THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE THOMPSON COUNTRY. 
 
 Being Notes on the History of Southern British 
 
 Columbia, and Particularly of the City of 
 
 Kamloops, Formerly Fort Thompson. 
 
 By 
 
 MARK S. WADE, M. D. 
 
 KAMLOOPS. 
 
 Inland Sentinel Print. 
 1907.
 
 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, 
 in the year one thousand nine hundred and seven, by 
 Mark Sweeten Wade, at the Department of Agriculture.
 
 F 
 
 10^ 
 
 W'l-t 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Even amongst our own, people, how little is known of 
 the early history of British Columbia! That the Fur 
 Traders were the first white men to take up permanent res- 
 idence in the wilds of the unknown Interior land lying be- 
 tween the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, is 
 common knowledge, but, with that, error creeps in and 
 with the very phrase "The Fur Traders" is associated the 
 idea that by it is meant the Hudson's Bay Company, an 
 idea at once prevalent and erroneous. Established by 
 Royal Charter in 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company grad- 
 ually extended their field of operations westward, but it 
 was the North West Company, formed in 1787, that first 
 pushed their way west of the Rockies. These rival companies 
 swept the North, the South being harvested by a later con- 
 cern known as the Mackina Company. Then came the 
 founding of the American Fur Company by John Jacob 
 Astor, of New York, in 1809, and his aborption of the 
 Mackina Company two years later. With the whole South 
 field in his control, Mr. Astor turned his eyes Westward, 
 beyond the Rockies, to the Oregon or Columbia River, and 
 formed the Pacific Fur Company, with headquarters at 
 Astoria, afterwards Fort George when the Nor'- Westers 
 secured possession, at the mouth of that great waterway. 
 Thence traders branched out Northward even as the Nor'- 
 Westers made their way South. That both these companies 
 should reach what is now Kamloops about the same time, 
 is, therefore, scarcely a matter for wonder, and when the 
 vigorous Northerners devoured the Pacific Fur Co., the 
 I^arther West, rich in the coveted pelts, was theirs alone, 
 and so remained, so far as the Interior was concerned,
 
 until the amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay and North- 
 Wost Companies. 
 
 This little volume is the outcome of an article published 
 in 190-") dealing, in the main", with the early history of Kam- 
 loops. To this has been added new matter and this nar- 
 rative, with its many imperfections and shortcomings, is 
 the result It is not presented as acomplete hi'story of that 
 section of the country embraced in the title, but merely as 
 a contribution throwing some light on the past. It may per- 
 chance serve others engaged in historical research as a 
 beacon; to warn from what should be avoided and to guide 
 whither there lies safety and knowledge. 
 
 The author acknowledges with thanks the courtesy of 
 Rev. Father Morice for the use of several cuts from his 
 excellent work the "History of the Northern Interior of 
 British Columbia." 
 
 Kamloops, B. C., 1st March, 1907.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. ABORIGINAL TIMES 7 
 
 II. THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN 23 
 
 III. SUPERSTITION AND TRAGEDY 41 
 
 IV. THE REIGN OF JOHN TOD 55 
 
 V. ANEW OUTLET H7 
 
 VI. DAWN OF A NEW ERA 81 
 
 VII. THE SEARCH FOR GOLD .......... 9!) 
 
 VIII. THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY Ill 
 
 IX. FROM FORT TO CITY... . 127
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 0) 
 
 *
 
 THE THOMPSON COUNTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ABORIGINAL TIMES. 
 
 HE Southern Interior of British Columbia 
 is the home of several tribal subdivisions of 
 Indians of Salish stock, further subdivided 
 into bands, each band residing on some de- 
 finite location or reserve . Of these tribal 
 subdivisions the Shuswaps (Shoowha'pa- 
 mooh), possess the largest territory which 
 includes Shuswap and Adams Lakes, the val- 
 leys of the North and South Thompson ri- 
 vers and the main Thompson nearly to Ash- 
 croft, the Bonaparte river. Hat Creek, Clinton 
 and the valley of the Fraser from Pavilion 
 Creek to Soda Creek, their boundary being the territory 
 of that other great branch, the Tinneh or Dene tribe 
 Along the Fraser river valley below Pavilion live th? 
 Lillooets (Sta'tlumooh), meeting the Thompsons near 
 Foster's bar on the Fraser, the Thompsons (Ntla-ka-pe- 
 mooh) being the western neighbors of the Shuswap * 
 and occupying the Similkameen district (excepting Kere- 
 meos which is Okanagan), the Nicola valley and that of 
 the Fraser from Foster's Bar to Spuzzum. The Okan-
 
 agans (Ool'anakane) inhabit the country to the south 
 and east of the territory on the Shuswaps and Thompsons. 
 The western leg of the Columbia valley, including Arrow 
 Lakes and Kootenay river, is claimed by the S-na-a- 
 chik'st, a subdivision of the Salish proper, their head- 
 quarters being, however, in Montana. Their territory 
 divides the Okanagans from the Kootenays (Kootenuha). 
 The Salish oroper were originally known as "Flat-heads." 
 When first discovered by Canadian voyageurs they had 
 amongst them slaves taken from the coast tribes where 
 the head was deformed. 
 
 Little 'is known of the history of these aboriginal c in- ; 
 habitants pnor to the advent of the fur traders, who were 
 the first whites to penetrate the Interior. The remote 
 past is shrouded in a cloud of tradition, superstition and 
 mythology. It is evident, however, judging from these 
 sources of information, that the different tribes were 
 constantly .it war with one another, the stronger enslav- 
 ing the weaker as opportunity offered. The northern races, 
 the Tinneh, were the more warlike and it was probably 
 a party of that race that, clad in the habiliments of 
 warriors on the warpath, long before the first white man 
 descended the Fraser or even beheld its waters, set out 
 from the Chilcoten country and made a sudden and un- 
 expected appearance in the Bonaparte valley. But the des- 
 cent was made in the height of the salmon fishing season, 
 and, as provisions had been abnormally scarce during 
 the previous winter, all the Shuswaps, young and old, had 
 removed from their villages in the Bonaparte and Thomp- 
 son valleys to their fishing grounds at Pavilion. Finding 
 none left in the villages where they had expected to sur- 
 prise the stay-at-homes and enslave them, the stranger
 
 Indian Salmon Cache.
 
 10 
 
 warriors pursued their way south and finally reached a 
 point on the Thompson opposite the mouth of the Nicola 
 river. Th^re they were discovered by scout? of the 
 Thompsons who at once carried the tidings of the presence 
 within their territory of a hostile force, to their fellow 
 tribesmen at. Nicomen and Lytton. 
 
 A strontf force of the Thompsons at once set out to 
 repel the invaders and having duly reconnoitred the en- 
 emy's position and estimated his strength, established 
 themselves in his front and rear. The invaders were not 
 slow to realise the danger that threatened them by a 
 superior force established in commanding positions and, 
 with admirable discretion, quietly and unobserved, crossed 
 the Thompson river under cover of night. They ascended 
 the Nicola, followed by the Thompsons who continually 
 harassed them, finally driving them into the Similka- 
 meen district. There, however, the strangers, young men 
 for the most part with their wives with them, took a 
 firm stand and offered such resolute resistance that their 
 pursuers ceased to interfere with them further. There 
 the newcomers remained and the Thompsons and Okana- 
 gans were subjected to conquest at their hands, not by 
 the warriors but by their women who were good to look 
 upon and found favor in the eyes of the young men 
 among the older established peoples. Treaties were 
 made and inter-marriages resulted, and gradually the 
 strangers lost their individuality. They are credited with 
 being the first inhabitants of the Similkameen of whom 
 there is any record. 
 
 At what date the Indians of the Southern Interior 
 had their first knowledge of the whites there is no de- 
 finite information but it was probably at some time con-
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 I
 
 13 
 
 siderably subsequent to the events narrated above. Al- 
 exander Mackenzie, the first white man to descend the 
 waters of the Upper Fraser, was informed by the Carrier 
 Indians, a branch of the Tinnehs, that their immediate 
 neighbors, the Shuswaps, were a malignant race, "who 
 lived in subterranean recesses," and that they possessed 
 iron arms and utensils which they had obtained from 
 friendly tribes v/ho had received them directly from the 
 whiles, probably from the coast Indians. Mackenzie's 
 historical journey took place in 1793, but it was not until 
 afterwards that the Shuswaps had their first glimpse of 
 the white man, the available evidence placing this event 
 ab;out the beginning oC the list century* A Spokane 
 chief, Pilakamulahuh, connected through his mother with 
 both the Okanagans of Penticton, at the southern end 
 of Okanagan lake, and the Shuswaps, had as one of his 
 wives a Similkameen woman of Tinneh stock, in all pro- 
 bability a descendant of that adventurous band that had 
 set out from the Chilcotin country as already related. It 
 was the custom in those days for the Indians living west 
 of the Rocky Mountains and yet near enough to the prai- 
 ries to engage in buffalo hunting, to band together for 
 mutual protection against the common foe, the Black- 
 feet, when on those excursions, the Spokanes, Kootenuha, 
 and sometimes the Nez Perces and Coeur D'Alenes, being 
 among those so doing. On one of these annual. hunts 
 they met a party of Canadian trappers at Hell Gate's 
 Pass, near where Helena, Montana, now stands. The 
 two parties fraternized and when, towards the end of 
 summer, the homeward journey westward across the 
 Rocky Mountains was begun, two of the trappers, Finan 
 Macdonald and Legace, accompanied them as guests of
 
 14 
 
 the Colville chief, who took them to his winter quarters 
 at Kettle Forks on the Columbia river, where they ul- 
 timately married two of his daughters. Finan Macdon- 
 ald, afterwards in 1812, had charge of a post among the 
 Flatheads in the service of the Northwest Company. 
 
 Late in the antumn, Pitakamulahnh went into winter 
 quarters with his Similkameen wife at Penticton. He 
 entertained the other Indians of the village with tales 
 of the whites met with on the buffalo hunt and his fame 
 as a story-teller became so widespread that lie was a 
 welcome guest wherever he visited, his vivid descriptions 
 of the white men and their doings proving particularly 
 attractive. In fact -he found this occupation so agreeable 
 that he did little else and made journeys far from his 
 usual haunts to gratify his own vanity as a narrator and 
 the curiosity of his eager listeners, a course that ulti- 
 mately proved his undoing. 
 
 The people of Shuswap invited him to visit them and 
 tell them the ' wonderful things he had entertained his 
 own people with. First he went to Spallumcheen and it 
 required a whole month to tell all he knew of the white 
 people. Next the inhabitants of the village of Kualt, 
 Haltkam and Halaut, on Shuswap Lake and the South 
 Thompson river, invited him in succession and at each 
 place he spent a month. Tokane, the chief of the Kam- 
 loops band, also had him pay his village a visit and ac- 
 corded him a grand reception. 
 
 This round of festivities and story telling occupied so 
 much time that when spring came again Pilakamulahuh 
 was not prepared to join the annual buffalo hunt on the 
 plains. Instead, he accepted Tokane's invitation to spend 
 the summer at the Shuswap's fishing grounds at Pavilion
 
 15 
 
 on the Fraser this afforded him another and more ex- 
 cellent opportunity to tell his story of the wonderful 
 whites. There he met the chief of the Fountain band of 
 the Lillooets and by him was invited to visit his camp, 
 a few miles farther down the valley. Nothing loth, the 
 now thoroughly seasoned narrator went and entertained 
 numerous visitors from below Lillooet and from villages 
 on the lakes west of that place, who had heard of the 
 marvels he related and came to hear them in person. 
 One of them, the chief from Seton Lake, listened with 
 increasing incredulity to Pilakamulahuh describe thes* 
 beings with white skins, blue eyes, light, short, curly 
 hair; clad in woven material so fashioned as not to im- 
 pede their movements; armed with a weapon that killed 
 birds on the wing and at a great distance; shod so that 
 they could walk over cactus without being pricked. All 
 these things the Seton Lake chief utterly disbelieved and 
 said so in plain language. He further asserted that there 
 was no animal on which men could ride and outstrip the 
 buffalo; no weapon that discharged, with a noise as of 
 tWunder and a smoke like fire, a missile so fast that the 
 eye could not see it. In brief, he declared the honored 
 story-teller to be a liar and that the tales he related were 
 unworthy the attention of men and warriors. Thus 
 grossly insulted, Pilakamulahuh reached for his bow and 
 arrows, intending to wipe out the affront with blood, but 
 his adversary was too quick for him and wounded him 
 with two arrows. His friends the Shuswaps carried him 
 back to their own camp at Pavilion and there he died. Be- 
 fore the shadow of death fell upon him, however, he had 
 urged his son N'kuala, then a mere boy, to avenge his 
 murder.
 
 16 
 
 By the time NViala reached manhood's estate, the 
 whites had established a trading post at Spokane with 
 outposts at other points tributary to it. One of the latter 
 was near the head of Okanagan Lake in charge of a Mr. 
 Montigny, assisted by a man named Pion. After a very 
 successful winter's trading, Montigny departed for head- 
 quarters with the furs, leaving everything at the post in 
 the care of young N'kuala who had already earned a re- 
 putation and was a chief of some standing. Upon his 
 return, Montigny, rinding everything safe and sound, re- 
 warded N'kuala with a gift of ten guns, a supply of ammu- 
 nition, tobacco and pipes. Here was the young chief's op- 
 portunity. During the winter he trained the best men of 
 his tribe in the use of the guns. From the traders who 
 had established themselves at Walla-Walla he had re- 
 ceived the gift of a horse. With firearms and a horse at 
 his disposal, he felt prepared to undertake the task of 
 avenging his father's death. Meeting the Shuswaps, 
 Thompsons and Similkameens in solemn council, he in- 
 vited them to join him in an attack on the Lillooets. 
 They agreed without hesitation and, in the height of the 
 salmon season, fell suddenly upon the unsuspecting Lil- 
 .Jooets, .killing . over thr^e hu.idreJ of^ tlue n and taking 
 many women and children prisoners. .Little resistance 
 was offered the attack, the noise and deadly effect of the 
 guns and the terrifying, to them, appearance of N'kuala 
 on horseback riding from point to point directing the 
 attack, completely demoralising the astonished Lillooets. 
 In this striking manner was the truth of Pilak- 
 amulahuh's narrative proved and his death avenged. To 
 his allies, N'kuala gave a great feast at Nicola, driving 
 a large herd of wapiti, which must then have been plen-
 
 19 
 
 tiful, into a corral where they were dispatched with spears, 
 the antlers from the slaughtered animals forming two 
 l^arge heaps that endured until after the whites settled 
 in the district. 
 
