greatly reduced. There appears, moreover, to be no great difficulty in the way of
making the Pack, Parsnip, and Upper Peace Rivers navigable throughout, thus
establishing a continuous waterway for the whole of the present canoe route from
Summit Lake to the Peace River Canyon, a distance of some 300 miles, the greater
part of which trayerses what will undoubtedly before many years become a very
rich farming country.”

ROUTES FROM EDMONTON.

There are two routes from Edmonton. The first passes through Athabaska
Landing, and thence to Grouard by Athabaska and Lesser Slave Rivers and Lesser
Slave Lake. The distance from Edmonton to Peace River Crossing by this route
is 380 miles, 565 miles to Fort St. John. ‘The second is by Edson over the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway, and thence by a wagon-road via Sturgeon Lake Settlement
to Saskatoon Lake, in Grande Prairie. Both are longer than that via Giscome
Landing. Between Edmonton and Athabaska Landing, 100 miles, the Canadian
Northern Railway has built a railroad, and the grade sas completed and steel
being laid in 1913 from Edmonton to a point on Athabaska River near the mouth
of Lesser Slave River by the company building from Edmonton to Dunyegan.

From Athabaska Landing a road follows the north shore for seventy-five miles
to Mirror Landing, at the confluence of Lesser Slave River with the Athabaska
River, and from there for forty miles to the east end of Lesser Slave Lake. The
south shore is then followed along the lake for thirty miles to the “ Narrows,”
where, in winter, the lake is crossed diagonally, a distance of nine miles, to the
north shore, which is followed for thirty-six miles to Grouard. In summer the
wagon-road along the south shore of the lake is followed all the way. Another road
follows the south shore of Athabaska River to Mirror Landing. From Sawridge the
north shore of Lesser Slave Lake may be travelled to Grouard by following along
the beach, which for the first fourteen miles is rough and covered with boulders.

STEAMBOAT SERVICES.

Between Athabaska Landing and Grouard a semi-weekly boat service, frequently
very irregular, has been established by the Northern Transportation Company. <A
small steamer plies between Athabaska Landing and Mirror Landing, and a portage
of sixteen miles extends to Norris Landing, from where another steamer plies to
Sawridge, at the east end of Lesser Slave Lake. During very high water the small
boats can be taken all the way up Lesser Slave Lake, but in low water navigating
the rapids between Mirror Landing and Norris Landing is dangerous even with
boats of light draught. From Grouard a wagon-road extends eighty miles to Peace
River Crossing, and one, sixty-five miles from there to Dunvegan, from where the
distance to Fort St. John by road is 160 miles and by river 120 miles.

The Hudson’s Bay Company have steamers on the Peace River running from
Fort Vermilion to Hudson Hope, which is at the head of navigation, the Peace above
that post running in a canyon for several miles. Another trading company, known
as the Diamond P Company, own steamers on the Peace River, but the service of
both companies is somewhat irregular.

F. C. Campbell, in the report made by him in 1909, in speaking of the river
transportation facilities, said: ‘The Hudson’s Bay Company’s steamer on the Peace
River only runs on an approximate schedule, as the bulk of the business originates
with the owners—the Hudson’s Bay Company—their chief object being to make three
round trips in the season from Vermilion to Fort St. John, on one of which they
are to go to Hudson Hope (which is fifty-five miles above Fort St. John). This year
they were scheduled to leave Peace River Crossing on the up-river trip about June
ist, July 9, and August 1st; while they did actually leave on June 11th, July 7th,
and probably August 8rd or 4th. Considering that the distance from Vermilion to
Fort St. John is about 500 miles, and that the difference in altitude is about 500
feet, they ran creditably near their schedule.

“The ice is seldom out of Lesser Slave Lake before the end of May. After
waiting on board the steamer for ten days I went through, on the first trip of

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