Colonial Despatches

The exact location of Great Falls is difficult to determine. Certainly, it was along the Fraser River, and was mined chiefly in 1858-1859, but several references to “great falls” exist within and without the Colonial correspondence. Bancroft reports that Fountain is six miles above the great falls, which places the “great falls” at the northern end of Lillooet.1

In this despatch to Stanley, Douglas notes that some miners had prospected as far as the Great Falls, forty miles beyond the confluence of Thompson's River, that is, 64 km North of Lytton, which corresponds roughly with Bancroft’s location. To muddy things further, Douglas, in the same despatch, refers to the falls several times, but this reads as distinct from the Great Falls; see The Falls entry for more.

• 1. Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. 32, History of British Columbia 1792-1887 (San Francisco: The History Company, 1887), 440.