British colony 
 herself? That Canada is alive to part at least of the 
 situation, may be inferred from her recent movement 
 towards Free Trade within the Empire. But there are 
 still ultimate questions relating to the maintenance and 
 equilibrium of trade which have hitherto appeared to 
 apply only in Great Britain. Is it possible to develop 
 
1NTB0DUCT0RY. 11 
 
 a paying business in raw products ? Is an agricultural 
 population worth having; or is it good enough for a 
 province to exist, with its towns fed and provisioned 
 from elsewhere ? 
 
 Time was when Vancouver Island, as a Crown colony, 
 regarded itself as the candlestick in which burnt the 
 light of British administration. The mainland was 
 hardly worth a thought, and still to-day the island 
 people are incredulous that mainland cities should be 
 as important as Victoria. Have they not the Govern- 
 ment Buildings in Victoria ? 
 
 But the problems clamouring for attention throughout 
 British Columbia are those of the most modern con- 
 ditions of trade, although the country is still in its 
 infancy, and the land has not yet passed through the 
 hands of the first generation of farmers ; while much of 
 it is in the same state as was Great Britain when the 
 Bomans colonized it. 
 
 The spring , of life so long delayed has come with a 
 rush, and the country which has been long laid by 
 — hidden behind its mountains, and overgrown by its 
 forests — will receive a people, who must hammer out 
 a constitution suitable to the nation's precise needs. It 
 is an opportunity which we shall doubtless see embraced 
 by men who can feel that their country's welfare is 
 more to them than the pursuit or accumulation of wealth, 
 or the mere exercise of power. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MINES. 
 
 Mineeai, wealth is so lavishly distributed in British 
 Columbia that it is difficult to point to localities which 
 are entirely destitute of mining prospects. 
 
 In West Kootenay the most pronounced development 
 has taken place. The methods in general use there 
 are those likely to prevail elsewhere ; and at present the 
 mines of Eossland, Nelson, Slocan, and Sandon form 
 the principal markets for other industries. The develop- 
 ment has been largely assisted by the great waterways 
 of lakes and navigable rivers, and by the railway which 
 has for some time connected Northport and Spokane 
 with Eossland and Nelson, beside the other short line 
 which brings up supplies and takes down ore between 
 Sandon and Kaslo. 
 
 In Cariboo, and beyond in Cassiar, there is wealth 
 untold which has scarcely been touched. In Lilloet 
 there are free-milling quartz mines, one of which, the 
 Gold Cash, has already paid a dividend. In the Boundary 
 Creek district, there are mountains of almost pure ore. 
 Along the Hope trail to the coast, and in Bast Kootenay, 
 between the Bockies and Selkirks, copper, silver, gold, 
 and lead are only waiting for the railway and the 
 smelter. In Vancouver Island, where mining was for 
 many years solely occupied with the coal of Comox and 
 Nanaimo, free-milling quartz of high grade has recently 
 
MINES. 13 
 
 been discovered. Nor must the large deposits of coal in 
 the Crow's Nesfc Pass, and the oil wells in Cassiar, be 
 omitted, especially because, affording as they do a cheap 
 basis for working precious metals, their value ranks as 
 an asset to other mines which would not pay without 
 them. 
 
 The geological formation of the country is a subject 
 upon which the present writer is not qualified to enter. 
 But it will be of use to the reader to remember that ore 
 apart from quartz is gold mixed with other matter, 
 such as copper, iron or silver, or else silver mixed with 
 lead, antimony, copper, or galena. The fluxes used in 
 smelting are introduced to get rid of the sulphur, arsenic, 
 iron, etc., while the process of smelting itself separates 
 the quartz or rock which floats away from the minerals 
 when both are liquefied by intense heat. The whole 
 subject is extremely fascinating ; introducing as it does 
 what may be termed the chemistry of mining brought to 
 great perfection. 
 
 Just at the present time the whole question of the 
 mines rests upon ways and means — transport and 
 treatment. Then follows the important item which has 
 not been ascertained — the depth to which the mines 
 may be sunk. In some cases the gold is a deposit upon 
 the surface of the rock, in others the veins grow richer 
 as they descend ; in some they pinch out altogether ; or, 
 again, the nature or kind of mineral may change : gold 
 in some cases disappearing and copper taking its place. 
 Instances are not uncommon of prospects showing very 
 high assays of gold upon the surface, owing to the 
 oxidizing of the iron, which carries it, under the action 
 of air and moisture — the base metal is slowly washed 
 away leaving the gold. This is particularly the case in 
 free-milling mines, and is a form of natural concen- 
 tration. 
 
 Hitherto the silver mines have made by far the largest 
 returns, and the ore in them varies less than in the gold 
 mines. They appear to have been formed by metal 
 boiling up from below, and if rich on the surface, tend to 
 
14 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 become richer lower down. The volcano which formed 
 them has even thrown out wire-silver, or pure native 
 silver ; and in the Payne Mine, Slocan Star, and Eeco, 
 silver ore, of such very high grade as to be almost 
 pure silver, has been found in quantities. 
 
 One distinct obstacle to the success of mines in British 
 Columbia has been the novel nature of the necessary 
 treatment. The British public was unwilling to invest 
 money in the exploitation of ores the method of treating 
 which was only in the experimental stage. Some mines 
 were opened only to be closed again, because the ore was 
 so hard or so expensive to treat, and the capital which 
 started them had been wasted upon unsuitable machinery. 
 Quartz mills and cyanide plants sufficed for the Eandt, 
 and flumes for placer mines, and these things the 
 British public understood. Diggings in California and 
 Australia, and washing in the Praser Biver were also 
 comprehensible ; but a mystery overhung the British 
 Columbia mines, and for some time no process seemed 
 able to treat ores worked from a certain depth and 
 brought from certain mines. The Americans must 
 be given credit for having achieved the latest triumph 
 in smelting, and of having discovered the precise 
 fluxes and methods by which the most refractory . 
 ores in this country can be treated successfully and 
 economically. 
 
 Another reason which has deterred British capital 
 from coming into the country has been the utter failure 
 of certain properties to carry out the good things 
 promised for them. Though the vast mineral wealth 
 of the country as a whole is indisputable, yet there 
 are tracts which are mere prairie land, and mountains 
 which will never produce anything but pine forests. 
 Besides districts entirely barren of minerals, there are 
 "showings" — to use a prospector's term — which have 
 never been proved to go any depth, and "prospects" 
 which have nothing beneath them. 
 
 It should be an emphatic rule that no mineral claim 
 should be bought as a mine upon its surface showings, 
 
MINES. 15 
 
 however good they may he. Even if a hole has been 
 dug of ten or twelve feet deep and five feet in diameter, 
 the claim is nothing but a surface showing ; and all it 
 is worth is the ore or quartz actually in sight. This 
 rule should hold good upon all purchases of mining 
 property : that the price given should never exceed the 
 value of the ore in sight. It has been estimated by a 
 man well versed in mining affairs that $25,000 to 
 $100,000* must be spent upon a property before 
 the stage can be reached at which it passed from a 
 proBpect to a mine. For that sum about four or five 
 thousand feet of tunnelling f and shafting should have 
 been done, to follow and gauge the value of the veins 
 or deposits ; and some estimate will be fairly made of 
 the actual worth of the property. These figures must 
 be taken somewhat loosely, owing to the cost of develop- 
 ment work varying in different localities. The advice 
 given in the Fort Steele district by a leading mining 
 expert is worth quoting, that milling ore should not be 
 touched in that neighbourhood (viz. that it is not worth 
 its development work) which . assays less than $4 a 
 ton on the surface, and smelting ore less than $40. 
 It also serves to indicate the relative cost of the two 
 methods, and accounts for the failures which have 
 marked the initial stage of smelting mines in this 
 country. It also indicates the fallacy of supposing 
 that any prospect is good enough to buy in British 
 Columbia. 
 
 The assay values of properties are also apt to be 
 misleading. In a vein there is often considerable variety 
 in the quality of the quartz or ore. It is the man who 
 means to sell the mine who picks the piece of ore which 
 is assayed; and he will be sure to select it from the 
 richest part of the true vein or pay streak, and yet it 
 
 * The dollar is worth on exchange about four shillings and a penny ia 
 English money. 
 
 t " Shafting " is sinking from the summit or ridge. " Tunnelling " is 
 boring into the side of the mountain to cut the vein horizontally. It 
 is a cheaper method than sinking. 
 
16 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 will be taken as representative of the mine. The 
 Americans seek less for high assay values, and are 
 more anxious for large bodies of ore than either British 
 or Canadians. 
 
 A large body of low grade ore can be operated more 
 cheaply than a narrow vein, which is often difficult and 
 expensive to expose, owing to the large amount of stuff 
 to be moved, and practically impossible to estimate in 
 bulk. This fact stamps the deceitfulness of high assay 
 values as to the worth of mines. Purchasers should be 
 satisfied with nothing less than bulk assays, and should 
 in no case trust to samples coming through the hands of 
 the vendor's expert. 
 
 Yet another reason why British Columbian mines have 
 " hung fire " is that, probably owing to violent volcanic 
 action, the mineral deposit is very frequently " patchy," 
 or " pockety," and the veins are broken and disconnected. 
 It is no uncommon case to find the corresponding strata 
 of a mountain on opposite sides of a wide valley. Some 
 upheaval split the rock and set it up edgeways — perhaps 
 a mile apart. A river first formed by melting snow or 
 ice commenced to trickle between the rocks, and carried 
 away with it the gold precipit formed by oxidized iron 
 wherever the rift left the mineral deposit exposed to the 
 air. The vein or deposit of ore must necessarily be 
 broken, and is not infrequently found on the two opposite 
 sides of the valley, or on different parts of the same 
 mountain. 
 
 But apart from the natural causes, something must be 
 ascribed to positively dishonest management, and also 
 for mis-management. Though companies formed in 
 London may buy properties which are worthless, 
 they may also find money to develop good properties ; 
 and this money, instead of going into the mine, will find 
 its way into the pockets of the promoters. We will deal 
 with mis-management. To illustrate this, we will suppose 
 the following history of a mine : — 
 
MINES. 17 
 
 Pollars. 
 
 Paid for mine 25,000 
 
 Capitalized at 1,000,000 
 
 Treasury Btock sold 100,000, realizing 25,000 
 
 Expended in mine on development 25,000 
 
 The balance of 900,000 shares the directors keep 
 to recoup themselves for the original cost of the 
 mine. 
 
 The $25,000 becoming expended, the directors go to 
 capitalists elsewhere, and sell 500,000 shares for less 
 than $ 50,000, and give up the concern. 
 
 Had they managed with business perspective, they 
 ■would have kept 100,000 shares to recoup themselves, 
 and the entire remainder would have been put into the 
 mine ; for there was no doubt as to the value of the 
 property. The case, we take it, is simply one of exhausted 
 capital, and consequent inability to conduct the business 
 further. Not infrequently, mines thrown up like this 
 become, under better management, payable properties of 
 considerable value. The story is of a very common kind, 
 and does not give an extreme case. Something, we 
 maintain, was actually paid for the mine, and $25,000 
 were actually put into it. There are, however, cases in 
 British Columbia quite fit to rank on a par with the 
 well-known Glasgow pig-iron companies — which were 
 formed and reformed without touching the iron, and 
 over which many fortunes were lost, and one or two 
 made (which is still more regrettable). 
 
 Another difficulty under which Colonial undertakings 
 labour is a management located in London, which 
 insists upon interfering in matters which it does not 
 even remotely understand. There is an instance at the 
 present time of a London Company whose directors meet 
 regularly — yet owing to the initial stage of the mine 
 not being passed, and to the geographical position of the 
 property, no work can be done there at the season when 
 the river freezes. The directors own amongst them a 
 man who studies mining engineering in books, and 
 has theories which he propounds to the managers in 
 
18 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 British Columbia in long letters, as he -wishes to have 
 them tried upon this particular mine. He has never 
 seen the property; in fact, he has never been in the 
 country. 
 
 Yet another and kindred difficulty is the London 
 promoters' high profits. Upon this subject the history 
 of the "War Eagle Mine offers a case in point. The 
 purchase price of a mine is reckoned at the value of the 
 amount of ore in sight, which is supposed to cover 
 the purchase price, whatever it may be. The War Eagle 
 was bonded in Canada at £160,000. By the time it 
 reached London it was £200,000 ; and the promoters 
 offered it to the public at £400,000. It was not sold 
 then, but was ultimately bought by a Toronto firm for 
 £160,000. The mine has since become one of the great 
 successes of Bossland ; the shaft has been sunk to 600 
 feet, and the ore is richer at that depth than upon the 
 surface. The War Eagle must be reckoned as a pioneer 
 mine, and has necessarily had much to contend with. 
 It has had, in common with the Le Boi, to weather, in 
 its critical infancy, the disadvantages of costly transport 
 and very heavy smelting charges. It is thought by 
 some people that as the shaft descends it will become 
 richer in gold. Others aver that it will cease altogether 
 as a gold mine, and produce only copper. An expert has 
 given his opinion that at a certain depth the value of the 
 ore will either increase very considerably or " peter out " 
 entirely. It is also said that no mine in this district can 
 be worked lower than 4000 feet, owing to the high 
 temperature, and possibly not to that depth. 
 
 There are rumours of syndicates being formed to 
 acquire large holdings. This practice will not promote 
 the best interest of the country. At all events, the 
 question of management and the possibilities offered to 
 stock-jobbing are of absorbing importance. There are 
 many ways of making money which are both quicker 
 and less troublesome than mining. 
 
 Companies will no doubt be floated by British capital 
 in fully 7 paid scrip largely " watered." There will be the 
 
MINES. 19 
 
 promoters' pockets and directors' fees * to reckon with ; 
 and the residue, if any, will go to working the mine. 
 Every time that a " big strike " or a good " clean up " in 
 other mines causes a boom in the markets, these sham 
 concerns will profit by the boom and rise. They can be 
 easily depressed again by a bad report from their own 
 manager, and persons prepared for this will be able to 
 buy back again at a low figure, and wait for the next 
 boom. The property may really be valuable, and yet not 
 a dollar be taken out of it ; and if a dividend is declared 
 to encourage investors, it will be paid out of money 
 actually subscribed by themselves. 
 
 There are between two and three hundred mining 
 properties in the immediate vicinity of Bossland, in- 
 cluding the Le Eoi, Centre Star, Monte Cristo, and the 
 War Eagle, all of which show considerable development ; 
 and to give an idea of the inflated statements some- 
 times made to the British public, it is useful to know 
 that one company largely interested in furnishing 
 information to intending investors in the home market, 
 
 * The following may be instanced as a fair account of mining 
 directors' fees and expenditure under the English plan : — 
 
 To Expenses at : 
 
 £ s. (2. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Wages 
 
 ... 1,034 
 
 
 
 
 Mine Manager's Salary 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 
 Timber 
 
 218 15 5 
 
 
 
 
 Water 
 
 421 6 6 
 
 
 
 
 Cartage 
 
 8 4 
 
 
 
 
 Horse Hire , 
 
 68 7 6 
 
 
 
 
 Bents of Leases ... 
 
 48 
 
 
 
 
 Telegrams, Stamps, etc. 
 
 55 14 3 
 
 
 
 
 Office Kent 
 
 44 11 
 
 
 
 
 General Expenses 
 
 96 6 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,495 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 To Expenses in London : 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bent, Salaries, etc. ... 
 
 ... 383 6 8 
 
 
 
 
 Directors' Fees 
 
 ... 1,050 
 
 
 
 
 Telegrams, Stamps, etc. 
 
 64 14 7 
 
 
 
 
 Stationery and Printing 
 
 51 11 
 
 
 
 
 Interest 
 
 25 4 2 
 
 
 
 
 General Expenses 
 
 163 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,737 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 £4,232 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
20 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 announced publicly that five of their properties would 
 be richer than the whole of Eossland put together. Yet 
 not one of the properties was sufficiently developed to 
 justify such an exaggerated statement. Such bravado 
 has been aptly described as " hunting geese with a brass 
 band." 
 
 The lines upon which mining business usually works 
 in British Columbia is as follows : In the first instance, 
 the prospectors go out into the hills, and hunt for 
 indications of mineral deposit. They return sometimes 
 empty-handed — or, if not, with specimens of quartz or 
 ore for the assayer, and to register with the Govern- 
 ment official the strips of territory or land where they 
 have discovered payable ore or quartz. These claims 
 are afterwards bought, generally speaking, by a man 
 who acts as broker or agent for several others. He 
 buys the claim (or claims) as cheaply as he can, and, 
 being a broker, he looks to make a profit upon the sale. 
 He sells it to the company formed by the other men, 
 for all the stock. In this way he renders the stock fully 
 paid, and the company cannot be assessed for any sum. 
 If it were assessable, and fell into debt at any time, the 
 creditors would call up the unpaid amount. By this 
 arrangement with the broker, the books of the company 
 show that the stock is fully paid and unassessable. The 
 broker next offers to give the company the proceeds 
 from the sale of one-fourth, or it may be, one-half of 
 the stock called treasury shares — or trust shares. The 
 balance of the stock is called promoters' shares, and 
 these are divided amongst those who have assisted him 
 to buy the mine, keeping a certain number for himself ' 
 — all which is done upon arrangements made prior to 
 entering upon the business. The promoters next agree 
 to pool their shares — and those who manage a concern 
 of this kind properly will see that all the promoters' 
 shares are pooled until tha treasury stock is sold. By 
 this means no individual shareholder can get out of the 
 business leaving the treasury stock unsold. The money 
 raised by the sale of the treasury stock goes to develop 
 
MINES. 21 
 
 the prospect. When the mine is at last proved, and 
 more capital is required, if the company has no more 
 of the treasury shares left, they must fall hack on the 
 promoters' shares. The choice is left them of selling 
 the mine " right away," and dividing the proceeds, or 
 they can sell an interest by surrendering a portion of 
 their promoters' shares for working capital at a fixed 
 figure. This last offers a very fair opportunity for the 
 introduction of British capital. The original company 
 remains in possession of the mine, and having the 
 largest share, is certain to carry out the development 
 of the property. It has its head-quarters upon the spot 
 — for companies which hold their offices at Montreal, or 
 Vancouver, are as useless as if they were in London. 
 They can appoint, if necessary, an authorized agent in 
 London to transfer shares, but the actual company 
 would be upon the spot in British Columbia. 
 
 There is a British Columbian branch on the London 
 Stock Exchange, which was opened during the summer 
 of 1897 ; but those who avail themselves of this exchange 
 to sell treasury shares will have to pay a tolerably high 
 registration fee. 
 
 Another disadvantage in transacting business is the 
 want of confidence which exists between the British 
 Columbian mine-owners and the London stockbrokers. 
 
 There is considerable difference of opinion as to the 
 merits of working a mine upon the British or American 
 plan. The British engineer has a more finished, 
 elaborate, and consequently, more costly method. He 
 uses what may be termed complete apparatus from the 
 very commencement, and if the mine fulfils its promises 
 and does not disappoint the expectations of the experts 
 who examined it in its early stages, his methods will in 
 the long run prove the most economical. But he requires 
 very large capital to start with, and remembering that 
 the initial cost in British Columbia must always be high, 
 the raising of sufficient capital to commence and con- 
 tinue mining may prove beyond the powers of his 
 company. There is no doubt that heavy capital increases 
 
22 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLES S. 
 
 the speculative element in the business, for the mine 
 may not turn out to be sufficiently rich to justify the 
 outlay — although it would have made good returns upon 
 smaller capital. 
 
 The American, on the other hand, works as cheaply 
 as possible. He wastes or casts aside ore which require 
 machinery. He works with as few men as possible, and 
 without clerks, or mine-managers — putting in one man 
 with a pick, to dig out the pay streak, and then, as 
 returns come in, another man, and when he can afford 
 it, a third ; but from the very first he takes care that 
 the mine pays for its labour. After the pay streak has 
 been dug out and exposed, and the ore shipped till it 
 is certain that the property is valuable, the manage- 
 ment will be changed. 
 
 British mismanagement takes various forms, and the 
 following story illustrates the injury which may be done 
 by too good a plant. There was a mine into which 
 $160,000 had been put, and lost. The business utterly 
 failed to show a return ; and at last it could not meet 
 its working expenses. Latterly, the miners' wages had 
 not been paid, therefore the men asked to be allowed to 
 try and recover them by working the mine themselves 
 for two years. They put aside all the expensive 
 machinery except the stamps and the plates. The 
 company had paid these men $2 a day, but, working the 
 mine for themselves, they paid themselves out of the 
 proceeds $5 a day for two years. The American's 
 method is less speculative than is generally supposed. 
 The aim is to reach results by the cheapest possible 
 methods. It is an incontestable fact that Americans 
 will produce results while the British, with their more 
 elaborate system, are "fooling around" outside. The 
 Englishman, in his anxiety to save low-grade ore, 
 endeavours to treat it — whereas the American casts 
 aside all but the pay streak until he sees the way clear 
 before him. By the time he has made his profit out 
 of the pay streak, the local conditions of the mine may 
 be changed by the erection of a smelter, or the advent 
 
MINES. 23 
 
 of a railway which will enable him to procure machinery, 
 and get his ores treated cheaply. 
 
 Though much may be said in favour of the initial 
 working of British Columbian mines upon the American 
 plan, some stress must be laid upon the fact that it is 
 only in the early stage that such a wasteful, cheap, and 
 careless method can be tolerated. There are mines 
 which have been slowly and steadily proving themselves, 
 and whose value has been tested by capable and trust- 
 worthy men. These properties are worthy of further 
 outlay and the most thorough development in the best 
 English style. 
 
 It is apt to be forgotten that gold has a price, and 
 that the profit on it is over and above the cost of pro- 
 duction. The great lesson of British Columbia to 
 miners in general is to count the cost beforehand. 
 Once again the Klondyke will emphasize this fact. In 
 reading the reports of the dollars' -worth brought down 
 from that country, not a word is said about the dollars 
 which were "planked down "by some one before the 
 man could get into the country. 
 
 The treatment of ores by smelting is one of the 
 gravest and most interesting problems in British Co- 
 lumbia. Hitherto the cost has been so great that only 
 high-grade ores could be mined to pay. The North 
 Star Mine* has placed the cost of treatment $17 the 
 ton. The War Eagle and Le Boi paid until recently 
 $13 to the ton. The North Star Mine is now awaiting 
 the completion of the railway, while the War Eagle, 
 having sufficient capital in hand, is storing or banking 
 its ore until the new arrangement is effected of a smelter 
 at Nelson, on the Columbia Biver, supplied with coke 
 through the Crow's Nest Pass. Then it is believed that 
 the cost of output at the War Eagle will be as follows : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Cost of smelting 5.00 per ton. 
 
 „ mining 2.00 „ 
 
 „ freight 0.50 „ 
 
 Total ... 7.50 
 * A silver mine in East Kootenay, near Fort Steele. 
 
24 BBITISB COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 The original charge of smelting, upon which the Trail 
 smelter was huilt, in agreement with the Le Eoi Mine, 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Cost of smelting 9 per ton, 
 
 „ freight 2 „ 
 
 Total 11 
 
 The agreement was at this rate for 75,000 tons of ore. 
 The charge made by the Trail smelter upon other mines 
 was two per cent, of the assay value of gold, ninety-five 
 per cent, on silver upon the New York quotation on day 
 of shipment, and half the actual value of copper. Over 
 and above these charges, the cost of freight was two 
 dollars a ton upon the Trail railway. 
 
 Low-grade ores, averaging $10 to $15 a ton, have 
 been severely handicapped by these rates. Such 
 charges also increase the speculative element in mining, , 
 which is undesirable, as in many instances only the pay 
 streak — a narrow and uncertain feature — could be made 
 to pay ; whereas, under cheaper management, large 
 bodies of low-grade ore will be treated economically, and 
 afford certain profits. 
 
 The Le Eoi Mine has continued shipping ore to the 
 Trail smelter, in discharge of its obligation to ship 
 75,000 tons ; but the company is constructing a 
 smelter at Northport, in America. There may, some 
 day, be objections to the shipping of ore across the 
 border, and difficulties may arise of a fiscal nature. 
 The present owners of the Le Eoi are Americans. 
 
 Besides the restrictions already stated, as agreed upon 
 and arranged by the C.P.E. for freighting and smelting 
 ores, there is a scheme on foot, initiated by a clever 
 young Scottish engineer, for bringing electric power into 
 the mines in Eossland. A cheap supply of electricity 
 in the case of mining refractory ores would be of 
 immense assistance. It is believed in some quarters 
 that the cost of mining will be reduced as much as $1 
 a ton by this introduction of electrical power. 
 
MINES. 25 
 
 Although smelting in itself is a profitable business, 
 it would be very unwise for English syndicates to be 
 formed for the purpose. The smelter at Nelson is 
 backed by the mines belonging to the company, which 
 are the richest in the country ; but with a capacity for 
 250 tons per diem, and a large refinery plant, this well- 
 ■equipped concern could treat more ore than it obtains 
 at present. Smelting is a business which will probably 
 never be worked singly, but in conjunction with mines, 
 or railways, or other business, upon which it is more 
 or less dependent. 
 
 In order to work a smelter cheaply, water-power is 
 desirable, if not essential, for blast-furnaces and 
 crushers, and also for electrical plant. Cheap fuel 
 is indispensable — charcoal and coke being preferred to 
 any other. The next essential is to be within easy reach 
 of fluxes, the principal of which is limestone, though 
 silica is used for iron and copper ores. There are, 
 connected with smelting, some as yet unsolved problems 
 relating to by-products, in themselves necessitating 
 factories or refineries for further treatment. 
 
 It will be easily seen that smelting is just an instance 
 of an intermediatory business, which the main business 
 — gold production — will always endeavour to cheapen. 
 In fact, there will be a constant struggle to " cut rates." 
 Any invention or discovery likely to cheapen the cost 
 of smelting will be eagerly welcomed, and certain to 
 be taken advantage of promptly. Whatever is barely 
 necessary for working blast-furnace or smelter, British 
 Columbia amply provides, as though Nature predestined 
 the country to its present fate. The one thing needful 
 is communication which shall bring the several parts 
 of the puzzle to a common centre, together with strict 
 economy in methods. 
 
 It is a difficult task to convey an idea of the actual 
 value of any business by mere figures. Yet it is 
 impossible to close this chapter without some reference 
 to the returns from the different mines. Hitherto 
 silver has been most profitable; owing partly to the 
 
26 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 comparative cheapness of the work, and partly to the 
 peculiar richness of the hest properties. It is said, 
 with truth, that " silver pays from the grass roots " ; 
 by which is implied the fact that the mines are rich 
 upon the very surface of the ground, and generally 
 continue to be so as far as they have been exploited. 
 
 These successful mines are principally in American 
 hands, and, with the exception of the Hall mines, the 
 ore is shipped to America. The Hall smelter does not 
 work in the wet ores of galena silver and lead common 
 in the Sandon districts, but with the refractory ores 
 containing a mixture of copper, iron, and gold, which 
 are far more difficult to treat. This smelter is said 
 to have made in one year £50,000 ; the Slocan Star 
 (silver mine), £60,000 ; the Payne (silver mine), 
 £50,000. The ore in the Le Eoi (gold, copper, silver) 
 is said to be worth, at its best, as much as £20 a ton. 
 
 Such statements, however, must be regarded with 
 caution. These concerns are the prize-winners amongst 
 many failures. Because there are some very rich pro- 
 perties in British Columbia, it does not follow that half 
 the claims pegged out will ever be worth so much as 
 the initial development necessary to prove their value. 
 Caution in proceeding in the first instance is absolutely 
 essential. It is regrettable that mining, especially 
 where gold is concerned, kindles an enthusiasm which 
 amounts almost to insanity. So long as gold is 
 obtained, the cost of obtaining it is forgotten ; more 
 especially when the cost comes out of the pockets of 
 people who are some distance off. The men actually 
 in the business may not be as rich as they appear, for 
 the money made in one mine is very often thrown away 
 in another. It may reasonably be questioned whether 
 gold-mining is not, after all, more valuable as a means 
 of attracting men to new countries, of circulating 
 money, and creating markets, than profitable as an 
 industry to those most deeply concerned. 
 
 In conclusion, the last point to be dwelt upon is 
 perhaps the most important of all. It is, that mining 
 
MINES. 27 
 
 is essentially a business for which a man requires 
 special training and knowledge. Any attempt at 
 amateur dabbling is to be deprecated. The best 
 method by which money can be safely invested is by 
 the advice of men whose character is well established, 
 and whose experience has been tested, and who are 
 known to be above the tricks of newspapers, promoters, 
 or stock-jobbers. Such persons are unfortunately rare ; 
 but if the industry is to proceed at all, they must be 
 produced. 
 
 Meanwhile, there are three sayings common in 
 British Columbia. The first is, " The gold is where you 
 find it" * — signifying the great uncertainty attaching to 
 mining operations, the long search and hope deferred, 
 and the hardships which have to be endured before the 
 results are crowned with success. The second refers 
 to a class of people who exist chiefly in the bucket-shops 
 at home, and are spoken of as "men who mine the 
 public" — which implies that the profits returned and 
 the wealth made by some companies came out of the 
 pockets of the British investors. The third saying 
 refers to the danger of listening to corrupt persons who 
 impose upon the ignorance of others, and especially 
 upon the " tenderfoot " from home. It speaks for itself, 
 requires no comment, and provides the last piece of 
 warning I would give : " There is a liar — a damned liar 
 — and a mining expert." 
 
 * In Cornwall, the saying is, " Where it is — there it is. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TRADE. 
 
 The manner of trading in British Columbia cannot be 
 treated independently of some reference to the system of 
 banking, yet the business of banking is so complete a 
 study in itself that it would be impossible to enter upon 
 it in so small a space as the present volume affords. 
 Certain facts more or less generally known it will, how- 
 ever, be necessary to state, on which to base a slight 
 account of general trade. 
 
 The banking system of Canada is the admiration of 
 America, and one of the best systems in the world. It has 
 been built up by legislative enactment and commercial 
 enterprise during the last eighty years, and its success 
 should go to prove that Canadians possess a rare gift of 
 finance than which no surer foundation can be desired 
 for the future greatness of a people. 
 
 A remarkable feature in the system is its provision for 
 the circulation of currency throughout Canada. And no 
 better proof of its intelligent grasp upon commerce could 
 be desired than the satisfactory results of its introduc- 
 tion in Nova Scotia, when that territory had brought 
 itself to ruin ; and the partial restoration effected by the 
 introduction through branches of the established methods 
 of the Canadian parent banks. 
 
 The leading bank in Canada is the Bank of Montreal, 
 which stands fifth among the banks of the world. The 
 following facts, drawn from the report for 1897, will be 
 an indication of the strength of this bank's position : — 
 
TRADE. 29 
 
 Capital 
 
 Eeserve 
 
 Undivided profits 
 
 Public deposits 
 
 Notes in circulation 
 Market price of stock . . . 
 
 Dividend, ten per cent, per annum. 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 12,000,000 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 88,690,998 
 
 40,000,000 
 
 456,338,600 
 
 230 
 
 The Bank of Commerce is another large bank of very 
 strong position. The Bank of Toronto and the Dominion 
 Bank of Canada are also very large concerns, but it is 
 sufficient for the present purpose to cite the Bank of 
 Montreal. 
 
 So far as trade in general is concerned, the chief 
 feature in Canadian banking is that the banks work 
 by branches, and the credit of these branches is as good 
 as the credit of the bank. In this way money can be 
 borrowed at a cheap rate throughout the Dominion on 
 good security. What this means in a semi-civilized 
 country such as British Columbia, where money is fre- 
 quently required in almost inaccessible places, can 
 hardly be imagined by people who only know Europe. 
 In the States the banks have no branches ; banking is 
 there carried on by a number of single banks and 
 agencies. Small banks arise which people are almost 
 compelled to make use of, though they are practically 
 irresponsible. Not only do they charge exorbitant 
 interest, but they fail, and vanish off the scene, with 
 alarming frequency. 
 
 Possibly it is due to the high rate of interest charged 
 by banks in the States that the savings of Canada go 
 there for investment. In Kansas money is sometimes 
 loaned by banks at three per cent, for the month. The 
 Monetary Times for October, 1897, has this passage in an 
 article on banking returns : — " The increased extent to 
 which our banks are making advances in the United 
 States is a feature of the return. Business is active over 
 there, and they are using $27,000,000 of our money, 
 where a year ago they only employed $15,000,000." 
 
30 BBIT1SS COLUMBIA FOR SETTLES S. 
 
 This is, nevertheless, an extraordinary fact, considering 
 the many good investments in Canada, and the way in 
 ■which British Columbia has been exploited by American 
 capital. It may possibly be accounted for because the 
 Americans are very quick in getting returns on money 
 invested, and it is beginning to be commonly recognized 
 that mines are often some years before they begin to 
 make returns ; and that money should not be invested 
 in them -which is likely to be wanted at short notice. 
 
 Still, the opportunities for investment in Canada are 
 exceptional, not only in mines, but in highly lucrative 
 and perfectly safe businesses such as the deep-sea fish- 
 eries, and in factories associated with by-products, and 
 agricultural produce. 
 
 A very broad distinction is made in Canada at the 
 present time between wholesale and retail trade. It is 
 practically impossible for a wholesale merchant or 
 shipper ever to become a retail tradesman. The business 
 is worked by an army of commercial travellers, ten 
 thousand of whom, it is said, are employed in Canada, 
 besides those that come over from the States. So much 
 importance is attached to travelling that it is not un- 
 usual for the head of a firm to travel himself. There 
 are five distinct travellers' associations formed with the 
 object of issuing qualification certificates, reducing rail- 
 way fares, and providing insurance against loss by illness. 
 The largest of these clubs is at Toronto, and is credited 
 with having accumulated an enormous reserve fund. 
 Sometimes the travellers are paid on commission, but 
 a good percentage of the older men have independent 
 salaries besides commissions. 
 
 There has been a very great increase of travelling 
 during the last fifteen years, and the probability is that 
 this increase will continue. Twenty years ago, the whole- 
 sale-grocer firms of Ontario would send their men over 
 the ground once in three months, where now they send 
 them once in two weeks. This increase is traceable to 
 competition. Orders on wholesale houses are smaller and 
 more frequent : the fluctuation of prices rendering the 
 
TRADE. 31 
 
 retailers timid about giving large orders, lest they should 
 be left with a large stock on their hands, purchased at 
 too high a price to be sold at a profit on the sudden fall 
 in retail prices. This change is not otherwise than 
 beneficial, as it enables capital to be turned over more 
 rapidly. 
 
 , But there is a new element indicating itself which 
 marks a change. The obvious trend of commerce in 
 general is towards large general stores, and probably 
 this is because large concerns possess the ability to 
 throw off stocks on hand rapidly. The capital required 
 for a large retail store, and the enormous business en- 
 tailed in its management, offering as it does every possi- 
 bility for selection, is certain eventually to render them 
 independent concerns. Many, if not all of them, will 
 treat with the manufacturers themselves through the 
 medium of travellers; becoming thus shippers and 
 wholesale merchants themselves. 
 
 "What is of far more importance than is commonly 
 supposed to trade managed on these principles is a good 
 faculty for buying. The good buyer must know to a 
 fraction where he can buy best and most cheaply. There 
 may be one house in Ontario where he can get coffee of 
 exactly the class, required for his trade at ten cents a 
 pound cheaper than elsewhere, and though this may 
 appear at first sight an easy matter, it is less so in reality 
 when the number of houses are considered. If we take 
 the matter of canned salmon, it is a puzzle of no common 
 difficulty to get a grasp of the working of even the best 
 forty canneries. Then, business relations sometimes tie 
 men's hands in respect of their dealings; and, lastly, there 
 are the considerations of railways and their freights. 
 
 The retail tradesman is sometimes used as a medium 
 for advertisement, but as a rule he is at the other end of 
 the column. The producer of a new article or commodity 
 usually starts by printed advertisements. Perhaps for 
 the first week he merely pastes up the name of his 
 article. Samuel's Soap becomes in this way familiar to 
 the public at least in sound, and is credited with an 
 
32 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 importance and usefulness which it may not really 
 possess. Then he sends round a few samples with 
 printed recommendations, till the whole town has seen 
 something of it, and perhaps even handled it. The next 
 point is to get the commercial travellers to take it with 
 them on their rounds, and recommend it to country 
 retailers along with their sardines, cocoas, and tobaccos. 
 The commercial traveller is not averse to carrying some- 
 thing which is smartly got up, and easy to talk about. 
 The retailer likes to have something fresh to put about 
 in his shop to attract customers, so he orders a small 
 stock. Having got it, he is anxious to sell it, and brings 
 it out the first time Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones comes in 
 with the timeworn weekly orders, and, just for the sake 
 of novelty, the thing is sold. It is talked about, and 
 others buy it out of curiosity, or because some one 
 recommends it for the sake of something to talk about ; 
 and so the new product asserts its place and becomes 
 a necessity. It is not until one has camped out where 
 there are no shops, and transport difficult, that one 
 learns how few things are really necessary. 
 
 The common mistakes in Canadian trade, and the 
 cause of many failures and bad debts, is the incapability 
 of retail dealers. Where, as in South Africa, the large, 
 wholesale houses put up their own retail stores, a certain 
 insurance is effected against losses of the kind. Out in 
 Canada, all sorts of people start store-keeping. Very 
 young men — or very old men — men employed in 
 other businesses, whose children wrap up the parcels, and 
 whose wives " keep store ; " all such persons, without any 
 business qualification whatever, can be found credited 
 by manufacturers and importers. Among the list of 
 failures recorded in the newspapers, the life history of 
 the bankrupt is sometimes given, and frequently it may 
 be found that liabilities running into thousands of 
 dollars have been incurred in a few months on which 
 possibly 30 per cent, is offered, by men who started with 
 nothing, out of an employment which had taught them 
 no business methods. 
 
TRADE. 33 
 
 But these losses are not always due solely to want 
 of the business faculty. Eetail trade is an easy one in 
 which to get credit, and men plunge into it with no 
 money of their own. But it may happen that some 
 large wholesale business in the State backs another 
 man who comes in and settles in a township, or a large 
 trading concern from Kalispelle or Spokane puts in two 
 or three smart young men in their " branch " to create 
 a business. No one can sell single-handed, and without 
 capital on which to turn round, against unlimited 
 " backing." 
 
 Apart from business methods, each market requires 
 special study, and even from a local point of view it is 
 astonishing how much diversity there is in ordinary 
 trade. In British Columbia alone, I found at least five 
 different accounts given me of Indian trade, all which 
 were, I believe, bond fide concerning each particular 
 locality. While in one place I was told that Indians 
 should on no account be given credit, elsewhere I found 
 that they were not only trusted with large amounts, but 
 that they met their obligations with greater readiness 
 than most white men. In one place I found that they 
 spent what money they had in mere luxuries : sugar, 
 biscuits, and paint for their faces, which consisted of 
 yellow ochre, bought in the lump, and a kind of red 
 earth of some kind described as " vermilion." One trader 
 I met had done a large business with them in cheap 
 scents ; but this, I suspect, was a surreptitious sale of 
 spirits, for they probably drank the scent. In this belief 
 I was confirmed by an old Hudson Bay trader, who told 
 me that he had once sold a bottle of Florida-water to 
 an Indian, and that the man came back and insisted on 
 buying a bottle of Crosse and Blackwell's rennet. Though 
 he dissuaded him from so useless a purchase, the 
 Indian was determined to buy the bottle. He afterwards 
 returned to the store, and could not say enough for 
 the badness of the stuff, having evidently tried to drink 
 it, and been disappointed with the mildness of the flavour. 
 The trader then remembered the Florida-water, and 
 
34 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEBS. 
 
 concluding that the Indians had drank it, made up his 
 mind to sell them no more, lest he should incur the 
 penalty for breaking the law with regard to spirits. 
 
 In several places I found that the Indians formed an 
 excellent basis for a market. One trader was so good as 
 to give me permission to look at his books, and there I 
 found large accounts amounting to four or five hundred 
 dollars, regularly settled at the end of the harvest. 
 Along the shores of Lake "Windermere, the Indians are 
 self-supporting. Both Shuswaps and Kootenays are 
 prosperous; they are stock and grain farmers. One 
 order, which was as follows, was given by an Indian for 
 his threshing outfit in East Kootenay : — 
 
 2 platters. 
 2 tin peas. 
 
 1 bottle of chow-chow pickles. 
 
 2 cans of corn. 
 20 lbs. ham. 
 
 5 lbs. beans. 
 
 2 cans of milk. 
 
 1 camp-kettle. 
 
 1 tin of baking-powder. 
 
 10 lbs. breakfast bacon. 
 
 13 lbs. dry salt bacon. 
 
 1 lb. T.B. tobacco. 
 
 2 tins of tomatoes. 
 
 4 lbs. raisins. 
 
 2 cans St. Charles cream. 
 1 tin of plums. 
 
 5 tins of salmon. 
 i lb. pepper. 
 
 1 lb. candles. 
 10 lbs. rice. 
 4 lbs. prunes. 
 100 lba. flour. 
 
 Such a list might have been the order of a Canadian 
 or British farmer ; and, though given of an Indian, may 
 be taken as furnishing a sketch of requirements for a 
 similar occasion among settlers, and as a suggestion of 
 the style of goods required. The immense part played 
 by tinned or preserved articles will be a feature noticed, 
 especially the fact that though ordered for use on a farm, 
 and in a farmer's district, preserved milk and cream are 
 considerable items in the account. If this is the caBe 
 at the present time, what a great increase in canned 
 goods we must expect as the Klondyke, Liloet,; and 
 Cassiar districts become explored and opened. 
 
 Indians of the industrious class will also look for 
 quality in whatever they buy ; and any attempt to palm 
 
TBAtiE. 35 
 
 off inferior goods is very quickly detected and most 
 deeply resented. Even cheapness is insufficient recom- 
 mendation ; and one trader lost his entire trade in cotton 
 through introducing cheap American prints. At first he 
 had a ready sale, but -when the Indians discovered that 
 the patterns faded out in the wash, they would not buy 
 the goods at even reduced prices ; and in addition to the 
 loss of custom, the remainder of the stock was left on 
 his hands. 
 
 There have been heavy losses in the retail trade of 
 British Columbia through men going into the business 
 without any idea of the requirements of the market. I 
 heard of a man who ordered three hundred white shirts. 
 In all probability, the whole district did not contain three 
 men who wore white shirts twice a week. He had had 
 these shirts on hand ten years, and was still keeping 
 them. He never saw that it would be better to dispose 
 of them at any price, and replace them with something 
 which would sell. 
 
 There is undoubtedly a market for cheap goods in 
 British Columbia, but not for cheap necessaries. The 
 miner and prospector like their beans and bacon, tea and 
 coffee, sugar and canned milk of the best; and while they 
 have money, they pay for what they have solely with 
 an eye to the quality. Canvas shirts, or dark-coloured 
 strongly made cotton ones, with turn-down collars, which 
 require no starch, woollen sweaters, mackintoshes, not 
 made up to catch the eye, but strongly sewn and of stout 
 material, to keep out the wind and wet. Boots are a 
 subject often discussed in camp. Only those made of 
 the strongest and toughest leather will stand the rocks. 
 How it comes that some trail blazers I met had taken to 
 mocassins I cannot say ; but when once the skin of the 
 foot has become thoroughly hard inside them, they are 
 preferred to the ordinary boots. 
 
 In the matter of foot-gear, women seem worse provided 
 for than men. Their boots were generally smart in 
 appearance, but they did not wear well nor fit well, 
 neither did they keep the water out. 
 
36 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEB8. 
 
 It struck me that men who come over as labourers to 
 British Columbia would do well to consider the advisa- 
 bility of knowing shoe-making. During the winter, when 
 outdoor labour is less in demand, there is often distress 
 amongst labourers. Here, at least, in the repair of boots 
 and shoes, if not in their make, is a trade which is inde- 
 pendent of weather, and can be practised profitably 
 anywhere in-doors, provided that they could obtain 
 good leather. Nevertheless, whoever comes to British 
 Columbia, should bring plenty of boots from England. 
 
 The cheap market in British Columbia is in women's 
 dress. It was a constant marvel to me to see the 
 quantity of shoddy goods worn by miners' wives or inn- 
 keepers' wives and daughters. For the "socials" and 
 dances in the backwoods townships, the style of the 
 ladies' dress was astonishing. Brocades stamped with 
 rough-hewn nondescript patterns, cheap cotton velve- 
 teens in the most vivid colours, trimmings of bead-work 
 and cheap laces, velvet slippers with high heels ; all 
 the sweepings, apparently, of second-rate shops at home, 
 were eagerly bought and worn with pride. 
 
 But there is another cheap market which is caused by 
 the fluctuating incomes of the people in general. If 
 people with money get accustomed to use certain things 
 which are not necessary, when the day of poverty, 
 comes they look round to see if they can get the same 
 things cheaper. Luxuries are hard to forego, and as 
 in the matter of tobacco, so it is in other things ; a man 
 who cannot afford cigars will take to a pipe, and then 
 go through all the gamut of cheap tobaccos before he 
 relinquishes the luxury. 
 
 There is a very lucrative business done in packing 
 goods into the mining camps. The miners give the 
 storekeeper the order, and another man contracts to 
 pack the goods to the camp. As much as $100 
 a week is frequently made by packing alone. But the 
 aspect of trade which we have to deal with in British 
 Columbia is one of the border line, where the trader and 
 the raw producer meet sometimes in one individual. In 
 
TRADE. 2,7 
 
 products such as hops and tobacco this is very markedly 
 the case. The man who grows them must himself 
 dispose of them to the manufacturer. To do this on 
 strict business terms, a farmer requires to be thoroughly 
 informed concerning markets and prices. His knowledge 
 must even go further in tobacco ; he must be able to 
 grade his produce according to the taste of the public, 
 and know precisely what price they will give and he 
 can afford to take. He may even have to study the 
 matter of advertisement. There are a few general 
 rules on this subject, but, unfortunately, farmers seldom 
 understand them. 
 
 In a new country, where many things are tried, it 
 sometimes ends in one being worked up into a speciality. 
 When this happens in a manufactured article, such as 
 Diamond Dyes, an absolute monopoly is created which 
 cannot be taken away. The farmer is too apt to think 
 that he can do the same, and may consequently charge 
 what he pleases, whereas his object should constantly 
 be the cheapening of his methods of production, and the 
 careful search lest any imitation or close copy of his 
 monopoly should get into the market at a cheaper rate 
 than his management secures. He must remember 
 that the imitation or the close copy will always come in 
 cheaper in one respect, because it will be sure to benefit 
 by his advertisement. If we take condensed milk, we 
 shall see that the second company which started con- 
 densing milk profited by the expenditure of the company 
 which first taught the public that condensed milk was 
 an article fit for consumption. Sardines, canned salmon, 
 smoked fish, and many other manufacturers, could 
 illustrate the same fact. 
 
 In market-gardening, it occasionally happens that a 
 new product comes to light, and some market-gardener 
 makes a speciality of it. This may occur wherever a 
 new invention comes in, but owing to the peculiarities 
 of soil and climate it happens more frequently in " petit 
 culture." It is of course possible with wine ; also with 
 tobacco, and occasionally with tea. 
 
38 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB BETTLEBS. 
 
 To trace what may happen, we will suppose that a 
 gardener has succeeded in raising a peculiar mushroom. 
 It is a distinct variety, and will only grow under rigid 
 conditions. He finds that he can produce it to an extent 
 altogether in excess of the consumption in the local 
 market. He extends his sale without very great outlay 
 in pushing it ; still he has more than he can dispose 
 of, and the misfortune remains that the supply, owing to 
 changes of seasons, varies. He invents a method of 
 drying or preserving the delicacy, and the next thing is to 
 attempt the capture of the market beyond the local one. 
 He has now his gardens and a factory ; and his next in- 
 vestment will be in advertisement. It is a slow process 
 to convince the big world that this special delicacy is of 
 superior excellence to any other. Hotels, which are large 
 consumers, but extremely difficult and expensive to 
 capture, are accustomed to order through houses which 
 do not find it worth while to lay in supplies of 
 new fancy articles whose popularity with the public is 
 not assured. A good deal is done by private patronage 
 in fashionable circles. At length no one in polite society 
 will dine without this special delicacy being placed before 
 them ; and consequently there is a rush on the part of 
 the common herd, who cannot at any price be left out 
 of the fashion. 
 
 Now, one of two things may happen to the producer. 
 The rush may come suddenly, and all his stock be 
 cleared out before the demand can be satisfied ; thus he 
 is left with the public only half captured, and his out- 
 lay upon advertisements only half repaid. In such a 
 predicament it is very probable that some other man 
 who has been watching the business closely will have 
 managed to raise a mushroom, which, though not so 
 good, can be doctored and improved and made very like it 
 before it gets finally into the hands of the public. He 
 comes in without investing a shilling in advertisements, 
 and is therefore able to sell more cheaply. In time the 
 public get to like his product, their taste gets vitiated, or 
 they accept what they can get. Perhaps it is traceable 
 
TRADE. 39 
 
 to some cause such as the above, that though the general 
 .excellence of commodities has improved, it is increasingly 
 difficult to get a choice article — such as used to be 
 described by the old-fashioned word "recherche" 
 
 There is another way in which the difficulty of shortage 
 works out which has sometimes proved very damaging to 
 the producer. We will take it for granted that there is 
 a good demand for his product. He accepts all the 
 orders he can get ; amongst them those of two or three 
 large firms who have the credit of their reputation at 
 stake. He finds that he has overrated his own powers, 
 and cannot possibly fill up his contract to supply. 
 Either he fails, and admits that he has not the means 
 of satisfying their orders, which naturally gives them 
 offence ; or, if he is less honest, he buys in despair the 
 nearest approach to his own articles, tinned or pre- 
 served, or grown and produced by some other man, and 
 Bells them, even at a loss, as his own. The goods turn 
 out bad or inferior ; and his reputation is ruined in the 
 trade. 
 
 It can never be insisted upon too earnestly that abso- 
 lute honesty in dealing is not merely the best policy, 
 but the only policy which leads to success in trade. 
 In the fruit trade, a business is quickly ruined by the 
 dishonest packer who slips in small and inferior fruit 
 underneath the best. So a man, in contracting.to supply, 
 should never accept contracts up to the fullest amount 
 of his expected stock ; but discount largely for a possible 
 deficiency, and trust to be able to sell his surplus, 
 which in all likelihood he will do easily enough if his 
 name be a good one. 
 
 It may also happen that, finding himself possessed 
 of a monopoly, the producer may believe that he can 
 charge his own price for it. At first this may answer ; 
 and, provided he is not excessive, he will go on with 
 his sales; but let him beware of overcharging. His 
 article must be of exceptionally superior excellence to 
 permit of his price giving him a very large profit. If 
 another man can possibly creep in, and by any means 
 
40 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 undersell him, his market is henceforward in a critical 
 position. Even if he makes up his mind to avoid this 
 danger by only reaping a modest interest on his invest- 
 ment, he must still be continually on the alert to take 
 advantage of any cheapening method of production. The 
 standard of value in goods occupies a totally different 
 plane to that of gold or jewels. The demand for the 
 former is always above the supply, and there is no need 
 to create a sale ; while in jewels an attempt may safely 
 be made to keep up their price because their preciousness 
 enhances their value, and makes them more desirable. 
 
 The only safeguard in commerce is to use every 
 means by which production may be cheapened. It is' 
 untold how many fortunes are made solely by reduced' 
 expenditure, or, as it is sometimes called, " manage-, 1 
 ment." The whole tendency of trade is in this direction, 
 and to grasp a wider market. " We can never stop in 
 our business," said a manufacturer ; "we have to look 
 out everywhere in the Colonies — among blacks or anjr 
 one — to try and secure another market." Then it musl 
 be obvious to the most ordinary mind that any railway 
 company would gladly welcome an invention by which 
 an engine could haul twice as many tons with half the 
 expenditure of fuel. The company is able to reap the 
 profit of cheaper methods ; but still they must remember 
 that too high fares will invite competition to come in, 
 and possibly ruin them. 
 
 The cost of production is the subject which occupies 
 the minds of ingenious men all over the civilized world, 
 and leads to many inventions. The country which can 
 encourage this inventive spirit, and train it scientifically, 
 is the one which will be the strongest commercially, 
 provided that at the same time close attention is paid 
 to the subject of securing markets. 
 
 Farmers, in fact all who have anything to sell, should 
 keep themselves thoroughly informed as to markets and 
 their prices. The raw producer must ascertain what 
 the market price is, and then see if he can produce 
 sufficiently below it to secure a margin of clear profit. 
 
TRADE. 41 
 
 The following extract from the Times for Novemher 
 2nd, 1897, points to this matter of the prices in various 
 markets : — 
 
 "How greatly the times have altered is shown by the 
 circumstances that last week witnessed the inauguration of 
 the export of fresh meat (frozen) from London to the Cape, 
 the steamship Nineveh having taken on board 1600 quarters 
 of Bowen (Queensland) beef, and 2000 carcases of River 
 Plate mutton, for conveyance to Cape Town. The most 
 noteworthy feature of this transaction is that, as reported 
 by the Colonial Consignment Company, the meat could be 
 purchased in England at a much lower rate than in the 
 countries of production. Beef at 2Ji. per lb. and mutton 
 at 2$<Z. per lb., free-on-board, could not be supplied in the 
 colonies, but was procurable at home." 
 
 Here we see that, had the Queensland people been 
 sufficiently alive to the requirements of the Cape, they 
 could have shipped their beef direct, obtaining a better 
 price, and saving the cost of transport. 
 
 This subject is specially applicable to British Columbia. 
 It may appear on the surface that the country is un- 
 developed, and that a long while must elapse before such 
 conditions of advanced trade will arise ; but this is not 
 the case. It is pre-eminently a country of choice growths 
 in small quantities. There are products, such as tobacco, 
 which will probably before long become an industry. 
 The same may be said of flax, some growths of which 
 are extremely fine. Leather, and tanning by means of 
 the fine hemlock-bark, will some day offer a large trade. 
 Fruits and vegetables have unquestionably a future before 
 them in this colony ; and with the great market to the 
 north, where demand for preserved and dessicated vege- 
 tables, as well as canned fruits, will be on the increase, 
 all these remarks have distinct value in British Columbia. 
 The impossibilities for railways in certain localities, and 
 the enormous difficulty of transport, will cause more 
 and more attention to be paid to packing and preserving 
 products. The wealth of the country is not that of great 
 wheat areas such as Manitoba, or huge cattle ranges 
 
42 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 like the North-West, but of small or medium quantities 
 of choice products in connection with which lies a good 
 deal of trade. 
 
 Another aspect of the case which should not be lost 
 sight of is the increasing recognition among commercial 
 people of the value of raw products. The time has 
 actually come when men are fruit-farming in companies 
 — notably in the States. The tide would seem turning, 
 for while at one time agriculture was despised by 
 traders, they are now beginning to see a business in it. 
 So much is this the case that on my remarking upon 
 tobacco being grown in Kelowna, an American at once 
 asked me the price of the land, and how much of it could 
 be bought — with a view to starting a factory supplied to 
 as great an extent as possible from the land farmed by 
 the company. The effect of ranching, gardening, and 
 farming by companies will be to combine trades such 
 as butchering, canning, and manufacturing, with raw 
 products. It will alter the nature of markets without 
 increasing prices. It will create an antagonism between 
 the men who are unable to start trading on their own 
 account and the large concerns who will try to squeeze 
 them down by buying their produce at the lowest possible 
 rate. Trading centres such as Vancouver and Victoria 
 are largely busied with the manufacture of canned 
 salmon, and, were fruits more largely grown, there would 
 probably be also factories for the preservation of fruits. 
 
 Apart from the tinning industry, there is a large 
 business in transit goods from the Orient of silk, tea, 
 and similar products which pass through to warehouses 
 in the States, or to Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal. 
 Of late there has been a forwarding trade done in 
 wheat for China from the North- West territories; and 
 some grain is taken back as ballast round Cape Horn 
 to Great Britain, as return cargo upon salt, tin-plate, 
 pig-tin, and pig-lead, machinery, and hardware. As 
 many as 100,000 boxes of tin plate were imported direct 
 to Vancouver in one year, and worked up into cans for 
 the salmon industry in the factories. 
 
TRADE. 43 
 
 It is evident that there are distinct points in the trade 
 to be considered as follows : — 
 
 1. Import trade of goods consumed in British 
 Columbia from the Orient and Australia, tea, silk 
 manufactures, sheep, tropical fruits. 
 
 2. Import from Canada of Canadian products from 
 Winnipeg, Montreal, and from Great Britain. 
 
 3. The export of lumber, fish, coal, silver, gold, 
 copper, etc., to other countries, and fruit and cattle 
 to North-West territories, also finished woodwork to 
 Australia, and a little to Japan. 
 
 In a word, British Columbia is a highway or port 
 of entry and departure, and this fact opens a distinct 
 branch of commerce over and above that of trade for 
 its own consumption, or in its own products. 
 
 As the country fills up, it is certain that import trade 
 for the consumption of the inhabitants of British 
 Columbia itself will increase very rapidly. 
 
 Hitherto the main endeavour has been to foster the 
 " all through trade " from the Orient. Vancouver city 
 has not increased in size or in importance during the 
 last ten years at the rate predicted for it. The only 
 assignable reason is the slowness with which British 
 Columbia has filled up. The principal towns have 
 been in the Kootenays ; and their food supplies have 
 been drawn from Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco, and 
 Spokane. 
 
 In clothing and soft goods, a good deal of trade has 
 come in from Montreal, because that city is nearer 
 British factories, and its merchants are an energetic 
 and pushing race. 
 
 The following extracts from the Beturns of the Board 
 of Trade will give an idea of the advance of trade, 
 and also of its stationary condition for the last six 
 years. 
 
44 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS, 
 
 IMPOETS INTO THE PROVINCE OP BRITISH COLUMBIA 
 FOR 17 YEARS ENDING 30th JUNE, 1896. 
 
 
 
 Goods 
 
 ENTERED FOB HOME COKSUIIPTION. 
 
 
 Value of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 Dutiable 
 
 Free 
 
 Total. 
 
 Duty 
 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Goods. 
 
 Goods. 
 
 collected. 
 
 
 $ 
 
 « 
 
 $ 
 
 t 
 
 $ eta. , 
 
 From Canada 
 
 184,951 
 
 
 184,951 
 
 184,951 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1880 
 
 1,689,394 
 
 1,614,165 
 
 122,451 
 
 2,457,116 
 
 450,175 43 
 
 From Canada 
 
 208,072 
 
 — 
 
 208,072 
 
 208,072 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1881 
 
 2,489,643 
 
 2,214,163 
 
 242,963 
 
 1,736,616 
 
 589,403 62 
 
 From Canada 
 
 387,111 
 
 — 
 
 387,111 
 
 387,111 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1882 
 
 2,899,223 
 
 2,472,174 
 
 404,287 
 
 2,875,461 
 
 678,104 53 
 
 From Canada 
 
 449,768 
 
 — 
 
 449,768 
 
 449,768 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1883 
 
 3,937,636 
 
 3,331,023 
 
 650,833 
 
 3,866,856 
 
 907,656 64 
 
 From Canada 
 
 624,207 
 
 — 
 
 624,207 
 
 624,207 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1884 
 
 4,142,486 
 
 3,337,642 
 
 702,693 
 
 4,040,335 
 
 884,076 21 
 
 From Canada 
 
 789,287 
 
 — 
 
 789,287 
 
 789,287 
 
 — 
 
 To 30th June, 1886 
 
 4,089,492 
 
 3,458,629 
 
 664,923 
 
 4,023,452 
 
 966,143 64 
 
 From Canada... 
 
 927,054 
 
 — 
 
 927,054 
 
 927,054 
 
 — ' • < 
 
 To 30th June, 1886 
 
 3,963,299 
 
 2,851,379 
 
 1,060,347 
 
 4,011,726 
 
 880,226 65 
 
 To 30th June, 1887 
 
 3,547,862 
 
 3,065,791 
 
 660,348 
 
 3,626,139 
 
 883,421 53 
 
 To 30th June, 1888 
 
 3,509,951 
 
 2,674,941 
 
 729,266 
 
 3,401,207 
 
 361,465 14 
 
 To 30th June, 1889 
 
 3,763,127 
 
 2,002,646 
 
 807,140 
 
 3,809,786 
 
 974,675 69 
 
 To 30th June, 1890 
 
 4,379,272 
 
 3,357,111 
 
 1,030,375 
 
 4,287,486 
 
 1,075,215 20 
 
 To 30th June, 1891 
 
 6,478,883 
 
 4,261,207 
 
 1,074,983 
 
 5,336,190 
 
 1,346,059 42 
 
 To 30th June, 1892 
 
 6,495,589 
 
 4,423,414 
 
 1,803,005 
 
 6,226,419 
 
 1,412,878 00 
 
 To 30th June, 1893 
 
 3,934,066 
 
 3,662,673 
 
 1,255,495 
 
 4,918,168 
 
 1,367,250 32 
 
 To 30th June, 1894 
 
 5,320,616 
 
 3,582,333 
 
 1,738,282 
 
 6,336,961 
 
 1,308,631 23 
 
 To 30th June, 189.i 
 
 4,403,976 
 
 3,131,490 
 
 1,236,935 
 
 4,368,425 
 
 1,137,727 49 
 
 To 30th June, 1896 
 
 5,663,095 
 
 3,993,650 
 
 1,532,810 
 
 6,526,490 
 
 1,406,931 91 
 
TRADE. 
 
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TRADE. 
 
 47 
 
 IMPORTS INTO BEITISH COLUMBIA 
 
 Prom other Countries of some Products op Agriculture and its 
 Branches as can be produced in the Province, for the Year 
 ending June 30th, 1895. 
 
 
 Quantity. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Duty. 
 
 Lite Stock, 
 
 
 
 1,825 
 
 $ 
 365.00 
 
 Homed Cattle 
 
 ... No. 
 
 115 
 
 Horses 
 
 ... „ 
 
 730 
 
 20,347 
 
 4,069.40 
 
 Sheep 
 
 ... „ 
 
 35,881 
 
 53,141 
 
 10,628.20 
 
 Hogs 
 
 ... lbs.. 
 
 26,038 
 
 1,150 
 
 390.72 
 
 All other 
 
 ••• » 
 
 — 
 
 4,741 
 
 948.20 
 
 Meats, Etc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bacon and hams 
 
 • ■» ,j 
 
 571,761 
 
 64,700 
 
 11,435.25 
 
 Lard 
 
 ... ,» 
 
 135,160 
 
 10,330 
 
 2,714.01 
 
 Beef, salted 
 
 ... >j 
 
 29,578 
 
 2,048 
 
 591.56 
 
 Mutton and lamb . . . 
 
 ••■ )! 
 
 56,178 
 
 2,931 
 
 1,025.85 
 
 Pork 
 
 ... „ 
 
 31,375 
 
 2,379 
 
 627.50 
 
 Poultry 
 
 ... „ 
 
 
 
 3,468 
 
 693.60 
 
 Meats, dried or smoked, n.e.s. „ 
 
 39,618 
 
 3,567 
 
 792.50 
 
 Other meats, fresh ... 
 
 ... } , 
 
 106,655 
 
 6,626 
 
 3,199.55 
 
 „ salted, n.e.s. 
 
 ... ,, 
 
 25,166 
 
 2,210 
 
 503.33 
 
 Canned meats, poultry and game „ 
 
 316,101 
 
 28,297 
 
 7,077.87 
 
 Meat extracts ... 
 
 ... j) 
 
 — 
 
 1,279 
 
 319.75 
 
 Breadstuff's, Grain, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 
 
 
 Biscuits 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 129,177 
 
 6,054 
 
 1,523.25 
 
 Barley 
 
 bush. 
 
 10,028 
 
 3,029 
 
 908.70 
 
 Beans 
 
 » 
 
 5,769 
 
 8,344 
 
 865.65 
 
 Buckwheat 
 
 j» 
 
 155 
 
 105 
 
 15.63 
 
 Indian corn 
 
 »> 
 
 7,763 
 
 5,191 
 
 582.28 
 
 Oats 
 
 « 
 
 215,243 
 
 66,834 
 
 21,524.41 
 
 Peas 
 
 ?> 
 
 2,605 
 
 1,939 
 
 260.55 - 
 
 Bye 
 
 )j 
 
 606 
 
 314 
 
 60.65 
 
 Wheat 
 
 >» 
 
 147,285 
 
 57,945 
 
 22,103.37 
 
 Bran, mill feed 
 
 »» 
 
 
 66,623 
 
 13,325.60 
 
 Indian or corn meal . . . 
 
 bbls. 
 
 1,161 
 
 3,601 
 
 464.49 
 
 Oatmeal 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 33,879 
 
 953 
 
 190.30 
 
 Kye flour 
 
 bbls. 
 
 162 
 
 581 
 
 81.25 
 
 Wheat flour 
 
 ... „ 
 
 29,490 
 
 67,377 
 
 22,118.34 
 
 Total carried forward 
 
 497,929 1129,406.76 
 
48 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 IMPORTS INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA— confirmed. 
 
 
 ' Quantity. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Duty, 
 
 Vegetables and Fbtjits. 
 
 
 
 
 Brought forward ... 
 
 ... 
 
 
 $497,929 
 
 $129,406.7^ 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 bush. 
 
 47,300 
 
 13,937 
 
 7,095.10 
 
 Tomatoes 
 
 3» 
 
 1,025 
 
 1,423 
 
 347.17 
 
 Tomatoes and other ... 
 
 J1 
 
 — 
 
 20,454 
 
 5,339.68 
 
 Apples, dried 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 47,853 
 
 3,507 
 
 876.75 
 
 Apples, green 
 
 bbls. 
 
 7,994 
 
 26,361 
 
 3,197.81 
 
 Currants 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 185,787 
 
 4,187 
 
 1,857.87 
 
 Small fruits 
 
 „ 
 
 83,045 
 
 3,910 
 
 1,660.89 
 
 Cherries 
 
 „ 
 
 89,062 
 
 5,975 
 
 1,781.28 
 
 Cranberries 
 
 bush. 
 
 372 
 
 651 
 
 162.75 
 
 Peaches 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 220,268 
 
 6,092 
 
 2,202.68 
 
 Plums 
 
 bush. 
 
 5,681 
 
 5,361 
 
 1,346.05 
 
 Fruits, canned 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 163,589 
 
 7,150 
 
 3,369.96 
 
 Jams and jellies 
 
 ... ,, 
 
 40,782 
 
 3,310 
 
 1,234.43 
 
 Almonds, shelled 
 
 ... „ 
 
 6,686 
 
 1,167 
 
 334.30 
 
 „ not shelled 
 
 • " * S» 
 
 23,781 
 
 1,801 
 
 713.43 
 
 Brazil nuts 
 
 *■* J» 
 
 3,562 
 
 206 
 
 106.86 
 
 Walnuts 
 
 •*■ 31 
 
 27,304 
 
 2,213 
 
 819.12 
 
 Other nuts, not shelled 
 
 •■• SJ 
 
 54,381 
 
 2,324 
 
 1,087.63 
 
 DilBY Peodccts. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Butter 
 
 ... lbs. 
 
 263,278 
 
 42,585 
 
 10,531.04 
 
 Cheese 
 
 ... „ 
 
 61,496 
 
 7,015 
 
 1,844.93 
 
 Condensed milk 
 
 „ 
 
 93,756 
 
 9,166 
 
 2,833.18 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chicory 
 
 ... lis. 
 
 10,852 
 
 500 
 
 434.08 
 
 Cider 
 
 gals. 
 
 1,145 
 
 822 
 
 105.90 
 
 Hay 
 
 tons 
 
 1,758 
 
 12,861 
 
 3,517.06 
 
 Hops 
 
 .. lbs. 
 
 17,336 
 
 2,303 
 
 1,040.16 
 
 Malt 
 
 bush. 
 
 49,355 
 
 33,157 
 
 7,403.25 
 
 Honey 
 
 ... His. 
 
 8,800 
 
 988 
 
 263.99 
 
 Mustard 
 
 ... ,, 
 
 11,750 
 
 3,059 
 
 764.75 
 
 Eggs 
 
 .. doz. 
 
 102,251 
 
 13,502 
 
 5,112.58 
 
 Pickles 
 
 ..gals. 
 
 7,069 
 
 5,980 
 
 2,093 
 
 Total 
 
 
 739,896 
 
 197,884-54 \ 
 
 The value of similar products received from Eastern Canada during 
 the same period will probably amount to $1,500,000. 
 
TRADE. 49 
 
 Since these statistics were compiled, the Yukon dis- 
 trict has forced itself into prominence as a market 
 which will draw its supplies largely from Victoria and 
 Vancouver. Besides this new field for commerce, the 
 enterprise of an, Australian firm in starting a shipping 
 service between Sydney and Vancouver, led to a fast 
 mail service between British Columbia and Australia. 
 It is earnestly hoped that this enterprise will be immedi- 
 ately followed by the long-delayed cable. It is a matter 
 of continual inconvenience that the C.P.B. telegraph 
 system stops at Vancouver ; but it is only fair to say 
 that the Company have been anxious for years past to 
 connect with China, and have only been withheld from 
 doing so by the action of the home Government. 
 
 The communication opened by the mail service brings 
 Australia within a three weeks' journey of Canada. The 
 Crown colony of Fiji also benefits by the arrangement, 
 and contributes a subsidy of £1500 to the under- 
 taking. 
 
 Although political considerations and passenger traffic 
 have their share in this enterprise, the business will 
 depend upon cargo. Mails are, in fact, only the sign or 
 manifestation — the outward flourish. It is the cargo 
 boats which justify the outlay. The cargo is already in 
 excess of the accommodation; and trade took a leap 
 from the very commencement, so far exceeding the ex- 
 pectations of the promoters that they were altogether 
 unprepared to deal with it. 
 
 The idea which arose from a desire for improved 
 markets for sheep and wool has spread to other goods ; 
 and Australia is at present considering the advisability 
 of shipping low-grade ores to be dealt with in British 
 Columbian smelters, where the best methods are 
 thoroughly understood, and where fuel is plentiful, 
 which, in Australia, has to be. imported. 
 
 Perhaps the highest results will accrue from the in- 
 troduction of enterprise and capital on the part of 
 Australian firms to infuse fresh life into the feeble, 
 enervated, and timid methods of Victoria and Vancouver. 
 
50 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 The following is a statement of the goods exchanged 
 between the Colonies : — 
 
 Imports from Australia to British Exports from British Columbia to 
 Columbia. Australia. 
 
 Sheep. Lumber. 
 
 Wool. Pish. 
 
 Tropical fruits. Agricultural machinery. 
 
 Flour. 
 
 Coal. 
 
 Finished woodwork. 
 
 It need not be supposed that the Canadian trade on 
 the Pacific coast will be without competition. Whether 
 or no the benefits of Australian or other markets are to 
 be grasped by Canadians and the British depends upon 
 the amount of enterprise with which the present oppor- 
 tunities are grasped. In the report for the Vancouver 
 Board of Trade for 1896-97, mention is made of five 
 new salmon canneries being erected on the American 
 side in Puget Sound. These factories are able to com- 
 pete with the British Columbian factories by the use 
 of cheaper methods. They work the catch by means 
 of traps, and this system is under stringent regulations 
 in British waters for fear of exterminating the fish. 
 But, besides this successful competition in canned 
 salmon, the cold storage for fish export is entirely in 
 American hands. The fresh-fish export trade consists 
 principally of halibut,* and an immense business which 
 
 * "The exports of halibut, which practically commenced less than 
 two years ago, amounted to two million pounds during 1895, and 
 Inspector John McNab estimates that at least as much more was caught 
 in British Columbian waters by United States fishermen. Our fishermen 
 have consequently had to dispose of their catch in United States markets 
 fairly well supplied with fish in every respect equal to their own, and prices 
 have been lowered accordingly. They have been further handicapped 
 by having to pay United States' duty, half a cent per pound — that is, 
 $10,000 on the year's operations. A new and very important industry 
 is therefore threatened with extinction. The matter was brought to the 
 notice of the Dominion Government in January laBt, and it is understood 
 that the steamer Quadra is to be commissioned to this service as well as 
 to the prevention of smuggling on the west coast of Canada.," — Victoria 
 Board of Trade Eeport. 
 
TRADE. 51 
 
 might be done in sturgeon is treated quite apathetically ; 
 yet experts have pronounced the British Columbian 
 sturgeon to be superior to the Eussian. This fish, 'when 
 properly handled, commands a very large European 
 market. The roe, preserved as caviar, finds a ready sale 
 almost anywhere ; but smoked sturgeon is extremely 
 popular in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The 
 method of preserving it is not costly. The fish are 
 skinned and smoked whole, the roe and etceteras having 
 been removed. The skins can be utilized as a by- 
 product for making glue. The export to Europe would 
 be by sailing-ships round Cape Horn. 
 
 The sealing trade is practically entirely in the hands 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company. The prices given for 
 seals are less remunerative than they were a few years 
 ago. It is said that the industry is depressed by 
 imitation sealskin. Seals are also less easy to procure 
 than they were. The great market for sealskins is 
 in the States, and of late the Americans have been 
 endeavouring to secure the whole trade (hence the 
 dispute about the Behring Sea). The latest move has 
 been to place a high tariff on pelts imported into the 
 States. It is difficult at present to see how this will 
 act. It will probably cause a diversion of the trade to 
 London. 
 
 It should, however, be remembered that sealskins 
 depend on fashion, and that fashion may be introduced 
 elsewhere. The trade is also dependent to a consider- 
 able extent on cheap skilled labour in dressing the pelts. 
 Would it be possible to create a market for pelts in the 
 Orient, now that China is opening up ? It is said that 
 the tendency of Oriental trade is gradually setting 
 towards the importation of raw products, to the dis- 
 placement of manufactured goods ; but for the truth of 
 this I cannot vouch. 
 
 As an indication of the business done in the export 
 trade departments of sealing, salmon, and lumber, the 
 following statistics from the Vancouver Board of Trade 
 Eeport may be useful. 
 
52 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 SEALING CATCH, 1895. (The figures for 1896 aro not to hand.) 
 
 Total Canadian catch 
 
 Catch of Director off Falkland Islands 
 
 Catch of American schooners landed at Victoria 
 
 Total 
 
 70,739 
 
 620 
 
 2,255 
 
 73,614 
 
 The catch for the past seven years has been : — 
 
 1889 
 1890 
 1891 
 1892 
 
 35,310 
 43,325 
 52,365 
 49,743 
 
 1893 
 1894 
 1895 
 
 70,592 
 95,048 
 73,614 
 
 SALMON SHIPMENTS IN DETAIL. 
 
 
 1896. 
 
 1895. 
 
 1894. 
 
 1893. 
 
 1892. 
 
 England — 
 
 London direct 
 
 London overland 
 
 Liverpool direct ... .,. 
 
 Liverpool overland 
 
 Via other ports 
 
 Overland (previous years) 
 
 Eastern Canada 
 
 Australia 
 
 Other destinations 
 
 Local sales ... 
 
 Stocks on hand 
 
 cases. 
 182,253 
 9,076 
 322,364 
 
 11,405 
 
 51,041 
 
 11,609 
 
 2,128 
 
 3,844 
 
 7,850 
 
 cases. 
 96,459 
 
 256,301 
 
 29,590 
 
 65,647 
 
 79,288 
 
 8,832 
 
 4,326 
 25,952 
 
 cases. 
 94,203 
 
 222,345 
 
 59,296 
 20,424 
 76,009 
 15,078 
 
 2,642 
 4,374 
 
 cases. 
 148,332 
 
 253,833 
 
 27,445 
 
 25,703 
 
 114,792 
 
 8,830 
 
 150 
 
 2,931 
 
 8,213 
 
 cases. 
 61,864 
 
 101,447 
 
 59,350 
 1,498 
 
 {4,311 
 
 Total ... 
 
 601,507 
 
 566,395 
 
 494,371 
 
 590,229 
 
 228,470 
 
TBADE. 
 
 53 
 
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54 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 It remains to be seen whether the Australian mail 
 service and increased trade will promote the export of 
 British Columbian coal as return cargoes. For the last 
 two years the mines on Vancouver Island have been 
 suffering from the competition of American mines. It 
 is fluctuations of this kind which render figures con- 
 fusing, and often misleading in matters relating to 
 business. "What is lost by one industry is gained by 
 another. The following year the deficiency may be 
 elsewhere, recouped again by fresh enterprise in securing 
 a new market for another trade, or the market may 
 come of itself through the necessity of a return cargo. 
 Thus, if coal is suffering abroad, pig-iron may gain 
 a footing through a sudden impetus given to Japanese 
 manufacture. The import and export trade of British 
 Columbia offers a field for skilful merchants well backed 
 by capital, and with connections in other sea-ports. 
 Hitherto the trade has been confined to Great Britain 
 and American ports. The export of wheat to China 
 is of very recent date, and the Australian development 
 a thing of to-day. 
 
 It is in Vancouver rather than Victoria that mer- 
 chants will find their best opportunity. Up to the 
 present time the contracted nature of the trade, and 
 the fact of coal playing a large part in exports, the 
 ports in Vancouver Island of Nanaimo and Victoria 
 have maintained a comparatively larger role than they 
 are likely to do in future. 
 
 Vancouver has a much finer harbour, admitting 
 larger ships than Victoria. But even should Victoria 
 be able to secure a better harbour than the present 
 one, the terminus of the C.P.E. is on the mainland, 
 and this alone is sufficient to draw a good deal of trade. 
 For some years past Victoria has received considerable 
 consignments for transhipment through America into 
 the Kootenays ; but this business will be reduced when 
 the railway through the Crow's Nest pass reaches 
 Nelson. 
 
TRADE. 
 
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56 BB1TISB COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 The subject of the future of Vancouver is so important 
 a one to the shipping interests that more attention 
 would be •well bestowed upon it. It must be remembered 
 that the harbour is accessible to vessels of any draft, 
 and is perfectly sheltered ; though up to the present it 
 does not possess a dry dock. There is a wide beach on 
 the north side exposed to the fall of the tide to as much 
 as fifteen feet. This allows of vessels being beached and 
 scraped of marine growths at a very low cost, and with 
 perfect safety. The Board of Trade Eeport goes on to 
 say that — 
 
 "For inwards business there are general cargoes from 
 Europe, and cargoes of raw sugar from Java for the refinery. 
 For outwards business a charter for lumber can nearly always 
 be obtained, and in the season (August to September) canned 
 salmon for the United Kingdom. 
 
