IN CASSIAR

Oldtiner Tells of Discovery
of Placers Which Made
‘Northern B. C. Famous.

~ LOST MEN FOUND RICHES

: Interesting Reminiscences of Pioneer of

. Dease Lake District — Says Cassiar Is
fo Rich Country and Offers “Splendid
Opportunitigs for Prompecting. :

An interesting talk on the eatly
ee history of Cassiar as a placer
fam €=—Ssélisstrict' was given to the Province
L by C. M. Wright, now. of. San

mm, -—«- Francisco, who is visiting Van-

: couver.

— .. ‘There was ‘forty thousand i in
a > gold,’? said Mr, Wright, - “We
Y divided it into two pokes, Each
wen =—Ssoof my two Indians carried.a poke.
eee =§©— Our mule assisted when the In-
dians got tired. ‘1 travelled light;
my heaviest load being two big
a revolvers that the storekeeper
LY] had given us,

y ‘Meet any person on the. way
who wanted the gold more than
a 6=—Ssyou did?
can “In the summertime up_ be-
yond 67, the nights are very
’ light. We journeyed by night

and in the day we slept. At least
- the Indians slept. As for me, I
was interested in the. raw gold
we were taking out, °
“Yes, the Cassiar in '76 was a
bit wild. The-Indians were rest-
less in that country and all the
- expert gamblers and thugs, who
7 crossed the plains in .‘49, were
-up there—or headed for thera,
Yes, I was a bit nervous on that
(3 mush thirty-six years ago when
m= 6s T helped take out to Fort Wrang-
. gel-the first really large clean-up
in the Cagsiar district.
“And, of course,. that forty
’ thousand_represented your early
activitles-as a pioneer in - “British:
el Columbia?
fi “No, I left the Cassiar only $2
|

fo
a4
"
A
i
é

richer than when I went in.
But I was only a bit of a iad.
I think I was 22. I had the best
time of my life up” there in Cas-
siar those many years ago, fF
got $3a day for packing. that
4 gold out and I earned the
money.’
a _ C.W. Wright is nearly 60 years,
} ofage. If fortune did not smile
on him‘in the old Cassiar days
she has beamed upon him since
and he is one of San Franciseo’ 8
a: rich,
“There are golden millions i in
the Cassiar today,’’ said Mr.
a Wright, “and if I were young,
oAg and in the mining business, I'd
sf 20 back to Cassiar. I believe that
. British Columbia is the richest
undeveloped mineral area in the
whole world.’”
“Very few people,” began the
San Franciscan, in recounting his
early adventures in Northérn
’ British Columbia, ‘remember the
discovery of the Cassiar and the
sensational effect it had upon the
people -of.two hemispheres. I!
_ Was one of the first. men to go
north and I got into the stampede

“|to Fort Wrangel,

am

‘|side of the-boundary ‘and then
{we-went up the Stikine river to

‘idians, who picked them up and

ette, his partner,’ he went on,

onthe Alaska

the earth.’ "

Telegraph . Creek,

-“Dease Lake was our objective
point and I shall ever remember
the trials of that trip from Tele-

. To Register Voters

of citizens who are entitled. to.

Bay trading post. near Dease| voters list i in this district, a num-
lake, ber of commissioners for the tak-
My supplies were not ad- ing of affidavits under the Eleet-
equate for the journey—I Was &/ion Act have been. appointed. in
mere hoy and unused to the.trib-| Hazelton and the Bulkley valley.
ulations of the prospector—and|'The appointments gazetted on
after we arrived at Dease Lake I January 25 were: Hazelton, A,
lived for thirty days on oatmeal] R Macdonald, W. ‘H.. Larmer,
oatmeal alone, oatmeal por-land J. A. ‘Macdonald; Twenty-
ridge. Mile, Jack Ward; Chicken. Lake,
‘Surely ‘at: the end of that John Wander; Aldermere, Rev.
time,” was the facetious inter-|F, L, Stephenson and’ James
jection of the interviewer,.. ‘‘you Davey; Pleasant Valley, John
must have had a good command Adams; South Bulkley, D. Me-
of Gaelic. | Glashan and W, Mitchell.
“Well, I did well on n the diet, **) On February 1st the following
smiled Mr. Wright, “and though | additional ,
it is true that for a time I rather! made:
disliked-the sight of oata, I have Marment;
always insisted ‘since on having Morgan;

oatmeal on the. bill of fare at Sleigh,: Mark Carr, Archie Me-
home.” Innes, Jno. A. MeDonald, John

