Fraser River Gold Rush
When news of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush reached California, Hunt's owners sent her north to take advantage of the situation. Hunt arrived in Victoria in the middle of August, 1858. Because there was a shortage of British vessels, the colonial government at Victoria had decided to license American steamers to move the resultant gold rush traffic up the river. and ran for a short time on the New Westminster route. Another vessel running on the same route was the Sea Bird, which on September 7, 1858, caught fire en route and was destroyed, with the loss of two lives. Fortunately the Hunt was not far behind her and was able to take off her surviving passengers and crew.
Read more about this topic: Wilson G. Hunt (sidewheeler)
Famous quotes containing the words river, gold and/or rush:
“At sundown, leaving the river road awhile for shortness, we went by way of Enfield, where we stopped for the night. This, like most of the localities bearing names on this road, was a place to name which, in the midst of the unnamed and unincorporated wilderness, was to make a distinction without a difference, it seemed to me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are cheques drawn on insufficient funds.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)
“Is this then a touch? quivering me to a new identity,
Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,
My flesh and blood playing out lightning to strike what is hardly
different from myself,
On all sides prurient provokers stiffening my limbs,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)