 " The Empress line of mail steamers, belonging to the 
 Canadian Pacific Eailway, leave for Japan and China once a 
 month during the winter, and once every twenty days in the 
 summer (calling at Victoria, Vancouver Island, for local 
 mail and passengers). 
 
 " The Canadian-Australian Mail Line leaves for Sydney 
 once a month, touching at Victoria, Honolulu and the Fiji 
 Islands. 
 
 " The Pacific Coast SS. Company's steamers ply regularly 
 between Vancouver and San Francisco every five days, 
 calling also at Victoria. There is a daily service with Vic- 
 toria and with Nanaimo, the steamers connecting -with the 
 incoming and outgoing trans-Continental express trains of 
 the Canadian Pacific Eailway. 
 
 " Provisions and supplies of all kinds are plentiful and at 
 moderate prices, imported stores being allowed to be supplied 
 from bonded warehouses. 
 
 " The charges for wharfage are levied upon the cargo, and 
 paid by the receivers.* 
 
 It will be observed that the figures quoted on the 
 authority of the Board of Trade are from the last report 
 
 * In the Appendix will be.found a list of the usual expenses, together 
 with copies of actual disbursement accounts. 
 
TRADE. 57 
 
 to hand, and consequently contain no reference to the 
 sudden impetus given to trade by the rush to the Klondyke. 
 The result has been an influx of ready-money customers, 
 and it is to be hoped that the funds thus brought into 
 trade will be turned oyer in trade, and not withdrawn 
 for investment in mines. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of shipping entirely, 
 some reference must be made to the effect of the new 
 Canadian tariff. The movement inaugurated on the 
 occasion of the Jubilee of her Majesty will probably 
 cause great alterations in trade. The Canadians claimed 
 their right to impose their own tariffs, and adjust them 
 as they pleased. It pleased them to give a preferential 
 tariff to Great Britain in gratitude for the generosity 
 with which Canadian products had been treated in 
 British ports. This was the first move towards Free 
 Trade within the Empire ; but the new tariff offered 
 similar benefits to all who came into line, and were pre- 
 pared to take Canadian goods on similar terms. New 
 South Wales and British India availed themselves of the 
 offer ; doubtless moved thereto by the lines of shipping, 
 and consequent commercial relations already estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Since then a fresh development has followed, which 
 may prove of very far-reaching consequences. Japan, 
 whose manufactures have been increasing both in out- 
 put and in quality for some time past, first adopted a 
 gold coinage, and then, so far as dry goods are concerned, 
 took steps to place herself in a position to benefit by the 
 minimum Canadian tariff. Her overtures have been 
 accepted by Canada, and an increase of traffic between 
 Canada and Japan is certain to follow. These two 
 countries represent the two interests which constitute 
 trade. In British Columbia there is abundance of raw 
 material, but with dear labour. In Japan there is very 
 little raw material, but marvellous skill in working up 
 raw products, and plenty of cheap labour. 
 
 The question is how far the wonderful quickness of 
 the Japanese will enable them to find fresh uses for the 
 
58 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 minerals — flax, hides, timber, and other products of 
 British Columbia ; and to what extent they can fit them 
 for greater careers of usefulness when distributed in the 
 markets of the Orient after adaptation in the Japanese 
 workshops. 
 
 Owing to the necessity for cheapening production, 
 the Japanese may presently find it advantageous to send 
 their factories over to British Columbia, and thus save 
 the bulky shipment of raw products. Such a move 
 would be beneficial to British Columbia by improving 
 the local markets, no less than to the Japanese. 
 Although an Oriental nation, they have aspired success- 
 fully to Western habits and civilization. They have 
 proved themselves a nautical nation of no mean rank. 
 They are like ourselves, an Eastern power. Their 
 instincts are towards commercial pursuits which they 
 direct with skill ; and they are able to furnish capital 
 for the accomplishment of their objects. That they 
 should be linked with a British colony in the matters of 
 coinage and tariffs offers suggestions for many problems 
 in modern commerce, with regard to the East, of very 
 far-reaching significance. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 If we accept under the heading of British Columbia 
 only the territory between the Bockies and the coast 
 bounded by the 49th parallel on the south, and the 60th 
 on the north, together with the archipelago of Queen 
 Charlotte and Vancouver, we shall have an area of 
 383,300 square miles. The Island of Queen Charlotte 
 covers 5100, and that of Vancouver 12,780. These 
 are the limits of the province at the present time; 
 for the rich country of the Klondyke and the immense 
 region extending, roughly speaking, from the Hudson's 
 Bay to Alaska, belongs to the North-West, territories, 
 and is governed from Eegina. It remains to be seen 
 how long the present arrangement will hold good, but 
 if geographical formation and facilities of communication 
 count for anything, it may reasonably be supposed that 
 as the Klondyke and Teslin Lake district open up, the 
 seat of provincial government will be elsewhere. 
 
 At the present moment it is sufficient to consider the 
 area of 383,300 square miles divided as follows : — 
 
 Land 382,300 square miles. 
 
 Water 1,000 „ , 
 
 Total ... 383,300 „ 
 
 Statistics relating to the present occupation of the 
 land — though they must be taken loosely — are not 
 without interest. Passing at once from miles to acres, 
 
60 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 there are only 1,000,616 acres under the private owner- 
 ship of landowners. Of this million and a half acres 
 it is estimated that only 111,425 acres are cultivated ; 
 513,430 acres being pasture, prairie, or hay meadows. 
 Nearly as much is still uncleared forest under private 
 ownership, while 69,000 acres are returned as rock, 
 and about half as much is undrained swamp and 
 marsh. 
 
 It may be added that though there are still Government 
 lands to be pre-empted, a large portion of the best land is 
 already in private hands. It also remains to be seen 
 what economical management may effect in irrigating 
 the dry belt, and whether the rich alluvial land in the 
 delta of the Fraser could not be further drained, 
 recovered, and sold for agricultural purposes. 
 
 The dry belt occupies a large part of Central British 
 Columbia. Eoughly speaking, it extends from Lytton to 
 Eevelstoke, and south to the American boundary. The 
 delta of the Lower Fraser, including Chiliwack and the 
 coast, are rendered moist and luxuriant from rains 
 falling from clouds which drop against the Cascades 
 Eange. When the clouds reform, they pass over the dry 
 belt, and descend again against the Selkirks and Eockies. 
 These latter rains help Kootenay, and even extend in a 
 lesser degree into the State of Washington. 
 
 Considering the immense effect exercised by climatic 
 conditions upon agriculture, it is most desirable that 
 steps should be taken to collect more accurate returns of 
 rainfall and temperature in different localities. In 
 some instances, it is not the amount of rain which falls, 
 but the season at which it comes, which signifies. The 
 same may be said of snowfall with regard to stock 
 feeding. In a heavy snowfall the grass is buried, and 
 neither sheep nor cattle can reach it.' " At the present 
 time there, are periodical large losses in various districts 
 owing to farmers taking chances or risks, which some 
 scientific attention to the subject of climate might do 
 nrach to diminish. The matter is already engaging 
 attention ; and in most localities a general idea of the 
 
AGBIGULTURK 61 
 
 rainfall can be furnished to intending settlers by the 
 authorities at Victoria. 
 
 The farmers themselves are taking steps to collect 
 and distribute information, as well as to combine and 
 co-operate. For these purposes there are several 
 societies. In 1895, a Farmers' Convention was held at 
 Agassiz, which lasted three days, and was attended by 
 most of the leading agriculturists of the province. The 
 British Columbian Central Fruit Exchange and the 
 Fruit Growers' Association, have evinced practical 
 knowledge of the economic needs of agriculture by 
 exerting themselves to obtain concessions upon the high 
 freights charged by the railway, and at the same time to 
 .raise the general standard of packing, grading, etc. It 
 is also indirectly due to these societies that the Minister 
 of Education has authorized a text-book on agriculture 
 for use in the public schools of the province ; so that 
 agricultural education has been added to the general 
 curriculum. , Steps have also been taken to get the 
 obnoxious royalty on timber removed, or at least 
 reduced, on farm land. Thus it cannot be said that the 
 farmers of British Columbia are indifferent to their own 
 interests ; for each of these moves indicates a spirit of 
 self help, and is not merely a demand for outside 
 assistance in the form of bounties. 
 
 One striking feature in this country is the immense 
 quantity of fodder for stock which is raised in every 
 district, and even imported from the States. The pro- 
 portion of land devoted to hay and pasture is nearly five 
 times as much as that under cultivation ; and a good 
 part of the arable land is also used for growing green 
 crops, such as oat-hay, for stock feeding. This is due to 
 three causes. First, the fact that beef is required in the 
 mining camps of the Kootenay, where it is eaten three 
 .times a day whenever it can be obtained ; secondly, to 
 the immense use of transport animals, either mules 
 or horses. As a third cause, with which the raising of 
 timothy hay has certainly a good deal to do, is the fact 
 of the ranges having been overstocked and eaten out ; 
 
62 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 so that the grass growing on them at the present time 
 iB very often poor and innutritions. 
 
 The most important industry connected with agricul- 
 ture is fruit-farming. It is impossible to say to what 
 excellence this business may not eventually reach. 
 Already there are shipments to the North-West terri- 
 tories, and even to the Orient. That the trees of apple, 
 pear, and plum, and in some districts of peach also, 
 bear abundantly, and that the fruits are fine and full 
 flavoured, is amply proved. But the business requires 
 immense organization, and a few years are still neces- 
 sary to allow even the most advanced fruit ranches to 
 come into full bearing, and prove what may be taken as 
 a reasonably average return. As soon as this is under- 
 stood, and the districts selected for the right kinds of 
 fruit, factories for canning and preserving the surplus 
 are certain to be started. Meantime, the industry has 
 so far advanced that every settler should at least devote 
 a part of his land to fruit of suitable kinds. 
 
 Bound Agassiz, near Vernon, and at Kelowna, English 
 hops are found to answer admirably, and to command a 
 good price in the London market. In the matter of price, 
 they are beating those of Washington. In the States, 
 this crop has been liable to blight of recent years ; and 
 the last accounts are that growers are ploughing up 
 their yards. There is, therefore, just cause for assum- 
 ing that their place in the London market will be taken 
 by the Colonial product. Shipments have been tried to 
 Australia, which were well received and fetched good 
 prices. 
 
 Another industry which has a future before it is that 
 of flax growing. On rich, alluvial soils, where experi- 
 ments have been tried, the results have been so 
 encouraging, both as regards fibre and seed, that 
 Government has been induced to grant an appro- 
 priation for the distribution of seed, and for further 
 experiments. 
 
 Tobacco has been found to grow well at Kelowna, and, 
 probably owing to the rich silt washed from the hills, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 63 
 
 it does not impoverish the soil. The kind grown is 
 Havanna, and produces a fine leaf for cigar wrappers. 
 Pipe tobacco is also grown; but at present it appears 
 that both soil and climate tend towards farming the 
 cigar-leaf. 
 
 In Okanagan — especially in the neighbourhood of 
 Vernon — there is a good deal of wheat grown ; but its 
 success is entirely dependent upon a copious rainfall, 
 except where a little irrigation has been undertaken. 
 In 1897, the yield was very high in cereals generally, the 
 average all over the province sixty-three bushels per 
 acre in oats — sometimes running to the astonishing 
 figure of a hundred and fifty-six bushels per acre.* 
 
 Boots grown under irrigation attain to an immense 
 size, and are of great value for fattening stock in winter 
 on small holdings. 
 
 Horses may be said to be at a discount throughout 
 the province, and the business of horse-breeding should 
 on no account be considered. It is unlikely that British 
 Columbia will ever be able to breed horses to compete 
 with those raised on the ranches of Calgary. For the 
 peculiar purpose of the country, namely, that of packing 
 goods into the mining camps along Indian trails, and 
 for prospecting work, the half-wild cayuse — bought for 
 five to ten dollars — is more suitable than the better-bred 
 horse of the North-West. 
 
 For horned cattle there is always a market in British 
 Columbia. As yet the supply in the country itself is quite 
 inadequate, and hundreds of beef cattle are imported 
 from the Alberta ranches. The exhausted condition of 
 many of the old ranches in British Columbia suggests 
 the introduction of sheep, but the ranchers have not 
 taken to the idea with any enthusiasm. They plead two 
 difficulties — the low price of wool, and the losses through 
 coyotes and mountain lions. In such a climate as 
 British Columbia, and with the opening of the North 
 in actual progress, both sheep pelts, if properly cured, 
 
 * This has been amply testified by affidavits taken for the purpose of 
 agricultural reports. 
 
64 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 and wool itself, should be distinctly valuable ; but the 
 fact is that sheep require more labour in nightly herd- 
 ing, besides attention at washing, shearing, and lambing, 
 than cattle ; and cheap labour is the one thing absent in 
 British Columbia. 
 
 Swine, though hardly less liable to attacks from wild 
 beasts than sheep, are found profitable. In the district 
 called Grand Prairie, between Vernon and Ducks, the 
 business done in breeding and fattening swine is a large 
 one, and every farm has its curing house, where the 
 pork, bacon, and hams are smoked. There is an 
 immense market for this meat, which is easily carried, 
 and very nourishing. 
 
 The dairy industry has been making great strides, 
 but the supply of butter is by no means equal to the 
 demand. The Lower Fraser is the district where most 
 butter is made; and, generally speaking, it finds its 
 way to the coast instead of into the mining centres 
 of Kootenay. Of late it has been shipped to Japan 
 and China, which affords a curious instance of trade ; 
 for while British Columbian butter is shipped to 
 the Orient, British Columbia obtains supplies from 
 Ontario. 
 
 The agricultural societies have done good work in 
 keeping down fruit pests and noxious weeds. The 
 Government is always alert to quarantine any cases 
 of cattle disease. The worst complaints I heard of 
 were those of deaths through exposure and scarcity of 
 food, also of animals being disabled by frost-bite ; and 
 several times I heard of lampas, one man attributing 
 this last disease to the use of maize as food-stuff. 
 
 Generally speaking, it is for the sake of the land 
 that men emigrate. To most men's minds there is 
 a fascination in the possession of a piece of land with 
 which they can do as they please, and on which they 
 can live as in a kingdom of their own. The problem 
 of emigration is nevertheless a most difficult one to 
 solve. Setting aside the fact that it is a law of nature 
 and an instinct common amongst even the lowest tribes 
 
AGRICULTURE. 65 
 
 in the animal world, there is in reasoning man the 
 actual knowledge of the glut of population at home, and 
 the glut of land in the Colonies. Yet the initial 
 difficulty is actually becoming harder to solve — of fitting 
 our people to be successful emigrants. 
 
 Every part of the Empire offers opportunities for a 
 certain class of emigrants. The surplus coolie has 
 found his place tending tea and coffee in Africa, and 
 offers an object-lesson to all interested in emigra- 
 tion. But although British Columbia offers exceptional 
 advantages for fishermen or farm-labourers, miners, 
 and especially for farmers, it does not at all follow 
 that even tolerably successful men at home will succeed 
 there. 
 
 Those who come out to British Columbia, frequently 
 waste their best years, and all their capital, in trying 
 to learn what they should have been taught before 
 leaving home. Considering how little is done to prepare 
 our emigrants, it is remarkable that they should succeed 
 so well — although that success is purchased with 
 enormous waste, and by dint of many failures. 
 
 At the present time there are few openings for towns- 
 people. An acquaintance with agriculture, and famili- 
 arity with country pursuits, are advantageous to every 
 emigrant. Ordinary farm-labourers should acquire a 
 knowledge of smith's work for shoeing horses, of rough 
 carpentry, or of masonry. The most useful trade is the 
 blacksmith's, if practised in addition to some other 
 business — especially if the man possesses sufficient 
 knowledge of machinery to enable him to repair agri- 
 cultural implements. Artisans pure and simple, me- 
 chanics who know only one trade, and clerks, are not 
 in request, and would find life very hard in , British 
 Columbia. 
 
 The first fact which the emigrant must grasp is that 
 life in the colony is much harder than, at home. The 
 eight hours' day is never heard of there; the theory 
 is that every man must do his best to advance the 
 country, for by helping his neighbour, he is helping 
 
66 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLBBS. 
 
 himself. It is therefore a common sight on river 
 steamers, where there is sometimes a shortage of hands, 
 to see the passengers come forward and assist in 
 getting the cargo on or off the boat. They expect no 
 payment. No one dreams of inquiring who they may 
 be ; but volunteering is part of the life of the country. 
 Hard work is the keynote. It is hard for both man 
 and beast. Mechanical assistance, even that which 
 trains and steamers provide, has not gained possession 
 of the country. It is still the machinery of human 
 muscles and nerves which drives civilization. There 
 are yet rivers which men navigate in crafts made by 
 themselves, in which they row or pole freight into 
 camps. Canoes are still in use; and the miner starts 
 for the hills as often as not on foot, with his blankets, 
 " grub," pick, and rifle strapped to his own back. 
 
 In so primitive a life, it will readily be seen that 
 though a man should be master of one business, such 
 as stock raising, or market-gardening, it is extremely 
 useful to have a knowledge of trades, such as, with our 
 modern technical classes, every boy ought to acquire 
 easily. 
 
 Many middle-class families with small incomes, if 
 they made up their minds to live simply, and take their 
 pleasure in the country, with its wonderful nature and 
 its opportunities for riding and fishing and boating, 
 would find their small incomes easier to live upon in 
 Canada than at home. There is no false pride about 
 economy, and there are opportunities for investment of 
 small sums which do not offer themselves very frequently 
 in Great Britain. If a man with an income of £500 
 a year went out to British Columbia, and purchased an 
 improved mixed farm of 165 acres near Vernon, he 
 could live out of the proceeds. His expenses in pur- 
 chasing and stocking such a farm and furnishing his 
 house ought to be covered by £1000. In order to live 
 comfortably, he would require one Chinaman as cook 
 and another one as gardener. Their wages would 
 amount to about £60 for the pair per annum. It would 
 
AGRICULTURE. 67 
 
 also be advisable to take out a governess from England 
 who should also help in the house. The education at 
 the free Government schools would answer very well for 
 the boys, but the girls would require a more careful 
 home training, and a knowledge of good French and 
 English literature. The mother of the family would 
 find it a great comfort, as well as convenience, to have 
 some reliable person to help her care for the children 
 and share her work in the house. Chinamen very 
 rarely undertake any domestic work except cooking. 
 Therefore a good deal of the housework falls upon the 
 ladies themselves. The greatest difficulty is usually the 
 washing, but this is a branch of industry which China- 
 men will always undertake, and carry out with very fair 
 efficiency. The wood-chopping and water-carrying and 
 window-cleaning would be the work of the gardener. 
 
 If the business of farming in British Columbia is 
 wholly novel and untried, it would be well to get the 
 services of a good manager for a couple of years. The 
 wages would be an expensive item, probably amounting 
 to §45 a month, with board and lodging ; but if a really 
 good man, and one conversant with the country, were 
 secured, the outlay would be found to be a profitable 
 investment. 
 
 It is a good plan for the wife's sister to go out, and 
 add her quota to the little settlement ; but she should 
 be prepared to help in such work as cleaning lamps, 
 washing pocket-handkerchiefs, laces, collars, and cuffs, 
 and also in cooking of simple food. 
 
 Some arrangement should also be made with a leading 
 bookseller at home for the periodical despatch of good 
 new books, reviews, and newspapers. There is no reason 
 why the country houses in British Columbia should 
 not have as good libraries as the old country houses at 
 home. 
 
 The chief gain in the life would be to the children. 
 Brought up thus upon a farm, they would learn many 
 things, which even if they were sent home to finish 
 their education in England, would not be lost, and 
 
68 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 would fit them to start in the Colonies. The money 
 saved out of the income would be ready to give a start 
 to the boys in business, or help the girls in setting up 
 homes of their own should they marry. At the end of 
 the time, after the family is started, there would remain 
 the value of the farm, which, if it is further improved, as 
 it should have been by slow degrees, should fetch more 
 than it cost to purchase ; so that if the parents desired 
 to return to the old country and live there quietly upon 
 their income, they would be able to do so without any 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The one thing that a man in such circumstances 
 should beware of is speculating in gold mines. 
 
 When one considers the uphill struggle that it is to 
 many families to live as gentlefolks on small incomes, 
 the free life in the beautiful climate of British Columbia, 
 and the chances offered by a new country to boys with 
 small capital, ought to be made more of than they are. 
 The old custom which has obtained hitherto of sending 
 boys out to the Colonies to make their fortunes, or go to 
 the bad, cannot be too much condemned. 
 
 For older men, with some knowledge of the world, there 
 are opportunities in British Columbia as mining-brokers. 
 If they have a small capital to start with, and are pru- 
 dent in investing at the outset, they may be able to turn 
 their capital over with no small profit. 
 
 There are chances connected with mining, for men 
 who can manage mules or pack-horses, of packing goods 
 up to the mines. The best way to start in this business 
 is to bring out £200 or £300 capital, and go into partner- 
 ship with a man who understands the business. The 
 profits are often as high as $100 a week to each share. 
 
 For electrical engineers there does not appear to be 
 much demand. It is, however, one of those professions 
 the name of which is given to — or assumed by — a very 
 large class, many of whom appear to know the business 
 very slightly. 
 
 In most districts it is common to hear complaints of 
 the scarcity, and sometimes of the inefficiency, of doctors. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 69 
 
 Though the climate is healthy, there are feverish locali- 
 ties; and typhoid and kindred complaints are hy no 
 means uncommon at certain seasons in new townships. 
 Unfortunately, the medical man is a political appoint- 
 ment, a fact which is certain to degrade the profession. 
 
 The private tutor, so common in South Africa, seems 
 quite unknown in British Columbia. Probably this is 
 to be accounted for by the remarkably high standard of 
 the Free Government Schools. Certainly there is no 
 demand for them. 
 
 As compared with the North- West, British Columbia 
 is a far more agreeable country to live in. The climate 
 is not so severe, the scenery is beautiful, fuel is always 
 abundant, and domestic help in the shape of a 
 Chinaman or Japanese always obtainable. 
 
 Banchers in the North-West make more money by 
 their business than those in British Columbia, for reasons 
 presently to be stated. It is no uncommon thing for a 
 farmer in Manitoba to cover all his expenses of 
 purchasing land and settling by his first year's crop. 
 But the life on these plains is very hard, and for the 
 women and children positively cruel. There is no 
 assistance to be had, except occasionally a Swede or 
 German; who too often proves a broken reed. The 
 farms are isolated. Where all the housework and the 
 care of a young family falls on the shoulders of one 
 woman, who has no one to sympathize with her or 
 advise her during the long hours that her husband is at 
 work, life becomes hard enough to break the health and 
 spirit of an English girl. 
 
 As regards domestic servants, there are situations to 
 be had for girls of good character who have been trained 
 as general servants ; but, for the most part, Canadians 
 do not offer sufficiently high wages to induce first-class 
 servants to emigrate. This is the case especially in 
 Montreal, where I have known $11 a month offered for 
 a good cook, who was also to undertake light washing, 
 the dairy, milk the cow, and sew. 
 
 Except in cattle ranching, British Columbia is a very 
 
70 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 new country for farmers. In ranching, its best districts 
 are older than the North-West ; but owing partly to the 
 nature of the grass, and partly to the fact that it has 
 been overstocked, it can no longer be recommended in 
 the same terms with the North-West. In the Chil- 
 cooten district, on the North Fraser, in Cariboo, there 
 is good ranching country not yet appropriated ; and with 
 the mining development likely to take place, settlers 
 with small capital and no families would do well to 
 secure farms there. 
 
 The farmer would find it advantageous to bank his 
 capital, whatever the sum may be, saying nothing about 
 it to any one, and come into the country to work for 
 wages, and look about him for at least a few months. 
 He should be able to reckon upon having not less than 
 £1000 to buy an improved farm, and stock it. Before 
 coming out, he would do well to learn something of 
 fruit culture, especially how to graft and prune fruit 
 trees. 
 
 For a farmer who can farm at all in England, British 
 Columbia would not be a hard country. But it would 
 be a waste of his time and ability to pre-empt land 
 at $1 an acre, and undertake the severe labour of 
 clearing it of timber. Owing to reasons to be hereafter 
 explained, excellent farms are likely to find their way 
 into the market at reasonable prices for men who know 
 how to select them. 
 
 Another class to be considered is that of farm 
 labourers, who come out without any capital. They 
 will find that during the summer they can earn 
 $2 * a day if they board themselves, or $1.50 if their 
 employer boards them. The meals are excellent, meat 
 and potatoes being given three times a day. At the 
 same time, it should be borne in mind that though 
 $1 at the rate of exchange represents a little over four 
 shillings, it is spent more easily in British Columbia 
 than half the sum would be in England. The wages at 
 railway laying, which are generally considered the lowest, 
 
 * About eight shillings a day. This applies to Yale and the Kootenays. 
 
AGBIOULTUBE. 71 
 
 are $2 per diem. The employment is fairly continuous* 
 but the cost of $1 a day for board continues, and 
 must be met by the men during the " stops " and on 
 Sundays. If a man can save $1 a day, he will do 
 well ; but at railway work they can seldom save above 
 the rate of 50 cents per diem. Miners are paid $3 
 a day in the mines, but it is very seldom that a 
 miner saves. They are not a thrifty race, and plenty of 
 temptation is provided for them. 
 
 If a man emigrates from Great Britain in April to a 
 farmer who will require his services through the summer, 
 he should have saved enough by the autumn to pre-empt 
 a piece of land of not less than 15 acres.* He will be 
 able to get help to put up a log hut stopped with clay, 
 warmed with a stove, and well provisioned before winter 
 settles down; and he can employ himself until the 
 spring in lumbering — that is, felling trees, and clearing 
 land by burning the stumps and brushwood. In the 
 spring, after the frost has broken up, he will be able to 
 plant some potatoes and sow alsike and timothy grass 
 between the charred stumps which he has not had time 
 to remove, and to work it into the ground with a hoe. 
 In July there will be a rough crop of very fair hay, which 
 he can cut with a scythe in a few days and stack it, 
 dragging it up to the stack on a contrivance used by 
 primitive settlers, and copied from the Indians of the 
 plains, called a travois, which consists of two poles 
 fastened on either side of a horse like shafts, and 
 connected with one another near the ground by short 
 boards or staves. This hay can generally be sold, and 
 for the first year it will be better to sell it. 
 
 The settler will have been able to plant enough 
 potatoes for his own use during the coming winter, and 
 the sale of his lumber, and such wages as he will be able 
 to earn during the summer, ought to place him in a 
 better position before the next winter. If he is able to , 
 
 * Unfortunately it is impossible to pre-empt very small sections in 
 British Columbia. The amount varies in different localities ; in Liloet not 
 less than 160 or 320 acres. 
 
72 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 clear another piece of ground in the same way before 
 the following spring, he should have quite two acres of 
 ground cleared. He should then review his position, 
 and make up his mind what he intends to do. There 
 are few parts of British Columbia which will pay entirely 
 without irrigation, and the amount of ground he is able 
 to irrigate will influence him largely in his decision. It 
 will also be well to consider his neighbours, and whether 
 they keep stock, and are likely to buy his hay. If he 
 has any bench land suitable for fruit it will be worth his 
 while to plant and fence a few trees ; and he should first 
 obtain information from the experimental farm at 
 Agassiz as to what kinds are likely to thrive. A small 
 orchard always enhances the value of land. On the 
 other hand, hay is an easy crop to handle and to dis- 
 pose of.* 
 
 The attempt to launch out into too large a style of 
 farming from the commencement has been the ruin of 
 many farmers. Like kings, they have gone to war with- 
 out counting the cost. It is not good business to make 
 an expensive start. If a man intends to create a large 
 millinery business, he does not buy miles of laces, 
 cambrics, and silks, and open an enormous house ; but he 
 puts his money into a small shop and develops it bit by 
 bit, as he sees trade coming. On no account should a 
 man borrow money or take a mortgage on his property. 
 He should remember that his capital is his own labour, 
 and that it will pay him to sink in his land the surplus 
 which he cannot invest for a higher rate elsewhere. 
 With matters trending as they are at present in British 
 Columbia, an improved farm — or even a good clearing- 
 is certain to be worth money some day. The main 
 difficulty is for labourers to obtain work in the winter- 
 time ; but a man who has his ranch to fall back upon 
 can put in his time in felling trees, burning stumps, or 
 putting up fences. There is little doubt that in the 
 course of the next ten years he will be able to sell his 
 
 * The price of hay varies in localities as well as seasons, from $10 to 
 $30 a ton. 
 
AGBICULTUBR 73 
 
 farm for three times what he gave for it, and this money 
 ■will provide him with capital in starting elsewhere. 
 
 When two brothers are together, a good deal of hard- 
 ship will be lessened, and the suffering of loneliness be 
 avoided altogether. Only hard-working men need con- 
 template settling in this manner in British Columbia. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter something must be 
 said about the profits of agriculture. This is an 
 extremely difficult subject to treat. If we compare the 
 industry with that of gold, it does not make a bad figure. 
 
 The provincial mineralogist records the total pro- 
 duction of gold in British Columbia for all years from 
 its discovery to the present time as less than £12,000,000. 
 The wheat crop of Manitoba for the single year (1897) 
 is estimated at 21,000,000 bushels, valued at the lowest 
 estimate at £3,200,000. The price of land is much 
 cheaper there than in British Columbia, where no free 
 grants are offered ; but the productiveness of the soil is 
 much greater in British Columbia, and the quality of 
 the wheat superior to Ontario, and second only to 
 Manitoba Al. Cattle are not raised as cheaply in 
 British Columbia as on the Alberta ranges, but the 
 following figures were given me by a man in Okanagan. 
 In that district men have from 500 to 1000 head of 
 cattle at a time. They run loose for three years, costing 
 $3.50 a head per annum. By the end of three years, 
 when they are fat upon the summer grass, they weigh 
 650 lbs. They are sold at $27.50 a head, which, after 
 deducting all expenses, and an extra dollar for the ex- 
 pense of bringing them off the ranche, leaves a clear 
 profit of $15 per head. Another man, who had a 
 small ranch of 300 acres, principally in fruit, told me 
 that he expected — when the railway freights were lowered 
 and the business better organized — to reckon on an 
 income of not less that £500 per annum clear profit. 
 
 But it is the exorbitant price of labour which handi- 
 caps agriculture at the present time, and helps to 
 render competition by the United States successful. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 THE CHINESE. 
 
 The heading to this chapter might have been " Labour " 
 — for the Chinaman is the cheap labourer of British 
 Columbia. But certain features render the Chinese 
 problem a different question to any which could come 
 under the head of labour. 
 
 It would be impossible to say when the Chinese first 
 came to British Columbia. They have been known to 
 wash gold in the mouth of the Fraser and in Vancouver 
 Island for years past, and their patience and care in 
 this pursuit renders the work profitable where the white 
 man and all his machinery prove an utter failure.* 
 
 The same may be said with regard to market garden- 
 ing. A Chinaman rents a piece of waste ground for 
 which no one else has any use, and under his careful 
 hands it becomes a veritable Eden. I never watched 
 his methods, nor did I meet any one who had done so ; 
 but I always saw them at work from sunrise to sunset 
 — Sundays included — and they used both irrigation and 
 manure. 
 
 I knew a man who once washed gold near some 
 Chinese on the sandbars of the Fraser. He found that 
 the Orientals made a clear profit, while he himself 
 worked in vain — the gold being so fine as to escape. 
 The Chinese method was to wash the sand in their pan, 
 pouring off the silt by degrees, leaving the heavier gold to 
 sink to the bottom as more and more water was added. 
 
 * Vide placer mining in Vancouver Island. 
 
THE CHINESE. 75 
 
 The last dregs of sand containing the flower of gold was 
 brushed out with a tooth-brush (picked out of some dust- 
 heap) on to his old blanket, which John had calculated 
 he could spare, it being summer-time. The blanket was 
 carefully folded up after the sand and gold had been 
 brushed well into it ; then at the end of the season it 
 was made up into a tight small bundle, a fire was 
 lighted underneath, which slowly consumed it, and the 
 gold being amalgamated was recovered in the ashes. 
 
 The Chinaman's power is this patient industry and 
 immense economy ; and yet, although these are two 
 distinct features which are needed in British Columbia, 
 it cannot be said that the Chinese form a part of the 
 State, or have any interest in the country. As things are 
 regulated at present, it is difficult to believe that even 
 their labour is an advantage ; but though it may seem 
 a paradox, it would be hardly possible to live in British 
 Columbia without them. The truth of the matter is, 
 that regarded in the light of a labour problem, it is not 
 the Chinese who are wholly right, but it is the British 
 workman who is partly wrong. 
 
 The colony belongs to Great Britain — not to China. 
 Climate and all other circumstances prove it to be 
 eminently suited to British emigrants. China itself is 
 hardly more in need of an outlet for its surplus popu- 
 lation than is Great Britain. There are countless 
 hundreds of men and women in these islands who are 
 subsisting by the assistance of charity, or the aid of 
 crime — because of over-competition in the labour market. 
 Behind these there is an immense crowd who receive 
 charity in the form of hospital beneficence, or the partial 
 care of lunatic asylums supported' by the State, whose 
 cases, if investigated, would go to prove that their 
 disablement was due to over-work, over-worry, and 
 insufficient food. 
 
 In God's Name — let nothing be said to diminish the 
 aid given to the poor of our own race and blood ; but it 
 does seem an inscrutable mystery that neither British 
 men nor women emigrants are desired in British 
 
76 BB1TISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 Columbia— of the working class. " As for your servant- 
 girls," said one Victorian lady, "I would not employ 
 them if they would work for nothing ! " " Thank you," 
 said another, " if I could not keep a Chinaman, I would 
 rather be without servants." Finally, I am bound to 
 add my own conclusion, arrived at most reluctantly, 
 that the only way to be waited on efficiently, or to live 
 in peace and comfort, was by getting rid of white 
 servants and employing only Chinamen. 
 
 Let it be distinctly understood that it is not only a 
 case of cheapness, but also one of efficiency. It is true 
 that white servants can demand, and do obtain, better 
 wages; but their employment is so rare that they 
 cannot be reckoned as a class in the country, and 
 yet wherever they are found to have any merit they 
 are certain to secure situations. The tendency, how- 
 ever, is for the servant class to become Chinese, because, 
 as people say, " They are less troublesome." 
 
 I have sometimes thought that the wages offered to 
 English servants are not sufficiently high to attract a 
 good class, which I know to be the case in Montreal. 
 Yet the class of Chinese who emigrate to British 
 Columbia are only the lowest dregs of their own people. 
 How comes it, then, that after centuries of durance vile 
 in the Celestial Empire, these creatures emerge to fill 
 at once — and fill very ably — domestic offices under 
 Europeans? It is impossible not to grant the China- 
 man a measure of respect, if not of sympathy. His 
 patience and industry, cleverness and dexterity, are 
 often allied with a fidelity to his white master practised 
 by few Europeans. I have known them become virtually 
 steward of the household, and looking after the master's 
 interest with laborious care. Moreover, they are capable 
 of attachment to their master's children, and, I believe, 
 may be trusted with them more readily than any 
 other coloured man. 
 
 Occasionally a morose or sulky Chinaman may be 
 found, but the instances are rare. There is usually a 
 civility about the Celestial which makes him pleasanter 
 
TEE CHINESE. 77 
 
 to deal with than the Western barbarian. He is not 
 truthful. In common with all Oriental people, he 
 romances rather than lies. Out of sheer desire to make 
 things pleasant for himself, and also for others — if pos- 
 sible, he either adds or subtracts a little. He is obliged 
 . to be honest towards the white men, whatever he may 
 be towards his own people, or his own people would 
 execute judgment upon him of a nature far more to be 
 feared than any white man's. They are capable of 
 learning cleanliness, and their memory is astonishing. 
 I never heard of a Chinaman who forgot anything. 
 Once show John Chinaman how you wish anything to 
 be done, and it will always be so in future. Once read 
 a recipe to him, and it is posted under his shaven skull 
 for the rest of his days. 
 
 That they are often cruel — especially to one another — 
 is unfortunately true. What crimes they may commit 
 amongst themselves is never known ; inquiry would be 
 practically useless, for to Europeans one Chinaman is 
 so like another that identification is impossible. But 
 the small regret with which they hear of wholesale 
 deaths by shipwreck, fire, or sword, of their own 
 countrymen, is sufficient proof of the cheapness with 
 which they regard one another. A friend of mine in 
 Victoria told her Chinaman of a catastrophe which had 
 cost the lives of a number of his countrymen. It seemed 
 probable that the creature's own uncle was among the 
 number killed; but he received the news with glee. 
 " Chinamen die ! Very good, very good ! Too many 
 Chinamen ! " was his unfeeling remark. Yet this same 
 Oriental sobbed as if his heart were broken over the 
 death of his master's little son. 
 
 I never found one who had learnt to tell the time by 
 the clock ; but, as cooks, they seemed to know the hour 
 by what was going on around them, and get ready 
 accordingly. Not that they will admit their inability 
 to read the clock. They avoid it by saying something 
 pleasant. " Tell me the time, John," I cried as I ran 
 to catch a tramcar. "He teatime," replied John, 
 
78 BB1TISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 cheerfully, and vanished. He knew I liked tea ; but it 
 ■was about eleven o'clock in the morning. There is a point 
 in the Chinese character which is always anti-pathetic 
 to the British — and that is the love of dramatic effect. 
 No one can be quite sure when John is not acting a 
 play ; and though at proper times and seasons We most 
 of us like good acting, the place we do not want to find 
 it is in our own kitchens and gardens ; nor do we care 
 to be drawn into the business, and made to take a part 
 whether we like it or not, and that at any hour. 
 
 Probably the chief reason for this theatrical display 
 is the humdrum creature's aspiration after a grandeur 
 and distinction he will certainly never realize. But he 
 visits his own theatres, and studies effective recitations, 
 till his method of relating even the commonest incident 
 is highly dramatic, notwithstanding his pigeon English. 
 
 A kind old lady wanted some soup made to take to an 
 Englishman who was ill, and told John to make it 
 nicely. John grunted. "He sick!" he exclaimed, 
 shaking his head with a deplorable air of despondency ; 
 then he briefly remarked, with a graceful wave of his 
 hand, " Too little rice — too much whisky ! " 
 
 There is one point in which they are apt to become in- 
 corrigible, and tliat is their extraordinary superstition. I 
 believe that many of their inexplicable ways are traceable 
 to this cause ; as, for instance, the making of presents, 
 which appears to be an invincible mania. A Chinaman 
 who may be one's cook, or on whom one has no claim 
 whatever, suddenly presents one with a China bowl, or 
 a silk scarf — just as an old and affectionate friend of 
 many years' standing might give one some trifling 
 memento or keepsake. These gifts are apt to embarrass 
 the Englishman. The action is not prompted by affec- 
 tion, nor by the spirit of friendship. I believe it to be 
 a mere matter of business. It is done to offer propitia- 
 tion — just as libations of cold tea are poured out before 
 the shrine of some dead ancestor. There is something 
 strangely material even in a Chinaman's superstition. 
 Some tangible gift or offering has to be made. On the, 
 
THE CHINESE. 79 
 
 outer table of the joss-house in Victoria there were 
 bundles tied up in red silk handkerchiefs, and Canon 
 Beanlands, who went with me, said that he believed 
 them to represent offerings or gifts. 
 
 Absolution for sin cannot be given without the sins 
 themselves being caught and destroyed, and the best 
 means to do this is to print them on pieces of paper, 
 place them in paper boats, and consume them in a 
 furnace built in the joss-house for the purpose. The 
 fact that two large joss-houses are supported in 
 Victoria, mainly — it is surmised — by the fees paid for 
 the consultation of omens, is sufficient to indicate the 
 immense superstition of the Chinese. Canon Beanlands, 
 with whom I visited the joss-house, described to me the 
 proceedings usual on these occasions, with such circum- 
 stance that, though he had never consulted the oracle, 
 I believe he had been a close witness of the ceremony. 
 He attributed much of the evident respect he enjoyed 
 amongst the Chinese to his name, assuring me that 
 "Can-beelan" had a distinctly Chinese sound about it. 
 The first part of the consultation, according to Canon 
 Beanlands, consisted in prostrations in the outer court 
 of the joss-house and libations of water poured upon a 
 carved stone, or altar, brought from the Celestial Em- 
 pire itself. The next thing was to take from the altar 
 of sacrifice — on which stood vases of paper fiowerB, the 
 red silk bundles already described, and innumerable 
 candlesticks — two small pieces of wood, each about the 
 size and shape of a kidney. These are held in either 
 hand before the altar of libation, and thrown suddenly 
 upon the floor. Much depends upon the positions they 
 assume, which are either encouraging or the reverse. 
 Then a small vase is brought, and revolved rapidly 
 between both hands, until a certain number of spills 
 contained in it are thrown out. After this a visit is 
 paid to a small office at the back of the high altar, 
 where a ticket is purchased, very similar in appearance 
 to an ordinary railway ticket, and on it is printed the 
 answer to the inquiry. 
 
80 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 Their notions of a divinity seem extremely vague. 
 The joss-house contained one image — that of a benevo- 
 lent, good-looking old Chinaman; but whether he was 
 " the old man of the sky," or Confucius himself, Canon 
 Beanlands had never been able to find out. They object 
 very strongly to being told that they will " no go sky." 
 And whenever a Chinaman did anything very trouble- 
 some, such as bringing back my linen from the wash 
 only half clean, and very highly scented with the same 
 atrocious perfume he used on his own person, I found 
 the most effectual rebuke was to tell him that he would 
 "no go sky " if it happened again. 
 
 After all, fear of the devil is their strongest belief ; and 
 here comes in the incorrigible element of which I have 
 already spoken. It is mixed up in some manner with 
 the worship of the dead. At all events the Chinese 
 prize their dead very highly, and it is commonly said 
 that a dead Chinaman is worth more than a living one. 
 This being the case, it is not surprising that the devil 
 should be particularly active and on the alert in the 
 hour of death and at funerals ; or that he should 
 frequent graveyards and cemeteries. 
 
 In the public burial-ground outside Victoria where 
 Chinamen are buried, there is a brick oven for the 
 roasting of their pigs, which is a favourite offering to 
 the dead. The place is often rendered untidy by the 
 scraps of paper, with remarks printed upon them con- 
 cerning the evil spirit, which the Chinese cast behind 
 them to distract the devil's attention as they walk in 
 procession. The offerings to the dead are less bountiful 
 than they were at one time, because the noble Eed 
 Man became cognizant of what went on, and chose to 
 picnic by moonlight among the tombs — which fact 
 became known to the Celestial. 
 
 There is a bitter animosity between the two races, who 
 can never be made to understand one another. The 
 Indian is a sportsman — a gentleman of leisure — to 
 whom work, especially menial work, is extremely un- 
 congenial. No Chinaman I ever met had a single 
 
THE CHINESE. 81 
 
 sporting instinct; penurious, mean, commercial, and 
 industrious, he despises, hates, and, I believe, fears the 
 Red Man. Yet such strange things happen that ones 
 a Chinaman actually married a squaw. They had 
 been married about three years before I arrived in 
 Victoria, and during my visit there was a tough 
 divorce case proceeding between them. It caused 
 plenty of commotion down at the docks, where the 
 Chinamen are all taken stock of, and held in some kind 
 of check by the interpreter Li Mun Kow. Both parties 
 had nothing but the worst to say of each other, and the 
 Bishop became drawn into the squabble ; for either side, 
 or else the children, had been mixed up with some 
 missionary society. Finally the Chinaman threw up 
 all his goods and all his children to get rid of his squaw 
 wife, and departed beggared, and it is said embittered, 
 to the Celestial Empire. 
 
 Such an incident would be sure to be known amongst 
 the Chinese, and increase their aversion towards the 
 Indians. My friend Mrs. Dupont told me a character- 
 istic story of the two races, which shows how at variance 
 are their feelings and ideas. It happened that the 
 Duponts were camping out, and at that time and in 
 that neighbourhood the Indians were permitted to bury 
 in their own manner, which consisted in setting their 
 dead brave up in a tree wrapped in his blanket and 
 with his gun by his side. A funeral of this description 
 was going on all one day, and the Chinaman whom 
 the Duponts had brought with them took care to keep 
 close to the camp-fire while the Indians were howling 
 in the forest. In the evening it was cold, and the 
 moon rose clear and bright. The howling had ceased, 
 John took courage and became his old self. Before bed- 
 time it struck Mrs. Dupont that they ought to have 
 some more wood handy for the morning, and John — 
 according to her instructions — took the axe to go and 
 cut some. Suddenly hideous yells rent the air, and 
 John, with his pig-tail flying, came tearing into camp 
 mad with terror. Quieting him as well as they could, 
 
 o 
 
82 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 the Duponts at length elicited that he had seen the 
 devil himself sitting in a tree. The following morning 
 John departed, taking French leave. 
 
 The difficult point with the Chinaman is that no one 
 can foresee the hour when his service may terminate. 
 The utmost that can be done is to secure that his place 
 shall be immediately filled by one of his countrymen. 
 But in cases of the ill-timed interference of the devil 
 being the cause of John's disappearance, it is by no 
 means easy to secure another Chinaman in his place. 
 If a death is about to take place in the house, John 
 is pretty certain to withdraw discreetly. Some time 
 before I came to Victoria a case of the kind occurred. 
 The mistress of the house was known to be dying, 
 and a lady friend, who knew the Chinaman as an 
 old servant of her own, spoke to him, and warned 
 him not to leave his master. John promised to be 
 brave, and probably his intentions were good. The 
 lady died, and John did not run away. She was 
 buried, but John remained busy in his laundry ironing 
 clothes all day. The next morning, however, he was 
 nowhere to be found. " So after all, John, you ran 
 away," said his old mistress, meeting him subsequently. 
 "Missi, I see devil." "Oh no, John." "Missi, me 
 see devil ! " " What did he look like, John ? " " Missi, 
 she bury. I iron clo' in laundry. My little lamp he 
 burn. Devil, he come; and — puff — he blow out my 
 lamp. I run away." "But what did the devil look 
 like, John?" "All same's Englishman — black coat, 
 white collar — all same Englishman. And puff — he 
 blow out my lamp ! " 
 
 This fear as to the power exercised by the devil does 
 not deter the Chinaman from exhuming his own dead 
 and taking them back to China. For the most part, 
 their bones are packed into barrels, nailed down, and 
 shipped as ordinary freight. I could not understand 
 how they could force themselves to perform this work, 
 till it was explained to me that the Chinaman's fear of 
 the. devil is no greater than his fear of the departed. . I 
 
THE CHINESE. 83 
 
 came at last to the conclusion that the Chinaman has 
 no courage ; and I believe that they are only made to 
 fight by the fear of what will happen to them if they do 
 not fight. 
 
 They are acknowledged to be very difficult people to 
 understand. I tried to ascertain what kind of class 
 emigrated to Canada, and I was told that there were 
 three — the merchant, the labourer, and the .student. 
 I asked the nature of the studies pursued by the student, 
 and I was told that he was trying to take his degree.. 
 This degree often occupied him his whole life, as he had 
 to maintain himself at the same time; so that one's 
 laundryman, or gardener, or cook might be burning 
 the night oil in pursuit of the degree. I asked what 
 advantages it bestowed, and I was told "Nothing: only 
 the pleasure of having it." But the nature of the study 
 surprised me most of all. It consisted of Chinese 
 history. " And Chinese history," said my informant, 
 " is everlasting ; and no one knows quite the whole of 
 it, because it is so old." The wisdom of our own 
 degrees and their classic studies has been questioned, 
 but I felt speechless before this pathetic waste of toil — 
 the heroically endured privations to obtain a barren 
 honour — which this account of the Chinese student laid 
 bare before me. 
 
 The Chinaman is permitted to exercise no political 
 rights in British Columbia ; and this is a wise measure, 
 seeing how ignorant he is of Western civilization, 
 and how alien he always remains. He is furthermore 
 taxed upon entering the country for the privilege of 
 coming there to do work which no one else will do as 
 well, and for wages no one else will accept, This poll- 
 tax is $50 entrance fee, and in addition he pays taxes 
 annually to the amount of $3 a head, besides $2 for the 
 maintenance of schools which he may never use. In 
 some quarters these sums are considered quite in- 
 adequate, and it is suggested to raise them at once to 
 $50 per annum. In the case of students and merchants 
 who bring letters of identification, the capitation fee is 
 
84 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 remitted, the intention being to place a restriction upon 
 cheap labour in favour of the European as against the 
 Asiatic. 
 
 Both the object and the origin of this movement is 
 perfectly obvious. It is the working class who are afraid 
 of Chinese competition. They maintain, in self-defence, 
 that the Chinaman is injurious to trade by purchas- 
 ing little or nothing in the country, and by shipping 
 his savings back to China. With regard to the charge 
 of draining money to China, it does not seem pro- 
 bable that more than $1,000,000 are sent to that 
 country annually. If a class of maid-servants were 
 introduced, more money would be spent upon millinery 
 and clothing, but the difficulty would be to provide 
 servants which people in British Columbia would accept 
 at the wages they offer. Beally good servants of high 
 character are not likely to emigrate, unless very great 
 inducement is offered them. Besides, the Chinaman is 
 amenable to the emigration agent at Victoria, and if he 
 behaves in a way to bring himself into disgrace with his 
 own people, his fate is practically sealed. He is sent 
 back to China, and never heard of again. There is no 
 society capable of dealing out discipline of this kind to 
 white emigrants; and until those who argue against 
 the Chinaman are prepared to pay for something better, 
 and provide not merely suitable servants and labourers, 
 but likewise the machinery for enforcing discipline, it is 
 useless to talk of getting rid of the Chinaman. 
 
 During the summer of 1897, farmers in the Lower 
 Fraser, who had ripe crops spoiling and contracts to 
 fulfil, were offering $3.50 per diem for white labour, 
 and did so in vain. The white man complains of want 
 of work at certain seasons, but he says nothing about 
 the high wages at other seasons. Because $3 a day are 
 paid in mines, he expects the same rate of pay elsewhere 
 always. The usual complaint is want of work in winter- 
 time, and on farms the rate of wages in summer-time 
 varies from $25 a month, with board, to $30. What 
 would a labourer say in England to £l 5s. a week, with 
 
THE CHINESE. 85 
 
 sleeping accommodation, besides "three meals a day, 
 and all of them dinners," as one of them once admitted ? 
 One morning in mid-winter a man called at the ranche 
 of a friend of mine, and asked for work. " I can put 
 yon on to some fencing, at $1.50 a day," said my friend ; 
 but the offer was rejected on the score of the lowness of 
 the wages, and the man went away. 
 
 What the labourers do not see is that the sum to be 
 spent in wages depends upon the success of the industry, 
 and is at all times a variable quantity, according to 
 profits. They maintain that winter wages ought to be 
 at the same rate as summer wages : that a farmer 
 should put by in the summer a sufficient sum to pay 
 the same rate of wages in winter. This is absurd — for 
 the farmer offers the high rate in summer-time to 
 attract labour and to obtain skilled labour of the kind 
 he requires. It is another example of the aversion 
 displayed by the working class to having a premium 
 put upon excellence, and emphasizes the desire which 
 they openly express for levelling the good workmen 
 down to the same rate as the second-class hand. The 
 very reverse should be the object of the Unions. They 
 should endeavour to render workmen more skilled and 
 more capable of holding their own against cheaper and 
 more industrious and more dexterous workmen else- 
 where. The attempt to debase labour is so unnatural 
 that the results may be totally different to those ex- 
 pected by the Unions. It is already sufficiently 
 difficult to obtain good workmen in many trades, and 
 consequently greater encouragement will be given to 
 inventions of machinery or processes which shall 
 diminish the necessity for manual dexterity* The 
 indifferent workman must always be little better than 
 useless. The fact of ladies in British Columbia pre- 
 ferring to do their own house-work, rather than employ 
 bad servants, indicates that it is not by levelling down 
 work that more employment is made or better wages 
 obtained. 
 
 That the Chinaman forms no basis for a market is 
 
86 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 not exactly true. He lives principally on rice, ■which 
 is imported, and so far the shipping industry benefits ; 
 and it is on his account that the mills for dressing raw 
 rice were erected at Victoria, and are able to do a good 
 business. His clothes — though cut after the orthodox 
 Chinese pattern — are made of materials bought in the 
 country. 
 
 While we are considering the subject of the Chinese, 
 it is useful to examine the actual working of the strange 
 embargo laid upon them by the Legislature. The $50 
 entrance fee is refunded if the Chinaman leaves the 
 country before he has been there six months. This 
 naturally obliges the Chinaman to stay when he has 
 once forfeited $50, until he has accumulated a con- 
 siderable sum. It is at least probable that the $50 
 are borrowed from a rich man of his own race, and 
 that he pays a pretty high rate of interest out 
 of his weekly wages. This acts very adversely on the 
 labour market, for if there is one thing absolutely 
 necessary to save working men heavy losses, it is any 
 system which renders it difficult for them to reduce 
 competition in the labour market at the shortest 
 possible notice. Again, nothing is so disastrous to 
 capital as not being able to secure all the labour it 
 wants immediately occasion for it arises. The taxes 
 Simply act so as to prevent any relaxation of immigra- 
 tion when competition is highest, and yet provides a 
 deterrent against the Chinaman's coming in as a relief 
 when wages rise to an injurious figure. 
 
 Nor is this all : for the misfortune of money being 
 drained out of the country is actually called for and 
 rendered necessary; for these taxes prevent a China- 
 man from bringing his wife into the country. Any 
 inquiry as to how bad this may be for his morals in 
 this Christian land, is not necessary to our purpose. 
 But the effect upon our finance is, that he sends his 
 wages back to China, which is a very profitable business 
 for him, considering the rate of exchange — as, speaking 
 generally, forty cents of Canadian money is worth a 
 
THE CEINESE. 87 
 
 hundred in China. Thus, a man who earns fifty cents 
 in Canada, can send fifty away and yet have fifty to 
 live upon. This of course supposes that they transfer 
 their savings in gold. Yet another inducement to drain 
 money out of the country is offered them by our legis- 
 lation. Most of the Chinese in British Columbia are 
 agricultural labourers. Here comes in another im- 
 portant element. All these men have a hankering to 
 possess a little piece of ground of their own. But the 
 •Columbian law prohibits them from acquiring it. A 
 few take up land under long leases, and at heavy rents ; 
 but others find it better to transfer their savings, and 
 purchase land in China. 
 
 The better-class Chinaman must perforce live in 
 Chinatown. " I cannot live in the country," said one 
 of them to me. "I could save $5 a month if I did, 
 and have a pretty little garden for my children besides " 
 (and how a Chinaman loves a garden ! ) ; " but if I did 
 there are rough boys who would annoy my children 
 and break my windows." Yet this man was actually 
 a British subject. His children were born such ; he 
 himself naturalized. His children attended the English 
 school ; he was himself in a position of trust and uni- 
 versally respected in the city. He spoke the truth; 
 for the brutal ruffianism of the idle whites, to the Chinese 
 is well known in Victoria. It can only be hoped for the 
 credit of this loyal colony that these scoundrels are 
 from the States, for it is hard to believe that the British 
 ideal of fair-play could be violated by British subjects. 
 
 The present alternative to the Chinaman is white 
 labour from the States. It is impossible to avoid com- 
 parison, however odious, and, touching this subject, the 
 Chinaman has one distinct point in his favour, that 
 already alluded to as the system of discipline exercised 
 over him by his own people. They are supplied to who- 
 ever requires them by labour contractors, who can 
 furnish them on remarkably short notice to perform any 
 kind of work. In a new country, such as Canada, these 
 agencies are extremely convenient. 
 
88 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 But it is neither with public convenience nor with 
 justice that the white working man concerns himself. 
 Not many years ago an experiment was tried of intro- 
 ducing Chinese into the coal-mines of Vancouver Island. 
 This caused an uproar, and the masters gave in. Then 
 this astonishing result followed, that some of the miners 
 employed Chinamen to go underground for them, paying 
 them half their wages and engaging themselves in other 
 pursuits. 
 
 The Chinaman is, of course, a substitute in a British 
 colony, and once more I insist that he is only there so 
 long as the British decline to qualify themselves to take 
 his place. Unlike the Japanese, he has nothing in 
 common with ourselves, and he does not rise to a higher 
 level than the gratification of his animal nature. China- 
 town is an offence to at least two senses — sight and 
 smell. It reeks of opium, and is suggestive of low 
 gambling-hells. There sit the fat "merchants," who 
 are probably deep in usurious practices of the most blood- 
 sucking description. It is impossible not to suspect 
 that the hard toil of many a poor John goes to increase 
 the paunch of some of these fat tyrants who sit lurking 
 like spiders in their dark and silent dens, concocting in 
 their minds webs for the unwary. Yet be it remembered 
 that many of these men have invested large sums in the 
 country, and are deeply interested pushing trades which 
 are shipped in English bottoms, and which but for them 
 would not be existing to-day. 
 
 It is said that the middle-man trade of Victoria is 
 passing into the hands of the Chinese. If so, the con- 
 dition of Victoria will be similar to that of Capetown 
 under the Malays. With the bonus on their savings 
 offered by the rate of exchange, it would be dangerous 
 for individual European settlers to compete against 
 them. It is said, with truth, that the Chinaman is 
 honourable and fair as a business man, and no thief. 
 It is quite as true that he practices these virtues as 
 part of his rules of business, and that he is all this 
 as long as his interests lie that way. It is an utter 
 
TEE CHINESE. 89 
 
 mistake to extol him as a tradesman for merely showing 
 himself at the best as good a man of business as 
 another. It is a policy of danger which permits the 
 exploitation of a market by an alien and less civilized 
 race — only out of timidity and from want of proper 
 business perspective. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 THE BED INDIANS. 
 
 Although the North American Indian does not play 
 the same rdle as the Kaffir in South Africa or the 
 Fellaheen in Egypt, he abounds in Canada in sufficient 
 numbers to offer a clearly visible entity. It would be 
 impossible to consider the country without him, espe- 
 cially as he represents the race which once owned it all. 
 The most that I learnt about the Indians was from 
 Government officials, though I also met some missionaries 
 and others who took a private and philanthropic view of 
 them. 
 
 Government agents — for one purpose or another — 
 abound everywhere in Canada. They are courteouspeople, 
 but I found them overwhelmed with anxiety concerning 
 their duties, which they invariably informed me consisted 
 of writing reports, etc. Somehow they recalled the story 
 of the debutante who believed herself so much admired 
 that she spent all her leisure time in composing refusals. 
 One of them inquired, in a tone of deep despondency, 
 whether I thought any one would read my book on 
 British Columbia. I replied, with becoming modesty, 
 that his literary experience was greater than my own, 
 that the British public was not a thing that any one 
 could speculate upon. But that considering the way " On 
 Veldt and Earrn " had been received, I ventured to hope 
 that " British Columbia " would prove acceptable. 
 
 Thanks to these gentlemen's efforts, it is impossible to 
 move far in Canada without having a "Beport" presented 
 
TEE BED INDIANS. 91 
 
 to one ; and many of their works are very interesting 
 reading. By far the most entertaining is that on 
 "Indian Affairs." There are portions of it which 
 suggest that the authors are qualifying to become 
 novelists. At all events many of the little touches here 
 and there might point a tract for the S.P.C.K. 
 
 It is continually asserted that the Eed Indian is dying 
 out. Of this there is no actual proof. Owing to various 
 causes, diseases have decimated some tribes or bands 
 more than others. They certainly die more frequently 
 when their conditions of life are changed suddenly, or if 
 civilization is forced upon them. There seems an idea 
 gaining ground that it is chiefly in the transition state 
 that the Indians die. Neither those who live the old 
 wildlife in the north (and very few are left who lead 
 even approximately the life they once led) ; nor those 
 who have learnt how to manage three-storied houses — 
 ventilate them properly, and keep them clean — and to 
 nurse their children through civilized ailments such as 
 measles, are dying out. But with those in the 
 intermediary stage it is otherwise. They send their 
 children to sit for hours in stifling schools, and sleep 
 with them under the old wigwam at night ; they dress 
 neither in the old way nor the new — but half and half. 
 They gorge themselves with tinned provisions because 
 the deer are scarce, the buffalo all gone, and they are 
 too lazy to keep cattle or poultry. These people die in 
 great numbers. Consumption is the most prevalent 
 disease, but scrofula is, also common. It has been 
 conclusively proved that consumption is contagious, and 
 not hereditary, and every effort is made to keep down 
 the ravages of the disease. Small -pox has been virtually 
 extirpated by unremitting vigilance with respect to 
 vaccination. So that from all accounts it would seem 
 as though the rapid decrease of the Indians has been 
 checked if not finally arrested. 
 
 The Indian population in Canada generally has been 
 estimated as 100,027, but from reading the reports I 
 conclude it must be very difficult to get accurate figures. 
 
92 BEITISS COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLBBS. 
 
 Speaking as a traveller of such things as came under my 
 notice, I could not but be struck with the immense 
 trouble and the great expenditure which the Canadians 
 lavish upon the Indians. They have been left tolerably 
 free agents in the matter. Perhaps all their measures 
 have not been wise, and some have proved disappoint- 
 ing in their results. AH their agents may not be 
 equally well qualified for the difficult and often dangerous 
 work of administration. The broad fact, however, 
 remains, that the Canadians have never spared 
 themselves in their endeavour to do the best in their 
 power for the Eed man, and if possible do something 
 more than merely compensate him for the loss of his 
 country and his old way of living. I do not believe — 
 whatever defects there may { be — that Imperial Govern- 
 ment itself could have done better than the colony has 
 done ; and I suppose not even a German or an American 
 will question Imperial Britain's success in dealing with 
 dark races, as compared with themselves, or, indeed, any 
 nation. I am told that Canada was left to her own 
 devices on this point. If so, the natural impulse she 
 has followed must endear her more than anything else 
 (her natural wealth, her great geographical position, 
 her commercial importance not excepted) to one who is 
 the Mother of Nations. 
 
 I never heard a Canadian say a single unkind thing 
 of an Indian ; but, on the contrary, they were anxious 
 to befriend and protect them. And all this they have 
 done in spite of the example set them in the Eepublic 
 over the border — acting, it would seem, out of the 
 sturdy independence of their character, which I found 
 a most lovable feature in their disposition, and which 
 proves their close kinship with my own people. 
 
 The Indian has been a difficult problem even of its 
 kind. He is courageous — not merely by nature, but 
 also by education, or rather training ; armed almost 
 equally with the white man ; at one time incomparably 
 more numerous than the whites ; extremely skilful 
 in the warfare best suited to the country ; quick of 
 
TEE BED INDIANS. 93 
 
 apprehension, and treacherous to friend and foe ; in- 
 credibly cruel, and a slave to the most debased super- 
 stitions. Such was the noble Eed Man by nature. 
 _ The case has been further complicated by the pseudo- 
 civilization of the half-breeds, who united the vices of 
 both races without assimilating ' a single virtue. Nor 
 must the effect of drink be omitted, and the utter ruin 
 of mind and body which followed in its wake. 
 
 So long as the buffalo existed, the Indians lived by 
 the chase. A cruel, wasteful hunt it was, by no means 
 deserving the name of sport. The creatures were 
 destroyed anyhow, merely for their hides, sometimes 
 only for their tongues. The superstition of the Indians 
 was partly to blame for the senseless massacre. They 
 believed that if one animal — no matter how young — 
 escaped from a herd, that he would tell of the Indian's 
 method of hunting, and warn all other herds. Thus, to 
 save themselves trouble, a whole herd would be harassed 
 and driven over a precipice ; where they were skinned, 
 and their tongues cut out, while some of them were 
 still alive. 
 
 At this rate the herds were soon wiped out, and the 
 support and amusement of the Indian was gone. Then 
 he began to grumble at the white man, and grumbling 
 led to fighting. The white man had taken his country, 
 and he could not live. 
 
 The problem for the white man was how to fit these 
 wild creatures into some rank in the new constitution of 
 things. How were men who looked upon the mere 
 suggestion of any kind of work as a gross personal 
 insult, to be fitted into a modern industrial community? 
 How were the roving huntsmen of the boundless 
 prairies to be converted into farmers ? How were the 
 banditti of the mountains to become law-abiding 
 citizens? 
 
 A suggestion has been offered that they would have 
 provided a first-class cavalry regiment — and so far as 
 horsemanship and dash would go, there can be no doubt 
 of their qualifications — but who could possibly discipline 
 
94 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB, 8ETTLEBS. 
 
 them ? The slightest acquaintance with the Bed men 
 impresses one directly with the impulsiveness of their 
 character. Neither were their services as soldiers re- 
 quired in Canada. It is, moreover, tolerably certain 
 that, without a strong military force in the country to 
 control them, they would have been puffed up with their 
 own importance, and a source of perpetual danger and 
 unrest. 
 
 The part of native policy which has received most 
 liberal censure is that which was probably started with 
 the most generous intentions. It is that of the payment 
 of subsidies towards the support of thoBe bands who 
 came into treaty with the Canadian Government. 
 Various objections are raised against the system, and 
 few of them are without foundation. The payment 
 does not reimburse the Indian for the losses inflicted on 
 him by the white man ; it offers him no encouragement 
 to improve his condition ; and it tends to make him a 
 spendthrift — in fact, it has the usual bad effect of 
 pauperizing charity. 
 
 Where the Indians are thrown upon their own re- 
 sources — but at the same time receive encouragement 
 and instruction — they have made wonderful progress 
 towards supporting themselves. The first necessity 
 was to cut off all supplies of intoxicants. This is still 
 extremely difficult along the American border ; but the 
 exertions of the North- West Police have entirely pre- 
 vented the running in of alcoholic liquors by traders to 
 the Indians of -the North-West. Alongside with the 
 prohibition of intoxicants is the work of education in 
 schools, which receive every assistance and support 
 from Government, independent of the religious body 
 which controls them. The country is divided into 
 districts, with agents and superintendents who watch 
 over and promote the welfare of the Indians, and are 
 responsible to Government for their good behaviour. 
 It is not too much to say that these agents take the 
 greatest pride in advancing the improvement of the 
 bands or tribes ; and wherever I went I was struck 
 
TEE BED INDIANS. 95 
 
 with the pathetic confidence which the Indians reposed 
 in the discretion and wisdom of the agents. 
 
 _ The work of reclaiming the Indian and establishing 
 him as a self-supporting factor, and, if possible, drawing 
 upon him for at least a portion of the labour so greatly 
 needed in the colony, is a very slow business, requiring 
 inexhaustible patience. 
 
 " The Indian in his natural state," says Mr. Hayter Eeed, 
 " would undergo wonderful privations and fatigue in the 
 chase ; bat when he had returned to discharge the fruits of 
 the hunt at the door of his lodge, he considered his labours 
 as ended and that he had earned a well-deserved rest, while 
 the remainder of the work, however hard, was to be done by 
 his squaw ; so he is now unwilling to exert himself for a 
 lengthened period, particularly if the results cannot readily 
 be seen., Without much difficulty an Indian can be induced 
 to cut hay or cut firewood, where he knows they are readily 
 sold for cash; but to get him to make hay in the early 
 stages of rearing small herds, when he is not allowed to sell, 
 becomes a much harder task." 
 
 This gives a picture of the watchful patience in the 
 slow work of instructing the wild Indian to farm — and 
 surely never was a harder task taken in hand ! Here 
 is a passage taken from the Eeport for 1896 : — 
 
 " Through a great deal of watching and patience, the loan 
 system, as applied to cattle in the North- West Territories, 
 has been brought to work admirably among the Indians. This 
 system, in a few words, is the lending to the Indians of one 
 or two animals, upon condition that, at the expiration of a 
 certain time, he will return to the department an equal 
 number — these in turn being loaned to others. So successful 
 has this system proved, that many individuals have managed 
 to collect about them herds of sufficient size to permit sales 
 to be made, bringing in ready cash ; thus the Indian, who 
 for a long time remained sceptical, has become aware of the 
 • value of stock." 
 
 Throughout Canada there are lands reserved for the 
 exclusive property of the Indians. And these tracts are 
 
96 BRITISH -COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 some of the richest and hest in the country — notably 
 the Shuswap Eeserve in West Kootenay. These lands 
 are frequently a trouble to the settler, who is neverthe- 
 less compelled to defer in this matter to the Indian. 
 They are usually unfenced, and it pleases the Indians 
 to keep running loose upon them herds of utterly useless 
 wild cayuses, sometimes called ponies. 
 
 " I may point out," says the Report, speaking of one of 
 these reserves, " that if the magnificent grazing areas which 
 this reserve possesses could be turned to account for the 
 growing of cattle and sheep, and the irrigation area utilized 
 each year for the growth of a certain fodder crop for these 
 cattle . . . the future of the Indians comprising this land 
 would be very bright. On the Blackfoot Reserve it at once 
 suggests itself to the visitor, that if the large band of ponies 
 which the Indians have, and which are practically useless, 
 could be exchanged for cattle, the position of the Indians 
 would be greatly improved." 
 
 Cattle raising is eminently an industry suited to the 
 Indian; and since it has been started amongst them 
 they have taken to it with astonishing zest. They not 
 only prefer the work of looking after stock to any other 
 employment; but they realize the necessity of taking 
 good care of their cattle in winter-time, erecting shelters 
 for them, and putting up hay. Many of them have gone 
 even further than stock-raising, and raised crops of 
 turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables. 
 
 The women have their share in the improvement. 
 In place of the original hut or wigwam there are now 
 houses, well constructed, with shingle roofs, and divided 
 into apartments. Some of them have staircases, and 
 bedrooms upstairs. These houses contain cooking- 
 stoves, tables, chairs, and bedsteads ; and many of 
 them are enclosed in neat fences with gates. A feature 
 in these homes is the woman's sewing-machine of the 
 latest style ; and instead of curing hides, the making of 
 butter, and bread with yeast, and the raising of poultry, 
 are the tasks assigned to the squaw. 
 
TEE RED INDIANS. 97 
 
 Their bread, I was told, was very good. Their butter 
 is at all events marketable. 
 
 Still it must not be supposed that the task of civilizing 
 the Indian is by any means accomplished. It is still 
 a question how far the noble savage may survive the 
 infliction of civilization. There are hundreds who 
 cannot endure the white man for any time. It amuses 
 them to visit his store and sell a few furs ; with the 
 proceeds of which they smoke, and lounge about gossip- 
 ing, and showing off their latest beaded finery. They 
 will bet and gamble and drink^-if they can. But two 
 days is the utmost limit of their endurance. " They are 
 tired of the white man and his ways " — in truth they 
 despise and dislike him ; and so they gallop away again 
 to their squaw and their wigwam — for they are innate 
 Home-rulers, and care nothing for the Empire. 
 
 In this state, with his wild trappings, feathers, and 
 beads, he forms the most romantic feature in Canadian 
 life. His actual origin is lost in obscurity; but the 
 type of the pure-blood Indian of the plains is Aryan, 
 and if they come from the Orient, it should be from 
 India rather than China or Japan. He has a tall, 
 lithej majestic figure, holding himself with a haughty 
 air. He walks, moves, and rides with dignity and 
 grace. His voice is very musical, and particularly soft 
 and low — unlike any other human voice I ever heard. 
 There is as much caste among Indians as any other 
 race of men, and they deeply resent a liberty. 
 
 In religion he is a mystic, and it is difficult to 
 believe that this mysticism, which spreads itself out 
 over all nature, can be effaced by Christianity. With- 
 out knowing it, the Indian is a poet. Will he be 
 silenced, when his forests are felled and his rivers 
 harnessed to mill-wheels ? That God dwells all round 
 him is the belief of the Indian of the North- West ; but 
 He is chiefly in the mountains ; and when the, clouds 
 descend upon the mountains, it is God coming down 
 to talk with men. There is, besides, the hidden life of 
 a spirit in every stream or strange rock, and the forest 
 
 H 
 
98 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 is inhabited by many spirits. Now it is a wicked man 
 whose evil deeds God arrested by turning him into a 
 mountain; or it is an angry father who, in the form 
 of a river, pursues and drowns his daughter and her 
 lover. • Lakes are very frequently the abode of evil 
 spirits, who are compelled to remain there. They are 
 harmless unless any one ventures to catch the fish or 
 to row or swim in the water. Those who are drowned 
 in these lakes are lost for ever, because the devils seize 
 them. Thus there are trails it is better to avoid, since 
 they pass close to lakes which must never be fished,; 
 and mountains it would be impious to ascend. 
 
 Before the advent of the white man in British 
 Columbia, when the Indians followed their "own sweet 
 will," they had many practices and customs which have 
 now become almost obsolete. There was a great love 
 of mythical narrative, mixed with tradition, sometimes 
 taking the form of complete chronicles, and probably 
 the stories came from the Orient. The well-known 
 allegory about the man, the water-rat, and the beaver, 
 who were saved from the flood, bears a striking analogy 
 to the history of Noah, While others, such as the 
 story of the crab and the crow, indicate a trial of 
 strength between two heroes, who learnt thereby to 
 respect each other. This is especially suggested by 
 the invariable use of totems, and the ancestor-worship 
 practised among these coast tribes. The story is as 
 ibllows : — 
 
 " For many years the crab and the crow were at enmity 
 with each other ; but they are now fast friends, and this is 
 the reason. One day the crab was on the seashore, and the 
 crow, happening to come that way, jeered at the crab because 
 he could not fly. The crab waited patiently till the crow 
 came close to him, and then he shot out his long arm and 
 caught the crow by the wing. To this he held fast. Mean- 
 time the tide began to come in nearer and nearer, and the 
 crow became more and more afraid lest he should be drowned. 
 He begged and implored the crab to let him go; but the 
 crab said, ' No ; now is the time for us to see which is the 
 
TEE BED INDIANS, 99 
 
 better fellow.' So he held him fast. Then the water washed 
 all round them; and the crow became quite "wet and was 
 terribly afraid. So the crab had pity npon him and let 
 him go. Therefore this ia the reason why these two, who 
 were once enemies, are now good friends." 
 
 Legends as fine as this are sure to inspire artistic 
 feeling; and the coast tribes to-day still carve very 
 beautifully in stone as well as wood. They also work 
 their own designs in gold and silver — in fact, the power 
 of design is very marked in these people. In their 
 ingenious devices for fishing-hooks and tackle, made 
 by utilizing thorns or the teeth of marine monsters 
 sharpened on the rocks and bound with ligaments or 
 gut, and in many similar adaptations the dexterity of 
 the coast Indian is abundantly proved. 
 
 These tribes appear never to have lived in wigwams, 
 like the Indians of the mountain and the plain ; but 
 in long wooden houses, in which whole clans lived 
 together. Supporting the gable in front of the house, 
 but towering high above it, was a gigantic totem-pole — 
 probably a tree with the top cut off. Prom top to 
 bottom tnis totem-pole was carved with devices, sup- 
 posed to be the heraldic bearings of the chief's ancestors. 
 One above the other can be seen the familiar Indian 
 signs of the owl, the eye, the beaver, the frog, the 
 raven, the stag, and so on. At the bottom of the 
 totem-pole was a large hole, through which entrance 
 was effected into the house. There was, in the old 
 savage days, a sanctuary offered by the totem-pole. If 
 any fugitive— even the chief's bitterest enemy — should 
 contrive to pass through the totem-pole into the house, 
 he was safe. 
 
 Among these coast Indians, cannibalism of a peculiarly 
 gruesome description existed until comparatively recent 
 times ; and in some of the remoter parts of Vancouver 
 Island it seems highly probable that, if left to them- 
 selves, the natives would revert to these odious practices. 
 The custom evidently referred to an occult mysticism 
 of a character no trace of which appears on the plains. 
 
100 BBITISB COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEB8. 
 
 The disgusting proceedings usually commenced with 
 a dance. The Indians were assembled by a herald 
 in the shape of a hideous old crone, known as "the 
 dance tempter." Moved by innate malignity, this old 
 wretch would appear with her frightful " properties " of 
 old bones and horns clattering round her decrepid and 
 often deformed person, and a wand of office in her 
 hand. Seating herself among the young braves, who, 
 if left alone, would probably have been harmless, she 
 would commence a droning noise through her closed 
 teeth. After a time this song and the periodical 
 waving of the old witch's wand would so act on the 
 young men's nerves that they would get up and dance, 
 throwing themselves about and becoming wilder and 
 wilder till a blind frenzy of devilment overmastered 
 them. The end was the death of some poor slave-girl, 
 whose destruction was probably the old witch's chief 
 object. This unfortunate creature would be pursued 
 simultaneously, set upon, and torn limb from limb, 
 while her murderers fastened their teeth in the living 
 flesh. 
 
 Cannibalism of this kind no longer obtains, being 
 forbidden by British law ; but it is by no means certain 
 that on some of the islands the temptation offered 
 by dead bodies washed ashore is always resisted ; and 
 there are people living who witnessed the winding up 
 of a native dance by the eating of a live six-weeks-old 
 puppy. The Indian who seized it, began at the nose 
 and gnawed right through it to the tail. 
 
 A certain allowance must be made for these Indians 
 on the score of their raw fish eating habits. The teeth 
 of every one of them are ground down evenly, it is 
 Baid, through eating clams, which they dig out of the 
 sand of the shore. 
 
 The subject of their dances is an interesting one ; but 
 owing to the discouragement shown by the British, 
 these ceremonies are dying out. There was an attempt 
 made to hold a "sun dance" last year, but it was 
 practically a failure. 
 
THE BED INDIANS. 101 
 
 At some of these dances polytheism was traceable. 
 There was, for instance, the frequent use of masks 
 carved to represent the heads of birds or beasts of 
 prey — the eagle, the wolf, and the dog being special 
 favourites. The jaws or beaks were ingeniously made 
 to move and clap, while the jaws of the wolf were 
 furnished with rows of iron fangs. There was a dance 
 called the " wolf dance," in which they dressed entirely 
 in wolf skins and wore wolf masks. This was an 
 especially savage affair, and invariably concluded with 
 the hunting and tearing to pieces of some wretched 
 human being. 
 
 No doubt the inventive genius and artistic taste -of 
 these Indians has assisted the authorities in the task 
 of civilizing them. From weaving and dyeing it was 
 easy to pass on to needle-work, and from carving to 
 carpentry. It was found more profitable to dig potatoes 
 than clams, and the succulent vegetable was preferred 
 to the gritty clam. 
 
 To ascertain what development has taken place among 
 coast Indians, we will take some figures from the Keport 
 for 1886 of the Cowichans agent (Vancouver Island) : — 
 
 "Teibe oe Nation. — The Cowichans are a branch of what 
 has been termed the Salish nation, which formerly occupied 
 a large extent of land in Washington State as well as in 
 British Columbia. 
 
