News of gold in the Fraser Canyon sparks a rush in gold seekers to Vancouver Island and the Mainland by 1858, prompting Douglas to call for greater enforcement of British colonial law, authority, and jurisdictional stronghold over the colonies in fear of the possibility for Indigenous warfare and general lawlessness such as that experienced in California.

Sage, W.N. (Walter Noble). Sir James Douglas and British Columbia. (Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1930), 202, 217, 232 255