 In many respects the Indians of to-day retain the 
 customs of their ancestors but in others, notably their 
 dwellings, clothing, and mode of buri il, marked change- 
 have taken place, the influence of ihe whites being ap- 
 parent in these particulars. The old village sites were 
 carefully choien, a sandy soil and a southern, sunny ex- 
 posure being preferred. The dwellings among all the 
 tribes inhabiting the drier portions of the Interior, were 
 of the one type, called in the Chinook jargon, Keek- 
 willee houses, which simply means underground houses. 
 They were often of considerable size, were round in form 
 and consisted essentially of a circular hole dug to a depth 
 of about six feet and from twenty-five to thirty feet in 
 diameter. From the circumference a superstructure 
 of timber was erected sloping towards the centre 
 forming a cone shaped framework. In this were 
 interlaced boughs, bark, etc., the roof thus formed 
 being further covered with soil. The entrance was 
 at the peak of the roof, the same opening also 
 serving as a chimney. A ladder, or notched pole facilita- 
 ted ingress or egress. These buildings formed the perm- 
 anent quarters and were always occupied in winter months, 
 a temporary dwelling made of poles covered with sheets 
 of bark or animal skins serving the purpose of 
 the primitive tribes at the hunting and fishing 
 grounds. These temporary residences are occa- 
 sionally seen at this day but of the Keekwillee 
 houses only the circular depression, showing the
 
 20 
 
 site of some ancient village, now remain, the name 
 The Shuswaps, Okanagans, Thompsons and in fact 
 Keekwillee holes being given to the pits, 
 all Che Interior tribes had then, as they still have, in com- 
 mon wilh the 'Tinnehs, Crees, and other Indians, sweat 
 houses. ' These consist of a number of willow boughs 
 planted in the ground at either end, half of them being 
 run at right angles to the others, all being fastened at 
 each point of intersection. Blankets, skins or other ma- 
 terial covered the frame work thus made, all apertures 
 wefe carefully closed, and after placing inside a number 
 of heated stones and a vessel of water, the person about 
 to undergo the sweating process, crept within the dome 
 shaped structure, poured the water slowlv on the hot. 
 stones and endured the heated vapor that arose therefrom 
 until the sweating had proceeded long enough. The 
 sweat was generally ended with a plunge into river or 
 lake, the houses being built conveniently near water with 
 this end in view. 
 
 The Indian burial ground of the present day has no 
 resemblance to that of the old time native. They were 
 located near the permanent villages, sandhills being 
 chosen, no doubt, because the graves were more easily 
 dug in this loose soil. Unlike some o*-the coast tribes, 
 who disposed of their dead by placing them in boxes" on 
 raised platforms or in trees, the Interior Indians interred 
 the dead in graves, many of the bodies being buried in 
 the sitting posture, others again being bent and then placed 
 on the side. Copper ornaments, dice made of beaver 
 teeth, pipes of stone rudely carved, portions of garments 
 made of sage brush bark and other fibrous material in 
 which the bodies were wrapped, red and yellow earths
 
 21 
 
 for paint, arrow heach, etc., were usually found in the 
 many old graves that have been opened by archeologists, 
 who have ransacked every available burial ground and 
 removed the prehistoric implements, etc., found deposited 
 with the dead. A, small shelter -or tent-like hdnse was 
 generally erected over a grave which was usually en- 
 closed. Poles, painted -and decorated with streamers, 
 sometimes carved, and carved -and painted figures of men, 
 frequently adorned the old burial grounds and in later 
 days, after the whites had made such things possible, 
 pot and kettles and other articles were hung about the 
 grave. The simple cross now takes the place of the 
 hetrogeneous .collections of those past days. 
 
 Until the whites introduced, first, flint and steel and, 
 later, the lucifer match, the Interior Indians obtained 
 fire by friction, a w.poden drill -being' turned between the 
 palms of the ; hands for this purpose, the point being 
 pressed against a piece of the dry root of the poplar. 
 The sparks thus produced were caught upon tinder and 
 blown into a flame. Culinary operations were of 
 
 most primitive style. Possessing neither metal nor 
 earthenware puts, food that required boiling wa- 
 placed in closely woven baskets which were filled with 
 water which was raised to the necessary heat by dropping 
 red hot stones into it. Basket making was quite an art 
 with these people and a few of the older Indians still 
 do a little of it. 
 
 Before the advent of the fur traders, furs and skins 
 of wild animals formed the clothing worn by the ma- 
 jority of the Indians, deerskin being a useful and favorite 
 material. The fibre of the bark of the sage-brush was 
 used for making a cort of petticoat for the women. Fea-
 
 thers, shells, copper bracelets, strings of animals' teeth, 
 etc., were used as ornaments for the person. The goods 
 introduced by the Northwest Company and Hudson's 
 Bay Company found favor in the eyes of the natives and 
 speedily effected a radical dress reform in both sexes. 
 
 Bows and arrows and spears, were the weapons used 
 in hunting, the arrow heads and spear points being made 
 of stone, the same material being made into knives, chi- 
 sels, and other implements. Needles were made of bone. 
 Pipes were made from, steatite and were generally orna- 
 mented with rude carvings and incised lines, similar de- 
 corations being found on other wooden, bone and soft 
 stone tools and implements, the deiigns having meanings 
 attached.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN. 
 
 The First Explorers into the Interior Mackenzie's Jour- 
 ney The Coming of Simon Fraser and David 
 Thompson Founding of Fort Thompson 
 The Fur Traders Rival Companies 
 Exploration of the North Thomp- 
 son The Philosophy of 
 Alexander Ross.
 
 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN. 
 
 HE early history of British Columbia is large- 
 corveries of a few intrepid, adventurous 
 ly an account of the explorations and dis- 
 spirits who made the unknown wastes and 
 wilds of the western slope of the continent 
 the field of their labors. By the sea the mar- 
 iners of Great Britain, Spain, Russia and the 
 United States had visited the North West 
 coast line of the Pacific, but what lay be- 
 yond that coast line, beyond those mountain 
 ranges that reared their heights in the back- 
 ground was unknown to them. This 
 knowledge was gained by the fur hunters, who were the 
 first explorers in the unknown west. The first of these 
 was Alexander Mackenzie, who made the first partial 
 descent of the Fraser as early as 1793, an expedition made 
 in the interests of the North West Company in whose 
 service he was. The hardships and well nigh insur- 
 mountable obstacles he encountered, and which would 
 have daunted a less bold spirit, are modestly told in his 
 journals. 
 
 The course followed by Mackenzie in his moment-
 
 26 
 
 ous and haxardous journey v, aa up the Peace and Parsnip 
 rivers , a short portage across the height of land sep- 
 arating the Mackenzie and Eraser watersheds; down "Bad 
 river" a shallow, rocky and rapid stream which played 
 havoc with the big canoe carrying the explorer and party, 
 to the Great River, the Eraser. This was descended as 
 far as Alexandria, where Mackenzie was given a far 
 from attractive description of the Shuswaps who were 
 said to be "a very malignant race, who lived in large sub- 
 terranean recesses." (Keekwillee houses). 
 
 The Shuswaps then possessed, so he was informed, 
 iron utensils and arms procured from other Indians far- 
 ther west, who in turn obtained them from whites at the 
 coast. 
 
 Reascending the Fraser to the mouth of the Black- 
 water, that stream was ascended, and finally the Pacific 
 Ocean was reached at Bentinck Inlet, 22nd July, 1793 
 One month later. August 24th, the er.tire party was safely 
 returned to Fort Chippewayan, the starting point. 
 
 Following in his steps came another servant of the 
 same great fur trading company, the Nor'Westers, 
 Simon Fraser, and his explorations have exercised a 
 material influence upon the history of the province. He 
 did not confine himself to making explorations; he 
 busied himself establishing trading posts and forts and 
 gaining for his company a secure foothold in the fur 
 trade in the virgin land. Thinking he had reached either 
 the Columbia or ene of its main tributaries, Eraser, 
 in 1806, navigated the stream, established several forts 
 and in the spring of 1808. in company with John Stuart 
 and Jules Maurice Quesnel left Fort George, at the junct- 
 ion of the Fraser and Nechaco rivers, he set out to trace
 
 Sir Alexander Mackenzie.
 
 29 
 
 the river to its mouth. It was not a pleasure trip as 
 they soon discovered. In his journal, Fraser mentions 
 that having reached the village of the Askettihs, and 
 by this name he is presumed to mean the Lillooet 
 Indians, the men, who were dressed in coats of mail, 
 received him with a volley of arrows. The village he 
 describes as "a fortification one hundred feet by twenty- 
 four, surrounded by palisades eighteen feet high, slant- 
 ing inward, and lined with a shorter row, which sup- 
 ports a shade, covered with bark, constituting the dwel- 
 lings." 
 
 They abandoned their canoe,s before they reached 
 the confluence with the Thompson river, where Lytton 
 is now situated, and the rest of the journey they did 
 on foot as far as the vicinity of what is now Yale, 
 where they secured a canoe and journeyed to the coast 
 in comfort and safety. Between Lytton and Yale he 
 was not long in finding evidences that the natives among 
 whom he was traveling!, had, directly or indirec.tly 
 trafficked with other Europeans since articles of Eu- 
 ropean manufacture were seen at intervals. One of 
 these wa's "a copper kettle and a gun of a large size, 
 which are probably of Russian manufacture." Another 
 article was a huge sword made of sheet iron. After 
 arriving at their goal, the sea coast, it was considered 
 neither wise nor safe, on account of the troublesome 
 natives, to remain there long and after but one day's 
 rest, the return trip wa>s commenced. Fort George had 
 been left on May 26th and they entered its portals on 
 August 6th, having in the meantime made the journey 
 to the coast and return over one of the most arduous 
 routes conceivable.
 
 30 
 
 About the time that John Jacob Astor was fitting 
 out his expedition on the Tonquin to establish the 
 Pacific Fur Company at Astoria, at the mouth of the 
 Columbia, David Thompson, a Welshman, like Alex- 
 ander and Fra^er a Nor* Wester, set out for the west, 
 having already made several trips, penetrating "the 
 Rockies as early as 1800. and arrived at the Columbia 
 river, in British Columbia, in January, 1811. Early 
 in the spring he set out for the mouth of that great 
 stream and reached Astoria on July, I5th, only to find 
 that Mr. Astor's expedition had arrived a few weeks 
 before and were then engaged building their fort. He 
 remained a few weeks for rest and then set out on 
 the return journey and by way of Arrow Lakes and 
 the Columbia, reached his starting point. It was during 
 this expedition he descended the Thompson river and 
 established Fort Thompson, afterwards named Fort 
 Kamloops. 
 
 British Columbia was then not know by that name; 
 it was spoken of as New Caledonia, though by some, 
 that portion of it north of Alexandria only was so 
 called, the southern portion being named the Thompson 
 district. Farther south still was the Oregon country 
 and it was from there that the next visitor came to 
 Kamloops, or as it was then called, Fort Thompson, in 
 1812. TWs visitor was Alexander Ross, one 1 of the 
 members of the little community established at Astoria, 
 at the mouth of the Columbia by the Pacific Fur Com- 
 pany of which Mr. Astor was the leading spirit. When 
 in 1813 the North West Company acquired the prop- 
 erty of the Astor company some of the men were 
 jriven their choice of entering th; S3rvio3 of the new
 
 31 
 
 masters or accepting a free passage to New York or 
 Montreal. Of those who chose to remain in the country 
 and the new service was Alexander Ross. 
 
 With tlie change of owners Astoria changed also its 
 naire and became known as Fort George, and from 
 llr-it point, in the spring of i8t4, the first great move- 
 ment of the North West Company on the Columbia 
 was begun, the departure for the Interior, en route to 
 Fort William, of the spring brigade, consisting of four- 
 teen boats in which were embarked no fewer than 124 
 iren, exclusive of the men of the Astor company who 
 had elected to return to Canada by land in preference 
 to making the voyage round the Horn, the whole leaving 
 the Fort with flags flying and the din of a general 
 salute ringing in their ears. Ross and a little party 
 accompanied the brigade as far as Fort Okanagan where 
 they separated, the brigade continuing their journey 
 along the Columbia, Ross taking pack horses overland 
 back to his post at Kamloops. In his first experience 
 at that point he must have encountered some com- 
 petition from the North Westers for in his book, "The 
 Fur Hunters" he alludes to there "being now no rivalry 
 there." Of this second journey he says: "From Oka- 
 nagan I proceeded northward, some 300 miles, to my 
 own post at She-whaps. There being now no rivalry 
 there, or elsewhere to contend with, I put the business 
 in train for the season, and immediately returned again, 
 with the view of being able to carry out a project of 
 discovery, which I and others had contemplated for 
 some time: this was to penetrate across the land from 
 Okanagan, due west, to the Pacific, on foot, a distance 
 supposed not to exceed 200 miles;, and for the perfor-
 
 32 
 
 mance of which I had allowed two months." 
 
 The following season Ross again visited Kamloops and 
 of that visit he says: "I set out for my post at the 
 She-whaps, and reached that place in the month of 
 August. During my absence a man by the name of 
 Charette, whom 1 had left in charge, had been murdered. 
 The murderer was a young Indian lad who had been 
 brought up at the establishment. They had gone on 
 a trip to Eraser's river, six days' journey north, and 
 had quarrelled one evening about making the encamp- 
 ment. During the dispute the Indian had said nothing; 
 but rising shortly afterwards, and laying hold of Char- 
 ette's own gun, he suddenly turned round and sho.t 
 him dead, without saying a word and then deliberately 
 sat down again " 
 
 That winter, 1815-6, Ross spent fur hunting between 
 
 She-whaps and Okanagan, returning to Fort George, as 
 was the custom, in the spring for supplies, again going 
 north to his old post in time for the winter trapping. 
 He recounts how on this journey one of his men, named 
 
 Brusseau, fell sick and was unable to continue. The 
 only course left was to make him comfortable, place 
 him in charge of another man, leave a supply of food 
 and let him remain until either recovery or death. As 
 the case was considered hopeless, the nurse was given 
 
 a spade with which to dig the grave should the sick 
 man die. Ten days afterwards the nurse arrived at 
 
 Kamloops with the news of his patient's death and as 
 
 for the spade, the Indian* had stolen it. All this 
 passed for truth, until some time afterwards who should 
 turn up but poor dead Brusseau, escorted by some 
 
 friendly Indians. The nurse had become frightened at
 
 the approach of Indians and had taken to his heels, 
 leaving the poor sick trapper to his fate, and but for 
 the kindly offices of some natives he would have died. 
 
 The following year. 1817, Ross made a trip to Canoe 
 River in pursuance of orders from headquarters "to 
 examine the eastern section, lying between She-whaps 
 and the Rocky Mountains: a large tract of wild country 
 never trodden before by the foot of any white man." 
 He took with him two of his trustiest men and two 
 Indians on foot and followed the North Thompson for 
 three days, then striking off through the timber north 
 of the valley. The double journey took but 47 days 
 remarkably good time over a trail-less country, on foot, 
 packing on their backs the camp outfit and food. Of 
 the district he formed a very poor opinion. 
 
 Ross relates going a bear hunt with some of the local 
 chiefs shortly after his return from the journey to 
 Canoe river. The fruit of the chase would be hailed 
 with delight by nimrods now-a-days They only went 
 ten miles from the fort before they commenced opera- 
 tions and in two days the party killed seven bears, 
 nine wolves and eleven small deer. "On these occa- 
 sions," says Ross, " they feel flattered by their trader 
 accompanying them. The party were all mounted on 
 horseback, to the number of seventy-three, and exhib- 
 ited a fine display of horsemanship." One of the party, 
 "the chief Pacha of the hunting party," who rejoiced 
 in the name of Short Legs, was severely wounded in 
 the head by a female bear and Ross acted the part of 
 surger with some skill and considerable success, remov- 
 ing ? -vcral portions of the skull from the wound, "I 
 extracted a bone measuring two inches long, of an oblong
 
 form, and another of an. inch : qnarc, with several 
 smaller pieces." In fifteen days the Indian, who was 
 after all a good for nothing, was up and about, to the 
 delight of himself and his near relations, but to the 
 disgust of the men at the fort against whom 'he wa? 
 constantly plotting. 
 