 " Vital Statistics. — There are nine hundred and ninety- 
 two males, and one thousand and thirty-seven females, of 
 whom five hundred and seventy-two are children. There 
 have been sixty-two births, and thirty deaths. No cases of 
 immigration or emigration. Increase in population, com- 
 pared with previous year, is thirty-two. Deaths were confined 
 to the old people and very young. Bronchial and pulmonary 
 affections were the principal cause. 
 
 " Occupation. — Employment is found in the following 
 occupations — mixed farming, including thecultivationof fruit, 
 these Indians having planted over a hundred fruit trees 
 this year ; fishing ; hunting ; working at canneries and saw- 
 mills ; making fishing-boats and canoes, fishing-nets ; acting 
 
102 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 as guides, packers, and boatmen for sportsmen, etc. The 
 women make mats, baskets, dress deer skins, make moccassins, 
 knit socks, and are clever at needle-work. 
 
 "Education. — There are three hundred and fifty school 
 children of school age, and six schools, one industrial and 
 the rest day schools. 
 
 " Ghaeacteristics and Peogeess. — These Indians are in- 
 dustrious and intelligent, good farmers, shrewd traders, 
 expert fishermen, and are apt at learning trades. They are 
 fairly temperate and moral. 
 
 "Statistics. — "Value of personal property ... $73,050 
 Acres under cultivation . . . 2496 
 
 Acres of new land broken ... 114 
 
 Total value of real and personal 
 property $810,608" 
 
 As may be gathered, these coast tribes are not horse- 
 men. They fish and trap, and their legs are cramped 
 and bent with sitting in the bottom of their canoes. 
 
 So far as furnishing a working class for the white 
 man is concerned, the Indian cannot at present be 
 reckoned upon. A good deal depends upon the indi- 
 vidual white man's power of handling the Eedskin. 
 The chief point is to hold steadily to whatever agree- 
 ment is made, and whilst leaving kindness entirely 
 alone, to be patient with their Indian peculiarities. 
 Chenook — the language used by the Hudson Bay Company 
 — is easily acquired, and will be found very useful in 
 making arrangements with Indians for fishing, hunting, 
 hop -picking, herding, or fruit-gathering. 
 
 The Indians in British Columbia give no trouble, 
 and their government is a purely civil affair. The 
 use of force is quite unnecessary. But it must not 
 be supposed that this is the case in the North-West. 
 The outbreaks which occur from time to time there, 
 are sometimes attributed to superstition or similar 
 causes ; but the fact is that there still remains a 
 great deal of bitterness against the white man; and 
 unfortunately the half-breeds increase this feeling. 
 
 The matter of the half-breeds is a disagreeable topic. 
 
TEE BED INDIANS. 103 
 
 It is said that it was once the policy of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company to encourage the marriage of their factors 
 with Siwash women as tending to identify the Company 
 with the country. This was many years ago, when the 
 results of such alliances were not as manifest as they 
 are to-day. Certain it is that there is nothing to 
 suggest that marriages formed in this manner at that 
 date were of the . low and revolting character which 
 occasionally obtains to-day. In this, as in a good 
 many other things, there is a great deal in the way 
 the thing is done. It is quite impossible to condone 
 the conduct of Englishmen who have lived wifih Siwash 
 women, begetting by them families of children, which 
 they afterwards deserted, when they found it possible 
 to marry a white woman. The strangest part of the 
 case is that men are usually far more devoted to the 
 Siwash woman than to the white wife. It is the hankering 
 after respectability which leads them to forsake the one 
 for the other, and the desire to have white children. 
 
 It is most pitiful to think of the half-breed children, 
 and the bitter struggle of the two natures fighting 
 within the one individual with no helping hand stretched 
 out to aid. It is not to their discredit that they do 
 not forsake their mother's people — even though the 
 bitterness against their sires may result in such an 
 outbreak as the Eiel rebellion. 
 
 Much may be said to palliate the offence of these 
 relationships in the early days, which cannot be advanced 
 now. Still this discreditable conduct is not so uncommon 
 as could be wished. It exists especially on the frontiers 
 of civilization, prior to the introduction of public opinion, 
 before which men quail. " Do the squaws still rule the 
 roast ? " was the question I heard asked respecting the 
 Klondyke. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY. 
 
 In compiling my notes on British Columbia, I was struck 
 with the fact that they were of two kinds — the one 
 consisted of the categorical rehearsal of my travels; 
 the other, added to independently, gave a general or 
 bird's-eye view of the country. I saw no real assimila- 
 tion of the two, and therefore I decided to classify them 
 as well as possible, giving first some chapters on special 
 subjects, and afterwards the history of my travels — such 
 travels as any one else might make who did not go as a 
 tourist, but to spy out the land. 
 
 This plan is Bomewhat on the same lines as my book 
 on South Africa ; and though the arrangement has been 
 criticized, I think it has its advantages, for in spite of 
 some things said against it, I heard on the whole more 
 in its favour. With my reader's permission, I will now 
 start upon a rapid sketch of the travels I undertook 
 during the four months I spent in British Columbia last 
 year. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon of the 3rd of June that 
 the s.s. Parisian, of the Allan Line, bound for Quebec, 
 left Liverpool with about forty-five first-class besides 
 intermediate and steerage passengers. 
 
 I was glad to sail by this line — the old pioneer line to the 
 loyal Dominion of Canada. Although many emigrants 
 still travel via New York on the White Star and Cunard 
 Lines, they probably do so through ignorance. Even 
 for the smart tourist, it is well worth while sacrificing 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINEBABY. 105 
 
 New York for the pleasure and privilege of the trip up 
 the St. Lawrence river and the approach by water of 
 the grand old city of Quebec. For those who intend 
 making Canada their future home, there can be no 
 reason for going round by New York. To begin with, it 
 is a waste of money, and secondly, there are admirable 
 arrangements made by Government for assisting the 
 emigrants who land at Quebec, and for furnishing 
 reliable advice. 
 
 Our party on board was a quiet one. There was a 
 Governor and his lady who were going out with their 
 young family to represent her Majesty in a distant part 
 of the Empire ; a general, his wife, and his aide, who 
 were bound for Halifax; Dr. Eobertson, the Presby- 
 terian superintendent, returning from a missionary tour 
 in Scotland ; and the rest were made up of Canadians 
 who had often made the trip before — some of them as 
 many as forty times — travellers like myself, and the 
 inevitable naval officer going to join his ship at the 
 other side of the world. 
 
 The first part of the voyage was neither cold nor 
 stormy. Moville, where we put in for mails, looked 
 lovely after the soft rain of a June night, with the yellow 
 gorse all ablaze upon its green hillsides, and the sea- 
 birds skimming over the still grey waters. 
 
 I soon became at home, and found my way all over 
 the ship, having made the acquaintance of the ship's 
 steward, Mr. Hardman, who took me through the 
 emigrants' quarters, as well as into his own special 
 departments of the cook's galley and the storeroom. 
 The accommodation for the emigrants is especially good 
 on this line. I took occasion to ask several of the 
 passengers as to the treatment they received ; and they 
 one and all spoke with entire satisfaction. There was, 
 of course, a great mixture — Eussians, Finns, Swedes, 
 Norwegians, Poles, as well as Scots and the irrepressible 
 Irish. It was remarkable how, in the close compass of 
 a ship, each nationality kept apart. The company 
 endeavoured to arrange for the comfort of them all 
 
106 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 individually. I found that the Kussians brought their 
 own bread in their boxes in sufficient quantity to last 
 the voyage. 
 
 In the first-class many of the ladies brought their 
 own tea, and a supply of cream, which was kept for 
 them in the cold storage. It was customary for the 
 saloon of an afternoon to be divided into small tea- 
 parties of "private teas." But the "private teas" 
 began very early, for, as I went to my bath at seven 
 o!clock, I found Miss Adams, the Scottish stewardess, 
 who is a familiar character on the Parisian — indeed, I 
 doubt if the ship could go to sea without her — busy over 
 the " private teas." Miss Adams had all the loyalty of 
 a Scot, and the whole of it was given to the company. 
 Whatever was " the Allan's " was perfect, whatever was 
 not "the Allan's" was despised if not derided. The 
 " private teas " came in for a large share of contempt ; 
 and one morning I was asked to be judge, and offered a 
 cup of each. But two large bowls of tea at that early 
 hour were too much for my courage; besides, I must 
 admit that I should never have dared to give the case 
 against " the Allan's." 
 
 " We've got very great people on board with us this 
 time, Miss Adams," said one of the lady passengers, 
 referring to the Governor and his suite. 
 
 " But naething to what we had coming oot," responded 
 Miss Adams with alacrity. 
 
 " But who may they have been ? " exclaimed the lady, 
 who, being a loyal Canadian, could not raise her ideas 
 above a representative of the Queen. 
 
 "A-weel," replied Miss Adams, lingering over the 
 triumph of the moment, "it was jist the Allans 
 theirsels." 
 
 There is a little too much of the tendency to place the 
 line above criticism, at all events on the part of the 
 line itself ; and the inevitable result has been the calling 
 into the field of fresh competition. So far as the 
 emigrants of the intermediate and steerage were con- 
 cerned the line compared most favourably with others 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY. 107 
 
 by which I have travelled ; but the first-class was in- 
 commodious and badly ventilated — in fact, left with the 
 clumsy, old-fashioned ideas of twenty years ago. The 
 thing which helped to smooth one's lot, and enabled one 
 to forget the imperfections, was the extraordinary civility 
 and readiness to oblige of the whole ship's company. 
 
 On Sunday we had service in the saloon, which was 
 taken by the emigrant chaplain. The ships on this line 
 always carry a clergyman of the Church of England free, 
 if there are a certain number of emigrants. He takes 
 care of them, so far as he is able, during the voyage, 
 and hands them over to the chaplain of the Emigration 
 Bureau in Quebec. This is a most excellent plan. It 
 affords a curate from the slums of our great cities the 
 opportunity for a thorough change such as he might not 
 otherwise secure. It also gives a clergyman of bur 
 Church a chance of visiting one of our colonies, seeing 
 something of our emigrants, and gaining an insight into 
 the thoughts and feelings of our settlers. 
 
 The voyage was uneventful. There were the usual 
 icebergs, fogs, and whales ; but eventually we got safely 
 into the great river which is Canada's principal water- 
 way. It is scarcely possible to convey any idea of the 
 magnificent effect of the St. Lawrence. Other rivers 
 may be larger, but few possess such a stirring history ; 
 moreover, it is in future the direct highway over British 
 territory to the ancient splendour of the Orient. Of 
 Canada it may be said that the Canadians themselves 
 appear unaware of the riches and grandeur of their own 
 country. The beauty and magnificence of the scenery 
 is certainly more appreciated by the emigrant than 
 the native. 
 
 Meantime we were running full speed up the great 
 waterway, and the transcendent greatness of the country 
 gradually unfolded itself before us. The shore was high, 
 and covered to the sky-line with dense pine woods. At 
 length we came to a part which had evidently been 
 cleared long ago. There were spires of churches, which 
 glittered in the sun, being made of plates of copper, and 
 
108 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 little white villages, with red roofs, and herds of small 
 cattle grazing on the flats. There was a line of little 
 white wooden houses, each with its strip of land running , 
 down to the river. The population was French, for it 
 was the province of Quebec. 
 
 Then, on the morning of the 12th, we passed the 
 falls of Montmorency, the island of St. Charles, where 
 Wolfe first landed, and lastly we came to the ancient 
 citadel of Quebec. 
 
 It is not my intention to describe this town, though 
 I stayed there on my return, and enjoyed my visit 
 extremely ; suffice it saying that the place is brimful 
 of historic interests, besides occupying a Bite of un- 
 common natural beauty. There is a very fine hotel 
 there, the Frontenac ; and few holidays could be better 
 spent than in exploring the Edinburgh of Canada and 
 its environs. 
 
 I landed for an hour or two to make the acquaintance 
 of Mrs. Corneille, who, with the chaplain and Mr. Le 
 Bel, was waiting to meet the emigrants. I had messages 
 to deliver from Mrs. Joyce and Miss Lefroy, and I was 
 most kindly received and shown the excellent arrange- 
 ments made for sheltering emigrants and assisting them 
 to find occupation. The characters of all emigrants are 
 closely scrutinized, and those with faults likely to render 
 them a burden rather than an assistance are returned 
 by the next ship. I soon had a proof of the vigilance 
 exercised, in the close investigations persisted in with 
 regard to the character of a poor girl, whom I would 
 gladly have helped to a fresh start in the new world. 
 It seemed a little hard, but I think on the whole they 
 are right. " The Colonies," said Mrs. Corneille, " are 
 no place for the feeble, either mentally, physically, or 
 morally. If they cannot keep their feet under the close 
 supervision of the old country, they will assuredly fall 
 where there will be greater temptations, and infinitely 
 greater hardships at the commencement of their 
 careers." 
 
 As usual, a good many passengers left the ship at 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY* 109 
 
 Quebec. I believe this is frequently due to ignorance. 
 They fancy that they have reached Canada ; and some 
 among the emigrants left the ship there to go on by rail 
 to Montreal. This was much more expensive than if 
 they had gone on by boat ; and I do not think that they 
 saved enough time to justify the expenditure. 
 
 A word of advice may be offered to people about to 
 take this voyage, and that is to make up their minds 
 before starting at which port they mean to disembark, 
 and have their baggage addressed accordingly. The 
 Allan Company have an elaborate system by which all 
 the passenger baggage is classified and described ; but 
 it is extraordinary how many packages come on board 
 without either name, address, or distinguishing mark of 
 any kind. What with passengers landing at Eimousky, 
 Quebec, and Montreal, it is greatly to the company's 
 credit that there are not several losses every voyage. 
 In addition to this difficulty, passengers change their 
 minds as to their port of landing during the voyage, and 
 expect to have their luggage brought up and put ashore 
 for them quite correctly, from any compartment, shelf, 
 or locker to which it has been consigned. The company 
 supply labels for passengers, which need only be filled 
 in and affixed; but it is a distinct advantage to have 
 the full name or some device painted upon the baggage. 
 When it is remembered what hundreds of brown port- 
 manteaus and cabin trunks are turned out annually 
 by the same makers, it must be obvious how difficult 
 it is for the company's servants to avoid confusing 
 Mrs. Brown's non-addressed luggage with Mrs. Jones's 
 ditto.* 
 
 It was four o'clock on the following day, Sunday, 
 when we reached Montreal, and having made my peace 
 with the customs officers, I presently found myself 
 driving through the streets of a clean, well-ordered city. 
 The names over many of the doors were French, as were 
 
 * It is no uncommon thing for the company to find as many as sixty 
 unaddressed and unclaimed packages left on their hands at the end of a 
 single voyage. 
 
110 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 those on the corners of the streets ; and public notices 
 were written in French and English side by side. 
 
 My destination was the Windsor Hotel, and here I 
 met with my first experience of the worst item in 
 Canadian travel — to wit, the Transfer Company. I had 
 been quite willing to leave my heavy baggage to the 
 care of these people, but I had taken a fly from the 
 docks with the express intention of carrying my cabin 
 trunk, hold-all, and hat-box with me. But I was un- 
 prepared for the arts and devices of the Transfer 
 Company, who, while my back was turned, ran off with 
 my belongings, handing the brass checks, of which they 
 kept the tallies, to one of the ship's stewards, who 
 chanced to be standing there. The steward gave me 
 the checks, and told me that I should find the baggage 
 at the hotel as soon as I got there myself. 
 
 This was far from being the case. I had neither 
 sponge, nor brush and comb, and no means of tidying 
 myself, and no book to read. There I was kept for two 
 mortal hours awaiting the arrival of my baggage, for 
 the transfer of which I was charged a dollar. I had 
 a good mind not to pay this imposition, and should 
 certainly refuse to if it happened again. But these 
 transfer companies play with the C.P.B., as well as 
 the shipping companies, as a cat plays with a mouse ; 
 while the unlucky passenger fares the worst. At one 
 place in my travels I went up to bed with two smart 
 hats, and nothing else in the world. I had clung to 
 my hat-box, and kept it ; but my other effects did not 
 reach me till the next morning, and only after I had 
 rung the bell and demanded them several times. 
 
 The hotels, or at any rate the porters, play into the 
 hands of the Transfer Company. It is unavailing for the 
 wretched traveller to exercise forethought. No matter 
 how early he rises, or how soon his baggage is addressed 
 and sent down to the hall, the Transfer Company takes 
 it upon their van, and proceeds on a round of calls, 
 arriving at the station with a vast truck load of odds 
 and ends, at the very bottom of which the first baggage 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY. Ill 
 
 taken up is buried. Perhaps they arrive only three 
 minutes before the train is due. In the heat, crush, 
 and confusion, the probability is that the baggage never 
 gets checked at all. 
 
 The city of Montreal struck me as the finest colonial 
 town I had seen. The sun was shining brightly below 
 a mass of deep black clouds, which hung above the 
 pine-covered mountains to the back of the town. The 
 maple trees all round the square fluttered their bright 
 green leaves — they stood there on the edge of the 
 smooth turf, unfenced and unenclosed, and threw a 
 light shade on the grass or pavement. Gaily dressed 
 people and children, in Sunday clothes, were passing to 
 and fro. Behind rose the great mass of the Eoman 
 Catholic Cathedral, and I could see a stream of nuns in 
 black attire passing out of the sunlight through a side 
 door in the wall. Stopping an electric tramcar, I 
 jumped on it, and away it went downhill at a tremendous 
 rate. 
 
 As we flew past I saw a great block of grey granite, 
 built in Norman style. This was the railway station 
 and chief office of the C.P.E. From this point all the 
 affairs, down to the minutest details, of the great high- 
 way to India, China, and Japan were directed and 
 controlled. I tried to picture the distance the line 
 covered, and the obstacles it overcame ; and this, with 
 the great river up which I had passed, gave me a sense 
 of immensity such as I had never experienced in all my 
 travels. I seemed to have planted my foot on the first 
 step of an undertaking which went, with the winds of 
 heaven and the currents of ocean, as part itself of the 
 force of Nature. 
 
 Then down into the city we rushed, swinging past the 
 red-brick pile of the Great Trunk railway station, and 
 past the bank of Montreal. But here 1 left the car, 
 being anxious to see a little of these usually busy 
 thoroughfares in the quiet of Sunday afternoon. 
 
 The city was founded by an expedition of fifty-seven 
 persons under Maisoneuve. Amongst these adventurers 
 
112 BB1TISB COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES 8. 
 
 was a Mademoiselle Mance, who brought with her a 
 donation of a quarter of a million francs. This was the 
 great time of French colonial enterprise, a spirit which 
 the growth of Eepublican sentiment appears to have 
 extinguished. The fur trade, and subsequently the 
 lumber and grain, have rendered the city so prosperous 
 that the bank of Montreal is reckoned the richest bank 
 on the continent. There is a touch of dramatic interest 
 in the situation of this bank's chief office. It stands 
 immediately opposite the cathedral of Notre Dame — the 
 oldest cathedral in Canada — and the space lying between 
 them, now bright with flowers, and planted with young 
 maple trees, is the old burial-ground of the pioneers. 
 
 I stood for a moment before the statue of the spirited 
 Maisoneuve, in the graceful fantastic dress of his age ; 
 his small wiry figure full of life and energy, as he 
 advances, holding a flag. It was thus he landed and 
 founded the city of Mont Eoyal, on the island on which 
 the English in 1535 had found an Iroquois village 
 called Hochelaga. 
 
 I had not much time to spend in Montreal, and the 
 following day I devoted to discussing my plans with the 
 officials of the C.P.E. and to making final arrange- 
 ments for my journey. 
 
 I was deeply interested by my visit to Sir William 
 van Home. It was like listening to a fairy tale to 
 hear him talk of the great enterprise of the C.P.E. — 
 how it grew out of the idea of the federation of the 
 provinces, and how as it went on through an empty 
 and almost unknown country, kindred commercial enter- 
 prises sprang up alongside of it; first lumber mills, 
 then grain elevators, then warehouses for the people's 
 food ; then the cattle trade with the States and Europe, 
 and the growth of cities on the prairies, with hotels and 
 private residences. We talked of traffic which came 
 over the line, and the boundless possibilities opened for 
 the shippers on the coast of the Far West, and of 
 the inland enterprise in the gold, silver, copper, and 
 other minerals. Together we saw the bright future of 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINEBARY. 113 
 
 centuries to come, unrolling before our eyes, when we 
 ourselves should be no more. 
 
 I saw in Sir William van Home one of those rare men 
 who are the genius of their age — who can dream dreams, 
 and work out their realization. This man worked like 
 the artists of old, laying on each touch with care and 
 precision— knowing what had to be done, and doing it 
 perfectly. Over his face, as I watched him speak, I saw 
 a thousand expressions follow one another. It was like 
 watching a rock — always the same, and yet the light 
 brought out new meanings and interests — only the 
 light in this human countenance shone from within, for 
 it was a great intellect which illumined it. At last, 
 when we had talked some time, Sir William sat silent 
 for a few seconds, and then he said, "And now it is 
 finished — so far, at any rate — so far " 
 
 The sentence remained incomplete. His hand rose 
 and fell on the writing-desk beside which he sat, and by 
 the smile on his face — wistful, regretful, triumphant — 
 I concluded to myself that he saw his own term of 
 usefulness was finished, and that his work no longer 
 needed him. 
 
 " And you ? " he said, suddenly turning to me again. 
 " Go through to the coast — go through to the coast " 
 (how often must those words have rung in his mind!), 
 " and when you get back here, come and see me again." 
 
 " What did you think of Sir William van Home ? " 
 some one asked me afterwards. 
 
 I replied, " I should enjoy seeing some one try to sell 
 him a gold brick." 
 
 The chief agricultural market of Montreal is the Bon 
 Secours. It opens soon after daybreak, and I determined 
 to pay this market a visit. 
 
 Accordingly, the next morning a little breakfast was 
 brought to my room at a quarter to five. This meal 
 over, I went down dressed in a grey ulster and sailor- 
 hat, walked a little way towards the city, and then 
 engaged a cab. The vehicle was a victoria, and I found 
 the old driver so interesting that I stood up inside and 
 
114 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 held on to the box talking to him, as we went along 
 down to the city. He gave me much information. 
 
 The market of the Bon Secours is a large building 
 situated on the quay, but some distance from the main 
 railways or the residential part of Montreal. All round, 
 in the streets outside, the country people station their 
 carts— for which privilege they pay twenty-five cents 
 each time, or take out a licence for the year. These 
 carts bring in local market-garden produce, such as 
 poultry, flowers, eggs, and vegetables. There is no 
 auction, but the stall-keepers inside the market, and 
 shop-keepers from the town, come to the carts and 
 bargain with the country people for whatever supplies 
 they require. 
 
 Inside the building the lowest floor is occupied by fish 
 salesmen and ice stores ; the floor above is entirely 
 devoted to meat and fresh pork ; while on the third 
 floor the stalls provide poultry, eggs, etc. 
 
 This old market was built long prior to the railways, 
 but is well situated for supplies coming across the water 
 by boat from the prairie. A good deal of produce comes 
 in by small carts from a distance of forty miles. Many 
 of the country people arrive over-night, and sleep at 
 little old-fashioned inns near the market, with odd 
 French names on their signs. A few — the aristocracy — 
 own stalls within the market; but for the most part 
 the stalls are branches of the Bhops in the town 
 itself. 
 
 In winter-time the country people drive over the ice 
 in their own sleighs, bringing in onions, potatoes, 
 turnips, and hard fruits. The spring trade is the most 
 paying, consisting principally of salads, rhubarb, and 
 anything which can be raised quickly in frames or 
 under glass. There is another market in winter, near 
 the railway station, where fruit and vegetables are sold 
 which come in from the States. 
 
 The meat market interested me particularly; It is 
 supplied from Ontario and the ranches of the North- 
 West. The beasts are sold alive, by weight, at the. 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY. 115 
 
 market belonging to the corporation, and slaughtered 
 in the abattoires belonging to the corporation. These 
 abattoires are rented by the butchers, sometimes two or 
 three tradesmen joining together to rent one abattoir. 
 
 The price of the best cattle (from the North-West) 
 is 4 cents per lb., live weight.* ■ Those from I^ower 
 Canada are inferior, and are paid for at a lower rate. 
 It appears that this inferiority is not only a matter of 
 breeding, but also of condition. They are very often 
 young immature beasts, or stale cows. 
 
 The best cattle in Canada, and always the largest 
 and heaviest, go across the sea to England. The 
 reason of this is that the regular freight is £2 per 
 head for the crossing. They are sold by weight the 
 other side, and thus it answers better to send a heavy 
 beast for £2 rather than a light one. 
 
 The quality of the meat, as I found it in the hotels, 
 was by no means first class. This may have been due 
 to the cooking, which appears to be a medley of French 
 and American. You are given a menu for breakfast, 
 beginning with varieties of corn dressed as porridge; 
 and "fried frogs' legs," sure to be an item when in 
 season, is boldly announced in plain English. I always 
 sighed over the beef steaks, feeling that somehow a 
 respectable beef steak could not be cooked in the same 
 kitchen with corn porridge and frogs' legs. 
 
 Many of the stall-holders in the market of the Bon 
 Secours cannot speak a word of English, but they were 
 very friendly to me, especially one little old man who 
 had a very large butcher's business near the centre of 
 the market. He saw that I was English, and forthwith 
 befriended me. Believing that I intended opening a 
 stall, he offered to walk round with me and point out 
 to me the features of the market and the way business 
 was done. 
 
 " Shall I tell you why I like the English ? " he asked, 
 taking my arm confidentially as we walked downstairs 
 
 * Since writing this; I have heard that all cattle are sold at private 
 sales at an average price of 3 J cents per lb., live weight. 
 
116 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES S. 
 
 to visit the fishmongers. " It is because I have made a 
 good bit of money by them." 
 
 This was intended as a high compliment, for presently 
 he added reflectively, " Yes ; there is always money 
 where the English are. They make a stir up, and they 
 stir till the money comes." 
 
 "It surprise you very much — no?" he continued, 
 " to hear me speak English so perfect. But I did not 
 marry a Canadense ! No — not I ! I did marry from 
 the States — and her father was Irish. So I made a 
 good mix ! Then I who am little have sons that are 
 big!" 
 
 He had a taste for horse-racing, which was another 
 link between himself and the English. He kept his 
 own race-horse, and had ridden it himself very suc- 
 cessfully. His business was evidently a large and 
 prosperous one; and he showed me his clean, well- 
 filled refrigerator and cool chamber with the same 
 pride that he spoke of his " good mix " and his race- 
 horse. He gave me yet another proof of his prudence, 
 and the far-sightedness which had doubtless been a 
 feature in his career. "I have a daughter," he said, 
 straightening himself as he spoke, probably because he 
 was " little," "who is a professed nun, and a son who 
 is a member of Parliament." 
 
 He was puzzled and perplexed to find I had kept a 
 cab waiting outside ; but as I was getting into it he 
 stopped me to ask what business I meant to open in the 
 market. 
 
 Meanwhile my old driver was in great distress, and 
 not disposed to let me stay there another minute. " If 
 you put your money into a business in this country on 
 your own account you will lose it," he said. " There 
 are too many rogues here. But I will give you a safe 
 piece of advice, which was given me when I came to this 
 place by a man whose name was Samuel, who was in 
 the fur trade, and came from Liverpool. ' Look on all 
 men as rogues,' said he, 'and yourself as the biggest 
 rogue, then, perhaps, you won't lose your money.' " 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF ITINERARY. 11 7 
 
 He began to look upon me as a rogue in good earnest 
 when I told him to drive me to the Windsor Hotel, so 
 thoroughly had he taken me for a future market- 
 gardener of some description. And when I paid him 
 the fare he asked for without abatement, I left him 
 staring at it ; but on looking back I found he was watch- 
 ing to see if I really went up the steps into the Windsor. 
 
 I did so, but turned round and waved my hand to him 
 before I disappeared. 
 
 Among the people whose acquaintance gave me special 
 pleasure I cannot omit mentioning Mr. Hosmer. The 
 whole time I spent in Canada I felt more or less under 
 Mr. Hosmer's watchful eye — or I should say within the 
 hearing of his ear — and on my return to Montreal his 
 office was so full of interest that I was there nearly 
 every day. Mr. Hosmer is the incarnation of telegraphy, 
 and conveys the idea that he carries a battery inside 
 himself. To be in his office is to sit in the centre of the 
 world,, with messages of all descriptions flashing round 
 one, and coming down on the telephone from the ends 
 of the earth. He is so enthusiastic in his work that he 
 contrives to make one feel as though one were working 
 the concern with him ; and must perforce succeed, how- 
 ever novel the occupation may be. But his interests 
 are wide — as well as the Bystem over which he presides. 
 For instance, we settle down to discuss his pet subject, 
 to wit the extension of the cable to Australia. Somehow 
 I am made to feel as if I were already at the bottom of 
 the sea with a coil of copper wire in my hand, awaiting 
 instructions. The difficulties with the Home Govern- 
 ment, and the raising of fresh capital, have all been 
 settled with a characteristic wave of the hand — when 
 suddenly a violent ringing on the telephone causes 
 Mr. Hosmer to apply his ear to the machine, and in- 
 stantly his face is suffised with smiles. It is a Mary 
 whose beloved has just proposed to her ; but the mamma 
 objects, and Mr. Hosmer is implored to come to the 
 rescue. The next moment we are in the middle of a 
 discussion on the mines of Kootenay, interspersed with 
 
118 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 an account of a difference between Tommy and his 
 
 papa, which Mr. Hosmer is making up by wiring mes- 
 sages on his own account of dutiful apology on the part 
 of Tommy, and fraternal forgiveness on the part of papa. 
 " But where are we ? " " We are in the No. 2 vertical 
 shaft of the "War Eagle." " No, we are not ! We are 
 in the Monte Christo ! Look at the map, I say ! " But 
 the next moment we are careering round the room hunt- 
 ing for Lake Okanagan, which is hanging up on the 
 walls somewhere, to find the Kelowna valley, when 
 suddenly, in awe-stricken tones of heartfelt regret, I am 
 told that Dick has had "a row with his wife," and 
 that both parties are equally to blame. In company 
 such as this, Canada really becomes a small place, but 
 its interest is vastly increased. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM OTTAWA TO WINNIPEG. 
 
 In the evening I proceeded to Ottawa, which I reached 
 about midnight. 
 
 This town, the seat of Government, is small and 
 sleepy. The Government buildings and House of Par- 
 liament, and the river choked with timber below the 
 great saw-mills, are the chief features. 
 
 The House of Parliament is not an impressive edifice. 
 It is a graceful building in pseudo-gothic. Inside, the 
 rooms and chambers are mean and small. There is a 
 stall for refreshments of a very common description in 
 the vestibule. 
 
 Although the House was in session, I had no oppor- 
 tunity of hearing a debate or making the acquaintance 
 of the legislators. 
 
 The next day I went to the Experimental Farm, about 
 three miles outside Ottawa, and spent a very interesting 
 morning with Professor Saunders. I returned in time 
 to start by the afternoon train for Winnipeg. 
 
 The scenery was a mixture of dense wood, intersected 
 with farms which were strangely English in appearance. 
 Now and again one appeared to have been only recently 
 hewn out of the forest. I saw snake fences, for the first 
 time, stretching their zigzag lengths beside the railway. 
 There were charred stumps still standing even in pas- 
 tures which appeared to have been laid down some years ; 
 and I was pained and distressed again and again at the 
 cruel waste of burning such valuable timber. The crops 
 of corn were green, and very flourishing, and remarkably 
 
120 BB1TISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 free from weeds; and there was a comfortable, safe, 
 happy appearance, which made one forget how little 
 developed — in fact, how nearly savage this country 
 really was. 
 
 The whole history of the settler's life was rehearsed. 
 There were new-comers squatting in log cabins, with 
 the trees burnt and slashed. Then some draining of 
 swampy hollows — a thing which is very necessary in 
 Ontario, where the wheat often suffers, owing to the 
 damp coupled with late frosts. Then came the two- 
 storied wooden house with gables, and strongly built 
 log sheds for the cattle, surrounded with fenced fields 
 of many kinds of crops, pulse, roots, cereals. Occasion- 
 ally I saw a tastefully built homestead, smart with fresh 
 white paint, with red-tiled roof, and a veranda, stand- 
 ing in a trim flower-garden, with a flourishing orchard 
 behind it, and the long ridge roofs of comfortable build- 
 ings showing over the tops of the apple trees. 
 
 The train was travelling up hill, and the air became 
 fresher as we ascended. Soon we left the plain entirely, 
 and entered the forest. Great out crops of rock showed 
 themselves between the pine, larch, and silver birch. 
 Dense masses of bracken, and clumps of other ferns 
 overhung the quiet pools and brown mountain torrents. 
 Still we swept on through scenery measured by mile- 
 long lakes, and mountains whose hoary summits cut 
 the sky-line high above the forest. The wood became 
 denser, and I revelled in its vigorous growth — the rich 
 brown greens of the spruce, and the tender feminine 
 grace of the silver birch and aspen. Soon we came to 
 foaming rapids, swirling through dark chasms, and at 
 last the setting sun showed amber and crimson — 
 turning the trees a rich madder against the clear sky. 
 
 Then the moon came out, and shone white and clear 
 over a scene of silence — a weird land, smitten with death 
 and blighted with disaster. For a whole mountain- 
 side, which had once been clothed with a beautiful pine 
 forest, was naked and bare. The trees stood in death, 
 white and spectral, for a forest fire had swept through 
 
 ;m 
 
FROM OTTAWA TO WINNIPEG. 121 
 
 them. It was a scene for Sintram and his companions ; 
 and I looked out, fancying I could see the -white horse, 
 and the curious black evil thing crawling along beside 
 the knight. 
 
 It was Thursday afternoon when I left Ottawa, and I 
 reached Winnipeg * on Saturday afternoon at about four 
 o'clock. 
 
 I was tired of the train, and of scenery which was 
 becoming monotonous, and it was with a feeling of 
 exultation that I stepped out once more into a city. It 
 was marvellous to find broad thoroughfares, handsome 
 buildings, and shops which compared favourably with 
 those at Montreal. I consigned my baggage to the 
 inevitable Transfer Company, and walked out to take a 
 tramcar down the main thoroughfare to the Manitoba 
 and North-Western Hotel. 
 
 I noticed with delight that the streets were spanned 
 by gigantic triumphal arches, covered with spruce fir. 
 Men were busy hanging up flags and adding the last 
 finishing strokes of scrolls, shields, and wreaths. Private 
 houses and shops vied with one another in bunting and 
 gay streamers. Every kind of loyal sentiment found 
 expression in good wishes to the whole royal family, but 
 the legend which was most frequent was the old familiar 
 one, " God save the Queen ! " It was the preparation 
 for the Jubilee. 
 
 As soon as possible I left the hotel to go in search of 
 Dr. Eobertson, who received me very kindly. We 
 started off together to visit the new park across the river. 
 He showed me the ruined arch which is all that is left 
 of old Fort Garry, and we went to the Hudson Bay 
 Company's stores and had tea. Dr. Eobertson is a 
 most interesting companion, and his knowledge of the 
 country is so thorough that the whole time I spent with 
 him I was laying in stores of information. 
 
 The next morning, soon after breakfast, I went to call 
 on Mr. Baker, of the Manitoba and North-Western 
 Bailway Company, and went to church with him and his 
 * Winnipeg is 1424 miles by rail from Montreal. 
 
122 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES 8. 
 
 family to a most impressive service held in celebration 
 of the Jubilee. 
 
 The old 90th Canadian Begiment, which was cut to 
 pieces in Eiel's rebellion, turned out and marched to 
 church, headed by the band. A great effort had been 
 made to collect as many as possible of the veterans who 
 survived the campaign. There were about thirty of them, 
 headed by their old colonel, Mr. Hugh Macdonald.* It 
 was impossible not to feel struck with this muster of 
 brave men, whose countenances show to this day the 
 effects of the hardships they endured in the service of 
 their Queen and country. They marched past into the 
 church followed by the men who serve in the regiment 
 to-day, whose mothers, sisters, and sweethearts were 
 waiting to see them pass. 
 
 The church was packed to overflowing, as indeed I 
 heard were all the churches in Winnipeg that morning. 
 The service commenced with the whole congregation 
 rising and singing, " God save the Queen." There is a 
 fine organ and a good choir, but the strong voices of the 
 soldiers took up the singing .of the anthem which is 
 peculiarly their own, and I could hear nothing but the 
 deep bass voices. I looked round me once, and was 
 struck with their earnest countenances. The idea of 
 loyalty was no suddenly caught impression. It was a 
 conviction which these people felt — the desire to ally 
 themselves with all the greatness and pureness of the 
 glorious example of sixty years' devotion to duty. The 
 halo which surrounds the idea of monarchy made these 
 sons of a vast dominion turn their eyes to the little 
 island in the North Sea, as a light by which to steer 
 and shape the history of their own country, by deeds 
 worthy to rank with those of British history in the past. 
 
 Subsequent to the service appointed for the occasion, 
 Archdeacon Fortune — himself a pioneer — preached a 
 sermon, taking for his text the line, "A mother in 
 Israel." 
 
 After luncheon I drove with Mr. Baker to visit the 
 
 * Son of the late Sir John Macdonald. 
 
FBOM OTTAWA TO WINNIPEG. 123 
 
 old cathedral — a small building outside Winnipeg, where 
 the old " trail-blazers " and first factors of the Hudson's 
 Bay and North-West Companies were buried. The 
 cathedral itself is a very simple edifice, and recalls a 
 village church in some country parish in the home 
 counties. The spot has long been a favourite burial- 
 ground, and there are many beautiful tombs in marble 
 and granite — some bearing coats-of-arms and well- 
 known names. There is a small enclosure and a 
 handsome marble shrine, hung with many laurel wreaths 
 and kept with scrupulous care. This is Winnipeg's 
 memorial to the gallant men of her own regiment who 
 went out to quell the rebellion under Eiel. 
 
 Many of the men were buried where they fell on 
 remote battle-fields ; but those whose names are recorded 
 here came back to die of their wounds and privations. 
 But among the many graves, eloquent of hopes and fears, 
 joys and sorrows — telling of the lives of brave men, little 
 children, gentle women, who have helped to make the 
 city of Winnipeg — none are so worthy of love and honour 
 as those which lie by the gateway in what was only 
 unlevelled prairie. Some of them are east and west, 
 others north and south, as might have been convenient 
 in these early days. Each is covered with a plain slab 
 of limestone, blackened with age, so that all lettering is 
 hopelessly defaced. A record of burials preserved in 
 the church gives the list of their names, which are 
 almost without exception Scottish. It is, however, 
 absolutely certain that these graves are those of the 
 first factors of the company who founded Fort Garry. 
 
 Little could they have dreamt of the future lying 
 before the land. How the buffalo and the Indian would 
 decrease and vanish ; and over the prairies a race of 
 peaceful farmers spread round a modern city. Could 
 the old pioneers come back again, Winnipeg could offer 
 them nothing ; for they have nothing in common with 
 the city of to-'day — its smart suburbs and industrial 
 mills. There they lie under the old grey slabs, while 
 scarcely a hundred yards away the electric cars go 
 
124 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES S. 
 
 whizzing past, and the hum of the city is drowned by the 
 roll of the C.P.E. 
 
 Very little is known of their individual histories, but 
 they appear to have enjoyed the life they had adopted 
 as men of their stamp would do. They were accustomed, 
 in their Highland fastnesses, to isolation and to the 
 rigours of a tolerably severe climate. So far as material 
 wants were concerned the company treated them 
 liberally, and they were probably quite as well off at 
 Fort Garry as they would have been in the Highlands. 
 
 Then there were chances of adventure, and a certain 
 amount of fighting, which was congenial to men of their 
 origin and temperament. The forest and its game, the 
 lake and its fish, and beyond the vast extent of 
 unexplored territory; travel by canoe and portages, 
 following the course of rivers through terrific mountain 
 ranges ; — gave them plenty of topics for conversation, 
 and suggested problems and mysteries which they, alas ! 
 would never solve in their day. Besides all these royal 
 pleasures, at intervals there were passing strangers, to 
 entertain whom was a duty which gratified their 
 hereditary instincts. They were practically their own 
 masters, and were free to feast and dance, to play golf or 
 hockey, or to curl, as suited the season. The one duty 
 incumbent upon them being the collection of furs from 
 the Indians and the forwarding of the same in due safety 
 to head-quarters. 
 
 From these graves we went back once more to look at 
 the ruined archway, which is all that is left of Fort 
 Garry. It is situated near the fork where the two 
 rivers — the Assiniboine and the Eed river — converge and 
 join in one. These rivers were the highways in those 
 days, but the archway of old Fort Garry is that of the 
 gate which opened towards the prairie and the North- 
 West. And above it were mounted two guns. In this 
 fort Lord Strathcona was imprisoned for some months 
 by Kiel, and under sentence to be shot at any convenient 
 moment. He has lately presented this archway to 
 Winnipeg. 
 
FROM OTTAWA TO WINNIPEG. 125 
 
 On my return from British Columbia I stayed a day 
 or two at Winnipeg, out of affection for the city of so 
 many memories ; and walked by myself to the meeting 
 of the rivers. Near this spot, when the railway of the 
 Manitoba and North-Western Company was being cut, 
 there were found close to the river the remains of a man 
 which had been buried by the Indians with unusual care. 
 The skeleton was perfect, and measured seven feet. 
 It was wrapped in a winding-sheet which was evidently 
 a plaid, but the precise name of the tartan could not be 
 decided, owing to its being too far gone in decay. Upon 
 the breast was a small box containing an amber mouth- 
 piece, and a small coin. The whole was encased in bark. 
 From tbe winding-sheet being a plaid, and also from the 
 great stature of the man, the presumption is that he 
 was one of the Scottish pioneers ; but no record of any 
 such interment can be found either in the books of the 
 company or among the Indians. The belief is general 
 that the man reached the two rivers before Fort Garry 
 became a station ; but how he fell — whether by treachery 
 or malice of the King's enemies, or by the hand of God 
 — there is nothing to show. All we know is that the 
 Indians honoured him in his burial, and that his winding- 
 sheet was the same kind that has served many a brave 
 man on many a battle-field. 
 
 But important as the fur-trading element had been in 
 the establishment of Fort Garry, Winnipeg really owes 
 its important position to a settlement of agricultural 
 emigrants upon a scheme known as Lord Selkirk's. 
 This part of the history forms an important addition to 
 emigration literature, and in some respects offers a 
 parallel with the Government scheme for the settlements 
 in what are now known as the Eastern Provinces of Cape 
 Colony. In both cases the first settlers endured losses 
 and privations, while the present generation has cause 
 to bless the intelligence which inaugurated the scheme. 
 
 Another great reason of the fascination which 
 Winnipeg exercised over my mind, was the fact that it 
 was the meeting-point for most of the "trail-blazers" 
 
126 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 and pioneers who went on to British Columbia. I felt 
 that here — where many of them lay buried—the first 
 news of the country and the plans for its exploration 
 must often have been discussed. Scarcely any of the 
 "old timers" survive, and of these the mempry is 
 failing fast. They talk of the old days — changing from 
 Chenook into French or Gaelic, as the mind in its 
 weakness wanders back to the past. They can tell tales 
 of hardship and bravery out-vying any record of the 
 Klondyke or the Far North. In the present day we are 
 fired by the ideal of the Empire and the lust for gold ; 
 but the old " trail-blazers " of Canada required no other 
 stimulant than their own brave natures could afford. 
 
 As I walked by the river in the sunset, thinking of all 
 these things, the bells of St. Boniface's Priory began 
 their silvery chime for vespers. I bethought me that 
 the spot was sacred with traditional history, and 
 that Winnipeg had its poets. Nor could I marvel 
 that Whittier should have been inspired to follow that 
 musical sound in verses which ring like the Angelus 
 itself — 
 
 " Is it the clang of the wild geese, 
 Is it the Indian's yell, 
 That lends to the voice of the north wind 
 The tones of a far-off bell ? 
 
 " The voyageur smiles as he listens 
 To the sound that grows apace ; 
 Well he knows the vesper ringing 
 Of the bells of St. Boniface ; 
 
 " The bells of the Boman Mission, 
 
 That call from their turrets twain 
 To the boatman on the river, 
 To the hunter on the plain. 
 
 " Even so in our mortal journey, 
 The bitter north winds blow ; 
 And thus upon life's Red river 
 Our hearts as the oarsmen row. 
 
FBOM OTTAWA TO WINNIPEG. 127 
 
 " And when the Angel of Shadow 
 
 Rests his feet on wave and shore, 
 And our eyes grow dim with watching, 
 And our hearts fail at the oar, 
 
 " Happy is he who heareth 
 The signal of his release 
 From the bells of the Holy City, 
 The chimes of Eternal peace.' 7 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 ITKOM WINNIPEG TO CALGARY. 
 
 On Sunday evening I went on again by the train, this 
 time bound for Banff, in the Eockie mountains. 
 
 The scenery was very monotonous as we went on hour 
 after hour over the prairies, which reminded me of the 
 high veldt in Africa — only that it was ploughed and 
 sown with wheat as far as the eye could see on either 
 side of the line. At intervals there were small railway 
 stations, with large grain elevators or stores ; and here 
 and there what seemed to be a mill. 
 
 At one little place where we stopped late in the 
 evening there was a small church; and the people 
 were coming out, for the service was over. It was still 
 Jubilee Sunday, and they had come from far and wide, 
 on spiders or on horseback, and whole parties in 
 waggons. 
 
 It was like a country scene in England ; such as 
 might have been long ago on the thanksgiving for some 
 great victory. It was a delightful sight to see so many 
 sturdy agriculturists — men, some of whom were elderly, 
 with their good motherly wives ; young couples making 
 a start in life ; lads still under their father's eye ; 
 girls dressed simply and sensibly, with clear complexions 
 and bright eyes; and little children chubby and well 
 fed. They came to look at the train, and waited — 
 perhaps for their mails — until we had gone on ; and we 
 went on following the long black rope which stre,t<?he§ 
 across the continent. 
 
WINNIPEG TO OAL&ABY. 129 
 
 The next day the wheat disappeared, and its place 
 was taken by the grass of the cattle ranches of Alberta. 
 The heat became very great, owing to a hot wind. 
 Some people told me that this wind blew over from 
 the great American desert; but it appeared to me 
 that we were facing it, and that it blew from the 
 Eockies. 
 
 So much has been written and said about the, 
 advantages offered to the farmers in the North-West, 
 that I feel obliged to offer my quota of information ; 
 more especially as much that I hear is said by way of 
 disparaging British Columbia. 
 
 There is no doubt that land can be had very reason- 
 ably, a grant of 160 acres is made by Government to 
 any settler who will take them up. Besides the Govern- 
 ment land, the C.P.B. has an enormous acreage still on 
 its hands for sale, at prices ranging from $2.50 to $5 
 per acre. There are homesteads in the outskirts of 
 present settlements, which, with the present improved 
 communication and increasing local markets, offer 
 exceptional opportunities for farmers who come in 
 with a little capital. 
 
 The following notes I took down from a man who 
 was a successful rancher, and by subsequent inquiry I 
 have good cause to believe that they give an accurate 
 picture of the case. 
 
 ■ " Free land in Manitoba (that is, Government grants) are 
 good things in a way; but they are sure to be a long 
 distance from market or railway, and 160 acres does not 
 leave much margin for grazing. A quarter section of first- 
 class land near the railway would cost £300. 320 acres 
 would be- a good-sized farm; but it would cost £600. A 
 man farming 300 to 400 acres, starting with £1000 capital, 
 ought to make £300 to £400 a year ; in fact, a man may 
 reckon on getting 10 to 12 per cent. But then he must start 
 quite clear, with no interest to pay on borrowed capital. 
 Money rates are easier than they were. Bank interest has 
 gone down, and money can be borrowed at 7 per cent, 
 if a man comes out with deficient capital, he must borrow 
 
 K 
 
130 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 in the North-West; for machinery, waggons, and horses 
 are essential, and he has to pay a rent, as it were, in interest. 
 He prohably owes half the price of his land as well) and has 
 to pay 8 per cent, on it. 
 
 "I think the restrictions about landing live cattle at 
 Liverpool benefit the Canadian farmer. I find it does; 
 because now I only ship full-grown large beasts, fat and 
 ready for slaughter, and for the same freight I get a higher 
 price than I did for the young things and lean cattle. Just 
 think ! A farmer in Manitoba in winter has nothing to do 
 but to feed his beasts. He grows plenty of coarse grains, 
 such as oats and barley. Koots also grow well there, with 
 irrigation — thirty to fifty tons to the acre. He can sell 
 his cattle fat in winter-time. Farmers are getting tired 
 of the old way of leaving cattle to chance in winter-time. 
 They see it pays better to put up food for them instead of 
 letting them die. The Durham is the favourite breed. They 
 feed better and weigh more for the butcher ; Polled Angus 
 are also good. For the North-West, Highland cattle have 
 been found to answer; but their long horns are against them 
 in the trains and ships. 
 
 " There is a good deal of alkali in some parts, both in 
 the soil and the water. The first thing a man should do 
 is to look and see that he has plenty of water. That is the 
 most important thing of all, and the next is to see if any of 
 the soil is alkali. A little alkali does not matter, and it 
 can generally be worked out, for a time at any rate, by deep 
 ploughing and manuring with long manure, so as to keep the 
 soil open. 
 
 "I don't think there is any good land near Winnipeg. 
 They have very cutting winds there and late frosts. 
 
 "As to profits, there have been cases in which men 
 have paid all their expenses out of the first year's crop. 
 But of course that was a favourable year. Still, we have 
 not on record any year which was a complete loss. The 
 returns are quicker upon wheat than cattle, and mixed 
 farms pay more quickly than ranches ; but I think the 
 most money is made in cattle. 
 
 " There are many men who come out who know nothing 
 of farming ; and a great many who won't work. There are 
 plenty who come out and live on a ranch, getting an 
 occasional five-pound note from home. They are called 
 remittance men, and they are a great nuisance. Canadians 
 
WINNIPEG TO CALGARY. 131 
 
 say of them that they are supported by red leggings, 
 remittances, and cheek. 
 
 " Manitoba wheat i8 always Al in the market. We have 
 no grasshoppers or plagues of that kind, but golphers — a 
 . sort of half-rat, half-squirrel, which lives in the ground — •. 
 are very destructive." 
 
 / A more favourable picture of farming could -hardly 
 be given than the above. The drawbacks were not 
 felt by the young man who gave me the information. 
 He lived with his brother near a settlement. They were 
 strong and hardy, and felt that they were prosperous. 
 
 The English farmer must take into consideration 
 the bitter cold of Manitoba in winter, and though fuel 
 may be obtainable in some districts, in others it is 
 both scarce and dear. The matter of education for 
 children upon isolated ranches is a difficulty. With 
 the thermometer 30° below zero it is difficult to send 
 them to school. When the blizzards begin it is impos- 
 sible to go out-doors at all; and the confinement for 
 women and children in one small house is extremely 
 trying. In case of illness, neither nurses nor doctors are 
 to be had. Children are born in these circumstances. 
 Then there is the difficulty of obtaining assistance in 
 the house. Servant-girls are at a premium, Chinamen 
 out of the question ; and so the whole of the house- work 
 falls upon the wife and mother. Cooking, washing, and 
 house-cleaning for a family has been the lot to which 
 some men in their selfishness have brought out young 
 English gentlewomen, who married their husbands for 
 love, and were perfectly ignorant and wholly unprepared 
 for the hardship and suffering of the life into which 
 they were plunged. The North-West is a man's 
 country ; but hardly one for family life. 
 
 As the train passed along over the wide expanse of 
 absolutely treeless country, I saw herds of cattle of 
 various breeds. The water was nearly dry in pools 
 which we passed, and round the edges there was a 
 white crust of alkali, which the wind blew up in clouds 
 like very fine snow. 
 
132 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES 8. 
 
 , The best ranching country commences after Medicine 
 Hat. It is even better for horses than cattle. There 
 is a portion of the country which it would answer to 
 irrigate, and the Government have started some large 
 schemes near Calgary. Late frost and the shortness 
 of the summer season are against wheat-growing, so 
 that ranching answers better than mixed farming. 
 Horses thrive turned out all through the winter, and 
 several fine thoroughbred sires are running on the 
 ranches at Calgary. 
 
 Meantime the train was approaching Calgary. It 
 was four o'clock in the afternoon, and the heat in the 
 sleeping-car was almost intolerable. Owing to the dust, 
 it was difficult to have the windows open. Our dining- 
 car had been taken off at Medicine Hat to be sent back 
 by freight to meet the next West-bound train ; and we 
 began to be aware that something unusual had hap- 
 pened. Other trains met us going down East, and our 
 conductors were astonished to see their fellow-conductors 
 standing on the back of the cars who should have been 
 on their way West. 
 
 At length we stopped at a small wayside hamlet, 
 and were advised that a meal could be had at the inn. 
 The innkeeper explained the makeshift nature of the 
 meal on the score of another trainful of people having 
 come in unexpectedly and eaten up the dinner. 
 
 That evening I stood outside on the platform, waiting 
 to see the first glimpse of the Eockies. We seemed to 
 have been travelling towards them an interminable 
 time. The next day was the great day of the Queen's 
 Jubilee, and as I lay down in my berth, my thoughts 
 went homeward with the earnest hope that all might 
 pass off well. 
 
 The train reached Calgary very early the next 
 morning, and when I got up it struck me that we were 
 staying a long while at the station. I performed my 
 ablutions in the little lavatory, and jumping off the 
 car was surprised to find that an engine was not 
 attached. I was also struck by seeing another trajn 
 
WINNIPEG TO CALGARY. 133 
 
 drawn up in the station. Then one of the gentle- 
 men who was travelling in our car and the conductor 
 came towards me and explained matters. It appeared 
 that a cloud had burst in the Eockies a few days 
 previously, and that this, together with the sudden 
 melting of the snows, caused by exceptional heat, had 
 flooded the Bow river, which had broken down several 
 bridges and washed out some miles of the line. The 
 trains had been stopped at Calgary during the last four 
 days, and the passengers were being put up at the 
 expense of the company. The case was aggravated by 
 the fact of Calgary being the junction where the lines 
 to Edmonton in the north, and Macleod in the south, 
 met the main line. 
 
 This day was the great day of the Jubilee, and the 
 hotels were besieged by people who came in from the 
 ranches round to join in the celebration. Hearing that 
 people were sleeping on the floors, and two or three in 
 a bed, I joined my petition to that of two gentlemen 
 that the company would allow us to retain our sleeper ; 
 and this being arranged, I walked off to see the town 
 of Calgary, and to buy some Jubilee stamps — a special 
 issue — wherewith to decorate my letters home on this 
 great day. 
 
 The town of Calgary is interesting in many ways. 
 It owes its existence to the railway in the first instance, 
 and now, whatever may be the effect of the divergence 
 of traffic through the Crow's Nest pass, it will always 
 remain a centre of the cattle trade. The Government 
 offices there for the registration of property, grants of 
 land, and for the promotion of irrigation, are sufficient 
 in themselves to render Calgary important. There are 
 also the barracks of the mounted police, and the town 
 is the market where the ranchers and the police 
 congregate, and where the women-folk shop and fore- 
 gather. 
 
 It is handsomely built of grey stone. There are none 
 of the miserable wooden shacks common in the towns 
 of the West. The bank of Montreal, the Hudson's Bay 
 
134 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 Company, the post-office, and Government buildings 
 form a fine wide street. The hotels are very poor for 
 so good a township, and considering the class which 
 frequents them; but they are built of stone, which 
 renders them more secure, and one can go to bed 
 without the fear of being roasted to death before 
 morning. 
 
 All round the town, and down to the river, where 
 again wooden houses assert themselves, the country is 
 destitute of trees. The short summer is bright, dry, 
 and warm ; but the winter is certain to have ten days 
 of extreme cold. There is little or no snow, as the 
 blizzards blow it away. This is an advantage to the 
 ranchers, as it enables the cattle to get at the grass ; 
 but it destroys tree-life, and is distinctly a drawback to 
 human pleasure. 
 
 At breakfast, which I had in the dining-car of the 
 other train, I found several of my fellow-passengers 
 in the Parisian, who had been delayed at Calgary, 
 although they had left Montreal at once, in their anxiety 
 to get to the West. Theirs was the first train stopped, 
 and they began to despair at the delay. After breakfast 
 I walked round the town with the conductor of the 
 dining-car, who knew the place well, and took me to 
 see the ruin effected by the flood where the Bow river 
 had changed its course. Months afterwards, on my 
 return, I visited the spot and found the water-mark of 
 the flood still left. Nor had the river gone back to its 
 old course. Settlers' houses had been swept away and 
 floated down the river and tossed up bodily on the 
 banks, where they lay stranded on their sides. The 
 whole shore was covered with wreckage of homesteads 
 and dwelling-houses. Up-country several cowboys were 
 missing, who were supposed to have been drowned 
 swimming the river to rescue cattle. 
 
 The celebration of the Jubilee was bruited abroad, 
 and the Indians, who dearly love the excitement of any 
 kind of fete, were arriving by hundreds in all the glory 
 of their finest feathers. Only one person at a time 
 
WINNIPEG TO CALGARY. 135 
 
 was allowed to cross the tottering bridge over the Bow ; 
 but some of the Indians, in their eagerness, plunged 
 into the river and swam their horses across. The 
 courage of these fellows beggars description, as also 
 does their vanity and love of display. The squaws 
 were also there — for there were to be races in the 
 afternoon, and of course the squaws must race; in 
 fact, they rode as fearlessly and as well as the men, and 
 at a little distance it was extremely difficult to tell a 
 squaw from a brave. Some of them had come in to 
 do shopping, and as all braves do not consider it 
 necessary to supply horses for squaws, good-natured 
 squaws took up their friends. On one occasion I saw 
 three squaws on one horse. The old cayuse might 
 buck or shy, but the squaws, sitting in a row one 
 behind the other, held on to each other and stuck to 
 their mount like men. 
 
 I do not think the Indians understood the cause of 
 the holiday. But they knew the white men were to have 
 a jollification; and the sight of the bunting, ribbons, and 
 pine branches with which the main street was decorated, 
 excited them immensely. They galloped backwards and 
 forwards with their long hair streaming, and showed off 
 their feathers and finery with childish delight. The 
 Jubilee at Calgary would have been rather tame without 
 them. 
 
 Some of the squaws wandered about the town, either 
 to beg or find work. One of them, whom I met when 
 the conductor was with me, had her papoose on her 
 back, and produced a paper on which was written that 
 this was Crowsfoot's wife, and that she could do washing 
 and was industrious. She was wearing a broad leather 
 belt garnished with brass nails and a big knife; and 
 this belt I bought in memory of the day. 
 
 In the Hudson's Bay stores, which were open during 
 the morning, many Indians came to make purchases. 
 Mr. Irvine, one of the store-keepers, knew most of the 
 Indians very well, having traded goods amongst them 
 at the time of the treaty payments. 
 
136 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 I was struck with the fact of there being distinct 
 classes of Indians, and during the time I spent in the 
 store I tried to classify them. It was not merely the 
 distinction of bands or tribes. I soon began to see 
 the difference between the Cree and the Blackfoot, and 
 to judge which were the full-blooded braves or chiefs as 
 distinct from low-class specimens of the same tribe. 
 But there were the tatter-de-malion, evil-looking Indians, 
 and others more self-respecting but less haughty, more 
 industrious and simpler. There were amongst them 
 some who were far too proud to beg, and others who 
 lived by begging. I believe there were some who 
 would neither lie nor steal; but others, again, were 
 absolutely without a vestige of respectability of any 
 kind. Their quickness was astonishing, and their 
 stealthy movements reminded one of reptiles. Many 
 of them were suffering physically, several had bad 
 coughs, and the children invariably heavy colds, though 
 it was summer-time. 
 
 How I pitied the poor little papooses ! and how patient 
 they were ! There was one Indian dressed more like a 
 European, though he had feathers stuck in an old felt 
 wide-a-wake. He had come in to the town to shop, and 
 brought his squaw to carry the parcels. She had her 
 papoose on her back. He did all the bargaining, and 
 watched Mr. Irvine weigh out the sugar with the closest 
 care. Every time a parcel was made up he handed it 
 to the squaw to carry, and the poor thing received the 
 additional burdenB with an expression on her worn face 
 of patient acquiescence. I asked Mr. Irvine about them, 
 and he said they were good people, and were very 
 industrious on their little piece of land. Seeing me ask 
 about them, the Indian turned and eyed me curiously. 
 I held out my hand, and he took it at once and shook it. 
 I held it out to the squaw, and this seemed to surprise 
 him; but the papoose on her back began waving its 
 skinny little arm, looking at me through its mane of 
 unkempt black hair, so I shook hands with the papoose. 
 This caused the Indian the greatest delight, and he 
 
WINNIPEG TO CALGARY. 137 
 
 rushed at me, and seizing my hand, shook it till I was 
 almost off my feet. I saw round the neck of the 
 papoose a piece of an old leather boot-lace, and moving 
 it gently I found hanging to it a tuft of white horsehair 
 on a piece of hard leather, and underneath a little worn 
 ebony cross bound with silver. The figure of our 
 Saviour which had once hung upon it was missing, all 
 but the feet and part of one hand. It was evidently 
 considered a charm, and hung there together with the 
 pagan ornament. I asked Mr. Irvine whether these 
 people were Christians, and he said, "Not very 
 Christian ; but they are considered Roman Catholic." 
 
 Meantime there was a bargain going on about some 
 flour. In every possible way the Indian had been trying 
 to get the better of Mr. Irvine over the sugar and 
 tobacco which he purchased in two-ounce packets. At 
 least half a dozen times Mr. Irvine weighed out different 
 sized packets of flour, till I marvelled at his exemplary 
 patience. At length, after more than half an hour 
 spent in trying to get it cheaper than the stated price, 
 the Indian bought the whole bag at Mr. Irvine's price, 
 and the- squaw had half a bushel of flour added to her 
 load. 
 
 Whilst the flour was being weighed, I became 
 conscious of a shadow on the floor, and turning round 
 found a tall Blackfoot wrapped in a striped blanket 
 standing close behind me. He was so motionless that 
 he hardly seemed to breathe, but his dark eyes shot 
 piercing glances all over the store. How long he had 
 been standing there I do not know ; but the bargain over 
 the flour being settled, he advanced, and began to 
 question Mr. Irvine about me, speaking in Chenook. 
 Presently he turned round and took a piece of paper 
 from under his blanket and handed it to me to read. 
 It was from a missionary, and was to certify that the 
 bearer of this note was called " Frank, or Tried-to-fly- 
 but-couldn't ; " that he was a pretty fair carpenter, and 
 could dig, and if he asked for work it might be given 
 him, but that if he begged he was to be given nothing. 
 
138 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 He watched me narrowly while I read it, and after^ 
 wards, when I went into another shop to buy some note- 
 paper, I turned round again, and found my too ambitious 
 friend with the name of a moral story-book again 
 watching me like a statue with his sharp eyes and his 
 tightly compressed, cruel, thin lips. 
 
 The physical condition of the people was most 
 distressing. Many of them seemed to like wearing old 
 felt hats, though they dispensed with all but the brims. 
 They cut the crowns into strips like fringe, stuck eagles' 
 feathers in the band ; but the shade of the brim was 
 grateful to their diseased eyes. A good number were 
 hopelessly blind, but whether the cause was ophthalmia 
 or some other complaint, I do not know. There is 
 under heaven no sadder sight than the blind Eed 
 Indian with his long stride unduly hesitating, led by his 
 patient squaw, his blind eyes upturned in total darkness 
 to the skies. 
 
 Whether their present sufferings are a judgment 
 upon them for their atrocious cruelty to each other in 
 past times, and to the dumb creatures on whom they 
 showed no mercy, it is scarcely for us to say. All we 
 know is that the white man has deprived them of their 
 country, their pastime, their position, and in too many 
 instances all he has given them in exchange are his 
 vices and his most hideous diseases. 
 
 But the fun of the day was yet to come, and hearing 
 bells ringing and firing of musketry, I set off in the 
 direction from which the sounds came. Outside, on the 
 parade ground, the Mounted Police were manoeuvring 
 with the big guns, while a crowd of about three hundred 
 people stood in three sides of a square. 
 
 Then the great guns were let off at the word of the 
 officer in command. I saw some of the Indians who 
 were present on horseback change countenance, but 
 they endeavoured to appear stolidly indifferent. 
 
 After the firing the officer in command took off his 
 hat and called for three cheers for the Queen. 
 
 We all did our best, but an excited rancher close 
 
WINNIPEG TO OALGABT. 139 
 
 behind me was far from satisfied at the first cheer, and 
 throwing his cap into the air he roared, " Shout, you 
 brutes ! " which startled me so that my voice was not 
 forthcoming again till the third hurrah. 
 
 After luncheon the races were to take place on the 
 race-course; and all Calgary was to be there — the 
 Indians included. 
 
 The race-course was some three miles from the town, 
 and driving down on a small break we passed the camp 
 of the Indians who had come to the races. For the first 
 time I saw a te-pee, or wigwam, with the smoke curling 
 out at the top, and made up my mind that a te-pee is 
 the only kind of tent worth having. 
 
 There were over a thousand Indians, nearly all of 
 whom were mounted — Blackfeet, Sarcee, and Cree. In 
 their midst was a medicine-man, with a head-dress made 
 of horns and ermine. They were riding about in a 
 frantic manner, and looking round the ring from my 
 seat in the grand- stand, I wondered if the half-dozen 
 red-coated police could have held them if the passion 
 for blood were once kindled. 
 
 But on these occasions they are too keen on racing to 
 care for anything else. They bet with each other, and, 
 to our shame, with the white man, in a wild, random 
 manner. Poor things ! It is the only kind of diversion 
 or sport which they have left them now that the buffalo 
 are gone ; and it is a wise policy which permits them to 
 have this safety-valve for their utter recklessness. 
 
 The ranchers were assembling, and I was astonished 
 and delighted at the quality of the horses entered for 
 the races. 
 
 Yet up to the present horse-ranching at Calgary offers 
 an instance of an industry which has been highly 
 developed to no purpose. It was about fourteen years 
 ago when the, natural facilities of the country for this 
 purpose first attracted attention. The water and grazing 
 is of the very best, and the climate eminently favourable ; 
 what has been all along wanting is a good market. 
 Enormous sums were sunk in the business. Young 
 
140 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 men came out from England, and the greatest interest 
 was taken by them in having everything of the best. 
 At one of the largest ranches, called the Quorn, some 
 very valuable sires were introduced. They were bought 
 in England for prices ranging from one thousand to ten 
 thousand guineas. 
 
 Some of the ranches were started on too large a scale. 
 They were owned by companies formed in England. On 
 one of them two hundred valuable Irish mares were 
 turned loose, besides thoroughbreds of known pedigrees. 
 The plan was at that time to leave the colts running till 
 they were three or four years old, and then get them up 
 and break them in. This was done by force, and by 
 putting heavy weights behind them, and similar harsh 
 measures, by which means the creatures' spirits were 
 broken rather than tamed, and they became stubborn, 
 tricky, and vicious. 
 
 The ranching is now carried on on smaller ranches, 
 with more direct supervision, and the colts are handled 
 from the very commencement. The chief breed now is 
 that of first-class hackneys ; but some Clydesdales have 
 bred a stout working horse, which sometimes finds its 
 way into the London omnibus, and is fairly popular. The 
 thoroughbreds have turned out some good race-horses, 
 which have made their mark in the United States, amongst 
 whom are the well-known Grey Eagle and Plumeray. 
 
 The great want is a better market. Some years ago 
 it was suggested to the Imperial Government that these 
 ranches could provide excellent re-mounts for the army. 
 For reasons which I have never heard stated, Imperial 
 Government did not act on the suggestion ; but since 
 then both Belgium and Germany have imported horses 
 from Calgary as re-mounts to their entire satisfaction. 
 
 The sports consisted of flat races, as well as hurdle 
 and water jumps. There were also trotting matches 
 and a bicycle race. Then the Indians were allowed to 
 come in, and they raced about forty at a time, in all their 
 wild habiliments, on their piebald, striped, and odd- 
 shaped cayuses. In one of the races they all fell in a 
 
WINNIPEG TO CALQABY. 141 
 
 lump together ; but such is the Indian nature that none 
 of them appeared to be even so much as bruised or 
 strained, though to the spectators it seemed probable 
 that at least a dozen would be killed outright and all the 
 rest injured. However, it was only an incident in the race, 
 which was continued as though nothing had happened. 
 
 As I walked back from the race-course to dine at the 
 Alberta, I passed the laundry of a Chinaman. He had 
 written up over the doorway " Joe George," which I felt 
 was done by the wily Celestial to encourage his trade 
 with the English. "Joe George" is a name easily 
 pronounced and not easily forgotten, which cannot be 
 said of Chinese appellations in general. To my last hour 
 in British Columbia I never could remember if my 
 washerman was called Wo Chang or Wang IJo. 
 
 Not even for th& Jubilee would the Chinese give up 
 working. As I passed Joe George's humble tenement I 
 heard a sound like six cats spitting in chorus, and I 
 looked all round, for the domestic cat is rare in Western 
 Canada. I could see nothing, but again I heard the 
 sound ; and this time I felt sure that Joe George must 
 have a wealth of cats in his laundry, and that they were 
 in high dispute. I crossed the road to see ; and, looking 
 in through the doorway, I saw Joe George himself and 
 one of his satellites, who were standing over their 
 ironing-boards, fill their capacious mouths with water 
 out of a small basin, and emit it again in a fine spray 
 all over the shirts stretched out for ironing. 
 
 So engrossed were these Chinamen that at first I 
 remained unnoticed, till Joe George, looking up, smiled 
 at me encouragingly, and bending over his iron to press 
 a crease, he said — 
 
 " Yo learn ? Yo savey wash clo' ? " 
 
 I nodded my head, feeling fairly bereft of the power 
 of speech ; and Joe George smiled indulgently at me. 
 
 In the evening there were fire-works and illuminations, 
 but before they began I returned to the train to go to 
 bed, feeling very tired after a long day and many fresh 
 experiences. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CALGARY TO THE ROCKIES. 
 
 The enforced " stop off " at Calgary was unfortunate, 
 but its irksomeness was relieved by the evident anxiety 
 on the part of the company's officials to do all in their 
 power for our comfort. It was a heavier loss and a 
 greater inconvenience to the C.P.E. than to any one 
 else, and yet it was scarcely to be wondered at if some 
 of the business men with important engagements to 
 fulfil became fairly exasperated at the delay. 
 
 Situated where we were, it was impossible for us to 
 see the extent of the disaster, or we might have been 
 more resigned to our fate. All we saw was the batches 
 of men hurrying past us to the scene of havoc caused 
 by a flood which was unprecedented at that season, and 
 consequently wholly unexpected. Freight trains started 
 from Calgary loaded with materials for reconstruction ; 
 and we were warned not to leave the station for too 
 many hours at a time, as there was no telling how soon 
 or at what hour we might move on. 
 
 This uncertainty prevented me from going to see the 
 large irrigation works undertaken by the Dominion 
 Government. I should especially- have liked seeing 
 them just then, because I heard that the flood had 
 wrecked them ; and this would have been instructive. 
 
 It was at Calgary that I first touched the mining fever, 
 and met people carrying rock in their pockets. One old 
 gentleman, who had been in the business since his boy- 
 hood, interested me extremely. He was on his way 
 East, and only spent a few hours in Calgary to see some. 
 
CALQABT TO THE BOOKIES. 143 
 
 friends. He had come up from Lethbridge, haying 
 crossed the Eockies by the Crow's Nest pass, which was 
 already in the hands of the railway surveyors and 
 engineers. From my conversations with various people, 
 I could not doubt the existence of very valuable proper- 
 ties in British Columbia. The feature which seemed of 
 paramount interest was the raising of capital, and on 
 this point I heard a good deal. 
 
 One man assured me that insufficient capital had been 
 the only deterrent to success hitherto. He said — 
 
 "A man has a property, but no capital. What is 
 he to do ? He forms a company with a nominal capital 
 of, say, $1,000,000. This is divided into promoter's 
 Bhares and treasury shares. The promoter's shares are 
 three to one. The par value is $1, and they are sold at 
 from 10 cents apiece to 25 cents. This is an easy way 
 of raising capital. Sometimes only a limited number of 
 shares are sold at 10 cents, and the rest held back. 
 Now, you will see that this system has its evils ; for it 
 means that the mine is under-capitalized from the 
 beginning, and never has a chance. Yet it is the 
 easiest way of raising capital." 
 
 Nevertheless, I could not but believe that there was 
 capital forthcoming, even in Canada itself, for sincere 
 exploitation of mining properties. A man from the 
 States told me that he had been engaged in the " selec- 
 tion of properties," and was fully satisfied with his 
 prospects. He said — 
 
 "I know they are not all certainties, but even the 
 worst will pay me. I and my friends will take up the 
 claims which are proved, and keep them. The others 
 we shall dispose of- on the London market, so soon as 
 we shall be able to declare a good dividend on our own 
 properties." 
 
 I asked if he was prepared to part with any of his 
 properties ? and he answered, " Not at present ; but 
 eventually we shall sell those for which we have no 
 use." I asked him if the mines he intended to develop 
 were actually in the market, and he said, "No; they 
 
144 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEBS. 
 
 are held privately. We have no occasion to go to the 
 public; but if we want more capital later on, we can 
 get it by the sale of the claims for which we have 
 no use." 
 
 This struck me as being remarkably similar to a 
 method I had heard described as "Unloading rubbish 
 on the London market." 
 
 Meantime the subject of the ranching at Calgary and 
 Alberta generally appeared to me less and less satis- 
 factory. I saw a great many young Englishmen who 
 were evidently engaged in ranching; but they struck 
 me as being an idle, card-playing, and drinking set of 
 young fellows, and I could not wonder at the stories 
 of failure I heard. Another, steadier class of men had 
 since come into the country, who were not the sons of 
 gentleman, and were not backed by capital or assisted 
 by remittances. As for the other poor boys, I ascribed 
 their ruin to their being sent out young and inexperienced 
 to " learn ranching " with men who took every advan- 
 tage of them. As one lady said to me who had watched 
 the careers of many of them, " They are fools, poor 
 boys ! when they come out, and they become knaveB." 
 
 The tricks which they play upon their parents or 
 guardians at home to get money, when the usual supply 
 is falling short, would form a chapter in itself. One 
 young fellow whose debts pressed upon him, wrote home 
 and asked for £500. This was refused; so he wrote 
 again, and said it was a pity that he should not have 
 the money, for his ranch was just beginning to pay. 
 He had five hundred fat golphers * running on it ; and 
 in a month or two he expected to reap a handsome 
 return for his trouble. The £500 was sent to him. 
 
 Many similar tales did I hear, of the quickness shown 
 by these boys in taking advantage of the ignorance of 
 their parents ; but the chief blame I attribute to the 
 elder men, with some of whom the sole object in life 
 is to bleed these boys till, ruined and heart-broken, they 
 
 * The golpher is the pest of the prairie. It is a creature between a 
 rat and a guinea-pig, and extremely destructive in its habits. 
 
CALGABY TO TEE ROCKIES. 145 
 
 are neither welcomed at hotels, nor the Eancher's Club, 
 nor fit to return to their homes. 
 
 Things are improving at Calgary, owing to the death 
 or removal of some of the worst characters; but still 
 parents would do well to exercise caution in sending 
 boys to this neighbourhood for the next few years. 
 
 That evening, as I stood gazing at the Eockies with 
 longing eyes — for they are visible from Calgary — a little 
 Canadense came up to me. She was from the East, and 
 had come up on my train. 
 
 " You are going to write a book on Canada, I hear ? " 
 she began interrogatively; and without waiting for a 
 reply continued, " Well, mind you say everything that 
 is very very nice about Canada. And if you come across 
 anything that is not quite nice, don't you let on — don't 
 you let on ! " 
 
 Her earnestness and patriotism delighted me ; but I 
 felt it was just another instance of the flinching from 
 adverse criticism of any kind, which is the charac- 
 teristic that all colonists share in common ; and a thing 
 to be wondered at, considering their British origin. 
 
 Presently I became aware that our sleeping-car — 
 which had been wheeled backwards and placed on other 
 lines during the day — was filling up. It required an 
 effort to go to bed with so many of one's fellow-creatures 
 huddled together; but luckily I had a lower berth to 
 myself, and the cowboy and his "chum " who came in 
 late and took the berth above me at the last moment, 
 were very quiet and considerate. 
 
 One lady came to me in distress to say that a mother 
 and two children were put over her; and presently 
 another came, to tell me that a German couple on their 
 honey-moon were in the berth above her, and that the 
 lady threatened to become hysterical if the train moved 
 on, for fear of an accident. 
 
 At length the babel subsided, and content to have got 
 my window open, I fell asleep. 
 
 The dawn was beginning to creep over the prairie 
 when I woke to find the train in motion. For some 
 
146 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 time I lay still, in a happy frame of mind, to think that 
 we were making progress, however slow. Presently it 
 occurred to me that it would be interesting to go outside 
 and see the effects of the disaster from the platform in 
 front of the car. 
 
 I washed and dressed myself, and went outside. My 
 move was anticipated by the German couple, who stood 
 clasping each other's hands. I noticed that the lady's 
 dress was not hooked, and presently I saw her stays 
 under her cloak. They were in a theatrical pose, and 
 as I contemplated them I came to the conclusion that 
 they were the very people to begin a panic if a smash 
 occurred. 
 
 Nor was I far wrong, for presently the poor girl who 
 had to spend the night below them came and clutched 
 my arm. "Do you think there's any danger?" she 
 asked. " Those people keep saying we shall be killed." 
 
 " I put faith in the company," I replied. "Our deaths 
 would be a costly business for them ; so I am sure they 
 will preserve us alive if possible." 
 
 I was astonished at the rapidity with which the line 
 had been repaired. There were miles upon miles of 
 rails which had been washed away and twisted out of 
 shape. We went very cautiously over hastily extempo- 
 rized bridges, and men were stationed at intervals to 
 watch us passing, at a rate which must have been about 
 seven miles an hour. 
 
 I saw sheep ranches and horse ranches among round 
 green hills, and at last we broke into a country of rock 
 and scrub, and came to a standstill before a wooden 
 house. 
 
