John Damon and the Fraser River Rush

CALIFORNIA, suffering from a business recession in 1858, was again bitten by the gold bug on the startling news of the discovery of the precious metal on the Fraser River.1 Few knew the extent of the strike; few knew of the climate and terrain of British Columbia. Yet the news, reportedly the result of a shipment of eight hundred ounces of gold bullion to San Francisco's mint in April, 1858, caused an exodus to the "greatest strike since the American River." Reports of the location of the new find varied. Mention was made of a rich lode on Queen Charlotte Island; another rumor placed the strike on the Fraser River itself. The first authentic information spoke of Hill's Bar on the lower Fraser as rich in gold deposits.2 An American company of miners had worked the bar with high returns; an average daily yield for each man was asserted to be approximately twenty dollars. San Francisco in 1858 was an established metropolis beginning to feel the impact of a decline in the "diggings" of the interior and was ripe for a change. Contemporary reports speak of the "serious shock.., temporarily given to business throughout the interior of the state by the migration to the Fraser River."' During the summer the migrants, in spite of warnings from the north, pulled up stakes in large numbers.' The listings of ships sailing and passengers aboard are evidence of the galvanic effect of the news of the Fraser discoveries. Nearly 30,000 Californians left San Francisco during the summer of 1858." In