 This trader who for so many years did honors al 
 Kamloops gives the details of many adventures and 
 throws much Jight upon what were considered the' 
 duties, troubles and pleasures of the fur trader's life. 
 "And one of the greatest pleasures, bie alluded to, 
 consists in doing homage to the great. A chief arrives; 
 the honor of waiting upon him m a servile capacity falls 
 to your share, if you are; not above your business. 
 You go forth to meet him; you invite him in; see him 
 seated; and if need require it, you untie his shoes, and 
 dry his socks. You next hand him food, water and 
 tobacco; and you must smoke along with him. After 
 which, you must listen with, grave attention to all he 
 has got to say on Indian topics, and show your sense 
 of the value of his information by giving him some 
 trinkets, and sometimes even articles of value, in return. 
 But the grand point of all this ceremony is to know 
 how far you should go in these matters, and when you 
 should stop. By overdoing the thing, you may entail 
 on yourself endless troubles. When not employed in 
 exploring new and unfrequented parts, involved in diffi- 
 culties with the natives, or finding opposition in trade, 
 the general routine of dealing with most Indians ^oes 
 on smoothly. Each trading post has its leader, its in- 
 terpreter, and its own complement of hands; and when 
 things are put in proper train, according to the customs
 
 Simon Fraser.
 
 37 
 
 of the country, the business of the year proceeds without 
 much trouble, and leaves you sufficient time for recre- 
 ation. You take your gun o-n your back; you can 
 instruct your family, or improve yourself in reading 
 and reflection; you can enjoy the pleasures of religion 
 to better advantage, serve your God to more perfection, 
 and be a far better Christian than were your lot cast 
 in the midst of the temptations of a busy world." 
 
 The first pioneers received their supplies overland from 
 Montreal via Fort William and across the continent 
 by canoe and portage; a long wearisome journey and 
 they so continued to get their supplies until the desir- 
 ability of a more expeditious mode became sufficiently 
 recognized. The Pacific Fur Company had shown the 
 feasibility of taking supplies from the coast into the 
 Interior of the Thompson district, Sht-whaps as Ross 
 called it. by way of the Columbia to Fort Okanagan 
 and thence by pack animals overland to their fort at 
 Kamloops. In 1821 this route was adopted for carry- 
 ing supplies to the forts in New Caledonia, a distributing 
 station being established at Alexandra on the Fraser. 
 To that point the pack trains went from Kamloops, 
 following the Kamloops Lake to Copper Creek, oppo- 
 site Savona, ascending that stream across the hills to 
 Doadman's Creek, and then by way of Loon Lake and 
 Green Lake on to Alexandria To Alexandria came the 
 boats and canoes from the post at Fort George, Fort 
 James, etc., and received supplies brought by the pack 
 trains, by which, in turn, the pe'ts gathered at the 
 northern forts were taken south and ultimately reached 
 Fort Vancouver, which in 1824 had superseded the post 
 at Astoria. From Fort Vancouver the furs were taken
 
 round the Horn by the vessel-, that brought the enor- 
 mous ^upp'ie? required for the system of posts in Ore- 
 gon. Thompson and New C;ilf<lmi:i. 
 
 Kanilnops was the capital of the Thompson district 
 "lid ll'c fort was strongly pali>a<led; within the stockade 
 there was room for the large hr>e brii;:'-le.-> employed 
 in the transportation of furs and goo.l-. These pack- 
 trains . were large affairs, numbering from 200 to 300 
 animajs. In the winter season they were turned out 
 en the hills near the fort where there was then abun- 
 dant p:i>tiire and in the spring the band was gathered 
 in, fat and sh-ek. 
 
 Jo! n I od successively olt.cer in cnarge of the 
 Hudson's Bay posts of Fort Alexandria and Kamloo s. 
 Iv-s graphically described the operating of the "brigades." 
 incidently throwing a sidelight upon the Indian char- 
 acter. He says: 
 
 ''It was found convenient to take the annual produce 
 of the trade of New Caledonia and the districts immed- 
 iately south of it, on pack horses, southerly to the ship- 
 ping place at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia river. 
 This was the cheapest, indeed the only method. The 
 country, for the most part, was easily traversed and fur- 
 nished grass for pasture. The long journeying of this 
 noble cavalcade of 400 or 500 horses, with their numerous 
 attendants, drafted from various stations, took place an- 
 nually at a stated time, 200 horses were kept at Fort 
 Alexandria for the transport and I was always ready to 
 join forces with my large contingent when the cavalcade 
 reached Kamloops. Each officer, however,, retained 
 control of his own horses. A "brigade" as applied in this 
 organization consisted of 16 horses in charge of two men.
 
 39 
 
 The horses so banded kept together and each had its name. 
 The load for each horse was two "pieces" of 84 pounds 
 each, and the horse was supposed to convey this about 
 20 miles a day, but, in fact, the distances between camp- 
 ing places varied. 
 
 "I remember on one of the above periodical journeys 
 a little incident which shows the importance of conciliating 
 and trusting the Indians. It was customary for a number 
 of these people to meet this regular cavalcade at the forks 
 of Okanagan river, not so much for trade as to exchange 
 civilities. Jogging along towards that place three Indians, 
 dressed in their best, accosted me with an invitation to 
 camp near their party, but added that they thought it 
 right to inform me that several notorious Indian horse 
 thieves had come among them, over whom they had not 
 the same power as over their own people. My reply 
 being that I would camp in their midst, they went off well 
 pleased. On my telling this arrangement to my co-officer 
 of the cavalcade he became angry, drew out his horses 
 from it, and went to seek an encampment that would not 
 be, as he said, "among a lot of horse thieves." About 
 1,000 Indians were present at the Forks, and the evening 
 scene was picturesque. To my fire a number of chiefs 
 came, and there were many stories and abundant mirth- 
 fulness; finally, before retiring, and after a distribution of 
 tobacco, I made a speech in a manner they like, and wound 
 up by stating that my men had for two nights lost their 
 rest, and we were now going to have a good sleep, leav- 
 ing horses and everything in the Indians' care. They 
 sent the horses to some good pasture, and next morning 
 though I had some misgivings during the night, every 
 horse was brought to the camp.
 
 40 
 
 Dispatching the loaded train, and having the usual 
 half hour's chat with the chiefs before starting, I cantered 
 along to my co-officer, who seemed in an excited state 
 the stem of his big pipe in his hand and the bowl swing- 
 ing by the string, as he strode bridle over arm, gesticu- 
 lating and swearing. "Hello!" said I, "what's up?" 
 "Those cursed horse thieves," was the gruff reply, "have 
 taken three of my horses, and they took two of them 
 last night before they were unladen. How many have yon 
 lost?" "Not a one/' said I.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUPERSTITION AND TRAGEDY. 
 
 A Hudson's Bay Grandee Murder of Samuel Black at 
 Fort Kamloops- John Tod's Narrative.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUPERSTITION AND TRAGEDY. 
 
 FTER making his trip to Canoe River from 
 Kamloops in 1817, Ross returned to Astoria 
 and did not again visit his old post at She- 
 whaps. From 1817 there is no available 
 record of his successor, the next trader 
 mentioned in charge of the post being John 
 McLeod, who ruled it from 1822 to 1826, 
 and when Sir George Simpson visited Fort 
 Thompson October 6th, 1828, he found trad- 
 er Ermatinger in charge. As resident gov- 
 ernor of the Hudson's Bay Company Sir 
 George Simpson made frequent journeys to 
 all parts of the vast domain ocupied by that corporation. 
 His visit to Fort Thompson, or Kamloops, was on one 
 of these journeys, the most lengthy he had undertaken, 
 extending from York Factory on Hudson's Bay to Fort 
 Langley on the Fraser river. The entire distance was 
 covered in ninety days, a remarkably short period, taking 
 the transportation facilities obtainable into consideration 
 canoes, sometimes traveling on foot, and occasionally on 
 horseback as, for example, on the trip from Alexandria to 
 Kamloops. At Kamloops water transportation was re-
 
 44 
 
 sunied, the journey from that point to the junction of the 
 Thompson and Fraser rivers, where Lytton now is, being 
 made in a canoe with twelve men paddling, an underta- 
 king fraught with danger in many places and requiring 
 great skill in handling the craft in turbulent waters to ac- 
 complish safely. 
 
 The next recorded ruler of the Kamloops district 
 was Samuel Black. Black was a Scotchman and once en- 
 tertained a distinguished fellow countryman, David Doug- 
 las, the noted botanist, at the fort. It is related that 
 over the nightly cup of toddy, probably replenish- 
 ed several times, the guest bluntly told his 
 host that in his opinion the fur traders had 
 not a soul above a beaver skin, whereupon Black took 
 instant fire and challenged Douglas to mortal combat, 
 but the latter took his departure early in the morning 
 and so avoided the duel. In 1841 T.lio'.njson. district 
 was added to New Caledonia. During the winter of 
 1841-2, Black was foully mUrdered by a nephew of a 
 deceased friendly chief, named Wanquille, on the excuse 
 that the trader had charmed Wanquille's life awa3 r 
 
 The circumstances attending the tragic death of 
 Black are given in detail by John Tod as follows: 
 
 "I was appointed as officer in charge of Fort Alex- 
 andria, on Fraser river, five or six hundred miles (long- 
 er by trail) northwest, in the direction of my old habitat 
 of New Caledonia. The "fort" was a stockade enclos- 
 ure with a block house and the usual buildings. It was 
 close to the bank amid dark forests. The road thither, 
 after about 300 miles, led past the important Hudson's 
 Bay Co.'s station at the junction of the north and south 
 branches &f Thompson river, so named bv Mr. David
 
 Sir George Simpson.
 
 47 
 
 Thompson, a Hudson's Bay man, who, while in the ser- 
 vice of the Northwest Company, spent most of the time 
 between 1808 and 1812 as a trader and explorer west of 
 the Rocky Mountains, discovering in 1811 the northern 
 head waters of the Columbia, which river he followed to 
 the ocean. The Indians called the place 'Kahm-o-loops,' 
 meaning 'the meeting of the waters,' and we, less poeti- 
 cally, called it the 'Forks' of the Thompson. 
 
 "The fort was on the right bank of the North Thomp- 
 son at its mouth, opposite the modern village, or town, 
 of Kamloops. 
 
 "The surrounding country, in its general character, 
 presents south of the river a rolling, open surface, the 
 ralleys clear, save for aspen poplars along the streams, 
 and the uplands sparsely timbered, chiefly with 'red' or 
 'bull' pines. It is more a pastoral than an agr cultural dis- 
 trict, irrigation being necessary in most parts for culti- 
 vation. The officer in charge of the fort, Mr. Black, a 
 chief trader, gave me a hearty welcome during the day 
 of my stay there. Some calamitous presage, which T 
 never could acount for, affected me on bidd'ng him good- 
 bye next morning, but passed away as we proceeded on 
 our journey. 
 
 "A few weeks later, being at Alexandria on a dark 
 night in February, a French-Canadian showing the traces 
 of a hard journey, entered the fort and said: 'Air. Black 
 is murdered and all the men at Kamloops fort ha\e fled in 
 different directions.'' 
 
 "I may anticipate a little by stating here the facts of 
 this tragic occurrence, as these have been wrongly de- 
 scribed in the book of his journey round the world in 
 1841-2, by the Governor, Sir George Simpson, who was
 
 48 
 
 at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia river, in the middle 
 of 1841, several months after it happened, and also de- 
 scribed wrongly by other writers. 
 
 "A chief named Tranquille, of an Indian tribe near 
 the fort, had died lately, and the widow, in her grief and 
 concern for the departed, had told her son, a fine youth 
 of 18, well disposed and quiet, that the father's spirit 
 should be accompanied by the spirit of so.ne chief of 
 equal rank. This was urged daily until the youth, worn 
 by importunity and a supposed sense of duty to his de- 
 ceased father, seized his gun and sat himself down mood- 
 ily in the hall of the Kamloops fort. Something in his 
 appearance caused a servant to remark to Mr. Black that 
 the Indian looked dangerous, but the latter said that prob- 
 ably the boy was ailing. Soon afterward, on Mr. Black 
 crossing the hall from one room towarS another, the In- 
 dian suddenly rose and fired at his back, and the bullet 
 passed through the victim's heart and body and lodged 
 in the wall. 
 
 "But to return. On hearing the French-Canadian's 
 report, I directed him and two other men to start with 
 me at dawn on horseback, with relays, from Alexandria 
 for Kamloops. There were two feet of snow on the 
 ground during the first part of our trip of 270 miles, and 
 after a long week of almost incessant travel, or 'march,' 
 as the word was, we reached our destination, to find Fort 
 Kamloops abandoned save for the widow and children 
 still weeping over Mr. Black's frozen body, lying where 
 it fell. An Indian named Lolo, but, as a 'mission' In- 
 dian, who preached about St. Paul, commonly called 
 'Paul,' who had been occasionally employed at the fort, 
 appeared soon to sympathize with us, and, possibly, to
 
 49 
 
 report proceedings to the Indians, whose neighboring 
 camp was silent. 
 
 "After examining as far as might be the course of the 
 bullet, we buried the body, ascertained the murderer's 
 name from Lolo, and then began to make an inventory 
 of the goods at the fort. These seemed to be intact. 
 
 "Several days were thus occupied, during which an 
 armed Hudson's Bay Company party arrived from Fort 
 Colville, and later another armed party from Fort Van- 
 couver (to which southern place some of the men fleeing 
 from the fort had gone), the expectation being that the 
 Indians would be found in possession of the Kamloops 
 fort. As my own station at Alexandria demanded my 
 care, I returned thither at once in these circumstances, 
 but the end was not yet. 
 
 "The party from headquarters at Fort Vancouver be- 
 gan to terrorize the Indians within reach of Kamloops 
 as a means of enforcing delivery of the murderer. Horses 
 were seized, property destroyed, and, practically, short 
 of killing men, war against the people was undertaken. 
 The result of this ill-judged action, of course, was nil, 
 except in causing bitterness, and, after a time, the com- 
 pany's forces were recalled to Fort Vancouver and Col- 
 ville. A council held at the former fort, at which, as I 
 said, the governor-in-chief was present, then decided on 
 the policy to be adopted. 
 
 "Obviously with hostile Indians intervening, the 
 year's pack of furs from the interior of New Caledonia, 
 which required a cavalcade of 400 laden horses, could 
 not reach the shipping depot at Fort Vancouver, nor 
 could the posts receive thence their goods for next year's 
 trade. Accordingly a temporising policy was approved.
 
 "I was transferred from Alexandria to succeed Mr 
 Black at Kamloops, with instructions to try to continue 
 trading and the business of the district as usual, and 
 with the intimation that toward the end of the year a well 
 aimed force would be sent to aid me in 'prosecuting hos- 
 tilities.' 
 
 "As the above policy of the authorities seemed to me 
 unnecessary and also dangerously provocative, in view 
 of the number and boldness of the Indians, though not 
 all of them had guns or much ammunition, or the where- 
 withal to purchase warlike equipment, I asked for, and 
 was given rather grtidgirgly, more or less a free hand 
 in the circumsta. ce-;, an.l I shall now relate what took 
 place, not for self-praise, but to illustrate how not to make 
 an Indian war. 
 
 "Despatching Lolo, the Indian a'.ieady mentioned (he 
 was a man of birth and undoubted courage, but I never 
 fully trusted him), to the different camps and tribes, I 
 ascertained what horses had been taken from each and 
 what property had been destroyed by the punitive expedi- 
 tions, and I returned the horses fro.n the bands at the 
 fort and paid for the property in every case that was sub- 
 stantiated. Then I offered a bile of 'goods' to anyone 
 who would show me or my agents where the murderer 
 was; I desired no other help. 
 