 Here we were to have breakfast. The dining-car was 
 on in front, with the car containing my old friends of 
 the Parisian; but, to my surprise, on getting out of 
 the train I found it was of immense length. There was 
 a colonist car, containing emigrants ; our own car ; 
 another full of Presbyterian divines, who had been sum- 
 moned to a convention at Winnipeg by Dr. Eobertson, 
 and given free passes by the company on their way 
 
CALGARY TO THE BOOKIES. 147 
 
 home to British Columbia ; and last of all there was a 
 car of Chinese, who were all on their way back to China, 
 having realized fortunes in Canada. The Chinese 
 cooked their own food, and ate it in their own car ; but 
 the rest of the passengers who could not squeeze into 
 the dining-car were supplied with a meal at the Section- 
 house by some Norwegian peasants. There we sat on 
 wooden settles, eating rashers of grilled ham, and drink- 
 ing hot water flavoured with milk and sugar, which 
 these excellent people called " English breakfast tea." 
 
 After breakfast was over I spent a delightful hour 
 delivering letters of introduction, which Dr. Eobertson 
 had given me, to the Presbyterian divines. If they were 
 surprised they concealed their feelings ; but I felt that 
 they were taken slightly off their guard, and that their 
 wit was less ready than usual. Needless to say, I found 
 them very able men, with a remarkably thorough know- 
 ledge of the country and its inhabitants. 
 
 Another hour of cautious travelling (during which it 
 was a great pleasure to walk through the train from end 
 to end, inspecting the different species of humanity with 
 which it was packed), and then we came to a final stand- 
 still, having reached the bridge across the Bow, which 
 had been completely wrecked. 
 
 Here we had to get out with our luggage, walk over 
 the temporarily repaired bridge, and get in a freight 
 train on the other side. 
 
 It was a scene which I shall never forget. The long 
 passenger train, containing so many human beings, and 
 all their baggage, together with the mails for the West 
 Coast, Yokohama, and the Orient. On either side of us 
 were the wilds of the Bockies. Now and then an excited 
 Indian had galloped up to look at us, and raced his 
 horse against our train, vanishing at length with a howl 
 of triumph ; but we, as we pressed on, represented the 
 march of civilization, the triumph of human genius over 
 the forces of Nature — for surely never was there a more 
 difficult feat of engineering than this railway through 
 the Kicking Horse paBS ! 
 
148 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB. BETTLEES. 
 
 The train stopped — baffled, as it were, by the uproar 
 of the river ; but though the bridge was down, and some 
 of the arches carried completely away, the space between 
 the two portions — which lay wrecked in mid stream — was 
 spanned by iron rails — to which boards were lashed. In 
 order to connect the two ends of the bridge, which were 
 down in the water, these rails were on the level of the 
 water in the middle. It was a novel sensation thus to 
 walk in batches of half a dozen at a time downhill into 
 the middle of the river, and up again on the other side, 
 with nothing but an elastic board between one's feet 
 and the evil-minded flood below. 
 
 The freight train consisted of open trucks and guards' 
 break-vans. Many people preferred to sit on the open 
 trucks ; but finding that Mr. Henry, the Presbyterian 
 divine from Brandon, and his wife were going in a 
 guard's van in front of the trucks, I accompanied them. 
 Mrs. Henry remained inside, having a nice seat close to 
 the window. I found the view wider, and more interest- 
 ing outside ; so I got through the window, and sat on 
 the top. 
 
 Before this arrangement was arrived at, I went back 
 to see what was being done about the baggage. I found 
 that it was all being turned out of the van, and that one 
 of the company's officials was sitting on a box giving 
 instructions. I sat by his side for a time, watching 
 the various pieces of personal effects tumbling out of 
 the van. 
 
 Presently out came a large wooden box which required 
 three men to move it. " Really," I exclaimed, " I should 
 have thought a thing like that might have waited for 
 another day." 
 
 The official smiled. "That," said he, "is a dead 
 Chinaman, and his friends are taking him back to 
 China. He couldn't wait." I looked again, and saw 
 that the deal box was really shaped like a coffin. " He 
 is embalmed. His own doctor embalmed him, and he , 
 is going to catch the Empress of Japan, who has been 
 kept waiting for the mails at Vancouver." 
 
CALGABY TO TEE ROOKIES. 149 
 
 I remembered that my friends from the Parisian were 
 " going to catch the Empress of Japan" and promised 
 myself that I would introduce them to their travelling 
 companion. 
 
 The stream of passengers went past us towards the 
 bridge, and presently the Chinese began to file by. 
 There were two huge navvies carrying between them the 
 emaciated form of a Chinaman. " He is being taken 
 back to die in China," said my friend. 
 
 " Poor thing ! " I exclaimed, " why don't they let him 
 die in peace here ? " 
 
 A low laugh was the immediate answer; and then 
 the words came slowly — 
 
 " He costs only half to transport while he's alive ; 
 but after he's dead the price goes up double, and there's 
 the embalming too. Many Chinamen die on board. 
 All our ships carry a few spare coffins in case. He'll 
 probably die on the way, but they'll get him as far as 
 they can alive." 
 
 " But he may recover when he gets to China." 
 
 "That's not likely. His friends arn't likely to wish 
 him to. There are plenty of them there. He would be 
 cheaper to bury than to doctor and nurse ; and when 
 he's dead he can't use up the money he is taking home 
 with him." 
 
 Soon after I left my friend to try and find out the 
 name of the embalmed Chinaman. I felt sure he must 
 be a person of consequence to be travelling thus. 
 
 I found Mr. Stuart giving directions, and as he was 
 an official of standing, and in a position to know, I 
 asked him who the dead Chinaman was in the coffin 
 consigned to the Empress of Japan. 
 
 Mr. Stuart laughed. "He's no one in particular," 
 he said ; " we have scores and scores go by like that. 
 A Chinaman, if he dies, must go back to China ; and 
 probably this man washed clothes, or was a general 
 servant while he lived." 
 
 He Btopped to order " two men — good ones, mind," 
 to go to the rear with a chair. I went back, partly to 
 
150 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB, SETTLERS. 
 
 see what had become of my luggage, and sat down for 
 a few minutes' more conversation with my friend at the 
 luggage van. 
 
 As I sat there the " two men — good ones " went by, 
 and presently returned with a poor old lady, very sickly 
 and infirm, who looked ready to die with fright, but 
 resigned to the care of the navvies. And what tender 
 care it was ! Had they been her own sons they could 
 not have been more gentle or consoling. And so were 
 the two who carried the dying Chinaman. John trusted 
 them implicitly ; his only anxiety appeared to be not to 
 lose his shoes, and his poor feet were too thin to keep 
 them on. First one came off, and a navvy picked it up 
 and put it on again; then a few steps, and the other 
 fell off. Whereupon John begged them to give him 
 both his shoes, and he held them in his hands. 
 
 I had sat down on a box — when suddenly I leaped to 
 my feet ; for I discovered that I was sitting on the 
 Chinaman's coffin. Such contempt does familiarity 
 breed ! I went back to look at it once more ; and there, 
 in the centre, I saw beautiful Chinese lettering in green 
 paint — doubtless the coffin-plate of the dead man. It 
 looked very artistic beside the company's pink printed 
 label affixed a little lower down. 
 
 After this I went back to the freight train, and, climb- 
 ing on to the roof of my van, I told Mrs. Henry all I 
 had seen. She would not believe me at first, but 
 happened shortly afterwards to put her head out of the 
 window at the critical moment, and saw the coffin being 
 lifted. On the roof of the van immediately in front of us 
 the Presbyterian divines were grouped. They spread 
 out their coat-tails, and looked for all the world like a 
 company of rooks. I wanted a little time to myself to 
 understand the Eockies, or I should have liked to pene- 
 trate amongst them, for I felt sure they were saying 
 things which were " pawky and keen," and taking slices 
 off each other with crisp sayings that they brought with 
 them bottled up for the occasion. Certainly no men 
 enjoyed a piece of travelling more thoroughly than 
 
CALGARY TO THE ROOKIES. 151 
 
 they did. Amongst us was a bride-elect, who was to be 
 married immediately on her arrival the other side of the 
 Eockies ; and was consequently dressed in her best, as 
 became her wedding day. 
 
 It had been a disappointment to us that the 
 Eockies were obscured by mist ; but while we waited 
 the mists cleared away as the sun strengthened. The 
 great mass of the mountains stood out boldly and 
 defiantly, yet with countless tender little lines — the 
 footprints of events which passed over them in the 
 childhood of the world. I went away for a little while 
 by myself, and, sitting down, I tried to formulate the 
 impression that these mountains would make on people 
 who came to them as I did for the first time from the 
 enclosed fields and pastoral scenes of home. I con- 
 trasted them with the little rounded hills of Essex, and 
 the wide valleys where slow rivers meandered in green 
 pastures. I knew that these mountains represented 
 the kind of scenery with which I should soon become 
 familiar. 
 
 They were but the first range of miles and miles of 
 mountains. Still, I scarcely understood the power this 
 scenery had to compel attention; or the influence it 
 undoubtedly exercises on human character. All other 
 mountain scenery I had seen was smaller, and missed 
 altogether the wild ferocity, the sharpness of outline 
 and definition of the Eockies. They were terrible in 
 their vastness, though over some minds mountains exer- 
 cise a peculiar fascination. These mountains were 
 more rugged — fresher, as it were, from the workship of 
 Nature — than any others I had seen. Their outlines were 
 almost ferocious in their strength and freshness, and 
 recalled the old poetical simile of strong contrast, " How 
 say ye, then, to my soul that she should flee as a bird 
 unto the hill ? " All that was powerful and defensive 
 in material Nature seemed expressed by these Eockie 
 heights. 
 
 Yet it was impossible not to be struck with a terrible 
 sense of past conflict ; the traces of a stupendous death- 
 
152 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 struggle made themselves felt above everything else- 
 some terrific battle in the long past, when the world 
 was moulded or educated piece by piece; and tre- 
 mendous forces now laid to rest, of whose existence we 
 gain but a dim idea of, were once upon this scene. 
 
 Once, when there was chaos, God said, " Let there be 
 light ! " and forthwith the breath dispersed the mists. 
 The light fell across the wild confusion of land and 
 water and tangled shapes of flying clouds. Strange 
 forms drew together, binding atoms into the strength of 
 the hills, and locking waters into the depths of the sea. 
 Above the heights arose, towering in majesty, which 
 now are softened and smoothed by the hands of Time. 
 Then they were garrisoned by fierce forces. Deep 
 within we cannot tell what took place in their secret 
 caverns, or how the powers worked, and like drew 
 towards like, and there was burning and grinding and 
 the thunder of awful struggle, as one power clashed 
 with and overcame other powers, and there were rents 
 and divisions and upheavals ; till the glaciers formed 
 without, covering the fierce fires, freezing what had been 
 molten rock, smoothing and concealing the marks of 
 strife, and where they passed leaving a trail for an 
 eternal memory. Then the suns of many centuries beat 
 upon the rocks and scorched them. So by degrees the 
 old battle spirit wore out, and now they are patiently 
 yielding themselves for the good of the world. Ages 
 have passed over them, and they stand, yielding food to 
 the life of the oceans, fertilizers for the prairie and 
 the field, gold for the cities of men; still they point 
 upwards, teaching patient, steady self- surrender. Silver 
 peaks, dazzling limestone with rich purple shadows! 
 The gloom of caverns and dark ravines ! The brightness, 
 the aspiration, the purity of beauty untouched by the 
 hand of man ; sublime in simplicity and the length of 
 days ! At their feet one forgets one's self in a contem- 
 plation too deep for words. To retire from the city and 
 the poor little "dreams in stone," to be alone with the 
 majestic masterpiece of the first rough sketch of this 
 
CALGABY TO TEH BOOKIES. 153 
 
 world's life, is good for the soul ; and to feel how frail 
 and transitory a thing is man — " who hath but a short 
 time to live ; who cometh up as a flower, and is cut 
 down; who fleeth as it were a shadow, and never 
 continueth long in one stay." 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 THE ROCKIES TO VICTORIA. 
 
 Several hours elapsed before our freight train began to 
 move, and I was compelled to remain on the roof. 
 Whilst there, it was impossible to avoid being irritable, 
 for the scenery was of a kind one desired to be alone 
 with, and anywhere on the train people came and 
 interrupted one's thoughts with mere talk. 
 
 The outlines of these rocks are very uncouth, and no 
 adequate idea can be gained of them from the inside of 
 a train. I felt that I should like to ride through the 
 Eockies on horseback ; taking my own tepee and pitching 
 it where I liked. 
 
 At Canmore we met a passenger train, which was 
 waiting for us. We were the first people to come 
 through after the "wash out," and the passengers were 
 all outside the train waiting for us, and received us with 
 a hearty cheer. 
 
 Then began another great removal of ourselves, our 
 baggage, the dead, the dying, and the mails ; and once 
 again we found ourselves in a passenger train, while 
 those who had come up from Banff took our place in 
 the freight cars. 
 
 The rest of the way to Banff I could think of nothing 
 but the desire for food. Calgary had been a time of 
 meagre meals, snatched in the overcrowded inns, where 
 the food, at the best of times, is never good. What 
 happened at Banff was described by a lady, who was 
 staying in the hotel, in a letter which, some time after- 
 wards, was read out in my presence in Yictoria. 
 
TEE BOOKIES TO VICTORIA. 155 
 
 " Three hundred passengers have suddenly arrived by 
 the train and eaten up everything, so that we can get 
 nothing." 
 
 In this I was not to blame; for, so far as eating up 
 the supplies went, I came in for as little as any one, 
 being employed at the time that others were dining in 
 trying a sulphur spring bath. The water was delicious, 
 and should be highly medicinal, but the accommodation 
 was very poor. 
 
 The hotel at Banff is a good one. There is a fine 
 natural park, containing Lord Strathcona's herd of 
 buffalo. There are good roads ; and a day or two may 
 well be spent there. It is an excellent starting-point 
 for sportsmen. The scenery reminded me of Norway, 
 and I found myself following a small stream and 
 gathering the wild strawberries which grew in the rough 
 grass. 
 
 At length it became dark and chilly, and I climbed 
 into the train, put on a wrap, and went to sit in the 
 observation car. Here people were collected in knots, 
 talking, for it was too dark to read. There were one or 
 two miners and an old " trail-blazer ; " these were 
 talking to my cowboy friend and his chum. Presently 
 they began singing ; and wonderfully well they sang. 
 We had the old songs of home — " The Last Eose of 
 Summer," "Annie Laurie," "The Land o' the Leal," 
 and "Home, Sweet Home." This last surprised me, 
 for in South Africa it was tabooed. No one, I believe, 
 had the heart to sing this song in that strange land. 
 
 The old songs finished, the performers started some 
 songs of their own. These were the compositions of the 
 cowboys or miners by their camp-fires. 
 
 I listened with delight, for some of them were in- 
 tensely quaint. Where these fellows learnt to sing I 
 cannot tell, but they had the intonation of cultivated 
 Englishmen, and very good voices too. The art of cow- 
 boy, songs was a quick exchange of sentiment for fun, of 
 pathos into bathos; with a curious scanning of their own 
 invention. One I remember, so far as the first verse 
 
156 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 goes. It began in a slow, pathetic strain, to which the 
 tenor lent itself perfectly — 
 
 " We fell in 1 — o — v — e — one night . . . 
 Arter tea ! 
 When she was riding — riding — ri — iding — 
 Home in her father's cart old . . . 
 Meikie Magee ! " 
 
 After Banff our troubles were passed, and certainly 
 the disaster had been wonderfully met. Sometimes I 
 heard it proposed — and the idea is so amusing that it is 
 worth recording — that the C.P.E. should be placed under 
 Government management ; that then, and not till then, 
 would the line be a success and cease to be " the curse 
 of the country." 
 
 I thoroughly enjoyed " the curse," and appreciated to 
 the fullest extent the management of the Government, 
 but I must say that it would be quite as good business 
 to propose that the railway should run the Government, 
 as that the Government should manage the railway. In 
 Colonial affairs an immense weight attaches to business 
 capacity, and when I weighed the capacity of the one 
 against the other, I found that the qualifications for 
 rendering the C.P.E. even as partially successful as its 
 worst detractors may admit it to be, were fully equal to 
 anything I found in Government offices. 
 
 But there may be other motives underlying the 
 superficial criticisms, upon which the following extract 
 from a leading Canadian journal may possibly throw a 
 little light. In the States it is unfortunately common 
 to treat politics as a handle or tool with which to obtain 
 commercial or financial advantages. It is this degrada- 
 tion that Canada must guard herself against. It is, at 
 least, satisfactory to find that the danger is openly 
 acknowledged. The management of business concerns 
 may not always be above suspicion; but the opportunities 
 for peculation are unquestionably increased when politics 
 are mixed up with trading concerns of whatever character; 
 and Government railways offer special opportunities. 
 
THE BOCKIES TO VICTORIA. 157 
 
 " It is undeniable that a belief exists widely amongst us 
 that Governments and municipalities are fair game for over- 
 charges by contractors or servants. Many a man or firm, 
 otherwise honest, will charge on a Government job a higher 
 price than he would if working or tendering for an individual, 
 and will contend that he is justified in so doing. In fact, 
 people do not recognize that in working for the common- 
 wealth any member of it ought to show exactly the same 
 regard for honesty and economy as if the transaction were 
 with his next-door neighbour." 
 
 It is in this way that Government works become 
 milch kine to the people. 
 
 Prom Banff onward our journey lay through the 
 magnificent scenery of the Selkirk mountains. We 
 passed across valleys about a mile to two miks wide, 
 where, with drainage of the swamps, crops of some kind 
 might be grown. Then we came into the dry belt, where 
 the principal necessity was irrigation; and from this 
 we went into the district of the Lower Fraser, which I 
 heard called the " gum boot country," where drainage 
 is of paramount necessity. The vegetation here is 
 tremendous, and I was filled with wonder and delight 
 at the gigantic cedar trees and the luxuriant masses of 
 ferns. We were approaching the American border, and 
 before we reached Vancouver I could see the snow- 
 capped peak of Mount Baker, in the State of Washington. 
 
 The journey had been an exhausting one, and I was 
 very anxious to proceed as soon as possible to Victoria. 
 The company were so good as to facilitate my doing 
 so by allowing me to cross in their ocean liner The 
 Empress of Japan, which stopped in the roadstead 
 outside Victoria to take up mails and passengers for the 
 Orient. 
 
 This voyage was most enjoyable. The ship was in 
 itself a perfect specimen of a first-class liner, arranged 
 expressly for the comfort of passengers ; and at the time 
 I would have given a good deal to have been going on 
 in her to, Japan. 
 
 Vancouver is a prosaic city, which will, in time, 
 
158 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 become a bustling seaport of immense importance. 
 The passage across to Victoria is a beautiful panorama, 
 and I regretted to leave the deck even for the sake of 
 breakfast and luncheon. 
 
 The servants who waited on us were Chinese, and 
 wore lovely blue blouses, with black caps like the lids 
 of cannisters. Forgetting that they might understand 
 English, I remarked upon them to the ship's officer, by 
 whose side I sat. " They are not so ugly, either," I said. 
 "That young fellow by the side-board is almost hand- 
 some." To my astonishment, John's countenance 
 changed immediately, and he pranced past me out of 
 the saloon, as though he were escaping from a dangerous 
 situation. 
 
 In the pamphlet entitled " Vancouver Island as a 
 Home for Settlers," this passage occurs with regard to 
 Victoria : — 
 
 "In addition to its inner land-locked harbour, extensive 
 docks have been constructed at its entrance, capable of 
 accommodating a large fleet of ocean steamers and sailing 
 vessels." 
 
 , I was repeating this eloquent passage to myself as 
 I descended the stairs from the Empress of Japan to the 
 deck of the little tender which had come out with the 
 mails. I made up my mind to look out for the docks 
 and the ocean steamers ; but I never saw them. I saw 
 the Empress of Japan sweep round and put out to sea 
 like some beautiful strange bird or fish; but she had 
 not availed herself of the harbour or docks, nor did 
 I see any other " ocean steamer." But I own my eyes 
 were blinded by the exquisite natural beauty of the bay 
 as it lay before me in the evening sunlight. I could 
 only repeat to myself, " What a heavenly spot to live 
 in ! " and look round from one site to another, each in 
 turn seeming more beautiful than the last. But the 
 tender drew into what I have no doubt was a land- 
 locked harbour full of sealing crafts, while beyond them 
 I saw the majestic pile of the Government buildings, 
 
TE$ ROCKIES TO VICTORIA. 159 
 
 glistening white in the sunlight under an azure sky. 
 Veritable palaces of ivory they seemed! I did not 
 realize the crazy little wooden landing or the sparsity 
 of the warehouses for the freighting of the "ocean 
 steamers." I walked, as in a dream, to the carriage 
 which Mrs. Dupont had kindly sent for me, and, leaving 
 my baggage to follow, I shut myself in to rest and 
 realize that I had travelled three thousand miles from 
 Montreal to an island in the Pacific. 
 
 The following day was Sunday, and, beyond going to 
 church, I did nothing except lounge in the garden at 
 Stadacona, feast on the strawberries and cherries, and 
 revel in the flowers. I saw a humming-bird, but I 
 believe they are rare in Victoria. 
 
 As soon as possible, I went to call on Colonel Baker 
 and Mr. Turner, by whom I was very kindly received 
 at the Government buildings. 
 
 Colonel Baker, as the Minister for Immigration, had 
 collected some very clear ideas on the subject with 
 regard to British Columbia. The first point on which 
 he placed the strongest insistance was that people who 
 emigrated should be of a class suitable to the conditions 
 of the country, and acceptable as an addition to the 
 population. He did not appear to rate the British 
 emigrant very highly; nor even. to regard him as the 
 man most wanted at that particular time. I had to 
 listen to a great many tales of young Englishmen who 
 had come out and failed — and failed, too, in spite of 
 good chances which had been given them. He was 
 averse to the idea of men coming out who were penni- 
 less ; and also to young men being supplied with money 
 from home. He told me of one young fellow who had 
 lived on his remittances till the patience of his relations 
 became exhausted and the money ceased. Upon this 
 he took the expedient of cabling two words: "John 
 destitute" A cable of three words was the reply: 
 "Destitute John work." "And, be it known to his 
 credit," said the colonel, as he finished laughing, 
 " John did work, and is now, I believe, fast proving 
 
160 BBITISS COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 himself a good man. If they come out with a little 
 money to invest," he continued, "unless they can 
 determine not to touch it for at least a year, they will 
 certainly lose it; for every one with a 'wild cat' 
 scheme will be sure to catch them. Naturally, they 
 always go for the ' tender-foot,' as they call them." 
 
 Another thing that Colonel Baker disapproved of was 
 the payment of premiums. " What do they want with 
 that?" he exclaimed. "If the young fellow has legs and 
 arms and common sense, he ought to be able to work, 
 and if he can work he ought to be paid. And he will 
 learn far more as a workman than in any other way." 
 He went on to describe to me the very simple nature 
 of farming in this country; that there were no deep 
 mysteries which a man required to study, for everything 
 was too primitive at the present time. "If you take 
 from a young man the right to earn money — earn his 
 bread — you take from him the best incentive to get on 
 and become a useful man." 
 
 Then he drew a description of what happened under 
 the paid-premium system, every word of which I believe 
 to be perfectly true, for I found the practice universally 
 condemned — except by those who made money out of it. 
 
 But if the Colonel was not in favour of the gentleman 
 emigrant, he was still less inclined to encourage the 
 working man. " Artisans and mechanics we don't 
 require," he said, "and your farm-labourers do not 
 understand the country ; and then it's hard for them— 
 very hard. They can't adapt themselves. They don't 
 see it." 
 
 I could not but think it was hard, when I remembered 
 the trees which would require felling, some of them 
 seven feet in diameter. 
 
 But it was not only the clearing of the ground, but 
 the distance from markets and the expense of road- 
 making which Colonel Baker was thinking of. 
 
 At length I said, " Tell me of something which you 
 have done, or which you have seen to be a success in 
 your own time." 
 
THE ROCKIES TO VICTORIA. 161 
 
 " Well," he said, "you have heard of the settlement 
 of Bella Coola ? Now, that is a success ! But, in the 
 first place, we got hold of exactly the right people ; and 
 then it has taken time. It did not succeed all at once. 
 But now it is a success." 
 
 It seems that while there are no free grants of land 
 in British Columbia, grants were made to the Bella 
 Coola settlement under extraordinary circumstances. 
 The emigrants were Norwegians and Danes, most of 
 whom came from Minnesota. The settlement com- 
 prised about thirty families, and, in the first instance, 
 the terms offered them were free grants, on the condition 
 that they improved their land to the amount of $5 an 
 acre, and bona fide personal occupation; for five years. 
 Government built them a school and post-office, made 
 roads, and constructed a wharf for the accommodation 
 of steamers. 
 
 All these emigrants were known to have a little 
 capital. They were industrious, thrifty, and hardy, and 
 they had some previous knowledge of the kind of country. 
 
 Yet another reason to account for the success of 
 the Bella Coola settlement is the situation of Bella 
 Coola itself. It is on the north-west coast of the main-, 
 land, about four hundred miles from Victoria, in latitude 
 52° 26' N. ; and probably a more congenial spot for the 
 settlement of Scandinavians than this river on Bentinck 
 Arm could hardly be imagined. The settlement is not 
 merely agricultural, but as it increases — and it is 
 increasing rapidly, and upon sound lines — the people 
 will help in providing the class of fishermen so greatly 
 needed to develop the fishing industry of the west coast. 
 
 The river Bella Coola is navigable for some distance to 
 small crafts during the summer months, and at the head 
 of it is the trail known as Lieutenant Palmer's trail, 
 which goes straight into the rich gold country of Barker- 
 yille and Quesnelle river. It is only reasonable to sur- 
 mise that there is plenty of " red gold for the winning " 
 in this hinterland, to which Bella Coola is the port of 
 entry. 
 
 M 
 
162 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 As Colonel Baker gave me the history of this settle- 
 ment, which was started in 1893, and told me of the 
 opposition which the plan encountered until it showed 
 unmistakable signs of success, I could not help think- 
 ing that the real Colonial policy lay in similar under- 
 takings. 
 
 "If the people could only see it," said the Colonel, 
 waxing enthusiastic, " here they have the best means of 
 creating markets for their merchandise. The money so 
 spent is well invested, for here we are importing butter 
 from the United States on which we paid a duty last year 
 of $11,159 for Vancouver Island alone, which duty goes 
 to Canada, and does not increase our revenue at all." 
 
 The Government of British Columbia owns plenty of 
 land in the Bella Coola district. The terms of pre-emp- 
 tion are $1 an acre, with bona fide personal occupation, 
 and $5 for the fee simple. The Government puts down 
 roads, and as soon as there are twelve children of an 
 age to attend, builds them schools. 
 
 The valley of Bella Coola is inland, situated about 
 sixty miles from the coast-line, running eastward, and 
 with a gradual rise from the sea to an altitude of about 
 nine hundred feet at the head of the valley. 
 
 The climate there is much drier than the coast, which 
 is invariably humid. The temperature during the sum- 
 mer of 1895 was frequently 95°-96° in the shade, and 
 during the winters of 1895 and 1896 the coldest regis- 
 tered was 2° above, and 2° below zero. There is valuable 
 grazing land in the interior, which up to the present 
 time has had no nearer shipping-point than the Fraser 
 river. 
 
 The settlers have already demonstrated that vege- 
 tables of the best quality will grow there, including peas, 
 onions, cucumbers, and beet-root. All kinds of root crops 
 answer admirably, especially potatoes, and also small 
 fruits, such as English gooseberries and strawberries. 
 Stone fruits and apples have been planted, and the 
 trees are flourishing. 
 
 The first snowfall comes in November, but this rarely 
 
THE ROOKIES TO VICTORIA. 163 
 
 lasts, the winter really beginning late in December. 
 During January there are two or three feet of snow — as 
 much as five feet have been known — and sleighing lasts 
 from six to nine weeks. Spring commences early in 
 April, or the latter part of March. 
 
 The higher land is heavily timbered with cedar and 
 spruce, and it is here that the chief difficulty and cost 
 of settlement comes in. The land may be pre-empted at 
 $1 an acre, but $200 per acre should be reckoned for the 
 felling of timber and clearing of stumps. The cedar 
 stumps are specially hard to remove, and though the 
 first year a crop of timothy and alsike may be grown be- 
 tween them, they must inevitably be dug out. Blasting 
 with gunpowder, and hauling with pulleys, are the 
 means resorted to. The following are calculations 
 offered by the Government Eeport : — 
 
 " For clearing land of all timber, leaving the stumps so 
 that grass can be grown and trees planted, about $100 an 
 acre." 
 
 I think myself that this estimate is rather high. Nor 
 do I consider it very advisable to plant fruit trees until 
 the blasting and hauling is over. 
 
 There are lands lower down where there are deciduous 
 trees, and these are comparatively easy to clear. It 
 must be borne in mind, however, that the land must be 
 carefully watched and gone over during the summer, 
 when the stumps of deciduous trees try to start growing 
 a second time. The Government Eeport gives the follow- 
 ing estimate ; — 
 
 " For clearing bottom lands covered with alder, willow, 
 maple, bircb, &c, including removal of stumps, about $100 
 to $125 per acre, without horse-power or machinery." 
 
 The following note is worth remembering, in relation 
 to the everlasting subject of forage : — 
 
 " Time required to clear land would depend upon horse- 
 power being used ; but it would not be profitable at first, as 
 all feed would cost too much." 
 
164 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 My conversation with Colonel Baker impressed me 
 very much with the opportunities which I believed Bella 
 Coola offered to agricultural emigrants. I afterwards 
 heard a good deal from other people, both of this district 
 and of Chilcot, and regretted very much that the time 
 at my disposal did not allow of my visiting these 
 places. 
 
 With Vancouver Island itself I was greatly dis- 
 appointed, though many people tried to persuade me 
 of its advantages. That it was a lovely spot was un- 
 deniable, but the chances for emigrants appeared to me 
 to have been subordinated to other interests. Immense 
 grants of land had been made to individuals who not only 
 intended to screw as high a price as possible out of tbe 
 purchaser, but their influence in the Government was 
 sufficiently strong to prevent Government initiating any 
 scheme of settlement offering similar advantages to those 
 at Bella Coola. As it was, the island offered a splendid 
 market for American produce, and the rate of living 
 being bigh in consequence, it had not flourished as a 
 residential centre. There bad been a boom in property 
 in Victoria, but it had died out, for the simple reason 
 that it was fictitious, and the work of speculators, bona 
 fide purchasers, and intending residents, not being forth- 
 coming in sufficient numbers to justify the prices. 
 
 I saw that Victoria had no local market. There 
 was very little money in the place, if tbe gold hoarded 
 in oak boxes in the bank by certain rich people was 
 excepted ; and a distinct aversion to spending money in 
 the general public made it hazardous to introduce pro- 
 ducts. Although Victoria is the capital city of British 
 Columbia, her markets would require more labour, before 
 money could be induced to circulate freely, than in any 
 of the back country towns I visited. There was a good 
 deal of Chinese labour employed, and consequently the 
 basis offered to a market by the artisan class at home 
 was altogether lacking. 
 
 It is the same with everything else. The water-supply 
 in the town is a disgrace and a constant menace to 
 
TEE BOOKIES TO VICTORIA. 165 
 
 health. There is abundance of water to be had, only 
 the energy and enterprise is lacking to bring this much- 
 needed blessing into Victoria. The roads are rough and 
 uneven, the gutters stink, tbe wooden side walks are 
 frequently so out of repair that they are positively 
 dangerous. The bridges are known to be unsafe, and 
 only one vehicle at a time is allowed upon them, and 
 that at a foot pace. Had I not seen cows turned out to 
 browse in the thoroughfares I could not have believed 
 . it ; but, owing to the gutters never being cleaned, a rank 
 growth of vegetation starts in them early in the summer, 
 and I have seen boys herding cows on this pasture in 
 Victoria. 
 
 The city was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 and in the days when the fur trade was a great in- 
 dustry, Victoria was well situated ; but it is hardly fair 
 to the great gold industry that the capital of the country 
 and the seat of Government should be in this remote, 
 corner of the province, and away from the mainland. 
 Not that the Victorians will admit this. They cannot 
 see that the trade routes from the mainland must result 
 in an immense commercial success for Vancouver city. 
 Already the foundries and shipbuilding trades have, 
 moved over to the superior harbour, and Victoria is left 
 doing a great trade in importing her own food-stuffs. 
 Yet one of the " old timers " at Victoria gravely assured 
 me that Victoria was "the London of the Pacific," a 
 statement which surprised me much, for I could not 
 but believe that he spoke in good faith, and I marvelled 
 that no rumours of the existence of San Francisco had 
 reached him. 
 
 If the people of Victoria exerted themselves to render 
 the town attractive to residents, Victoria might have a 
 future. But the habit of the people is haphazard* 
 Theirs is the day of small things. Most of them 
 originated in a small way of business, and if the busi- 
 ness does not diminish they are content ; but should it 
 once in a decade show a tendency to improve it is taken 
 for granted that a fortune will arrive some, day from 
 
166 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEBS. 
 
 somewhere. At any rate they think themselves successful, 
 and that being their opinion it is idle to suggest a doubt. 
 
 I once expressed a hope that Government should 
 bring in a scheme for Vancouver Island similar to Bella 
 Coola, and give free grants of land. The idea was 
 received with scorn, and I was told that before Govern- 
 ment gave free grants to agriculturists, free grants, or 
 an equivalent, should be given to men who would build 
 houses in the town, for that " one house in a town did 
 more good to the country than a dozen farmers." 
 
 They were oblivious of the fact that the most solid 
 basis for a market in general goods is a large well-to-do 
 agricultural class. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the Victorians disregard 
 wealth. On the contrary, the amount of a man's 
 income is the question of the day and hour; and the 
 figure it makes prescribes at once the social position 
 assigned to the owner. 
 
 Colonel Baker was anxious that I should visit Saanich, 
 and see some of the agriculture of the island ; but I felt 
 decidedly that other places were more likely to show 
 inducements to settlers than this island, where the best 
 chances with respect to transport and markets were tied 
 up in the hands of grasping monopolists, and that my 
 time would be better spent elsewhere. But I collected 
 the following facts concerning Saanich. 
 
 It is a peninsula about eighteen miles from Victoria. 
 The land is very good, and purchasable at $30 an acre. 
 The district is suitable for fruit and vegetables and dairy 
 produce. The wheat appears similar to that in the 
 Lower Fraser, which is too soft for milling, and is 
 generally used for feeding purposes. Hops answer well. 
 The general complaint is that the prices in the local 
 markets are too low to render farming remunerative. 
 The price of land is forced up in Vancouver Island by 
 the private individuals who procured large tracts either 
 fromGovernment or the Hudson's Bay Company. Labour 
 is dear, though there is said to be no lack of Japanese 
 labour at $8 a month with board. 
 
TEE BOOKIES TO VICTORIA. 167 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Victoria improved farms are 
 offered for as much as $300 an acre, and putting the 
 cost of clearing at $200 the acre, and allowing for 
 fencing, etc., $300 is not a high price. What the 
 emigrant must consider is whether the prices on his 
 produce will make him a fair return on this outlay, or 
 whether the same amount of money invested elsewhere 
 would not bring him in better returns. 
 
 The climate of Vancouver Island is mild and very 
 similar to the south-west of England. There are few 
 days in winter when it does not rain, and the snowfall 
 is usually very light. 
 
 Though I never heard of any one making much money 
 in farming, I must also admit that I did not see any 
 great interest taken in the business. It is easy to live 
 on a small farm in Vancouver Island, and people seemed 
 contented to take life easily, and enjoy the sport and 
 pastime afforded by a thinly populated and densely 
 forested country. The general complaint I heard on all 
 sides was that the competition from America cut down 
 prices, and unless tariffs were raised agriculture could 
 not be made to pay. My own view of the case was that 
 the islanders did not know how to organize and 
 cultivate the market. 
 
 Uncultivated land is taxed * when it is bought from 
 Government, no improvement placed upon it, and left 
 unoccupied. 
 
 • During the conversations which I had with Colonel 
 Baker we frequently discussed the Bubject of fitting 
 emigrants for the Colonies, but we never arrived at any 
 definite plan. He expressed himself much as follows : — 
 
 "I cannot tell what it is which ia wanting in the young 
 men who come out here. I should rather say it is a total 
 ignorance of the life they are coming to. Let us take 
 mining, and we shall find that even those who come out as 
 mining experts know little or nothing ahout the business — 
 at all events so far as British Columbia, is concerned. For 
 
 * See Appendix for summary of Land Act. 
 
168 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 them I think it would he an advantage to go through a 
 course at McGill University, where mining engineering is 
 thoroughly understood, and better taught than in the old 
 country. 
 
 " If the young fellows coming out would first learn to do 
 one useful thing thoroughly well, they would stand a better 
 chance. But they come to me and they say they want some- 
 thing to do ; and I say, ' Well, what can you do ? ' and they 
 say they don't know. Then if I put them into something, 
 many of them go on for a time ; but there seems a restless- / 
 ness about them. They don't find they are getting rich 
 fast enough ; or they hear of something somewhere else' 
 which they fancy they would rather be doing, and so the^ 
 go away. There does not seem to be any persistency in 
 them. They are not wanting in intelligence, and they hafe 
 courage enough, but I cannot say that they are industrious. 
 The one thing they do not seem to have been taught is 
 to work. 
 
 " Then, again, I must admit many of them may be all 
 right when they start ; but they fall into bad hands on the 
 way. They stop at places before they come here, and they 
 get the idea into their heads that cattle ranching is a very 
 fine thing ; that you have only plenty of riding to do (and, 
 remember, they ride, very well, most of them), and polo, and 
 shooting, and they think that that is a very fine life. But 
 they forget, or else no one tells them, that behind all this 
 ranching is a business like any other ; and ; if it is to be 
 made to pay, it , can only be on the same principles as any 
 other business — grocery or dry-salters, or any other. But 
 business principles are the last thing they think about. I 
 suppose boys at Eton don't learn book-keeping ; but if they 
 do there, I am sure it is not taught at other schools. After 
 all," he concluded, "I am afraid I can't offer many suggestions 
 for the people at home ; except that they should avoid 
 premiums and remittances, and keep the money till the 
 young man has learnt to work — and to work at something 
 till he understands it — and then a little money will be of 
 great advantage. Cheap capital is sorely needed in this 
 country ; and if a father has an industrious son who comes 
 out here, and sees his way to do something at a profit, a few 
 hundred pounds are well invested, and that is the best way 
 to invest it," 
 
TEE ROOKIES TO VICTORIA. 169 
 
 In talking to Mr. Turner, I found that he thought 
 much more of the mining development than of agri- 
 culture. "Go to the mines!" he said. "Go and see 
 them ; and you will see that they are the lever which 
 will lift this country to prosperity." 
 
 Before leaving Victoria I went to see Mr. Milne, of 
 the Customs, and had much interesting talk with him. 
 He was thoroughly well informed as to the Yukon 
 district, and we discussed the Klondyke gold-fields, 
 which were just then attracting attention. He was very 
 anxious to see the route opened via Fort Wrangel, con- 
 sidering that it would be by far the best entry. 
 
 I was particularly anxious for a few particulars about 
 the trade with China. I found that the bulk of Chinese 
 trade is done through the Chinese merchants themselves. 
 The Chinese revenue at the port of Victoria for the 
 twelve months ending June 30, 1897, amounted to 
 $58,963. For the previous year it was $39,347, showing 
 an increase of $19,616. 
 
 Eice, which is the Chinaman's chief diet, is a peculiar 
 item in the trade of Victoria. It is imported in two 
 ways — by private Chinese individuals, who get it in 
 the rough state, and dress it themselves (this import 
 is from China, which is rather unaccountable, as the 
 Chinese Government prohibits the. export of rice); there 
 is, besides, an English firm who import from Bangkok 
 They have mills in Victoria where the rice is dressed, 
 and they are able to undersell the Chinese. This is 
 a curious feature in trade, for here is a profitable 
 business based solely on the maintenance of an alien 
 race who object to the food provided by the country. 
 At any moment these aliens may be forbidden access, 
 in which case the trade would disappear. But the 
 other side of the business is that the Chinese appear 
 to be acquiring a taste for wheat, probably owing to 
 their residence in the east of Canada, where rice cannot 
 always penetrate, and consequently a trade is growing 
 up with China in Manitoba wheat. 
 In the interim between the decrease of the seal 
 
170 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB BETTLWRS. 
 
 industry, -which at one time amounted to as much as 
 three quarters of a million dollars per annum, and the 
 commencement of the fisheries, a large trade is done 
 in opium ; but this business has decreased enormously 
 since the lowering of duty in the United States. It will 
 probably rise again when the duty is imposed. 
 
 Mr. Milne did not seem to think that as much money 
 •was remitted to China annually as I believed. At all 
 events there was nothing in Chinese trade returns to 
 warrant such a sum. On the other hand, the ways of 
 the Chinese are dark, and difficult to understand. There 
 are merchants whose wealth is certain, but whose 
 transactions do not appear; which strengthens the 
 supposition that they transact their own banking. The 
 labour supply undoubtedly contributes to the business, 
 and gold may be remitted to China in nuggets or dust, 
 and therefore never figure in any banking account. 
 
 The superior Chinese are for the most part labour 
 contractors; but it seems that the labouring Chinese 
 consider themselves partners in any concern in which 
 they deposit money. They will pay their earnings — or 
 a share of them — across the counter, and consider that 
 the deposit entitles them to a "share." This looks 
 like co-operation; but what the precise nature of the 
 transaction may be, or what becomes of the money, 
 is another Chinese puzzle. No doubt large sums 
 change hands among the Chinese themselves ; but then 
 they are strongly addicted to gambling in a variety 
 of ways, and it is quite impossible to follow them in 
 the handling of money. 
 
 What is quite certain is that, as a basis for a market, 
 the Chinese cannot be compared to the working class 
 in England, Mr. Milne summed up their virtues, their 
 peculiarities, and the advantages to be drawn from them, 
 in one sentence, which expressed as much bewilderment 
 as it did admiration. " They are wonderful creatures ! " 
 he said. 
 
 Mr. Milne told me that during the year 1896-97, 1169 
 Chinese paid the capitation tax of $50 each; 205 
 
THE ROCKIES TO VIOTOBIA. 171 
 
 returned within six months; 19 others were exempt 
 from the tax, being students, etc. 
 
 That this is an organized system of emigration, no one 
 can deny. The merchants and contractors take steps to 
 regulate the supply as far as possible in accordance with 
 the demand, and spend the greatest pains in choosing 
 servants, gardeners, or labourers, suitable in character 
 and qualifications to the places for which they are 
 required. Why the Chinese in their thin raiment and 
 shoes, which let in the water like sponges, should be 
 more at home in British Columbia than our own people, 
 is hard to understand. But they possess in high degree 
 the two qualities which Colonel Baker declared, in 
 his experience, were found wanting in young English- 
 men — "persistence" and "industry." 
 
 The revenue from the customs of British Columbia 
 is handed over to the Dominion Government for general 
 expenses. At the time of Federation, the Dominion 
 Government allowed the province an annuity of $50,000 
 as a relief to taxation for local purposes. All the states 
 composing the Federation were made similar grants, 
 according to their population, at a fixed ratio per head, 
 and they diminish as the population increases. 
 
 The costs of harbour improvement works, the building 
 and maintenance of lighthouses, and the salaries of 
 judges are defrayed by the Federal Government. The 
 mail subsidies, education, roads, and bridges are main- 
 tained by the Provincial Government. Miners' licences, 
 the sale of lands (except those lands granted to rail- 
 ways) are also managed and, controlled by the Provincial 
 Government. 
 
 This arrangement is decidedly a favourable one for 
 Canada ; but so far as the province is concerned, it does 
 seem that the benefits of federation have been purchased 
 for a high price. If we look at the imports we shall 
 find that a large share consists of food-stuffs, which 
 might be grown in British Columbia, could the initial 
 expense of clearing the land, of drainage, and irrigation 
 be overcome. It also seems most desirable for this 
 
172 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 colony to attract a larger population settled upon the 
 land. Taking one item given me by Mr. Milne, I found 
 that eggs were imported from the States, in number 
 78,853 dozen, to the value of $13,000, and duty paid on 
 them to the amount of $3942. 
 
 The imposition of duties upon food-stuffs raises the 
 price of the food-stuffs in British Columbia to the 
 amount of the duty paid, and preserves the markets in 
 behalf of the farmers of Ontario and the North- West, 
 who can raise stuff cheaper than in British Columbia, 
 under present circumstances. Meantime, the revenue 
 drawn from the taxes on food-stuffs, which is paid by 
 the consumer, goes to defray the cost of things of general 
 or remote interest. Excepting the judges' salaries, it 
 cannot be said that the expenditure of the Federal 
 Government is upon anything exclusively provincial, 
 seeing that harbours and lighthouses concern the trade 
 of the through traffic quite as much as that of the 
 province. 
 
 Evidently the only means of stopping the continual 
 drain of money into the States, would be by improving 
 the position of agriculture and increasing agricultural 
 settlements. Sooner or later the question of starting 
 irrigation works, and taking measures to restrain the 
 Fraser from flooding the lands in the Delta, will have 
 to be considered by the Government, and funds provided 
 for these purposes. 
 
 The British Columbian Government make no free 
 grants of land, and, furthermore, exact a royalty upon 
 all timber sold (even as cordwood *) off the land. 
 
 These charges, it is maintained, are necessary in order 
 to find funds for carrying on the business of the Provincial 
 Government. 
 
 It is open to considerable doubt whether the funds 
 are administered with a view to encourage the influx 
 of settlers. At all events, in connection with this sub- 
 ject, the erection of the magnificent and costly pile 
 of Government buildings at Victoria (probably after 
 
 * Fuel. 
 
THE HOOKIES TO VIOTOBIA. 173 
 
 Westminster itself the most imposing edifice of the kind 
 in the Empire) needs some explanation. Standing 
 where it does, overlooking the rickety bridges and the 
 poor little town, it recalls the story of the " swell " of 
 the last century, whose dress was the wonder of all 
 beholders ; when he came to die he begged to be buried 
 in his clothes, but some one thinking that the corpse 
 might at least spare the beautiful waistcoat, discovered 
 that the grandee hadn't a shirt to his back ! 
 
 Just such an impression is made upon the stranger 
 who looks up at these buildings and then turns round to 
 find the squalid wretchedness of the town, and goes 
 away into the backwoods to find the settlers struggling 
 with the enormous initial difficulties of the country. 
 
 In conversation with Mr. Milne, I referred to the 
 Klondyke. He viewed with immense satisfaction the 
 steps which were at length being taken to establish 
 the authority of Great Britain and the maintenance of 
 law and order by reinforcements of the North-West 
 Police. With regard to the statements in the American 
 press that the Klondyke was in Alaska, he said that 
 attempts to stretch the American boundary-lines were 
 quite in the usual order of things. He had the entire 
 correspondence and report on the Alaska boundary 
 question in his office, and showed it to me with the 
 maps. I understood at last that it is the habitual 
 practice of the States to worry questions and confuse 
 issues in the hope of wringing something out of them to 
 their own good, and that these matters are best dealt 
 with firmly and with decision. 
 
 Victoria receives the stranger most hospitably and 
 very kindly. I greatly enjoyed making the acquaint- 
 ance of many of the inhabitants ; but I could wish that, 
 as the capital of this important province, the people 
 would take a keener interest in public affairs. The 
 tincture of the old-time element is very picturesque, 
 especially as represented by Mrs. Dennis Harris and 
 Dr. Helmchen ; but the farsightedness I wish for Victoria 
 must be to the future, and not to the past. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TO THE ALBERNI MINES. 
 
 It was late in the evening -when I went on board the 
 s.s. Tees (Captain John Irvine), bound for Alberni, on 
 the west coast of Vancouver Island. 
 
 As may be gathered from the name Alberni, the place 
 was known to the old Spanish adventurers, and the 
 belief is prevalent that they came to get the gold washed 
 down in the sands of the river. In recent years the 
 Chinese were so successful that the spot where they 
 extracted the gold was called China Creek. In time, a 
 syndicate was formed, and placer mining was tried ; but 
 the elaborate machinery and skilful mining engineers 
 from California failed to extract sufficient gold to make 
 the undertaking pay, and the flumes and piping had 
 been taken down. Prospecting was being carried on 
 in the mountains with immense activity, and it was 
 rumoured that the mountains behind China Creek and 
 the ill-fated venture of placer mining, contained quartz 
 of high assay value. 
 
 Should these mines become paying concerns, the 
 destiny of Vancouver Island will become clear. Alberni^ 
 situated on a river possessing a deep mouth, which pro- 
 vides access to the heart of the island from a bay called 
 Barclay Sound, offers a natural harbour open at all 
 seasons of the year to large vessels. It faces the Pacific, 
 and suggests an excellent opportunity for taking on 
 cargoes of lumber and coal, the coal-mines of Nanaimo 
 being only fifty miles by road from Alberni. But probably 
 
TO TEE ALBERNI MINES. 175 
 
 the sea-fishing industry will centre at Alberni. There 
 is no harbour on the west of Vancouver Island to com- 
 pare with it ; and if the mines pay, a population will 
 collect round the bay whose surplus will find employ- 
 ment in fishing. I repeatedly found in British Columbia 
 that the hardship of the working class was invariably 
 due to the sudden cessation of work, which threw the 
 men out of employment. The " prospects " are the worst 
 offenders in this respect, as they are never certain to 
 give paying results. I passed through districts where 
 the sudden shutting down of mines, left the miners with 
 nothing to live upon. It must be admitted, however, 
 that the great defect in the British emigrant is his un- 
 adaptability, and many men would be useless in any 
 but one capacity, while others appear to regard a change 
 of occupation as degrading. 
 
 It was midnight before we put out of Victoria har- 
 bour, and then a fog detained us. The little boat was 
 terribly crowded. The success of one mine had caused 
 a rush. There were nine extra berths rigged up in the 
 saloon, and two people slept on the saloon table. The 
 stewards gave up their berths, and if they slept at all it 
 must have been in the hold. But for the most part the 
 excitement about " rock " kept people talking, and call- 
 ing for whiskies and sodas all night. 
 
 The atmosphere below was very bad in the saloon; 
 and the ship being oiled with a fish oil possessing a 
 truly terrible scent, upset me so far that I could eat no 
 breakfast ; but Mr. Fred Child kindly brought me some 
 tea and fruit on deck, and in the fresh air I recovered, 
 and began to take an interest in the scenery and my 
 fellow-passengers. 
 
 We kept close to the coast, which was mountainous, 
 but clothed with spruce and cedar to the water's edge. 
 Here and there a sharp peak of rock cut the sky-line, in 
 the crevices of which traces of snow might be seen ; 
 otherwise the land, as it rose from the blue Pacific, pre- 
 sented a deep green mass, the trees seeming to grow 
 out of the water with no beach whatever. 
 
176 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 We had on board a man who had come down from the 
 Klondyke, and having been there two years, he was able 
 to give a fairly comprehensive idea of the country. He 
 had been successful, and believed that he would succeed 
 still further if he went back there, but his wife objected 
 to his risking the hardships. These, he admitted, were 
 severe. Both his friends and himself had been nearly 
 starved to death, and he declared that such hardships 
 would have to be reckoned with by any miners who left 
 the beaten track, while near the centres the claims were 
 all pegged out. " The Klondyke," he said, " was a very 
 good poor man's country, but that day is past now. 
 However, I am certain if I went up the coast again I 
 should succeed just as well, though I should not go to 
 the Klondyke." I found that he had been engaged in 
 prospecting from his boyhood, and had been sent to re- 
 port for syndicates, as well as individuals, upon the 
 mines in many districts. 
 
 The chief difficulty for the prospector consists in pro- 
 curing sufficient food-supply. This man had never 
 known what it was to be without water. He had always 
 been able to make a fire, except when it was raining 
 hard. But to carry sufficient food-stuff on his own 
 back up the mountains and across rivers, had been the 
 unsolved problem which proved to be the element of 
 failure. As a rule, the prospector depends chiefly on 
 beans (a white bean, similar to the French haricot) and 
 bacon. He also carries a gun and some ammunition 
 (the miner's licence giving him permission to shoot all 
 through the closed season). But the gun and ammuni- 
 tion, besides his pick, blankets, mackintosh sheets, and 
 cooking-pot, make a heavy pack for a man to carry 
 through a dense forest and over sharp rocks, where at 
 any time he may miss his foot, roll into a crevice, and 
 break his leg. 
 
 As we were talking, other prospectors came up ; and 
 I found that most of them could tell tales of immense 
 hardship and privation. One man recommended carry- 
 ing a small bag of rolled oats, and said that he always took 
 
TO THE ALBERNI MINES. 17 1 
 
 some loose in his pocket, and ate them as he went along. 
 The difficulty that the hest of their prospectors appeared 
 to feel was always this one of food. One man told me 
 that it was often impossible to reckon on the length of 
 time it might take them to get the work finished which 
 they were sent to carry out, and that sooner than leave 
 it and return he and his chums had been starved so 
 that they ate birds' eggs and berries, and were glad to 
 get them. 
 
 This determination to achieve what they attempted, 
 and the fidelity to their employers, is a marked feature 
 in the prospector's character, and certainly one which 
 commands cordial admiration. 
 
 The prospectors along the mountains on the shores 
 of Alberni and Barclay Sound manage differently to 
 those inland, and incur less risks. Two of them go 
 together in a boat, with tents and provisions, sometimes 
 taking a small raft or scow behind the boat, on which 
 to cook and bake as they go along, thus saving time. 
 One of them lands at a suitable spot, ascends the 
 mountain, and penetrates through the forest in search 
 of out-crops, or indications of gold or minerals. He 
 carries his gun, a pick, and a small quantity of provi- 
 sions, sometimes taking his mackintosh and blankets. 
 His "chum" remains in the boat, on the look out for 
 signals, such as the lighting of a fire with green stuff, to 
 throw up thick clouds of smoke, or the firing of the gun, 
 and judges whether his assistance is wanted or not. 
 The density of the forest is marvellous, and this, to- 
 gether with the difficulty of crossing ravines, frequently 
 makes it impossible to proceed more than two miles in 
 a day. One man assured me that to make progress at 
 the rate of one mile in four hours was very quick work 
 indeed. In some cases the prospector can return to the 
 boat at night, but more often he sleeps where he is, 
 and only goes down to the boat and the place where 
 his "chum" has pitched the tent once in two or 
 three days. The "chum" judges of his progress by 
 signals, and moves, along the shore. If the signals 
 
l!T8 BB1TISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 cease, he leaves the boat and goes to see what has 
 happened. 
 
 It seemed surprising to me that cases of prospectors 
 being lost altogether were so rare. It is, however, 
 commonly regarded as most imprudent for one man to 
 go entirely alone. 
 
 I found a man on board who started as a farmer in 
 Vancouver Island, but gave up the business in disgust. 
 He had many bitter complaints against the Govern- 
 ment, nor did the farmers themselves escape his 
 censure. 
 
 His first point was the exaction of taxes from the 
 land. He contrasted the slow returns from agriculture 
 in comparison with other businesses, and declared that 
 the Government was literally destroying the ground 
 under their own feet by exacting support from men who 
 in the first stages had nothing to give. 
 
 Firstly, the land is bought for agriculture, whereas 
 the miner pays nothing but his licence. The sum fixed 
 for agricultural land is $1 an acre, and $3 a head 
 entrance fee; so that a man, his wife, and two 
 children are taxed for coming to settle in the country 
 to the amount of $12. There is, besides, the charge 
 for the fee simple. Thus, before a man can get 
 into his farm in this province, he has to pay about 
 $100, as against nothing at all in the North-West, 
 where he can get 160 acres free, and embark every 
 shilling he has in the property. The clearing of land 
 in Vancouver is a very heavy item ; so that a man can 
 buy a good farm improved and fenced far cheaper 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Secondly, he disapproved strongly of the policy the 
 Government pursued in making roads. They did not 
 employ men to make the roads; but they paid the 
 farmers (who knew nothing about road-making) $1 
 a day to work on the roads. No one superintended 
 their labour, or saw to its efficiency. Besides, the plan 
 did not work because it took the farmers off their farms 
 precisely at the very time when they were most required 
 
TO THE ALBEBNI MINES. 179 
 
 to be working on their farms. In the winter, which is 
 the time they are at leisure, no road work can be per- 
 formed, owing to the heavy rains which fall everywhere 
 in the island except in Victoria. At the same time he 
 laid great stress on the laziness and incompetence of 
 the farmers, especially in the Alberni district. He 
 believed in the fertility of the soil, having proved it by 
 three years of splendid crops, after which he considered 
 that the fertility diminished unless the ground were 
 manured. 
 
 He had given up his farm and gone into other 
 business, because Government was so slow in laying 
 down a road, and when the road was done it was so 
 bad as to be almost useless. He could not transport 
 his produce to the nearest market except in small 
 quantities and at a very slow rate. He said the country 
 is a good country if it weren't spoilt. It requires cheap 
 capital, cheap labour, and cheap transport. 
 
 I felt that these remarks, by a man of some experience 
 on the spot, were a useful comparison with the high 
 praise I had heard bestowed upon Vancouver Island, 
 ,and the advantages it offered for settlers. 
 
 In Barclay Sound there are a great many islands, 
 or reefs, curiously arranged in lines. There are still 
 native settlements on some of these islands, and one in 
 particular was the burial-place of a native band. The 
 -trees were cut into alleys or groves, and it was possible 
 to see from the deck of the steamer that something was 
 fixed to the stems or trunks. The practice of disposing 
 of the dead by putting them up in the trees was ex- 
 plained to me to have become customary on account of 
 the difficulty of burying them on rocks, where soil was 
 scanty. In Vancouver Island itself cairns for native 
 burial have been discovered, and the skulls bear every 
 trace of belonging to the same race as that inhabiting 
 the island at the present time. In the Museum in 
 Victoria these skulls may be seen ; they are large and 
 thick, furnished with heavy jaws and powerful teeth. 
 The practice seems to have been very general of 
 
180 BBIT1SH COLUMBIA FOB BETTLEBS. 
 
 flattening the skull in infancy, so that it bulged out 
 behind and on either side of the ears. 
 
 One of the police constables of the island was on 
 board, and he assured me that the natives had entirely 
 relinquished every form of cannibalism. They have 
 even given up devouring the dead, which was the 
 last form it assumed. Dances, though still held, are 
 comparatively tame affairs. Some Indians still wear 
 maBks at the " dog dance ; " but the tearing process, 
 and representation of hunting for prey, and similar 
 animal tactics, never result in a sacrifice. They are 
 even careful to put on their oldest clothes before tbe 
 tearing commences, instead of their bravest finery, as 
 on former occasions. He spoke of drink as the greatest 
 curse, and attributed its presence to illicit traffic on the 
 part of skippers from the States. 
 
 We stopped at a native reserve which lay on either 
 side of a creek, and the inhabitants came out in their 
 canoes to look at us, while we put some bags of flour 
 ashore for the small store. There were plenty of dogs 
 of an idle, ruffianly, low-bred appearance. The bones 
 of a whale lay on the shore, and smelt most offensively. 
 I counted four bald-headed eagles soaring above the 
 ship. I believe they were attracted by the raw meat 
 which our butcher had hung under an awning in the 
 stern. 
 
 I looked to see if there were any totem-poles. I was 
 told that missionaries had destroyed them ; but one old 
 canoe, apparently a man-o'-war, was lying high and 
 dry on the beach, going fast to pieces, and the prow of 
 this craft was furnished with a painted monstrosity — 
 half bird, half beast. The wooden houses were all 
 modern two-story buildings of the plainest and com- 
 monest design. They gave the creek the ugly ap- 
 pearance of a modern township, badly kept and 
 dilapidated. 
 
 From this place we went on to Serita, where we 
 anchored, waiting for the tide to rise, while the captain 
 went ashore with some of the passengers. The place 
 
TO TEE ALBERNI MINES. 181 
 
 was chiefly remarkable for its wild scenery and some 
 copper-ore prospects, concerning which there was a 
 good deal of discussion on board. 
 
 I gathered that there was a tolerably strong desire to 
 keep Vancouver Island as a " poor man's country " — that 
 is to say, to avoid the introduction of big syndicates, and 
 give the miners themselves a chance to dig out the pay- 
 streaks in their own claims, and ship the ore to the 
 little mill in Victoria, reaping the returns themselves. 
 
 I employed the time at Serita in fishing over the 
 ship's side for a kind of flounder, and caught a dozen 
 and a half. I had, unfortunately, no suitable hook or 
 tackle, having only trout flies and a baby-spinner; I 
 caught the flounders by letting down a baby-spinner 
 with a piece of raw meat on it, weighted with a small 
 lead. 
 
 At about seven o'clock in the evening the captain 
 came back, and we went on at once, reaching the 
 Alberni new townsite about ten p.m., where we moored 
 till the morning. 
 
 By this time I was tired of the small and very 
 crowded boat, and soon after sunrise the next morning 
 I got up, dressed, and went on deck. I found that 
 Alberni itself, for which we were bound, was about two 
 miles further, and that there was a road leading to it 
 through the forest. I determined to walk the rest of 
 the way, and accordingly started without waiting for 
 breakfast. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ALBERNI. 
 
 The Alberni new townsite consisted of a landing-stage, 
 a shed or wharf, and beyond a small wooden hut, 
 where the receiver of customs resided, who also managed 
 the mails. 
 
 I saw him come out of his house and finish lacing his 
 * hoots outside, in which occupation he was so intent that 
 he did not see me, or I should probably have asked him 
 a few questions as to the way to Alberni. 
 
 The road was still under construction — if that can 
 be called construction which consists in felling trees, 
 blasting stumps, and choking up gulches with branches. 
 There is no attempt at drainage of surface-water ; and 
 though the branches thrown into the little gulches are 
 intended to form a bridge, in point of fact they elevate 
 the surface of the water and distribute it over the land. 
 However, these are but details. To me the whole 
 experience of that walk was a delight. It was the first 
 time I had been quite alone in the forest, and at liberty 
 to stand still as long as I liked, and gaze my fill at the 
 great Douglas pines, and listen to the weird soughing 
 of the wind high up above my head, while down below 
 not a leaf stirred. A few squirrels ran about, but there 
 seemed to be no birds. 
 
 The sun was shining with dazzling brightness, which 
 made the forest all the more attractive, by reason of the 
 contrast it offered. I saw, to my surprise, that ferns 
 grew of many kinds which I should have thought too 
 delicate for that climate. There were also some 
 
ALBERNI. 183 
 
 wonderful scarlet agarics, though it was the middle 
 of July. At one place, where the sun had a chance, 
 owing to the falling (through age apparently) of a 
 gigantic fir-tree, I found some salmon-berries and wild 
 raspberries, and enjoyed an early breakfast, recalling 
 the miner's story of the day before. 
 
 The Alberni township, I found, consisted of an hotel, 
 some two or three stores, a few miners' houses, an 
 assayer's office, and the residence of Mr. Huff, the 
 member for the Alberni district in the Provincial 
 Parliament. I had a letter for Mr. Huff, and having 
 delivered it, I went to the hotel for breakfast. 
 
 Throughout Canada rigid punctuality is required with 
 regard to meals, and this I had not learnt ; so that it 
 was a positive shock to my feelings to be told that as 
 I was " late for breakfast " I could not expect any. 
 I remonstrated, declaring that nevertheless I did expect 
 some, and that inns were for the refreshment of travel- 
 lers, of which I was one. Upon this the landlord 
 disappeared, and another functionary arrived in the 
 person of "the gurl." Every backwood's inn turns 
 upon two poles — "the gurl" and "the chap." How 
 often, during the next few months, I was to be sent 
 backwards and forwards from one to the other of these 
 officials, I could not at that time foresee ; but I found 
 " the gurl," in this instance, sufficient for my purpose, 
 as she set before me a clammy poached egg, which was 
 not very fresh, some highly odoriferous butter, a glass 
 of milk, and some excellent white bread. 
 
 Outside, the miners sat in the sun, blinking their 
 eyes and smoking their pipes. In the bar, where I 
 was destined to go at length in pursuit of " the chap," 
 I read a notice : " No credit given. Don't ask for it." 
 
 It told its own tale. The Alberni consolidated mine 
 had closed down, the pay-streak having " petered out," 
 and the men were discharged. 
 
 I spent some time chatting with Mr. Huff, who told 
 me about his fruit-trees, which appeared to be growing 
 well, although I did not see any fruit on them. 
 
184 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBB. 
 
 The townsite of Alberni is at the foot of the mountains 
 in a valley, which eventually inclines upwards towards 
 the hills or benches, but at its lowest seems to be below 
 the surface of the river. It certainly requires draining, 
 and the land might be valuable for fruit, vegetables, 
 and hay, but the climate is wrong somehow for cereals. 
 Some say it is too damp ; others, too dry. Probably it 
 is both at wrong seasons. The land is chiefly in the 
 hands of private individuals, who are holding it to 
 obtain high prices. I was able to judge what may 
 happen in these new townsites by examining a piece 
 of ground opposite the road into which the water from 
 the river, or else from some swamp out of sight, forced 
 itself. I remarked to one of the local magnates that 
 it should be drained, upon which he replied, "You see, 
 we are filling it up." I looked again, and saw that all 
 manner of rubbish, together with the manure from a 
 neighbouring stable, was being shot into this hole. But 
 the local magnate was rambling on about the beauties 
 of the townsite as a winter residence, till I interrupted 
 him, saying, as I nodded towards the hole, " That's a 
 
 wonderful idea, Mr. ." To my intense surprise he 
 
 drove his hands deep into his pockets, and drawing 
 himself up, he exclaimed, "Everything in this country 
 is wonderful ! " I was thinking of the shortsightedness 
 of securing a fever-trap in the centre of the townsite ; 
 for surely as soon as the hole was filled up, and a house 
 built upon it, scarlet fever or typhoid would break out, 
 and, no one foreseeing the reason, the place would at 
 once get a bad name and the rents fall. 
 
 I went to Mr. Saunders, the assayer, having made the 
 acquaintance of his brother, and for the first time in 
 my life I saw gold assayed. Mr. Saunders had a little 
 handmill in which he ground up the quartz. He then 
 washed the dust in a small black phial, pouring away 
 the water and sand after shaking the phial to allow of 
 the heavy gold sinking to the bottom. The operation 
 was especially interesting as the quartz was brought 
 from a new cutting in the Alberni mines, which it was 
 
ALBERNI. 185 
 
 fervently hoped might be successful in striking the vein 
 or pay-streak lost at a higher elevation. 
 
 The result of the assay was a fine showing of gold, 
 and Mr. Saunders waved the little phial towards me in 
 triumph, exclaiming, "You bring luck! You bring 
 luck ! See, now, how you bring luck ! " 
 
 Miners are exceedingly superstitious, and a new- 
 comer is always regarded curiously, to see whether he 
 brings luck or the reverse. 
 
 Meantime the steamer had arrived at the mooring 
 stage, and I found the street full of men, some in the 
 miner's dress — light-blue overall trousers and the 
 striped blanket coat, made somewhat after the pattern 
 of a Norfolk jacket. Some of them, judging by their 
 cowboy hats, were fresh from the prairies ; others had 
 recently donned the garb, and it was easy to see by 
 their white hands and carefully kept nails that their 
 previous careers had been spent in some snug office 
 from morning till night. 
 
 As I walked to the steamer, a young man in miner's 
 dress accosted me, and began to catechize me about 
 matters South African. The American sense of 
 humour is strangely deficient on certain points, and 
 the direct way this yoUth discharged his inquiries was 
 as matter-of-fact as if he were putting turnips into 
 a pulping-machine. 
 
 " Is Mr. Ehodes as black as he's painted ? " he asked. 
 
 Eemembering that the Yankee press is never tired 
 of reviling Mr. Ehodes and all his works, I replied that 
 this was the first time any suggestion had reached me 
 that Mr. Ehodes was a half-caste ; and that if any one had 
 taken the trouble to tar and feather him, I trusted they 
 would be suitably remunerated for their pains, seeing 
 that he was "a great Englishman." 
 
 Upon this there was dead silence. Then he began 
 again, in rather an injured tone — 
 
 " That's not what I mean. I want to know if Mr. 
 Ehodes is a really had man — or not ? " 
 
 I represented that speech was, after all, only figurative, 
 
186 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 and unless I was quite sure that bis (the American's) 
 standard of morals coincided with my own I could not 
 venture to reply. 
 
 "Let me advise you," I said, "to think it out for 
 yourself. What do you think ? Would you he glad to 
 have him in the States — or not ? " 
 
 A bright light shone over the countenance which had 
 hitherto been as dull as it was colourless. 
 
 " You bet ! " he exclaimed. " But we'd find plenty 
 of use for him there ! " 
 
 Something occurred, and I lost sight of this Yankee ; 
 but as the little crowd shifted, I saw him again, and, 
 having nothing to do, I said to him, " Which would ymi 
 like to have, Ehodes or Kruger ? " Again I watched the 
 dull look grow over the face, and I knew he was 
 shamming. I repeated my question, adding, "Mind you, 
 Kruger is a good Republican ; he's no Imperialist." My 
 Yankee friend did not answer, however. He raised his 
 hand mechanically to his hat, and I left him smiling 
 with his eyes fixed on the ground. 
 
 I found plenty of people at Alberni who were anxious 
 to show me the mines — even one gentleman, a mining 
 expert, who had only been in the country three days. 
 Finally it was arranged for me by Mr. Fred Childs, 
 that I should visit the Duke of York and Alberni con- 
 solidated mines, and that Mr. Waterhouse should go 
 with me. Mr. Childs also kindly placed his room in 
 the log cabin at the Duke of York at my disposal for 
 the night. 
 
 I intended to go to Clayquot in the steamer and 
 return in her to Alberni. I was told that Clayquot was 
 a place with a great future before it, both as a harbour 
 and a mining centre. 
 
 It so happened that the steamer started without me, 
 and therefore I missed Clayquot. From things which 
 I heard subsequently, I question if Clayquot will 
 develop as fast as Alberni, and I believe its advantages 
 were exaggerated. 
 
 Hearing that the Tees could not leave Alberni till 
 
ALBEBNI. 187 
 
 towards midnight, I took my rod and started up the 
 river, thinking to see some of the country and enjoy 
 a little of the fishing, which I had heard highly praised. 
 
 Mr. Macardie and Mr. Waterhouse afterwards joined 
 me, and Mrs. Gilliard kindly offered us her canoe ; and 
 promised to drive after us to the falls, and bring some 
 tea. 
 
 We started, but the sun was hot, and the canoe — an 
 Indian dug-out — was heavy against the stream. Two 
 of us had breakfasted early, and somewhat scantily. 
 The sight of a neat house, painted white, standing in an 
 ideal garden of old-country flowers, was very inviting, 
 and Mr. Macardie having landed, presently returned 
 with an invitation from Mrs. Thompson to go in and 
 have tea at her house. 
 
 It is difficult to describe the impression of comfort, 
 repose, and cultivation which fell upon one upon 
 passing through the wicket gate, with its archway of 
 clematis — especially after the recent experience of 
 Siwash dwellings along the river shore, the discomfort 
 of an inn, and the recollection of the crowded Tees. 
 
 Inside the archway the garden was sweet with car- 
 nations, roses, Bweetwilliams, and other old-fashioned 
 flowers. Mrs. Thompson received us with Scottish hos- 
 pitality ; and we were soon devouring delicious bread 
 and butter and drinking many cups of tea with cream 
 in it. Then we were each given glass dishes full of cool 
 fresh-picked raspberries, juicy and most refreshing. This 
 Arcadian repast was followed by a stroll round the 
 garden, where we stood as in an oasis, and looked out 
 upon the hills where cattle browsed, and the wild forest 
 scenery across the river ; after which we climbed down 
 the rocks, made fast the dug-out, and proceeded on foot 
 to the falls. 
 
 I found that these falls were artificially improved in 
 order to supply the motive power for a pulp-mill. 
 There is no doubt that plenty of wood exists which could 
 be utilized for pulping ; but this mill had failed to pay, 
 and was consequently shut up. 
 
188 BMITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 The place chosen for fishing was just below this dam, 
 and there were several swirling pools under projecting 
 rocks. The water as it tore over the dam was of the 
 grey green colour, which I have always associated with 
 snow ; yet to all appearance there was not much snow 
 on the mountains. 
 
 Some boys, who appeared to be half-breeds, came to 
 spear salmon, and took two good-sized fish in this way. 
 Salmon will not take a fly in Alberni river. I gave my 
 rod to Mr. Macardie, Mr. Waterhouse was collecting 
 fuel for Mrs. Gilliard's fire, and I sat down on the rocks. 
 
 The sun was sinking, and as it dropped behind the pine 
 trees, a long shadow was thrown from a projecting peak 
 across part of the river. It is a feature in this scenery 
 that at sunrise or sunset the peculiar angles at which 
 the rays touch the slopes or elevations render them more 
 perceptible than at other times. Just where we had 
 camped, a sharp bend in the river and the wild con- 
 fusion of rocks suggested that specially violent volcanic 
 eruption had happened here. I could trace many lines 
 on the mountains, as the sun sank, indicating ravines 
 and gorges, providing untold difficulties in the way of 
 road-construction and prospecting on these heights, 
 besides unevenness and uncertainty in the leaders or 
 veins. This fact seemed worthy of remark on account 
 of the wonderfully even appearance of the mountains 
 as seen in broad daylight, an evenness very largely due 
 to the pine forests. 
 
 Meantime the most gorgeous colours were shining 
 in the clouds, and the river as it rushed past became a 
 veritable river of gold. 
 
 The fishing did not make much progress — several 
 small trout and two of a pound to a pound and a half 
 were the only result ; but these formed a welcome addi- 
 tion to the tea. Strange to say, I caught the two largest 
 fish with a fly which I had tied myself for bass fishing 
 at a seaside place in the south of England. It was 
 made of a pigeon's feather and a piece of scarlet braid. 
 I had been told in England that black flies or very dark 
 
ALBEBNI. 189 
 
 ones were the only flies for British Columbia. This 
 I believe to be true of some of the head rivers ; and 
 early in the season dark flies are said to take well in 
 Vancouver Island, but the general rule is a large fly, 
 and the brighter the better. 
 
 We had to leave, in order to catch the steamer, just 
 as the fish were beginning to rise ; yet, alas ! though 
 we rushed and ran, and rowed the dug-out down stream 
 at full tilt, we only arrived in time to see the funnel 
 of the Tees turning the last corner. I had heard the 
 faithless creature yelling out her summons to passengers, 
 and felt certain she was leaving sooner than was ex- 
 pected ; but our hurry was unavailing. 
 
 Fortunately, even at this juncture I was not wanting 
 in a kind friend, for Mr. Childs had rescued my hold- 
 all and other effects at the last moment, and had them 
 taken to the inn. The result was that I missed Clay- 
 quot ; but in order to lose no time I started the next 
 morning soon after eight o'clock for the Alberni mines. 
 
 The horse which they brought out for me to ride was 
 in a deplorable condition. Large galls, streaming with 
 matter, disfigured the poor creature's shoulders. Yet 
 when I complained of having to ride it in such a 
 condition, they offered to put it in a "rig," as though it 
 would have been more tolerable to sit behind it with a 
 collar pressing on such wounds ! Its wretched legs 
 shook, and, in fact, the poor animal showed every trace 
 of brutal driving. It was this horse or nothing ; and as 
 I could not walk the fourteen miles, and felt that if I 
 did not ride it some one else would probably drive it, 
 I reluctantly mounted. It is customary to treat horses 
 with horrible brutality in this Western country, partly 
 out of ignorance, and partly from a kind of drunken 
 conceit. They will drive a pair of horses in a stage 
 along thirty miles of mountains, over villainous roads, 
 without a bait of any kind, except a pailful of ice-cold 
 water out of a brook. It would cost them nothing to 
 take a small bundle of hay or a little bag of bean meal 
 for the water ; and such refreshment would " stay " the 
 
190 BBITIBE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 horses and bring them in fairly fresh. They actually 
 boast of driving horses to death ; and if they are charged 
 •with cruelty they say, "You must expect it in this 
 country." 
 
 Certainly there is no lower depths of debasement that 
 a man can sink to, than when he blames his country 
 for his own crimes. 
 
 When I met Mr. Waterhouse he was good enough to 
 take my hold-all on his own mare. He was a good deal 
 troubled about my mount, and good naturedly lent me 
 his mare, putting my pack on the hireling and walking 
 most of the way on foot himself. 
 
 We went by the Indian trail, which was the old path 
 by 'which the Chinese found their way to China Creek. 
 To me, at that time quite unacquainted with these trails, 
 it seemed a matter of immense difficulty to find the 
 trail. At one place we found a letter fixed to a tree. It 
 was from Mr. Saunders, to let us know that he was 
 riding ahead of us to the Duke of York. 
 
 At last we reached a wide stretch of very ancient 
 forest, the like of which I had never witnessed, and 
 which yet seemed a familiar dream. It was such a 
 scene of enchantment as one reads of in old fairy tales, 
 and I began to wonder whether I had entered into 
 Grimm's old world of elves and dwarfs. I thought of 
 Snowdrop, and the Three bears ; or was it a corner of 
 the Arabian Nights, and were we coming to castles and 
 caves, and gold and thieves ? 
 
 I -was perfectly ready for all that was coming. I only 
 prayed to be allowed to sit still for a few minutes and 
 enjoy the present. 
 
 I gazed all round ; the forest stretched as far as I could 
 see, and it was all the same. It was composed of 
 enormous cedar and spruce, without any undergrowth* 
 The stems varied from five to eight feet in diameter, and 
 were three hundred feet high at the least. They were 
 from six to eight hundred years old. The space between 
 them was clear, for their lowest branches had died, and 
 such as -were left hanging were lifeless and covered with 
 
ALBEBNI. 191 
 
 moss like long matted hair. Overhead the thick mass 
 of black branches met far away, and seemed gently to 
 sway with some distant breeze, but down below was 
 perfect stillness. Here and there a tree had fallen, the 
 relic perhaps of a still older forest, and the trunk lay 
 covered with moss. It just made a mound like a grave 
 under the deep golden moss, which covered all the 
 ground and the lower branches, as far as I could see, 
 on either side. 
 
 No forest that ever I saw in my life could be compared 
 to this forest. One might wander in it for ever, till one 
 died, for it was everywhere exactly alike. Nothing about 
 it resembled our green glades, and I thought of the New 
 Forest, of Hainault, of Epping, and the Black Forest of 
 Dhal. There was no trace of the ferocity of the thorny 
 impenetrable bush of Africa, nor was it to be compared 
 to the exuberant jungle of Natal. The impression was 
 of immensity, of majestic grandeur, and all that was 
 venerable. The spirit above me seemed to breathe the 
 long wail of a farewell. 
 
