Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/258

252 The discovery of gold, in 1858, caused the British Government to revoke its grant of exclusive right to trade in the North-west Territories, which for so many years had been held by the Hudson's Bay Company, and to erect a new colony, under the name of British Columbia. Under the stimulant of this act, and the repeated new gold discoveries, Victoria suddenly arose from a trading-post to a handsome city of several thousand inhabitants. But her career was brief, owing to several causes, some of which were local and physical, while others were political and traditional. The physical causes for the reverses at Victoria were the severity of the winters in the richest mining region; the cost of getting there, and of subsistence after getting there—the scant agricultural resources of Vancouver's Island not affording provision for the large population which suddenly poured in upon British Columbia. The political ones were those which usually beset a Crown colony, with an expensive Government to maintain, and none but second-hand representation. This brief history will explain why fully one-third of the houses stand vacant in this beautiful city, and point the meaning of such an advertisement as this, in the morning paper: "Wanted—a small family to occupy a house. Rent free."

We also learn by the colonial papers, that railroad schemes, confederation schemes, and annexation schemes are popular topics in Victoria. While one paper declares the "Canadian Pacific Railway a necessity, a possibility, and a certainty," its opponent doubts these assumptions, and sees plenty of obstacles in the way of the proposed railroad. The impartial observer may admit the feasibility of a railroad from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Georgia, and its