 "On the third night after this notification an Indian 
 called me up to say that his friends had decided to permit 
 him to act as a guide, but he was to take no pay, in goods 
 or otherwise. The murderer was far away in a valley 
 covered with prickly pears, encamped there near a stream 
 and guarded by twelve warriors. His information prov- 
 ed to be correct, for on my sending, with a guide, a small
 
 51 
 
 party of three men (advisedly small in pursuance of my 
 own policy of regarding the matter as individual and not 
 tri'bal) the place was reached, but though the guards and 
 the murderer's wife and two child girls were there, he 
 himself, unwitting of the present pursuit, had visited the 
 Fraser river to buy salmon. Indiscreetly, as I consid- 
 ered, the party seized one of the children and brought 
 her back to the Kamloops fort, whither they returned for 
 supplies and further orders. I caused the child to be 
 dressed prettily from goods in the store, supplied with 
 a bag of toys, and immediately conveyed back to her mo- 
 ther by a special messenger on horseback. 
 
 "The latter remained a day at the camp, to \\mch 
 the murderer had not returned), and before departing 
 homeward was told by the 'guards' that they would pro- 
 tect the man no longer, but would go home. Thus the 
 youth became an outcast among his own people, with 
 his doom fixed and the avenger on his track, but it was 
 not until four or five months after this that he was run 
 down and killed, as I shall now relate. 
 
 "The pursuers, guided by the informant, came to the 
 crest of a hill and looked down on a small encampment 
 on the opposite side of a river in the valley. The guide 
 said: "There is his place and the ford is in front of the 
 camp." Acordingly, when night fell, creeping to the river 
 side, they crossed, the guide a little ahead, when he 
 stopped to whisper, ''Hush! they are talking in the lodge 
 two men's voices one man, the man we want, is telling 
 of his dream that the white men were hanging him.' 
 
 "In the rush one inmate of the lodge was seized by 
 the throat; the other inmate dashed through the doorway, 
 escaping the clutch of the foreman of the pursuers on his
 
 hair, as it h^d b?en cut short, but the foreman, a swift 
 Scotchman, overtook and knocked him down with the 
 butt of a gun. This fugitive was the murderer. 
 
 "Quickly he was taken across the ford in the rrver, 
 tied securely on a h ">rse, and the pirty traveled home- 
 ward on their four days' march, and finally reached a 
 ferry on the Thompson river, which would save a round 
 of several miles. A pipe was there smoked, and the 
 foreman pondered over the rhk of putting the prisoner 
 in a canoe finally he sent an armed man to the other 
 side, and placed in the canoe one paddler in the stern, an- 
 other in the bow. and the prisoner in the middle, not ty- 
 ing the hands of the latter. About the middle of the 
 stream the prisoner upset the canoe, and, after diving, 
 swam to the opposite side. The guard there, with lev- 
 elled gun, ordered him to go back. 'Let me land,' plead- 
 ed the murderer 'If they had killed me at the time of the 
 deed it would have been well; now I wish to live,' where- 
 upon the guard fired, wounding him in the hand. He wail- 
 ed and turned into the water, and the current took him 
 down stream within short gun range of the foreman and 
 another man at a point, or spit, of gravel, from which 
 they s>hot and killed him, he crying out before he sank 
 that he did not wish his death avenged." 
 
 It is stated by a grandson of the murdered trader 
 that Black was buried at the fort, the body being wrapped 
 in a horse hide and enclosed in a box made of hewn 
 boards. When the next brigade set out for the trip south, 
 it was decided to send Black's body with it to the Dalles. 
 Early in the journey it became necessary to convey the 
 furs, and Black's body, across a stream on foot, a tree 
 felled across it serving as a bridge. While making the
 
 53 
 
 passage over this narrow footway with the heavy and 
 ciimbersome box containing the body, one of the Indians 
 bearing it slipped and Indians and box fell into the stream. 
 Before it was extracted, the water had penetrated every 
 portion of the interior and had such an effect as to render 
 it impossible to carry out the original determination to 
 convey the remains to headquarters and the unfortunate 
 body was again buried, this time at Ducks, where it has 
 since rested undisturbed.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF JOHN TOD. 
 
 Building a Second Fort Tod's Resourcefulness Vaccina- 
 tion in a New Role A Hostile Chief.
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF JOHN TOD. 
 
 OLLOWING Samuel Black came John Tod. 
 He is described as being a man possessing 
 neither good looks, nor learned, polished 
 nor refined, and as having lapsed into a stage 
 of semi-savagery. In physique he was tall, 
 wiry, with facial characteristics of the race 
 of which he was a son, the Scottish. But 
 in spite of personal drawbacks and defi- 
 ciencies he was a man from the ground 
 up, with a powerful arm and a strong 
 will to help it out. The original 
 fort was built on the flat at the 
 north side of the Thompson river in the angle formed 
 by that stream and the North river. Tod built a new 
 one on the opposite side of the main stream, differing 
 little from the forts afterwards built at other points by 
 the* Hudeorr's Bay Company. It consisted of seven 
 buildings, used as stores, dwellings and S'hops, enclosed 
 within palisades 15 feet high, with gates on two sides 
 and bastions at two opposite angles. To the older build- 
 ing were added strongly stockaded corrals for the hun- 
 dreds of horses bred and kept at this post. Within the
 
 58 
 
 fort dwelt the chief trader with his Indian wife and 
 their three children, half a dozen men and a halfbreed 
 boy. Protected only by this small force, a large stock 
 of trinkets and supplies of all kinds were kept on hand 
 with which to trade with the Indians, to the number of 
 several hundreds, who made Kamloops their trading 
 point. Seven tribes traded here, coming from Kootenay, 
 Okanagan, Similkameen, and other distant illahies for 
 that purpose. 
 
 Towering 2,000 feet above the valley of the Thompson 
 and overlooking Kamloops city is a large eminence 
 known as Mount St. Paul. It bears its name from 
 certain Shuswap chief, given that same name by the 
 traders and the company's men but christened Jear. 
 Baptiste Lolo by the missionary Catholic priests, foi 
 already they had visited the post, Father Demers, wlu 
 afterwards became bishop, visiting it in 1845, the yeai 
 before John Tod began his reign. Lolo lived near the 
 fort and enjoyed almost absolute authority over hi 
 people. The regular winter supply of salmon for \isr 
 at the fort and by the Indians was procured, not from 
 the waters of the Thompson, but from the Indians at 
 the Fountain, on the Fraser river, a few miles above 
 Lillooet. It was la-rangoU that, Lolo slx.ulu e d H 
 party of men and Indians, for the annual fish 
 supply and in due time a start was made. Greatly to 
 Tod's surprise two days later Lolo returned, alone, and 
 after a good deal of beating about the bush, for the 
 red man is not a lover of direct methods when more 
 circuitous way can be used, it transpired that he had 
 learned of a conspiracy entered into by over 300 Indians, 
 all members of the Shuswap tribe, to capture the fort
 
 John Tod.
 
 61 
 
 at Kamloops and after murdering the inmates, rob it 
 of its contents. Tod knew nothing of fear, was resource- 
 ful and had a thorough knowledge of the native char- 
 acter and his mind was soon made up. He briefly ex- 
 plained the situation to his wife, wrote a full explanation 
 addressed to his superior officers in case he should fall, 
 and bidding the halfbreed saddle two of his swiftest 
 horses, while Lolo was asleep in his own lodge, with 
 that one lad as his sole attendant, he set out to quell 
 the threatened rising. 
 
 Lolo had a covetous eye upon a certain sorrel horse 
 belonging to Tod and as he had made a request for 
 this animal when reporting the conspiracy, a request 
 brusquely refused, it was a matter for conjecture 
 whether the alleged uprising was a mere piece of decep- 
 tion to gain the horse as a reward for a fancied service, 
 or whether he had the stern reality before him. By 
 hard riding he overtook the party from Kamloops, at 
 the point Lolo had left them, by noon and found they 
 had no knowledge of the conspiracy, though he discov- 
 ered this without letting them become aware of it. 
 Orders were given to look well to the condition of their 
 arms and next morning they moved forward, and pres- 
 ently, on reaching an open space, he detected signs of 
 opposition; painted armed savages lurking behind trees 
 and bushes; men only, lack of women and children 
 clearly indicating a war party. Calling to him a Cana- 
 dian named George Simpson, he bade him fall back 
 quietly with the horses and should disaster befall, to 
 ride to the fort as quickly as possible. Simpson hesi- 
 tated and wanted to share the danger. "Damn you, 
 go," roared Tod. Then he carried out his scheme, daring.
 
 62 
 
 as it was simple. Riding at full speed towards the war 
 P'.rty, who raised their weapons to pour a volley that 
 would have torn him to pieces had it been fired, he drew 
 his sword pnd pistols, raised them aloft and then delib- 
 erately threw them on the ground. Then, unarmed, 
 ili'iie. he made his horse perform all manner of evolu- 
 tions, and while tin- Indians gazed, curious as to what 
 would happen next, ho charged into their midst, lie 
 smiled at them but they knew him and saw his smile 
 was o\f anger, not mirth. He demanded what they 
 wanted. "We want to see Lolo. Where is he?" they 
 demanded in turn, "Then you have not heard the news? 
 Poor Lolo. he is at home sick," he replied and then 
 proceeded to tell them that Lolo had the smallpox! 
 They had heard of the dread scourge and they had 
 learned, too, of the way it had decimated the Indians 
 of Oregon after the Whitmin massacre; a punishment 
 >ent by the g"ds for wrong doing! He told them how 
 much he loved his red brothers, that they must not 
 come near the fort until he gave them notice and that 
 he had brought medicine to keep them from dying 
 from the disease they dreTded so much. There was a 
 complete revulsion of feeling; the man they would have 
 cheerfully killed, they hailed as their savior and flew 
 to obey him when he bade them load his horses with 
 salmon. He kept them employed while this was being 
 done and then vaccinated as many as his supply of 
 virus would suffice, instructing them how to vaccinate 
 others from the vesicles when they became ripe. And 
 so ended the great Shuswap conspiracy and, needless to 
 say, Lolo received the sorrel he had so long and ardently 
 coveted.
 
 63 
 
 In the "History of British Columbia" Bancroft re- 
 lates with precise detail an entertaining story of how 
 Tod subdued some unruly Indians by threatening to blow 
 them all to pieces and the country besides by explod- 
 ing three kegs of gunpowder. The facts as related by 
 Tod himself are somewhat at variance with the historian's 
 picturesque tale, but although the actual occurrence was 
 less romantic than Bancroft's version of it, it is interest- 
 ing enough and serves to show the need of constant 
 alertness on the part of these isolated fur traders in order 
 to carry them through with safety and without loss of 
 dignity and influence. 
 
 The changes, and rumors of changes, in the com- 
 pany's business in the western department consequent 
 upon the Oregan Treaty of 1846, tended to disturb the 
 Indian mind as to the future, though these changes, prac- 
 tically, did not affect a band of Indians trading usually 
 at the fort, but which did not affiliate with the Indians of 
 any ''nation" permitted by Tod to encamp in the neigh- 
 borhood while waiting to proceed to a distant hunting 
 ground on a further opening of the spring season. 
 
 The news spread widely, even so far as Okanagan 
 Forks over 200 miles distant south. "Nicola," a very 
 great chieftain and a bold man, for he had 17 wives," 
 naively writes the trader, "ruled the Indians there, and 
 claimed lordship over a territory as big as the half of 
 Scotland, stretching far into the present British Colum- 
 bia, an administrative dstrict which still bears his name. 
 The band permitted to encamp was, unfortunately, the 
 hereditary enemy of Nicola's people. The old chief sat 
 for two days pondering, then jumped up and spoke to his 
 warriors of the misdeeds of the encamping tribe which
 
 r,4 
 
 had ventured into land under his own (claimed) jurisdic- 
 tion, and he urged them, if they had the hearts of men 
 and not of women, to wipe out those people. "Let us 
 march!" exclaimed the young men. "Nay, not yet!" in- 
 terposed Nicola, "for we lack ammunition." 
 What happened is thus related by Tod: 
 "My first hint of impending mischief was the desire 
 of an Indian for a gun and a quantity of ammunition as 
 the price of ten skins, instead of, as usual, taking blankets 
 and cloth as pay of the barter. 'We are going to the 
 Blackfeet country,' said he. Next week another came 
 with the same story, but by that time I had heard of Ni- 
 coin's speech and said I had no am.Tiunition to spare, 
 whereupon, leaving his bundle of furs in the store, the 
 Indian hurried back to Nicola to report progress, or 
 rather failure, which so confounded the old chief that he 
 again sat, for several days, I was t:>ld, in meditation. 
 'This man of the Kamloops fort,' finally said he, in a great 
 speech, 'shelters our enemies and refuses to trade; we 
 will take the fort and all there is in it and have our re- 
 venge on our enemies.' Spies told me of this decision 
 and of the approach of the Nicola war party, painted and 
 prancing along the bank of the South Thompson river, 
 which caused the half-dozen French Canadians at the fort 
 to flee hurriedly though the wife of one upbraided him 
 as a coward and caused many other white men who 
 were near to depart, as also the encamped band that was 
 the cause of the mischief. 
 
 "It was now my turn, like the old chief, Nicola, tc> 
 sit down and ponder, but my pondering occupied minutes 
 instead of days. Seizing an Indian who passed the fort 
 gate on foot, I dragged him roughly inside and compelled
 
 him to bring from the store a barrel of gunpowder and 
 place it near the door. Then, opening the barrel, I 
 spilled the contents all over the doorway and directed the 
 Indian to bring me a flint and steel, on which request he 
 bolted, but I caught him, saying: 'Not yet; I only wish 
 to see that the flint will act.' We tried several and at 
 last got a good apparatus. Thrusting the man out of 
 the fort, I then laid a train of powder to the mass of it 
 and sat down to wait. In about an hour the local In- 
 dian, Lolo, or Paul, with a Nicola Indian from the war 
 party the latter whitewashed as when not meditating a 
 war parley approached in a canoe. These I addressed 
 from the bank of the river at the fort, driving them off 
 with reproaches: 'Begone, and quick! I want not you; 
 where is that woman chief of yours? Where is he I 
 am alone here, and Nicola fears with his whole tribe to 
 attack a single man,' and so forth. That was the 'bar- 
 rel of powder' incident. 
 
 "Nicola, to whom the Indian who had seen the pow- 
 der spilling ran, held councils but did not risk an attack. 
 The Indians knew the effect of a flask exploded, but a 
 barrel, they conceived, might devastate the whole district. 
 The end of the matter followed the practice in such cases 
 of the civilized nations. Several of Nicola's principal 
 chiefs who knew me came in peaceful array with assur- 
 ances that he had only been conducting a "reconnaissance 
 in force," and was pleased to know that the enemies of 
 his people had departed; his respect for the great com- 
 pany and its honorable local manager was immense; it 
 was a misapprehension that he ever contemplated an en- 
 try into the fort without invitation; but he, personally, 
 hoped for an opportunity of enjoying that satisfaction
 
 66 
 
 according to recognized etiquette before departing for 
 the south. So I swept up the powder and entertained as 
 best I could the baffled chieftain. He was a stately per- 
 sonage, the very pink of courtesy, who sat his horse like 
 a crusader and commanded the entire devotion of his 
 followers in any enterprise that did not involve 
 the experimental personal test of an unknown explosive 
 power."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A NEW OUTLET. 
 
 Tod's Diplomacy with the Indians The Oregon Treaty- 
 End of Dual Occupancy of Oregon.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A NEW OUTLET. 
 