 There was nothing green or young in this forest. If 
 an artist tried to paint it, there would have been no blue, 
 save perhaps a touch of cobalt on the grey stems, or in 
 the far distance. The colouring was that of old tarnished 
 silver gilt. The human voice sounded strangely, as in a 
 vault, and here and there ethereal white moths fluttered 
 inconsequently from tree to tree, as though they were 
 good fairies in search of some hidden treasure or forlorn 
 hope. Now and again, at rare intervals, a bird's shrill 
 piping note seemed to fall from above from the upper 
 world to this region of calm decay. 
 
 The trees were dying where they stood. They were 
 young when the conqueror landed at Pevensey, they 
 were slowly maturing while England was beating out a 
 constitution which should give laws to the world, and 
 now they were sighing out the refrain of their death- 
 lament as they stood there " wearing away to the land o* 
 the leal." 
 
 After leaving this wonderful forest we came into more 
 
192 BBIT1SH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLER S. 
 
 open glades, where trees had been felled by trail-blazers. 
 Bright sunlight shone through the open spaces, and 
 there was an abundance of salmon berries and thimble 
 berries. 
 
 In places, trees had fallen across the trail, over which 
 Mr. Waterhouse's mare jumped easily, while my mount 
 climbed between the stems with wonderful dexterity. 
 We crossed brooks over whose sides hung Canadian 
 maiden-hair, while the watercourse itself was choked 
 with musk. I also saw masses of yellow mimulus; 
 and there were various other flowers whose names I do 
 not know, and whose appearance was new to me. The 
 soil was a deep deposit of vegetable mould, and in other 
 places we came upon clay. This was on what might be 
 called the benches of the mountains. There were also 
 round ponds and little lakes. In other places we had to 
 climb up steep hillsides and over huge boulders. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 THE MINES. 
 
 About noon we reached the Duke of York mine, and the 
 first thing we saw was Mr. Saunders' old white pony with 
 its Mexican saddle — a familiar sight, I was told, on the 
 road between Alberni and the mines. Mr. Saunders 
 himself was dressed in the style approved among miners 
 — bright blue trousers of some cotton or canvas material 
 clothed his lower limbs, a short loose jacket hung from 
 his shoulders, and a wide straw hat shaded his face. 
 His scarlet blanket was arranged as a saddle-cloth under 
 the Mexican saddle, and the old pony was guided by a 
 hempen halter. 
 
 We decided to stop at the Duke of York for luncheon 
 and to rest the horses. 
 
 This placer mine had been started on a very elaborate 
 scale : no expense was spared, and the best expert miner 
 in placer mining was engaged to work the concern. The 
 result was a total failure. 
 
 The mine had been prospected before the present 
 miner, Mr. Leveridge from California, took . over the 
 work ; and he based his calculations upon the prospect- 
 ing reports which he received upon entering on the 
 business. 
 
 There had been about thirty pits sunk in the. gravel 
 to the bed-rock, and the reports were so favourable that 
 the company engaged a miner who was thoroughly 
 competent to make use of the abundant supply of water 
 and work the mine by hydraulicing. Mr. Leveridge 
 
194 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLES 8. 
 
 spoke in" the highest terms of the liberality of the com- 
 pany. No expense had been spared in procuring the 
 best machinery, and in rendering the working of it 
 perfect in every respect. 
 
 After some months washing, during which time an 
 immense gap had been forced in the gravelly sides of 
 the hill, it was found that the gold recovered was not in 
 sufficient quantity to pay for the labour. An effort was 
 made to discover the original bed of the river, but with- 
 out success ; and when I was there the flume was all 
 that was left, beside a couple of log huts and the shedB 
 in which the piping and the monitors were stowed 
 away. 
 
 The failure of this enterprise was considered a most 
 deplorable thing for the country ; and all sorts of 
 reasons were assigned for it. Not being a mining ex- 
 pert, I could not attempt to offer an opinion ; but it 
 was very clear to my mind that the prospecting was 
 undertaken by men who knew little or nothing about 
 Californian placer mining ; and the miner when he came 
 accepted their reports and based his calculations upon 
 them. Now, in all mining business this rule will hold 
 good, that a man should believe nothing he hears, and 
 only half what he sees. The only way to diminish the 
 speculative element is to be certain of thoroughly ex- 
 amining the property, not only with a view to ascertain- 
 ing its value, but also with regard to the precise nature 
 of the treatment. The further I went the clearer it 
 became to me that the different branches of mining 
 (quartz milling, ore smelting, and placer mining) were 
 so far removed from one another that few men ever 
 became experts in more than one branch. 
 
 There is a theory held by some persons that the 
 gold-bearing quartz upon the mountains in Vancouver 
 Island has only been exposed for a comparatively short 
 period, and therefore the gold washed down from it into 
 the rivers, can nowhere be in such large quantities as 
 to bear comparison with the placer mines in California, 
 where huge rivers have slowly changed their courses. 
 
TEE MINES. 195 
 
 It struck me that the mountain up which we were 
 proceeding, first to this placer mine and then to the 
 quartz mines in the heights above, had been forced up 
 from the bed of the ocean and carried up with it a vast 
 coating of debris. In some places I saw large quantities 
 of igneous rock. In others the rock was crumbling like 
 soft powder, partaking of the nature of sand. 
 
 As the forest is burnt or cleared, all this will descend 
 — it is even now being fast washed down into the valley, 
 together with loose boulders and pieces of float rock. 
 
 The mountains will be lowered by this process, the 
 valleys widened, and where the rivers cannot get away> 
 owing to a block in their passage, lakes or swamps 
 will be formed. It may be looking very far ahead to 
 consider all this ; but in view of the efforts which are 
 being made in mining, together with the burning of 
 the forest and the making of roads — with the consequent 
 increase of population — it is impossible not to foresee 
 that the process of nature will be hurried. 
 
 So far as gold-digging is concerned, such a change 
 will render it probable that deposits of gold will be found 
 in all imaginable places — especially as men begin to 
 drain the swamps for agricultural purposes — without 
 any one of them justifying measures for gold recovery 
 of a more elaborate nature than that of John Chinaman 
 with his blanket and his tooth-brush. 
 
 While we were looking at the wash-out, something 
 startled Mr. Waterhouse's mare, and on our return we 
 found the ground cut up by her hoofs, while she had 
 vanished in the direction of home. This was unlucky, 
 as my horse was practically useless. 
 
 After luncheon, which we partook of in the miners' 
 old boarding-house — a kind of kitchen, presided over by 
 a miner's wife in the capacity of cook — we started for 
 the Alberni mine. 
 
 About four miles on the road I dismounted, and fasten^ 
 ing my horse to a tree by the roadside, started to climb 
 on foot. 
 
 At length we reached the new cutting of Alberni 
 
196 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 mine. A short time previously, the vein which was 
 being followed from a vertical shaft, was lost ; and Mr. 
 Dunsmuir's enterprise was so effectually damped that 
 he pulled down and removed the machinery, and with- 
 drew from the concern. However, a practical miner 
 took the matter in hand. Leaving the shaft which had 
 been sunk from the surface, and was no longer workable, 
 owing to the water which they had struck at the time 
 the pay-streak pinched out, he cut a tunnel into the 
 side of the mountain. This cut the vein lower down, 
 and relieved the mine of the water without the necessity 
 of expensive pumping apparatus. It was this tunnel 
 which we reached first. We followed it down, the' 
 passage being large enough for two persons to pass. At 
 the entrance to the tunnel or cave, a blacksmith was 
 busy at a rude forge, sharpening the crowbars or long 
 chisels which were used for laying bare the pay-streak. 
 One of the miners, a gigantic Cornishman, went with 
 us into the tunnel. There was still a good deal of water, 
 but only sufficient to splash over the lower part of my 
 boots. Mr. Waterhouse carried a candle ; and as we 
 went, I could see that the whole rock scintillated with 
 some mineral, probably iron pyrites. At length we 
 came to the pay-streak, which varied from half an inch 
 to two inches in width. It seemed almost incredible that 
 the whole success of shafting, tunnelling, shipping, crush- 
 ing, concentrating, hung on following this narrow thread. 
 After this we went higher up the mountain, to the 
 other claims, the amalgamation of which with the 
 Alberni was called the Alberni Consolidated. Here we 
 saw on the surface the out-crop of the main lead. The 
 result of careful prospecting, and the opening of the 
 mountain by tunnelling at different levels, proved three 
 distinct leads which bisected the main lead. The main 
 lead averaged two feet and a half in width, with a pay- 
 streak of sixteen inches. This, it was ascertained, de- 
 scended for seventy-two feet. The nature of the quartz 
 varied, some containing a good deal of lime, other 
 again being almost pure silica. 
 
THE MINES. 197 
 
 The assays gave very varying results, and it baffled 
 even the most experienced miner to form any conclusion 
 from the appearance of the quartz. There was some in 
 ■which no gold was visible to the naked eye, which yet 
 gave very rich results. To satisfy myself on this point 
 I brought back a piece of the quartz — or rather, Mr. 
 Saunders kindly carried it for me, and assayed it before 
 my eyes ; so that I saw for myself that this apparently 
 useless, " hungry-looking " stone carried a considerable 
 amount of gold. Mr. Saunders himself nevertheless 
 frankly admitted that the assays varied greatly, even in 
 the same vein. 
 
 I was shown where a great quantity of quartz had 
 been dumped outside the mine ; and this it was intended 
 should be assayed and classified previous to considering 
 the advisability of erecting a plant for crushing on the 
 spot. At the present time only the pay-streak was being 
 dug out, and shipped to the mill of Victoria, in order to 
 provide working expenses. 
 
 After seeing the mine, I went to the miners' cabin — a 
 log hut perched on a narrow ledge close to a little spruit 
 of beautifully clear water. Here lived five or six miners, 
 hailing from Ireland, Cornwall, Scotland, and California, 
 with a military character known as Captain Fox, who 
 officiated as their cook and housekeeper — and last, but 
 not least, the domestic cat. All miners like to have a 
 cat with them, even when they are on tramp. It is 
 said that the Californian miner, as he goes from one 
 camp to another with his "swag" on his back, is ac- 
 companied by a dog who follows him, and a cat who runs 
 in front. A cat is useful, owing to the swarms of mice 
 which eat up the scanty provisions, and it is also com- 
 pany for these men, who, though they appear to like 
 solitude, have a distinctly sentimental feeling for the 
 " chum " who shares their hardships and adventures. 
 
 The miners received me most hospitably and kindly ; 
 but experience had already taught me to expect this 
 from them. 
 
 They made me welcome to their cabin, which con- 
 
198 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB BETTLEB8. 
 
 sisted of two divisions. The first half was occupied , , 
 with wooden cribs, on which lay the blankets in which 
 they slept, and beyond, a small kitchen with a table and 
 two wooden settles, where they took their meals. Out- 
 side was a tin basin, a piece of soap, and a towel. 
 
 The evening meal was just ready, but first Swinje, 
 the cat, had to be shown to me. I was the first of her 
 own sex she had ever met, and the miners were curious 
 to see the effect of the introduction. Swinje came of a 
 mining family, and had been born on the mountain. She 
 treated me with marked contempt, as though she knew 
 intuitively all my ignorance and incapacity. Then we 
 sat down to an excellent repast of grilled ham, tea, and 
 very good bread ; all which was set before us by Captain 
 Fox. 
 
 As I left the cabin, after signing my name in a book 
 provided for the purpose, I turned back to where the 
 miners stood by the door of their cabin, half hidden by 
 a great spruce pine, and said to them, " I wish you all 
 good luck," and the answer came like a chorus from the 
 open doorway, " We all wish you the same." 
 
 It seemed like another page out of a fairy tale, as I 
 looked back at the tiny hut perched on the mountain, 
 and the stalwart forms of the miners dwarfed by the 
 distance. All day long they dug in the mountain, and 
 came home in the evening. 
 
 Mr. Saunders soon followed us down the mountain, 
 and kindly offered me the use of his pony as far as the 
 Beaux cabin, where I had left my horse. 
 
 It was getting dusk when we reached the Duke of York, 
 but supper was ready for us in the cabin. The managers 
 of the mine had erected for their own convenience a com- 
 fortable log house of four or five rooms— each director 
 being assigned a room. This afforded shelter to any of 
 their friends who came up the mountain to visit the 
 mines. A Mr. Kirkwood had arrived just before we got 
 there* He had been to the Alberni mines, and was to 
 start early the next morning to visit some other claims 
 in the neighbourhood. And the next morning, when I 
 
TEE MINES. 199 
 
 came out for breakfast, I found that he had already had 
 his meal, and started ; such is the incessant activity of 
 the mining business. 
 
 After a cup of tea and some bread, we were soon on 
 the downward road towards Alberni, and on reaching 
 the new townsite found that Mr. Macardie expected us 
 to breakfast. 
 
 The log hut by the wharf, where he and Mr. Water- 
 house "batched," was a model of settler's comfort. 
 Plenty of buckskins covered the floor, a writing-table with 
 a green cloth on it, an armchair, a chest of drawers, 
 two cribB, a stove, a bookcase ; and beside the armchair 
 I found, on my arrival, a work-basket well fitted with a 
 variety of cottons, needles, and buttons, and a sock 
 which Mr. Macardie was darning while he waited for us. 
 Then we sat down to breakfast in the little kitchen 
 beyond, and I was amused to hear the two men talk 
 over their house-keeping arrangements. 
 
 "I'm sure farming ought to pay," sighed Mr. 
 Waterhouse, " with butter sueh as this — at forty cents 
 a pound." 
 
 "And eggs," Mr. Macardie hastened to add. "Just 
 think — fifty cents the dozen ! " 
 
 " One thing, though, we do get good tea," said Mr. 
 Waterhouse. "We get it from Victoria, and it's thanks 
 to the Indian trade." 
 
 "Yes; but the tea is spoilt with this dreadful con- 
 densed milk." And so on. 
 
 In the afternoon Mr. Macardie and Mr. Child had 
 arranged a fishing expedition. We drove out some 
 distance, past a lake to a bend in the river, taking some 
 food with us and a camp-kettle. It was not till dusk 
 that the trout would take the fly (a large coachman) 
 freely, and then none of them exceeded half a pound. 
 It was nevertheless a delightful evening, and one of my 
 pleasantest reminiscences of Vancouver Island. 
 
 The next morning at about eight o'clock I started 
 by stage for Nanaimo, a drive of some fifty miles across 
 the mountains. This led me across the land belonging 
 
200 BBIT1SH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 to the railway company. There was but little clearing 
 done; but we passed some trappers' huts and a few 
 prospectors' camps. 
 
 At Wellington the country changed to a coal-mining 
 district, and very wretched and poverty stricken the 
 place seemed. There were no gardens to the miners' 
 houses ; far less any kind of park or open-air pleasure 
 resort for the people. Even the churches and chapels 
 were of a most wretched appearance. 
 
 It was seven o'clock in the evening when I reached 
 Wilson's Hotel, Nanaimo; and I felt thoroughly glad 
 of the opportunity for tidying myself, and for the good 
 dinner which was being served. 
 
 After dinner I went to call on Mr. Marshall Bray, 
 the gold commissioner, and Mr. Bobbins the manager 
 of Nanaimo collieries. 
 
 Mr. Bray presented me with the Annual EepOrt of 
 the Minister of Mines, and spoke of the industry as 
 only in its earliest stages. He recommended great 
 caution in forming an opinion on the mines. 
 
 I found Mr. Bobbins a most kind-hearted, fatherly 
 old gentleman, and we became great friends. On 
 the subject of emigration he had a great deal to say. 
 
 " You have first almost to make the men," he com- 
 menced. "They seem handicapped, and not helped, 
 by their previous education. Some come out and 
 succeed ; but at times we seem to be inundated with 
 a very bad class. A dozen or so of young men come 
 out. Well, they live in shacks, and get drunk. I 
 can't blame the country. Probably they were worthless 
 before they came ; but if so, it was useless to send 
 them here, for there is nothing here to reform them. 
 
 "As to the young men in Canada itself, I can't say 
 that their education is altogether a success. It is very 
 good indeed in one way ; but still we actually have the 
 same problem pressing upon us here, 'What shall we 
 do with our boys ? ' " 
 
 From this he went on to tell me of instances where 
 young fellows had been reduced to the last extremity 
 
TEE MINES. 201 
 
 and then had had the manliness to begin at the bottom 
 rung of the ladder and work their way up. He had 
 known men who were the sons of gentlemen, and yet 
 they had been glad to work in the mines, pushing the 
 trucks of coal — " So that one was tempted to ask, what 
 had their education done for them ? " 
 
 The next morning Mr. Bobbins took me to see the 
 shaft of his mine ; but I felt no inclination to descend, 
 though he offered me to do so. It was raining (I am 
 told that it rains every day in Nanaimo), but he kindly 
 ordered out his trap, and drove me round to see a 
 crofter settlement which his company was establishing 
 among the miners. 
 
 The miners, when in full work, earn as much as 
 $90 a month, the working shift being eight hours ; but 
 there are slack times, when the wages fall considerably. 
 
 The settlement consisted of five- acre plots, and as 
 the wives and children assisted in working them, they 
 were generally speaking very well cultivated. The 
 land belonged to the company, who had purchased it 
 from the Hudson's Bay Company ; and the plots were 
 leased to the miners on twenty-one years' leases, with 
 the option of purchase. The rental is 50 cents per 
 acre per annum for two years, during which time the 
 land is being cleared of trees and the stumps removed. 
 The rent is then raised to $2.50 per acre per annum 
 for three years; after that it becomes $10 per acre 
 per annum until it is purchased. 
 
 The purchase price varies from $100 per acre to $300. 
 The price is practically contingent upon the quality 
 of the land, its proximity to the town, and the cost 
 of clearing in the first instance — some land being less 
 heavily wooded than others. In the case of the highest 
 price reached ($300), the land was not only near the 
 town, but comparatively lightly timbered. 
 
 Excellent roads are laid down by the company, and 
 this is a very expensive work, as it includes bridges, 
 requiring very solid masonry. The company also digs 
 out water-courses, as the large main drains are called, 
 
202 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEB8. 
 
 into which the crofters can drain their land. In addition 
 to this, the company clears the trees from its own 
 land wherever these trees overhang or shade the crofter's 
 land. 
 
 The Government refused any assistance towards the 
 road-making, but provided a school for the children 
 of the settlers. The cost of the roads has been so 
 heavy as almost to absorb the entire returns upon 
 rent, etc. In one respect I could not help seeing that 
 ultimate gain to the district resulted in the Government 
 having no hand in the road-making — inasmuch as the 
 roads laid down by the company were very superior 
 to any Government work of the kind I had seen 
 hitherto. 
 
 Mr. Bobbins was genuinely interested in the scheme. 
 He told me, with undisguised satisfaction, that many 
 of the crofters farmed so closely, as to have acquired 
 a knowledge of local possibilities such as other farmers 
 were ignorant of who had farmed for thirty years. 
 
 One thing which struck me very much was that 
 Mr. Eobbins entirely disclaimed any philanthropic 
 object in this crofter scheme. " It is to the advantage 
 of an employer," he said, "to have workmen who are 
 satisfied with their condition, and who are on the road 
 to permanent independence. We get more satisfactory 
 work done by a contented body of men than we should 
 by a dissolute, roving, unsettled element. The land 
 was there, lying idle — we had not to buy it. We do not 
 expect to lose by the scheme. With careful manage- 
 ment we hope to clear our expenses, and we may even 
 show a small profit." 
 
 I asked him about the labour on these well-kept 
 acres ; and he told me that the mine had the first claim 
 on the miner's labour, and that a great deal depended 
 on the willing co-operation of the wives and the quick- 
 ness of the children, especially in cases where cows are 
 kept. These animals were allowed free grazing on the 
 mountain belonging to the company. 
 
 The miner's shift was eight hours below ground ; so 
 
THE MINES. 203 
 
 that even when they were working full time, which 
 seldom happened for all the men at once, there were 
 still two hours in the day which he could devote to his 
 croft. Besides the dairying, small fruits for sale in the 
 town were very profitable. One man had made $360 
 out of half an acre of strawberries. He found that the 
 miners on these crofts lived well, started their children 
 well, and were in a good position themselves. He knew 
 that some of the crofters had made as much as from 
 $400 to $500 in a year by their land. One man, who 
 no longer worked in the mine, was able to keep himself 
 entirely on six acres of ground. 
 
 We afterwards drove on to inspect the company's 
 own experimental farm. About five hundred acres, 
 lying in a rich valley, had been cleared and drained, 
 and a big barn erected for storing fodder. 
 
 The chief object was the growth of green crops for 
 the mules in the mines. The mules lived underground, 
 and all the manure from their stables was carted out 
 to this farm and returned to the land. 
 
 I saw large stretches of oats, clover-hay, timothy- 
 grass, and also an acreage here and there of potatoes, 
 which crop appeared remarkably flourishing. They 
 were invariably put in to clean fresh land. In one 
 corner there was a swamp, the result of an old lake, 
 which was partially drained, and still in process of 
 being reclaimed. I was astonished at the size of the 
 drain-pipes and the heavy outlay for drainage. But 
 even this swamp could be turned to account, as it was 
 overlaid with deep peat, which Mr. Bobbins found made 
 excellent bedding for the mules, and afterwards provided 
 first-rate dressing for the heavy land. Boughly speak- 
 ing, Mr. Bobbins considered that the land had cost 
 him £40 an acre to clear. The drainage he could not 
 estimate. 
 
 I lunched with Mr. Bobbins, and spent the afternoon 
 strolling round his garden. It was beautifully kept, and 
 contained all the English fruits and flowers — beautiful 
 carnations and roses. There was a smooth lawn, 
 
204 BRITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 tastefully planted with many ornamental evergreen 
 shrubs and trees. 
 
 In the evening I went to see Mr. Marshall Bray 
 again. I found him very interesting, for he had a long 
 experience in the affairs of the colony, and was watching 
 the mining interest very closely, regarding its success as 
 the best chance for the country. 
 
 He was nevertheless emphatic as to the dangers 
 incident upon mining ventures. At one time as many 
 as from seventy to eighty claims per month were 
 registered, representing $40,000,000 of capital. Yet if 
 one company in a hundred made a successful venture, 
 the result would be unequalled prosperity. He spoke 
 very strongly about the hard nature of the rock, and 
 the costs of working, which he believed would, in 
 some cases, amount to $15 to $20 a foot. He also 
 spoke of the fundamental ignorance of many men who 
 went prospecting and picked up pieces of rock, with 
 which they pretended to assay the value of a mine. 
 " ' One swallow does not make a spring,' though," he 
 remarked. 
 
 Mr. Bray also condemned the habit of averaging, or 
 assays in bulk. He strongly advised that the mines 
 should be carefully exploited, and the ore or quartz 
 tested at regular intervals, throughout the mine, before 
 any conclusions as to the payable nature of the property 
 be declared. He further considered that we might not 
 yet have arrived at the most economical method of 
 working all sorts of mines ; and I remarked upon the 
 hard quartz in the Alberni, which, upon exposure to 
 damp, becomes almost soluble, like a greasy clay. 
 
 The following morning I left Nanaimo for Chemainus, 
 in a dug-out, with a couple of Indians, who had been 
 hired for me by Mr. Bandel of the Wilson Hotel. I 
 wisbed to go at an hour when there would be sufficiently 
 low water to shoot the rapids in the Dodds Narrows, 
 and both Mr. and Mrs. Bandel did their best to arrange 
 this for me ; but the Indians contrived to trick us, and 
 the dug-out sailed through the passage in the most 
 
THE MINES. 205 
 
 commonplace manner — such is the crafty wiliness of 
 the Eedskin. 
 
 The price I was to pay them had been stipulated for 
 me, and the agreement clearly made ; but they never- 
 theless tried hard to get another couple of dollars out 
 of me. I was firm, however ; and, as a last resort, a 
 temporary shipwreck was improvised. The rag of a 
 sail and the rotten sticks which did service for booms 
 suddenly smashed up, and the dug-out was lifted bodily 
 on the crest of a wave and deposited upon some rocks. 
 
 The pair of Indians vociferated and made an un- 
 earthly commotion, watching me narrowly the while. 
 Failing to get me to join in the excitement, they showed 
 me handfuls of rags, ropes, and Bticks, which they cast 
 from them with a dramatic air of despair, exclaiming, 
 " Chemainus ! " 
 
 The next wave took us up and lifted us into deep water 
 inside the rocks. The Indians looked at me and said, 
 " Two dollars ! " holding up two fingers as they spoke. 
 
 I shook my head and laughed; so they presently 
 commenced repairs, chattering to one another from 
 time to time and looking a good deal crestfallen. 
 
 While we were on the rocks, I noticed a thick growth 
 of the kind of seaweed which is used in seaweed baths 
 in the south-east of England, and, therefore, I suppose 
 the temperature of the water would be about the same. 
 
 After a while we started again, and sometimes the 
 Indians amused themselves with a little paddling, be- 
 ginning vigorously and then getting tired. Sometimes 
 they put the sail up, and sat watching it with the naive 
 insouciance of creatures to whom neither day nor night 
 signified. Then they would pull it down again, and 
 take it by turns to seek a little much-needed repose in 
 the bottom of the boat, while the other resumed a 
 nonchalant paddling with a lovely red paddle. 
 
 Although I found sitting on the fiat bottom of the 
 dug-out rather difficult, it was not a bad way of taking 
 a holiday. Not only was the method of travelling novel, 
 but the scenery all round me was lovely. 
 
206 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 We passed the islands, and there were duck and a 
 variety of water-fowl and most exquisite cloud effects. 
 I was also greatly struck with some rocks at the mouth 
 of Nanaimo harbour, which had been carved by the 
 action of the water into most fantastic shapes. They 
 were hollowed into cavities, rounded and moulded, with 
 the effect of a gigantic charnel-house. There were 
 skulls with holes left for the eyes, and wide grinning 
 mouths, and occasional teeth missing. Sometimes the 
 forms were those of antediluvian monsters. Never have 
 I seen anything so strange as this coast, apparently 
 strewn with dry bones, most aggressively suggestive to 
 the mariner of the wreck of some Noah's ark unrecorded 
 in Holy Writ.* 
 
 My dug-out was decorated at the prow with a hideous 
 countenance painted in red, blue, and yellow. 
 
 I had no book with me but a Psalter. These old' 
 songs of the emigrant Israelites are one of my "best 
 books." Palpitating as they are with human interests, 
 and yet inspired to such great ends, they offer lessons 
 of all that is greatest and least. Nor can one be 
 unmindful of the heroic leader whose hard task it was 
 to pioneer these sadly wavering, unsatisfactory people 
 through the desert, and who, for one unscrupulous 
 action, suffered the hardest punishment which can be 
 inflicted on a great man — that of dying with his work 
 still unaccomplished. 
 
 At length I got out my long line and let it trail with 
 a spoon-bait ; but I only caught one sea-trout of about 
 two pounds, and afterwards lost my bait on the rocks. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when I landed at Che- 
 mainus, and proceeded by train to Duncan. 
 
 My intention was to fish at Cowichan, but the 
 accounts given me were so bad that I went on to 
 Victoria, which I reached at midday on Sunday. 
 
 * I regretted afterwards not securing a piece of this curious roc!?, 
 which I believe is a kind of soapstone or meerschaum. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 THE BUSH TO KLONDYKE. SALMON FISHERIES. 
 HABKISON LAKE. 
 
 At Victoria I found the rush to the Klondyke at its 
 height. Some miners who had provisioned at Frisco 
 were very indignant at finding they would have to pay 
 duties in Canada on their goods ; and an American told 
 me that "the Klondyke ought to be in America." I 
 replied that America might have been in Great Britain 
 if it had not been for the Americans. 
 
 No one cared to talk on any other subject than on Klon- 
 dyke, It was the word in everybody's mouth, and all 
 the most impossible people seemed bent upon sacrificing 
 themselves. It was a kind of jumble-sale of humanity. 
 Only here and there through the streets stalked an old 
 trail-blazer, whose garb and the little mongrel dog 
 marked him as a miner. The simplicity of the man and 
 the consequence of the dog, their silence and disregard 
 for the rest of the world, formed a momentary resting- 
 place for one's mind. " Here," I used to think, " are 
 two living creatures who know what they are about, 
 what they can do, and how to do it." But the stout 
 father of a family, aged sixty-five, holder of a comfortable 
 clerkship, what on earth could he do, bereft of his 
 regular meals, his comfortable bed, and home surround- 
 ings? There were many young men with whose 
 ambition I sympathized ; but how they could expect to 
 reach the Klondyke upon their slender savings, I failed 
 to see. Only the strong and the hardy, and men whose 
 hearts were utterly hardened against failure, could bear 
 
208 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 the wretchedness of the life. For others it was a matter 
 of large outlay to secure the Indians to pack provisions. 
 Very little calculation would show that the Klondyke 
 was not all gold, but no one cared to listen to anything 
 against going there. What are the facts ? No doubt 
 there is great wealth, although it remains to be proved 
 whether it is really the richest gold-field. For we have 
 yet to hear about the costs. Firstly, labour is so dear 
 that a man must do everything himself or pay at least 
 $6 a day for such assistance as chopping wood, carrying 
 water, or cooking. The ground, though gravel, is 
 frozen as hard as rock for fifty feet deep. For several 
 months of the year work is only possible under great 
 difficulties and disadvantages, such as probably exist 
 nowhere else. Lastly, the gold strikes, however rich, are 
 very uncertain; and the paper reports of the wealth 
 brought down are made the most of, no comparison being 
 offered either with returns elsewhere, with the numbers 
 of blanks, or the cost of original outlay. 
 
 The following conversation was reported in the New 
 Denver Ledge, and though I am unable to vouch for its 
 having taken place, it certainly gives a very fair idea of 
 the extravagances and eccentricities in connection with 
 the Klondyke mania. 
 
 " I understand your uncle brought $800,000 back from 
 Klondyke ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " No ? "Why, that was certainly the report." 
 
 " Tes, that was the report at Dawson City ; but when 
 he got to St. Michael's rumour let it drop to $625,000." 
 
 " Well, that's a pretty good sum." 
 
 " Of course it is ; but after he had sailed we got word that 
 the actual value of his nuggets probably wouldn't exceed 
 $380,000." 
 
 " Still he could do the handsome thing by you if he 
 wanted to." 
 
 " No doubt about that at all ; but when he landed at Seattle 
 the newspaper reports from there gave his fortune as only 
 $110,000." 
 
THE YUKON RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES 
 
 St.Poul 
 
 •J 
 
 bilof islt*nd» 
 St. Georg-v 
 
 J£ 
 
 'V x - 
 
 CHAPMAN fc. HALL L T P, LONDON, 
 
THE BUSH TO KLONDIKE. 209 
 
 " Even that is a good deal of money." 
 
 " Very true ; but the next time we heard from him he was 
 in San Francisco, and the best they could make of it there 
 was a little less than $50,000." 
 
 " Pretty good pay for a year's work, anyway." 
 
 " Unquestionably ; but he reached Chicago this morning 
 with a letter of credit for $3516, which represented the total 
 value of the gold that he and his partner had brought down 
 and delivered at the San Francisco mint ; and they want me 
 to board them for nothing all winter, so that they can have 
 that for their expenses when they go back in the spring." 
 
 Even Mrs. Dupont's Chinaman was in despair at not 
 being able to go to the Klondyke. He exhorted me to 
 include that desirable spot in my travels, and upbraided 
 me with my want of enthusiasm. " You no smart lady 
 no go Klondyke ! " be said ; but when I told him that I 
 bad refused a free passage, be was ready to sink to the 
 ground with despair. " Chinaman be only one leg," be 
 groaned, " but Chinaman savey go Klondyke." 
 
 While I was at Victoria some miners who bad been 
 " grub-staked " at Seattle were very displeased at finding 
 their provisions dutiable on Canadian territory. For 
 British subjects the best way to the Klondyke is by the 
 C.P.E. from Montreal to Vancouver, and thence via Port 
 Wrangel, Telegraph Creek, and Teslin Lake. 
 
 After a few days spent in Victoria I left my kind friends 
 the Duponts and went on board the ss. Charmer for 
 Vancouver. This boat leaves Victoria in the small hours 
 of the morning, so that it is customary to go on board 
 over night. No sooner had I sought my pillow in the 
 retirement of my cabin, than the ship began to utter the 
 most piercing bowls. She yelled incessantly, as if she 
 bad fifty devils inside her, instead of one unhappy first- 
 class passenger. These heart-rending appeals seemed 
 to attract some passengers, who came on board extremely 
 thirsty and kept up an animated conversation in the 
 saloon. It was not till the grey dawn commenced that 
 we put out to sea, and the babel ceased. 
 
 After breakfasting at the Hotel Vancouver, which is 
 
210 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 one of the best in Canada, and would compare favourably 
 with any on the continent, I went to see Mr. Coyle and 
 Mr. Marpole of the C.P.R, who sent me to Mr. Darling 
 of the Union Steamship Line, and Mr. Maclagan of the 
 Vancouver World. 
 
 I found Mr. Maclagan a wiry intelligent Scot, full of 
 energy and thoroughly well posted in the affairs of the 
 district. He was keenly alive to the importance of 
 developing agriculture. " Two millions and a half, 
 that is the amount in dollars which we import in the 
 shape of farm products annually, and what will it be as 
 the mines continue to develop, unless agriculture wakes 
 up ? Nevertheless, the first and most important industry 
 just now is the gold-mining." 
 
 I asked him about the Klondyke, but he seemed to 
 feel less interest in the Klondyke than in British 
 Columbia. He rather laughed at American aggression, 
 as though he knew it was only " a pleasantry." Great 
 Britain, he thought, would take care of those points. 
 The days had passed when British statesmen gave away 
 whatever any one asked them for, and America would 
 "just cool down " when she understood this. He hoped 
 to see a railway running in from the North-West with the 
 Duke of Teck for president. The trade had rather 
 settled down upon San Francisco and Seattle, which 
 was a pity. But now Captain John Irvine had put on 
 the Islander from Vancouver, which was a move in 
 the right direction. 
 
 Mr. Maclagan was full of the future of Vancouver, 
 and I do not think anything he said was exaggerated. 
 It would be hard to estimate what the trade of such a 
 port may become if adequately developed upon sound 
 commercial principles. 
 
 Mr. Darling also dwelt upon the future trade of the 
 port. He was anxious to see more capital introduced, 
 and hoped it would come when the British merchant 
 houses understood the opening offered by Vancouver. 
 He maintained that it was useless putting on ships 
 unless merchants were prepared to freight them. It was 
 
THE SALMON FISHERIES. 211 
 
 the merchants who must see their way to trade. In old 
 days the Victorians had gambled in real estate. Now 
 they were investing in mines. But what was wanted 
 was capital judiciously invested in trade. Had there 
 been more enterprise and skill in nursing trade, the 
 merchants would now be in a better position. In which 
 case the competition of America in the Klondyke would 
 never have had a chance. 
 
 Early in the afternoon I went on by train to New 
 Westminster, travelling part of the way with Mr. 
 Marpole. 
 
 On reaching Westminster I went in search of the 
 Leonore tug-boat. Mr. Darling had given me permission 
 to go anywhere I could in her. I was soon off down the 
 Fraser river, perched on a high stool in the bows in front 
 of the captain's steering-box. 
 
 It was a wonderful scene. There were myriads of 
 small canoe-shaped boats,* most of Which were gliding 
 over the grey water of the river with their wide sails 
 spread to the breeze. Here and there one would drop 
 the sails and commence hauling in the long drift-net 
 with the glistening salmon caught in its meshes. Then 
 up would go the sails again, and off they would go. 
 The activity and intentness of the men were delightful 
 to watch. 
 
 The boats, the men, the fish, monopolized the river. 
 There were no mountains, save quite in the distance. 
 The shores were hidden with a thick deciduous foliage, 
 chiefly cotton trees, poplars, and maples, though here 
 and there a cedar or spruce was the more striking, 
 because of its singularity. The wild grey waters, and 
 above the wild grey sky, with clouds still wet with rain, 
 offered a picture for a water-colour artist with a bold 
 brush. 
 
 We passed, some islands two miles long or more, but 
 they were merely incidents in this vast river scene. At 
 several points we drew up at the wharves to take on fuel 
 for the furnace, or to deposit fish at the canneries. 
 
 * There are 4000 boats engaged in this fishery. 
 
212 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLE BS. 
 
 This gave me an opportunity of seeing several of the 
 canneries. 
 
 Some boats passed us in full sail, returning with their 
 fish to canneries which employed them. There- were 
 two men in each boat, but in one boat there was a man 
 and a woman. The fish are killed at once by being 
 struck with a gaff. They are sometimes strong enough 
 to tear the nets, and I noticed that one man had a 
 netting-needle stuck in his belt. The catch was, I 
 believe, solely a matter of luck. It appeared to me that 
 beyond the management of the boat, very little skill 
 indeed was required for this fishing. 
 
 There are three sorts of salmon. The first is the 
 spring salmon, a large fish very similar to what we buy 
 in fishmongers' shops as salmon. It comes into the 
 Fraser river in March. Later on comes the sockeye 
 which is far more abundant, but a smaller fish and of a 
 darker colour, harder, and less full flavoured. It was 
 this fish which I saw them catching, and though I could 
 not weigh the fish, I do not think I saw any above seven 
 pounds. It is the principal fish for the canneries, and 
 comes into the river in vast shoals, so that steamboats 
 are sometimes unable to pass. It lasts for six weeks, 
 and makes its way up the river as far as Yale, and even 
 further. 
 
 The last fish is called the cohoe. It begins to arrive 
 in October, and continues for a month. They are paler, 
 and more tasteless than the sockeyes, and the canneries 
 do not care much about them. 
 
 The fishermen at this business average about $200 
 each for the season. They are of all sorts and con- 
 ditions, including Indians and Chinese. Some go into 
 the business on their own account; others. take what is 
 called a third share, by giving one share to the cannery' 
 for the use of boat and net, and licence to fish. 
 
 As has been stated, no very great skill is required ; 
 but the work is very unpleasant. It is monotonous, 
 there is continual exposure to rain and wet, and the 
 results are always uncertain. 
 
TEE SALMON FISHERIES. 213 
 
 When I had gone sufficiently far down the river, the 
 captain hailed a tug which was going back to West- 
 minster, which I boarded. 
 
 This boat had a scow (a wooden raft) alongside, into 
 which the fishermen emptied salmon out of their boats, 
 for us to deliver at different canneries. 
 
 I found this tug very amusing. She ran up and down, 
 ready to oblige any one, yet kept most discreetly out of 
 the way of the drifting nets. She made me think of those 
 heroines in fiction — the maiden aunts of Miss Yonge's 
 charming stories, who fly to the assistance of various 
 households in distress, always arriving in the nick of 
 time, and sure to do the right thing at the critical 
 moment. 
 
 This large-heartedness on the part of the tug enabled 
 me to see a great deal. We kept in shore going up 
 stream, partly to have an eye on many curious habita- 
 tions on the river-bank, which it needed some quickness 
 to discover. 
 
 Two small canoes lay moored to a single plank set on 
 a pole, which did duty for a landing-stage. As we drew 
 near, a dog rushed out to the canoes from the heavy 
 screen of maples and aspens. Almost concealed in the 
 dense greenery I saw a small hut, or shack, in front of 
 which there burnt a fire upon the ground, with a black 
 pot suspended above on cross-sticks. Inside the cabin, 
 through the open doorway, I caught a glimpse of the 
 fisherman sitting on a settle before a table, enjoying 
 his solitary meal. There was just room in the cabin 
 for himself and his dog — a kind of black collie. I 
 heard that he fished independently, and sold his catch 
 wherever he could make the best money, either to hotels 
 or canneries. It was an ideal fisherman's lodge. 
 
 A quarter of a mile further on was another shack, 
 neither so neat nor so inviting-looking, but there was a 
 better landing-stage. There was a thrifty little garden, 
 full of beans and potatoes. This was the cabin of a 
 Chinese charcoal-burner. 
 A little further, and we drew up at what was really a 
 
214 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 floating village anchored for the night. They were 
 small -wooden houses on rafts, exactly like miniature 
 Noah's arks. They were new, neat, and well-painted. 
 In each house-boat lived two men, and their fishing- 
 boats were moored alongside. These were the profes- 
 sional fishermen who fished the Fraser all through the 
 year. In autumn, a tug moves them up the river, some- 
 times taking them to Harrison Lake, and in the spring 
 they float down by themselves on the current. 
 
 The next point of interest was an Indian camp. They 
 seemed well-to-do — many of the tents having shacks 
 built over them, or a roof of planks laid on poles to 
 keep off the rain. 
 
 None of these people in tents, shacks, or cabins, 
 paid any rent ; and if they were not making money very 
 fast, at all events they lived at ease. 
 
 A good deal has been written upon the subject of the 
 cleanliness, or the reverse, of the canneries. I cannot 
 endorse any statements I have heard on either side. I 
 believe it to be impossible to guarantee cleanliness, unless 
 the entire control of the business were in one set of 
 hands. 
 
 It is well-known that Chinese and Indians are em- 
 ployed in certain canneries, and even if their habits were 
 all that could be wished in the canneries, it would be 
 impossible to trace where they went to when they left 
 the canneries, or what germs they might pick up to bring 
 back with them. Unfortunately, nothing that I saw 
 gave me great confidence in the sanitary arrangements 
 of the towns or settlements connected with the canneries. 
 Nor can I think it desirable that all the offal from the 
 canneries should be thrown into the river, to float on 
 the surface, and catch against any obstacle which may 
 offer obstruction. 
 
 However, I have since learnt, on good authority, that 
 all the points I have remarked upon are undergoing im- 
 provement. The best-managed canneries might utilize 
 some special bottle or tin (it seems that glass bottles are 
 likely to be used in future, instead of tin) as a guarantee 
 
THE SALMON FISHERIES. 215 
 
 to the public that neither Chinese nor Indians are en> 
 ployed in the cannery. But the chief feature requisite 
 is greater vigilance on the part of the authorities whose 
 business it is to attend to the Banitary arrangements ; 
 and the people who have the interest of the canneries at 
 heart should see that stringent regulations are rigidly 
 enforced. It is no use blinking the facts. Far-sighted 
 men look such things in the face, and consider whether 
 adequate precautions are actively enforced ; and if they 
 are not, they will be ready to make any temporary sacri- 
 fice, in order to save from annihilation an important and 
 useful industry. 
 
 I spent the following night at New Westminster, a 
 second-rate little town with a vile inn. All night the 
 inhabitants sang songs in the street ; and as I was dress- 
 ing the next morning I saw a dray and two horses drive 
 into a plate-glass window. Fortunately, this accident 
 seemed to wind up the proceedings, as people became so 
 quiet that I believe most of them went to bed. 
 
 It is better to take the boat from Harrison and come 
 down the river, crossing over by train to Vancouver, 
 where there is a good hotel, than to stay the night at 
 New Westminster. 
 
 So much is usually said in praise of the Fraser, that 
 I was surprised to find what a character for being 
 troublesome the river bears in its immediate neighbour- 
 hood. There does not seem to be an iniquity which a 
 river could perpetrate that the Fraser has not been guilty 
 of many times in its known history. As I went up it in 
 one of Captain John Irvine's steamers, I found that the 
 banks are being washed out very fast, with the result 
 that no ships of any considerable tonnage will be able 
 to navigate it in the course of another year or two — 
 though, hitherto, all but the largest have gone as far as 
 Chilliwack. The loss will not be confined to the steam- 
 ship lines; the mines will miss the cheap transport; 
 but it means utter ruin to the agricultural settlements. 
 
 If appears that the river has changed its bed before, 
 and is now probably desirous of returning to its old 
 
216 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 course. There is no doubt that its waters once covered 
 an immense tract of country. The mud upon the banks, 
 where trees grow to the edges, shows at low water that 
 it has been deposited in layers or strata. Only on the 
 highest ground, which probably were islands, there is 
 some gravel. But gravel is never found at less than ten 
 feet above the level of the water, while its usual position 
 is from twenty to thirty feet above the water. 
 
 Government has appointed a committee to examine 
 the case, and report if any steps can be taken to control 
 the vagaries of the Fraser. But the commission is 
 lengthy, and meantime the river " doth as it listeth." 
 
 Some way back from the banks, and well out of the 
 reach of the awful floods which occur at regular intervals, 
 there is a good deal of cattle ranching. This district is 
 called Matsqui, and runs down to the American border. 
 On the same side of the river there is a large shallow 
 lake called Sumas lake, upon the drainage of which 
 enormous sums have been spent in vain. Had the 
 same amount been invested in dyking the Fraser river 
 itself, and clearing its course, to the prevention of floods 
 and the saving of the banks, there would have been 
 satisfactory results in two directions. As it is, the 
 river has eaten its way within a few yards of promising 
 young orchards, and menaces the homesteads themselves. 
 Besides, the floods, which occur about once in seven 
 years, are so terrible in the wide-spread havoc caused 
 by the strength of current forcing its way to the sea, 
 that the farmers affected by it lose all the money made 
 out of their holdings in prosperous years. 
 
 The steamer stopped frequently at small landing- 
 stages, returning quantities of empty butter-tubs and 
 fruit-boxes, which would be re-filled in time for the 
 downward trip to Westminster. 
 
 • I did not land at Chilliwack, as it was far advanced 
 on Saturday afternoon when the steamer reached the 
 landing-stage. I preferred to take the opportunity of 
 going round Harrison lake, returning to Chilliwack on 
 Sunday evening. I bad certainly no cause to regret 
 
EABBISON LAKE. 21 7 
 
 my decision. Harrison river, which runs out of 
 Harrison lake, and joins the Fraser at Harrison bridge, 
 is a most exquisite piece of scenery. The mountains 
 there come close to the water. The lake is hidden away 
 among the cascade range, and, I believe, is very similar 
 to the other lakes, such as Liloet to the north. The 
 water never freezes, so that a passage is always open 
 during the whole year. It is possible that the hot 
 springs prevent the water from freezing, but the lake 
 is subject to violent disturbances, and is a dangerous 
 one for small boats at certain seasons of the year. At 
 the extreme end of Harrison lake a narrow passage 
 leads into Douglas lake, at the northern extremity of 
 which is Fort Douglas. From here an Indian trail 
 leads northward to Liloet, and it was originally the 
 road to Cariboo. Fort Douglas was established by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, but has long been abandoned ; 
 even the small church was removed a short time ago, 
 and if it were not for the prospectors the country would 
 be left entirely to the Indians. 
 
 ' This was the most weird and peculiar scenery that 
 I came upon in all my travels. The steamer had been 
 ascending rapid rivers and climbing through mountain 
 gorges in a most remarkable manner, bumping her 
 sides against the precipices and grating her keel on 
 the bottom. Thus we had gone mountaineering in our 
 steamer, and reached a lake at considerable altitude. 
 This brought us near to the peaks of most eccentric 
 forms and uncouth shapes. 
 
 All this district would offer great opportunities for 
 camping out during the summer months, for any one 
 with a love of wild nature and capable of fishing and 
 boating. It would, however, be essential to secure a 
 good Indian, as it is never safe to venture alone into 
 the mountains or upon the lake. An Indian would 
 be useful in putting up the tepee, and in looking 
 after the ponies and a boat. But he would be useless 
 in the matter of cooking. Supplies could be procured 
 by arrangement with one of Captain John Irvine's 
 
218 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 steamers at New Westminster or from Vancouver by the 
 C.P.E. as far as Harrison bridge. A little acquaintance 
 ■with Chenook would be advantageous, and this could be 
 easily acquired by one of the phonetic Chenook books, 
 whieh I believe could be obtained at the office of Indian 
 affairs. 
 
 The cost of camping out would be about $15 to $25 
 a week, plus the purchase of tepee, boat, and ponies. 
 Any one contemplating such a trip for the summer 
 months would do well to stop off at Banff and consult 
 Mr. Matthews of the C.P.E. hotel, who has had con- 
 siderable experience in fitting out shooting or travelling 
 expeditions in the Eocky mountains. Mr. Wells of -the 
 C.P.E. at Golden, could furnish information as to the 
 purchase or hire of boats or tepees. The Indians of 
 the district below Windermere excel in making good 
 tepees. 
 
 Though reliable information could be secured at 
 these points, the base of operations would be lower 
 down on the C.P.E. There is a very fair hotel at 
 Agassiz called the Bella Vista ; and provided the mos- 
 quitoes were not in the zenith of their career, any 
 traveller would find much to interest him at Agassiz 
 in the experimental form, and in driving over to visit 
 the hot springs or Harrison lake. There are always 
 mosquitoes in the delta of the Fraser, and probably 
 they flourish on Douglas lake, but it would always be 
 possible to move the camp away from the water's edge ; 
 and a tepee has this advantage over all other tents, 
 that the mosquitoes can be smoked out at the top, after 
 which, if the tent is closed all round, and the wings at 
 top folded over, no more mosquitoes can get in till the 
 morning. 
 
 It was towards morning that I was awakened by the 
 noise made in forcing the steamer up some rapids. 
 I had lain down to sleep in the saloon, merely removing 
 my collar and my boots, so that I was soon up and 
 outside to see what was happening. 
 
 It was a most unparalleled scene. The dark masses 
 
EAEBISON LAKE. 219 
 
 of the rock towered black above us, and seemed to lean 
 over as though only recently torn asunder. So close 
 above us, that it seemed as though a stone might be 
 thrown to them, were the fantastic peaks shooting 
 through the ice fields of enormous glaciers. To the 
 north-west one great star quivered, glowed, and flashed 
 to its setting ; and as I looked up out of the depth and 
 the darkness of the rocky chasm and the cruel grey 
 rapids roaring beneath, I saw the first pale light of a 
 new day shine suddenly across the peaks and the 
 glaciers. I seemed to forget everything, and to be only 
 conscious of a sudden great change, as though the 
 light which fell from no visible sun was that of the 
 unearthly Day, when this world and the things of our 
 human life shall have passed away for ever. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CHILLIWACK. 
 
 At Fort Douglas Mr. Agassiz came on board. He had 
 come down from his camp on Fire mountain, where he 
 was superintending the opening of a gold mine. 
 
 He showed me a piece of very fine quartz, in which 
 little lumps of gold were sticking, and seemed very 
 hopeful about the prospects of the venture. 
 
 On our return we stopped for a couple of hours at 
 Harrison hot springs; and I went to visit the baths. 
 This lovely spot might be made very attractive. The 
 heat of the water astonished me, as it is literally boil- 
 ing, and the supply appears to be inexhaustible. It is 
 a veritable godsend for the prospector who contracts 
 rheumatism, and for the victims of accidents of any 
 kind. 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon I reached Harrison 
 House, Chilliwack. This little place is a municipality, 
 being the centre of a considerable agricultural population, 
 extending from Sumas lake to Popcum. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sumas lake, and in Chilliwack itself, there 
 are a great many undeveloped mining claims, some of 
 which are said to be good prospects. As the ore is low 
 grade, much would depend on the erection of a smelter 
 in the immediate neighbourhood, which could include 
 ores from the properties on Harrison lake. 
 
 Although a good deal of land lies low in Chilliwack, 
 and is sometimes affected by the rising of the Chilliwack 
 river, Chilliwack itself escapes the Fraser floods. Never- 
 theless, a good deal might be done to improve this 
 
CH1LLIWACK. 221 
 
 important district if the Government would undertake 
 a certain amount of dyking and draining. There is no 
 richer or better land in British Columbia, and it is 
 suitable for fruits (pears, plums, and apples), vegetables, 
 dairying, stock, sheep, and pigs, and on the higher 
 ground for oats and wheat. 
 
 If the enormous losses in time of flood could be put 
 into a scheme for checking the Fraser and regulating 
 its tributaries, the addition to the food supply of British 
 Columbia would very sensibly diminish the imports, 
 besides providing a livelihood for a thousand additional 
 adult emigrants. 
 
 The activity in the mines has made all kinds of labour 
 very dear and scarce, and during the summer of 1897 
 it was frequently a case of offering high wages in vain. 
 
 The two reasons why the farmers in this district are 
 really in a struggling condition are floods and mort- 
 gages. Farmers told me that they considered farming 
 paid them if they were not flooded oftener than once in 
 six years. 
 
 The mortgage system is simply disastrous. I could 
 not see where the ruin it entails can be expected to end. 
 As a general rule, the person as well as the land is held 
 liable under these mortgages ; so that a man who may 
 have land subject to floods or otherwise in need of the 
 application of capital, and at the same time a store 
 which pays him, may find that the mortgage has been 
 so drawn up that the Jien he believed he had only taken 
 Upon his land, includes his store and all other property. 
 Even should he abandon his farm, unless the proceeds 
 of the sale amounts to the whole sum borrowed, he is 
 still liable. In some cases the bondholder has waited 
 patiently until the man has worked his store or inn 
 into a good paying business, and then he forecloses for 
 a small deficiency, and seizes both personal and real 
 estate. 
 
 The inconvenience of negotiating a mortgage on land 
 is that real estate is as often apprised at fictitious values 
 as mining properties. British Columbia has suffered 
 
222 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 severely from " booms " in land as well as the inevitable 
 changes necessitated by railways and foreign compe- 
 tition. The boom has forced the price of land up ; the 
 railways and competition have forced the prices of pro- 
 duce down. It is not a bit easier to see a profit on a 
 farm than on a mine, and it is quite as easy to fail in 
 the one as in the other. But Government stands in a 
 different relation to the land than any individual can 
 do, and in behalf of the country can take steps to render 
 land remunerative, which neither individuals nor com- 
 panies can do. 
 
 The chief essential for the land is cheap money, and 
 Government can borrow money more cheaply than any 
 one. There is a line at which legitimate banking ceases 
 and usury begins, and it is a pity that Government should 
 not discriminate and put a stop to injurious practices 
 by opening a sound business itself. But the same 
 rules or laws cannot justly apply to every kind of 
 security, and it is this feature in the case which requires 
 careful handling. There is a jealousy on the part of 
 bankers whenever Government steps in and poaches 
 upon banker's preserves. But the question is whether 
 or no the banks will lend money in small sums at a rate 
 of interest which is safe for the farmer to mortgage 
 upon. There are other parts of British Columbia, such 
 as the Vernon district, where farmers have borrowed at 
 heavy interest; but the Lower Fraser has suffered 
 especially, because nowhere else is the temptation to 
 borrow so strong as here where draining — often of a 
 very expensive character — must be carried out. 
 
 Then we must consider the period at which the loans 
 were raised. In the early days of the Colony money 
 was dearer than at the present time. Not that Govern- 
 ment could not have facilitated cheap loans even then ; 
 but it did not do so, nor is there any sign to-day of 
 such a move being contemplated. There is no doubt 
 of the sincerity of the Government report on the agri- 
 culture of the Lower Fraser, but there is conspicuous 
 silence upon the heart-broken condition of some of the 
 
GEILLIWACK. 223 
 
 farmers who labour under an incessant drain to mortgage 
 companies. 
 
 In behalf of the mortgage companies, it must be 
 admitted that when the difficulty in obtaining money 
 and the cost of clerical work is taken into consideration, 
 their profits upon small loans are not so great as may 
 appear at first sight. Then it is clear that from the 
 fact of mines and railways being able to afford a high 
 rate of interest they would expect mortgages on land to 
 pay interest according to the scale of interest paid in 
 other concerns. Twenty per cent, on loans for a twelve- 
 month is not too much to exact from many mining 
 companies ; and if they can get this, with the same 
 outlay for collecting as upon land, they are justified in 
 preferring to invest at 20 per cent. 
 
 It is true that I never heard of loans at 20 per cent, 
 upon land; but I entertain little doubt that at the 
 time 15 was being accepted upon farms, the loan com- 
 panies would not have objected to the farms falling 
 into their hands, and therefore were likely to keep their 
 terms as high as possible. What very few of them 
 foresaw was the depreciation in the value of land which 
 followed the booming times ; and from which there is 
 no immediate prospect of the land recovering. 
 
 As matters are to-day, many of these loan companies 
 are in a critical position. At any time a bankrupt 
 farmer may give up the struggle and prefer the Klondyke 
 to the anxieties of farming at a dead loss to himself. 
 If such cases should occur frequently, the mortgage 
 companies will find themselves loaded with properties 
 in default of sums loaned. Instead of drawing a pro- 
 fitable interest, they will be compelled to pay a tax for 
 holding unoccupied land. There comes in another 
 consideration — the fall in the value of land improved 
 and fenced will bring properties into the market, which 
 it will very well pay farmers to purchase. They will be 
 able to enter in and take possession of cleared land with 
 good roads at $15 an acre, or even less, and that in 
 addition to good markets and cheap transport. Compared 
 
224 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 ■with the price of pre-empting uncleared Government 
 land, it must be clearly seen that the old jealousy 
 of the holders of land against Government assisting 
 emigrants, can no longer avail to get $5 an acre in the 
 neighbourhood of Comox or Cowichan. 
 
 Had the Government some years ago borrowed money 
 at 3£ per cent., and loaned it to farmers at 4£ per cent, 
 (which is all farming ought to pay), they would still 
 have made a profit — even supposing a special office 
 had to be opened with a special clerical staff. The 
 attitude of Government would have been one of co-opera- 
 tion rather than banking, and wherever a farmer could 
 pay off half or even a third of his loan, Government 
 could have accepted the release, though a private 
 company might legitimately object to the extra trouble 
 involved. There are objections to Government banking, 
 which are so well understood that it is unnecessary to 
 elaborate them ; but they apply rather to old-established 
 countries. There was no comprehensible reason why the 
 Government in this young colony could not have placed 
 these loans. The result to the Government of the 
 neglect is that there is dear living — as on Vancouver 
 Island — owing to the struggling state of agriculture, which 
 amounts to ruin where there ought to be prosperity. The 
 result to the loan companies is the working out of the 
 natural law of cause and effect. They have sown ruin 
 for others, and will have to reap the crop themselves. 
 
 The subject of mortgages upon land forms a set of 
 questions apart from all others. It refers to the 
 business part of farming — the accounts — and the market 
 prices of produce and transport freights. These matters 
 are interdependent, and no figures can be given to 
 suit all cases. To do so would be to emulate the 
 conduct of the old lady who always gave sixpence to 
 all musicians. She could not see that though what 
 she gave was the same to her, the effect differed con- 
 siderably whether the recipient was a man and a 
 monkey, or a band of twelve men. 
 
 There was evening service at Chilliwack, and on 
 
CEILLIWACZ. 225 
 
 walking down the street I was greatly struck with the 
 building of the new church. The foundations were 
 put in in concrete, as even two miles from the Praser 
 the water "seeps" in, and at any time a hole dug 
 four feet deep is sufficient to encourage the river to 
 make its unwelcome appearance. I met Mr. Allan, 
 the parson, and he invited me to spend the evening 
 with him and his wife after service. 
 
 I found him very emphatic as to the lack of suitable 
 training in the young fellows who emigrated from the 
 old country. He said that they came out "with no 
 idea of any trade to a country where a knowledge 
 of some trade is essential, unable and unaccustomed 
 to do anything for themselves where a man must be 
 able to do everything for himself. 
 
 He illustrated his statements by some very sad stories, 
 at the end of which he exclaimed, " Ah ! It is a cruel 
 waste of good stuff ! People at home are bo ignorant ; 
 and they expect so much from the boys. How would 
 they like it if they had to come out here ; but they say, 
 'Delightful! Such a delightful life! Oh yes. Eegie 
 is ranching somewhere in British Columbia ! ' and they 
 little know what Eegie is going through ! " 
 
 Mr. Allan was strongly averse to premiums. In the 
 middle of his somewhat vehement declamation he 
 stopped, and sat silent, gazing before him. Then he 
 said — 
 
 " I was just thinking as I read the first lesson to- 
 night, that the people stoned the prophets for telling 
 the truth. That's just the way with people everywhere. 
 They do not Want to be told the truth. But," he con- 
 tinued, " when I think of the things they do in their 
 sinful ignorance it makes me despair. Positively many 
 of them think that the colonies are the right place to 
 send any member of their family to who is 'not very 
 
 bright,' as they say. And Yes ; but they do it ! I 
 
 have known poor boys sent out to this place — not 
 ' bright ' enough for them at home ! I wouldn't mind 
 if all the suffering did not fall on the boys. But so 
 
 Q 
 
226 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEBS. 
 
 long as they get rid of the boy they are ashamed 
 of, they don't care either for him or the place he 
 goes to." 
 
 I fear that Mr. Allan did not express himself at all 
 too strongly. Cases came to my knowledge which I 
 am prevented giving, because I do not feel at liberty 
 to publish other people's private affairs ; but if I did 
 so, I feel sure that all who read them would agree 
 with me that language could hardly be found strong 
 enough in which to censure the "sinful ignorance" 
 of people at home. 
 
 The next day I hired a buggy and drove over to 
 Mr. Wells's farm, Eden Bank. I saw some fine wheat 
 crops outside the town of Chilliwack; but all cereals 
 here are chiefly grown for stock and poultry feeding. _ 
 
 I stopped at Mr. Ogle's store, and he accompanied 
 me to Mr. Thornton's farm on the bench lands. This 
 young man was a new settler who had arrived in the 
 country without a penny. He had built a house for 
 himself with an axe, fenced his holding, and then sent 
 for his father and mother (who were Eastern Canadians) 
 to join him. He had planted a find orchard of selected 
 kinds of apples, pears, plums, and cherries. This land, 
 being on the hills, did not require draining, and was 
 secure from floods. 
 
 When I arrived he was busy mowing hay of 
 timothy and alsike, which was growing between the 
 charred stumps of pine trees. He showed us with 
 special pride a vine splendidly fruited, and said that 
 the previous year's crop had ripened well. The frosts 
 are not so severe on these hills as in the valley, and 
 the soil is drier. He showed me some wheat which 
 his father had sown on the last day of December. It 
 was winter wheat. The straw was wonderfully long 
 and the ear full and large. His mother told me that 
 flour from the white chaffer wheat of that district 
 made a very good loaf, being moister than the Manitoba 
 flour. Mr. Thornton said that sheep did very well; 
 but the losses through coyotes and mountain lions 
 
CH1LLIWACK. 227 
 
 were very serious. He had a brother living on the 
 next farm, but he was just then down at the fisheries. 
 He went fishing to get eapital to put into his land. 
 He did not think that Sumas lake could ever be drained 
 satisfactorily, because the water would always come 
 down from the hills on to the land. It was not merely 
 the rising of the Eraser which caused the lake to 
 expand. 
 
 On the way to Mr. Wells's I passed some beautiful 
 hops grown by a Mr. Hulburt. I was afterwards told 
 that these hops were English varieties, and that they 
 realized the best price in the London market. I also 
 drove through a flock of very fine Leicester sheep 
 which were grazing by the roadside. I understood 
 that there is no difficulty at all in selling the wool 
 of this district at good remunerative prices, its quality 
 being quite above the average. Elsewhere I had heard 
 complaints as to the low price for wool. 
 
 Mr. Wells's land contrasted with that I had recently 
 seen upon the bench lands. He devoted himself to 
 the business of dairying, and his land being situated 
 in an old river bed, afforded plenty of rich grasses. 
 It had cost little or nothing to clear the land, there 
 being no heavy timber, such as pines or cedars. But 
 the fields were bisected with surface drains. Each 
 field was enclosed, and contained from three to five 
 acres. The drains ran into a large drain outside the 
 fields. 
 
 The creamery was on a very large scale, and was 
 worked by steam, the entire business being under the 
 supervision of a man who did nothing else. Besides 
 the yield of his own cows, Mr. Wells bought milk 
 from sixteen farmers on the Babcock test principle — 
 paying them according to the butter value of their 
 supplies. The vat was large enough to hold 500 gallons 
 of milk at a time. From this vat it was passed through 
 a separator, and the cream went to ripen in a large 
 tank. The churn could make 400 lbs. of butter at one 
 churning. There was also a butter worker driven by 
 
228 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 steam. The use of steam was evidently an advantage, 
 as the whole process went on at the same time. The 
 skim milk was mixed with meal and used for feeding 
 pigs. Mr. Wells found the Berkshires answered best. 
 Upon the breed of cows he seemed less decided. He 
 had two hundred, most of which were Ayrshires, but 
 he had some Jerseys, and one or two shorthorns. 
 
 He considered it quite useless to attempt competing 
 in horse breeding with the ranches at Calgary. 
 
 A great feature at the farm was the barn. It con- 
 sisted of two stories. In the lower one there was 
 accommodation for 100 head of cattle, besides calves. 
 The upper story holds 300 tons of hay besides the silo 
 full of very sweet clover silage. This barn cost $4000 
 to build. When I was there they were busy running 
 the hay into the second story, up an incline road 
 constructed of wooden beams. It was packed upon 
 light drays, each drawn by two strong horses of the 
 Eastern Canada type. The hay was thrown up on to 
 the stack by a power fork, an invention I had never seen 
 before. It is admirable for use in stacking hay upon 
 very large or high stacks, and does the work of four 
 men. By its use I saw a whole waggon unloaded in less - 
 than five minutes. The fork itself catches the hay with 
 a steel clasp. It costs $4 ; but the most expensive part 
 is the arrangement of the track and pulleys by which it 
 runs up to the roof (the barn is 64 feet high), and 
 deposits the hay wherever it is wanted on the stack 
 A man works it by pulling a rope. 
 
 Highly as Mr. Wells valued labour-saving contrivances, 
 he was fully alive to the importance of men who were 
 competent both by nature and training to manage 
 cattle. 
 
 Boots, chiefly swedes or Buba vega, are kept in long 
 trenches four feet deep, which is sufficient to preserve 
 them from such frost as this district is liable to. 
 
 We afterwards drove round to see the hay. It was a 
 very strong crop of timothy and clover, and there was 
 another barn containing 175 tons. This hay Mr. Wells 
 
CHILLIWACK. 229 
 
 intended to sell later in the year in the Eossland 
 district. He reckoned that his land produced about 
 three tons to the acre. Of his 400 acres he had only 45 
 under plough, and upon these 45 acres he spent all the 
 manure he had, merely grazing his hay-fields. He used 
 no fertilizers at all. 
 
 Mr. Wells believed the district to be eminently suitable 
 for certain crops. These were hay, small products, 
 fruit, and dairy products. Wheat he considered too 
 expensive to handle at the present high rate of wages ; 
 moreover, it would be difficult to compete with the great 
 wheat lands of Manitoba. 
 
 Mr. Wells was far from being a fatalist, yet he 
 remarked that some men failed and some others suc- 
 ceeded in farming, as in other walks of life, from no 
 assignable cause. In farming, he had noticed that 
 a man often succeeded from happening to hit on the 
 right thing to do, apparently accidentally. I believe he 
 said this to caution me against holding up success in 
 one place as an example of what might be done by any 
 one anywhere else. 
 
 That evening I returned to Chilliwack and made 
 arrangements to leave the following day. 
 
 About three-fourths of the Chilliwack district is mort- 
 gaged. Farmers are far too apt to take up mortgages, 
 expecting to be able to pay them off in a year or two. 
 They are also much too careless about the form of 
 the mortgage, and are not aware till too late that the 
 clause rendering them personally liable for the interest 
 has been inserted. Too much stress cannot be laid on 
 this point. 
 
 A few years ago land mortgage companies revelled in 
 the Chilliwack district ; and some of them proceeded 
 systematically, and with considerable foresight. 
 
 Their plan was to employ agents whose business it was 
 to watch the crops and stock on the farms, and get all 
 available information respecting the intrinsic value of 
 the property. This was necessary owing to the fictitious 
 value of land. These companies were too shrewd to 
 
230 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEB8. 
 
 accept even the auction price as the real value. They 
 played the double game of lending sums upon farms at 
 figures which they knew were well below the real value ; 
 and yet they claimed the high rate of interest which the 
 auction price of land argued that the land should be 
 able to pay. The matter worked thus : " You say your 
 farm is worth $4000 as it is. "With the application of 
 $1000 it will be worth more. Therefore you can pay me 
 interest according to its value at $4000, and eventually 
 sell your farm at a, higher profit." They seldom lent 
 money at less than 8 to 12 per cent., but the loans 
 were in amounts far below the commonly accepted value 
 of the land. 
 
 Still, even the most cautious land companies had 
 really taken mortgages to the full value of the farms, 
 as has been proved since the disappearance of the 
 boom. A man who had a farm valued at $4000, 
 and only wished to borrow $1000, would have found 
 an agent willing to lend this money, taking a lien 
 on the whole farm for that amount, bearing interest 
 at 9 per cent. 
 
 In consequence of this state of things, and owing to the 
 fall in prices for produce, many of the farms have 
 actually passed into the hands of land companies, who 
 have agreed to keep on the farmer as a tenant. He 
 does not make a farthing beyond the small sum allowed 
 him for living, being personally liable whenever the 
 value has sunk below the amount borrowed. Nor can 
 he escape to make a start elsewhere, notwithstanding 
 that the company will turn him out as soon as they can 
 secure a good purchaser for the farm. 
 
 The mortgage companies are now very glad to get 
 land taken up, and eager to sell ; but they are much 
 more discriminating than they were as to taking liens 
 on farms. They inquire very closely into a man's 
 methods, in order to ascertain to a nicety how much 
 they may draw from him without ruining him and 
 having the farm thrown on their hands. Of all 
 landlords they are the most exacting. Their difficulty 
 
CHILLIWACK. 231 
 
 is to get land taken up by people with sufficient 
 energy, intelligence, and capital of their own to make 
 it safe for them to lend money upon it at 8 or 9 per 
 cent. 
 
 The price of land round Sardis is $150 an acre. A 
 farm of 160 acres, with barns and outbuildings and a 
 house half a mile from Chilliwack, can be bought for $175 
 an acre. There are others for $40 to $75 an acre ; and 
 lower-priced lands are to be had, situated six miles from 
 the village, which are excellent farms, but they have only 
 huts or shacks built on them. These would be sold for 
 about $15 an acre to $40 an acre. There is plenty of 
 land for $5 an acre. 
 
 To render him independent, a man requires about 
 £300 capital besides the purchase price of his farm. 
 
 It is possible to rent farms for a year or two years 
 at $2 to $4 an acre ; and it is a very good plan for a 
 new settler to rent a farm and learn the ways of the 
 country before investing in a purchase. But in all 
 transactions with land or mortgage companies, the 
 utmost care must be exercised to avoid liabilities which 
 may mean ruin. If the property mortgaged to the loan 
 companies a few years ago were capitalized to-day, the 
 loss to the companies would be very great. Some of 
 them are, therefore, holding on to the properties, hoping 
 to get back half of the value on which they took up the 
 mortgage. In selling land they will be anxious to add 
 to the price of land the arrears of interest which the 
 original owner has failed to pay since he became merely 
 an occupier. But theBe arrears of interest are no con- 
 cern of the new occupier. 
 
 There are two ways of buying property in the district 
 of the Lower Fraser. We will take a farm of 160 acres, 
 of which 20 acres are cleared with huts and buildings on 
 it, to be bought complete with the crops standing for 
 £150. The payment could be made in instalments of 
 not less than £15 per annum. The company would 
 probably not hasten the payment, at all so long as the 
 farm was being improved. 
 
£ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 232 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB 8ETTLEB8. 
 
 In addition to the £20 paid on account, a farmer 
 would require £100 divided as follows : — 
 
 For implements 
 
 For seed and stock 
 
 To get ten additional acres burnt and slashed before 
 
 entering upon property 
 
 Paid on account 
 
 And he should have in the bank besides 
 
 Total 220 
 
 Unquestionably it would be far better to buy the land 
 outright for £150, and be quit of the surveillance and 
 greed of any land or mortgage company whatsoever. 
 
 The climate of Chilliwack is said to resemble that of 
 Central France. It is out of the range of the coast fogs, 
 and its worst feature in winter is the cutting wind from 
 the north-east. Other people compare the climate to 
 that of Essex in Ontario. There is no doubt that 
 dredging and dyking the Fraser river would add 
 immeasurably to the desirability of this district for 
 settlement. 
 
 I left Chilliwack in the afternoon of the 27th of July, 
 and, there being no steamer, I crossed by a ferry 
 managed by an old Scot, who had a monopoly of the 
 business. I and two other passengers were driven by 
 him in a rigg a distance of four miles in an hour and 
 ten minutes; the sun above us was scorching, and 
 being cramped up in the rigg, which was driven by 
 Mac at a foot pace, was most trying. On reaching the 
 river, we embarked, after sundry delays, in a small 
 boat, Mac simply dropping the harness off his fat old 
 horse and turning it loose in the bush. At length Mac 
 hoisted a sail. We passed some Indians who were 
 fishing, and their nets were full to bursting of sockeyes ; 
 they had camped on a sandbank, and their take of fish 
 was hanging to dry in the sun. On rounding a point, 
 a sudden gust caught our sail and took us in the wrong 
 direction. We drew up at a sandbar, to take down the 
 sail and get out the oars, and on this sandbar there 
 
CHILLIWAGK. 233 
 
 were seven ravens; they watched our dilemma with 
 callous cynicism, croaking to one another apparently 
 about us and our affairs. I felt so incensed at their 
 human impudence, that I threw a stick at them as we 
 went off. Will it be credited that these birds ducked 
 their heads as the stick went over them, and remained 
 there croaking to each other? I believe them to be 
 opportunists ; I do not think they hunt, but they take 
 advantage of whatever comes in their way, and plenty 
 comes to those who wait. 
 
 I joined the O.P.E. at Harrison bridge, and, arriving 
 at Agassiz, went to call upon Mr. Sharp at the 
 experimental farm after dinner. 
 
GHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 AGASSIZ. 
 
 The English tourist who books a passage in London by 
 the C.P.E. across the continent imagines that he sees a 
 great deal of British Columbia as he rattles through in 
 the cars. And he certainly gets a very fair idea of the 
 mountains, glaciers, rivers, and forests ; but he is as far 
 as ever he was from knowing the riches and fertility of 
 the country. ■ 
 
 If he were to " stop off " at Agassiz, he would be all 
 the better for the rest and refreshment ; and if he were 
 to visit the experimental farm, he would see sights 
 such as would convince him that British Columbia is of 
 a truth a gracious and grateful land. He would also 
 find Mr. Sharpe a delightful guide, an enthusiast in 
 his particular work, and devoted to the cause of 
 husbandry. 
 
 The experience is unique — of finding the small com- 
 mencement of what we in the old country have inherited 
 from many generations of agricultural forefathers. 
 
 At Agassiz, a rough piece of ground was selected to 
 test crops, fruits, and shrubs. There are Bussian pears, 
 English apples, American plums — in fact, Hungary, 
 Germany, and France all contributed to the orchard 
 at Agassiz. And never in my life have I seen such 
 crops! Literally, the trees lay down with fruit upon 
 them as thick as leaves ; but it was the colour and the 
 quality which struck me especially, and the total 
 freedom from blight or disease of any kind. 
 
AQA8SIZ. 235 
 
 The cherries are a very good crop, and ripen earlier 
 than in England. Mr. Sharpe told me that he had had 
 some ripe enough to gather on the 24th of May. 
 
 The peaches are less satisfactory. They grow very 
 well, forming handsome standards; but it seems that 
 the late frosts in the spring and cold wind destroys the 
 blossom, and consequently the trees seldom bear. There 
 was one tree literally loaded with peaches about the 
 size of a florin; when ripe they measured about two 
 inches in diameter. The apricots, again, did not 
 succeed; they grew vigorously and with plenty of good 
 wood, but they did not bear, or if they did the fruit 
 was small. 
 
 Fruit trees grow very rapidly at Agassiz. Mr. Sharpe 
 showed me a plum tree which was two and a half feet 
 high when it was planted in 1892 ; when I saw it (in 
 1897) it was over 16 feet high, with a splendid top, 
 plenty of lateral branches, and heavily loaded with fine 
 fruit. Among pears I was very struck with the old 
 Bonne Chretienne and the Duchess d'Angouleme, also 
 some American canning varieties. Pears, plums, and 
 cherries evidently answered to perfection ; peaches re- 
 quired shelter from the bitter winds in early spring ; 
 apples were good, but it was a little early in the year to 
 judge of their flavour ; every variety of small fruit grew 
 well and bore prolifically. 
 
 Mr. Sharpe was strongly of the opinion that all land 
 where fruit of good quality and flavour was grown 
 required periodical manuring, if the fruit was to main- 
 tain its flavour. He recommended potash, lime, and 
 farmyard manure applied at different seasons. He 
 had a crop of clover sown round the trees in the 
 orchard, which he intended to plough in in the autumn. 
 The idea of a southern slope being necessary for fruit 
 was contradicted here, Mr. Sharpe having found such 
 crops as apples were started too early in the winter, and 
 suffered in consequence from the late frosts. 
 
 Some interesting experiments in vines had resulted in 
 their being abandoned. Both the growth and the crop 
 
236 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 was satisfactory, but the autumn rains and consequent 
 loss of sun prevented the flavour equalling the Ontario 
 produce. 
 
 In order to render his experiments of wider signifi- 
 cance, Mr. Sharpe had made plantations of different 
 kinds of fruit— including English ■ gooseberries, vines, 
 and peaches — on the mountain at different altitudes. 
 
 After luncheon we began to climb to these experi- 
 mental orchards, the first of which was about 200 feet 
 above the level of the plain. Mr. Sharpe found that both 
 peaches and vines answered better than in the plain, 
 but even here they were uncertain. The fruit was 
 simply planted where the birch and alders had been 
 cut down and their rotten stumps kicked out. The 
 ground was not ploughed or dug, and no manure was 
 given the trees, the natural soil being a rich light loam. 
 Spraying he. found to be quite unnecessary, except in 
 rare cases for green fly in early spring. 
 
 As we went on climbing from one plantation to 
 another, Mr. Sharpe gave me an account of such 
 meteorological notes as he had been able to take of 
 the climate of the different altitudes. It struck me 
 that the difference was quite as great as any I had 
 heard of in Natal. 
 
 There was more sunshine on the hills, yet, contrary 
 to experiences elsewhere, the fruit did not suffer from 
 frost in consequence. The peach-trees grew less 
 rampant, but equally healthy, while the fruit ripened 
 earlier than in the plain, where the fog would often 
 protect the trees from the effect of sun upon frost. He 
 ascribed the greater amount of sun on the mountain to 
 the absence of fog. He had often been working on 
 the hill in March and early April, and found the sun 
 unpleasantly hot, and when he returned to the plain 
 his sun-recorder had recorded no sun that day. It 
 struck me afterwards that the aspect had something to 
 do with the immunity from frost. The snowfall in 
 autumn commences very early in the mountains. He 
 pointed to the great peak of Che-am (a poetical Indian 
 
AGASS1Z. 237 
 
 name, meaning " Beloved "), and said that snow fell 
 there as early as the 10th of September. 
 
