Sketches in British Columbia: the town of Douglas, and Douglas Lake, 1864. The site where this town now stands was, before the gold fever began, in 1858, a dense forest of gigantic pines...Since that period, clearing has steadily progressed, and the busy little town of Douglas, with its wide streets laid out at right angles and partially cleared, begins to assume an air of civilisation, though its houses are generally still of the most primitive wooden order of architecture. Douglas, however, being at the head of the up-river navigation along this route, has become the most important depot for the inland traffic of the colony...Nearly 3000 tons of goods were transported over this route last year. Owing to the want of any land near Douglas suitable for agricultural pursuits, its population is limited to few more than those who are engaged in store-keeping and forwarding goods to the upper country. It has a sawmill, several smiths and carpenters shops, kept fully employed, and, like all mining towns, has its due proportion of hotels, restaurants, and billiard saloons...Law and justice are administered by a stipendiary magistrate, whose residence is shown in the left corner of the Engraving. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.