 HE unrest naturally felt by the Hudson's 
 Bay Co., on account of the doubtful result 
 of the diplomatic discussions respecting the 
 international boundary caused the transfer of 
 a number of horses, and also cattle from dis- 
 tricts south of the 49th parallel to the Kam- 
 loops station, where bunch grass pasture was 
 plentiful. Some of these came from Tod's old 
 farming station on the Cowlitz, and he amused 
 himself with the pretence that they recognized 
 him. Two hundred brood mares were inclu- 
 ded in the great band thus sent to Kamloops, 
 and in the spring, foals began to appear. 
 
 Unfortunately, also, there soon appeared an addition 
 to the bands of wolves in the locality, as if these beasts 
 of prey had been following the progress of the diplomatic 
 negotiations. Vigilance was useless, but having heard 
 of strychnine, Mr Tod sent to Walla Walla, 300 miles 
 away, for a supply of it. The sequel is best told by the 
 trader himself 
 
 "It happened that about this time I had three parties 
 out in different places squaring logs to make new build-
 
 ings, and to these 1 gave horse flesh and portions of the 
 poison for wolf baits, enjoining them strictly to take the 
 baits up every morning. A man, Lamille, from one of 
 these wood camps, on his way to the fort for a supply of 
 provisions, placed, foolishly, a remnant of salt salmon he 
 had with him on one of these wolf baits as he passed it, 
 which bait had not been removed. Later on a hungry 
 Indian, seeing the morsel, kindled a fire and ate, not only 
 the salmon, but the horse flesh wolf bait (which perhaps 
 I should have marked), and when Camille. on returning 
 that way, noticed the head of the Indian rising and fall- 
 ing in the long grass, he bethought him of the poison, 
 and galloped back to the fort to tell me what he had 
 seen. 
 
 Seldom had I been in such a difficulty as then. What 
 to do I knew not, but, running to the medicine chest, I 
 took out some blue vitrol and we hastened to the scene. 
 The Indian's teeth were set, but by forcing his jaws open 
 a little I poured the vitrol down his throat. This almost 
 immediately caused violent vomiting and he survived, 
 but was an invalid for a considerable time. 
 
 The Indians generally, meanwhile, had been talking 
 about the poison and this mishap to one of their number 
 added much to their uneasiness. Several hundreds in a 
 state of excitement and alarm, but not in war dress, ap- 
 peared at the fort to demand explanations. Speech af- 
 ter speech was made bv the chiefs the fear evidently 
 being entertained that I meditated poisoning the people. 
 "What," said I in reply, "what do you suppose I am liv- 
 ing among you for? Is it not to obtain furs and to 
 trade? How could I get the furs if you were poisoned? 
 Had I desired to poison you I could have done it long
 
 A. C. Anderson.
 
 73 
 
 ago. You know that I sent for the poison to kill the 
 wolves that were killing the foals your foals as well as 
 mine." Then, perceiving the entry into the hall of the 
 man who had taken the poison, I seized him, and, drag- 
 ging him forward, said: "Here is the cause of your trou- 
 ble this thief who steals the white man's provisions 
 such a hungry thief that he will eat what is meant to kill 
 wolves." 
 
 This diversion and attack saved the situation, for 
 the poor wretch technically had committed two offences 
 condemned by tribal sentiment he had robbed from a 
 white man and he had robbed what was akin to a "trap," 
 and, moreover, he had stirred others against me, who had 
 saved his own life lately by. the exercise of wonderful 
 medical skill, though I had burned his gullet in the pro- 
 cess. I was not pleased with my own argument, but it 
 served the purpose." 
 
 While Tod, however, had charge of the fort, on May 
 15th, 18/16, A. C. Anderson, who then had charge of 
 Fort Alexandria, the most southerly post on the Fraser 
 except Fort Langley, set out with five men detailed for 
 the purpose, to survey a new route of travel to the 
 coast. He had realised that the negotiations then pend- 
 ing between the governments of Great Britain and the 
 United States with respect to the international boundary, 
 would result in a new distributing point being selected 
 on British soil to take the place of Fort Vancouver, 
 which had for some time proved unsatisfactory on 
 account of the anomalous position in which the company 
 found themselves by reason of the dual occupancy of the 
 territory in dispute;. Should such a new post be created, 
 a way of reaching it from Alexandria would be a neces-
 
 sity. They passed down Kamloops lake, where they 
 made their first camp; crossed Deadman's creek in 
 an old canoe and made their way to the Bonaparte, 
 camping at Hat creek. Next day they traversed the 
 Marble canyon, reaching Pavilion rancherie and follow- 
 ing the Fraser to the Fountain. Arrived at Lillooet they 
 crossed the Fraser, followed Seton lake, Anderson lake, 
 and Lillooet and Harrison lakes to the Fraser again, 
 arriving at Fort Langley on May 24th. ,lle had been 
 unable to bring horses farther than Fountain and had 
 sent them to the Similkameen country, there to await 
 him. 
 
 On May 28th he again left Fort Langley and attempted 
 to hnd a way over the Hope mountains to the Nicola 
 country. After trying several passes he fell in with a 
 Thompson river Indian who agreed to act as guide, 
 but he was not of much service. Finally the party 
 arrived at Vermilion Bay where they found their horses 
 awaiting them, and easily made their way to Kamloops 
 via Nicola lake, arriving at the fort on gth June. Ander- 
 son was not satisfied, however, and next year he soug.ht 
 to find a better way. Leaving Kamloops with five men 
 he went to Nicola lake and followed the Nicola river 
 to its junction with the Thompson. Thence he followed 
 the Thompson lo the Indian village that stood where 
 Lytton now is, and made his way down the Fraser as 
 far as the village of the Sachincos (Yale). A trip by 
 canoe to Langley did not delay them long, and then 
 began the return journey. At Kequeloose, a point a 
 short distance above Spuzzum, a short cut was taken 
 across the mountains to Nicola lake and thence back 
 to Kamloops.
 
 75 
 
 Early in 1848 Fort Yale was established by Chief 
 Factor James Murray Yale then in charge of Fort Lang- 
 ley, and who had entered the service of the company 
 in 1815. Short in stature he was know as Little Yale 
 to the officers of the company, but in everything save 
 physique he was a giant; brave, fearless, reckless, he 
 was possessed of good administrative ability. It was 
 the conclusion of the Oregon treaty which placed the 
 international boundary line far north of Fort Vancouver, 
 and the unrest that followed the hostilities consequent 
 to the Whitman massacre that caused orders to be 
 issued to all Interior posts to proceed to Fort Langley 
 in 1848 for their supplies instead of to Fort Vancouver. 
 Three brigades set out, one from Alexandria, one from 
 Kairloops ;ind one from Colville; the route they were 
 to follow was that traversed the preceding summer by 
 Anderson. But it proved a disastrous road and it was 
 condemned, the route by Hope being chosen instead, 
 and Fort Hope was built during the winter of 1848-9 
 The road was made the next season and, under the 
 name of the Hope Trail, was followed until 1860 when 
 the government road was made. To those who see Hope 
 now it will come as a suprise to learn that in that year, 
 1860, it was the second largest town on the mainland, 
 it was for a time a rendezvous for the gold miners 
 going to and returning from the Upper Fraser mines 
 and Cariboo, one authority asserting "and a number 
 of Chinese have taken up their abode in it. It is making 
 rapid progress, and roads are being pushed forward 
 north and east of it." 
 
 Chief Trader, Paul Fraser, a son of Simon Fraser, 
 the discoverer and explorer, was placed in charge of
 
 76 
 
 Fort Kamloops in the early so's. He was born at Glen- 
 garry, Ontario, and entered the service of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company when nineteen years of age. He was not 
 a popular officer, being too curt and overbearing, not 
 alone towards his subordinates, but to his brother officers 
 as well. The Hudson's Bay people had a method of their 
 own of enforcing discipline and punishing misdemeanors, 
 by the indiscriminate flogging and beating of the Indians 
 and halfbreeds. Paul Fraser had ample faith in the ef- 
 ficiency of this summary administration of "club" law, 
 and was considered a capable officer, for this reason, by 
 his superiors. For some offense, not recorded but prob- 
 ably trivial enough, Fraser administered to Falardeau, 
 one of his men, a French Canadian, so severe a castiga- 
 tion that death resulted. It fell to one Baptiste, an 
 Iroquois, to make the coffin for the murdered man, for 
 no other term adequately covers the mode of Falardeau's 
 death. While so engaged, planing and shaping the 
 boards, Fraser passed by him and observing his occupa- 
 tion, roughly told him that "rough, unpla ned boards 
 are good enough for that rascal." Baptiste stared at 
 Fraser a moment in amazement and then exclaimed with 
 characteristic bluntness, "When you die you may not 
 have even rough boards to be buried in." As though a 
 spirit of prophesy had prompted the frank reply, two 
 months later Fraser was suddenly killed while camped on 
 Manson's Mountain, Similkameen, and buried on the 
 spot without coffin of any description. He was sitting 
 in his tent reading, while his men were preparing their 
 camp. Some of these were engaged in felling a large 
 tree, which by some mischance crashed into the tent, 
 crushing the life out of the man who had begrudged a
 
 few planed boards in the coffin of the man for whose 
 death he was responsible. 
 
 There were three grades of officers in the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's service: clerk, chief trader and chief 
 factor. Clerks received $100 to $150 a year with keep. 
 Promotion rarely came before 14 or 15 years service, the 
 next step being to chief trader, who then became a share- 
 holder instead of a salaried servant. After a further 
 15 to 20 years service came the coveted promotion to 
 chief factor according to vacancies, these being infrequent. 
 The chief trader had charge of a post, several such posts 
 being under the direction of a chief factor.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DAWN OF A NEW ERA. 
 
 The Discovery of Cold. The Rush to the Fraser and 
 
 Cariboo Trouble With the Indians Commander 
 
 Mayne Visits Kamloops.
 
 SI 
 
 CHAPTEIl VI. 
 
 DAWN OF A NEW ERA. 
 
 N the sixth decade of the igth century a 
 new era dawned upon the country. Hitherto 
 the fur companies had monopolised it and 
 their one object was to secure furs in as 
 sreat abundance as possible. In the fifties 
 however, the presence of gold in the streams 
 and rivers became known and Chief Trader 
 McLean, then in charge of Fort Kam- 
 loops, in 1852 purchased gold from the In- 
 dians who had obtained it from the 
 Thompson river. It was at Nicomen, 
 between Spence's Bridge and Lytton 
 that gold in paying quantities was first discovered. Then 
 from several quarters came the report of fresh discover- 
 ies. Halfbreeds and Canadians from Fort Colville, for- 
 merly in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 made their way to the vicinity of Lytton, found rich 
 bars and their success becoming noised abroad soon 
 brought new comers from afar. McDonald and Adams, 
 two partners engaged in mining on the Thompson and 
 Fraser in 1857-8 took some gfold down to the lower 
 country where McDonald killed Adams, took his gold
 
 82 
 
 and coolly exhibited it at Olympia. The rush soon began 
 in earnest and in 1858 thousands of men over-ran the 
 Fraser river from its mouth to Lytton and above thai 
 point on both the Fraser and Thompson rivers. 
 
 While thousands arrived Iroiu \ariou& pon.s f u>ost of 
 them landing at Victoria and thrncr by v^h.it transport- 
 ation was available to Fraser river points, large number 
 made the journey overland from California. For pro- 
 tection against the Indians they found it advisable to 
 travel in companies, these being composed of from 400 
 to 500 men. The route taken was in the main, that 
 which Ross had followed forty years before when he 
 was almost the sole white man in the whole southern 
 Interior of the country, by way of Okanagan and Kam- 
 loops. Some of them traveled with pack trains, others 
 with oxen, the latter sold for beef on arriving at the 
 mines. One of these companies from California and 
 Oregon was under the leadership of McLaughlin and 
 lumbered 160 well armed men. At Walla Walla they 
 were informed of the hostile attitude of several power- 
 ail bands of Indians. Before reaching the Columbia one 
 of the party was killed by the natives and after crossing 
 the river, when about to traverse a defile McLaughlin 
 fortunately detected an Indian scout spying from behind 
 a rock. Both sides of the pass were ambuscaded by the 
 Indians and severe fighting took place, three men being 
 killed and several severely wounded. While the engage- 
 ment was in progress a detachment crossed tthe river 
 to outflank the Indians and after setting tire to the grass 
 the latter abandoned their position. A few days later 
 the party suffered attack by mounted natives but ulti- 
 mately a parley ensued and peace was patched up. It
 
 Sir James Douglas.
 
 85 
 
 was not of much force, for cattle were stolen and thefts 
 and annoyances of daily occurrence until within three 
 days journey of the Thompson river which they reached 
 at a point nearly midway between Lytton and Spence's 
 Bridge. Others carne by way of Okanagan lake and 
 Kamloops 
 
 The Victoria Gazette, the first newspaper published in 
 British Columbia of August 17. 1858, refers to one of 
 these overland parties as follow 1 -: 
 
 "Our Yale correspondent states that Mr. Tucker, form- 
 erly of Lehama, California, who had arrived at the Fork-* 
 (By this name the junction of the Thompson with t> e 
 Frascr at Lytton wa then designated) in a company 
 of 160 men, with 400 animal", from the Dalles, had been 
 30 days on the trip, and had a severe fight with the Indi- 
 ans on the road at Fort Okanagin, an old Hudson's Bay 
 Company post, in which they lost three killed and si~ 
 wounded. .Had beaten the Indians off with the loss of 
 five horses." 
 
 The fortune hunters who came overland made in the 
 main for two points, the Forks (Lytton) and the Fount- 
 ain, above Lillooet. Those who came by sea and from 
 Washington Territory, mined in the vicinity of Hope 
 and Yale. Twenty thousand men mined on the Fraser 
 and Thompson in 1858, the major porlio:) of them be- 
 tween Hope and the Forks. As Hope \vas the point of 
 departure for the upper reaches by ib.3 Similkameen-Nic- 
 ola irail, besides being the then head of navigation, it 
 became the most important place on the mainland. 
 Townsites were laid out and surveyed at Langley, Hope 
 and Yale and lots were sold by auction, bringing good 
 prices. A writer thus describes Yale as it was when he
 
 VH 
 
 saw it on July zSth, 1858. "We arrived nt Fort Yale in a 
 little less than nine hours from Fort Hope. There are 
 
 probably 700 or 800 people here, nenrlv nil of whom are 
 miners, living in canvas tents, ard waiting for the river 
 to fall I saw no drunkeness or I wlessness of any kind. 
 Everything 1 was peaceful and quiet. A number of miners 
 were at work on the river bank, with rockers, and most 
 of them making a living by washing the loose dirt and 
 cobble stones." (At that time there were 2000 miners 
 working between Yale and Hope, taking out from $10 
 to $yo a day on the bars). "T slept at Mr. Johnson's (of 
 Gallon's express") tent that night, and breakfasted next 
 morning with my old San Francisco friend. Henry M. 
 Snyder, whom I found tenting a little way down the 
 river. He gave me a good breakfast consisting of fried 
 -ahmui. bacon, hot bread ami coffee, cooked by himself, 
 and served in tin plate- and cups each man Bitting down 
 tailor fashon on the fnml. 1 had a sharp appetite 
 ..II-! !td the fare full justice." 
 
