THE ‘ARGONAUTS’ II

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

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

We ’re now located thirty miles above the junction
of the Fraser and the Thompson on Fraser River. . . »
About a fourth of the canoes that attempt to come
up are lost in the rapids which extend from Fort
Yale nearly to the Forks. A few days ago six men
were drowned by their canoe upsetting. There is
more danger going down than coming up. There
can be no doubt about this country being immensely
rich in gold. Almost every bar on the river from
Yale up will pay from three dollars to seven dollars
a day to the man at the present stage of water.
When the river gets low, which will be about August,
the bars will pay very well. One hundred and ninety-
six dollars was taken out by one man last winter in
a few hours, but the water was then at its lowest
stage. The gold on the bars is all very fine and hard
to save in a rocker, but with quicksilver properly