 From time to time we sat down to rest and enjoy the 
 
 view over the wide expanse of the Agassiz valley, the 
 
 Fraser river, Chilliwack, Popcum, and Sumas lake, 
 
 with the American boundary in the far distance. This 
 
 early attempt of converting the wilderness into a garden 
 
 was very fascinating. The mixture of wild forest and 
 
 choice fruits, the freedom of the unfenced orchards, 
 
 which yet never suffered from human depredations, 
 
 recalled pages in old chronicles when monks first 
 
 experimented with the mulberry and vine in the 
 
 southern counties of England, and brought the hautbois 
 
 strawberry from France. Sitting on a huge sun-baked 
 
 boulder, with the gurgle of a stream close by, and 
 
 watching a vine throw its wild growth over a rock, 
 
 where its branches of half-ripe fruit lay upon the 
 
 surface, which reflected and retained the heat of the 
 
 mid-day sun, I could fancy that close by I should find 
 
 the cave of a hermit, with the crucifix and skull, and 
 
 his bed of rushes. Suddenly Mr. Sharpe returned, and 
 
 broke in on my reverie by throwing a handful of English 
 
 gooseberries into my lap. 
 
 We were then 500 feet above the plain, and had got 
 some way to climb to reach the topmost plantation. 
 Part of the way led through a thick undergrowth of 
 silver or paper birch (which grew to almost 50 feet high), 
 alder, maple, and fir trees. I found a corpse plant, 
 or, as it is sometimes called, an Indian smoke-pipe, 
 though it is certainly the most unique representation 
 of a corpse in a white shroud that could be imagined. 
 There was also a quantity of the syringa, or wild orange, 
 goat-beard spirea, Solomon seal, and many lilies pro- 
 ducing berries, besides thimbleberries, which are very 
 good to eat. 
 
 We occupied the time of our rests by discussing the 
 oft-occurring and never-failing problem of how to fit the 
 people at home to enter in and enjoy this fruitful land. 
 I could only look on the land in silence as it lay before 
 
238 BBIT1SE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 me, its great advantages calling to humanity. In con- 
 trast I thought of the multitudes living on the verge of 
 starvation, with no prospect but the workhouse. 
 
 Mr. Sharpe was not sympathetic. He knew nothing 
 of these crowded centres. His experience of the failures 
 who came drifting down the line from the great world 
 was bitter. He told me how they sank down to be 
 "lower than Si washes — especially," he added, "gentle- 
 men's sons. The graves of many of them are in that 
 forest, just where they have died." 
 
 " Will you make no bid for the children ? " I asked. 
 
 "Not unless they are properly trained to be of some 
 use, and likely to succeed," he answered dryly. 
 
 " You must bid quickly. There are many against you." 
 
 " No one can offer our advantages," he said, slowly. 
 
 It was difficult to explain to him what these cities 
 were like. 
 
 " ' We bid,' said Pest and Famine — 
 
 ' We bid for life and limb ; 
 Fever and pain and squalor 
 
 Their bright young eyes shall dim. 
 When the children grow too many, 
 
 We'll nurse them as our own, 
 And hide them in secret places 
 
 Where none may hear their moan.' 
 
 " ' And I'll bid higher and higher,* 
 
 Said Crime, with a wolfish grin ; 
 ' For I love to lead the children 
 
 Through the pleasant paths of sin 
 They shall swarm in streets to pilfer, 
 
 They shall plague the broad highway, 
 Till they grow too old for pity — 
 
 Just ripe for the law to slay. 
 
 " ' Prison and hulk and gallows 
 Are many in the land ; 
 'Twere folly not to use them, 
 So proudly do they stand. 
 
AGASSIZ. 239 
 
 Give me the little children ; 
 
 I'll take them as they're born, 
 And feed their evil passions 
 
 With misery and scorn.' " 
 
 " Is that so '? " he asked, as I finished drawing the 
 picture. " All the same, doesn't it seem hopeless to 
 think of them here ? " 
 
 I could not answer him. I felt that so much required 
 to be done by the people at home to save this awful 
 waste. 
 
 "It's a shame, I think," he said presently, "that 
 such things should be." 
 
 "It requires patience," I added, "and there must be 
 failures. Look at all that Moses went through in train- 
 ing a people to become a nation. And then — when all 
 is said and done — the further I go in this country, the 
 more I am struck with the way our British lads are 
 pushing the country along. You dwell on the failures, 
 but I know of successes too many to count ! And if 
 success comes to your country, it will be through Great 
 Britain. Nine-tenths of those I have met came out here 
 avowedly because there was no scope for them at home. 
 Because a man may fail at home — for the army, for 
 instance — it is no reason why he should fail in the 
 colonies, but quite the reverse. High spirits are 
 necessary to overcome hardship, but high spirits are 
 dangerous at home. Becklessness is only courage let 
 go too far with no worthy object. Even extravagance 
 out here, if directed well, would be useful. 
 
 " Let us take a certain class of men and we shall find 
 that the very dash with which they went into things 
 has broken the ice, and since opened a free passage for 
 steadier craft. 
 
 " Look back to the Hudson's Bay Company and the 
 old North-West, who were not irreproachable. God 
 Himself has much to forgive ; but if the Bible was not 
 inspired by Him, it at least shows more knowledge of 
 human nature than the average man can boast. If 
 
240 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 sometimes natures ■which bear up under suffering, dis- 
 appointment, loneliness, and danger, become boisterous 
 and they ' sin with a cart-rope,' I would rather not sit 
 on the judgment-seat to condemn them." 
 
 But I cannot help seeing that there are those here 
 to-day who are ready enough to tempt these boys. The 
 ruining of a " tender-foot " is the livelihood of a certain 
 set. We are taught to pray, " Lead us not into tempta- 
 tion," but the law, unfortunately, is too often ready to 
 punish the sinner ; whereas, to be consistent, it is the 
 tempter, who profits pecuniarily by the sin of others, 
 who should be mulcted of his gains and pilloried. 
 
 Though I spoke thus, I knew very well that there 
 was much sorrowful truth in Mr. Sharpe's stories, and 
 we could " bury the hatchet," because I believe that no 
 one is more ready to lend a hand to help a settler than 
 he is. He was anxious to save me from befriending 
 worthless objects; besides, he knew the real suffering 
 which the life entailed on men who, are not fitted for it. 
 It is there that the waste takes place. It is most 
 obvious in the Colonies, because men's lives are laid 
 bare in every detail; but it goes on at home, though 
 it may not be so deadly. The waste is the same in all 
 classes, but " the gentlemen's sons are the worst." 
 
 The education is at fault. Perhaps it is scarcely 
 elastic enough. There is an idea prevalent that a 
 gentleman's education compels him to learn certain 
 things which, in point of fact, in after life he may never 
 require. The heir to a great estate is taught Greek, 
 but he is not taught book-keeping ; while the boy 
 whose father owns the village shop learns what is 
 essential to the squire. They may meet later in life, 
 and the boy from the village shop knows more than the 
 squire. 
 
 The pet conceit of the schoolmaster is that public 
 schools form boys' characters, and fit them for any 
 position in life. The rest " comes easily," they say. 
 Banking, commerce — these things can be learnt by sub- 
 sequent training ; but the previous training has not been 
 
AGA88IZ. 241 
 
 as good as the schools pretend. There is, besides, a 
 discipline which circumstances furnish, but which can 
 never be so well acquired as in boyhood, in dealing 
 with plain matter-of-fact realities. Perhaps the girls 
 have hitherto had too much of the " trivial round and 
 common task" which directs attention to practical 
 matters. The boy whose character has been " formed 
 by a public school " is a complete puzzle. Formed ! 
 It may be so — about as much formed as the ground at 
 the bottom of the sea. One day there will come an 
 upheaval — which is not a bad thing, as it often throws 
 a little light on the stuff the boy is made of, and 
 provided it only happens once; but even then the 
 course is not always clear. Too often the forming of 
 the character has to be done in the rough school of 
 the world, and it is not till too late that the boy, 
 looking back, sees what he ought to have learnt and 
 how he should have been trained. And by this time he 
 is a broken-hearted man. 
 
 Boys may do something towards educating them- 
 selves, apart from the schools. If they will make up 
 their minds what they intend to do, they may do much 
 to train themselves. Not only can they acquire habits 
 of handiness and self-reliance, which schoolmasters can 
 hardly give them ; but there is nothing to prevent them 
 obtaining a fair rudimentary knowledge of common 
 useful trades. 
 
 Girls have done a great deal towards obtaining a 
 wide basis for their education. They are not content 
 with book-learning alone. I know a graduate of London 
 who made her own dresses, and made them tastefully 
 and well ; and instances abound of girls who combine 
 the strictest mental -training with outdoor sports and 
 exercises. Further than this, there is a thoroughness 
 in all they do, which enables them to regard cooking or 
 nursing as better than accomplishments. Moreover, 
 those women who appreciate culture are usually the 
 pnes who shine in practical matters as housekeepers. 
 
 ■yftth the boys there is one distinctly hopeful feature 
 
242 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 — they have learnt to appreciate self-inflicted "train- 
 ing," on the score of the sound physical health or 
 "fitness" it ensures. There is something akin to 
 worship in the way they regard a sound physique. 
 This must teach them habits of self-control, and give 
 them the power of directing their energy steadily 
 towards a given object. 
 
 Possibly the so-called best people, as a class, will 
 always stay at home. They certainly cannot be forced 
 to emigrate. But I doubt very seriously whether their 
 advent as settlers would be found much more popular 
 than that of the others, after they had once been 
 welcomed with a becoming kid-glove and white- shirt 
 reception. 
 
 The Colonies offer a splendid field for the run-mad 
 energies for which the old world is too small. For men 
 who could walk from Montreal to Labrador, leaving 
 red tracks in the snow from their bleeding feet, who 
 could explore treacherous rivers in bark canoes, driving 
 down dark canyons, where not even Indians had been 
 before, are hardly likely to " get on " in the small 
 sphere of home life, and it is fortunate that the Colonies 
 offer them such splendid chances. 
 
 It is true that failures at home do go abroad; and 
 just on this score the Colonies have gained some of their 
 best men. I know at least of one young fellow in one of 
 our Colonies who certainly made a pitiable failure at 
 home. But where he is now his thoughts and energies 
 are fully engrossed with large schemes, which, if they 
 succeed, will be of great benefit to the country and the 
 empire. Had he not blundered execrably at home, he 
 would never have dreamt of going to the Colonies. 
 Human nature is so constituted that we cannot expect 
 all men to behave as if they were in the kingdom of 
 heaven already. Most of us have many failures to 
 recover from, and experience justifies me in believing 
 that the angels of heaven find more to cheer and delight 
 them in the Colonies than in Exeter Hall itself. It is 
 ungenerous to harp upon the backsliding of the few 
 
AGAS8IZ. 243 
 
 goats among the many Bheep, and gloat over the lives 
 which have sunk "lower than the Siwash." I own to 
 a sense of unspeakable satisfaction and gratitude when 
 I recall how often I have seen my country's flag flying 
 proudly from some ancient citadel, or with its heavy 
 folds flapping against the ragged thorn pole at the last 
 outpost of the desert, realizing that it was young British 
 energy and pluck which planted it there, and that the 
 people above whom it flies — no matter their colour, 
 their race, or their creed — are the happiest and the 
 freest in the world. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 VEBNON. 
 
 I cannot pretend to give any adequate idea of the work 
 carried on by Mr. Sharpe at Agassiz. This book can 
 only be regarded as a sketch or index, and merely gives 
 nay own passing impressions. The reader will find 
 Mr. Sharpe's report most interesting reading. Also 
 the report of the Department of Agriculture for British 
 Columbia — a veritable mine of instruction — will repay 
 perusal by many people who, though interested in 
 agriculture, have no intention of emigrating themselves. 
 
 The following morning, shortly after breakfast, Mrs. 
 Agassiz called for me, with her daughter, and took me 
 for a drive round the neighbourhood of Agassiz. 
 
 I was greatly interested to meet Mrs. Agassiz, to 
 whom I brought a letter. She was the first of the 
 New England loyalists I had met. She had much to 
 tell me of a long experience in British Columbia, dating 
 from the time of the Cariboo gold rush. 
 
 I gathered, from what she told me, that fruit and 
 vegetables with hay were the crops at Agassiz. She 
 mentioned potatoes as excelling, so that salesmen kept 
 cards with Agassiz potatoes to place upon the samples 
 in their windows. She believed that dairy farming 
 would answer; but there was no creamery, and she 
 did not think there were enough farmers to take it up. 
 Sheep flourished; but they were only recently intro- 
 duced, and she was afraid the coyotes would give great 
 trouble. She was very anxious that I should see some 
 
VERNON. 245 
 
 hops, grown on Sir A. Shepney's land, which were 
 considered fully equal to the best grown at home. 
 
 Mrs. Agassiz spoke very kindly of the Indians, and 
 was much in favour of people endeavouring to teach 
 them to work. She employed a Chinaman herself, but 
 she had often had Indians to work for her from time to 
 time ; and found that with patience and firmness they 
 could learn almost anything, and be improved almost 
 indefinitely. 
 
 My next stopping place was Vernon, and to reach it I 
 had to proceed by the C.P.R. through the Praser canyon. 
 
 By the courtesy of the company I was allowed to 
 travel through the canyon on the cab of the engine. 
 The story of the exploration which started in the spring 
 of 1808, to ascertain the course of the Praser river, is 
 very well given in Mr. Alexander Beggs' delightful 
 " History of British Columbia." 
 
 "Mr. Eraser, with. Messrs. John Stuart, Maurice Quesnel, 
 and a crew of nineteen men and two Indians, started in four 
 canoes. . . . The Indians Mr. Eraser met were friendly . . . 
 they informed him that the descent of the river was extremely 
 dangerous, that he could not go on, and that the whole party 
 would meet with destruction if they made the attempt. The 
 object of the undertaking being to follow the river to its 
 mouth, Eraser declined to turn back. . . . On June 1st, five 
 days after they started, the river narrowed to a canyon, in 
 which they lost one of their three canoes. On the 5th, the 
 river contracted to a width of not over thirty yards between 
 precipices, the water turbulent, noisy, and awful to behold. 
 They made a portage of a mile over most difficult ground, 
 leaving the men harassed by fatigue. On the 6th, finding a 
 cascade and whirlpool hemmed in by huge rocks, to avoid 
 portaging, they lightened the canoes and ran the rapids. On 
 the 9th, the channel contracted to about forty yards, and is 
 enclosed by two precipices of immense height, which, bend- 
 ing towards each other, make it narrower above than below. 
 The water, . which rolls down this extraordinary passage in 
 tumultuous waves and with great velocity, had a frightful 
 appearance. However, it being absolutely impossible to 
 carry canoes by land, all hands without hesitation embarked as 
 
246 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 it were a corps perdu upon the mercy of the awful tide. . . . 
 Skimming along as fast as lightning, the crews, cool and 
 determined, followed each other in awful silence ; and when 
 we arrived at the end we stood gazing at each other in silent 
 congratulation on our narrow escape from total destruction." 
 
 The journal from which these extracts are taken con- 
 tinues to relate how the rapids became "worse, if 
 possible, being a continual series of cascades inter- 
 cepted by rocks, and bounded by precipices and moun- 
 tains that seemed at times to have no end." Even men 
 of their nerve could proceed no further on the foaming 
 stream. They were compelled to abandon their canoes, 
 and started to travel the rugged banks on foot, each 
 with a load of eighty pounds. They reached the tide 
 water below Spuzzum, which is the end of the canyon, 
 on July the 1st, but found the coast Indians so trouble- 
 some that they started to return by the route they 
 had come, and reached Fort George on the 6th of 
 August. 
 
 I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable scenery, and 
 had time permitted I should have liked to spend a few 
 days at North Bend, to have seen a little more of the 
 river. It always seemed to be at war with the moun- 
 tains — worrying them, teasing them, and fighting to get 
 its own wilful way, in spite of their best efforts to con- 
 trol and direct it. Nor was it possible to help rejoicing 
 with it in its triumph. 
 
 I reached Vernon early on the 81st of July, and 
 having deposited my luggage at the Kalamalka hotel, 
 I lost no time in going to see Mr. Henderson, of the bank 
 of Montreal, who afterwards accompanied me to the 
 Government office to see Mr. Norris. 
 
 Vernon is situated in the Yale district, which is full 
 of valleys and lakes. It is connected with the O.P.E. 
 by the Okanagan and Shuswap railway, which runs 
 from Sicamus junction to the northern end of Lake 
 Okanagan. Agriculturally, this is one of the richest and 
 finest districts in the whole of British Columbia. Good 
 
VERNON. 2i7 
 
 waggon-roads run through most of the valleys, and the 
 land is pretty nearly filled up. Steamers run down 
 Okanagan lake in connection with the trains, and call 
 at Kelowna and Penticton. It is a very good wheat - 
 growing district, and is commonly called the granary of 
 British Columbia — but apples, plums, small fruits, to- 
 matoes, onions, potatoes, pears, cherries, hops, and 
 tobacco, all answer well in Okanagan; while in the 
 lower part of the lake peaches fruit well, and are of 
 excellent flavour. 
 
 Irrigation is not always necessary, but it is not safe to 
 trust to the rainfall, which is very much less than on the 
 lower Fraser. In some districts irrigation is essential, 
 but a great deal depends on the crop. Very little or no 
 water-storage is necessary. The method is to irrigate 
 the bench-lands by leading out the mountain streams 
 which fall upon the hillsides. A peculiar feature here 
 is the variation in the land under grain. The soil in 
 some places giving indications of exhaustion, the farmers 
 have allowed it to lie fallow, turning their cattle in to 
 eat the volunteer crop, while other fresh land is taken 
 for wheat. 
 
 The valleys run from two to four miles between the 
 foothills. The crops of wheat run to a ton, and ton and 
 a half, per acre, and occasionally to two tons. The 
 quality of the wheat is superior to Ontario, and ranks 
 next to Manitoba A 1. The wheat and oats are such 
 exceptional crops in this district, that the farmers have 
 directed special attention to them ; but it is to be wished 
 that they would consider planting fruit trees of suitable 
 kinds, as a stand-by, when the wheat crop fails, which it 
 is liable to do in dry seasons. 
 
 About three years ago the farmers of the valley formed 
 a company and raised the capital for a mill. The affair 
 was started under the Joint Stock Act, but it works upon 
 co-operative principles. Each farmer subscribed $100. 
 By this means the buildings were erected, and the 
 machinery bought. The wheat is received at the mill 
 upon the current market price. At the close of the year 
 
248 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 5 per cent, is set aside as a sinking fund. The original 
 shareholders receive 5 per cent, on all moneys sub- 
 scribed by them. 
 
 The farmers bring their wheat to be separated and 
 cleaned by the mill separators and cleaners, and receive 
 back all the rubbish for stock-feeding purposes. They 
 each receive a ticket with the amount due to them upon 
 each consignment written upon it. At the end of year — 
 after all expenses have been paid, the sinking fund and 
 interest on capital provided for— the balance is dis- 
 tributed amongst the farmers according to the tonnage 
 that each has delivered. 
 
 This movement is one of the first steps towards co- 
 operation, which is a most essential, but strangely 
 lacking, feature in British Columbia agriculture. It 
 seems possible tbat if the farmers continue to co-operate 
 for milling, that the business may be developed into a 
 farmers' bank, for loaning money to farmers upon easy 
 terms. Few things could be more beneficial. Firstly, 
 it would make all the difference to farmers to pay only 
 4 or 5 per cent., instead of 8 or 9; and secondly, 
 every facility would be given them to pay off their 
 mortgage, in part or altogether, at any time that they 
 found themselves able to do so. 
 
 Of the three mills supported by the district, which are 
 all good paying concerns, two are owned by B. P. Either 
 and Co., of Victoria, and the third at Armstrong is the 
 Farmers' Co-operative. 
 
 Plenty of machinery is used on the land, in order to 
 save labour ; and it is always of the best and newest 
 description. 
 
 Though the effects of drought in this country are a 
 great drawback, there is one feature in the grain- 
 growing which should not be omitted, and that is, the 
 late frosts which prove disastrous in the North-West 
 are here unknown. Provided a farmer can irrigate with 
 one good soaking after seeding, and another when the 
 crop is about three-parts grown, he is certain of results. 
 The expense of raising water to the bench-lands in some 
 
VERNON. 249 
 
 districts is a great consideration for a man with small 
 capital, and cannot be recommended. 
 
 Next in importance to wheat is the cattle-ranching. 
 The worst feature in this business is the inhuman prac- 
 tice of starving cattle in winter upon the ranches. Bound 
 Vernon the thermometer runs down to twenty-five 
 degrees below zero, and there is a heavy snowfall besides, 
 which covers up the grass. The wretched cattle die by 
 hundreds, and no attempt is made to save them. There 
 are, it is true, a few fenced yards. Often straw, and 
 sometimes hay, is thrown on the ground. But cattle 
 require shelter and good water. 
 
 It appeared to me to be a mistaken idea of competing 
 in cheapness with the North- West — whereas it is a case 
 of accepting smaller profits, and getting the rest back 
 by some other means. 
 
 Of course where men have fifteen hundred head of 
 cattle, it is unquestionably difficult to devise an econo- 
 mical plan whereby they may all be fed and sheltered. 
 But if we look at the ranges we shall see that they have 
 been over-stocked in most instances, and in fact it may 
 be said that over-stocking will kill the cattle-ranching 
 in British Columbia. There are too many cattle for the 
 ranches as a rule, and it is strange that people in dis- 
 tricts such as Agassiz could not pick up cattle cheaply 
 in the autumn, and make a profit by fatting them on 
 roots and silage. But the ranchers prefer to risk losing 
 their cattle, and therefore keep more than they have 
 made provision for. The idea amongst many farmers 
 is held very strongly that they are being done out of a 
 profit if they sell anything under the top price. There- 
 fore, if men cannot sell cattle at first-rate summer 
 prices, they prefer to let them die of starvation, and 
 are indifferent to the sound of the wretched creatures 
 moans. 
 
 A good story Was told me concerning the farmers' 
 determination to secure the best price. There were two 
 brothers, and one desired to sell a portion of his land. 
 The other was at that time looking out for a piece of 
 
250 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 additional property, and offered a price -which was 
 accepted. A year or so passed, and trouble came, 
 obliging him to raise money, and he parted with the 
 piece of land for a third more than he gave for it. 
 Meeting his brother by chance, he told him what he had 
 done. The sale of the land was no offence ; but the 
 idea that it should have gone for a higher price than he 
 received, filled the brother with rage, which has never 
 cooled to this day. 
 
 The principle on which the large ranchers work their 
 cattle, is to let the cattle run loose for three years, and 
 sell them for the fat summer price of $27.50, which, it is 
 reckoned, leaves them $15 clear profit when all expenses 
 are discharged. The land is in very large holdings 
 where this system of ranching obtains, and where it is 
 not fenced the cost of labour in managing a great many 
 head of cattle is very great. Hence there is a percentage 
 of waste out of which other men might live. These 
 large territories are not economical farming unless a 
 man can start in with considerable capital, and fence 
 and provide shelter. 
 
 I could not help attributing the small poor cattle to 
 the hardships which those which survive must undergo. 
 
 The reason why the land has passed into large hold- 
 ings is partly on account of an old land act, known as 
 the Homestead Act of 1872. This provided that a man 
 might pre-empt 320 acres at a dollar an acre. But they 
 could get it free for paying the survey. The charge in 
 those days for surveying * 320 acres was $20, that is, 
 six cents, or about three farthings, an acre. They 
 could take out as many lots of 320 acres on those terms 
 as they pleased. 
 
 The rainfall and snowfall differ greatly in different 
 valleys. In Kelowna there is no snow to speak of. In 
 Armstrong there is both more snow and more rain. 
 
 At all times the rain is apt to be extremely local. It 
 is guided by the hills, and there is some reason to fear 
 
 * The fee for survey at the present day amounts to $48 for 320 
 acres. 
 
VERNON. 251 
 
 that too much cutting down of the forests will diminish 
 the rainfall. 
 
 There are a great many young fellows who came into 
 this district with little or no capital, and have heen 
 living very hard, frugal lives, just able to pay their 
 mortgages. But the exceptionally fine harvest of 1897 
 will, it is to he hoped, have enabled most of them to 
 get free of the incubus, and render life easier for them. 
 
 At the bottom of Okanagan lake is Penticton, and here 
 lives the greatest and most successful rancher in British 
 Columbia, Mr. Tom Ellis. I went down the lake and 
 visited the ranch, but unluckily Mr. Ellis himself was 
 from home. This range probably covers some 50,000 
 acres. There are smaller holdings, extending along the 
 shores of Vaseaux lake and banks of the Okanagan 
 river down to the American border. A good deal of 
 intelligence is put into this business, and it may be 
 cited as the best example of British Columbian ranching. 
 
 The system pursued is to turn the cattle loose all the 
 summer on the mountains; then in winter-time put 
 them inside fences on the foot-hills, where the bunch 
 grass has not been grazed. It must be understood that 
 bunch grass has no aftermath, and once fed down is 
 gone for the year. A limited number are fed, and all 
 those which are thin or requiring care, and the young 
 stock. 
 
 ■ They are divided into herds and kept separate. The 
 favourite breed is Shorthorn, crossed with Hereford, 
 which are preferred to the Aberdeen or Polled Angus. 
 There seems to be an absurd prejudice among the 
 butchers in favour of heavy horns. 
 
 The feed is grown in the flats, where irrigation can 
 be obtained, and valleys, and consists of oat hay, clover 
 hay, timothy hay, and grass hay. Taxes are no 
 higher here than up the valley ; and Mr. Ellis appears 
 to have no difficulty in obtaining labour. 
 
 Owing to improved breeding and care, the cattle on 
 this ranch dress to a better weight — the steers reaching 
 on an average 700 lbs., and cows 650 lbs. The same 
 
252 BEITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 practice prevails here as elsewhere of selling cattle for 
 butchering before they are matured. It is very seldom 
 that any beast is kept above three years, and at one 
 time they were regularly slaughtered at two years old. 
 Mr. Ellis has had steers which made 800 lbs., but I 
 could not learn whether it was due to age, or breed, or 
 treatment that they reached this figure. 
 
 Mr. Ellis divides his herds, and places them under 
 ranchmen, and rides round himself to inspect what is 
 going on. 
 
 There is very little snow at this end of the lake, and 
 the thermometer very seldom drops below zero. 
 
 Mr. Wade, a relation of Mr. Ellis, drove me out to 
 the ranch. I Baw the crops growing splendidly in 
 what was at one time a dry valley. There were great 
 stacks of hay, clover grass, and timothy. There were 
 also oats ready for reaping. In tbe garden I saw some 
 very fine roots under irrigation. A potato cultivator 
 had been driven between the rows of carrots and man- 
 golds, and the water let down in the trough, the earth 
 having been thrown up over the roots. The soil was 
 light but rich, being evidently a deposit of silt from the 
 foot-hills, in what was once an old river-bed. Below 
 there were boulders which allowed for plenty of drainage. 
 Below the boulders there was said to be clay, which 
 retained the moisture. By digging three feet water 
 could nearly always be obtained in these fiats ; but Mr. 
 Ellis drew his supplies for irrigation from numerous 
 small streams which ran into a creek, and when this 
 became low, which it did towards midsummer, the 
 necessity of irrigation was passed. 
 
 The fruit trees — apples, pears, plums, and peaches — 
 had suffered from aphis in some years, but diligent 
 spraying had completely cured them, and they looked 
 the picture of health. They were loaded to breaking — 
 some kinds even more so than the trees at Agassiz. 
 Their branches were propped, but many of the trees 
 were broken nevertheless. The pears were not so good 
 as the peaches. Not only were the peach trees breaking 
 
VERNON. 253 
 
 under the crop, but the flavour was delicious, and the 
 air loaded with the perfume. There were raspberries 
 still bearing prolifically, and English gooseberries, but 
 these last were on the wane. 
 
 Mr. Wade drove me back to the inn, where I spent an 
 uneasy night, owing to the crowds of mosquitoes ; and 
 perhaps my dreams, which were of forests of fruit trees, 
 were the penalty for the number of peaches I ate. 
 
 The foot-hills forming the shore at Okanagan lake 
 continue some way back from the lake. It is on these 
 that the bunch grass grows, but Mr. Ellis refreshes the 
 pastures by sowing suitable grass seeds, which the 
 cattle tread in. Timothy, red top, and cockstail, answer 
 according to the dryness or dampness of the soil. 
 
 Altogether the system pursued by Mr. Ellis is the 
 most advanced ranching ; and if he owns a good deal of 
 land, he certainly turns it to good account. His losses 
 in winter amount to about one per cent. He also 
 employs a good deal of labour, paying in winter-time 
 $30 a month to men for fencing or repairing fences. 
 
 I have all the more pleasure in giving these facts 
 because of two statements which were made to me by 
 people who are recognized as authorities. In the first 
 place, I was told that Mr. Ellis's land was only worth $1 
 an acre; but I do not think that, considering the 
 business it supports, $1 an acre represents its value; 
 though I cannot say what the land might be worth in 
 other hands, that is to say, apart from Mr. Ellis. 
 
 The second statement was made to me at Calgary — 
 that the British Columbian cattle are so bad that the 
 butchers will not buy them. This was emphatically 
 contradicted by Mr. Hull, and I had the satisfaction of 
 seeing Mr. Pat Burns, with Mr. Ellis, junior, riding into 
 Bossland with a herd of about three hundred fine cattle 
 from this range. 
 
 From Penticton there is a rough road on which a 
 stage runs into Trail and Bossland. This is a mining 
 district nearly all the way ; and when the railway is 
 opened which is in contemplation, a great deal of the 
 
254 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 small produce of Okanagan will find an excellent 
 market. 
 
 As it is, the two necessities of Okanagan are cheap 
 transport and cheap labour. The farming industry has 
 to support the transport and the labour market, and 
 with prices ruling where transport is direct, as along the 
 Spokane-Nelson line, and with the cheap labour in the 
 States, Okanagan farmers have no chance whatever. 
 But railways are of little use without telegraphs, and it 
 is to be hoped that the telegraph will come down the 
 fertile shores of Long lake to Kelowna very shortly. 
 
 The next desideratum is that farmers shall learn to 
 co-operate. Without system and control it is impossible 
 for transport rates to be reduced, or for the market 
 supplies to be regulated so as to secure prices for the 
 produce. 
 
CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 KELOWNA AND COLDSTREAM. 
 
 At Kelowna, where I stopped on my way up the lake, I 
 found Mr. Smith very much in earnest in behalf of the 
 Kelowna Shippers' Union. He found great difficulty in 
 meeting the farmers' rooted idea that prices could be 
 secured by withholding produce. This was very easy in 
 the old days before the railway, but under present 
 circumstances it was a case of the farmers considering 
 at what price they could afford to sell, and parting with 
 as much of their produce as possible directly they saw 
 all expenses covered and a margin of profit. 
 
 The previous year hay, and especially potatoes, could 
 not be sold for a price which covered expenses; but 
 when I was there consignments of hay and potatoes 
 were being collected upon the wharf by the Shippers' 
 Union, and as soon as they could be bulked into car- 
 loads, they would be shipped into the mining districts 
 at car-load rates. 
 
 It is manifestly impossible for the railway to deal 
 profitably with small consignments at odd times, but 
 specially low rates are allowed for car-load lots. 
 
 While I was there the chief difficulty seemed to be the 
 procuring of an agent to dispose of the produce in the 
 mining centres. The agents on the spot asked an 
 enormous percentage, while the fare and time of an 
 agent sent round to dispose of the produce in the open 
 
256 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 market was so expensive as to take the cream off the 
 profits.* 
 
 There is often a very strong feeling against the rail- 
 way which is wholly unreasonable. The effect of the 
 railway upon the farmer is to cheapen the transport of 
 machinery, equalize wages, bring down the prices of 
 groceries, clothing, and hardware, and enable produce 
 to be raised in larger quantities than the local market 
 can consume. But the new cloth cannot be patched on 
 to the old garment. The old conditions of farming must 
 be set aside. Under the old system farmers regarded 
 their stock as to be sold at their own convenience, or 
 just when they wanted the money. In one place I came 
 to, I found them still using a system of barter. If a 
 man wanted a stove he selected a pig and took it to the 
 store ; if he wanted a cooking-pot he caught a few fowls, 
 if they were handy. The railway has introduced a 
 system of greater exactitude, and makes cash the basis 
 of all business. The first to profit by this change are 
 the consumers. But ultimately, when the management 
 of farming is understood upon the same business lines 
 as mining or trade, it will be found that the farmers have 
 gained quite as much. There must be the same close 
 attention to cutting down expenses, the same readiness 
 
 * Since writing the above I have received a most encouraging account 
 of the progress in the work of the Shippers' Union. " I am glad to be 
 able to report," says the manager, " that my stay in the Kootenay resulted 
 in orders for fifteen car-loads of vegetables, and promises often more, five of 
 which we subsequently filled, and had it not been for the Budden closing 
 of the season, I should have been able to credit my trip with the full 
 number (twenty-five). As it is, results are more satisfactory than I ever 
 anticipated. . . . Organization and better connections are certain to 
 tell in our favour. It is our intention to introduce machinery where 
 possible and reduce the cost of production. When this is done we will, I 
 think, have little to fear from American competition. Many farmers who 
 at first looked with suspicion on us, are beginning to realize the value of 
 a concern such as ours, and have signified their readiness to contract for the 
 supply of vegetables in quantities. Our total trade to date is thirty-seven 
 cars of vegetables and hay, and this should reach sixty before the close of the 
 financial year. A small quantity when the extent and possibilities of the 
 valley are taken into account, but still a good beginning, and one we 
 can improve on. It is satisfactory to know that although the above is a 
 comparatively poor showing, we have handled all there was to handle." 
 
KELOWNA AND C0LD8TBEAM. 257 
 
 to adopt improved methods, and, above all things, the 
 same power of amalgamation in farming as in trade. 
 
 The point which I could not decide was how far the 
 small farms could meet the new circumstances. I 
 came to the conclusion at last that it resolved itself 
 into the old question of co-operation. But on the 
 whole I believe that large farms with large capital, 
 and thorough business management, will give the best 
 returns. 
 
 At Kelowna there is a good deal of alkali. This 
 subject is always an interesting one. At Kelowna I 
 found that it took two forms, and was called black alkali 
 and white alkali. The black alkali was found in black 
 soil, and there was no white powder or efflorescence, but 
 it was very deadly to vegetation. The white alkali 
 showed the white crystals in lines on the edges of 
 Burface drains, and sometimes over soil which had been 
 irrigated. It was looked upon as harmless, if not 
 beneficial, to any crops, even fruit or tobacco. 
 
 It struck me that the alkali was probably in the water 
 which ran in streams from the foot-hills, though in very 
 small quantities. The soil on the surface was light sand 
 and a little clay, underneath it was gravel and boulders. 
 One man told me that he found it a good plan on some 
 ground to put in a crop of mangel every few years, as he 
 believed these roots checked the alkali whenever it 
 became too strong in the soil. He seemed to think that 
 this crop absorbed it, but possibly the deep ploughing 
 accounted for the beneficial result. 
 
 I saw very disastrous effects of black alkali in patches 
 in certain fields, while on other farms there were several 
 acres rendered barren by it. In some places the 
 vegetation turned blood red and died, in others a rough 
 coarse grass, something similar to pampas grass, but 
 without the feathery tips, grew, but was utterly useless. 
 Soon afterwards I passed some fields full of very rich 
 crops of oats and wheat, growing upon land which was 
 at one time so strongly alkali as to be considered value- 
 less. A farmer had taken the land for a bagatelle, and 
 
 s 
 
258 SRITISS COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 for years he had been laughed at for wasting his time in 
 perpetual ploughing and manuring with farmyard 
 manure. The result as I saw it was that this man had 
 the finest crops of cereals in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The opinion of many people is that alkali in itself is a 
 positive gain, but the excess of it is poisonous, and must 
 be checked or reduced. It is even believed that the 
 reclaimed alkaline lands are likely to remain fertile 
 longer, as well as to produce better crops, than are non- 
 alkaline properties. 
 
 The tobacco of Messrs. Collins and Homan interested 
 me extremely. The soil is well suited for this crop at 
 Kelowna, containing lime, and being annually refreshed 
 by the silt from the hills. As the value of tobacco 
 depends principally upon flavour, and flavour being 
 largely a matter of soil, there is a great field for high-class, , 
 intelligent farming. The yield is pretty considerable, 
 being 2000 lbs. to the acre of pipe tobacco, and about 
 1200 lbs. to 1500 lbs. of the best Spanish cigar-leaf. 
 This leaf is especially suitable for wrappers. 
 
 Some sheds and stores were erected, and the drying 
 and storing of the tobacco commenced systematically. 
 
 The whole business, however, was only started by the 
 first planting of tobacco three years previously ; and 
 as there is no product requiring more experience, not 
 only in the treatment for the general market, but also 
 in growing and curing, it is impossible to pronounce a 
 verdict at present. All that can be said is that 
 the industry is a very promising one and in good 
 hands. 
 
 As a marketable article, tobacco ranks with tea and 
 wine, being intimately associated with trade processes, 
 such as grading and blending to suit the taste of various 
 markets. 
 
 It is, in fact, a large subject from beginning to end, but 
 extremely interesting, and one offering large pecuniary 
 profits. 
 
 Obviously the possibilities of this valley were only 
 in their infancy, and were scarcely tested, and more 
 
KELOWNA AND COLDSTREAM. 259 
 
 farmers -were needed to take up more land and invest 
 more capital. 
 
 Before leaving Kelowna I visited Mr. Pridham's farm, 
 Mr. Smith kindly driving me. I found the difficulty 
 of transport and its cost dwelt upon. Labour also was 
 very dear and hard to get. One lady near Kelowna 
 said to me, " I work harder than a general servant in 
 England would do." The difficulty found with English 
 servants was that they assumed too much, and were 
 more troublesome and less industrious than Chinese. 
 
 The difficuly with the men was to find employment 
 in the winter months. Any man who emigrates should 
 know how to employ himself in knocking up fruit-boxes, 
 making simple furniture, repairing harness, painting and 
 cleaning boats, cutting firewood, cleaning and repairing 
 machinery, or any work by which he may maintain 
 himself. He cannot expect the high wages of summer. 
 A good deal depends on their wives. One woman told 
 me that "in this country there's nothing to do but to 
 sit on a box all day : " and such a woman as this is 
 a positive hindrance in a community. 
 
 I went to see Mr. Fortune at Enderby, who has a 
 lovely farm on the Spallumacheen river. Both he and 
 Mrs. Fortune received me most hospitably, and here 
 I had the chance of seeing a good mixed farm — fruit, 
 cattle, cereals. There were beautiful tomatoes and 
 maize growing in the garden. The wheat he reckoned 
 at 60 bushels to the acre. The whole scene was 
 beautiful — the peaceful farm lying at the foot of a 
 great bluff; and the winding, placid Spallumacheen river. 
 
 Mr. Fortune was a French Canadian, and he" spoke 
 English with a Scottish accent. Once again I was 
 delighted to find a Canadian who took a kindly interest 
 in the Indians, and did what lay in his power to 
 improve them. He had several Indians among his 
 labourers, and he told me that he found them " better 
 than many whites." 
 
 Mr. Fortune accounted for the fact that the farmers 
 were not well off, in spite of fine crops and evident 
 
260 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 industry, by the heavy losses in past years. In the 
 first place there were cattle thieves. These have been 
 put down ; but only a few years ago the losses on this 
 account were very heavy. Then when they started their 
 capital was eaten into in a variety of ways. He had 
 himself paid $600 for a machine which would now only 
 cost $100 ; waggons were $200 instead of $50. " Before 
 the railway came," he said, " we had to pay $10 and 
 $12 for salt (curing purposes), we now only pay $1.50. 
 That is how the railways have cheapened freights ; but 
 now they have reduced prices, and we have to sell 
 against Manitoba wheat." 
 
 The cost of labour Mr. Fortune put down at $25 to 
 a month, and board $18 to $20 extra. 
 
 He had a great opinion of alfalfa, which grew on his 
 farm without irrigation. He got three cuts off it in 
 a year, and fed all his stock with it, even the hogs, 
 making some into hay and using the rest green. 
 
 Mr. Fortune summer-fallows occasionally. He also 
 manures as far as possible. His crops of wheat are 
 as follows. In ordinary seasons he gets from 45 to 62 
 bushels to the acre. In 1895 he had 85 acres in wheat, 
 which produced 62 bushels to the acre. 
 
 Soon after taking up his farm Mr. Fortune secured 
 the water rights of a small mountain stream, which 
 he can use for various purposes. He irrigates timothy 
 and clover, and also turns a small grist-mill with it. 
 The water in this stream runs sufficiently strong for 
 any purpose up to June 20. Irrigation is unimportant 
 after that date. 
 
 In the morning, before breakfast, Mr. Fortune showed 
 me two fine sock-eyes which an Indian had speared over- 
 night in the Spallumacheen. 
 
 The winter work on farms, according to Mr. Fortune, 
 consists of feeding stock, repairing buildings, mending 
 roofs, putting machinery straight ; " and it's also our 
 time for enjoying ourselves by sleighing and shooting," 
 he added. 
 
 There is a bounty of a dollar a head on coyotes ; but 
 
KELOWNA AND COLDSTREAM. 261 
 
 this seems insufficient, and their depredations were 
 bitterly complained of. A good skin is worth a dollar, 
 besides the bounty. 
 
 Mr. Norris kindly drove me to the B and X ranch, 
 which was a horse ranch for the coach-line to Ashcroft, 
 but it is now used for mixed farming. The wheat 
 crops looked well, but neither the potatoes nor fruit 
 trees were at all flourishing. 
 
 I drove out to Coldstream with Mrs. Craven and Mr. 
 Hodges on July 8th. On the way we drove over a 
 rattle-snake. It was too dark to see what became of it, 
 but it made a great noise in the grass. 
 
 This ranch is not the best land possible, and nothing 
 will answer on it without irrigation. The soil is in 
 parts a rich dark, alluvial, elsewhere a coarse, heavy 
 clay. 
 
 The fruit trees have been planted with great precision, 
 but are slow in coming into bearing, as compared with 
 those at Agassiz. The worst feature in this locality 
 is the sharp frost early in autumn, which strikes the 
 trees before the sap has ceased running. There are 
 five hundred fruit trees of various kinds, but principally 
 apples, and Mr. Eicardo's intention is to leave the 
 ground uncropped between them in future, except for 
 an occasional green crop for green soiling. 
 
 The hops at Coldstream are of two kinds — the 
 Canterbury Golding, and the Washington; a few of 
 the East Kent have been introduced lately, and seem 
 to grow well. It seems established that hops can be 
 grown more cheaply than at home, and of equal, if not 
 superior, quality, even though irrigation be imperative, 
 as it is at Coldstream. The initial outlay is very heavy, 
 and none but large capitalists should embark in the 
 business. 
 
 One great item is the trellising of the vines. This 
 can be done at $125 an acre (£25), as against $75 to $79 
 for poles. The poles are out of the question, however, 
 on account of the high winds. They are also becoming 
 dearer and more difficult to procure. The trellis is 
 
262 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 composed of a few stout poles or trees, and some 
 hundreds of yards of good wire. 
 
 The system of irrigation is very simple and inex- 
 pensive, and applies to the whole ranch. There was 
 sufficient water in a stream or creek to irrigate all the 
 low-lying portion of the ranch. A small dam was 
 erected at a suitable point, not for water storage, but 
 to enable the water to be turned through a weir and 
 down a ditch 4 miles long and about 2J feet wide. 
 The bottom of the dam was made of stone and gravel, 
 then a log of wood, more stone and gravel, and another 
 log of wood. This formed a good wall, against which 
 a couple of inch boards could be lowered. The sides 
 of the dam were formed by logs laid across each other, 
 and plenty of stones and gravel packed behind them. 
 The whole cost of this scheme was very small ; the 
 most expensive part being the cutting of the 4-mile 
 ditch, for which a contractor was paid at the rate of 
 12 to 15 cents per yard. From this creek water is laid 
 on as often as necessary, according to the crops of hay, 
 cereals, fruit, or hops. It is also let out at a dollar a 
 year to the small holders of 40-acre plots, twice a week. 
 
 Considerable care has to be taken in applying irriga- 
 tion to hops. The water cannot be turned on as it would 
 upon grass land, and allowed to take its chance. It has 
 to be disposed of evenly, a cultivator driven down either 
 side of the vines to form laterals, by which the water 
 can be conducted over the entire surface. Then, after 
 the water has soaked into the soil, the ground must 
 be broken over the surface to prevent it setting and 
 cracking. 
 
 There is no blight of any kind on British Columbia 
 hops. It is said by some people, though the idea is 
 contradicted by others, that the thermometer rises too 
 high for the blight to live.* It probably also descends 
 too low. In the old country it is customary to plant hops 
 at first in a nursery, then in the hop garden, and the 
 third year a crop may be gathered. In British Columbia 
 * Thermometer 103° in the shade in summer. 
 
KELOWNA AND Q0LD8TBEAM. 263 
 
 the vines may be planted in the autumn, and they pro- 
 duce a crop the next autumn. Or they may be planted 
 in the spring at Agassiz or Vancouver, and half a crop 
 gathered in the autumn of the same year. 
 
 In Washington the vines suffer from blight, and the 
 spraying costs $10 to $15 an acre. The hops are not 
 so good which are produced after blight, and do not 
 fetch the best price. Mr. Eollins, the bailiff in charge 
 of the hop ground, showed me that inside the burr, or 
 blossom, of the hop there was a kind of gold dust or 
 pollen. The art of drying the hops consists principally 
 in preserving this pollen in the tiny golden balls as 
 nature has it in the fresh state. He also showed me 
 some sprays of the male hop, which he finds it pay to 
 grow at about the rate of one to the acre. By so doing 
 he secures a more perfect burr, containing the seed of 
 the hop — a small, round, hard knot. The hop is not 
 merely improved, but the weight is increased, which is 
 beneficial to the vendor. 
 
 The hop kiln is managed on what is called Meagher's 
 principle. The hops are gathered by Indians, and 
 driven up an incline to the centre of the kiln ; here they 
 are emptied into large wooden troughs and wheeled into 
 the heating room above hot air apparatus, sufficient 
 draught being provided by a shaft overhead to draw off 
 the moisture. They are here sufficiently dried, and 
 then emptied into big scoops and wheeled into the 
 cooling floors, where they lie to toughen. These 
 scoops are splendid contrivances. Each scoop takes 
 up half a bale ; each bale consists of 75 lbs. to 80 lbs. 
 There is a press into which the scoops empty the hops, 
 where the sack has been already stretched to receive 
 them; the press descends, and a few stitches renders 
 the saleable condition of the hops complete. Six men 
 are employed in the kiln — two furnace men, one for night 
 and one for day ; four otherB run the rest of the work, 
 and run out 30 bales a day. It costs, roughly speaking, 
 a cent and a half per bale to put the hops through the 
 kiln, including all materials, such as sacking, twine, 
 
264 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 sulphur, firing, and labour. For 8 cents a pound they 
 can be put on board at Vernon. 
 
 There is manifestly a profit in producing hops ak 
 8 cents a pound, if they sell, as they should, at 15 cents 
 the pound. 
 
 It is not advisable, however, to crop any farm, or 
 indeed any neighbourhood, too heavily with hops, as 
 blight is nearly certain to affect areas crowded with the 
 same crop. 
 
 Mr. Eieardo was very pleased with the result of a 
 small sowing of Bromis-enermis, an Australian grass, 
 for which irrigation is not essential. 
 
 He looked upon the North-West as certain to offer a 
 good market for the produce of British Columbia, more 
 especially as the territories fill up ; in fact, it was the 
 best market at the present time. Fruits of all sorts, 
 vegetables, and young cattle found a ready sale there. 
 He said, " The North-West will buy as many yearlings 
 and two-year-olds as British Columbia cares to sell." 
 
 He was anxious that the Co-operative Agricultural 
 Societies should arrange with the C.P.E. for properly 
 constructed fruit cars, with ice-cooling apparatus ; and 
 believed that these improvements would come as soon 
 as the fruit trees came into full bearing, and the British 
 Columbia Fruit Exchange and Kelowna's Shippers' 
 Union organized the collection of produce into car-load 
 lots. 
 
 Until the Penticton railway was carried through into 
 Trail and Bossland, he did not think it possible to com- 
 pete with the United States, owing to the geographical 
 position. 
 
 He did not consider the car-load rates on the C.P.E. 
 too high ; but the difficulty at present was that, owing 
 to the fruit and vegetable industry being in its infancy, 
 they did not produce in car-load lots. This defect 
 would be remedied by time, and he looked forward with 
 every confidence to the future. His chief anxiety was 
 to improve the packing and grading of the fruit. He 
 had devoted a considerable attention to the matter of 
 
KELOWNA AND COLDSTREAM. 265 
 
 proper fruit boxes, and to getting them made. cheaply 
 in the slack winter season. He regarded the point of 
 reducing the cost on every item as highly essential, 
 and had set apart an old shed for the packing, where he 
 took me to see the materials for fruit boxes obtained 
 " in the flat " from the saw mills in New Westminster. 
 To buy the boxes ready-made was the old system ; but 
 he found that the cost of freight alone to Vernon was 
 30 cents, while the same number coming up in the flat 
 cost 18 cents. He showed me the patterns of boxes and 
 wooden baskets and those which had been made by his 
 man, and I could see no difference in the quality. He 
 had a curious machine for stitching the wooden baskets 
 with wire, called " a stitcher." He purchased it in the 
 States, and the whole cost, including freight and duty, 
 was $40. 
 
 Mr. Eicardo ascribed part of the cheapness in 
 production in the United States as compared with 
 Canada to better methods, and part to the keenness 
 of the middle man. He also thought that their labour 
 was cheaper. He hoped to equal if not improve on 
 their methods, and he believed that co-operation 
 amongst the farmers would secure for them the profits 
 of the middle man. 
 
 I observed that the point in his mind, to which he 
 often referred, was the matter of cash. He evidently 
 considered it a matter deserving as much attention in 
 farming as in any other business. He kept accounts 
 very carefully, and checked every item with scrupulous 
 exactitude. Thus he always knew where his receipts 
 increased, and in what direction it was worth while 
 expending in development. He also knew the benefit 
 of securing a market which paid " spot cash." 
 
 Only when the business is looked at in this manner 
 can it be ascertained whether the industry is in a 
 sound condition. There are such curious items in 
 American returns that the only explanation to be 
 offered is that the industry of raw products is in a 
 condition of some peril. Trade may appear to be 
 
266 BBIT1SH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 flourishing, but unless raw products can make an 
 adequate return upon labour and capital, the structure 
 on which trade rests must eventually collapse. At 
 Walla Walla, in 1896, prunes were sold at 1 cent, 
 the pound. Mr. Eicardo assured me that the lowest 
 price at which they could be produced and sold in 
 Canada was 3 cents the pound. 
 
 Hearing of this disparity in price, I felt anxious to 
 go into the States and learn something of the methods 
 obtaining there. On the 10th of July I left Coldstream, 
 and drove forty miles to Grand Prairie. I was accom- 
 panied so far by young Mr. Browell, one of Mr. Eicardo's 
 assistants, who enlivened the journey by telling me his 
 various experiences in British Columbia, in the light- 
 hearted tone of the English boy who sees humour in 
 everything, and always manages to alight on his feet. 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 
 
 Grand Prairie is approached through arid territory 
 and gloomy mountain-gorges. It lay in the evening 
 light — when we drove through it — a broad smiling valley, 
 standing thick with cereal and pulse crops. Almost 
 the whole of this produce is fed to hogs. The land 
 iB in small holdings, and each house had its pen for 
 fattening pigB — White Poland China seeming a favourite 
 breed — and close by a smoke-house for bacon and pork. 
 
 In this way the cereals, peas, etc., find their way into 
 market in a condensed form. 
 
 The next morning I went on by the stage, driven by 
 young Mr. Duck, of Ducks, and passed through Mr. 
 Bostock's land, which chiefly consisted of hay — timothy 
 and alsike — and by Mr. Craven's ranch and assay 
 office, two picturesque little cabins standing silent 
 and deserted, as both Mr. and Mrs. Craven were 
 staying at Coldstream. 
 
 At Ducks I was able to stop a freight train, and 
 reached Kamloops at about three o'clock in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 I had a fine view of the remarkable scenery of the 
 Thompson river from the window in the top of the 
 guard's van, and it was rendered all the more interest- 
 ing by the sudden bursting of a tremendous storm 
 of rain, out of a sky which a minute before had been 
 clear. 
 
 The name of Kamloops stirs many memories. In 
 
268 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 1858, at the time of the great gold rush from the 
 States to the sand bars at the junction of the Fraser 
 and Thompson rivers, the route taken by the Americans 
 was via Okanagan and Kamloops.* The Columbia 
 river was crossed at Okanagan by swimming the oxen 
 and placing the waggons and freight on canoes lashed 
 together. The oxen were sold for beef after arriving 
 at their journey's end. The exciting times of this, gold 
 rush, a most interesting account of which is given 
 in Mr. Begg's History, are still referred to in Kamloops. 
 
 From early times this town has been associated with 
 the cattle ranching, and great ranches still spread for 
 miles to the north. At the present day over-stocking 
 has destroyed the bunch grass; and but few cattle 
 will be found within twelve miles of Kamloops. 
 
 I did not hear that the style of the ranching was 
 better than at Penticton. Indeed, from all accounts, I 
 gathered that it was less advanced. There is a feeling 
 that the North-West offers better chances, and that it 
 pays better to ranch there, and import cattle by train. 
 There was some talk of introducing sheep farming; 
 but no one I met advocated this scheme. 
 
 The climate of Kamloops is considered highly bene- 
 ficial to persons suffering from lung delicacy; and 
 it is probable that, before long, a sanatorium will be 
 erected on the hills overlooking the meeting of the 
 North and South Thompson. 
 
 There is a cigar factory at Kamloops, which I visited, 
 and which interested me immensely on account of the 
 tobacco grown at Kelowna. 
 
 I brought a letter to Mr. Dean, of the Inland Sentinel, 
 who kindly drove me to visit the Indian School, con- 
 trolled by some Eoman Catholic nuns under a Father 
 — I believe of the Oblate order. 
 
 The school for girls and boys was kept separate. 
 
 In addition to religion instruction and reading and 
 
 writing, the children were taught useful work. The 
 
 boys had their carpenter's shop, and also learnt tailor- 
 
 * " History of British Columbia," by Alexander Begg. 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 269 
 
 ing and shoemaking. I was fairly astonished at 
 the neatness and finish of the work. The girls learnt 
 cooking, baking, washing, and needlework. 
 
 All of them were very bright and happy, and 
 evidently took the greatest pride in their achievements. 
 What struck me very forcibly was the kindly sympathetic 
 tone of the nuns and the Father. There was no doubt 
 about the discipline; but the children's lives were 
 made pleasant to them. Nothing, in fact, could be 
 better than the teaching and training of these Indians. 
 
 I asked the dear old French nun, who went round 
 with us, what the children's future would be. But 
 she only chuckled. However, on my pressing the point, 
 on the score of not quite seeing the position these 
 choice plants would take — being certainly above their 
 Indian relations, and yet not on a par with whites — 
 the old lady observed casually, "You see, they marry 
 very young; and we keep them here as long as ever 
 Government will let us." 
 
 From which I shrewdly suspect that the good people 
 will contrive to marry Antoine to Marie, and Henri 
 to Juliette, settle them in a certain locality, and 
 "round them up" every Sunday morning to mass; by 
 which means they will be maintained in good style, 
 and kept in self-respecting habits. And if this is their 
 policy, I think it is an excellent one. 
 
 There is a home for old miners at Kamloops, a 
 much-needed institution, for the miner is seldom a 
 provident man. 
 
 The next morning Mr. Newton, a mining expert, 
 drove me to see the mine called Iron Mask, about 
 six miles outside Kamloops. This has all the appear- 
 ance of a very valuable copper property. The tunnel 
 had been cut for about fifty feet, crossing the main 
 lead about sixty feet from the surface. Showing the 
 pay streak is from two to six feet wide.* Where water 
 had reached the rock it had crumbled so that it could 
 
 * The point at which I saw it was about three feet, and seemed 
 increasing. 
 
270 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 be worked with a shovel. There was a good pile of 
 stuff lying outside the tunnel which Mr. John Noble 
 was turning over. The intention was to pack it in 
 bags to the smelter at Northport. It seemed very 
 rich indeed, and as it crumbled to loose earth I could 
 pick little lumps of copper out of it the size of millet 
 seed. 
 
 Mr. Newton drove me further up the hill to see a herd 
 of cattle, but we were not able to get very near to them. 
 They were evidently a very mixed breed. 
 
 On our return we found that Mr. Noble, with the 
 hospitality characteristic of an old pioneer, had cooked 
 us a little meal in his hut, to which we sat down. A 
 better opportunity of hearing mining' methods, and 
 mining in general, freely discussed seldom fell to my lot. 
 
 In the evening I dined with Mr. and Mrs. Searelle, and 
 went on by train to Eevelstoke that night. 
 
 It is a curious and unfortunate arrangement, but all 
 arrivals and departures, other than by freight train, take 
 place from Kamloops in the middle of the night. The 
 hours of darkness are rendered more exciting than those 
 of daylight. The hotels are constantly on the stretch 
 to "speed the parting guest," or find accommodation 
 for those who arrive. One set of travellers has hardly s 
 tumbled out of bed before another set tumbles in, and 
 lucky are those who possess a Wolseley valise. The 
 trains clang their bells — howl-yowl, howl-yowl ; the 
 steamers yell ; so that I felt, as I drove through the 
 moonlight to the berth reserved for me in the sleeping- 
 car, that a night and a half in Kamloops would suffice 
 for a lifetime. 
 
 I reached Eevelstoke at nine o'clock the following 
 morning, and after breakfasting at the hotel and walking 
 round the town to deliver one or two letters, I went on to 
 Arrow lake, there took the steamer down the Arrow 
 lakes. These lake boatB, belonging to the C.P.E., are 
 extremely comfortable ; both food and sleeping accom- 
 modation are as good as they can be, and the scenery is 
 beautiful. 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 271 
 
 We stopped for a short time at Robson, and I went 
 ashore to buy some sugar at one of the stores for my 
 canteen. This is the point where the new line of the 
 C.P.E. will come out from Eossland, and a smelter will 
 be erected here to treat the Eossland ores. The 
 Kootenay river runs out of Kootenay lake, facilitating 
 the supplies of coke for the smelter by water from 
 Nelson on Kootenay lake, where the Crow's Nest pass 
 line will have its terminus. 
 
 I was sitting reading in the stern, when a long howl 
 from the boat's whistle made me look up. On the cliff 
 to my right rose a gigantic chimney, choking out clouds 
 of sulphuric fumes and smoke. The hideous thing was 
 the Trail smelter, which is the very life of Trail, and 
 will ever be memorable as having achieved what was at 
 one time considered impossible — the smelting of the 
 refractory ores of Eossland. 
 
 The township was from six months to a year old. 
 There was no pretence at road-making — no desire even 
 for comfort. A number of wooden houses, most of 
 which were not even painted, built in the ugliest manner 
 possible, presented a mean and most uninviting appear- 
 ance. Drainage there was none, even decency was at a 
 discount; and all'looked mean, sordid, and depraved — 
 a veritable blot on the face of nature. 
 
 There were two or three hotels, the largest of which 
 was closed. The town was undergoing a time of depres- 
 sion, which meant debt, mortgage, possibly ruin, to 
 people who had started in a fever to set up stores or 
 inns. Two prospects which had been opened by the 
 Home Payne Syndicate, had been closed again for no 
 assignable reason, and this threw doubt upon the value 
 of other claims. The rush to the Klondyke had followed, 
 and, combined with the apparent failure of the Home 
 Payne properties, had taken all life out of the town. 
 
 The great furnace on the hill, which looked like an 
 outcrop of hell, was smelting two hundred American 
 tons per diem of precious rock. But this was less by 
 a hundred tons per diem than they might have been 
 
272 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 doing, owing to a vigorous dispute as to rates between 
 themselves and the mines. 
 
 I struggled painfully up a steep path to the smelter, 
 the noxious fumes blinding and choking me. At the top 
 I was most courteously received by Mr. Bellingwe, and, 
 sitting in his cool office, I became deeply interested in 
 the subject of smelting. It was impossible not to admire 
 the pluck and resolution with which the apparently 
 insurmountable difficulties had been met and overcome. 
 Nothing had daunted Mr. Bellingwe. He sat there 
 before me sprucely dressed and "well groomed," yet he 
 had been ready at any instant to pull off his coat and 
 rush forward to do the right thing at the critical 
 moment. It was his own hands which had added the 
 right flux, and caught the ore just on the turn. 
 Whether such combined nerve, audacity, and experience 
 deserve the name of genius or not, this young American 
 had evidently solved the problem which had baffled 
 every one else engaged in the business. 
 
 The following is the account in the Government 
 Report for 1896 of this record achievement in the work 
 of smelting. 
 
 "The Trail Smeltek. 
 
 " The Sampling Mill, daily capacity, 150 to 200 tons ; bin 
 capacity in the mill, 750 tons. The ore passing throngh 
 a 12 X 22 inch Blake crusher, is run through a trommel, 
 whence the fines go to a Constant cylindrical sampler, and 
 the oversize to a 9 X 15 crusher and rolls, and then to the 
 sampler and into the bins, until the lot of ore is settled, 
 from whence it goes to the calciners or the bins from which 
 it can be drawn in cars to the blast furnace. This sampler 
 is now being enlarged so as to handle 350 to 400 tons per 
 24 hours. 
 
 " In the Boast Mouse is one O'Hara automatic calcining 
 furnace. This furnace is 120 feet loDg over all, and has 
 two 90-foot hearths, one above the other, 9 feet wide. One 
 travelling chain passes along the centre of the hearths, 
 carrying 6 plows and 6 trolleys or chain carriages, at the 
 rate of about 25 to 35 feet per minute, and as yet very little 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 273 
 
 repairs have been required, the chain, plows, and trolleys 
 showing but little sign of corrosion in the furnace. Fifty tons 
 of ore crushed to pass a half -inch ring are roasted per day, 
 with a loss of 70 per cent, of sulphur contents, the ore taking 
 12 to 14 hoars to pass through the furnaces in which ten 
 fireplaces fired with wood supply the heat. Besides this 
 furnace, there are in the furnace-room six circular calciners, 
 such as used in Butte, placed above the reverberatories, the 
 ore, automatically fed, passing over six horizontal revolving 
 hearths that discharge alternately from the rim and centre 
 upon the lower one, thence into the hoppers below that are 
 immediately over the hearth of the reverberatory. It is 
 designed in this furnace that when once ignited no further 
 fuel will be needed than the sulphur, but they must run 
 continuously, and on account of irregularity, until recently, 
 in the operation of the reverberatories, these calciners have 
 not been used. 
 
 " The dust chamber is 180 feet long, 10 X 12 feet inside, 
 with wing walls from the sides every 10 feet, not over- 
 lapping, but having a clear space through the chambers 
 to the chimney, which is 140 feet high and 8f feet square 
 inside. 
 
 " Furnace-room, 60 X 310 feet, 68 feet to peak of roof. 
 The ore is being smelted after two methods : — (a) In four 
 reverberatories, hearths 14 X 22 feet, 40 tons each per 24 
 hours, in charges of roasted and unroasted ore, slag, and lime- 
 stone, are now being treated. The fuel is wood ; but as this 
 is not yet dry enough to give the required heat, coal also is 
 being used, over 70 tons a day, from the Anthracite Coal 
 Co.'s mines, on the eastern limits of the Rocky mountains, 
 whence it is brought over the Canadian Pacific Railroad to 
 Revelstoke, or Arrowhead, and thence in scows down the 
 Arrow lakes and the Columbia to the smelter, whence it is 
 raised up an incline 160 feet by a small steam hoist with 
 cable and car, to a trestle along which the car can be run to 
 the shutes wherever needed in the works. 
 
 " (6) In a 40-inch circular furnace, 12 feet high to feed 
 floor, water-jacketed, with six 3-inch tuyeres, also with fore- 
 hearth, 45 to 55 tons of raw ore are now smelted in 24 hours. 
 As the amount of sulphur in these ores is low, and that in 
 the pyrrhotite not available for fuel, as already it is a natural 
 matte, a typical form of pyritic smelting cannot be used, but 
 
 T 
 
274 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 more or less fuel is necessary, and a very satisfactory grade 
 of coke is got from Fairhaven, Washington, although it 
 carries from 20 to 24 per cent; ash. A small amount of 
 limestone is added to the charge, but at present a very acidic 
 slag, rather thick, hut giving a good separation, is flowing, 
 but very careful handling of the furnace is imperative. 
 The analysis of this slag gives, Si0 2 , 42 to 46 per cent. ; FeO, 
 12 to 19 per cent. ; A1 2 3 , 14 to 19 per cent. ; MgO., 4 to 6 
 per cent. 
 
 " A new 200-ton rectangular blast furnace, made by E. P. 
 Allis & Co., Milwaukee, Wis., after a composite design by 
 Mr. Bellinger and Mr. Wedekind, is being quickly erected. 
 In this furnace, 120 X 38 inches at the tuyeres, the steel 
 water-jackets will be 5^ feet high ; height to feed door, 14 
 feet, with 14 6-inch tuyeres with thimbles of smaller size 
 that can easily be put in for the purpose of experimenting 
 with the quantity and pressure of blast, for all arrangements 
 are to be such that tests can be made under varying con- 
 ditions, to determine the greatest possible efficiency for this 
 furnace upon this class of ore. Another feature of this 
 furnace will be that, besides the movable fore-hearth, the 
 bottom or crucible of the furnace will also be mounted, so 
 that if required it can be altogether withdrawn from beneath 
 the water-jackets. 
 
 " The bluff on which the smelter stands is sand, but the 
 top and face of the dump, 120 feet high, is being covered 
 with slag that flows in sand gutters from the reverberatories, 
 or is wheeled out in the usual slag-pots from the blast 
 furnace ; but in a short time all slag will run from the 
 furnaces into water troughs, be granulated, and then swept 
 out to the dump, which will be protected from scouring out 
 by the slag covering. 
 
 "In the engine room is a 65-horse power engine, with 
 a 40-horse power engine now on the way. A No. 5 root 
 blower is now used, but a No. 7 will be needed when the 
 big blast-furnace is blown in. Power is transmitted by 
 shafting, but mostly by wire cables running over large 
 pulleys to different parts of the works. However, steam 
 power may soon be replaced by electricity, as a plant is 
 to be erected at the foot of the dump and supplied with 
 Pelton wheels and water under a 250-foot head. On a 
 tributary of the Columbia, not far from Trail, a very large 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 275 
 
 water power has been secured by Mr. Heinze, who proposes 
 the installation of an electric plant for the distant trans- 
 mission of electrical energy which may be brought to the 
 mines, as electricity has now become so successful and 
 economical a factor in mining elsewhere. At present 100 
 to 120 tons of ore per day are being brought down from 
 Rossland by the Tramway, but this amount will be greatly 
 increased. At the smelter 140 to 160 tons, it is stated by 
 the management (July 29), are being smelted daily, with 
 a concentration of about 20 tons into one ton of matte, which 
 matte goes to Butte to be refined ; but already the founda- 
 tions for a refinery at the smelter are nearly completed, in 
 which the matte, after being crushed, will be further calcined 
 in a reverberatory to be constructed, and then re-smelted in 
 two of the present reverberatories, after which the product 
 will be treated so as to yield a high grade copper matte for 
 export, from which 80 to 90 per cent, of the gold and silver 
 value has been separated for special refining and parting at 
 these works. 
 
 " From 175 to 200 men are now employed, and when all 
 these improvements are completed, this smelting plant will 
 be well equipped and capable of handling 350 to 400 tons of 
 ore daily; and if the demand increases, a still larger plant 
 can easily be added." 
 
 The railway is owned by the same company as the 
 smelter. I went on and had a chat with the young 
 American who manages this extraordinary railway, 
 which climbs up the side of the gorge from Trail to the 
 smelter, and goes on to Eossland. From him, too, I 
 heard how the business had been carried through in 
 times of doubt and despondency, when nothing was 
 certain about the Kootenay mines. 
 
 These men were Americans, who came bringing their 
 capital, energy, and skill into British territory; and 
 we certainly gained by having them. 
 
 It struck me as a strange thing that, after the 
 commercial enterprise was exhausted, the interests of 
 Americans ceased. I found it pretty much the same 
 in towns in the States, and it was invariably so in 
 British Columbia. It has been explained to me— 
 
276 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 perhaps rather ill-naturedly — that "the American is 
 intensely close and mean with his money. He will never 
 part with a dollar unless he sees his way to getting a 
 dollar and a quarter hack on it." I am doubtful myself 
 if this description is quite true, or if it explains the 
 case. I found everywhere that the dollar was the only 
 measure applied to anything in life. In other words, 
 he accepts cash as the basis of all transactions. If it 
 be public service, charity, art, or love affairs, it is a 
 money transaction, and he must see that he gets his 
 profit somehow. But most assuredly he will risk his 
 money freely, and with a readiness which is almost 
 reckless (another matter for surprise, seeing how cal- 
 culating he is). Calculation has frozen the soul out 
 of him, and when I had seen a little more of America, 
 I began to think that natural affection — a thing which 
 is not negotiable — had died out. 
 
 I have heard Americans talk extremely well upon the 
 state of their country's public affairs. They put the 
 body down on the table and explained to me its remark- 
 able features and points of interest, till the subject 
 became fascinating. But when public service — action 
 — is referred to, these men will coldly tell you that 
 the whole business is "degrading," and they could 
 not be mixed up personally with their country's 
 affairs. 
 
 It is scarcely to be wondered at that the condition 
 of the States is one of excitement and uncertainty. 
 There is such a diversity in the elements, that it is 
 impossible to look forward to homogeny ; and the most 
 remarkable fact is that any government should main- 
 tain even a semblance of authority where the support 
 is so uncertain. 
 
 Among no people have I heard my country spoken 
 of with such extraordinary bitterness. It would be 
 thought that the personal character of Queen Victoria, 
 which has always secured respect, even in Eepublican 
 France, might have escaped attack. Whatever the 
 English people may have done or left undone, th^re 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 277 
 
 is something due to every English lady, and especially 
 to one whose long life has been an example of kindness 
 and goodness. But the presumptuousness of America 
 is of that description which foreshadows disaster. If 
 public men cannot word their despatches to Lord 
 Salisbury with civility, the common crowd of America 
 spare the statesman's country no offensive epithet. 
 Possibly any attack upon our commercial methods 
 might be endured. It is not impossible that something 
 to our own advantage might be learnt by listening 
 patiently to the list of our errors in this respect ; but 
 when it comes to a people such as the Americans 
 charging the British race with " cowardice," the time 
 has come to make a stand. It is true that they may 
 be less mad than they appear ; for I noticed that the 
 single American, and that at all times Americans, when 
 in a minority, adopt a very different tone. They will 
 even excuse the vagaries of their fellow-countrymen, 
 and talk of their own " affection for Great Britain." 
 But directly there are half a dozen of them and one 
 British subject, the tone will be altered. Their tactics 
 are eminently sly, and I am led to believe that even the 
 best class of Americans rather encourage — certainly 
 they do nothing to check — the impudence of their 
 countrymen towards Great Britain; and this they do 
 from the idea that something may be gained by imperti- 
 nence. In a word, it is the popular policy of the States, 
 and it is encouraged by the teaching of the schools and 
 the press. "We've got nothing else to teach our 
 children," said one Yankee to me, " except to hate 
 England." When it comes to this, the sooner Great 
 Britain understands the case the better, for all con- 
 cerned ; and let there be an end to calling the Americans 
 "our cousins." In point of fact the people of the 
 States are a mixed race of aliens, with a large admix- 
 ture of the criminal class out of every other nation, and 
 this explains to a great extent the bitter hostility, the 
 unreasoning jealous hatred, towards Great Britain, 
 which is Yankee patriotism. By no nation in the world 
 
278 BB1TISS COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 is England so bitterly hated as by the mixture of 
 peoples in the United States. 
 
 I have met Americans who assured me that I did 
 their country an injustice in supposing that there was 
 any unneighbourly feeling on the part of America 
 towards England. " Were Great Britain to be attacked 
 by Eussia," they cried, "America would go to her 
 support." I do not think it impossible that the States 
 would offer Great Britain assistance, provided they 
 thought she would win; but it would be upon terms 
 of their own, and on the usual dollar and a half for the 
 dollar principle. Their aim would be to secure markets 
 or territory. 
 
 But to understand the true inwardness of the situa- 
 tion, the attitude of the States must be looked at from 
 Canadian ground. 
 
 It was only recently that a programme was openly 
 preached in the Dominion, which consisted of union 
 with the United States. Annexation was talked about ; 
 but Canada, like the New woman, eyed the proposal 
 with misgiving. She knew enough of "Uncle Sam's" 
 morals and previous history not to be misled by the 
 blandishments of his wealth. " Uncle Sam's " yellow 
 face became malignant, and if he could not domineer 
 over Canada he would insult Great Britain. The old 
 grudge against England was intensified amongst the 
 most ignorant Americans, and a Minister's only road to 
 popularity was by offering impertinence to the Empire. 
 
 It was astonishing to find how deeply Canada laid 
 these matters to heart. I found grave middle-aged 
 men filled with indignation. " If the prestige of Great 
 Britain is to suffer, Canada is not afraid. If it is a 
 case of fighting for the honour of the Empire," they 
 exclaimed, " Canada will fight while there is a drop of 
 blood in her veins ! " 
 
 The States had sneered at Canada as a poor country 
 in need of capital, which they would kindly furnish. 
 But in alliance with Great Britain, Canada knew she 
 was richer than the States. 
 
GRAND PRAIRIE TO TRAIL. 279 
 
 Not that it must be supposed that Canada would 
 refuse to Americans the right to come in and trade 
 legitimately. The individual American is practically 
 welcomed everywhere. }3ut it is when they come over 
 in detachments and settle down with a code of their 
 own, and assume a control the working of which is in 
 their own hands, and for their own interests, that the 
 matter takes another complexion. 
 
 The idea of freedom in the American mind is abso- 
 lutely distinct and novel. It embodies the utmost 
 freedom to the individual, without the slightest appre- 
 ciation of the service which is "perfect freedom" and 
 " the bond of peace." In old times responsibility was 
 a question, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " To-day, in 
 America, the assertion is open and defiant: "I am not 
 my brother's keeper. On the contrary, he is only 
 there for me to exploit him." 
 
 Is not this the first principle of disintegration ? Yet 
 the American's favourite boast is his freedom. They 
 are "sovereigns" each and all of them; so far have 
 they proceeded on the road against which the apostle 
 uttered his warning in the perfect epigram, "My 
 brethren, be not many masters." 
 
 The divisions in America are so well known as to 
 need no recapitulation in detail. The East is divided 
 from the West not only on the silver and gold question, 
 but likewise by the rival interests of agriculture and 
 manufactures. The South has lately shown an inclina- 
 tion to side with the West. Labour is writhing under 
 a tyranny for which no one I met attempted to offer 
 any excuse, and this has engendered a bitterness which 
 the worst labour wars have never produced in England. 
 Above the babel there is no voice strong enough to be 
 heard continuously. There is no personality sufficiently 
 commanding to lead; but the mob rushes hither and 
 thither, endeavouring to push rather than to follow. 
 
 One man, in talking on this subject, referred to the 
 Illinois railway riots, when President Cleveland marched 
 the soldiers in to put down the riot without waiting for 
 
280 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 them to be summoned, as a remarkable instance of the 
 maintenance of authority. This took place in 1894, 
 and I have heard the President's move spoken of in a 
 way which leaves great doubt in my mind as to whether 
 such tactics would be permitted a second time. 
 
 The army is drawn principally from the labouring 
 class, and there seems every likelihood that its sym- 
 pathy would not be on the side of capital. 
 
 Cheerful Americans declare that they have steered as 
 close to the wind before without capsizing, and that no 
 danger is to be anticipated while the central control is 
 strong enough to deal with insurrection in individual 
 States. Others say, " Oh, you do not know my people. 
 They make a great fuss, but they mean nothing." 
 
 This is exactly the point. Does crime unpunished by 
 law " mean nothing " ? Does the corruption of the 
 justiciary " mean nothing " ? Does the sullen rage of 
 the crushed multitude against the few millionaires 
 " mean nothing " ? Does it " mean nothing " that 
 Americans themselves are continually withdrawing 
 capital and placing it in British territory ? 
 
 From the austere sanctimony of the Pilgrim Fathers, 
 the Americans have gone with a leap to a condition of 
 flagrant immorality and unbelief, and to all manner of 
 fads and superstitions. 
 
 I took some steps to procure statistics relating to 
 crime in the States, but the officials to whom I applied, 
 through the kindness of Mr. Hussey, were unable to 
 accede to my request. However, I found that they were 
 given for the year 1896 as follows : — * 
 
 Mwder cases— 10,650 in a population of 70,000,000. 
 
 (This gives about 150 murder cases in 1,000,000 
 people.) 
 
 Lynchings — over 2000. 
 
 In Canada the statistics for the same year were — 
 
 Mwder cases — 15 in a population of 5,000,000. 
 
 (This gives 3 murder cases in 1,000,000 people.) 
 
 Lynchings — none. 
 
 * I obtained the information in Canada, and I have not heard that 
 the figures have been disputed. 
 
QB AND PBAIBIE TO TRAIL. 281 
 
 I will spare the reader statistics of crime of a revolting 
 nature in the States. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that in Canada the view 
 taken of American crime, is not the number of cases, 
 but that it is the manner in which crime is dealt with, 
 and the machinery in use for its suppression and con- 
 trol, which is open to adverse criticism. 
 
 A country's moral fibre cannot be tested solely by 
 murder cases. There are other matters, such as robbery 
 with violence, which may be considered a minor offence 
 as compared with train wrecking — a common practice 
 in the States, but utterly unknown in Canada. 
 
 Lastly, the painful subject of social morals cannot 
 be omitted, and on this score the States can boast a 
 condition equal to the darkest ages of Paganism. 
 
 The sanctity of the marriage tie is ridiculed; and 
 men aiming at social position admit unblushingly that 
 they derive a revenue from keeping houses of ill-fame. 
 