Serious once ‘more, ‘the old- B, Langston, Ernest Hoops.
timer told--of the exciting days ;

at Dease Lake in ‘76-76. ‘The
Cassiar gold fields were discover-
ed by two French-Canadians, *’
he said, ‘‘Dease and Thibette
were two young men employed
at the Hudson’s Bay post at the
headwaters of. the Mackenzie,
For three years these two men,
and I believe they have long since
passed away, were lost in the
semi-Arctic wilderness. Their
lives were saved by friendly In-

Try a fresh Oyster Cocktail at.
the Galena Club. -

Strayed |

From Kitwangak, one iron grey
gelding, branded 100. W. on
left hip, property of Ritchie &
Agnew. Any information re-
garding same will be gladly
received by W. §. “Harris, at
Hazeton, tf

For Sale
One 18-horse power pipe boiler
complete, with smokestack, pump
and fittings and 200 feet of new
pipe. Enquire at office of Inter-
ior Lumber Company, Hazelton.

gave them food and clothing.

“They lived for atime witha
tribe whose hunting grounds in-
cluded the Dease Lake district.
Dense, while hunting, became
very thirsty one day. Lying on
his chest, he undertook to drink
out. of a little brook. The water |i
was clear as it bubbled over the!
little pebbles, Dease, as he drank,

observed in the. bottom of the/f
rivulet, bright ‘colored stones, |#
He thrust his hand in and picked ||

them up.- These ‘stones’ were|h AA. 9 |” :
gold nuggets, each as large as an|@ | Arrived

ese. That was the discovery of |i
gold in the Cassiar. Because
Dease happened to drink. out of
that little. brook that emptied
itself into the lake that after-/¥
wards bore his- name, explora-
tions began which resulted in|—
the gold rush to northern British |
Columbia, .which ‘resulted in-
directly in later years in the
wild stampede to Alaska and the

Yukon. :

“Because a lost French-Cana- |:
dian sought to quench his. thirst |
on a hot day nearly forty years|
ago,’’ continued Mr, Wright, “‘the|E
great north country was made to| i
give up its wealth and its penalty
to man—well, delve into the ar-
chives ‘at Victoria or Seattle or|fj
glance over the files of the Royal |E
Northwest Mounted Police at the

head office at Regina, ©

“'T knew both Dease and Thib-

Over four thousand §
s pounds of HARNESS and &
SADDLERY - Stocks have J
just arrived from the end
‘of steel, .

Harness

Saddles

of all descriptions,

_ WHIPS,

long. and short
ones, ; -

‘CHIMES and SLEIGH ff
BELLS for cutter and §
sleigh. uo

“They were very interesting
personalities. Shortly after Dease|§
picked up the big nuggeta he
mét an.Indian who said he could |E
show him to the big salt, chuck—

meaning the salt water. So Dease

HORSE BLANKETS,

at.its flood. We went by water

double breasted and extra

found his way eventually to Vic- long.

If so, now is the

‘Do You Want A Pre-emption? |

_ I have some choice selections.

SSS ° : . 1 :
; . iM dn fact, everything in
the line of. harness and §

. Saddlery is included in this

time to get one. ‘shipment.

of. course the shipment

is late, for this” reason, as

; gall Leake Gale, J.P.
: sD 7 Ral alse, Financial and mane -
_Telkwa, B. c

m much of the stock is for
“winter use, we will sell at
‘lowest possible prices..

Send us your order by
letter’ or wire,

Aldous

“Agent for G. T.

Gray & Milligan’ Brothers, Burvei re,

it facilitate the registration.
graph.Creek to the old Hudson’s|have their names added to the

Bulkley valley, Cc. H. .

to d the tale of his find: a
tories end. th i four comes 3 0002000002000 009002 .

oi

pibsre ves ot iis i

TURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1912,

SAMPLES are to hand. They
embrace a very large range of neat
and attractive patterns.

_ Brown shades in small check are:

prominent. The smart and at-

|| tractive patterns in light and dark |
grays will find favor among the

more conservative dressers.

Orr SPRING and SUMMER

THE ART TAILORING CO., Ltd.

of Toronto, are the leading wholesale
tailors in Canada. Their goods are very
high class and dressy. -

We are making the - prices very

| attractive so as to introduce this

. fine make,

the sleighing is good.

Orders placed now. .

Coal Oil $1.10

_ Have secured the selling of several barrels of Coal Oil

price $I. 10 per gallon.

- For Early |

Spring Building

We call attention to our stock of Building Material:
Nails, .Tar and Building Paper, Locks, Butts and all

~ furnishings.

Carpenters’ Tools

Everything Required.

R Conningham & Sa, Ltd

P. Townsites ©

HAZ ELTON, B, oe

Come am while -