16 DePARTMENT OF LANDS.

BURNS LAKE DISTRICT.

Decker Lake, just over the ridge from the south of the Bulkley Valley at the
west of the district, and Burns Lake to the south, from which the Endako River
drains a fertile valley extending to Fraser Lake, are in an area offering promise for
farming and grazing. The altitude is about 2,500 feet. To the west and south-west
extends the great plateau about Francois, Ootsa, and Cheslatta Lakes. (See Pre-
emptors’ Map 38, Nechako Sheet.) From the railroad there is a gvod bridge across
Burns Lake and a wagon-road stretching to the Harris Settlement, about thirty miles
from the head of Francois Lake on the north side.

The conntry between the Harris Settlement and Burns Lake is rolling and rocky,
with a number of small lakes scattered here and there. Jack-pine, with some spruce
and a few poplar patches, cover the whole area. The tinrber is mostly small, and,
though sufficient for local use, there is none for outside markets. ‘There are several
thousand acres of rocky, burned-oyer country on the south-west side of Burns Lake.
On the north side of the lake is found nearly ail the land of much value near it.
A narrow strip about three miles long beside the lake and a few hundred acres
scattered here and there form the principal area of good land here. The soil is
mostly a white silt with a deep covering of black loam. ‘The rest of the land in the
vicinity is very rough and rocky, and being only lightly covered with poplar, ete.,
furnishes considerable good grazing.

Burns LAKE.

At Burns Lake a townsite was laid out by the Government in 1917, the sale of
lots being held in October of that year. It is expected that this place will be the
distributing-point for the Francois and Ootsa Lake Districts, and it is at the end
of a good road-grade to Babine Lake, though the road at present is only suitable for
heayy traffic during the winter. It has a modern hotel and general store. <A post-
oflice is located there.

The altitnde of Burns Lake is 2,475 feet as shown by aneroid. The climate
evidently is much similar to other parts of this plateau, though frosts seem frequent.
It is evident that the lake has undergone considerable shrinkage, for a level bench
reaches from the water’s edge to a considerable distance. It is lightly covered with
poplar-scrub and with wild hay in profusion, some of which is cut and stacked by
Indians. Here and there are large patches of soft ground of a semi-swampy nature
which could easily be drained. The soil is of a deep, rich black alluvial deposit
with a clay subsoil. The possibilities of the land in the depressions about the lake
are shown in the garden at the telegraph operator’s cabin. He has a small garden
with potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, ete, under cultivation, growing luxurviantly in a
soil which crumbled in the fingers, and into which an arm could be plunged without
meeting solidity.

To the north and west of Decker Lake is open poplar and jack-pine land, and
fron, local information there is room for a good settlement back from the railway,
though the best land appears to be along the railway, but has already been taken up.

Burns LAKE To FRANcors LAKE.

Most of the acreage surveyed here lies along the wagon-road connecting these
lakes, and covers the greater portion of the low-lying land between them. ‘The land
is all more or less rolling and covered with pine interspersed with poplar, spruce,
willow, and alder. Small lakes, creeks, swampy meadows, and spruce-willow bottoms
are found throughout the area. Bush fires have swept through parts of the area
and given it a rather desolate-looking appearance. The soil is mostly light and,
especially where burnt over, stony on the surface. Included in the surveys here
are several pre-emptions, and no doubt more pre-emptors will locate here in the near
future on account of its proximity to the railroad and the settlements on Burns,
Techesinkut, and Francois Lakes.