 "There is but one public eating house in the town, and 
 the invariable diet is bacon, salmon, bread, tea and coffee, 
 and the charge is $1 a meal. No milk or butter is ever 
 seen. The eating house is kept in a log house partly cov- 
 ered with bark, and with a dirt floor. Everything is done 
 in the same room, which is not more than 12 x 14 and is 
 consequently exceedingly cramped for space and as hot 
 as an oven." It was on that same day that the Uma- 
 tilla, the pioneer steamer to reach Yale, made her first 
 trip to that town, taking five hours to make the trip from 
 >Hope> the return trip was made in 51 minutes, her ad- 
 vent being the occasion for general rejoicing, the miners 
 firing off rifles and revolvers and yelling themselves
 
 87 
 
 hoarse to celebrate the event. Yale then became the 
 head of navigation and this speedily brought about a 
 new order of things. The Hope route became a second- 
 ary matter and a reversion to the old Anderson route, 
 pack trains between Yale and Spuzzum being in oper- 
 ation in the following month. At Spuzzum, Frank Way 
 had erected a bridge and a mile above he ran a ferry. 
 The first pack trains over this route reached the Forks 
 (Lytton) on September loth There was, however, a 
 rival road, a land and water route, between Harrison 
 river and Lillooet. (In 1860 a new and better read was 
 opened between Yale and Lytton, which afterwards be- 
 came the famous Cariboo wagon road). The river 
 was worked for 140 miles up-stream from Hope, and 
 also up the Thompson to 15 miles beyond the conflu- 
 ence with the Nicola river. Boston Bar became quite 
 a settlement, and by October, 1858, Lytton had 50 dwel- 
 lings. Miners worked up above that town and by No- 
 vember there were 3,000 working near Fountain. 
 
 Commander Mayne describes Lyttun, which he visited 
 in 1859, as then consisting "of an irregular row of some 
 dozen wooden huts, a drinking saloon, an express office, 
 a large court-house as yet unfinished and two little 
 buildings near the river, which had once belonged to the 
 Hudson Bay Company, but which were now inhabited by 
 the district magistrate. The gentleman happened to be 
 absent from Lytton, but I found his constable, and at once 
 took up my quarters in the court house. Next day, 
 thinking we should find it preferable, we pitched our tent 
 without, but the clouds of dust which swept over Lytton 
 continuously soon made us glad to seek its shelter again." 
 But this had not all happened without some trouble
 
 88 
 
 with the natives. The Indians had taken to mining and 
 there were frequent disturbances between the native* 
 and the whites over mining ground and charges for 
 transportation by canoes. At Hill's Bar the native* 
 threatened to clear the entire country of the white men. 
 Governor Douglas rated both Indians and natives 
 roundly, but many a prospector who went up the Frascr 
 full of hope was never again seen. On August 7th., 
 1858, two Frenchmen were killed on the trail above the 
 Rig Canyon. As soon as the news reached Yale forty 
 miners, well armed, and headed by Captain Rouse, ieft 
 for the scene of the murder. At Boston Bar they were 
 joined by 150 miners congregated there, and on inc i^th 
 the party encountered the Indians at the head of the 
 canyon, a pitched battle took place and seven braves 
 were sent to the happy hunting grounds, and the Indi- 
 ans were driven out. The party thereupon returne 1 to 
 Yale. Referring to this expedition the Victoria Gazette 
 of i2th Sept., 1858, says: 
 
 "Our Yale correspondent states that he learned from 
 James Stewart, who has just arrived from up river, that 
 ?fter being perfectly satisfied that it was useless to 
 attempt to mine under the present state of affairs, his 
 party sold some of their provisions and buried the rest, 
 and started down the river for this place, when just at 
 the head of the Big Canyon they had a fight -*ith the 
 Indians, killing nine, and among that number WHS one 
 chief. Quite a number were wounded, and three taken 
 prisoners. The miners routed the Indians, who took 
 refuge in the mountains. Five of their rancheries were 
 burned." 
 
 Further fighting took place a few days lat:r, but th*
 
 89 
 
 _/ , 
 
 leader of the whites, II. M. Snyder, made trea:ics of 
 peace with all the Indians as far as the Thompson, and 
 soon the trail was alive with miners again. Early in 
 September, of the same year, Douglas again visited 
 Yale and for better preservation of the pea~e he ap- 
 pointed a commissioner, ten troopers and 'en special 
 constables, a similar disposition was made nt Hope, and 
 at Lytton a commissioner (Captain Trevallis), ten troop- 
 ers and a warden of the river were appoint-'d. Langley 
 was expected to be the capital of British Columbia, ?nd 
 great preparations were made for the Royal Engineers 
 who were to be stationed there. In November, 1^58, 
 they arrived, 25 of them, under Colonel Moody and 
 Captain Grant. 
 
 The following January a report reached Vicloiin of 
 an outbreak at Yale. Col. Moody at once took hi* 
 whole for^e there and was reinforced 'iy T , arty of 
 blue jackets and marines from the Satellite. The diffi- 
 culty, which arose out of a petty squabble, in which a 
 man named McGowan figured prominenttly, between a 
 couple of justices of the peace. Fortunately it ended 
 without any serious consequences, though it premised 
 at one time to be the cause of grave disturbance. It 
 was soon after this that the site of New Westminster 
 was examined by Lieutenant, afterwards Admiral, 
 Mayne and Dr. Campbell on behalf of Col. Moody. 
 After 1858 the Thompson, the first, ground where gold 
 was mined, received bui little attention and the mining 
 population was never great, though the gold was, and 
 is extensively d-stributed all along its course. In 1858, 
 Tranquille creek was prospected for a distance of 40 
 miles. In 1859 five men were making $300 a day with
 
 90 
 
 sluice boxes, and others took out $10 to $t2 a day with 
 the rocker. In 1860 there were 200 Chinese mining at 
 the mouth of the creek, and in the following year 150 
 ir.im-Ts averaged 1 $16 a day in the vicinity of the creek. 
 Up to this time, however, there was no mining done on 
 the North river and saye for the little done at Tram- 
 quille, Kamloops was out of the hurly burly that agitated 
 the forts at Hope, Langley and Yale. The more peace- 
 ful and less exciting pursuit of trading with the Indians 
 engaged the whole attention of the Hudson's Bay officers 
 and men, and peace and quiet prevailed. 
 
 The condition of affairs at Kamloops in the year 1859, 
 is well described by Commander Mayne of Her Maj- 
 esty's ship Plun-me<-. engaged in surveying, who made 
 a mp through the districts bordering on the Fraser, 
 Thompson and Harrison rivers. He says: "It was eight 
 o'clock in the morning when we came in sight of Kam- 
 loups. The view from where we stood was very beau- 
 tiful. A hundred feet below us the Thompson, some 
 300 yards wide, flowed leisurely past us. Opposite, 
 moving directly towards us, and meeting the larger rirer 
 nearly at right angles, was the North river, at its junc- 
 tion with the Thompson, wider even than that stream, 
 ;ind between them stretched a wide delta of alluvial 
 plain, which was continued some eight or ten miles until 
 the mountains closed in upon the river so nearly, as 
 to only just leave a narrow pathway by the water*! edge 
 At this fork, and on the west side stood Fort Kam- 
 loops, enclosed within pickets; and opposite it was the 
 village of the Shuswap Indians. Both the plain and 
 mountains were covered with grass and early spring 
 wild flowers.
 
 91 
 
 We descended to the river side, and our Indian. 
 companions shouted until a canoe was sent across, in 
 which we embarked and paddled across to the fort. 
 Kamloops differed in no respect from other forts of 
 the Hudson Bay Company that 1 had seen, being a 
 mere stockade enclosing six or eight buildings, with a 
 gateway at each end. Introducing ourselves to Mr. 
 McLean, the Company's officer in charge of the fort 
 nnd district, we were most cordially received, and with 
 the hospitality common to these gentlemen, invited to 
 stay in his quarters for the few days we must remain 
 here. At this time the only other officer at this fort 
 was Mr. Mason. With them, however, was staying a 
 Roman Catholic priest, who, having got into some 
 trouble with the Indians of the Okanagan country, had 
 thought it prudent to leave that district and take up 
 his abode for a time at Kamloops. 
 
 "The life which these gentlemen lead at their inland 
 stations must he necessarily duil and uneventful; but 
 they have their wives and families with them, and grow, 
 I believe, so attached to this mode of existence as rarely 
 to care to exchange it for another. It may be well to 
 describe here, in as few words as possible, the position 
 of the Hudson Bay Company in these districts, of which 
 until lately they formed the sole white population. 
 Those who have seen the "fur traders" only at their 
 seaports, can form but a very inadequate idea of the men 
 of the inland stations. 
 
 "Inland, you find men, who, hnving gone from Eng- 
 land, or more frequently Scotland, ab buys of 14 and 
 16, have lived ever since in the wilds, never seeing any 
 of their white fellow creatures but the two or three
 
 92 
 
 stationed vvitli them, except when the annual fur brig- 
 ade called at their posts. They are almost all married 
 and have 'large families, their wives being generally 
 halfhreed children of the older servants of the Com- 
 pany. Marriage has always been encouraged amongst 
 them to the utmost, as it effectually attaches a man 
 to, the country, and tends to pr-vent any glaring im- 
 morality among the subordinates, which if not checked, 
 would soon lead to an unsafe familiarity with the neigh- 
 bouring Indians, and render the maintenance of the 
 post very difficult, if not impossible. 
 
 "The day after our arrival at Kamloops, we went 
 across North River to the Indian village, to pay a visit 
 to the chief of the Shuswap tribe, who was described 
 o us as being somewhat of a notability. Here was the 
 site of the old fort of the North West Company which 
 some twelve years back, after the murder of Mr. Black 
 (the officer in charge of it) by the Indians, had been re- 
 moved by his successor to the opposite side of the river. 
 No dcubt the old site was preferable to the new, which 
 is subject to summer floods. Only the year before our 
 visit indeed, all the floors had been started by the water, 
 and the occupants of the fort buildings had to move 
 about in canoes. 
 
 "The building into which we were introduced was 
 more like a regular wooden house than an Indian hut. 
 In the centre room, lying at length upon a mattress stret- 
 ched upon the floor, was the chief of the Shuswap Indians. 
 His face was a fine one, although sickness and pain had 
 worn it away terribly. His eyes were black, piercing and 
 restless, his cheekbones high, and the lips, naturally thin 
 and close, had that white, compressed look which tells
 
 I 

 
 95 
 
 so surely of constant suffering. Such was St. Paul, as 
 the Hudson Bay Company called him, or Jean Baptiste 
 Lolo, as he had been named by the Roman Catholic priests 
 who were in this district many years before." This wa^ 
 the same Lolo with whom Mr. Tod had much experience. 
 Crippled as he was, the old chief accompanied Commander 
 Mayne and Dr. Campbell to the mountain already men- 
 tioned as overlooking the fort, which they ascended and 
 which, in honor of their guide, they christened Mount St. 
 Paul. Near it stands another elevation named Roches 
 des Femmes, from the fact that in summer the native 
 women often frequented it to gather edible moss and 
 wild berries. This moss or lichen, (L. jubatus)' was pre- 
 pared by being boiled and pressed into cakes, in which 
 form it was eaten. 
 
 "The interior of the hut is divided into compartments 
 and, upon entering, you may see a lire burning in each, 
 with six or eight indiriduals huddled about it their 
 dusky forms scarcely distinguishable in the clouds of 
 white'blinding smoke' which had no other outlet than 
 the door' or sometimes a hole in the roof. Their temp- 
 orary hut is constructed of thin poles covered with mats, 
 but these are generally used only in the summer, and 
 upon their fishing expeditions and travels. It is not 
 usual, however, from some superstitious reason, or be- 
 cause of sickness breaking out, to leave their village with 
 everything standing, and never return to them." 
 
 Commander Mayne also mentions that he went "to 
 see the bands of horses driven in, and those pa>t work 
 selected for food. There were some two hundred or 
 three hundred horses of all sorts and ages at the station. 
 Just outside the fort were two pens, or corrals as they
 
 called them, and into these the horses were driven. A 
 few colts were chosen for breaking in, and then the old 
 mares, whose bre-^inf time was past, were selected 
 and for it was upon horse flesh principally that the 
 people of the fort lived driven out to be killed, skin- 
 ned and salted down." 
 
 Commander Mayne had a spice of the romantic in 
 his composition. He missed seeing the Fur Brigade 
 which was daily expected at the time of his visit to Kam- 
 loops and he says: "It was not without regret that I 
 missed seeing the Fur Brigade. It is one of those insti- 
 tutions of this wild and beautiful country, which must 
 give way /before the approach of civilization. The time 
 will come soon, perhaps when such & light as a train 
 of some 200 horses, laden with fur packages, winding 
 their way through the rough mountain passes of British 
 Columbia, will be as unfamiliar as that of a canoe upon 
 its rivers. No doubt the change will be for the better, 
 but it is sometimes hard to bejieve it. Of course it is 
 much more practical to ascend the Fraser in a river steam- 
 boat than to make the journey in an Indian canoe * * * 
 but it will ibe long before I should prefer the former 
 method of locomotion to the latter when the weather is 
 fine. With all its many inconveniences, there is something 
 marvellously pleasant in canoe travelling, with its tran- 
 quil, gliding motion, the regular, splashless dip, dip of 
 the paddles, the wild chant of the Indian crew, or better 
 still, the songs of the Canadian voyageurs, keeping time to 
 the pleasant chorus of "Ma Belle Rosa," or "Le Beau 
 Soldat." i
 
 o 
 
 a> 
 
 9 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 73 
 O 
 
 a> 
 
 Q. 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SEARCH FOR GOLD. 
 
 Excitement in Southern British Columbia The Building 
 of the Cariboo Road The First Passing- of Yale.
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SEARCH FOR GOLD. 
 
 N 1861 the presence of gold in the bars of 
 the North Thompson and its branches first 
 attracted attention. Jameson Creek, Clear- 
 water river, Barriere river (where a party 
 of Frenchmen made $50 a day), Adams ri- 
 ver, Moberly creek and other streams made 
 things a little livelier around the old fort 
 and in 1862 there was still a further addi- 
 tion by the arrival of an adventurous 
 party who had made the long trip 
 across the prairies and while a por- 
 tion of the original party descended the Fra- 
 ser to Quesael, another portion followed the North 
 Piver. Two of them were drowned and the remainder 
 nearly perished for lack of food. Among them was 
 one woman 'having in her care three children and adding 
 to the number a few miles above Kamloops. Among 
 those who came in this party were the late Samuel 
 Mo.ore, J. A. Mara, C. T. Cooney, G. C. Tunstall, the late 
 James Mclntosh, etc., each of whom has since that long
 
 102 
 
 ago day done his share to build up the town and vic- 
 inity. 
 
 Prior to the Fraser river excitement, gold was mined 
 on the upper Columbia, as early indeed as 1856, Gover- 
 nor Douglas having in that year announced the fact to 
 the Colonial Office. Miners earned from $10 to $40 a 
 day, but with their usual restlessness and fickleness, the 
 news of a new "strike" was sufficient to cause them to 
 rush away to the new field. In 1863-4 an excitement 
 was aroused over the placer ground in the Kootenay 
 valley near the boundary line, but this was not so intense 
 as the Big Bend excitement which occurred shortly after- 
 wards. 
 
 Wild Horse Creek, a tributary of the Kootenay river, 
 was the scene of the Kootenay flurry. Discovered in 
 1863, in May 1864, four hundred miners had staked claims 
 on it and, according to Hudson Bay Factor MacKay, by 
 August, 5,000 men were in the district. One tenth of 
 these remained for the winter at Fisherville the principal 
 camp or town on the Creek which was reached by two 
 routes; one from Colville via Pend d'Oreille,, the other 
 from Fort Hope, via the Similkameen, Rock Creek and 
 Pend d'Oreille. In 1866, Fisherville was pulled down 
 to allow the site to be mined. Farms were located on 
 the benches in the Kootenay Valley, and as the Indians 
 there had an abundance of horses, the miners had no 
 difficulty in moving trom creek to creek to try for new 
 grofund, Perry Creek, where $18 to $30 a day to the man 
 was taken out, being the chief. 
 
