In March 1858, some Californians discovered a placer deposit near Fort Hope. The find would be called Hill's Bar, after the first man who found gold there. When one of the men returned to Puget Sound for supplies, the news got out. Doubters were finally convinced the discovery was real and a new gold rush was on.
San Francisco was one of the first areas to get the news. The first ship left San Francisco on April 20, 1858, bound for the Fraser River. There were 450 men aboard. About 300 of them were Americans, 60 were British, and the rest were mainly Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese. About 60 of the Americans were black men, hoping to escape persecution more than striking it rich. The ship reached Fort Victoria on April 25. In Washington Territory, men deserted Port Townsend almost overnight when news of the gold rush spread. Fort Steilacoom lost so many soldiers that they would've been in serious trouble if Indians had attacked.
On May 8, 1858, two more ships came in to port. For the most part, these men were sober, law-abiding citizens, who didn't cause much trouble for British authorities. Soon Americans erected over 200 new buildings, most of which were stores. Victoria's Bay could not accommodate all the ship traffic, so Americans built wharves at Esquimalt, a large harbor three miles west. There were no banks at the time and no coins since Hudson's Bay Company paid in script to be redeemed at the company store. So miners deposited their money with the Hudson's Bay Company financial officer even though all he could do was place the money or gold in labeled canvas bags. At one time he had over $2 million in deposits. Amazingly, none of it was ever stolen.
Port Townsend saw a short stint as a supply depot for miners going north. But it was too far from the Fraser. Bellingham Bay became the next supply point, as it was just 15 miles from the Canadian border. The town of Whatcom sprang up to support all these travelers. Men booked passage on the steamers from the bay to Fort Langley, ten miles up the Fraser River. Others went overland, usually up the Willamette Valley to Portland, then north to lower Puget Sound to sail the rest of the way. Some went overland through eastern Washington territory, but hostile Indians soon drove most of the traffic out.
