*)
st

Seve ed Dare kk,

10 The Fraser River Mines.

To His Excellency the Governor of British Columbia.
May IT PLEASE Your EXcCELLENCY:

Since I wrote my first Letter forwarded herewith miner’s have
sunk two shafts, one in front of the reserve of the Hudson’s Bay
Company and the other about one hundred yards above. At the back
of the front row of stores in the Town of Fort Yale in one shaft as
much as twenty-four cents to the pan was washed out at a depth of
about ten feet; a rush was immediately made to stake out the whole
of the ground which Mr. Wells surveyed off for the Town. I was
compelled to put a stop to it, which produced some disappointment.
If mining is allowed upon this flat, altho’ it may prove ever so rich,
the progress of the Town will be stayed, and we shall have to remove
to another location; therefore Your Excellency will perceive that I am
between two fires—the Miners and the Trader’s. Whatever you may
suggest for the best will I think be satisfactory; it is impossible to
please all parties.

I herewith enclose a proposition from Dr. Fifer, together with an
Account for another Post Mortem examination on a man who died very
suddenly on Monday last, the Inquest papers will be forwarded to you
in due course.

Mr. Brown, a respectable man, has applied for the appointment of
Sexton for this district, he is well qualified for the Office.

I am much concerned to hear that Your Excellency has received
Letters reflecting on my public and private conduct in my Official
capacity. I court enquiry and at any moment can prove that I have
performed the duties of my Office independantly and fearlessly, with-
out favour and affection. People can more easily assert than prove,
and so long as I have the high honour of your confidence I shall con-
tinue to perform the duties as I have hitherto done. I am very anxious
to see the two Letters you name.”

I am under the necessity of informing Your Excellency that the
notorious Ned McGowen,”® who is on Hill’s Bar, has been trying the
last two days to excite the miners to revolt, and I can prove that he
asserted that “ Your Excellency had better mind your own business in
Victoria, for that he was the ruler of Hill’s Bar, and that if the miners
would only stand by him he would put all Englishmen to defiance,”
and with oaths not fit to name, openly declares he will be master of

(27) ‘* Captain’? P. B. Whannell, the resident magistrate at Yale, later formulated the
charges, which will be found on pp. 73-75, post. * Much bad feeling has been created heretofore
by the eccentric actions of an hombre who, from not the most exalted position in California, was
suddenly elevated to the post of commissioner.’’ Fort Yale letter in Victoria Gazette, December
23, 1858.

(28) See introduction hereto and Judge Begbie’s letters for some account of this notorious

renegade.