 Rock Creek, in 1860, was a busy mining centre, the 
 creek near its mouth yielding from one to two ounces 
 a day. Mission Creek and several others empty. ng into
 
 105 
 
 Okanagan lake were all mined about the same date, 
 1859-61, from two dollars to forty dollars a day being ob- 
 tained. 
 
 In 1863, the late Jos. W. McKay was in charge of the 
 Hudson's Bay fort at Kamloops and Vvilliam G. Cox 
 held the office of gold Commissioner and police magis- 
 trate at a salary of 400 a year. Y.iK- Ly ( n an< Lil- 
 looet each had its gold commissioner. Tn 1861, Kam- 
 loops was honored with a visit from Governor Doi.ylas 
 who made the trip by way of Kamloops, and Okanagan 
 Lake to Rock Creek, returning by way of the Dcwdney- 
 Moberly trail, then nearly completed. In 1862 Douglas 
 determined to build the wagon road along the Frascr. 
 There wa already in use the water and land route via 
 Harrison river to Douglas and Lillooet, in the con- 
 struction of which 500 men anxious to get to the Car- 
 iboo country where gold had then just been found 
 were employed, Governor Douglas agreeing' to land at, 
 Douglas all provisions and supplies at Victoria prices 
 if the men would turn to and build the road, all of which 
 was done, in 1862 the great rush to Cariboo was at its 
 height and the projected new road along the Fraser was 
 at once pushed. A writer describing the road and Vale, 
 Us starting point, in 1863, says: 
 
 "Since the Fragcr River excitement of 1858, Yale lias 
 always been a hustling, busy little place, and notwith- 
 standing the competition of the Douglas route, that via 
 Yale has always retained its popularity." (This must 
 have reference to the trails along the Fraser.) "The 
 great government works which have been carried on 
 in the valley of the Fraser above Yale during the past 
 summer, have had a beneficial effect on the prosperity
 
 10-i 
 
 of the place, and caused a considerable rise in the value 
 of lots in the town. By the middle of next May a road, 
 passable for wagons, will have been completed from 
 Vale to Williams creek (lake is no doubt meant) a 
 distance of 160 miles. The road from Yale to Lytton 
 (6.$ miles) which goes through the precipitous channel 
 of the Fraser, known as the Big Canyon, has been con- 
 structed at a great cost to the colony. From Yale to 
 Pike's Riffle, six miles and six chains, the road was 
 built by the Royal Engineers; from Pike's Riffle to 
 Chapman's bar, a distance of 8 miles, by Mr. (afterwards 
 Sir J. W.) Trutch, for $47,000; from Chapman's Bar to 
 Boston Bar, 11 to 12 miles, by Mcssers Spence and 
 Trutch (the Spence here mentioned constructed the 
 bridge over the Thompson river at the place which still 
 is known as Spence's Bridge, though the bridge has 
 long since been washed away) for $75,000, from Boston 
 Bar to Lytton, 32 1-2 miles, by Mr. Spence for $88,000, 
 Mr. Spence employed 600 men on this work which he 
 completed in four months. The engineering: difficulties 
 fm.ountcrcd in carrying out the above wuik hare been 
 considerable, and a bridge has yet to be thrown across 
 the river (Fraser) before the chain of communication 
 is completed. There is no doubt that this will become 
 one of the main roads into the Interior of the country." 
 Mr. Spence, in connection with Mr. Trutch, built the 
 suspension bridge at Spuzzum across the Fraser and 
 the new road was soon thronged with pack trains and 
 heavily laden freight wagons bound for the Cariboo 
 mines or the Hudson's Bay posts at Kamloops and 
 elsewhere. The road is now a thing of the past; for 
 since the C.P.R. came into being it is no longer passable;
 
 ft 
 
 M 
 
 (D 
 
 w'
 
 1U9 
 
 bridges have given way, rock slides block up the road- 
 \v:iy, cribbing has tumbled into the turbulent waters of 
 the Fraser, and the "old timer" who sees these things 
 mourns for the good old road and the good old days 
 spent on it. 
 
 With the working out of bar diggings in the vicinity 
 of Yale and the inauguration of regular stage lines to 
 Cariboo, Yale gradually lost a considerable part of her 
 population and the town lost much of its bustle and stir. 
 The forwarding of merchandise to Cariboo and other 
 intermediate points by pack trains, mule teams, ox teams 
 ("bull teams" they were called) and other meant of con- 
 veyance, engaged the attention of many men who have 
 since risen to prominence in the province and many way 
 side houses were kept for the public convenience, and 
 the proprietor's profit, by others who have attained a 
 like eminence. 
 
 In 1863 the Hudson's Bay Company again moved 
 their post at Kamloops, this time to the south bank, 
 opposite the second site, there they remained until the 
 march of progress rendered it advisable to make another 
 change and the building in the west end of the town re- 
 cently occupied by the Standard, was erected in 1885. 
 In 1894 they moved to their present commodious quart- 
 ers In 1864 the Columbia river bars attracted attention 
 of the gold miners and with the discovery of gold in 
 the Big Bend a busy time carne for Kamloops, which 
 was on the direct route of travel to the new mines. The 
 government opened a trail from Kamloo.p.s by way of 
 Shuswap Lake, and in 1866, the wagon road was extended 
 
 f '>rm Cache Creek to Savona at the foot of Kamloops 
 Like. Meanwhile the H. B. Co., the late J. W. McKay
 
 110 
 
 being then in charge, the only available local source of 
 supplies, in anticipation of the rush, built the Steamer 
 Marten during the winter of 1865. 1 he following 
 spring the rush began and the Marten made regular 
 trips from Savona to Seymour, at the head of Shuswap 
 Lake, the fare being $10 for passengers, and freight 
 rates $20 a ton. Each trip the litle boat was crowded 
 \vith miners, thousands flocked to the new mines and 
 Seymour, form which point the rest of the journey was 
 made by trail, became quite a thriving town, of which, 
 however, little trace is left at this time. Kamloops gain- 
 ed some benefit from the excitement and the improve- 
 ment was such that Messrs. Mara and Wilson opened 
 up a store in 1867. The Marten was the first steamer 
 to ply on these waters and ascended the North River 
 to a point 120 miles from its mouth. In 1868 Wm. For- 
 tune, who built the first house in Kamloops, built the 
 first flour mill in the interior of B. C., the burrs coming 
 from Buffalo and costing $1,200 for the pair. A short 
 time after the road was completed to Savona it was de- 
 cided to extend it to Kamloops, and the late James Mc- 
 Intosh had the contract for building it.
 
 CHAPTER VIIT. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY. 
 
 Knd of the Crown Colony Days British Columbia Be- 
 comes a Province Growth of Kamloops.
 
 w 
 
 ft) 
 
 n" 
 o 
 
 s. 
 I' 
 
 CO
 
 115 
 
 CHAPTER VTIT. 
 THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY. 
 
 OWARDS the latter part of that memor- 
 able decade, the sixties, the question of con- 
 federation became a burning issue in the 
 province and in 1868 we find that an im- 
 portant convention was held at Yale to con- 
 sider the question, the gathering being 
 attended by delegates from all parts of 
 the province, those from the interior being 
 from Yale, C. Evans, J. McLardy and H. 
 Havelock; from Lytton, R. Smith;, from Lil- 
 looet, Dr. Featherstone; from Lac la Hache, 
 Dr. Brouse; from Williams Lake, Hon. F. 
 Barnard; from Quesnelle Mouth, .1. C. Armstrong; and 
 from Cariboo, C. W. King and E. H. Kabbit. Resolu- 
 tions were unanimously passed favcring immediate ad- 
 mission to the Dominion of Canada. This was the firoi 
 representative assembly in B. C. at which this moment- 
 ous issue was discussed. It was not, however, until 1871 
 that confederation was accomplished. 
 
 One of the conditions of the compact entered into by 
 B. C. and the Dominion was the construction of a trans- 
 continental railway. Of the disappointments and post- 
 ponements and heartburnings before that condition was 
 fulfilled there is no need to enlarge in this necessaiiiy
 
 IF(J 
 
 brief synopsis of events, suffice it to say that it was n<">t 
 until 1880 that the first sod of the C. P. P. w;is turned 
 in the province but once begun, it was pushed vigorously. 
 Andrew Onderdonk, familiarly referred to by everybody 
 on or off the road as "A. O.," was the contractor and 
 the amount involved for that portion of the road from 
 Emory to Savona, including the cantilever bridge at 
 Cisco, was $ir, 200,000, an average of $43,000 per mile. 
 Over 7,000 men were employed, sawmills were built by 
 the contractor, a powder factory was erected and oper- 
 ated between Yale and Emory, machine shops were 
 built at Yale and although for a time the main offices 
 were at Emory, it was soon found that Yale was better 
 adapted for the management's headquarters and Yale 
 once more put on the airs of a city, and the bustle and 
 stir surpassed that of 20 years before. It was a wide 
 open town, money flowed like water, good wages were 
 earned and freely spent and for a lively place, few western 
 towns could compare with little resurrected Yale. Town 
 property jumped to a high figure, business men put up 
 e tores and built residences, the regular steamtvrit con- 
 nection with New Westminister was soon supplemented 
 with trains not very elegant affairs, with most uncom- 
 fortable coaches from down the river.and as the road 
 progressed eastward, l>y trains running in tbtvt direction 
 as well. 
 
 Supplies for the road were taken partly by wagon, 
 partly by pack train, but this was expensive and slow 
 and finally it was decided to build a steamer to run the 
 canyon of the Eraser and convey the supplies more 
 economically to the farther camps. The steamer Skuxzy 
 was built at the Big Tunnel, east of Spuzzum, and a f **r
 
 ff 
 
 
 S
 
 119 
 
 some diFculty a skipper was found willing to essay the 
 task of caking the vessel through the boiling, eddying, 
 treacherous rapids as they foamed through the dangerous 
 canyon. Finally two brothers named Smith consented 
 to try and with J. W. Burse as engineer, aided by a 
 powerful steam winch and capstan and 150 Chinamen 
 hauling on the ropes the first load of freight was safely 
 carried and distributed along the river. Several trips 
 were made up and down, Lytton being the farthest point 
 reached. Subsequently the Skuzzy was tied up at 
 Keefer's and there remained until 1884, when the machin- 
 ery was removed, taken to Savona and placed in the 
 newly built hull of the Skuzzy number two.. 
 
 With the passing of the period of activity coincident 
 with railway construction, Vale again fell into desuetude, 
 quiet reigned where bustle had prevailed; the streets, once 
 thronged with men, became deserted, and gradually sink- 
 ing farther and farther from the halycon days of yore, 
 houses, deserted and desolate, sank into decay; stores, 
 offices and warehouses, cheerless and empty, gave silent 
 witness of a greatness that had been but was not Twice 
 Yale rose to a state of prosperity and affluence and twice 
 has it fallen into peaceful rest; who will say it may not 
 again become and permanently remain a hive of indus- 
 try? Yale but experienced the same fate that befell 
 many other towns. Lytton, too, was once a bustling 
 little town, so were Savona, Ashcroft and Spence's 
 Bridge. Eagle Pass Landing a* the head of Shuswap 
 lake shared the same fate that came to them all save 
 
 Ashcroft, varied only in degree. But such places as 
 endured have flourished, striking examples of the sur- 
 vival of the fittest.
 
 120 
 
 In 1868 John Peterson pre-empted a parcel of land 
 east of the then little village, and afterwards purchased 
 an additional 320 acres. On the pre-emption he built 
 a house and stables, which are still standing, a short 
 distance east of the railway station. This location is of 
 interest as this land, the Peterson ranch, constitutes the 
 new town of Kami oops. In 1870 Barnard's express 
 stages, carrying the mails, ran as far as Savona, the 
 system soon extended to Kamloops and finally to Okan- 
 agan mission. The difficulty in procuring lumber led to 
 the establishment of a new industry about 1875, when 
 a combined flour and lumber mill was built on the flat, 
 then east of the town. Messrs. Mara, Wilson, Mclntosh 
 and Usherwere the owners. The last named gentleman 
 was the government agent at Kamloops at that time, 
 and met an untimely death, while engaged in the per- 
 formance of his duty, at the hands of the McLean and 
 Hare gang, four in number, in December, 18/9. The 
 murderers were hanged at New Westminster, January 
 31, 1881. 
 
 The year 1878 saw another steamer built on these 
 waters, the Lady Dufferin, the property of Wm. Fortune. 
 The boat d d a general carrying business, running te- 
 tween Savona and Spallumcheen. The Spallumcheen, 
 owned by Mara & Wilson, also plied on the same waters 
 for a number of years. 
 
 Apart from the settlement that had been quietly and 
 steadily going on in the district for some time, another 
 important factor was at work in this decade in assisting 
 to build up Kamloops, and this was the fact that from 
 its position Kamloops would be a place of some import- 
 ance on the line of the proposed Canadian Pacific Rail-
 
 121 
 
 way. It had been the intention to carry the road out 
 to the coast at Bute Inlet, and in 1872 surveyors were 
 sent out to survey the North Thompson and to explore 
 for a route from the Clearwater to the Cariboo wagon 
 road, with the view of getting to Bute Inlet via Chil- 
 cotin, but this idea was abandoned and it was ultim- 
 ately decided to bring the line down the Noith Thomp- 
 son to Kamloops and then carry it to the salt water by 
 the route since adopted, Lord Dufferin visited Kam- 
 loops in 1876. 
 
 Kamloops was given telegraphic communication in 
 1878, the line being built by the Liberal Government 
 under Premier Alex. Mackenzie. F. J. Barnard, who 
 afterwards sat in the House of Commons as represent- 
 ative for Yale district, was the contractor for this work. 
 
 K^mlnops was now fairly on her feet, and boasted 
 of hotels as well as stores. The Dominion Hotel was in 
 the hands of Mclntosh * Me Phadden, anJ -he Cosmo- 
 politan was conducted by John Peterson Xz Dassonville. 
 Mara & Wilson had the only store in the village, the 
 Hudson's BayCompany's store being some little dis- 
 tance west of it, where near the bridge the old buildings 
 are yet standing. In 1880 there were three stores, three 
 hotels, two blacksmith shops and a school. Father 
 Grandidier was the first resident clergyman taking up 
 his abode in Kamloops in 1878. He and other visiting 
 clergymen attended to the spiritual welfare of the people. 
 In that year, A. Watson, of Victoria, built the Peerless 
 steamboat for J. A. Mara to run, according to the Col- 
 onist, "between Cook's Ferry and the head of naviga- 
 tion." The Peerless made a trip to Harper's mill, at 
 the mouth of the Bonaparte (near Ashcroft), in June,
 
 122 
 
 i88i, without using a line on the journey, accomplishing 
 the distance, 20 miles up stream, in five hours, and 
 subsequently made one trip to Cook's Ferry (Spence's 
 Bridge), Captain John Irving being in command. Kam- 
 loops reached out for trade in those days, perhaps pro- 
 portionately more than today, although trade was not 
 always of the briskest. The Standard (a Victoria news- 
 paper that long ago ceased to have its being), in the 
 issue of June 12, 1880, says: "Times at Kamloops are 
 dull at present. The Shuswap mill has been under 
 water for the past month. The Tranquille mill is run~ 
 ning night and day. The steamer Lady Dufferin is 
 making regular trips every Tuesday to Spallumcheen. 
 Large quantities of flour are being shipped from Tran- 
 quille mill to Savona's Ferry, Cariboo and other places." 
 
