"It must however be understood, that at this time the yield of gold had been enormous. Miners used to come to Victoria with lots of gold and exchange it for U.S. coin—this they absolutely squandered—chiefly in brothels or gin shops—so these places flourished and so did dance houses—and of course business in the necessary articles flourished also. Hyder [Haida] women and men came in flocks, to go away ruined forever—Indians from the North West coast met with the same fate, from which they have never and never will recover. In process of time Chinese women came and they in some measure took the business of the local Indians, Haidas, Chimpsehans [Tsimshians] and so forth and to end the matter the small pox and local demands drove them home in their own canoes, and hundred perished on their way to their own country. I may say here they nearly every Indian attacked with small pox died—whether he was taken care of in the Indian small pox hospital or not—and it was also said whether he had been vaccinated or not. I do not believe the last assertion because the Songish [Songhees] Indians kept comparatively free from the disease and many of them at various times had been successfully vaccinated by me—arm to arm."

(Blakey Smith, Dorothy; The Reminiscences of Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, UBC Press, 1975, pp. 186-187)

On 26 April 1862 the Colonist reported that "Dr. Helmcken (had) vaccinated over 500 natives since the disease first made its appearance here (on March 18).