lame, was the most valuable for smelting and domestic purposes.
A company had been formed at Victoria which had spent $60,000
prospecting for an enduring and paying vein, and thereafter prepared for
development by advertising for tenders to build railroad and wharfs for
shipping. Being a large shareholder in the company, I resigned as a
director and bid. It was not the lowest, but I was awarded the contract.
The Hudson Bay Co. steamship Otter, having been chartered January, 1869,
with fifty men, comprising surveyor, carpenters, blacksmiths, and
laborers, with timber, rails, provisions, and other necessaries for the
work I embarked at Victoria. Queen Charlotte Island was at that time
almost a "terra incognito," sparsely inhabited solely by scattered
tribes of Indians on the coast lines, which were only occasionally
visited by her Majesty's ships for discovery and capture of small craft
engaged in the whisky trade.

Passing through the Straits of Georgia, stopping at Fort Simpson, and
then to Queen Charlotte Island, entering the mouth of Skidegate River, a
few miles up, we reached the company's quarters, consisting of several
wooden buildings for residence, stores, shops, etc. At the mouth and
along the river were several Indian settlements, comprising huts, the
sides of which were of rough riven planks, with roof of leaves of a
tough, fibrous nature. At the crest was an opening for the escape of
smoke from fires built on the ground in the center of the enclosure. As
the ship passed slowly up the river we were hailed by the shouting of
the Indians, who ran to the river side, got into their canoes and
followed in great numbers until we anchored. They then swarmed around
and over the ship, saluting the ship's company as "King George's men,"
for such the English are known and called by them. They were peaceful
and docile, lending ready hands to our landing and afterward to the
cargo. I was surprised, while standing on the ship, to hear my name
called by an Indian in a canoe at the side, coupled with encomiums of
the native variety, quite flattering. It proved to be one who had been a
domestic in my family at Victoria. He gave me kind welcome, not to be
ignored, remembering that I was in "the enemy's country," so to speak.
Besides, such a reception was so much the more desirable, as I was
dependent upon native labor for excavating and transportation of heavy
material along the line of the road. While their work was not despatc