 Is it strange if Canada withdrew from what we are 
 told " means nothing," and fixed her eyes upon the 
 One head of a State whose subjects have girdled the 
 earth with chains of beneficent rulership? She has 
 cast in her lot with Great Britain, and her pride is to 
 point to an administration of law which shall be as 
 effective and safe throughout her territory as in any 
 part of the Queen's dominions. It has drawn down 
 upon her the bitter animosity of the States. While the 
 cant about neighbourliness goes on, and the pious 
 American prays on his knees against war with Great 
 Britain, the M'Kinley tariff was followed by the 
 Dingley tariff, and these by the immigration laws, 
 which go so far as to forbid even Canadian nurses from 
 attending cases in the States. The Canadian inland 
 fisheries have been wantonly spoilt, and may even suffer 
 extinction. The lumber trade is crippled, and at the 
 present time every effort is made to secure the trade 
 of the Klondyke to American merchants, exclusive of 
 Canadian. 
 
 But Canada has her revenge, inasmuch as she has 
 
282 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 offered an object-lesson to Uncle Sam which has not 
 been wholly thrown away. Through her the desperado 
 from the States has acquired a holy horror of British 
 law. If an American "sovereign" commits a murder 
 north of parallel 49, and the crime is proved against 
 him, he knows that all the wealth of the United States 
 will not save him from the rope's end. 
 
 Prom Trail I went on the same afternoon to Eossland. 
 It was an interesting piece of travelling up the side of a 
 mountain clothed with dense pine wood — the backwoods 
 of Canada of which one dreams — passed the shutes and 
 dumps of mines half hidden by the close-growing stems 
 of the trees, till at last the train stopped at the 
 Johannesburg of British Columbia. 
 
CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 EOSSLAND. 
 
 The town of Eossland makes a most favourable im- 
 pression on a new arrival. It is beautifully situated 
 beside a stream, which is virtually a cascade, surrounded 
 by the pine-covered mountain peaks, on whose ledges 
 are the rich mines of the War Eagle, Le Eoi, Ivanhoe, 
 Monte CriBto, and many promising prospects. 
 
 The town contains about four thousand inhabitants, 
 and it would be scarcely possible to imagine a more 
 orderly population. Thanks to the exertions of the 
 provincial police, under Mr. John Kirkup, the elements 
 of disorder usual in mining camps are vigorously 
 suppressed. 
 
 Compared with Johannesburg, Eossland is an in- 
 finitely pleasanter place to live in, and when I was 
 there immense sums were being spent by the corpora- 
 tion to straighten and widen the streets — not by any 
 means an easy matter on the top of a mountain — and 
 provide a thorough system of drainage and sanitation. 
 There is no lack of good water, supplied throughout 
 the town by a water-works company ; and though out- 
 breaks of typhoid fever were common in the earlier 
 days of the town, it was evident that neither expense nor 
 trouble were being spared by the Eosslanders to stamp 
 out this disease. For a township of ten years old to 
 have accomplished so much is highly creditable, 
 especially considering that up to the present time 
 the pay roll of the mines has been its support, without 
 
284 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 the assistance of railway works, smelters, or factories 
 of any kind. The outlook of the town is very promising, 
 for, in addition to the small line from Trail creek, the 
 C.P.E. has surveyed a branch from Eobson, which will 
 be connected with the main line now under construction 
 through the Crow's Nest pass. The Spokane-falls and 
 Northern road has already reached Eossland, and places 
 the town in direct communication with the Northern 
 Pacific railroad and all parts of the United States. 
 
 As an indication of the wealth in this country, apart 
 from the actual dividends of the various mines, I was 
 told on reliable authority that the line could be built by 
 the C.P.E. from Eobson to Eossland and thoroughly 
 equipped in' five months, and that the ore supplied from 
 the mines developed at the present time would fully 
 equal one thousand tons per diem. That is, of course, 
 supposing the erection of the smelter at Eobson to be 
 taken in conjunction with the line. 
 
 Owing to the natural beauty of the situation, and the 
 interest, geological as well as financial, of the mining 
 industry, Eossland will be certain to attract a large 
 number of visitors, travellers, and tourists, which will 
 add a fresh — though an uncertain — element to the 
 community. 
 
 I was specially impressed with the determination of 
 the Eosslanders to eliminate as far as possible the 
 speculative element in mining, and place the business 
 on the same footing as that occupied by railways in 
 this country, and it is to be hoped that London will 
 give them the assistance which they require and deserve. 
 Eossland is a natural school of mines, and I had just 
 missed meeting Mr. Carlyle, the provincial mineralogist. 
 The prevailing idea in Eossland is that the new-comer, 
 especially the tender-foot, " doesn't know enough to go 
 indoors when it rains." Whether my knowledge by the 
 time I left Eossland would have been sufficient to secure 
 me from the damp effects of ignorance I cannot say, 
 but I did my best to profit by the instruction. 
 
 Amongst the things that I noted was the increase 
 
B088LAND. 285 
 
 taking place in the introduction of the best mining 
 machinery, such as air-compressors and drills, with 
 steel boilers, and Edison dynamos. The next feature 
 was the area of some of the mines (the proved pro- 
 perties), which seemed to me very large as compared 
 with their capital. Of course, it is impossible to judge 
 of the value of a mine by its area ; but when a property 
 has been developed on the lines of the Le Eoi, the area 
 does suggest certain calculations. The area of the Le 
 Eoi is about twenty-one acres, but including the Ivanhoe 
 and Black Bear it is seventy-two acres. The Le Eoi was 
 capitalized for $2,500,000, in shares of $5 each. Even 
 supposing that all the shares sold at par value, the 
 amount of capital compared with the development work 
 done, amount paid in dividend, the extent of property, 
 the difficulties in early stages of transport, and the 
 refractory nature of the ore, shows very skilful and 
 economical management. 
 
 It is probable that the Le Eoi, or perhaps another 
 mine, such as the Centre Star, may find its capital 
 insufficient. This will very likely be the case where 
 amalgamations take place, and therefore at no very 
 distant date these concerns may appeal to the British 
 public ; and should they do so, they will be among the 
 best mining properties which have been put on the 
 London market.* There is nothing of the " wild cat " 
 about them. Nevertheless, the stock-jobbing operations 
 in the London market will be sure to provide the 
 speculative element, without which the British public 
 cannot be interested in mines. 
 
 Eossland is eminently cosmopolitan. There were 
 men of all European nationalities, as well as Americans 
 and Chinese. The mining fever had seized them all ; but 
 how differently it affected them ! There may be seen the 
 pig-tailed Chinaman, fanning himself as he saunters in 
 
 * Since writing the above, the Le Eoi mine has been placed on the 
 London market in conjunction with other properties. It will be a matter 
 of considerable interest in mining history to compare the efficiency and 
 economy of the new method with the old one. 
 
286 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 his soft white shoes along the pavement, his objects and 
 occupations a deep mystery, but certain to be involved 
 in money-getting — his poorer brother bending under a 
 load of the barbarian's dirty linen, with his pigtail 
 twisted for convenience round his greasy brow. There 
 are " the boys " back from the mines, with " a good 
 rough on them," determined to enjoy the town. There 
 is the German, with his large tongue and small eyes ; 
 the plump Jew, insinuating and pushing ; the Yankee, 
 occupied in spitting in season and out of season, with a 
 spittoon or without a spittoon. There is the nuisance 
 of the paper boy, with his eternal " E — E — evening 
 Mi — i — iner ; " the water-cart converting dust into 
 mud ; and the natty-looking restaurant keeper washing 
 the outside of his house, the pavement, and even the 
 street beyond, with a liberal douche from a hose. 
 There is the barber's shop — and I must own to having 
 loathed this spectacle — where men were having their 
 faces scraped, while the man who scraped held them by 
 the nose between his finger and thumb. There are the 
 offices of the mining companies, with " samples " of ore 
 displayed in the window. Men everywhere in abundance 
 — standing in knots at street corners, sitting outside the 
 hotels or bars, or perched in armchairs, having their 
 boots cleaned in the thoroughfare, and all this crowd, 
 no matter what other ostensible object they might have, 
 had but one craze — the mines. 
 
 Yet there was want and suffering here sometimes. 
 The prospectors, who love the hills with an instinct that 
 is more sporting than mercenary, are, for the most part, 
 an improvident race ; and if they come back, as many 
 of them do, having found nothing, they return to suffer 
 want. They will help each other to a dinner, but if 
 "times are bad" with many, all at once even this 
 resource may become exhausted. They are distinctly 
 not the men to whom charity could be offered ; and if 
 assistance is given by any one outside the charmed 
 circle of their own set, it must be done most delicately. 
 I was delighted to find in " Father Pat " (the English 
 
BOSSLAND. 287 
 
 clergyman at Eossland) one who thoroughly appreciated 
 and liked the miners and prospectors ; a feeling which, 
 I believe, was warmly reciprocated by them. As I 
 walked with him in Eossland, I occasionally overheard 
 scraps of conversation which, perhaps, were not in- 
 tended for me. 
 
 "Why, Dick! Did I see you in church this 
 evening ? " 
 
 "Yes, yer reverence, I was there. The first time for 
 thirty years. I couldn't stand too much of it at a time, 
 though. So just when it was getting a bit long I went 
 outside and had a smoke. I say, yer reverence, it was 
 good ! I went in again after I'd had a bit of a smoke ; 
 and it all come back to me as I was used to it when 
 I was a boy, and I tell ye I came down like hell on them 
 Ah-mens ! " 
 
 When I was in Eossland Father Pat was busy 
 establishing a free library and sitting-room, which he 
 artfully contrived under the floor of the church. Many 
 a time had we to perambulate down the hillside to 
 admire this library. 
 
 "A person don't have to belong to my church or 
 Sunday school," said Father Pat, delivering his in- 
 vitations as he went along, " or any Sunday school, to be 
 welcome. Doors are always open — books, magazines 
 are there. All that any one has to do is to help himself. 
 There are comfortable chairs. I want those young 
 men and others who have no places and no homes to 
 go to." 
 
 It was instructive to hear Father Pat discourse 
 upon human nature. He was best at this when he sat 
 in the open doorway of the shack in which he chose to 
 reside. The shack, like the library, was always open. 
 "My experience in this Western country," he would 
 say, "is that the more you trust human nature, and 
 treat people like fellow beings, and not with suspicion, 
 the better you will find them. If I knew a man was a 
 born thief, I would throw the doors open to him and 
 trust him just the same, relying on his better nature not 
 
288 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 to betray me. Take my advice, young man," he cried, 
 as a smartly dressed youth in Sunday best was passing, 
 "and don't be too suspicious of your fellow mortals, 
 especially if they be dressed in overalls and boots — 
 rather beware of kid gloves and perfumed clothes." 
 
 The young man thus addressed started and turned 
 his head. On seeing Father Pat, he raised his hat and 
 beamed a silent benediction, and went on his way. 
 
 Possibly Father Pat carries his ideas further than 
 need be. I was obliged sometimes to remonstrate, but 
 the men understood him. "He's a good man," said 
 one. " We know that. There's nothing we can give 
 him. His reward is ready for him, for all the poor 
 fellows he's nursed and cared for that nobody else would 
 bother about. No one can take it from him. He's 
 recorded his claim right enough." 
 
 Those whose interest in mining matters leads them to 
 desire further particulars of Eossland may consult with 
 benefit the Annual Eeport of the Minister for Mines. 
 In the report for 1896 Mr. Carlyle gives the early 
 history of Eossland. It is so admirably written, that 
 I cannot resist giving it verbatim. 
 
 " Early in the sixties the placer mines on Wild. Horse, 
 Findlay, and other creeks in East Kootenay, having been 
 discovered, resulting in the rush there of miners, and the 
 constant demand for supplies, as there was no means of 
 communication between the coast and this district, except 
 through the United States, with vexatious delays at the 
 Customs, Mr. E. Dewdney, now the Hon. the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of British Columbia, was instructed to survey and 
 construct a trail entirely within British territory, through - 
 the southern part of the province, as a passage to the north 
 had been proved to be not feasible. In 1865 this trail, since 
 known as the Dewdney trail, was finished, and in its course 
 it passed about one mile south of the present town of Rossland 
 on its way down Trail creek to the Columbia river. Hence 
 a means of ingress was given to this region, and indications 
 show that early prospectors were attracted to the iron-stained 
 cappings that have now attained such importance and value, 
 
B08SLAND, 289 
 
 sis a 5-foot hole on the Le Roi and other openings testify, 
 but the low grade surface rock discouraged them, while the 
 means of getting such ore to smelting centres seemed quite 
 out of reach. However, in 1889, Joseph Bourjouis located 
 the first claim, the Lily May, near the Dewdney trail, which 
 in 1890 was recorded by J. Bordau. In this year J. Bourjouis 
 located the Centre Star and the War Eagle, while the 
 • Virginia and Idaho were staked by J. Morris, his partner. 
 They also discovered thie Le Roi, but forbidden by law to 
 stake more than one claim on the same vein, this piece of 
 ground became the property of Mr. E. S. Topping by his 
 simply paying the expense of recording. 
 
 " In November, 1890, Mr. Topping met at Colville two 
 Spokane attorneys, Mr. George Eoster and Colonel William 
 Redpath, showed them samples of Le Roi ore, and offered to 
 sell one-half interest in the claim for $30,000. These 
 gentlemen became interested in this property, went to Mr. 
 Oliver Durant, a gentleman of long mining experience in the 
 west, in whose judgment they had full confidence, and he, 
 also impressed with the ore, finally secured a working bond 
 on ^ of the property for six months, with the proviso that 
 during that time he should spend $3000 on the claim. 
 Although he knew good mining men had condemned the 
 ore deposits of this region as of altogether too low a grade, 
 Mr. Durant came up at once, examined the claim, taking 
 from a shallow cut 16 feet long across solid sulphides careful 
 samples that returned as high as $60 in gold, at the same 
 time visiting the Enterprise, Centre Star, Idaho, Virginia, 
 War Eagle, and Josie. Satisfied with the showings, E. J. 
 Kelly was left in charge of the sinking of a shaft, from 
 which during the winter weekly samples/were forwarded, with 
 great difficulty, to Marcus, Washington, by trail down Trail 
 creek and the Columbia, samples that assayed from traces 
 of gold up to $472. In the spring of 1891, after many 
 vicissitudes, 10 tons of picked, pure sulphide ore from the 
 bottom of the 35-foot shaft, where the vein was fully 9 feet 
 wide, were packed out to the Columbia and shipped to the 
 Colorado smelting works at Butte, when the excellent return 
 of $84.40 per ton was given as the value of the ore, or 3 
 ounces of silver per ton, 5.21 per cent, copper, and about 4 
 ounces of gold. The bond was then taken up, and in the 
 course of time the remaining ^ were sold by Mr. Topping 
 
 u 
 
290 BBITIBE COLUMBIA FOR SETTLEBS. 
 
 to some of the present owners. The Le Eoi Gold Mining 
 Company was then formed, and about 70,000 shares of the 
 treasury stock sold at a small figure. 
 
 " For over a year Mr. Durant had charge of the work, 
 contending with many obstacles, insisting on the continuance 
 of development, as he pertinaciously believed in the ultimate 
 conversion of this prospect into a valuable mine ; but finally 
 he decided to sell out his interest to the others, and with Mr. 
 A. Tarbet bought the Centre Star and Idaho, upon which 
 nearly 900 feet of work were done at a cost of $25,000, work 
 that was the main support of this little camp. But the need 
 of roads was pressing, no advance could possibly be made, 
 and again through the efforts of Mr. Durant, a trail and then 
 a road were built up the east fork of Sheep creek from 
 iNorthport by the business people of that place, and Captain 
 Eitzstubbs, Gold Commissioner for West Kootenay, ordering 
 the construction of a road up Trail creek from the Columbia, 
 the conditions of the camp were at once made much more 
 favourable. With the coming of the financial crisis of 1893, 
 Mr. Durant, whose unceasing and determined 1 efforts had 
 overcome many difficulties and disappointments, and 
 demonstrated that the properties he had so faithfully worked 
 at were good, was forced to suspend operations until 1895, 
 when he resumed work on the Centre Star, now organized 
 into a stock company. 
 
 " In the winter of 1893-94, the Le Hoi that had shut down 
 upon the expenditure of the proceeds from the sale of the 
 treasury stock, was able to ship by sleighs over the Trail 
 creek road, the ore that had accumulated upon the dump, 
 and this netting a good profit, active mining operations were 
 begun, and the fast increasing ore shipments, as detailed 
 elsewhere, bringing handsome returns to those who had 
 pluckily stuck to this claim, the Le Roi was fairly launched 
 upon its successful career as a rich dividend-paying mine. 
 In the mean while, Mr. J. A. Finch and Mr. P. Clark had 
 been attracted to the camp, Mr. Finch getting a bond on the 
 War Eagle, which he relinquished after expending several 
 thousands of dollars prospecting; after which, Mr. Clark, 
 who had thrown up his bond on the Josie, obtained one on 
 the War Eagle. In the work hitherto done on this property, 
 a large shute of low grade pyrrhotite, averaging $14 to $16 
 in gold to the ton, had been more or less explored, but on 
 
ROSSLAND. 291 
 
 going farther west a few hundred feet, by trenching, the top 
 of a splendid body of good ore, averaging 2\ ounces in gold, 
 nearly 100 feet long and 8 to 12 feet wide, was uncovered, 
 and this mine took its place among the best in the camp, 
 paying shortly lafterwards its first dividend, February 1, 
 1895, of $32,500. 
 
 " Another strong factor in the rapid progress of the camp 
 is the conection with it of Mr. Heinze and Mr. D. C. Corbin, 
 President of the Spokane Tails and Northern Railroad. Mr. 
 Heinze, the head of a smelting works in Butte, Montana, 
 sent in two men to go over the ground, with the result, after 
 much negotiating, that he made a contract with the manage- 
 ment of the Le Eoi mine that they should supply him with 
 37,500 tons of ore on the dump, which he would pay for 
 after the shipment and sampling of each lot, deducting $11 
 per ton for freight and treatment charges ; and also 37,500 
 tons on which the charges should be at the lowest rates 
 obtainable in the open market. With this amount of ore 
 contracted for, a land grant from the Provincial Government 
 and a bonus of $1 per ton smelted from the Dominion 
 Government, Mr. Heinze erected the Trail Smelter and built 
 the tramway from the smelter to the mine. Mr. Oorbin, who 
 has extended his road from Northport to Nelson, supplied 
 also with a provincial charter and land grant,* is pushing 
 his road up Sheep creek from the south to Eossland. Thus 
 constantly as the conditions improve whereby the cost of 
 mining, shipping, and treating the ore are materially lessened, 
 does the limit decrease at which the ore ceases to be profitable, 
 and much more of the lower grade ore now in sight is made 
 available." 
 
 * This has been accomplished. 
 
CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 , GKAND FORKS AND SPOKANE. 
 
 The fame of Grand Forks had been greater when I was 
 further from it ; but even at Eossland I was told such 
 remarkable things of the agricultural prospects there 
 that I was determined to go and see for myself. 
 
 The place lies close to the international border ; but 
 to get there I had to go down into the States, travelling 
 by the Spokane and Northern line. I left the railway 
 at Boisberg, and continued by stage. The dust was 
 about six inches thick, and the sun bore with tre- 
 mendous power. There was but little shade, and the 
 stage was, I believe, the typical Canadian west country 
 stage. Some of those delays which occur in travelling 
 of this kind, detained us in the insufferable heat at 
 Boisberg, and we finished by racing into Grand Forks 
 in pitch darkness. The road was little better than 
 a trail, and was marked and illustrated by the accidents 
 which had occurred along its villainous length. There 
 was the place where "Tom went over (the precipice) 
 and wasn't killed, though both his legs were broken." 
 And the corner where the family party made an in- 
 voluntary descent, but beyond being stunned were not 
 hurt ; though while they were climbing up the rocks to 
 the road again the trap and horses were washed away 
 piecemeal by the river. However, people did not 
 always get off so easily; and as we left Boisberg the 
 house was pointed out to me where the usual driver 
 of the stage I was on was lying insensible from his last 
 accident. 
 
GBANB FOBKS AND SPOKANE. 293 
 
 Nor were we ourselves to escape entirely, for as we 
 dashed down a hill in the dark we came in collision 
 with a rock, and the jolt threw the man who sat next 
 me out of the trap. 
 
 Possibly I might have gone myself, but that I was 
 holding to the bar in front. After a little delay we 
 pulled up, and the man (it was Mr. Mayne Daley) over- 
 took us — unhurt save for a bruised shoulder. 
 
 On arriving at Grand Forks I missed my purse, and 
 as I got down from the stage amongst the most evil- 
 looking set of scoundrels I ever saw in my life, I believe 
 it was taken from me then. But it was useless to 
 appeal to the police, nor would the magistrate take any 
 steps. From inquiries which I made, I found that theft 
 was the chief of a long list of every possible crime, 
 which appeared to go unchecked in this place. 
 
 Grand Forks is a city. There were about seventy- 
 nine inhabited houses, counting hotels, the rest were 
 shacks. The property is held by an American firm, 
 who have obtained a Charter from the Provincial 
 Government incorporating the town. This gives them 
 control of their own police, besides the power to levy 
 rates, and borrow money on them. 
 
 Stages pass backwards and forwards, arriving at all 
 hours of the day and night. They run to Marcus and 
 Boisberg (in the States), to Greenwood city and 
 Penticton, to Nelson and Cascade city. Any one, there- 
 fore, in a radius of fifty miles, who wants to get away 
 from the provincial police, can do so very simply by 
 putting on the dress of a miner and going to Grand 
 Forks. 
 
 The following evening I drove out into the country 
 to see what the wonderful farming amounted to. I did 
 not see anything which could compare with what I had 
 seen near Vernon or at Kelowna. Everything was on 
 a small scale, and I saw no trace of any organization 
 such as would be ready to lay hold of markets directly 
 the railway came through. I had no doubt that the 
 advent of the railway would mean the flooding of the 
 
294 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 district with American produce, which could be slipped 
 over_ the border at Medway. The land offered no 
 special advantages, and was held tightly by the company 
 which controlled the town ; though it was hinted to me 
 that a few lots would be sold cheaply at first by way 
 of encouragement. 
 
 That night I decided to go on to Spokane, paying 
 my way by cheque, and consequently left by the stage 
 at two o'clock in the morning for Marcus, where I took 
 the train in the afternoon. The heat was exceptionally 
 trying, and the cars were packed full with holiday- 
 makers. The American child is an instrument of torture 
 on these occasions ; and in any other country a special 
 car would be reserved where they might turn their 
 attentions upon one another. If the present generation 
 of Americans leaves something to be desired, it is with a 
 feeling of utter hopelessness that one regards the future 
 of this nation of " sovereigns." The saddest feature in 
 the matter is that though children in age, they are old ; 
 there is nothing of the enfant terrible. They are old 
 with manias and fads, such as surely no children ever 
 possessed before. Their conversation is a reflection of 
 their parents, and their departures are calculated 
 shrewdly, and without the smallest imagination. Fairy 
 tales would be wasted on this unwholesome breed. 
 If the tree is to be judged by its fruit, let any one 
 desirous of guessing the future of America, spend 
 twenty-four hours in the same house with an American 
 child. It was my lot to do so once, and when the 
 experience was over, I wondered who was most mad — 
 the child, its parents, myself, or the hosts who were my 
 friends. 
 
 At about seven o'clock in the evening I reached 
 Spokane, and drove with about a dozen gentlemen to 
 Hotel Spokane. Before the omnibus left the station 
 I was sharply reprimanded for wasting time, because 
 I stopped for a moment to speak to the conductor of 
 the car. This was my first introduction to the hurry 
 of the American. It is the vogue in that country always 
 
GRAND FORKS AND SPOKANE. 295 
 
 to be pressed for time, every one must have a pressing 
 engagement. I felt for the moment genuinely sorry 
 to have detained these gentlemen, and made my 
 apologies as courteously as I could. But they were 
 listened to in silence with a rude stare.' A little later 
 in my travels, I was told that a gentleman was not in 
 his office, having an "important engagement,"— I found 
 that the important engagement meant that he had gone 
 to be shaved, and that in the middle of the morning. 
 
 The heat was very trying, the thermometer rising 
 to 110° Fahr. in the shade, and this temperature made 
 even thinking an effort. 
 
 The city of Spokane, during its short career, has 
 been through the curriculum of booms and fires common 
 to all western towns. There has been the same process 
 of suddenly amassed fortunes being as suddenly lost. 
 The men who yesterday owned the town and commanded 
 dollars by the million, have stepped down, and the race 
 who were their clerks have taken their places. The 
 west of the States is totally distinct in character from 
 the east, and this applies as much to the population 
 as to the climate and productsi but the difference must 
 be felt to be understood. 
 
 There is no doubt that the smart business man will find 
 his way facilitated in America, for just in exact contra- 
 diction to the system of patronage and corruption of the 
 political life is the simplicity of the commercial. A 
 man is valued in commerce at exactly his worth. If 
 he has ability and shows business capacity, he will be 
 given credit very readily, and will be remunerated 
 according to his proved value. But just as there is 
 no price too high for a man who is excellent, so no 
 amount of interest will avail the incapable, and the 
 man who is worthless gets nothing. 
 
 Unfortunately the estimate of a man does not include 
 punctilious honesty. It refers to shrewdness in buying 
 and selling, and to any ingenious contrivance whereby 
 a market can be discovered or created. Any means 
 may be resorted to to gain prices, and here step in 
 
296 BB1TISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 the methods known as rings, corners, etc., which it is not 
 necessary to pursue, since at the present time they 
 fortunately do not affect Canada. 
 
 Each trade has its own committee to supervise its 
 private interests. In the case of some kinds of ma- 
 chinery, of sugar or similar goods, if a commodity is 
 found to sink below a certain price owing to increased 
 supply, or diminished demand, the committee is called 
 and probably decides upon closing the sales of this 
 commodity in a sufficient number of instances until the 
 price recovers, paying the closed houses meanwhile as 
 much as they would receive if they remained open at 
 the diminished prices. While the trade committees 
 pretend to enforce protection in order to keep up wages, 
 the effect is the reverse. The result of closing the 
 market by protection is to give the capitalist the power 
 to keep up prices which go to swell his profits, while 
 the activity of the labourer is crippled by a limited 
 market, the means of the consumer being narrowed by 
 the increased dearness of goods. 
 
 The cost of primary products has been minimized to 
 a marvellous extent. In many cases it is the " spot 
 cash " which alone enables the business to be continued. 
 But one obvious cause for the crushing down of prices 
 on raw produce is the high rate of interest on the bor- 
 rowed capital which farmers are compelled to pay. 
 This obliges them to get cash in hand, even if they part 
 with the goods at less than their value, and so forfeit- 
 ing their legitimate profit. 
 
 The next part of the business is that of the middle 
 man, who will retrieve for his own benefit whatever the 
 farmer lost on the price, by knowing exactly where to 
 place the goods, so as to meet a demand. It is clear 
 that the knowledge .of the pressing need of the producer 
 influences the buyer in the price he offers. It is part of 
 his business to know exactly what the farmer has to pay 
 in interest out of the price of so many loads of apples, 
 and he will "figure" to himself how much more will 
 have to go for wages and for living. He will put it as. 
 
GBAND FOBKS AND SPOKANE. 297 
 
 low as he can, and then make his hid. Nor does he 
 buy because the apples are good apples — he buys because 
 his information enables him to tell exactly the need of 
 the consumer, so that again he can "figure" precisely 
 what the consumer can be made to pay. 
 
 Everything that the wit of man can do has been done 
 to limit the cost of production. Besides the use of 
 machinery, the farmers are caught and held in the iron 
 grip of mortgages and hens, in many cases strapped 
 upon them by the commission men themselves ; so that 
 they are ground down to the last farthing on which they 
 can exist. But the cost of collection and distribution is 
 the topic over which the astutest American heaves his 
 deepest sigh. This branch of trade refers to such enor- 
 mous enterprises as railway and steamship companies, 
 into whose working it would manifestly be impossible to 
 enter in the present small work. But it may be stated 
 generally, that while in Canada the complaint is made 
 that the railway bleeds the producer, in the States they 
 are supposed to bleed the consumer. 
 
 We will state a case in milk and cream. We will say 
 that there is practically unlimited supply and demand ; 
 the only difficulty being to connect the two. The ques- 
 tion is one of collection and distribution. First the 
 utmost rapidity is necessary ; therefore pace cannot be 
 sacrificed to economy. Long distances in hot weather 
 are fatal, and this necessitates cold storage. Then 
 depots or central receiving houses are required, whence 
 the commodity can be retailed in small quantities, 
 which necessitates a staff of men and carts. It is un- 
 necessary to pursue the matter further, to see the large 
 sums disbursed in handling this commodity, beginning 
 with train service, horses, drivers, wear and tear of carts, 
 rent and wages, all which must come out of the price of 
 milk and cream, besides its actual value to the farmer. 
 
 It will also be seen that railways, in arranging their 
 tariffs, have to keep themselves perfectly informed as to 
 markets. They also do their best to ascertain the profit 
 to the shipper. Few railways wish to let the shipper or 
 
298 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 commission agent get too much profit. But the com- 
 mission agent holds a threat over the railway, for, after 
 all, he has the last word, seeing that he fixed the price 
 paid by the consumer. So he says to the railway, 
 " All right, put up your rates ; the consumer will have 
 to pay." Then he goes to the consumer and says, 
 " See how these railways bleed you." Then it becomes 
 a good topic for the Press and the politician. 
 
 But sometimes the railway thinks that its rates are 
 too low, and agrees with the manufacturer or commission 
 agent that the town ought to pay more on a certain 
 article. They probably p agree together to lower the rate 
 on some other goods for which there is less demand. 
 We will say that a town is totally unsupplied with nails. 
 Yet nails are so necessary that any price will be paid 
 for them. The railway sees this, and at once puts up 
 the rate on nails, though not injuriously; and the 
 town pays the extra rate, and out of part of the proceeds 
 the railway lowers rates elsewhere. The part which 
 railways play in regulating markets, in encouraging or 
 depressing them, is a very serious consideration in trade. 
 An economical and expeditious railway is of incalculable 
 importance. 
 
 Then comes the case of competing lines cutting down 
 each other's rates. This also increases the efforts made 
 to foster traffic. It is not inconceivable that at this 
 point railways may interfere politically through the 
 Press, or by other means, to remove or impoBe tariffs 
 between States. 
 
 The usual policy of the commission agent is to supply 
 the home market at a given rate. When it has absorbed 
 all it will take at a certain price, the surplus is sent 
 on elsewhere to the next market ; possibly there may be 
 moire that this market can take without lowering the 
 price, so the goods are moved on further to the next 
 market. The arrangements are made by telegrams, so 
 that there is no loss of time, and the goods are not spoilt 
 by unnecessary handling. The wire reaches the train, 
 and the car instead of being detached goes on to the 
 
GBAND FORKS AND SPOKANE. 299 
 
 next market. Now, it is clear that by this means the 
 first market pays dearer than it would if all the produce 
 were left there, while the last market pays a good deal 
 less than if it were deprived of these supplies. The real 
 market is no longer iu the street of one town. It is in 
 several towns, and the dealing is done by telegram and 
 telephone all along the line. 
 
 There can be no doubt that relief of some kind must 
 be afforded to congested markets, and it is difficult to 
 imagine any other way by which a balance may be 
 maintained. 
 
 The main difference between the commission agents 
 and the railways is that the latter can never lose sight 
 of long haulages, steep gradients, and return freights. 
 This is where they suffer most from competition, and in 
 the present day of many curiously-developed classes of 
 trade, there is no telling by what means, or where, com- 
 petition may come in. 
 
 One of the most arbitrary features to be reckoned with 
 is that known as the convenience of the market. It is 
 impossible to tell how it may operate. It may suit a 
 merchant to ship goods to one port rather than another, 
 because a merchant there obliges him or favours him. 
 Or the matter may refer to very simple causes. A settle- 
 ment of merchants from Chicago may locate themselves 
 at Nelson, and naturally they prefer to get their clothes 
 from Chicago rather than Winnipeg, Montreal, or 
 Victoria. The banks may even step in. It may be 
 simpler to do business with Spokane rather than Okan- 
 agan, because of banking arrangements. There are also 
 side issues in connection with markets which give one 
 market a preference over another, good or bad, such as 
 ports, wharfage, harbour dues, telephones and telegraphs. 
 
 From the foregoing it will be quite clear that the 
 methods of trade which prevail must be taken into con- 
 sideration by any man who goes into the country to 
 avail himself of its possibilities. The farmers of British 
 Columbia are indignant because, although the railway is 
 there, they cannot make a profitable use of the facilities 
 
300 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 which it offers towards securing markets. They have 
 not yet learnt that it is impossible for the railway to 
 ship small and uncertain lots, as, for instance, a crate 
 of cabbages one week, and none at all the next. If this 
 is to be the state of trade the single crate of cabbages 
 will have to pay for the accommodation reserved for it 
 on days that it does not travel. And if half a car-load 
 is sent (as the company cannot run half-cars) the whole 
 car must be paid for. Therefore too much stress 
 cannot be laid on the necessity for co-operation. 
 
 A great deal of ingenuity and skill is required to 
 organize and operate a market; and when one looks 
 upon the dumb brutes — the horses toiling at the plough, 
 or eating their hard-earned forage in the evening — and 
 thinks of all the far-reaching results of their patient,, 
 honest toil, so inadequately rewarded, one wonders even 
 more at the deep root, than at the gaudy flower and 
 showy fruit. And yet the whole thing is worked out as 
 part of our necessities, and of this world's limited good. 
 
 Different products require totally different handling. 
 In the case of wheat we have to deal with a staple pro- 
 duct, and one which, like wool, can be handled at 
 almost any time. There is no hunting for a market. 
 Buyers come to the wheat and pay cash. It is bought 
 F.O.B., and sold outright. Thus it offers advantages 
 over fruit, which is sometimes sold on a thirty-days' 
 acceptance. But though staple, wheat is a treacherous 
 business for speculation. The price drops very easily, 
 and a man must be backed by large capital. It is 
 handled on the same plane as stocks and shares, and 
 has its "bulls" and "bears." In this it offers no 
 parallel to wine, tobacco, or even tea. Inasmuch as 
 these products suffer from fashion, wheat again has the 
 advantage. Then it is shipped at the lowest rates, even 
 no rates, for it can go as ballast, and thus be sent any- 
 where with ease. The necks of the sacks are cut, and 
 the wheat shot down into the hold of the ship. It goes 
 round the Horn as a return cargo on hardware or spirits. 
 It will also travel with any other goods, and in this, is 
 
GRAND FORKS AND SPOKANE. 301 
 
 unlike tea, which cannot be shipped with any highly- 
 scented cargo, or fruit which requires cool storage. 
 Possibly too much stress is laid upon the power of 
 speculators. They can control the market to a certain 
 extent by " options " and " futures ; " but the opening or 
 closing of a market is not really in their hands, and 
 the price will ultimately recover to the basis of supply 
 and demand. 
 
 For the year 1897, an exceedingly remarkable year 
 both in crop and prices, it is computed that the wheat 
 crop in East Washington was valued at $25,000,000. 
 The crop was exceptionally large, varying from 30 to 40 
 American bushels per acre. The average price was 
 stated to be 70 cents the bushel. 
 
 The cattle business is divided into two classes, and 
 this system is likely to prevail also in British Columbia. 
 There are farms well suited for rearing and breeding ; 
 and these are quite distinct from the ranches where 
 cattle can be grazed and fattened cheaper than any- 
 where else. In such a district as the Lower Fraser, 
 dairying is a distinct feature, and consequently cattle 
 breeding comes in also; but there are no ranches 
 attached to these farms. It will therefore pay farmers 
 to rear their calves on skim milk and sell them as 
 yearlings, which is the earliest that the ranchers care 
 to take them. The Jersey breed will probably be less 
 favoured, and the cross between Ayrshire and shorthorn 
 increase. The Holstein or Friesland is said to be the 
 best cow for cheese, and this breed pure, or crossed with 
 shorthorn, is always acceptable to the rancher. 
 
 The result of this division in the cattle business is 
 that dealers travel through the country buying up young 
 stock. Sometimes as many as 1000 head will go 
 through Spokane in a single day to the ranches in 
 Montana. The ranchers will take young things or lean 
 cattle from one to four years old. The cattle are turned 
 upon the ranges in spring, and as many as possible are 
 sold off before the coming winter. 
 
 It is no uncommon thing for 4000 head to be turned 
 
302 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 out on one of these large ranges in the spring. There 
 seems to be always money in cattle, and steers for 
 fattening are said to be a scarce commodity all over the 
 United States. When I was in Spokane the average 
 value of beef cattle for the State of Washington was 
 computed at $25.05£ per head. I was surprised to find 
 that cows were quoted higher, at $25.89 per head, and 
 by some people the price was said to fluctuate from $21 
 to $30. 
 
 The fruit-market in Spokane is managed by large 
 commission houses, some of which deal exclusively in 
 fruit, while others deal in vegetables as well. The 
 business may be said to have systematized itself in 
 Spokane, though a good deal is based on the experience 
 of California. In the commencement California shipped 
 her goods recklessly, leaving it to chance whether they 
 sold, were wasted, made a profit, or a loss. The result 
 was so unsatisfactory to the growers that a number of 
 tinning factories and evaporators were started in Cali- 
 fornia, and dried apricots and silver prunes established 
 themselves in London. California is still the largest 
 fruit-producing state, and Washington has to act with 
 due regard to what is happening there. The subject of 
 irrigation has been there worked up with great care and 
 success. The times of depression, owing to over-pro- 
 duction in the local market, have taught the producers 
 every conceivable device for economy in output, and for 
 securing markets. The business is older by some years 
 than anything in Washington, as Washington is older 
 than British Columbia, and the fruit-trees are matured 
 and in full bearing. 
 
 Spokane has the advantage of geographical position 
 and the converging lines of seven railways. It must 
 therefore continue to be a great distributing centre ; and 
 the railways are so alive to this fact that they do all in 
 their power to provide information of all kinds connected 
 with the trade to the commission houses in Spokane. 
 Every day they give details as to exactly how many cars 
 of produce and of what kinds have been shipped from 
 
GRAND F0BK8 AND SPOKANE. 303 
 
 California, and for what markets they are bound. Every 
 care is taken to prevent losses through a glut occurring 
 in any market at any given point ; so that in the case of 
 over-production canning is immediately resorted to so as 
 to limit the supply of green fruit. It is a rigorous rule 
 never to permit more fruit to be sent in than the market 
 ■will absorb. 
 
 The first requirement for this market is rapidity of 
 communication. Nothing is ever done by mails ; it all 
 depends upon telegraphs and telephones. " The whole 
 system," said a commission man to me, "is on wires." 
 
 Besides the Californian business, the commission 
 houses act as agents for the farmers, handling the fruit 
 for them at a certain per centage of profit. The commis- 
 sioners employ agents who are appointed to survey, as 
 it were, certain districts. These men will remain in 
 their districts — it may be a valley with a river running 
 through it — for the whole summer. Their business is 
 to watch the fruits, ascertain to a nicety what amount 
 there is, the quality, and the condition. They say 
 exactly when it is to be picked, and how it is to be 
 packed, and wire to the central office to say how many 
 cases are to be expected, and what the cases contain. 
 Then they bring the cases down by boat to the point 
 where it connects with the railway, and their part of the 
 business is finished. 
 
 The central house in Spokane knows, by advices over 
 the wires, precisely which market requires the products, 
 and how much each market will take. They then tele- 
 graph to the railways to have cars in readiness accord- 
 ing to certain numbers affixed to them. Each car is 
 packed with certain products, its number recorded, and 
 its destination. But after the cars are packed and 
 started, the central office may hear over the wires that 
 they have been anticipated in a certain market. They 
 immediately look up the number of the car, and 
 telegraph after it and divert it whole to another market, 
 or in half or quarter car-loads to several markets. 
 
 The main difficulty is to gauge exactly what a given 
 
304 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 market will absorb. This depends to a certain extent 
 on the nature of the product. Lemons are considered 
 the most uncertain, and an instance was given me of 
 two extra car loads getting into New York by mistake. 
 The commission house made up its mind to a dead loss, 
 as the market was believed to be already fully stocked. 
 To their surprise, the two extra car loads made no appre- 
 ciable difference in price. There are very few products 
 in which such a thing could happen without loss, and it 
 is accidents of this kind which diminish the returns, but 
 the middleman shelves the chief loss on to the producer. 
 He has, indeed, the railway rates to defray, but the 
 producer receives nothing, if he makes nothing. 
 
 The position of California with regard to New York is 
 singular. A glance at the map will show that New 
 York is at the end of a very long railway haulage from 
 California. Now, one of the principal products of Cali- 
 fornia is oranges ; but oranges can come into New York 
 seaborne at a very small cost from the West Indies. 
 The railways are, therefore, obliged to make a special 
 through rate for oranges from California to New York, or 
 they would lose the traffic altogether. In consequence, 
 the rate of oranges from California to New York is 
 actually 12£ cents per 100 lbs. less than from California 
 to Spokane, which is half the distance. 
 
 The commission houses sell to retail dealers in towns, 
 and the chief business of these retailers is to study and 
 cultivate the taste of the market. They have always to 
 guard against a surplus, and yet it is fatal if the market 
 is under supplied. The best safeguard against surplus 
 is a large labouring-class population, who will generally 
 take the surplus at cost price. But if these sales 
 become too large or too frequent they have the effect of 
 depressing the market. A second-class set of customers 
 get wind of the evening sales, and defer their purchases. 
 The retail dealer falls back on small orders and makes 
 frequent use of telegraphs, etc. This is especially the 
 case in a small market such as Eossland, where there 
 are only about 5000 persons. The consequence is that 
 
GRAND FORKS AND SPOKANE. 305 
 
 the supply is apt to be restricted. The retailers who 
 have set up there are not backed with very large 
 capital, and consequently have very little storage. While 
 I was in Spokane a dealer had an order through the 
 telephone for an extra can of milk to be sent up that 
 night. I could see what an enormous economy was 
 effected by the use of the telephone in perishable 
 products. 
 
 It is a wonderful sight to see the trains made up of 
 cars each thirty-two feet in length. On the Sunday that 
 I was there, twenty-two car loads left. The Northern 
 Pacific railway had just instituted a fast fruit service 
 from Spokane to St. Paul. It was at first intended to 
 send these trains twice a week, but the business grew 
 and developed to such an extent that a daily service was 
 being considered. 
 
 The Sunday train consisted of twenty-two cars loaded 
 with peaches, plums, and pears. Seven of these cars 
 came from Portland, six from Yakima, five from Walla 
 Walla, two from Spokane, and one each from Ellen- 
 burg and Hunt's prairie. Two out of the twenty-two 
 were consigned for Winnipeg. Whenever ten car loads 
 can be got together they are despatched forthwith as a 
 special fruit train. These fruit expresses make quicker 
 time than the passenger trains. 
 
 I found it extremely difficult to get any estimate of 
 the amount of fruit grown in Washington. But, up to 
 the time of my visit, the fruit from the Snake river was 
 estimated at a hundred and seventy-five car loads ; but 
 this is not more than half the fruit from east of the 
 Cascade range, and the business is increasing rapidly. 
 
 It was quite as difficult to arrive at any idea of the 
 profits derived by the farmers. But the following facts • 
 were given me by an informant, who was, I believe, 
 most anxious not to mislead me. An orchard, chiefly 
 apples, but including plums, cherries, and pears, in full 
 bearing, is worth $200 per acre per annum. One man 
 with only a five-acre orchard has been saved by it, in 
 times of panic and low prices for wheat, etc. Large 
 
306 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 capitalists in Chicago are turning their attention to the 
 business. One of them has bought land, and is planting 
 orchards of four hundred acres in size. There is a 
 prospect of companies going into this branch of agri- 
 culture as they have already gone into ranching ; and I 
 may remark that it has struck me as a very likely way 
 to realize fortunes in the wheat districts of Manitoba. 
 There is practical certainty that wheat will command 
 a high price for the next year or two. Were a large 
 capitalist to " grub-stake " a dozen farmers in Manitoba, 
 he would be quite as certain of a large return as if he 
 sent miners to the Klondyke. 
 
 The most profitable fruit is the winter apple. In the 
 local market of Spokane the price of apples will be 
 a dollar and a quarter per box; in the general or 
 export market the farmer gets 75 cents a box. There is 
 an additional profit to be made in the winter apple, if 
 the farmer has judgment in selection, and can store his 
 fruit while the market is flooded. This means a little 
 outlay. The storehouse has to be kept at an even 
 temperature, and the fruit must be watched ; but by 
 reserving and maturing them, he will get another 25 to 
 50 cents a box for them. 
 
 Celery is a very profitable crop, and, it is said, will 
 grow well wherever apples answer. A great business 
 is done in celery at Spokane. It flourishes there, and 
 at Michigan, to perfection. It requires an old lake 
 bottom, and a stream for irrigation. I have heard that 
 it is a good crop for land which is inclined to be 
 alkaline. 
 
 It is asserted that there is at the present time as 
 much agricultural backing behind Spokane as there is 
 behind Toronto. Toronto has grown up to a population 
 of 200,000, chiefly, I believe, as a distributing centre. 
 There is more wheat grown in Eastern Washington 
 than in Ontario. Spokane is only ten years old, and 
 has a population of 25,000, and it is said that the 
 increase is at the rate of 5000 per annum. During 
 my short stay in Spokane I had no means to verify 
 
OB AND FOBKS AND SPOKANE. 307 
 
 these figures, but I believe them to be correct. It 
 •was impossible not to note the enterprise in building, 
 although the style of architecture was lamentably 
 hideous. I was taken to see public buildings, before 
 which I could only close my eyes ; but they served 
 their purpose by indicating the immense wealth of the 
 city of Spokane. The railways offered another testi- 
 mony, but possibly I was most impressed by the 
 organization of supplies by the big commission houses. 
 
 It is an incontestable fact that Spokane has brought 
 the art of collection and distribution to singular per- 
 fection. " I can always get anything I want from 
 Spokane by telegraphing for it," was the remark I 
 constantly heard in British Columbia. Any retailer in 
 Eossland who runs out of butter in the evening can 
 telephone to Spokane, and will receive supplies the 
 following morning. Thus economy and convenience 
 are combined, and it is all a matter of organization. 
 
 But the foundation of this present prosperity was laid 
 in a time of depression. Spokane started, as so many 
 American towns do, with a rush and a boom. Nine 
 years ago she boomed — and a wooden town sprung up 
 in less than two years. A fire ensued, which burnt the 
 whole place to the ground ; there was practically no 
 insurance, as premiums were too high; but so great 
 was their faith in the town site that the people borrowed 
 money to rebuild the town, and did so in the most solid 
 and costly style. Had prices kept up, everything would 
 have gone well; but a set back occurred. Then the 
 " old timers," who owned the great "blocks," were sold 
 up. There was the curious spectacle of large buildings, 
 which quite recently were worth millions, now suddenly 
 valueless. The money had somehow vanished, leaving 
 the shell; and the men who were millionaires had to 
 begin again. But Spokane started on some years of 
 bad times. Panic blighted the country, brought on by 
 wild speculation, and the whole city became paralyzed. 
 
 Then, when things were at the worst, it entered the 
 brain of an enterprising Canadian — who, I regret to say, 
 
308 BBITI8E COLUMBIA FOB &ETTLEB8. 
 
 had gone to the States to find more scope for his 
 energies — to start an exhibition of the natural resources 
 of the Spokane district. This was the origin of the now 
 famous annual exhibition known as the Spokane Fair. 
 It consists of fruit, flowers, vegetables, grasses, grains, 
 and minerals. Its object is manifold. It brings together 
 producer, consumer, and middleman. The big com- 
 mission houses at Chicago and St. Paul send repre- 
 sentatives to meet the prominent fruit-growers, that 
 they may see what is being produced. The railways 
 bring these representatives into Spokane free of expense, 
 with a view to the increase of trade they anticipate as 
 the result of their visit. Samples of all the products of 
 the country, from a radius of two hundred miles, being 
 collected together in one centre, special attention is 
 paid to render the occasion beneficial educationally. 
 
 The agricultural colleges send an exhibition of in- 
 sects which affect the growth of fruit or flower. 
 Lectures are held, in which a careful explanation is 
 given, which insect is noxious and which is useful ; what 
 steps should be taken to destroy the bad and encourage 
 the good; the best manner of pruning and planting 
 trees, together with advice as to selection of kinds. 
 All these matters are discussed and explained by 
 authorities, both commercial and scientific. 
 
 It is chiefly due to this simple expedient that Spokane 
 was the first of the Western towns to recover her 
 prosperity. It is said that the bank clearances show a 
 greater ratio of increase in the last two years than in 
 any city in the United States. 
 
 Some of the good fortune is due purely to natural 
 resources, such as soil and climate. In the latter, no 
 doubt Spokane is somewhat exceptionally fortunate, but 
 certainly not more so than many parts of British 
 Columbia. She escapes the blizzards, which are bred 
 in the Selkirk range and blow across the prairies of the 
 North- West. The heavy wet from clouds which drop 
 against the Cascades, and render Chilliwack and the 
 Lower Fraser humid by incessant rains, does not affect 
 
GBAND FOBKS AND SPOKANE. 309 
 
 Spokane. The clouds re-form, and pass high above the 
 sun-baked dry belt from Cisco to Notch hill, and falling 
 against the Selkirks descend in rains which assist the 
 Kootenays, and reach Spokane in a lesser degree. 
 
 But the mineral resources must not be passed over, 
 since they have certainly played their part in raising 
 the fortunes of Spokane. The Cour d'Alene mines have 
 not attracted much outside notice, but they have been 
 producing silver and lead at the rate of $9,000,000 to 
 $10,000,000 per annum. 
 
 The future of the town will probably show what can 
 be done with the enormous water-power in the beautiful 
 falls of Spokane — the one natural beauty of the place — 
 situated in the centre of the city. Already electricity 
 is generated, and a couple of flour-mills worked for local 
 supplies; but the total horse-power at these falls is 
 estimated at 32,000 horse-power — almost double that 
 of the falls of Minneapolis. 
 
 The lessons to be learnt from a study of Spokane are 
 practically unlimited, and as I walked about its streets, 
 or tore round the suburbs on its cars, I wondered by 
 what manner of means British settlers could be taught 
 the lesson in commercial methods on which the success 
 of Spokane is based. As I looked at its great buildings, 
 which are ungraceful and devoid of beauty, I contrasted 
 Spokane with the cities of old — cities that monks and 
 warriors dreamt about and built, according to their 
 vows and with their earthly careers, stone by stone — 
 and then I looked at this fungus set in the plain. I 
 thought of the terraces with olive and oleander trees — 
 fitting background to saintly lives spent in converse upon 
 the Beauty of Holiness. I thought of the colleges, of 
 the gardens and ancient shades of Oxford, of the aisles 
 at Westminster where Milton took his exercise. 
 
 Spokane, indeed, leaves a want which all its wealth 
 and success can never fill ; yet it offers suggestions for 
 solving the most difficult problem in colonial settle- 
 ment, which is itself the only solution to the problem 
 of our over-crowded population. 
 
310 BBITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 But I can see no reason why a city which has done 
 so much, and proved her strength, should he denied the 
 charm and grace of higher things, and I hope most 
 confidently that in British Columhia the people of the 
 great cities which will arise will care for and cherish 
 the culture and beauty of the old world. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 NKLSON. 
 
 From Spokane I went to Nelson, travelling by Mr. 
 Corbyn's railway, which passes through Colville valley. 
 This is a very rich agricultural district, though the 
 farming was not of a high order, the land being in 
 small farms, and the farmers a rather poor class of 
 Irish. 
 
 My inquiries at Spokane had not given me much 
 light as to the supplies of Eossland and Nelson. The 
 duties were said to tell against the business. It seems 
 as though in such bulky products as hay British 
 Columbia holds the market. At Trail, when I was 
 there, two car-loads of eggs were expected from Ontario, 
 shipped by a large Winnipeg firm. The Alberta 
 creameries had shipped 40,000 lbs. of butter into British 
 Columbia ; but the demand was still increasing, and 
 prices tended to rise. 
 
 I had occasion to go to the luggage-car to get out 
 a cloak, and on turning round I found that quite a 
 quarter of the car was packed with fruit — plums, 
 peaches, tomatoes, and pears, besides fresh-milk cans, 
 and one cask filled up with ice which contained fresh 
 cream. The conductor told me that quite four car-loads 
 a week of fruit went into Eossland. On Mondays half 
 a car-load went into Eossland as a rule. It went thus 
 in small quantities by passenger train, about a quarter 
 of a car-load a day. There was about a ton of fresh 
 
312 BR1TISS COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 fruit going into Nelson with me, besides several crates 
 of live poultry and milk and cream. 
 
 The supplies also go into Nelson from the flats of the 
 Kootenay river, between Boundary creek and Bonner's 
 ferry. The imports from this side are largely butter 
 and hay, but I saw some crates of apples. The trans- 
 port, being by steamer, is very cheap. 
 
 The Nelson smelter is said to be the largest on the 
 continent. With the recent improvements which were 
 being added while I was there, the output is equal to 
 ten tons of copper bullion per diem. The smelter is 
 owned by the Hall Company, who own also the Hall 
 mines. I was told that the ore produced by the 
 company's own properties was sufficient for working 
 the smelter at its then rate of produce, and that never 
 more than seven per cent, was used from elsewhere. 
 At that time there were between seventy and eighty 
 men employed in the blast-furnace, which had a 
 capacity of 350 tons per diem. Besides the smelting 
 there was a refining-plant, which was in process of 
 being doubled. 
 
 The ores treated by this smelter are neither of so 
 varied nor refractory a nature as those at Trail, and 
 roasting, with its horrible sulphur fumes, is never 
 resorted to. The process, as I saw it, was first the 
 shovelling of the ore and limestone flux into the roaster, 
 or huge furnace, which is shaped like a large coffee 
 machine. The lower part of the roaster is brick, and 
 in front of it burned and flamed a fire of pine-logs. 
 The ore in the roaster is boiled into a liquid molten 
 mass. The copper, gold, iron, and silver — in fact, the 
 minerals — sink below, and are tapped and drawn off 
 in a stream, which runs into square moulds shaped in 
 sand. These moulds are called matte. The rock, or 
 slag, which rose to the top of the roaster, descends 
 as the minerals are drawn off, and is finally left to 
 cool in the roaster. When turned out, it is a dark 
 brittle material, somewhat resembling glass. Silica is 
 a very common flux, and it struck me that this by- 
 
NELSON. 313 
 
 product might be turned to account for making glass 
 bottles for the fruit and fish trade. All the rafters were 
 covered with slag-wool, a fine brown hair of spun glass 
 produced by the fumes of the roaster. This material 
 is very useful for putting between walls or floors and 
 ceilings to deaden sound. It is also considered fireproof. 
 
 The matte is very curious, but uninteresting looking. 
 It is generally the colour of dirty rusty iron; but 
 sometimes there is a beautiful moss or copper wire 
 formed in the cavities, where the air has been im- 
 prisoned and struggled to escape. If this copper moss 
 is exposed to the air, it oxidizes and becomes black, 
 like the woolly hair on the head of a Kaffir. These 
 moulds are broken or ground up and boiled in the 
 refinery. As the molten mass boils it is skimmed, 
 as soup is skimmed of the grease. This process 
 continues for some hours. It is then run out into 
 moulds, and appears of a very rich bright copper 
 colour. The bricks or bars which I saw there were 
 estimated as follows : four ounces of gold to the ton of 
 ore, two per cent, in silver, and the rest copper. The 
 dividing of the metals was effected by another refining 
 process, which I did not see ; after which a far more 
 accurate computation of values could be made. The 
 coke used at this smelter is brought from Namaino, 
 involving costly freight, which the opening of the Crow's 
 Nest pass will avoid by bringing in fuel from the coal- 
 fields in the Eockies. The additions which were being 
 made to the smelter will enable it to treat the silver- 
 lead ores, as well as the copper, silver, and gold 
 smelted hitherto. 
 
 The town of Nelson is very beautifully situated upon 
 an arm or branch of Kootenay lake. It is a clean, 
 well-kept town, and is the head-quarters of the police. 
 "When the railway comes through from the Crow's Nest 
 pass, Nelson will become a great distributing centre 
 and a very important city. The beauty of the scenery, 
 and the attractions of boating and fishing, mark it out 
 pre-eminently as a residential town. 
 
314 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 At Nelson I met Colonel Baker, who was travelling 
 on parliamentary business. I also met Mr. Hussey, 
 the chief of Provincial Police, and most of the head 
 officials of the C.P.E., who were making a tour of 
 inspection. 
 
 Before leaving Nelson I went to see the gaol. It is 
 here that a goodly list of desperadoes and ruffians of 
 the worst description have been made to feel the arm of 
 the law. It was a poor little wooden building, and most 
 unpretentious in appearance, but the walls were very 
 thick. I had been asked by one of the police, whom I 
 met on my travels, to visit the gaol when I came to 
 Nelson. I met him by accident in pursuit of his duty 
 (he was tracking a man who had committed a murder), 
 and as he did not tell me his name, I made no inquiries. 
 He showed me the cells, which I think were only six 
 in number, besides the condemned cell. He pointed out 
 to me the frantic efforts which had been made to bore 
 through the floor, or work out a bar from the grill by 
 various prisoners. It seemed that many of them who 
 found their way to the gaol at Nelson had never realized 
 what a prison meant, or chains and leg-irons either, and 
 their fury at being mastered was like that of wild beasts. 
 
 Every day they were allowed out in the court-yard for 
 an hour. This yard is fenced by close wooden walls 
 to the height of thirty feet, and my guide told me 
 that emerging from the cells into the fresh air and 
 finding themselves under the free sky, brought on the 
 frenzy worse than ever ; and they rush howling against 
 the wooden walls, making desperate efforts to jump or 
 climb it. 
 
 The day before I arrived in Nelson the condemned 
 cell had been emptied of a murderer, against whom 
 there had been a very strong feeling. He was guilty of 
 a peculiarly cold-blooded crime, though he was only a 
 young man of about twenty-four, whom the constable 
 described to me as a hardened criminal, who came out 
 to be hanged on the gallows erected in the court-yard 
 with a grin on his face; and that the last thing he 
 
NELSON. 315 
 
 did was to look round at the bystanders and laugh. 
 I afterwards heard that, though an American, he was 
 a Buddhist, and believed that after he was hanged 
 he would start afresh on another earthly career. The 
 gallows had been pulled down and put away in a shed, 
 and a little heap of rough sand and stones in the 
 lowest part of the court-yard marked the place where 
 the murderer's body lay buried in quicklime. On the 
 ground were strands of a new rope, which the constable 
 told me had been cut up by the spectators to be taken 
 away as souvenirs. 
 
 In the shed with the gallows there was an odd 
 collection of "properties" stowed away. Some were 
 the unclaimed effects of people who died without leaving 
 any address of friends. They were found in miners' 
 shacks, or empty houses, whose occupants had been 
 taken to a hospital some way off. I saw a woman's 
 sewing machine, and thought of the home life which 
 must once have centred round it. There were miners' 
 tools, picks, pans, shovels, guns, cooking utensils, 
 bedding ; some old trunks, corded and sealed, with the 
 dead owner's name, or some particulars connected with 
 the finding of it, written on a label and pasted outside. 
 Near the door was a suit of clothes, which was 
 " evidence." The murderer, who had just been hanged, 
 had worn this suit when he committed the murder. I 
 was struck with the good condition of the clothes — good 
 boots, a neat (almost new) tweed suit, and a good hat — 
 I felt sure he could not have been in want. 
 
 " Want, no ! " exclaimed the constable. " He was 
 just a desperado, and very likely this was not the first 
 man he murdered. I never came across so hardened a 
 criminal." He pulled something out of a sieve as he 
 spoke, shook it, and folded it carefully. " I didn't know 
 this was here," he remarked. " It's the black mask." 
 
 " Surely," I said, " you'll take these things out and 
 burn them ? " 
 
 He put the mask away, and looked at the clothes. 
 "I'm not sure," he said; "some of them, perhaps. 
 
316 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 But they are good clothes, and plenty of men would be 
 glad to wear them." 
 
 " Glad to wear them ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. " Oh, you've no idea — but men 
 come here sometimes with hardly a rag on them at all — 
 especially in winter-time. To give you an idea what 
 they'll wear — and be glad to wear — you see these irons" 
 (and he showed me a pair of tremendously heavy leg- 
 irons). " Well, you see, a man can't pull his trousers on 
 over them, so we have these " (and he showed me a pair 
 of hideous things, which buttoned up the sides from the 
 ankle to the thigh). " A man has these leg-irons riveted 
 on him, and he can button and unbutton these trousers, 
 but the others he could neither get on nor off. Well, 
 men have come here so destitute that, when they left, 
 they've been glad to have these to take away and wear 
 in the streets. No ! They don't care ! " 
 
 I stopped for a moment looking round, and then I 
 asked, "What is it, this crime? What makes men 
 criminals in a rich and beautiful country ? " 
 
 "It's impossible to tell what it is," he said. "I've 
 often wondered at it myself. I believe, if most of their 
 histories were traced, they would begin in small ways 
 which are not found out. That encourages them, and 
 one day they get in for a big thing, and it makes them 
 desperate. They can't forget it, and they know all it 
 entails ; and they get reckless, and they get mad with 
 drink, and drink away all they have, and others rob 
 them. Whatever happens, we mean to maintain the 
 law in this country, and make it safe. Whoever breaks 
 the law shall suffer according to law." 
 
 After this we spoke of the superstition rife amongst 
 these people. I had been most struck with it amongst 
 mining experts, some of whom I found clinging as it 
 were to the skirts of a clairvoyante. Their superstition 
 was coupled with an utter disbelief in Christianity, and 
 resembled nothing I ever met with, except the witch 
 doctrines of the Kaffirs. 
 
 These were, I believe, the distinctive crimes of the 
 
NELSON. 317 
 
 country. The crimes of the women had nothing remark- 
 able about them, and owed their origin to the old 
 commonplace source of vanity. A vain woman is never 
 very far from crime. 
 
 The rigid enforcement of the health law, and closer 
 restriction against the sale of intoxicants to men who 
 are already drunk, are two points to which more attention 
 might be beneficially directed. 
 
 On leaving Nelson I went to Kaslo ; but on board the 
 boat with me was Colonel Baker, and he recommended 
 me to travel by way of Jennings to Fort Steele. There- 
 fore at Kaslo I determined to turn back and take the 
 boat for Bonner's ferry. Mr. Phipps Woolley was on 
 board, and I had an interesting conversation with him 
 respecting many things in the country, with which he 
 had long been familiar, such as the fishing industry. 
 
 On my way down the lake, I spent one night with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lendrum at Ainsworth, which is a centre 
 of silver mines shipping to Pilot Bay and the States. 
 This spot is exactly opposite the old Bluebell mine, 
 which was one of the first (silver) mines opened in 
 British Columbia. I was particularly interested at 
 Ainsworth in two hot mineral springs, which ran down 
 the mountain. They were evidently highly charged with 
 mineral matter, of which iron and silica formed a share. 
 The water was so hot that I could hardly bear my hand 
 in one of the springs. I was distressed that the Govern- 
 ment took no steps to build a suitable hospital, but I 
 heard that these springs were owned by Victoria people 
 who were in the Government, and were playing a waiting 
 game, hoping, no doubt, to reap the unearned increment. 
 
 From this point I went on to Bonner's ferry by 
 steamer, and to Jennings by train, where, to my in- 
 expressible chagrin, I found the last boat had stuck on 
 her way up, and was not expected back for a day or two. 
 
 There was nothing for it but to put up in the wretched 
 inn, and endure the predicament as well as I could. 
 
 Jennings is situated in a narrow valley, full of depres- 
 sion and gloom. The sun only shines into it for a 
 
318 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 limited time, and the great precipices cast their shadows 
 from side to side. The broad river, with its mighty 
 flood, goes past silently and stealthily. There are by 
 its banks some nameless graves, to which the people 
 have consigned tattered human remains which have 
 sometimes risen to the surface at this point, and been 
 hooked ashore. Whence they came, or how they met 
 their death, whether they were British, American, or 
 Canadian, is not known. The rocks are sharp, and the 
 bodies are often stripped of every particle of clothing 
 except their boots ; and more than that,, some are so 
 gashed and ragged as to be little else than skeletons, 
 shredded with scraps of sinew. 
 
 More failures! "And the gentlemen's sons are 
 always the worst ! " Some were bound to be British. 
 Perhaps they were good men done to death unfairly; 
 perhaps they deserved their fate. But I could not but 
 tread gently, thinking of them as once they may have 
 been in the brightness and happiness of childhood, and 
 the eagerness of youth. I thought of all their parents 
 felt and hoped ; and whatever their sins, however black 
 their lives, however injurious to the new country or 
 disgraceful to the old, I could not condemn without pity 
 those who had paid the forfeit with their lives, and lost 
 for ever their chance in this world. 
 
 " When you and I behind the veil are past, 
 Oh, but the long, long while the world shall last, 
 
 Which of our coming and departure heeds, 
 As the seven Seas should heed a pebble-cast. 
 
 "A moment's halt — a momentary taste 
 Of being from the well amid the waste ; 
 
 And lo ! the phantom of caravan has reach'd 
 The nething it set out from ! Oh, make haste. 
 
 " threats of hell and hopes of Paradise ! 
 One thing at least is certain ! — this life flies. 
 One thing is certain, and the rest is lies, 
 The flower that once has blown for ever dies." 
 
CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 FORT STEELE BY THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 
 
 My stay at Jennings was cheered by the kindness of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Alexander ; and I spent most of my time 
 boating with them, and spent my evenings in their log 
 cabin near the river. 
 
 The fishing is greatly exaggerated, as, indeed, I found 
 it almost everywhere. Four small trout in an hour 
 were my best basket. But I heard it was very good ; 
 and finding the river intolerable, I went to a small 
 creek, taking my canteen with me and some slices of 
 ham. I camped there, breakfasted, and fished dili- 
 gently without getting a rise. At last I saw a trout 
 jump near the mouth of the creek. It was too far for 
 me to cast, so I pulled off my shoes, stockings, and 
 skirt, and waded. I caught my fish; but I cannot 
 recommend any one to copy my example. The cold of 
 the water was intense. The stream was very strong, 
 and the stones frightfully hard. I had some way to 
 walk to reach my shoes, and approached them in an 
 attitude of adoration — typical, I thought, of the mental 
 condition in which I rejoined the C.P.E. whenever ill- 
 luck separated me from it for any time. 
 
 My camp fire was still burning, and there was some 
 hot tea in the pot ; and having cooked my fish and eaten 
 it, and comforted and warmed myself, I returned to be 
 consoled by the Alexanders, who could not think what 
 had become of me. By way of variety, I asked them 
 $o dine at my camp, and cooked them a fowl spatch- 
 
320 , BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 cocked, African fashion, as Count Plata had taught me ; 
 and they called me " a first-rate cook." 
 
 One day we went on an expedition up the river in the 
 dug-out which Mr. Alexander had made for himself. 
 He understood poling very well, and had poled many 
 tons of hay into Fort Steele in this dug-out. We spent 
 the day at his ranch, and returned in the evening, 
 skimming down the rapids in the twilight. Beautiful 
 lights and shadows fell across the hills and forest ; an 
 eagle sailed overhead ; a flight of duck skimmed across 
 the surface ; an owl, sitting on a broken pine tree, 
 inquired, "Who cooks?" And very soon we were at 
 the landing-stage of Jennings once more. 
 
 At last, it was finally decided that no more steamers 
 would go from Jennings to Fort Steele that year, 
 so I determined to retrace my steps, and get in by 
 Golden and the Columbia river. There was a stage from 
 Kalispelle; but I was too travel- worn to feel equal to 
 three days' staging. I could also have ridden in over 
 the trail from Bonner's ferry; but the season was 
 advanced, the nights were cold, and it was "Uncle Sam's" 
 territory ; and though I have taken risks in my time, 
 I did not care to run the risk of being robbed or 
 murdered — or both — to gratify the greed of a cowardly 
 desperado, who, if he were arrested, would buy himself 
 off with the price of my watch or contents of my purse. 
 In a word, I knew that a woman travelling alone would 
 find the difference between the stars and stripes and 
 the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew with the blue 
 saltire of Ireland. 
 
 At Bonner's ferry, where I had to spend the night 
 waiting for the steamer, I found the inn as bad as that 
 at Jennings. My bedroom was even smaller, the window 
 more obstinate, and the bed so unpromising, that without 
 further research I unrolled my Wolseley valise and 
 shook out my African kaross. Then I went out and 
 bought myself a steak, and betook myself to the river 
 with my rod. I kindled a good fire, broiled the steak 
 over the ashes, and was sitting on my cloak watching 
 
FORT STEELE BY THE COLUMBIA BIVEB. 321 
 
 the blue reek of my fire, and enjoying the very last of a 
 deep drink of tea, when a young rancher came ashore in 
 his boat. He seemed surprised to see me, and stopped 
 to chat. There was to be a dance in Bonner's ferry, 
 given by the lady-teachers of the neighbourhood ; and 
 all the young ranchers from far and near were coming 
 in to attend the festivity. The prospectors despise such 
 frivolity. They care for nothing but the hills ; and 
 when they come down they like to smoke their pipes 
 and talk, as long as they are sober enough to speak, of 
 what they did on the hills. 
 
 I fitted my rod together ; and then I saw the dusky 
 face of an Indian watching me out of the willows on the 
 bank. I began to cast my line from an old hulk moored 
 to the bank side. The scenery was full of colour — colour 
 so rich that I marvelled how it could be painted. The 
 colour was liquid and transparent, like very delicate old 
 painted glass when the sun shines through it, and carries 
 the colour with it, and spreads it as it choses, painting 
 what it likes. The mountains were blue and bright 
 crimson ; the alder and poplar trees emerald green; 
 sparkling as their leaves quivered in the evening 
 breeze ; the water still and deep, save where in mid- 
 stream a slight eddy played round a hidden obstacle, or 
 a sharp ripple marked a corner in the river bed. The 
 reflections were perfect, repeating the purple of the clouds, 
 the white blaze of the sunset, the ultramarine of the sky 
 above, and the flushing of the lower ranks of clouds. 
 
 Turning my head to see if the blue smoke still rose 
 from my fire, I saw the brown prow of a bark canoe 
 shoot round the corner. In the canoe was a little old 
 Indian, sitting on his heels and using his paddle ear- 
 nestly, though noiselessly. 
 
 "Klahowyah Tillicum ! " * I cried. 
 
 He turned a bright, sharp little face like a bird, and 
 replied in his soft Indian voice, " Klahowyah Tillicum ! " 
 Then he added gently, in perfect English, " I'm going 
 home," 
 
 * "Good day, friend 1" 
 
322 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 " Where's home, Tillicum ? " I inquired. 
 
 " Over there," he replied, still paddling, hut nodding 
 his head to the opposite bank. 
 
 " I wish I were going with you, Tillicum ! " I answered. 
 And that moment I struck a fish, and a low chuckle of 
 infinite relish was the last I heard of my Tillicum. 
 
 Shortly afterwards there came down the captain of the 
 hulk ; and he seemed so struck with my capacity for 
 " rustling," that he offered me the hulk to sleep in if I 
 had any blankets. 
 
 After this the Indian came out of the willows. He 
 had a queer old shot gun under his striped blanket. He 
 came to hide in the hulk and shoot duck, which began 
 to fly as the sun went down. His thoughts were, no 
 doubt, deep, but he said nothing. 
 
 I went on casting my line, but without remarkable 
 success. The fish were called squaw fish, and were 
 very game when once hooked. They would not take a 
 fly, but rose to a roach hook with a piece of meat. The 
 largest was about a pound and a half, and I caught him 
 with a baby-spinner, which I shot out on my fly rod. 
 
 Suddenly a voice called, " Good evening," and turning 
 round I saw an elderly la'dy standing on the bank. 
 
 My fishing was ended, for she came straight down 
 into the hulk, saying — 
 
 " I guess you're English, and I'm a Southerner — an 
 unregenerate rebel." 
 
 Her object in coming down was to invite me forthwith 
 to her house to stay the night, "loaf around," and 
 make myself at home. 
 
 I put away my rod and followed Mrs. Maclure, and 
 spent the rest of the evening listening to tales of the 
 Southern wars, reminiscences of Thackeray's visit to 
 Virginia, of young Britishers who fought as volunteers, 
 and of the slaves "whom my father owned by the 
 hundred." 
 
 "Yes, it was the Dutch, to begin with — the Dutch of 
 Pennsylvania — who sold us the slaves. They brought 
 them over from their African possessions, and found 
 
FORT STEELE BY THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 323 
 
 them too expensive to keep in the cold weather in 
 Pennsylvania, so they sold them to us down in Virginia. 
 Oh yes, I know it's the proper thing. to pity a slave — 
 mind you, I'm not saying that slavery's right. But the 
 slaves I pity are the poor whites who have to work in 
 those factories. That's slavery, if you please. My 
 father's slaves were the happiest people in the world. 
 You should just have heard them with their violins, 
 singing half the night ; and they composed their songs 
 as they went. 
 
 " ' I'm a nigger ! I'm a nigger ! 
 And I don't care a damn. 
 I'm a sight deal better, any day, 
 Than a poor white man.' " 
 
 Eeminiscence crowded hard and fast, and when I left 
 it was with the determination to come back the next 
 day. I spent the night in my valise, and breakfasted 
 the next morning on boiled eggs, making my own tea. 
 
 I lunched with my friend of the previous evening, 
 and the meal was enlivened by an analysis of the 
 American girl, the Kentucky girl, the Kansas girl, the 
 Virginian, and the Pennsylvanian — though upon this 
 last some delicacy was evidently felt, for the subject 
 was dismissed with a sentence which I decided to make 
 my own. " We must be careful not to tread upon Dutch 
 toes." 
 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon I went on board the 
 Ainsworth, and . was soon gliding swiftly between the 
 green wooded banks of the meandering Kootenay. 
 
 My fellow-passengers were miners, prospectors, and 
 a few Chinamen, and one American woman, who had 
 recently divorced her husband because she found that 
 he did " not suit " her. 
 
 As we passed along an Indian occasionally shot out 
 from the banks in his canoe, his bright-coloured blanket, 
 or red and green sleeveless smock, with a girdle round 
 the waist, forming an appropriate feature in the scene. 
 His dusky, wild-looking offspring climbed the trees, and 
 
324 BBIT1SE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 fished from the branches, or played by the banks. There 
 was an uncared-for, weird air about the children, making 
 more akin to nature than humanity. They seemed 
 hardly human, and yet were neither animal nor banshee. 
 The tepee, with its crossed sticks and the smoke curling 
 slowly from the top, was just as suitable a feature to the 
 landscape as the Indian himself. 
 
 Every kind of scenery has some corresponding ex- 
 pression in the human mind, and instinctively recalls 
 to one the words or emotions or figures expressed by 
 a master mind, to whom perhaps vaguely the same 
 kind of scenery originally gave the inspiration. There 
 are thundering cascades and mountain peaks over 
 which storms pass and the sun breaks out, and forests 
 standing motionless with the sparkle of rain-drops on 
 fir-needles — a visible expression of Chopin's music. And 
 the same is true of human beings. There are people 
 whose tone of mind (they are rare enough, God knows) 
 recalls Fra Angelico's paintings. My travels through 
 the Kootenays set me thinking of Eudyard Kipling. The 
 small street, with its miners and prospectors passing to 
 and fro with their packs upon their backs. Chinamen — 
 wooden, stolid, secretive, persevering, incomprehensible. 
 Indians, with their lithe, graceful figures, and purpose- 
 less, aimless lives. Through it all there breathed an 
 intense human interest : it might be brutal, rather than 
 spiritual, and yet it had such touches of grace as I 
 could not doubt would redeem it and give its people a 
 place in Kingdom come. 
 
 The steamer passed close to the reclaimed lands of 
 the Alberla and British Columbia Exploration Company, 
 which are situated at the extreme south of Kootenay 
 lake. I regretted not being able to see something of 
 these lands, but we passed both coming and going in 
 the dark. The idea of draining, by a system of pumping, 
 this very fertile land in the vicinity of the mining 
 markets, is a good one ; but I am unable to express any 
 opinion as to the soundness of the scheme. The land 
 is offered at a very reasonable figure, and perhaps 
 
FORT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA RIVER, 325 
 
 young men might feel disposed to venture on a small 
 holding; but until the engineering works have stood 
 the test of some floods, it would be impossible to feel 
 certain of their reliability. 
 
 I went ashore at Ainsworth, and spent the afternoon 
 with Mrs. Lendrum, going on in the evening to Kaslo. 
 I slept on board, and took the train early the following 
 morning for New Denver, via Sandon. 
 
 The Kaslo and Sandon railway passes up a narrow 
 gorge, through which a rapid trout stream has forced 
 its way. It rained, and there was fresh fallen snow 
 upon the peaks. I could not but deplore the wreckage of 
 cedar trees all along the line — burnt and ruined — leaving 
 the stream bare and exposed. As long as it was shaded 
 it afforded the best ground for spawning trout. Now 
 it was useless for that purpose ; and as we ascended it 
 became muddy and turbid with the washings from the 
 mines. 
 
 These streams, which are such a common feature in 
 Canada, are very companionable. They are the em- 
 bodiment of mirth and jollity, and superabundant high 
 spirits. As they came tumbling down in their hurry 
 to reach the great waters, they seemed to me like 
 British boys at football. I loved to see them bursting 
 out of the pine forest and hurling themselves into the 
 light of day. They came to deliver a golden message 
 from the heart of the hills, and seemed to laugh at the 
 prospector toiling, toiling, while they had found the 
 gold and blazed their trail long ago. 
 
 At Sandon, where we stopped two hours, I went to 
 deliver my letter to Mr. J. M. Harris. All the shops 
 and offices were open, and the mules coming down from 
 the mines with ore as usual, although it was Sunday. 
 
 Mr. Harris was in his office with several other gentle- 
 men, and forthwith we plunged into the silver question. 
 The " slump " in the value of silver had caused a panic, 
 and Sandon was paralyzed. Only the richest mines 
 were working. The fall had been a heavy one, and 
 the fear was that it might continue indefinitely. The 
 
326 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOE SETTLERS. 
 
 price at which the low grade mines had closed was fifty 
 cents the ounce ; but I had heard Mr. Scott Macdonald 
 declare that the best mines in Sandon and Slocan 
 were so rich, and the methods of production had been 
 so cheapened, that the mines would pay until silver 
 dropped to twenty-five cents the ounce. It is only 
 natural that the owners of silver mines should complain 
 at prices which dropped from 84 to 50 cents. 
 
