Sept. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE TECHNOLOGIST, 
THE NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND 
THE CONDITION OF ITS PRINCIPAL GOLD-FIELDS * 
BY LIEUTENANT H. S. PALMER, R.E. 
The discovery of gold in the extreme west of British North America, 
in the year 1858, was destined to prove an event of more than passing 
importance in the history of modern colonial progress. Upwards of 
200,000 square miles of savage territory were at once erected into the 
colony of British Columbia, and the new region became hastily peopled 
by hordes of eager gold-seekers from the neighbouring States. 
The shallow " bars " of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers soon ceased 
to be profitable ; but step by step, with varying success, yet unabating 
vigour, the alluvial gold was traced upwards to its parent sources in 
the hills, and, in 1861, three years of patient toil were rewarded by the 
discovery of the now famous gold-fields of Cariboo. The productiveness 
of these new mines has, during the last two years, been so great as to 
place them in the first rank of modern gold discoveries ; and, indeed, a 
comparison of their returns with those of the most notorious districts 
in California and Australia, encourages the belief that the auriferous 
riches of Cariboo are the greatest hitherto discovered. While the gold- 
miner's incursions have been thus rapid and extensive, civilization and 
enterprise have not been far behind him, and the young colony now 
attracts attention by its various commercial and agricultural, as well as 
its mineral, advantages. During the last five years, the writer has had 
frequent opportunities of travelling somewhat extensively in British 
Columbia, and the object of this communication is to describe, with as 
much detail as a short paper will admit of, its physical geography and 
natural capabilities, and the condition of its principal gold-fields. 
The seaboard of British Columbia, commencing at the international 
boundary-line (lat. 49° N.) extends for some 500 miles in a general 
* From the ' Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.' 
VOL. VI. F 
