| Title: | Alexander Robb, British Columbia, to Father [Dundonald?]. |
|---|---|
| ID | 2294 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Robb, Alexander/10(2) |
| Year | 1862 |
| Sender | Robb, Alexander |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | miner |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Canada |
| Destination | N.Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | son-father |
| Source | T 1454/6/1: Copied by Permission of Dr. J.C. Robb Esq., M.B.E., M.D., M.C.H., Cambourne Park, Belfast. #TYPE EMG Sandy [Alexander?] Robb, [British Columbia, Canada?], to His Father [Dundonald, County Down, Ireland?] |
| Archive | Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9006020 |
| Date | 10/08/1862 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | 12:06:1990 GMcE#CREATE created 29:10:1991 WJC input 29:10:1991 PKS checked |
| Word Count | 1391 |
| Genre | |
| Note | Describing a Journey From Vancouver to Cariboo, 10 August, 1862. |
| Transcript | To:"Father" [Mr Robb?], [Dundonald,County Down?] From:Sandy [Alexander?] Robb, [British Columbia, Canada?] August 10th 1862 Dear Father I suppose you will be thinking by this time that I am either dead or have forgotten all about home else I would have written long ago I can assure you however that this is not the case for I am as well as ever I was and as for the forgetting part - it will be a very long time indeed before that time comes. You will most likely have herd [heard?] from some of the other boys what kind of trip we had up to Cariboo for fear you should not I will give you a slight sketch of it. We left Victoria in Vancouvers [Vancouver?] Island about the first of May and after about six hours sailing landed in New Westminster a small town about twenty or thirty miles up the Frazer River. When there we learned that it was quite to [too?] soon to go up to the mines and we stopped a week there From thence we proceeded to a town called Fort Yale about sixty miles farther up the River the current was so strong in the river that it took us two days to go this distance From Fort Yale all communication by water ceases and the rest of the distance has to be done by foot I wish you had seen the thirteen of us starting our packs we all pretty heavy and the trail none of the best so you may be shure [sure?] for the first few days we did not make very big work The trail after the first 15 miles was awful up one mountain and down another for sixty or seventy miles until we got to a town called Lyton [Lytton?] after which it improved at Lyton [Lytton?] we meet Alexander McWha he keeps a small store about three miles from a place called Van Winkle Bar and I believe is doing very well We stopped there one day or two I forget which and then started again our next halting place was to be Jubilee City a town situated at the head quarters of the Frazer River and about 200 miles from Lytton The trail however is pretty good it took us 13 days to accomplish this distance but our packs were very heavy at starting as we had brought as many provisions at Lytton as we calculated would carry us through When at Queensville we learned that there was no use going to the mines without carrying plenty of provisions with us so we invested all our money in flour beans picks shovels &c Then came the tug of war I started with ninety pounds on my back and over such a trail it is only about fifty miles long but what it wants in length it makes up in quality Up one mountain and down another precipice sometimes up to your knees in water at other times wading through snow from two to six or eight feet deep I will live a long time before I forget that journey This brought us to Antler Creek the first part of the Cariboo Mines The distance you see we have walked was about 400 miles When there the very wisest course we could have pursued would have been to have sold our provisions and have turned right back again but like blind fools as we were we did not do so although it was then the first week in June I do not believe there was more than six claims in all Cariboo working at all and these were only making preperations [preparations?] to take out gold of course then there was no chance to get any work and as for prospecting to get a claim for oneself that was out of the question The snow was melting on the top of the mountains and the water was so high that you could not work more than a few feet any place until you were chocked [choked?] out of it with water the rest of the boys all went away one party after another first Henry Stewart Wm [William?] McDowell [J?] Greenfield and the two Pattons left then John Demp[ster?] P Moore N Boyd John Robb and the two McCreery boys went away until at last there were none of us except Robert McCance and myself I heard before I left that he had went down also but whether he did or not I cannot tell as he was in a different part of the mines from where I was I hung on for six weeks like a drowning man catching at straws always hoping that something would turn up that I might make a living at and perhaps make a little money I am sure that brother John will think it cowardly in me to give it up but in fact I could do nothing else it came to be a question to either go down or starve Just fancy the price of provisions when I came away flour when you could get it was selling at 5 shillings a pound Beans about the same pork six shillings salt sugar & everything else a little dearer A single meal in a bording [boarding?] house cost 10 shillings and for a small cup of bad coffee without any milk I paid two shillings Had I not got a little work occasionally and half starved myself all the time I could not have lived there so long for at the lowest calculation it cost one pound per day to live there I came down with Mr Wightmans son you may suppose that I was greatly surprised to see him in such a place He only stopped a few days and then came down I parted two weeks ago he was going to San Francisco and I to get work where I could I have been fortunate to get work here on the Road about 50 miles above Lytton I am engaged for three months at 8 pounds per month I just got the work in time as I had only about two pounds of flour and one sixpence left when my time is expired I think I will go down to San Francisco as the winter is so severe here that nothing can be done Whether I will ever go up to Cariboo I do not know I do not think I will There are three great objections to that country In the first place provisions are & must continue to be too dear In the second place the season is to [too?] short one can only work three months and then unless you want to be frozen to death down you must come and the third reason is it takes a small fortune to open a claim there had I time and room I could tell you the reason of this but this is my last sheet of paper so I must be saving of it I must now finish and it may be a very long time before I have another opportunity of writing The nearest post office from this is 50 miles off and it is by a mere chance I can get this one sent I would liked to have sent a longer letter than this but as I have neither pen or ink and as am writing in a tent with eight or ten men talking round me & nothing but the floor to write on this will do at present In the mean time do not be uneasy about me there is always some way I can make a living and all the world is not so bad as Cariboo. As a specimen of what it costs to open a claim in Cariboo I may mention that Bill McWha & 8 other men had been working 8 weeks at his claim before I came away and it would take at least 3 more to open it You may fancy how much money it will take to do this where living is so dear In the mean time dear father keep writing to the care of Mr Kyle tell me how the farm is getting on & in fact everything nothing will be uninteresting Give my love to all brothers & sisters friends and believe me Dear father your loving son Sandy Robb |