 The questions surrounding silver are altogether 
 different to those relating to gold. It seems that up 
 to the present time the full commercial use of silver 
 has not been discovered. Unlike copper, abestos, and 
 nickel, it has no large industries which demand it 
 imperatively. It is highly ornamental, and, in common 
 with ostrich feathers and the like products, will be 
 dependent to a great extent on the whim of fashion. It 
 remains to be seen to what extent art can increase its 
 decorative usefulness. 
 
 Beyond doubt it is highly important to ascertain the 
 lowest figure at which a mine can produce silver at 
 a paying rate. The cost of production of this metal 
 is probably lower than any other. There is generally 
 a by-product mixed with it, such as copper or lead, 
 which is sufficient to pay the costs, the silver making 
 a clear profit. 
 
 In the Eeco mine (near Sandon) the costs have been 
 reduced to as low a figure as five cents an ounce, from 
 which it will be seen that the mine, which is one of 
 the best, will pay handsomely at even a lower figure 
 than that fixed by Mr. Scott Macdonald. That the 
 returns from the silver mines are considerable, may be 
 gathered from the Eeco (a comparativly small mine) 
 paying $50,000 a month in dividends. The Payne mine 
 was shipping on the reduced price about 500 tons of ore 
 weekly, valued at about $150 the ton. There are to be 
 large shipments from Slocan during the present winter 
 of very high grade ore. 
 
 I believe that the rush to the Klondyke had caused 
 considerable chagrin among mine-owners in this district, 
 
FOBT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA RIVEB. 327 
 
 and increased the bitter feeling on the currency question. 
 I failed to see how the free coinage of silver could add 
 to the marketable value of the metal. Certainly it 
 would do so up to a point, but when the enormous 
 output is considered, which would immediately take 
 place from mines of a lower grade, I could not see 
 that free coinage solved the problem of values. 
 
 It is impossible to use 25 cent or 50 cent notes, and 
 as the prices of goods become lower in Canada more 
 silver will be necessary ; in fact, an increased population 
 would absorb more small cash. 
 
 So far as increasing the cash currency of the country 
 is concerned, it would seem that a larger coinage in 
 silver would be beneficial. And if a mint were started 
 in Canada it is incredible that it would not pay, espe- 
 cially if the dollar notes were recalled. It seems 
 anomalous that Canada, which is a first-class silver 
 producing country, should use a paper currency. But 
 when the subject of the free coining of silver is brought 
 in there appear to be involved enormously difficult 
 problems such as are not suitable for popular agitation. 
 I found the gentlemen at Sandon keenly excited upon 
 the subject of bi-metallism. They were ardent silverites, 
 and were thoroughly at home in this most intricate 
 question. 
 
 Without laying claim to special knowledge, it would, 
 I fear, be found that British capital would hesitate to 
 embark in Canada if bi-metallism were introduced. 
 Perhaps it might be possible to get over this difficulty 
 by drawing capital from the States ; but it is notorious 
 that there has been of late less disposal on the part of 
 the British public to take up American securities, and 
 this hesitation seems coincident with the unsettled 
 condition of the coinage. Thus the withdrawal of 
 capital for Canada from the States might not be pos- 
 sible except at ruinous interest. Of course, if the States 
 established a silver standard, and Canada followed, a 
 link would be forged between the States and Canada. 
 But at the present time all Canadian diplomacy and 
 
328 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 finance has been drawing towards Great Britain — and 
 that, if I am not much mistaken, means a gold standard. 
 But in the opinion of the silver kings of Slocan and 
 Sandon, dollar notes, though detestable as compared to 
 silver, were preferable to gold. 
 
 Perhaps the strongest point which the silverites have 
 on their side is that the gold standard offers advantages 
 to bankers and large capitalists which have nothing to 
 do with legitimate trade values. If this be true or not 
 I cannot say, but whether any legislature in the world 
 would be strong enough to approach the subject adversely 
 to substantial banking interests is a point of consider- 
 able doubtfulness. The only way in which the demand 
 for silver could be legitimately increased would be by 
 an increased wage-earning class. The tendency seems 
 setting that way. I found in some places that barter 
 was still resorted to, where I am sure in a year or two 
 such a thing will be impossible. 
 
 I went on in the afternoon to New Denver, a lovely 
 spot on Slocan Lake. 
 
 The following morning I went on board the C.P.E. 
 steamer, and went round the lake, stopping for two 
 hours at Slocan City. Throughout this district there 
 are narrow fertile valleys, but most of the land is held 
 very strongly by private individuals and land companies ; 
 so that no produce to speak of is grown in the neighbour- 
 hood. I found plums selling well which came through 
 the Shippers' Union from Kelowna. A good deal of hay 
 also came in this way. 
 
 I noticed that a good many miners who had camped 
 on the shore of the lake were preparing to strike their 
 camp. They were washing their clothes, and had good 
 fires, with old tins full of water, into which they threw 
 their shirts and boiled them. The nights were getting 
 cold, and they found their tents no longer attractive. 
 
 At Boseberry I left the steamer, and proceeded by rail 
 to Nakusp. The C.P.B. had recently announced their 
 intention of locating a townsite at Boseberry, which 
 should be a port whence steamers and barges should 
 
EORT STEELE BY THE COLUMBIA BIVEB. 329 
 
 carry produce down the lake to New Denver and Sloean 
 City. 
 
 At Nakusp there is a good deal of shipbuilding done 
 by the C.P.R., and a very fine boat was in course of 
 construction. The scenery on these lakes is so lovely 
 that American tourists are travelling in increasing 
 numbers every year. It is a pity that the hotels at 
 Nakusp are so poor. It is difficult to assign any cause 
 for the unpalatable and unnourishing nature of the food. 
 The beef is hard and coarse, the vegetables badly cooked 
 and stale, the milk tinned ; so that very often after my 
 dinner I strolled out feeling like one of those unfortunate 
 cats whom it is some people's policy to feed insufficiently 
 in order that they may catch mice. As I walked down 
 to look at the shipbuilding at Nakusp I felt that I should 
 have been very glad to catch something for my supper. 
 
 The following morning early I went on board the 
 C.P.R.'s boat for Arrow Head, and enjoyed an excellent 
 breakfast. At Arrow Head, while we were waiting for 
 the train, a number of cattle from the North-West were 
 taken on board our boat. They were fine animals, and 
 were going to be distributed between Sloean, New Denver, 
 and Sandon. I did not think them in first-class con- 
 dition; certainly they were not fat, but, considering 
 their long journey, they had travelled very well and 
 without mishap. 
 
 After spending another night at Eevelstoke I went 
 on to Glacier. The weather had become excessively 
 cold, as is very often the case about the 1st of September. 
 I spent two days at Glacier, thoroughly enjoying the 
 comfort of the hotel and the charm of the wonderful 
 scenery. The peaks were whiter than usual with fresh- 
 fallen snow, and the great glacier seemed to come closer 
 than ever. 
 
 The trains stop here at very convenient hours, the 
 eastward bound in the afternoon and the westward at 
 about twelve o'clock. In nearly every train I knew 
 somebody, and on one occasion I met a friend whom 
 I had last seen in Johannesburg. 
 
330 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 I was more than ever impressed with the vast differ- 
 ence of British Columbia viewed from the C.P.B. and 
 the country as I had seen it in my rambles off the 
 track. 
 
 There was something inexpressibly comic in meeting 
 the tide of tourists in their travelling garb, with their 
 sticks and kodaks, botanizing tins and butterfly nets. 
 An old " trail-blazer," who stopped off to lunch with me 
 at Glacier, was greatly incensed at the presumption of 
 the women trippers, who started mountaineering in blue- 
 bottle veils, and with little satchels. I had some 
 difficulty in making him control his desire to enlighten 
 them as to his opinions upon their performances. I 
 saw some of them looking at him with astonishment 
 not unmixed with terror ; and I felt that they failed to 
 realize that the man in a badly washed canvas shirt, 
 hob-nailed boots, and a cowboy's hat, was a gentleman. 
 1 On one occasion I had boarded the G.P.E. just as I 
 had come down from the wilds, but my heavy baggage 
 lay waiting for me on the platform. It had attracted 
 the attention of some Americans, who had been reading 
 its labels, etc., and when the train moved off the con- 
 ductor of the sleeping-car, who knew me, came to tell 
 me their remarks. " Who is she ? " they asked. " Who 
 is she? She's got all that luggage, and she's dressed — 
 she's dressed as if she hadn't got a thing ! " 
 
 On the 10th of September I left Glacier for Golden 
 en route for Fort Steele. The Columbia river runs 
 northwards between the Selkirks and Eockies, and at 
 Golden a steamer starts for Windermere. This steamer 
 was waiting, and I drove down to the wharf at once. It 
 was the Duchess, who was making her last voyage for 
 the season, the water having become too low for a vessel 
 of her draught ; as it was, we stuck continually on sand- 
 bars, and had to be hauled by a cable wound round a 
 tree on the bank, worked by a windlass on the ship's 
 bows. 
 
 My fellow-passengers were the usual assortment of 
 miners and prospectors, and we stopped at points to 
 
FORT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA BIVER. 331 
 
 put them down -with their cayuses and "grub," or to 
 pick them up, or leave provisions. At one place an old 
 newspaper hung on a stick caused us to run in, and 
 we found, by a deserted camping-ground, a box con- 
 taining some letters, with money for their postage. I 
 happened to catch sight of one of the letters, and saw 
 the envelope bore a well-known crest. Evidently some 
 " tenderfoot " had brought his note-paper with him — by 
 no means a bad idea, for I have been glad to write on 
 an old telegraph form or any scrap of paper. 
 
 Two men on board were old South Africans, so that 
 we had plenty to talk about; and one of them, Mr. Keyser, 
 turned out to be the brother of a lady whom I knew in 
 the old country. 
 
 The section of the river up which we were steaming 
 ran between the Selkirks and Eockies. The river was 
 about sixty yards across, and ran so smoothly that the 
 sylvan banks and the great peaks behind them, standing 
 back beyond wide marshy lands, were all reflected 
 perfectly in the water. The early frosts had turned the 
 maples to the rich blood-red of the poinsettia, while the 
 silver birch shook its small foliage like so many golden 
 sovereigns. Here and there a mountain spruce rose 
 slim and stately with a crown of red-brown cones like 
 very large cigars, and a poplar, — green as an emerald, — 
 from a scrub of cranberries and straggling knucki-knuck, 
 whose bark the Indians scrape and dry for tobacco. 
 
 There can be no question that these mountains are 
 highly mineralized, but as merely scenic the effects of 
 the strange colours of their peaks give them a value of 
 their own. There was no colour, from brilliant crimson 
 to violet, from Vandyke brown to cadmium, that these 
 peaks did not show it, nor any tone, from the most 
 delicate pearl grey to the richest purple. Then we 
 came to cliffs like marble, with strange hieroglyphics 
 worked upon them. They represented walls, and the 
 writing appeared exactly like ancient histories of the 
 Hittites or Egyptians. Elsewhere they were piled up 
 in castles with bastions. There were broken archways 
 
a 32 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 like the naves of ruined abbeys, and crumbling turrets 
 set upon old walls. It was incredible that this should 
 be only the handiwork of nature, and the clay only an 
 annual deposit of an ancient river baked by the sun of 
 forgotten centuries. 
 
 At first I thought these deposits were similar to those 
 on the islands at the mouth of Nanaimo harbour, but on 
 consideration I came to the conclusion that the islands 
 were soapstone or meerschaum, and these cliffs a delicate 
 highly plastic white clay. It might be that they were 
 gypsum ; but there are beautiful clays in this country, 
 and it would seem as though some day ceramic works 
 directed by the intelligence and skill of the Japanese 
 might produce a very beautiful pottery. When I was 
 at Cranbrook I brought away a sample of some of the 
 clay which the Indians prize very highly, and which 
 they come a long distance to fetch upon their ponies. 
 
 Above Windermere our struggling steamer could not 
 proceed, so we landed to continue our route by stage. I 
 walked on ahead of the stage, and came down to a garden 
 in the valley, where a Chinaman was at work irrigating 
 onions, lettuces, etc., by diverting a stream. Wandering 
 by the side of the stream, I found an abundance of wild 
 strawberries of most delicious flavour. In this country 
 the strawberries produce a second time in September, 
 and the fruit is very rich and sweet. This is a fortunate 
 feature, for few crops are so profitable as the strawberry. 
 There is always a shortage in the market of strawberry 
 jam, and no means has ever been devised to prevent this. 
 For even if sufficient fruit could be grown the season 
 that it lasts is so short that the factories cannot put up 
 an adequate annual supply. 
 
 After staging some miles we came to a trolley drawn 
 by a horse, which took us down to a small ferry-boat, on 
 which we proceeded to Canal Flats, which we reached 
 after dark. 
 
 Canal Flats consists of a single inn, which is the 
 posting house for Fort Steele. The Kootenay Valley 
 Land Company obtained a grant of land from the 
 
FORT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA RIVER. 333 
 
 Government of British Columbia to the amount of 
 27,000 acres for building a canal to connect the 
 Columbia and Kootenay rivers. A more useful work 
 could hardly be imagined ; but the way it was carried 
 out rendered it speedily abortive. On my return 
 journey I went to see the ruins of this miserable little 
 canal. It was about twenty feet across, and could never 
 have been deep enough to allow the passage of a fair- 
 sized cargo boat. In fact, I was told that it only worked 
 for one short season ! Since 1889 the land of the grant 
 has been assessed, and from $4000 to $4500 paid in 
 taxes. The land has been held in the hope of securing 
 high prices as the country developed. But the company 
 has acted perfectly within its rights. No clause was 
 inserted by the Government as to the reversion of the 
 land in case of the canal being faultily constructed or 
 otherwise useless. The only result of the canal at the 
 present time is to render the navigation of the Columbia 
 river more difficult than before by turning the water 
 into the Kootenay. 
 
 The following morning at eight o'clock I started by 
 stage for Fort Steele. The road was rough, the stage a 
 very shaky machine, and the driving execrable. About 
 noon we reached Hansen's, an inn kept by an enterprising 
 Dane, who had planted a good garden, where I saw 
 nourishing apple and plum trees. He had some sheep 
 in a pen, which he killed off one at a time for his guests. 
 They were a new importation, and regarded with 
 curiosity. 
 
 In this district I heard a great deal of the hardships 
 of the labourer, and great complaints as to low wages 
 and uncertainty in employment. It seemed to me that 
 these matters relate to features which are inseparable 
 from modern conditions. 
 
 The price of labour is regulated by the prices of 
 commodities, and the prices of commodities by markets. 
 Enough has been said already to show the arduous and 
 even hazardous nature of the business which regulates 
 and exploits markets. The public are becoming more 
 
334 BB1TISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEB8. 
 
 and more dependent upon markets. There is a decided 
 diminution of the public which lived upon the produce of 
 its own farms or estates ; and labour is becoming more 
 and more an independent factor, as distinct from or 
 opposed to capital. 
 
 In the old days farm-servants lived housed and fed 
 upon the land, more often than not in their masters' 
 houses. To a certain extent this was the case also with 
 rural trades. Local markets were then a feature in 
 every district, but now their place is taken by shops or 
 stores supplied from large centres. 
 
 In a word, the method of supply nowadays is one of 
 collection and distribution from large centres, which 
 doubtless affords employment to many individuals who 
 have nothing to do with production. But the markets 
 in these large centres are contingent upon so many 
 possibilities that they can never be stable. Hence the 
 uncertainty in the labour market, which renders it 
 practically impossible for two-thirds of the people to 
 look six weeks ahead with any certainty. It is impossible 
 for Unions to fix wages. It would be better for the 
 workmen to be more facile and prepared to adapt them- 
 selves so as to take advantage of any opportunity for 
 earning money which comes in their way. Upon 
 inquiry as to what the labourers did when wages were 
 high, I found that they drank heavily. Upon making 
 further inquiries, I found that, as a rule, the best paid 
 men were the greatest drunkards. I came to the 
 conclusion that quite twice as much destitution was 
 caused by drink as by low wages or difficulty in procuring 
 work, and that this is stating the case very modestly. 
 Wages are, on the whole, considerably higher than they 
 were, but the uncertainty is much greater. 
 
 On further inquiry, I found that the system of creating 
 small municipalities or corporated cities chiefly de- 
 pendent upon one man, or one mining company, is 
 frequently a very mischievous arrangement. These 
 corporations possessed not only rating powers, but the 
 power of appointing their own police. As they owned all 
 
FOBT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA BIVEB. 335 
 
 the land, they could, if they chose, prohibit any church 
 being built ; and they sometimes objected openly to the 
 interference of any minister of religion whatever as 
 directly contrary to their own interests. These interests 
 consisted in seeing to it that the miners who came down 
 from the mines with their pay should " blow it in," as 
 the phrase is, in the saloons, bars, and houses which 
 they (the owners of the township) ran for the purpose of 
 retrieving the wages. In order that outward appearances 
 should be kept as decent as possible, every precaution was 
 taken, such as locking up the drugged or drunken miners 
 until they were Bober, in backrooms kept for the purpose. 
 It is not too much to say that there is a population in 
 British Columbia which lives by encouraging the 
 prostitution and vice of the hard-working class ; and 
 what this means in loss to the country I gathered from 
 a story which, as it was told me twice, has doubtless 
 some foundation in fact. It was a railway contractor 
 who found his work behindhand solely on account of 
 the vicious enticements of the crowd who came to his 
 section point, and set up dancing-saloons and bars. 
 Twice he spoke to them when two of his men were killed, 
 and told them what he would do, but they defied him. 
 Then one day, when the wind was in the right direction, 
 he sent out and fired the forest. The flames swept down 
 upon the rising township, its bars and its saloons, and 
 in a few hours nothing was left but smouldering embers 
 — after which the work of laying the line proceeded in 
 due course. The working man will urge his right to get 
 drunk or be vicious at his own expense, and for the sake 
 of argument we will grant him the point ; but is there any 
 device under heaven by which the right of any class in 
 the community may be justified which enables them to 
 derive a profit by ensnaring and tempting human beings 
 to their ruin ? The law of the land is enforced against 
 robbery with violence, and if British Columbia acts in 
 accordance with her conduct in the past, she will take 
 measures to suppress the licensed villainy of the bars in 
 backwood towns and the worse conditions in small cities. 
 
336 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 In the early days of Cariboo, Sir Matthew Begbie was 
 commissioned to suppress lawlessness, and where no 
 precedent existed, to make one; in fact, to create the 
 law as he administered it. He was a striking example 
 of what a fearless, just, and far-sighted man can do in 
 a new country ; and the immunity from crime enjoyed 
 on the gold-fields of British Columbia, as compared with 
 the States, is largely due to the characteristic energy of 
 Sir Matthew Begbie. Many are the stories told of Sir 
 Matthew's determination to bring offenders to justice, 
 and the difficulty he sometimes experienced with a timid 
 jury. One was told me in Victoria, which I believe is 
 less well-known than others, and as I had it from good 
 authority I will repeat it. 
 
 Sir Matthew had at length succeeded in procuring the 
 arrest of a gang of ruffians, who had been sand-bagging. 
 He was particularly anxious for a conviction, and in 
 summing up he laid down the course, which the jury 
 were to take in a very direct manner. Nevertheless, the 
 jury were frightened, and returned a verdict of not guilty. 
 Sir Matthew then addressed the prisoners. He regretted 
 that, owing to the conduct of the jury, he was unable to 
 pronounce upon them the sentence which he had in his 
 mind; but he would request them that the next time 
 they reverted to their habits of cowardly violence, they 
 would sand-bag the present jury. Needless to say that 
 a judge of this temper cleared Cariboo of desperadoes, 
 and strengthened the cause of law and order. 
 
 At Port Steele I was gradually nearing the American 
 border once more. It was a small town which had 
 boomed when the Crow's Nest railway was decided upon, 
 the idea being that the C.P.B. would come into Fort 
 Steele. This was a delusion, for I believe the railway 
 never intended to go into Fort Steele. The place owed 
 its origin to a small fort, which was built for the accom- 
 modation of some of the mounted police, under an 
 officer called Steele. The exploitation of the North Star 
 silver mine, followed, situated above Fort Steele on the 
 Kootenay river. 
 
FORT STEELE BY TEE COLUMBIA RIVER. 337 
 
 Steamers were run during the summer months up the 
 Kootenay river, from Jennings in Montana, carrying 
 provisions and mining machinery. The cost of freight 
 may he judged by the fact that one of these steamers 
 paid for herself in a single trip. The ore from the 
 North Star was shipped as return cargo to the American 
 smelters. Below Fort Steele is the famous old gold- 
 field of Wild Horse creek, where the first gold rush took 
 place into British Columbia. Coarse gold is still dug 
 out there in paying quantities, and it is intended to put 
 in machinery for quartz milling when the railway comes 
 through the Crow's Nest. 
 
 There was a great deal of chagrin expressed in no 
 measured terms against the C.P.B. and Colonel Baker, 
 because the railway survey passed some twelve miles 
 from Fort Steele, and located its section point at 
 Cranbrook. It was openly stated that Colonel Baker 
 had used his official position to induce the railway to 
 take this course ; and there was some talk, supported by 
 a banquet, of bringing pressure to bear uponthe C.P.B. 
 through the interference of the Dominion Government. 
 It was represented that the railway was wilfully and 
 wantonly doing despite and damage to a highly pro- 
 mising township. 
 
 I did not wonder at the disappointment in Fort Steele. 
 It would have made a great difference to the town, and 
 to the mines in the immediate vicinity, had the railway 
 come straight into the township. At the same time, 
 apart from the steepness of the gradients, I saw that 
 the railway would have to consider the possible cutting 
 of rates by routes already established. 
 
 The Boman Catholics were beginning to build a small 
 wooden chapel, which would apparently accommodate 
 about two hundred persons ; and there were other signs 
 of confidence in Fort Steele; but I came to the conclusion 
 that the booming of Fort Steele was a little premature, 
 and the people who had bought lots were naturally upset. 
 In this idea I was confirmed by hearing that it was never 
 the intention of the C.P.B. to attempt the gradients into 
 
338 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLERS. 
 
 Fort Steele. The town already possessed the communi- 
 cation by water with the railway at Jennings, and a 
 stage-road from Golden on the C.P.E,, So far from 
 Colonel Baker having induced the railway to come to 
 Cranbrook, he had purposely bought his land in that 
 neighbourhood because he believed that the G.P.E. 
 would eventually pass somewhere in that neighbourhood. 
 What he did not foresee was that, when the railway came, 
 it would select the best part of his land, that under 
 plough and capable of irrigation, on which to locate its 
 section point. 
 
 The fact is, that nothing is more difficult than to tell 
 precisely where a railway will pass until every gradient 
 has been thoroughly surveyed, and the whole plan made 
 out. If the precedent were to be established that any 
 small township which cropped up anywhere was to 
 compel a railway to come into it, railway enterprise 
 would be impossible, and the commerce of the country 
 suffer severely, owing to expensive and circuitous com- 
 munication. The official position of any minister is a 
 thing of the hour, but the game which the C.P.E. is 
 playing is one which at every point is affected over a 
 course of about four thousand miles, and which will 
 certainly outlast the lives of the present generation. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CRANBROOK — CONCLUSION. 
 
 I left Fort Steele the same evening for Cranbrook, where 
 I arrived at about 9 p.m. It was dark, and as I ascended 
 the wooden steps I heard men's voices within, and the 
 barking of a dog. I found Mr. Hyde Baker entertaining 
 two gentlemen who were interested in the mines of the 
 district. After an excellent supper of cold partridge, I 
 retired to rest, and never needed it more than after the 
 long day's staging over the sand and rocks of East 
 Kootenay, between Canal Plats and Cranbrook. 
 
 The following morning Mr. White and his friend 
 started on their ponies to the hills, and Mr. Baker drove 
 into Port Steele on business, while I remained resting, 
 and getting rid of the dust of travel. 
 
 The harvest operations were in full swing, and a 
 glorious sight the wide valley presented, stretching as far 
 as the eye could reach, a mass of golden grain. 
 
 This ranch was worked on an expensive system; a 
 great deal of labour being used. There were no mills 
 in the neighbourhood, transport was very costly, the 
 population sparse, so that all this beautiful corn land 
 was devoted to oats and forage crops. The range had 
 suffered, in common with all the ranges in the district, 
 from the herds of wild cayuses, upon which the Indians 
 maintained some kind of very indefinite rights. These 
 creatures are absolutely worthless and most mischievous, 
 and sooner or later some steps must be taken in many 
 parts of British Columbia to reduce their numbers. It 
 
340 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 is said that in the States they have been shot, boiled 
 down, and exported to France. In the afternoon I 
 walked into the forest. 
 
 These Canadian backwoods exercise a great fasci- 
 nation over one's mind. Their solemnity and silence, 
 and their vastness, is full of physical repose, which 
 leaves the mind free to speculate and to dream. It 
 was when I was watching the still surface of a great 
 lake, down to whose very waters the pine trees grew, 
 that I listened to a woman from the States summing up 
 the Canadian character in converse with one of her own 
 countrymen, and as the conversation proceeded like the 
 course of a hare, round and round one point, I was able 
 to take notes. 
 
 " Them Ontarios is as green as pumpkins — as pump- 
 kins, cap'aen." 
 
 The captain gave a lively assent, shook his head, and 
 heaved a sigh. 
 
 "And more — they're pore. An' their poverty and 
 pride go ill together. That's so with them Ontarios. 
 I'm not denyin' but a gurl from the West is smarter ; 
 but smartness is not all — not all, cap'aen, nor liveliness, 
 neither. Now, I've an Ontario, and she's a good gurl, is 
 Mee-ary. But then, I've trained her, and I've fed her. 
 You bet — cap'aen, I have." 
 
 The captain lost no time in expressing his absolute 
 conviction on these points. 
 
 " Yes, I've fed her and trained her, and she's worth 
 four and a half, cap'aen. I've four other gurls, but I'd 
 sooner have Mee-ary than the other four, and she an 
 Ontario ! And I'm not saying she wasn't green and 
 pore, and starved — yes, cap'aen — when I had her." 
 
 The captain murmured that he had never found the 
 Ontarios anything else. 
 
 I have not the slightest doubt that there is some truth 
 in the observations of the shrewd but not unkindly 
 American. Life has been easy to the Canadian in this 
 country, whose wealth he hardly seems to realize. He 
 dreams and has aspirations and ideals, and unless his 
 
CBANBBOOK— CONCLUSION. 341 
 
 fighting spirit is aroused he is very gentle. Even the 
 poorest people have a courteous, gentle manner and 
 a well-bred air, which even their high estimate of the 
 .value of education, and their marked appreciation of 
 culture, does not account for. But they are a little 
 wanting in quickness. Nevertheless, I am convinced 
 that it is a mistake for the Yankee to underrate even the 
 greenest " Ontario," as others besides the good lady's 
 Mee-ary may prove to possess qualities which will bear 
 " training." 
 
 In the evening Mr. Baker returned with Mr. Laidlaw, 
 and the following day we drove to a distant part of the 
 ranch, and set up a te-pee. On the way we passed the 
 carcase of a dead cayuse which smelt most offensively, 
 and round it were innumerable birds of prey, chiefly 
 buzzards with red feathers about their beaks. They 
 had mined the inside of the animal, and the air and 
 sun had withered the skin till it was as hard and dry 
 as canvas. Mr. Baker assured me that eagles will 
 eat carrion, a habit which I thought was confined to 
 vultures. 
 
 After luncheon we started walking with the dogs. 
 Mr. Laidlaw carried a shot-gun, and Mr. Baker a rifle. 
 We went to see some curious white clay, very smooth 
 and fine, of which there appeared to be a good deal in a 
 swamp, which in winter-time was much frequented by 
 game. This old swamp was probably once a lake, but I 
 could not understand how the clay came there. It was 
 as nearly in the centre as possible, and the surrounding 
 heights appeared all rock and sand. We followed this 
 swamp till we reached some alkali pans, on which were 
 teal and duck. Mr. Baker started them up with his 
 rifle, and they went away over the place where Mr. Laid- 
 law was hiding, but out of shot. We came on the track 
 of a deer near the alkali pond. The water was very salt 
 and bitter, but it was white alkali. 
 
 I could not learn what it was that the Indians used 
 the clay for. Mr. Baker said, " to stop up the cracks in 
 their huts ; " but for an indolent people to come so far 
 
342 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 and to select that particular clay seemed to indicate 
 that they prized it for other purposes than stopping " a 
 hole to keep the wind away." 
 
 In the evening Mr. White and Mr. Bruce returned. 
 They had had a rough experience in the hills, for, after a 
 long climb to the log cabin where they were to spend 
 the night, they found it unprovisioned save for a small 
 bag of flour, and they were badly supplied with wraps. 
 
 They looked thoroughly worn out and tired, but they 
 brought back some beautiful specimens of peacock and 
 sulphides, and we spent a very interesting evening 
 discoursing upon rocks. 
 
 They were to leave early the next morning, and their 
 ponies were carefully shut up overnight. 
 
 Before seven o'clock I heard them climbing carefully 
 down from their room overhead, and then there was 
 dead silence. I got up at my usual time, and marvelled 
 somewhat at the silence with which they had managed 
 their departure ; when all of a sudden came a noise like 
 a charge of cavalry right underneath the window. 
 
 Looking out, I saw a herd of wild cayuses with the 
 gentlemen's ponies in their midst. They dashed 
 straight past into a corral, and all four gentlemen in 
 their coat sleeves came after them in hot pursuit. 
 
 I was soon outside, and learnt how as usual the wild 
 cayuses had come in the night, broken down the pen, 
 and taken the ponies away with them. Then began a 
 remarkable scene. Mr. Baker took a lassoo, and we 
 drove the herd past him at full gallop, and, as they 
 passed, he singled out the horse he wanted, and caught 
 it round the neck with the lassoo. 
 
 In due course we had breakfast, but the gentlemen 
 were in no hurry to start. Then came other people, 
 chiefly miners, in search of lost horses enticed away by 
 these vile cayuses. One young Eastern Canadian had 
 been searching for his pony on and off for weeks, and 
 this morning he rode up with it in triumph. But it had 
 become quite wild. He mounted it, however, and I saw 
 the creature buck fifteen or twenty times all round the 
 
CRANBROOK— CONCLUSION. 343 
 
 yard, and jump thirty feet, but without unseating him, 
 ■which fact I believe to be partly due to the Mexican 
 saddle, the girths of which are very strong, and the high 
 peak in front, a great safeguard with a buck-jumping 
 pony. 
 
 The following day I left Cranbrook for Fort Steele, 
 intending to take the stage back to Canal Flats ; but on 
 arriving at the posting-house, I found that the stage 
 would not run till .Sunday or possibly Monday morning. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Edwards kindly invited me to stay with 
 them, which I need not say was very preferable to 
 remaining at the inn. 
 
 In the evening I called to see Mr. Galbraith, who I 
 found to be well acquainted with the history of Fort 
 Steele. He spoke very highly of the agricultural 
 possibilities of the district, and I was especially inter- 
 ested in hearing the account he gave of apples and 
 plums. He did not seem able to speak positively 
 respecting the price of land in the neighbourhood. 
 Irrigation is undoubtedly desirable; in fact, for vege- 
 tables and most fruits, it is essential. 
 
 The price of all dairy produce is very high ; butter 
 could not be bought at fifty cents a pound. Condensed 
 milk was used from the time I left Golden till the time 
 I returned, except for two days which I spent at the inn 
 at Windermere. The price of hay is very high, and this 
 is likely to continue, as more and more forage will be 
 required for the mines. The fact, however, remains that 
 the land is strongly held by people who intend to ask a 
 very high price for it. I heard thirty dollars an acre 
 suggested as cheap. The C.P.E. has a large grant here, 
 and will doubtless sell as the railway comes through; 
 and land which can be irrigated twice in the fore part of 
 the season is worth buying at twenty dollars an acre. 
 Two things must be borne in mind — the eaten-out con- 
 dition of the ranches, and the necessity of securing 
 water rights. So far as markets are concerned, the 
 ;■ mining prospects were so good in this district, and 
 scattered over so large an area, that there can be little 
 
344 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 doubt of an exceptionally good local market. Besides 
 the North Star, the St. Eugene, and Dibble * mines, the 
 Mammoth and Wasa prospects had been opened, and 
 gave highly satisfactory results. The old diggings at 
 Wild Horse creek were being taken in hand with im- 
 proved machinery for working the quartz ledges, and 
 there is but little doubt that a good deal of mining will 
 be successfully prosecuted in the neighbourhood of 
 Moyie lake. 
 
 Mr. Laidlaw, who returned with me from Cranbrook, 
 showed me some beautiful specimens of ore and quartz, 
 silver, copper, gold, and lead ; and I brought away with 
 me specimens from the St. Eugene, North Star, Dibble, 
 and washings from the Moyie river and Wild Horse 
 creek. 
 
 On Sunday Mrs. Edwards drove with me to a farm 
 rented by a Suffolk man who had married an Eastern 
 Canadian. There was plenty of water for irrigation, 
 and he used plenty of manure. I never saw roots of 
 such size and weight. I measured a swede, and found 
 it to be over two feet in circumference as nearly as I 
 could judge ; but it was not full grown, and I did not like 
 to pull it up. The farmer told me that it was difficult 
 to find food for cattle in winter, and in summer-time the 
 sand-fiies persecuted the cows so that he was obliged to 
 shut them up. He believed in men working on farms or 
 renting a farm for a year or two to learn the ways of the 
 country, and to get accustomed to the climate. He said 
 that men became more economical in Canada than they 
 were at home, and that whereas at home a man went to 
 a shop for anything and everything, in Canada he did 
 all he could for himself, and so saved his money. 
 
 The diatribes against the C.P.E., which frequently 
 
 * As soon as the railway is through, the North Star will be the largest 
 -shipper among silver mines of Canada. At the St. Eugene there are 
 60,000 tons of ore, carrying 68 per cent, of leud and 50 ozs. of silver, ready 
 for shipment. Tlie Dibble is a group of mines, the ore in the lowest 
 shafts of which runs to $400 to the tun in gold and silver. Besides the 
 gold, silver, copper, and lead of this district, there is an immense oil-bed 
 on the Moyie river, besides gas-pits, representing untold wealth. 
 
CEANBR OK— CONCL USION. 345 
 
 help to fill a column or two in the local papers in 
 British Columbia, bear a family likeness one to the 
 other ; and therefore it is safe to surmise that they are 
 inspired from the same quarter. The scales in which 
 they are written are the sharps and flats of the shock- 
 ing monopoly, under which the country is represented as 
 " writhing," or sneers at the " C.P.B. ridden Govern- 
 ment at Ottawa." 
 
 As far as the Press of British Columbia goes, it 
 neither reflects the tone of public opinion, nor does 
 it lead. Too often it is in a very struggling and im- 
 pecunious condition, and is glad to grasp at any 
 financial support which may be given it. 
 
 The C.P.B. occupies the position of a commercial 
 undertaking, although it is bound by Government 
 subsidy. This fact affects it not otherwise than if it 
 were a steamship line conveying mails. But it has an 
 enormous competition to struggle against in the States. 
 It is in the position of encouraging an agricultural popu- 
 lation, for which the Government of British Columbia 
 has done practically nothing, and to push the supplies 
 of the mining markets from Canadian sources. 
 
 American influence recognizes in the C.P.B. the 
 strongest bulwark against certain Yankee enterprise — a 
 strength which cannot be shaken by partisan spirit, and 
 which it is impossible to influence politically.- They 
 think it would be easy to exploit the railway, and 
 manage the rates and the markets, were it only run by 
 the British Columbian Government, or if it occupied a 
 political platform in the Dominion. Hence the clamour 
 in small "rags " for " a policy of Federal interference," 
 and for " railways to be built by the British Columbian 
 Government in opposition to the C.P.B." 
 
 On Sunday evening Mr. Norberry came in to see us. 
 He gave me a very interesting account of his cattle 
 ranch. He breeds as few animals as possible, pre- 
 ferring to buy them at one or two years old. He dwelt 
 very much on the necessity for sheltering cattle, saying 
 that shelter was quite as important as forage ; in fact, he 
 
346 BBITISE COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 placed it first. He built sheds for his cattle on the 
 ranches. " Every hoof of mine can get under shelter," 
 he said, " and so they don't want so much food." His 
 shelters were 60 feet by 24 feet, logged and chinked, 
 with an open space in the centre, as a doorway, about 
 15 feet wide, and not higher than necessary. He said 
 that wild cattle cannot be fed out of mangers ; the best 
 way is to load a sleigh and run it along fast, throwing 
 out the hay by the way. I asked him about the best 
 breed of cattle, and he said, " I am sure polled beasts 
 would be better. I say they would do better without 
 horns ; but the butchers won't have them ; they give 
 $2 a head less for polled cattle. Herefords run out in 
 time, and want fresh blood ; they run to long horns 
 and long legs. What I want to get to is killing the 
 horn in a young calf." 
 
 Mr. Norberry did not believe that the C.P.E. could 
 jump about among the mountains of Kootenay like a 
 goat in a cabbage garden ; but he was very desirous of 
 seeing Fort Steele connected by a spur line ; and I 
 gathered elsewhere, that there was so much faith in 
 the money to be made by this enterprise, that the people 
 of Fort Steele were anxious to do it, and reap the 
 benefit themselves, rather than allow the C.P.E. to 
 obtain so valuable an asset. Judging, however, by my 
 private views of Fort Steele, I had doubts on the 
 subject. 
 
 This neighbourhood is a good one for sport. Bocky 
 mountain sheep, mule-deer, and bear being plentiful 
 in the season; duck are also abundant in autumn. 
 Many were the sporting yarns I listened to. One struck 
 me as particularly entertaining, and I therefore give it. 
 A sportsman went out with his gun, walking over the 
 snow on snow-shoes. He was walking along the base of 
 a steep foot-hill, when, on suddenly looking up, he saw 
 a bear above him in the snow ; he raised his gun, aimed, 
 and fired ; but hardly had the report sounded, leaving 
 the air charged with smoke, than he found the bear 
 rolling down the hill head over heels, and before he 
 
CBANBROOK— CONCLUSION. 347 
 
 could move the creature was close by his side, rearing 
 itself up on its hind legs. It had purposely rolled down 
 the hill to avoid being shot. 
 
 This yarn is similar to one I heard in Africa of a man 
 who raised his gun to fire at a lion, and, remembering 
 it was not loaded, threw up his arms and yelled with 
 terror in so agonizing a manner, that the lion turned 
 round and walked away. 
 
 Both stories may be true ; but I think it would be 
 misleading to allow the tender-foot in Canada, or the 
 tripper in South Africa, to rely upon lions being scared 
 by yelling, or to expect bears to roll down the hills 
 like hedgehogs. 
 
 The old diggings of Wild Horse creek are close to 
 Fort Steele, and at the present time Fort Steele offers a 
 good base for miners who can purchase their provisions, 
 blankets, etc., in the different stores of the township. 
 But in the early days of Wild Horse the provisions 
 were packed in over the American border, along a well- 
 known trail which has been very recently improved into 
 a road. Mr. Edwards told me that, in cutting the road, 
 the workmen came upon the skeleton of a man who had 
 been buried not far from a creek which crossed the old 
 trail. At the back of the skull was a small round hole, 
 and inside was found a lead bullet. It was remembered 
 that there were two packers returning with their muleB to 
 Montana ; they had taken up their goods and been paid 
 off ; the creek at that time was crossed upon fir poles, 
 laid close together, over which the mules stepped; a 
 party followed the two packers a couple of days later, 
 and coming to the creek they found a tent pitched, and 
 inside the tent the corpse of one of the packers. His 
 chum, who showed them the corpse, said that the man'B 
 mule had stumbled and fallen upon him. The story 
 seemed a strange one, but though they carefully 
 examined the body, they could find no trace of violence, 
 nor was there a drop of blood anywhere. 
 
 It was nobody's business in those early days to make 
 inquiries, and, after some discussion, the body was 
 
348 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR SETTLERS. 
 
 buried. Years passed, and the chum, who went down 
 to the States to spend his earnings, died raving mad. 
 The belief is that he shot his comrade to get his money, 
 and used for the purpose a small revolver, putting the 
 muzzle close under the man's long hair. He had ample 
 time to wipe away the blood before the other men came 
 down. In listening to this yarn I found myself 
 wondering whether Bacon wrote an essay " On being 
 found out." 
 
 I left Fort Steele on the 20th of September by stage, 
 spent one more night at Canal Flats, and drove on the 
 following day to Windermere. 
 
 Here, to my vexation, I was obliged to stay till the 
 afternoon of the 23rd, owing to the steamboat not 
 connecting. Windermere possesses one small inn, 
 where the sportsman or artist would find himself well 
 fed and treated with every civility. 
 
 The neighbourhood is a promising one for agriculture, 
 cattle attaining a good size. But arable crops require 
 irrigation, and the ranches are dreadfully eaten up with 
 wild cayuses. At all events, stock must be sheltered in 
 winter. The wild cayuses abound along the shores of 
 the Columbia river, and I thought I had never seen a 
 stranger sight than these wild, odd-shaped creatures, 
 galloping to some high point from which they could 
 look down in safety to watch the steamer. It is a good 
 plan to descend the Columbia from Windermere to 
 Golden in a row-boat, especially for duck-shooting. 
 The duck went overhead in thousands after sundown. 
 
 There was so little water by this time in the river, 
 that only a small steamer could make the passage. 
 On our return journey we took a scow in front with 
 merchandise, and, in consequence, we ran into banks 
 and became hung up upon bars. The little boat had 
 no sleeping accommodation, but I spread my Wolseley 
 valise on the table where we had our meals. I sat 
 down with the, crew, who were a mixture of French 
 Canadians and boatmen, with one old soldier from the 
 90th Bifles who had served during Biel's rebellion. 
 
CHANBBOOK— CONCLUSION. 349 
 
 The food was cooked in tin by two Chinamen, and 
 served in tin, and tasted of tin. After I had strapped 
 myself into my valise, the door opened cautiously, and 
 in came John and his satellite. I asked him what he 
 wanted, and he said he was "going to sleep." I ob- 
 jected to this, and was trying to look dignified as I 
 spoke from inside my valise, when the captain came to 
 my rescue, and John retired to sleep elsewhere : probably 
 among the coals. 
 
 The object for which I had travelled was accom- 
 plished, as far as it could be ; and as I sat on the scow, 
 I felt amply satisfied concerning the wealth and fine 
 prospects of this Colony for British settlers ; indeed, my 
 difficulty was to convey an adequate idea of the vast 
 possibilities for young men who were ready to work 
 hard. What I had seen far surpassed anything I had 
 been told of the riches and fertility of this country. 
 
 It was a splendid feeling of satisfaction and triumph, 
 and I longed to be able to express myself in some 
 suitable form — to gather my friends round me, to dress 
 in my best, and dine with them to discuss the great 
 future of British Columbia — instead of sitting alone 
 upon my valise in a travel-stained suit of jungle cloth 
 and a battered straw hat. 
 
 Before I left Canada, however, I plunged into a scene 
 of animation and happiness ; for it was my good fortune 
 to be present at the wedding of Miss Herchmer, the 
 daughter of the Commandant of the North- West Police. 
 There, upon the prairies, at the little garrison church, 
 the ceremony took place with all the customary para- 
 phernalia of a wedding in the old country. The bride's 
 dress, which was of silk brocade, fitted beautifully ; the 
 display of handsome presents, the bishop to perform 
 ihe ceremony, the troopers in their scarlet coats with 
 drawn swords lining the aisle, all combined to form a 
 great occasion. But it was chiefly by the decorations 
 of the church — the pine-branches and wheat, etc. — that 
 the Canadian North-West asserted itself. 
 
 This was an opportunity, which I thoroughly appre- 
 
350 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOB SETTLEBS. 
 
 ciated, of seeing something of the fine body of men 
 known as the North-West Police. Their history has 
 been well written, their deeds are well known, and 
 require no comment of mine. 
 
 Much to my concern, I had heard rumours of their 
 disbandonment. For certain purposes, a body of 
 troopers, such as these police, are unequalled ; and, once 
 disbanded, they would be difficult to reassemble — at all 
 events, in the well-disciplined order in which they exist 
 at present. 
 
 In the early days of my travel I met an American 
 who went out of his way to Bneer at the North- West 
 Police, until I felt obliged to ask him a few direct 
 questions. He admitted that they preserved order 
 among the Indians very efficiently, and that such 
 incidents as the commotion caused by Almighty Voice * 
 might occur at any time. But he ridiculed the idea of 
 Canada requiring an " armed force," declaring that it 
 was " out of date," for that " arbitration would be 
 resorted to in future upon all points in dispute among 
 nations." "Besides," he added, "it's so expensive. 
 Canada might employ that large sum spent on the 
 Police so much better in other ways." I replied that 
 the Police had been sent to the Klondyke, and that if 
 they had not gone, men of the same stamp would have 
 had to be found, and they could not be found in a 
 hurry. Moreover, that Canada had a large frontier to 
 watch. He looked up quickly at my reference to the 
 Klondyke, and reverted once more to the costliness of the 
 Police. I knew that this idea of the cost had been 
 bruited in Canada by a section of Eastern Canadians ; 
 but I was surprised to find this American urging a 
 point of the kind, considering that he was not liable. 
 
 As I eyed him, a verse from an old nursery rhyme 
 crossed my mind, but I spared him the quotation. Had 
 I quoted it, he would probably have slunk away talking 
 
 * Almighty Voice made a rising in the early part of last year, and 
 accounted for fire of the Police before he was taken and hauged. 
 
CRANBROOK— CONCLUSION. 351 
 
 about "blood being thicker than water," etc. Yet if 
 he chances to read this passage, it may be for his good 
 to know the lines — 
 
 " The faithful counsel of the mischievous rat, 
 To the keeper of the house that he lodges at, 
 By all means, sell the cat, 
 And with its price buy cheese and fat." 
 
 "Them Ontarios," I reflected, "is as green as 
 pumpkins — if they part with their police ! " 
 
 ***** 
 
 A short rest at Banff, to enjoy the last of the 
 mountains, a short stop at Winnipeg, a week at Montreal, 
 and a few days with my kind friends the Herrings 
 at Quebec, and then I went on board the State of 
 California on the 16th of October, and sailed the follow- 
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Canadian Pacific 
 
 AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 
 
 FOOLE BROS., .CHICAGO. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 i. 
 
 AN EXTRACT OF THE LAND ACT OF 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 Pre-emption of Surveyed and Unsurveyed Lands. 
 
 4. Except as hereinafter appears, any person being the head Who may 
 of a family, a widow, or single man over the age of eighteen record u "- 
 years, and being a British subject, or any alien, upon his la^sf 6 
 making a declaration of his intention to become a British 
 subject before a Commissioner, Notary Public, Justice of 
 the Peace, or other officer appointed therefor, which declara- 
 tion shall be in the Form No. 1 in the Schedule to this Act, 
 and upon his filing the same with the Commissioner may, 
 for agricultural purposes, record any tract of unoccupied 
 and unreserved Crown lands (not being an Indian settle- 
 ment) not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in 
 extent in that portion of the Province situated to the north- 
 ward and eastward of the Cascade or Coast Range of Moun- 
 tains, and one hundred and sixty acres in extent in the rest 
 of the Province : Provided that such right shall only extend 
 to lands bona fide taken up for agricultural purposes, and 
 shall not be held to extend to any of the aborigines of this 
 continent, except to such as shall have obtained permission 
 in writing to so record by a special order of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor in Council. 
 
 11. Upon the compliance by the applicant with the pro- Certificate 
 visions hereinbefore contained, and upon payment by him of oi record, 
 the sum of two dollars to the Commissioner, the Commis- 
 sioner shall record such land in his favour as a pre-emption 
 
 2 a 
 
354 APPENDIX. 
 
 claim, and give Mm a certificate of such pre-emption record, 
 in the Form No. 3 in the Schedule hereto ; and such record 
 shall be made by the Commissioner in triplicate, the original 
 to be handed to the pre-emptor, a duplicate to be retained 
 by the Commissioner for local reference, and the triplicate 
 to be forwarded forthwith to the head office of the Lands 
 and "Works Department, to be there examined, and if found 
 in all respects (or, if necessary, after having been amended 
 by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works so as to be) 
 in accordance with the provisions of this Act, to be finally 
 entered in the Land Office Eegister, the pre-emptor to be 
 notified of any alterations beiug made in the description 
 of his claim, whose duty it shall be to alter his stakes so as 
 to agree with the amended description. C. A. 1888, c. 66, 
 s. 12. 
 
 The pre-emptor must occupy the land within thirty days 
 after the date of the certificate of record, or the land is for- 
 feited to the Crown, with all buildings and improvements 
 erected upon it. The occupation must be a continual bona 
 fide personal residence, and does not admit of absence for 
 longer than two months, unless the pre-emptor can show the 
 Commissioner good cause, such as sickness, etc. 
 
 No pre-emptor is allowed to record more than one claim, 
 but a chartered or incorporated company may pre-empt land 
 by special order of Lieutenant-Governor in Council. 
 
 After recording the claim a certificate of improvement 
 must be obtained. 
 Certificate 22. A pre-emptor of surveyed land, who has been in occu- 
 of im- pation of his pre-emption claim for not less than two years 
 proremen . £ rom ^ e ,j a j. e f j^ recor( l, shall be entitled to receive from 
 the Commissioner a certificate, to be called a " Certificate of 
 Improvement," in the Form No. 4 in the Schedule hereto, 
 upon his proving to the Commissioner, by the declarations 
 in writing of himself and two other persons, or in such other 
 manner as the Commissioner may require, that he has been 
 in occupation of his pre-emption claim from the date of the 
 record thereof, and has made permanent improvements 
 thereon to the value of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, 
 and such declaration shall be in the Form No. 5 in the 
 Schedule hereto. Such certificate shall be in triplicate, one 
 part to be handed to the pre-emptor, another part retained 
 by the Commissioner for local reference, and the third part 
 
APPENDIX. 355 
 
 transmitted forthwith to the head office of the Lands and 
 Works Department ; and it shall be the duty of the Com- 
 missioner to note the issue of such certificate on the dupli- 
 cate pre-emption record thereof retained in the Commis- 
 sioner's office. 1884, c. 16, s. 20; 1893, c. 22, s. 4, ■part. 
 
 25. After the grant of a certificate of improvement as Crown 
 aforesaid to the pre-emptor, and payment of one dollar per gran' to be 
 acre for the land has been made, a Crown grant of convey- paymen"of 
 ance, in the Form No. 7 in the Schedule hereto, of the fee $1 per 
 simple of and in the land mentioned as recorded in such aore> 
 certificate, shall be executed in favour of the said pre- 
 emptor, upon payment of the sum of five dollars therefor; 
 
 but no such Crown grant shall be executed in favour of any 
 alien who may have declared as aforesaid his intention of 
 becoming a British subject, until such alien shall have 
 become, according to law, a naturalized subject ; and no 
 Crown grant shall issue until the pre-emptor or his family 
 shall have bona fide occupied the pre-emption for at least 
 two years. 1884, c. 16, s. 23 ; 1891, c. 15, s. 12. 
 
 26. No transfer of any surveyed or unsurveyed land pre- No trans- 
 empted under this Act shall be valid, until after a Crown fel .y alld 
 grant of the same shall have been issued. 1884, c. 16, s. 24. Crown 
 
 28. No pre-emption record shall be granted except for grant is 
 
 land taken np for agricultural purposes, and no certificate 183ue(J - 
 
 of improvement or Crown grant shall be issued for such Pre-emp- 
 
 pre-emption until ten acres at least of such pre-emption cordg ,"_ 
 
 have been brought under cultivation. 1896, c. 28, s. 15. stricted to 
 
 agricul- 
 tural lands. 
 
 Sale of Grown Land. 
 
 29. Every person desiring to purchase unsurveyed, unoccu- Purchase 
 pied, and unreserved Crown lands shall give two months' of unsur- 
 notice of his intended application to purchase, by a notice crown 
 inserted, at the expense of the applicant, in the British lands, not 
 Columbia Gazette, and in any newspaper circulating in the SJ eedms 
 district wherein such land lies ; such notice shall not include 
 
 a greater area of land than six hundred and forty acres, and PuMica- 
 shall state the name of the applicant, the locality, boundaries, ^^ ° of 
 and extent of the land applied for; such notice shall be applica- 
 dated, and shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the land tion. 
 Sought to be acquired, and on the Government Office, if any, 
 
356 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 purchase 
 price, 
 
 Survey. 
 
 Initial post in the district. He shall also place at one angle or corner 
 erected and °^ *^ e * an< * *° ^ e a PP^ e ^ for, a stake or post to be known as 
 marked, the initial post, at least four inches square, and standing not 
 less than four feet above the surface of the ground ; and 
 upon such initial post he shall inscribe his name, and the 
 angle represented thereby, thus: "A. B.'s N.E. corner," 
 (meaning North-East corner), or as the case may be. Except 
 such initial post is so planted before the above notice is 
 given all the proceedings taken by the applicant shall be 
 Deposit on void. He shall also deposit twenty-five per cent, of the 
 account of purchase money with the Assistant Commissioner of Lands 
 and Works for the district in which the land is situate, together 
 with his application to purchase (in duplicate), within ninety 
 days from the date of the staking of 'the land applied for, 
 and after the notice of his intended application to purchase shall 
 have appeared in the British Columbia Gazette for two months, 
 and he shall have the land required surveyed, at his own 
 cost, by a duly authorised Provincial Land Surveyor ; and 
 such lands shall be surveyed on the rectangular or square 
 system now adopted by the Government, and all lines shall 
 be run due north and south and due east and west, except 
 where from the nature of surveys made it would be impossible 
 to conform to the above system ; and wherever possible the J 
 said survey shall be connected with some known point in 
 previous surveys, or with some other known point or 
 boundary : 
 
 (1.) It shall be the duty of the Surveyor to classify the 
 lands so surveyed as timber lands, first-class, second-class, 
 or third-class lands, adopting for the purposes of such classi- 
 fication the distinctions contained in the next ensuing sub- 
 section, and he shall make full and accnrate field-notes of 
 his survey, and upon completion of the survey shall file such 
 notes and a report of his survey in the office of the Chief 
 Commissioner of Lands and Works, accompanied by a 
 statutory declaration verifying such notes, and showing the 
 area of first-class, second-class, or third-class lands which 
 are embraced by such survey; and such declaration shall 
 also state whether in his opinion any of such land, and if so 
 what, is likely to be required for the purposes of a townsite 
 or fishing station, and whether the granting of such land or 
 any of it would prevent or hamper the development of any 
 adjoining natural resources : 
 
 Classifies 
 tion of 
 lands sur 
 veyed. 
 
APPENDIX. 357 
 
 (2.) Lands which are suitable for agricultural purposes, First class. 
 or which are capable of being brought under cultivation 
 profitably, or which are wild hay meadow lands, shall rank 
 as and be considered to be first-class lands. Lands which Second 
 are suitable for agricultural purposes only when artificially class - 
 irrigated, and which do not contain timber valuable for 
 lumbering purposes, as defined below, shall rank as and be 
 considered to be second-class lands. Mountainous and rocky Third 
 tracts of land which are wholly unfit for agricultural pur- clasB * 
 poses, and which cannot, under any reasonable conditions, 
 be brought under cultivation, and which do not contain 
 timber suitable for lumbering purposes, as defined below, or 
 hay meadows, shall rank and be considered to be third-class 
 or pastoral lands : 
 
 (a.) Timber lands (i.e., lands which contain milling Timber 
 timber to the average extent of eight thousand Iands not 
 feet per acre west of the Cascades, and five thousand purchase, 
 feet per acre east of the Cascades, to each one 
 hundred and sixty acres) shall not be open for 
 sale : 
 . (3.) The Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works after Com- 
 exaraination of the report of the survey, the, field-notes j^'fix"^^ 
 thereof, with the statutory declaration of the Surveyor, and on basis of 
 all other documents and information in relation to the Surveyor's 
 application, and of the character' of the land applied for, y*™ 1 oa ~ 
 which shall be procurable, if satisfied with the information, 
 and that it is not contrary to the public interest that the 
 sale should be made (but not otherwise), shall name the 
 price, based upon the classification provided by the preceding 
 sub-section, at which the land applied for, or any portion 
 thereof, may be sold to the applicant, and thereupon, bat no 
 sooner, the sale may be allowed to proceed. The price of 
 first-class lands shall be five dollars per acre ; that of second- 
 class lands, two dollars and fifty cents per acre ; and that of 
 third-class lands, one dollar per acre. The purchase money Purchase 
 shall be paid in full at the time of the purchase, twenty-five ™ onl 2J 
 per cent, being paid as before provided, and the remaining upon 
 seventy-five per cent, when the survey shall have been acceptance 
 accepted, and the sale allowed to proceed by the Chief Com- of surve y- 
 missioner of Lands and Works ; but no right or title can be 
 acquired to any such land until after such land shall have 
 been surveyed to the satisfaction of the Chief Commissioner 
 of Lands and Works. 
 
358 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Leases for 
 
 general 
 
 purposes. 
 
 The area comprised in any sale is not to be less than 160 
 and not greater than 640 acres. 
 
 The survey and purchase is to be completed within six 
 months from the date of application. Before a second 
 purchase can be made the applicant must satisfy the 
 Commissioner that he has improved his land to the value 
 dollars per acre. 
 
 Crown 
 grants to 
 contain 
 provision 
 as to town 
 lota. 
 
 Leases. 
 
 (3.) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may grant 
 leases of Crown lands which have been subdivided by survey 
 into lots not exceeding twenty acres in extent to any of Her 
 Majesty's subjects for the purpose of bona fide personal 
 occupation and cultivation, upon such terms and conditions 
 as may be deemed advisable. No person shall be entitled to 
 hold more than one lot under such lease. Leases granted 
 under authority of this clause shall contain conditions bind- 
 ing the lessee to build a dwelling-house during the first year 
 of tenancy, and to settle upon, cultivate, and occupy the land 
 within the meaning of the ' Land Act ' and such other con- 
 ditions as may be approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in 
 Council. Such lease shall also contain a covenant providing 
 that the lessee shall, at the expiration of the term of the 
 lease, be entitled to a Crown grant of land so leased to him, 
 provided that all the conditions and stipulations of the lease 
 have been faithfully fulfilled. 
 
 3. Section 13 of the " Land Act Amendment Act, 1896," 
 is hereby repealed, and the following is substituted there- 
 fore : — 
 
 (13.) All Crown grants hereafter issued of lands, the. 
 right to which was acquired subsequent to the 17th day of 
 April, 1896, shall contain a provision that in the event of 
 any lands thereby granted being divided into two lots, one- 
 fourth of all the blocks of lots shall be re-conveyed to the 
 Crown. The blocks to be so re-conveyed to the Crown shall 
 be ascertained as follows : — The Chief Commissioner of Lands 
 and Works shall first select one block and the owner three, 
 and so on in turn, the Chief Commissioner selecting one 
 and the owner three of the unchosen blocks until the division 
 is made. 
 
APPENDIX. 359 
 
 4. The Crown shall have a lien upon all steamships, rail- Extends 
 
 way and stationary engines, smelters, concentrators, and all Crown hen 
 » J , . J °. ' j. , . *, , . , j on timber 
 
 iurnaces or machinery in or for which any timber or wood royalty. 
 
 upon which a royalty is reserved and payable in any way or 
 
 manner, or for any purpose has been or is being used or 
 
 consnmed, also upon all steamships, tow-boats, scows or other 
 
 vessels, and upon all railway trains, teams and waggons in 
 
 any way engaged in transporting such timber ; such lien to 
 
 confer the same rights, and to be enforceable in the same 
 
 manner as the lien and rights of recovery of royalities 
 
 conferred by under the provisions in that behalf of the 
 
 " Land Act," and amending Acts. 
 
 Leases. 
 
 54. Leases (containing such covenants and conditions as Leases, 
 may be advisable) of unoccupied Crown lands, not exceeding 
 one hundred and sixty (160) acres in extent, may be granted 
 by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and "Works — 
 
 (a.) In that part of the Province situated east of the East of 
 Cascade Eange, for a term not to exceed five Cascade 
 years, for the purpose of cutting hay thereon, to H ayi eases . 
 any person or person whomsoever, being bona fide p re - 
 pre-emptors or purchasers of land appurtenant to emptors, 
 the meadows desired to be so leased, at an annual 
 rental of 10 cents per acre : 
 (b.) For a term not to exceed twenty-one years, for the Stone_ 
 purpose of opening up and working stone quarries, quarries, 
 or as sites for fishing stations, on such terms and ^j s 
 conditions, not inconsistent with the provisions of 
 this Act, as may be approved by the Lieutenant- 
 Governor in Council. 
 
 Water. 
 
 40. Every person lawfully entitled to hold land under Land- 
 this Act, or under any former Act, and lawfully occupying adders 
 and bona fide cultivating lands, may record and divert so ™^ ™" d 
 much and no more of any unrecorded and unappropriated utilize 
 water from the natural channel of any stream, lake, or river water, 
 adjacent to or passing through such land, for agricultural or 
 other purposes, as may be reasonably necessary for such 
 
360 APPENDIX. 
 
 purpose, upon obtaining the written authority of the Com- 
 missioner of the district to that effect, and a record of the 
 same shall be made with him, after due notice as herein 
 mentioned, specifying the name of the applicant, the 
 quantity sought to be diverted, the place of diversion, the 
 object thereof, and of all such other particulars as such 
 Commissioner may require. For every such record the Com- 
 missioner shall charge a fee of two dollars ; and no such person 
 shall have any exclusive right to the use of such water, 
 whether the same flow naturally through or over his land, 
 except such record shall have been made and such fee paid. 
 C. A. 1888, c. 66, s. 39. 
 
 Free Grants. 
 
 Lieut.- 38. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in 
 
 Governor Council to make such special free or partially free grants of 
 freegrants. * ne unoccupied and unappropriated Crown lands of the 
 Province for the encouragement of immigration or other 
 purposes of public advantage, not being bonuses for the 
 construction of railways, with and under such provisions, 
 restrictions, and privileges, as to the Lieutenant-Governor 
 in Council may seem most advisable. C. A. 1888, c. 66, s. 
 37; 1891, c. 15, s. 7. 
 
 Educational Endowments. 
 
 Reserves 39. Lands heretofore reserved as an endowment for the 
 
 for educa- purposes of education under the provisions of section 38 of the 
 ^'oatmT" " Land Act " chapter 66 of the Consolidated Acts, 1888, may 
 be sold at be sold by public auction, of which reasonable and sufficient 
 public public notice shall be given, but not so as to dispose of any 
 auctiou. i and at leas t h ail its classified price. 1891, c. 15, s. 8, 
 
 amended. 
 
 32. [Bepealed by c. 15, s. 6, 1891.] 
 Sales and 33. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in 
 free Brants Council to sell any vacant lands of the Crown, or make free 
 and drain- 5 grants thereof, to any person or company for the purpose of 
 ingpur- dyking, draining or irritating the same, subject to such 
 poses. regulations as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall see 
 
 fit. 1884, c. 15, s. 53. 
 
APPENDIX. 361 
 
 There are also timber leases, and leases for stripping 
 hemlock bark. The Government also holds a lien upon 
 all timber felled for spars, logs, props for mines, shingle or 
 cord wood. 
 
 77. This Act shall not be construed so as to inflict Free 
 penalties upon free miners engaged in prospecting, nor j^veiiers 
 upon travellers, nor upon persons engaged in merely scientific farmers, ' 
 pursuits or exploring, nor upon farmers cutting timber in and others 
 connection with their farms, nor upon persons cutting cord Jimbefnot- 
 wood for personal use for fuel for domestic purposes and affected, 
 not for sale, or cutting cord wood for school purposes. 1896, 
 s. 28, s. 5. 
 
 ASSESSMENT ACT, 1888. 
 
 Interpretation Clauses. 
 
 Wild Land. 
 
 (7.) The words " wild land " shall mean land "claimed by 
 any person on which there shall not be existing improve- 
 ments to the value, when assessed, of two dollars and fifty 
 cents per acre on land situate west of the Cascades, and one 
 dollar and twenty-five cents per acre on land east of the 
 Cascade Range of mountains : Provided always, that the 
 value of the improvements upon any parcel of the lands of 
 any person in any district shall exempt an equivalent 
 number of acres of his land situate in the same district and 
 adjoining to the land whereon such improvements exist at 
 the rate aforesaid from the operation of this sub-section. 
 
 Under section 6 of the Assessment Act, 1896 : — 
 
 There shall be assessed, levied and collected from every 
 person and paid to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, 
 the sums following, that is to say : three per cent, on the 
 assessed value of "wild land." Provided always that if the 
 above taxes so assessed and levied are paid on or before 
 the 30th day of June in each year, but not otherwise, the 
 collector is hereby authorized to receive, and shall receive in 
 lieu of the above rates : — 
 
 Two and one-half per cent, upon the assessed value of 
 "wild land." 
 
362 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. 
 
 LIST OF TREES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 Botanical Name. 
 
 English Name. 
 
 French Name. 
 
 Abies amabilis 
 
 White fir 
 
 Sapin blanc 
 
 „ grandis 
 
 Western white fir 
 
 Gros sapin 
 
 „ subalpina 
 
 Mountain balsam 
 
 Sapin dts monts 
 
 Acer macrophyllum 
 
 Large-leaved maplo 
 
 Erable 
 
 „ circinatum 
 
 "Vine maple 
 
 *t 
 
 Alnus rubra 
 
 Bed alder 
 
 Aune rouge 
 
 Arbutus Menziesii 
 
 Arbutus 
 
 Arbute 
 
 Betula occidentalis 
 
 Western birch 
 
 Bouleau 
 
 „ papyrifera 
 
 Canoe birch 
 
 „ a canot 
 
 Cornus Nuttallii 
 
 Western dogwood 
 
 Cornonillier 
 
 Juniperus Virginiana 
 
 Bed cedar 
 
 Cedre rouge 
 
 Larix Americana 
 
 American larch 
 
 Epinette rouge 
 
 „ Lyalli 
 
 Mountain larch 
 
 „ des monts 
 
 „ occidentalis 
 
 Western larch 
 
 „ rouge 
 
 Picea alba 
 
 White spruce 
 
 Petite epinette 
 
 „ Engelmannii 
 
 Western black spruce 
 
 Epinette noir 
 
 » nigra 
 
 Black spruce 
 
 Grosse epinette 
 
 „ Sitchensis 
 
 Western white spruce 
 
 Epinette blanche 
 
 Pinus albicaulis 
 
 White-bark pine 
 
 Cin blanc 
 
 „ contorta 
 
 Scrub pine 
 
 Cypres 
 
 „ monticola 
 
 White mountain pine 
 
 Pin blanc 
 
 „ Murrayana 
 
 Black pine 
 
 CypreB 
 
 „ ponderosa 
 
 Yellow pine 
 
 Pin jaune ou rouge 
 
 Pirus rivularis 
 
 Western crab-apple 
 
 Pommier 
 
 Populus balsamifera 
 
 Balsam poplar 
 
 Paumier 
 
 „ monilifera 
 
 Cottonwood 
 
 Biard 
 
 „ tremuloidea 
 
 Aspen 
 
 Tremble 
 
 „ trichocarpa 
 
 Cottonwood 
 
 Tiard 
 
 Prunus emarginata 
 
 Cherry 
 
 Lerisier 
 
 „ mollis 
 
 u 
 
 t» 
 
 Pseudotsuga Douglassii 
 
 Douglas fir 
 
 Pin d'Oregon 
 
 Quercus Garryana 
 
 Western white oak 
 
 Chene 
 
 Salix lancifolia 
 
 Lance-leaved willow 
 
 Saulo 
 
 ' „ lasiandra 
 
 Willow 
 
 
 Taxus brevifolia 
 
 Western yew 
 
 If 
 
 Thuya gigantea 
 
 Giant cedar 
 
 Grand cedre 
 
 „ excelsa 
 
 Yellow cypress or cedar 
 
 Cedre jaune 
 
 Tsuga Mertensiana 
 
 Western hemlock 
 
 Pruche 
 
 „ Pattoniana 
 
 Alpine hemlock 
 
 » 
 
APPENDIX. 363 
 
 III. 
 
 OEDINARY EXPENSES OP A VESSEL AT 
 VANCOUVER. 
 
 Collars. 
 
 Hospital dues per register ton 0.02 
 
 Health Inspector's fee 4.00 
 
 Harbour dues 5.00 
 
 Bill of health, outwards 1.00 
 
 Pilotage, per foot (each way) 2.00 
 
 Pilotage per foot (steamers) 1.50 
 
 Port Agency (according to size) 25.00 to 100.00 
 
 Discharge of ballast (usually done by ship's crew) 
 
 or per ton 10.00 to 25.00 
 
 Harbour towage 10.00 to 20.00 
 
 Stevedoring — 
 
 General cargo or salmon, per ton 45 
 
 Sugar, per ton 27} 
 
 Lumber and timber, per M. ft., according to the 
 
 style of cargo and facilities of the ship 80 to 1.00 
 
 Watering 15.00 to 20.00 
 
 RATES OF TOWAGE. 
 
 Pilotage District of Tale and New Westminster. 
 
 The ports of the Pilotage District of Tale and New West- 
 minster shall be as follows : — 
 
 Port of Vancouver. 
 
 Port of New Westminster. 
 
 Port of Tale and several landings on the Fraser River. 
 
 (1.) The limit of the Port of Vancouver shall be inside 
 a line drawn from Point Atkinson to the red buoy on 
 Spanish Bank. 
 
 (2 ) The limit of the Port of New Westminster shall be 
 inside a line drawn between the outer buoys and north and 
 south sand heads at entrance of Fraser River. 
 
364 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dues. 
 
 For vessels entering or clearing from the Port of Vancouver 
 the rates of pilotage shall be as follows : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Vessels under Bail 4.00 per foot. 
 
 „ in tow of a steamer 2.00 „ 
 
 „ under steam 1.50 „ 
 
 The pilotage from Cape Flattery or Royal Roads to a line 
 drawn from Point Atkinson to the red buoy on Spanish 
 Bank and vice versd is not compulsory, but if the services of a 
 pilot are required, he shall be paid the following rates, viz. : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 From Cape Flattery 6.00 per foot. 
 
 „ CallumBay 5.00 „ 
 
 „ Beaehy Head 4.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Royal Eoads 3.00 „ 
 
 And for vessels under steam or in tow of a steamer the 
 following rates shall be paid : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 From Capo Flattery 3.00 per foot. 
 
 „ Galium Bay 2.50 „ 
 
 „ Beaehy Head ... 2.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Boyal Boads, vessels under 
 
 steam 2.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Boyal Boads, vessels in tow 
 
 of a steamer 1.50 „ 
 
 New Westminster. 
 
 From the lighthouse on Fraser sand heads to New West- 
 minster : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 For vessels under sail 4.00 per foot. 
 
 „ „ in tow of a steamer 2.00 „ 
 
 „ „ under steam 1.50 „ 
 
 From the lighthouse to Cape Flattery or Royal Roads and 
 vice versd the pilotage is not compulsory, but if the services 
 of a pilot are required he shall be paid the following 
 rates : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 For vessels under sail : 
 
 
 From Cape Flattery 
 
 ... 6.00 per foot. 
 
 „ CallumBay 
 
 ... 5,00 „ 
 
 „ Beaehy Head 
 
 ... 4.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Boyal Boads 
 
 ... 3.00 „ 
 
APPENDIX. 365 
 
 For vessels under steam or in tow of a steamer the follow- 
 ing rates shall be paid : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 From Cape Flattery 3.00 per foot. 
 
 „ CallumBay 2.50 „ 
 
 „ BeachyHead 2.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Boyal Roads, vessels under 
 
 steam 1.00 „ 
 
 „ Bace Bocks or Boyal Boads, vessels in tow 
 
 of a steamer ... 1.50 „ 
 
 Any fraction of a foot not exceeding six inches shall be 
 paid for as half a foot, and any fraction of a foot exceeding 
 six inches shall be paid for as a foot. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 A. B. C. Exploration Co., 324 
 
 Advertising, 37 
 
 Agriculture, general view of, 59 
 
 , co-operation in, 61 
 
 Agaasiz, 62, 231, 241 
 
 , Mrs., 244 
 
 Ainsworth, 317 
 
 Alberni, 182 
 
 Alexander, Mr. and Mrs., 319 
 
 Alkali, 257 
 
 Allan, the Bey., 225 
 
 Americans, 5, 14, 16, 276 
 
 , management of mines by, 16, 
 
 21 
 Armstrong, co-operativo mill at, 2 
 
 B. 
 
 Backwoods, Canadian, 340 
 Baker, Colonel, the Hon., 160, 314, 
 
 337 
 
 , Mr. Hyde, 339 
 
 Beanlands, Canon, 79 
 
 Begbie, Sir Mathew, 336 
 
 Bimetallism, 327 
 
 Bonnersferry, 320 
 
 British Columbian Fruit Exchange, 
 
 61 
 
 C. 
 
 Calgary, 132 
 
 Canadian Pacific Bailway, 2, 237 
 
 Cariboo, 12 
 
 Carlyle, Mr.,report on Bossland, 288 
 
 Cassiar, 12, 34 
 
 Cattle ranching, 63, 96, 249. 252, 
 
 301,346 
 Caynses, wild, 342, 318 
 Chilliwack, 320 
 Chinese, 75 
 
 dislike to Indians, 81 
 
 superstition, 80 
 
 Coldstream, 261 
 Columbia river, 336 
 Co-operation, 248, 257, 265 
 Corneillo, Mrs., 108 
 
 D. 
 
 Dupont, Major and Mrs., 81 
 
 E. 
 
 Edwards, Mr. and Mrs., 343 
 Ellis, Mr. Tom, 251 
 Emigration, 64, 66, 76, 84, 225 
 
 , education and, 240 
 
 , Mr. Bobbins and, 200 
 
 , Mr. Sharp and, 237 
 
 P. 
 
 Failure, causes of, 4, 144 
 Father Pat, 387 
 Fishing industries, 50 
 Flax, 62 
 
368 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fort Steele, 336 
 
 Fortune, Mr. and Mrs., 259 
 
 Fraser, Mr., 245 
 
 river, 215 
 
 Fruit, 62, 234 
 
 in California, 304 
 
 in Spokane, 302 
 
 G. 
 
 Galbraith, Mr., 343 
 Glacier reports, 329. 
 Glasgow Pig Iron Co., 17 
 Golden, 330 
 Government agents, 90 
 
 loans, 222, 224 
 
 reports, 244 
 
 Grand Forks, 289 
 Prairie, 267 
 
 H. 
 
 Hall smelter, 26 
 
 Harris, Mr., 325 
 
 Harrison lake, 217 
 
 Hops, 62, 261 
 
 Home, Sir W. van, 113 
 
 Horse-ranching at Calgary, 139 
 
 Hosmer, Charles, 117 
 
 Hudson's Bay Co., 2, 51 
 
 Indians, general account of, 90 
 
 , trade with, 33 
 
 , vital statistics, 101 
 
 J. 
 
 Japan, 57 
 
 Jennings, 317 
 
 Jubilee, the, 121, 128, 133 
 
 K. 
 
 Kamloops, ranching at, 251 
 , 267 
 
 Kelowna, 250, 255 
 
 Shippers' Union, 255 
 
 Klondyke, 7, 23, 34, 59, 207 
 Kootenay, East, 340 
 
 L. 
 
 Labour question, the, 72, 85, 102, 
 259, 333 
 
 and Chinese, 84, 87 
 
 Land companies, 222, 231 
 Lendrum, Mr. and Mrs., 317 
 
 M. 
 
 Macardie, Mr., 199 
 
 Maclure, Mrs., 322 
 
 Manitoba, 129 
 
 Marshall Bray, Mr., 204 
 
 Milne, Mr., 169 
 
 Mines, American, management of. 
 16,21 8 
 
 , Cour d'Ale'ne, 309 
 
 , Duke of York and Alborni, 
 
 193, 197 
 
 , general view of, 12 
 
 in Bast Kootenay, 344 
 
 ■ , Iron Mask, 269 
 
 Le Boi, 19, 24, 26, 285 
 
 , London, management of, 17, 
 
 Zi. 
 
 , North Star, 23, 336, 344 
 
 , Payne, 14, 26 
 
 , raising oapital for, 143 
 
 , Eeco, 326 
 
 silver, 14, 326 
 
 , War Eagle, 18 
 
 Montreal, 111 
 
 , Bank of, 28 
 
 :, market of, 115 
 
 Mortgage companies, 223, 229 
 
 N. 
 
 Nakusp, 239 
 Nanaimo, 201 
 Nelson, 311 
 New Denver, 328 
 Norberry, Mr., 345 
 
INDEX. 
 
 369 
 
 Norris, Mr., 261 
 North- West Polioe, 350 
 
 Okanagan, 63, 247 
 Ottawa, 119 
 
 Parisian, E.M.S., 101 
 Penticton, 251 
 Police, 94 
 
 Quebec, 108 
 
 E. 
 
 Eailways, 298 
 Eaw products, 42 
 Eetail dealers, 32 
 Eicardo, Mr., 261 
 Bobbins, Mr. Samuel, 201 
 Eobertson, Eev. Dr., 121 
 Eosslaud, 283 
 
 S. 
 
 Salmon fisheries, 52, 211, 214 
 
 Sandon, 325 
 
 Saunders, Mr., 194 
 
 Seals, 51 
 
 Sharp, Mr., 234, 244 
 
 Silver, 325 
 
 Slocan, 328 
 
 Smelting, 23, 25, 272, 312 
 
 Smith, Mr., 255 
 
 Spokane, 293 
 
 Sport, 346 
 
 Strawberries, second crop of, 332 
 
 Thornton, Mr., 28 
 
 Tobacco, 258 
 
 Trade, general view of, 28 
 
 in Spokane, 295 
 
 Trail, 271 
 
 , smelter at, 272 
 
 Travellers' commercial, 30 
 Turner, the Hon. J., 159 
 
 V. 
 
 Vancouver city, 4, 54, 210 
 
 Island, 11, 12, 54, 59 
 
 Vernon, 62, 246 
 
 , chances for settlers near, 60 
 
 Victoria, 11, 42, 54 
 
 W. 
 
 Waterhouse, Mr., 190 
 
 Wells, Mr., 226 
 
 Wheat crop of 1897... 63, 73, 300 
 
 at Vernon, 247 
 
 in the State of Washington, 
 
 301 
 Wild Horse Creek, 137, 437 
 Windermere, 348 
 Winnipeg, 121 
 
 2 B 
 
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