54 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the actual dangers were incomparably less. Whatever the dangers 

 might be for canoes the illshaped rafts, though somewhat difficult to 

 control, were found quite safe; for though the waters rolled over them, 

 they rolled off again, doing comparatively little damage. In the 

 afternoon they met the first gold miners — Chinese washing with 

 rockers on the river bank. As they descended they found miners on 

 almost every bar. According to their own stories these Chinese 

 miners were only making five dollars a day each, but the travellers 

 gave no credence to such statements. 



On September 11th, they set out early in the morning on their 

 last day's navigation. The weather being foggy, they accidentally 

 ran upon a rock, which could not be seen in time to be avoided. The 

 collision strained the raft greatly, but as the fastenings seemed secure 

 they continued the descent, and about noon reached Cottonwood 

 Canyon. In that narrow channel with its strong current and heavy 

 swells the raft, according to the diary, behaved well, and when it 

 came to the overfall, though the water rolled over it and flooded it as 

 it took the downward plunge, the diarist declares that nothing was 

 injured "where a canoe would undoubtedly swamp." 



That day they reached Quesnel, then known as the Mouth of 

 Quesnel to distinguish it from a village higher up the Quesnel river 

 called the Forks of Quesnel. The diarist gives some rather startling 

 prices as prevailing: meals $1.50, flour $1, salt $1, rice 55 cents, bacon 

 75 cents to $1, beans, 75 cents, tea $2, per pound. The day was fine 

 and pleasant, and, he adds: "I got my supper off a table for the first 

 time in four months at Whitehall store for $1.50." 



On the arrival of the other rafts the future movements of the party 

 were discussed at length. As a result the organization was disbanded. 

 Some continued down the river on the rafts; some remained at 

 Quesnel; while others, including our diarist, resolved, even at this 

 advanced season, to go on to the mines at Williams Creek. The 

 latter left Quesnel on September 13th for the Cariboo gold fields. 

 The travelling was very difficult and the trail of the roughest. At 

 the end of a hard and trying day they had only covered thirteen miles. 

 Resuming their journey twelve miles of even worse trail brought 

 them to Cottonwood at the crossing of the river of the same name. 

 As they progressed they met returning miners, each telling a more 

 discouraging tale than his predecessor. It was a real exodus of 

 disappointed men, all striving to reach the coast without delay. 

 They painted conditions at the mines as black and disheartening, 

 prices high, wages low, and work scarce. 