 In December, 1880, J. F. McCreight was appointed a 
 judge for the inland country, to sit at Kamloops. 
 
 May, 1881, saw Major Rogers set out from Kamloops 
 by steamer to Eagle river to look for a pass through 
 the Selkirk range for the C. P. R. construction on 
 which was now going forward with vigor. A pass was 
 subsequently found, and the route was again changed. 
 The Yellow Head Pass was abandoned, and an entirely 
 new route was selected, the line reaching Kamloops by 
 the South Thompson instead of by th North branch. At 
 about the same time in the press the claims of Kamloops 
 as the proper capital f the Mainland were put forward 
 and discussed. 
 
 In the same year increased mail service was given 
 
 to points east, reached by wagon road from Kamloops. 
 So far a semi-monthly mail had been given, but in the 
 spring of 1881 the mail contract from Cache Creek
 
 123 
 
 to Okanagan Mission (now known as Kelowna), via 
 Kamloops and Spallumcheen, giving a weekly service 
 for four years, was awarded to J. B. Leighton 
 
 The Province was in 1882 in the throes of the fourth 
 general election (Provincial) since Confederation, and 
 Mr. Mara was elected for the third consecutive term, 
 with him being associated Preston Bennett, who had 
 represented the same district in the previous legislature, 
 and C. A. Semlin, who was one of the trio selected from 
 Yale to represent that district in the first legislature 
 of the con joint Province. Mr. Bennett never sat in the fourth 
 parliament, for a few days after the election he had 
 an attack of hemorrhage of the lungs, and died on 
 August 9, 1882, at the residence of Mr. John Tait, local 
 manager of the Hudson's Bay Company's post since 
 1872. The vacancy caused by Mr. Bennett's death was 
 filled by G. B. Martin, who continued to represent Yale 
 until the general election of 1898, when he was defeated 
 by F. J. Deane, who in turn was defeated in 1900 and 
 1903 by F. J. Fulton.
 
 CHAPTER TX. 
 
 FROM FORT TO CITY. 
 
 Social Life in Old Kamloops Setting Out the New 
 Town Incorporation.
 
 127 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM FORT TO CITY. 
 
 OCTAL life in the earlier days was not mark- 
 ed by the lines that characterize it to-day. 
 The people were almost like one family, and 
 at times they met for jollity and pleasure; 
 balls and impromptu dances in winter, 
 horse-racing and other sports on such public 
 holidays as were observed. But a change 
 was at hand. The C. P. R. was coming 
 slowly but steadily nearer. The shrill 
 whistle of the locomotive was soon heard 
 at Savona, and in the winter of 1884 
 the grading of the roadbed between that point and 
 Karaloops was under way. Kamloops was now a busy 
 place, with a constant stream of people going and com- 
 ing, and it was not without its distinguished visitors. 
 October, 1882, had seen the Marquis of Lome in Kam- 
 loops and three years later the Marquis of Lansdowne, 
 his successor to the Governor-Generalship, visited the 
 town. 
 
 Up to 1884 no newspaper had been published at 
 Kamloops, but in that year the Inland Sentinel made 
 its appearance as a Kamloops publication. This was
 
 128 
 
 not, however, the beginning of the paper. Mr. Hagan, 
 its founder, first established the paper at Emory, a few 
 miles below Yale, on May 29, 1880, removing to Yale 
 shortly afterwards. Moving with the times and the 
 railway, Mr. Uag-an brought the Inland Sentinel to 
 Kamloops, where it has remained. 
 
 In that same year the first firemen's company was 
 established, the meetings at which it was formed being 
 held in Spelman's (Cosmopolitan) hotel, in August. 
 The following month a movement was set on foot to 
 build a hospital in Kamloops. Arrangements were soon 
 made, and the contract for the building was given to 
 W. A. Simmons. The hotels in 1884 were of some im- 
 portance, for half the population lived in them. The 
 Arlington, near where the Queen's hotel now stands, 
 was kept by Sears & Nichols. At a later date the build- 
 ing was removed bodily to the east end of the street 
 and was named the Oriental, now Leland ho^el, 
 Frank Rushton doing the honors as host for a time. 
 Jos. Ratchford, recently the superintendent of the Pro- 
 vincial home, ran the Kamloops house. The late Ed. 
 Cannell had the Dominion, J. T. Edwards the Cosmo- 
 politan and Desormier the Colonial. The medical pro- 
 fession was represented by Dr. S. J. Tunstall, now of 
 Vancouver, and Dr. Offerhaus. now of Spallumcheen. 
 It was a treat to see the latter, clad in his dressing 
 gown, stalk down to the stables through the only street 
 Kamloops then possessed, to feed and groom his little 
 cayuse. W. W. Spinks, now judge of the county court, 
 was then practising as an attorney, and for some time 
 was the only member of the bar in town. The house- 
 keeper of the present day would be staggered were our
 
 storekeepers to revert to the prices of 1884. Flour was 
 $6 per 100 Ibs.; ham and bacon 30 cents per lb.; tea 
 So cents to $1.50 per lb.; pork 25 cents; sugar 25 cents 
 and eggs 75 cents a dozen. Hay sold at $25 per ton, 
 and lumber at $20 to $30 per thousand. 
 
 A visitor in Oct., 1884, was Hon. Wm. Smythe, then 
 Premier, who was also Chief Commissioner of Lands 
 and Works, which latter portfolio, after his death in 
 iSS/, fell to F. G. Vernon, one of the three members 
 for Yale district, which then for the first time secured 
 cabinet representation. 
 
 The next year saw many advances made. The Hud- 
 son's Bay people moved their store into the town. A 
 new steamer, the Kamloops, was built early in the year, 
 r.nd was bunched in April, the machinery being that 
 from the Myra. a stern-wheeler that had formerly run 
 below YD It- 
 Fail ing to come to an arrangement with Mr. Mara 
 !oi the transport of supplie.->, Mr. Ondcrdonk deter- 
 mined to build a steamer to ply on these waters, using 
 the machinery from a discarded steamer, the Skuzzy, 
 which had made several eventful trips through the can- 
 yon of the Fraser. A hull was built at Savona, t!-e 
 machinery installed, and then a compromise arranged. 
 The Skuzzy was put to good use, however, serving as 
 a floating hotel for the tracklayers, and moving along 
 with them, as they came on towards and beyond '."am- 
 loops. The Skuzzy was afterwards bought by Mr. Mara, 
 and is now lying beside the Peerless, sheer hulks. 
 
 In July, 1885, the railway track reached Kamloop-, 
 and on November 7th of the same year, at 3 o'clock in
 
 130 
 
 the afternoon, the first through train from the east to 
 Port Moody arrived. 
 
 In the same year John Peterson disposed ot his :anch 
 lying to the east of the old town to the townsite syn 
 dicate, of which Messrs. Mara, Ward and Pooley were 
 members. The new townsite was surveyed at once by 
 R. H. Lee. In 1885 the Government decided to build a 
 new court house. Government Agent Tunstall choe 
 the present central site, and in that same year its con- 
 struction was entered upon. The old court house 
 destroyed by fire three years ago, was a log cabin, white 
 washed, with the cells opening direct into the confined 
 space that served as court room, in which, indeed, 
 many matters of grave moment have come before the 
 judges of both the County and Supreme courts. Court 
 day was deemed a sort of festival, and the coming of a 
 Supreme court judge and Mr. Justice Walkem was the 
 favorite was looked forward to with a zest that is 
 not seen in the present and more prosaic age. 
 
 With the coming of the C. P. R., the town grew 
 steadily, and its being made a divisional point at once 
 added largley to its growing population. In early days, 
 water was carried from line river in buckets, 01 hauled 
 up in barrels, but with the growth of the town these 
 means became altogether inadequate. The late Mr.McIn- 
 tosh, who was never lacking in enterprise, met the 
 want and supplied the town from a reservoir into which 
 the water was pumped from the river. By private en- 
 terprise also the town was supplied with electric light. 
 In 1893 the city was incorporated, and the water and light 
 services were acquired by the municipality by purchase. 
 Two new plants have since been put in.
 
 131 
 
 In 1896 the presence of copper-gold ore was discovered 
 on Coal hill, not far from the place wuere a few years 
 previously Major Vaughan and others had mined with 
 more or less success for coal. Development has pro- 
 gressed steadily and the Iron Mask mine is now a regu- 
 lar shipper, and other properties give indications of 
 arriving at the same stage in the near future. 
 
 But little mention has been made of local representa- 
 tion in the House of Commons. Dominion elections cre- 
 ated very little excitement until the last two or three con- 
 tests. Chas F. Houghton was first chosen, but his term 
 was short, the parliament only lasting 18/1-72. He was 
 succeeded by Edgar Dewdney (afterwards Lieut-gov- 
 ernor of the province), who sat for Yale from 1872 until 
 his appointment as Indian commissioner. F. J. Barnard 
 stepped into his shoes, to be himself replaced by J. A. 
 Mara, who occupied the seat from 1886 until his defeat 
 by Mr. Bostock at the general election, 1896, in the united 
 constituency of Yale-Cariboo. In the general election 
 of 1900, W. A. Galliher of Nelson, was elected M. P., and 
 in 1904, the district being 1 divided into two constituencies, 
 Kootenay and Yale-Cariboo, Duncan Ross was elected 
 for the latter, H. Bostock being created a senator in the 
 same year.
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER TWO. 
 
 Alexander Ross, then in the service of the Pacific Fur 
 Company, first visited the vicinity of where Kamloops now 
 stands on May Kith, 1812. He had been preceded, however, 
 by David Thompson, the Nor'wester, who explored the 
 Thompson river early in 1811, and David Stuart, one of the 
 partners in the Pacific Fur Company. On September 16th, 
 1811, Stuart, accompanied by three men, two of whom, 
 Montigny and Boullard, were Canadian voyageurs, left 
 Fort Okanagan, near the junction of the Okanagan and 
 Columbia rivers, on a journey to the unexplored north, 
 leaving Alexander lloss, mentioned above, alone in charge 
 of the then newly established post, his sole "civilized com- 
 panion being," as Koss puts it, "a little Spanish pet dog 
 from Monterey, named Weasel.'' 
 
 Intending only to be absent a month, it was not until 
 March 22nd, 1812, that Stuart and his companions 
 returned to Fort ukanagan. Of his journey he gave the 
 following account: "After leaving this place'' (Fort Okan- 
 a-an) "we bent our course up the Oakinacken, due north, 
 for upwards of 250 miles, till we reached its source; then 
 crossing a height of land fell upon Thompson's River, or 
 rather the south branch of Eraser's River, after travelling 
 for some time amongst a powerful nation called the She 
 Waps (Shuswaps). The snow fell while we were here in the 
 mountains, and precluded our immediate return; and after 
 waiting for fine weather the snow got so deep that we con- 
 sidered it hopeless to attempt to get back, and, therefore, 
 passed our time with the She Waps and other tribes in that 
 quarter. The Indians were numerous and well disposed, 
 and the country throughout abounds in beavers and all 
 other kinds of fur: and I have made arrangements to
 
 134 
 
 establish a trading post there the ensuing winter. <>rithe 
 2'^th of February we began our homeward journey, and 
 spent just twen'y-five days on our way back. The distance 
 may be about 350 miles." 
 
 Karly in 1812, the first meeting of the partners in the 
 Pacific Fur Company was held at Fort Astoria, and among 
 the resolutions passed was this one: ''That Mr. David 
 Stuart proceed to his post at Oakinacken, explore the coun- 
 try northward, and establish another post between that and 
 New Caledonia." The new post suggested in this resolution 
 was to be at Kamloops and thither Mr Stuart despatched 
 Alexander Ross. Ross thus describes the expedition: 
 "Un the t^th of May I started with Boullard and an 
 Indian, with sixteen horses., on a trading excursion, and 
 following Mr. Stuart's route of last winter, reached the 
 She Waps oil Thompson's River, the tenth day. and there 
 encamped at a place called by the Indians Cumcloups. near 
 the entrance of the North branch. From this station I sent 
 messages to the different tribes around, who soon assem- 
 bled, bringing with them their furs. Here we stayed for 
 ten days. The number of Indians collected on the occasion 
 could not have been less than 2. 000,'' (and the one white man, 
 Ro.-'S, alone amongst them with his trading outfit!). "Not 
 expecting to see so many, I had taken but a small quantity 
 of goods with me; nevertheless, we loaded all our horses 
 so anxious were they to trade, and so fond of leaf tobacco, 
 that one morning before breakfast I obtained one hundred 
 and ten beavers for leaf tobacco, at the rate of five leaves 
 per skin, and at last, when I had but one yard of white cot- 
 ton remaining, one of the chiefs gave me twenty prime 
 beaver skins for it. Having finished our trade, we pre- 
 pared to return home: but before we could get our odds and 
 ends ready, Boullard, my trusty second, got involved in a 
 love affair, which had nearly involved us all in a disagree- 
 able scrape with the Indians. He was as full of latent tricks 
 as a serpent is full of guile. Unknown to me, the old fellow 
 had been teasing the Indians for a wife, and had already 
 an old squaw at his heels, but could not raise the wind to
 
 pay the whole purchase money. With an air of effrontery 
 he asked me to unload one of my horses to satisfy the de- 
 mands of the old father-in-law, and because I refused him, 
 he threatened to leave me and to remain with the savages. 
 Provoked by his conduct, I suddenly turned round and 
 horsewhipped the fello.v, and, fortunately, the Indians did 
 not interfere The castigation had a good effect, it brought 
 the amorous gallant to his senses the squaw was left 
 behind. " 
 
 In the same year, on August 25th, Mr. Stuart, with men 
 and merchandise, set out from Oakinacken for "She Waps," 
 and four months later, December 20th, Mr. Ross, who had 
 been again left in charge of Port Oakinacken, left the fort 
 to pay a visit to his chief at "Cumcloups, " where he arrived 
 on the last day of 18 1 2. He found that Mr. Stuart had just 
 established himself in his winter quarters, and that the 
 Northwest Company following hard on his heels, had built 
 a post alongside of him, "so that," wrote Koss, "there 
 was opposition there as well as at Mr. ('larke's place, with- 
 out the trickery and manoeuvring. M. La Roque, the 
 Northwest clerk in charge, and Mr. Stuart were open and 
 candid and on friendly terms." With Mr. Stuart, Ross re 
 mained for live days, and then returned to Port Uakinacken, 
 following a new route. He wrote: "But I chose a bad season 
 of the year to satisfy my curiosity. We got bewildered in 
 the mountains and deep snows, and our progress was ex- 
 ceedingly slow, tedious and discouraging. We were five 
 days in making as many miles." After suffering hunger 
 and privations, shared by man and beast, Ross reached an 
 Indian camp where a day was spent to recuperate, "pro- 
 cured some furs, and then, following the course of the Sim- 
 ilka-meigh river, got to Oakinacken at the forks," reaching 
 the fort on January 24th, 1813. 
 
 On May 13th Mr. Stuart with his men and furs, arrived at 
 Fort Okanagan from the "She Waps, " in reference to which 
 post he wrote: "1 have passed a winter nowise unpleasant: 
 the opposition, it is true, gave me a good deal of anxiety 
 when it first arrived, but we agreed very well, and made as
 
 much, perhaps more, than if we had been enemies I sent 
 out parties in all directions, north as far as Fraser's Kiver, 
 and for 200 miles up the south branch. The accounts from 
 all quarters were most satisfactory. The country is every- 
 where rich in furs and the natives very peaceable."
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 J&H 
 
 V 
 
 4*
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000899299 2