Sept. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 69 
to the effect that gold in the matrix would be found distributed all 
along the hilly districts bordering on the western slope of the Eocky 
Mountains — is yearly being more and more satisfactorily established. 
Desultory explorations, made at different times within the last four 
years, have resulted in the discovery of a chain of auriferous deposits, 
extending at intervals from the southern boundary of the colony to the 
56th parallel of latitude, and preserving a direction parallel, or nearly 
so, to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. 
Rock Creek in the extreme south, the head-waters of the Okanagan, 
the tributaries of the north and south branches of the Thompson River, 
the south and north branches of the Quesnelle River, Cariboo, and, 
finally, Peace River, near its intersection with the meridian 122° W., are 
so many successive points in this chain, at all of which gold in varying 
quantities has been found. These and other intermediate discoveries 
have established, almost beyond a doubt, the existence of a vast auri- 
ferous zone or belt of country, more than 500 miles in length, com- 
prising within its limits the sources of all the great gold-yielding streams 
that water British Columbia ; and forming, in ail probability, the de- 
pository of incalculable wealth. 
Should this range indeed prove, upon future examination, to be the 
matrix of the auriferous wealth of the colony, there can be no doubt 
that British Columbia must in time become, steadity but surely, one oi 
the most important dependencies of the British Empire. 
The certainty of the possessions of extensive and practically inex- 
haustible gold-fields along the immediate districts of the central belts 
would at once impart a wonderful stimulus to the settlement of its agri- 
cultural and pastoral lands, and, at the same time, improved communica- 
tions would, ere long, be established. Thus, the enormous prices of 
labour and commodities on the gold-regions would rapidly disappear, 
and full scope be afforded for the proper exploration of the mineral 
wealth of the land. 
The first steps cowards improvement have been already made. 
Settlement, as has been before remarked, is gradually creeping over the 
midland districts ; and, even now, Cariboo, one point in the auriferous 
range, is beginning to enjoy the advantages derivable from cheap com- 
munication and the cultivation of neighbouring districts. The efforts of 
the local government, within the last five years, have at length resulted 
in the completion of a system of excellent waggon-roads, leading through 
the most promising districts of this colony to within a short distance of 
Cariboo. Miners or others, to whom time is of value, need no longer 
perform weary journeys on foot or on horseback over wretched trails 
and through an uncivilised, if not totally uninhabited, country. A 
steamer voyage of ninety miles from New Westminster terminates at 
Yale, the head of steam navigation on the lower Eraser. Throughout 
half this distance the river winds among the gorgeous forests of its 
estuary, slight clearings here and there revealing native villages and 
