2 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS.

Fraser, is the largest. The Tahtsa River, rising in the lake of the same name, flows
for thirty miles, coming into the western end of Ootsa Lake. (he Nadina gathers
waters from many small lakes in the Sibola section and flows eastward to Francois
Lake. The accumulated waters in Ootsa Lake flow out by the Ootsa River, which-
flows five miles into Intahtah Lake, and thence by a short river into Natalkuz Lake.
Cheslaslie Lake, into which drains the waters from the mountains lying between
Butsuk and Ootsa Lakes (called on some maps the Quanchus Range), gives rise to
the small, sluggish, but deep, Cheslaslie River, which flows into Enchu Lake. The
accumulated waters in the Eutsuk-Tetachuck system flow out by the Tetachuck River,
a swift and fairly large stream, which, going about ten miles, also enters Enchu
Lake. ‘This lake practically forms an arm of Natalkuz Lake, joining it by a stream
a mile or two in length. Natalkuz Lake is the starting-point of the Nechako River, -
which flows easterly and northerly, gathering waters from many other lakes and
joins the Fraser at Prince George. The Entiako River, which flows northerly from
Algateho Lake for about twenty miles, deposits into Enchu Lake. The Endako,
flowing from Burns Lake to Fraser Lake, is a sluggish stream about 2 chains wide.
North of the railway the principal stream is the Stuart River, a slow-flowing regular
stream about 800 feet in its average width, flowing from Stuart Lake south and east
to the Nechako. : :

Trem Cheslatta Lake (elevation 2,900 feet) the land falls gently to Fort Fraser,
and drops more gently to Stuart Lake to the north, which lies at 2,200 feet. Around
Stuart Lake and River, to the confluence of the latter with the Nechako, are large
areas of good farming land (see the upper part of Pre-emptors’ Map 38, Nechako
Sheet, and lower part of Map 3c, Stuart Lake Sheet, and Map 8a), the possibilities
of which, after clearing, are reflected by the yaried and prime produce raised at the

-Ifudson’s Bay Company’s post at Fort St. James, year after year, comprising the
usual range of vegetables and bush-fruits. The country between the railroad and
Stuart Lake is richly wooded, cottonwood predominating, the growth being denser
than in the Nechako Valley. The Nechako, which rises out of the great interior
lakes in the south-west, draining from the slopes of the Cascades, drains an immense
tract, of which a large percentage is arable. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 3B, Nechako
Sheet.) Burns and Decker Lakes, at altitude of about 2,700 feet, are in the centre
of a large expanse of good farming and grazing land, and to the west and south-west
extends the immense plateau in which lies Francois, Ootsa, Cheslatta, and other large
lakes. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 388, Nechako Sheet.) The South Babine country is
estimated to contain extensive areas of agricultural land. (See Pre-emptors’ Map
30, Stuart Lake, and 3p, Bulkley Sheet.)

The Nechako Valley proper, the upper portion of which is in this district, the
balance being in the Fort George Land District, is in reality an old lake-bed, and
the soil is very rich. The thick deposit of silt, freely impregnated with thoroughly
decomposed vegetable substance, in some places reaches depths of 40 feet, with a
clay subsoil. The average elevation is approximately 2,400 feet. The Nechako
Valley from Fraser Lake to near Stuart Lake on the eastern boundary of this
district, which follows the Telegraph Trail, comprises as fine an area of land as is
found in the Province. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 8n, Nechako Sheet.) It stretches
for forty miles east from Fort Fraser, in comparatively level and but slightly broken
country, lightly covered with poplar, spruce, and jack-pine, averaging fifteen miles
in width, containing large areas of excellent farming land. The Endako Valley,
although comparatively narrow, contains a good expanse of farming land, the soil
being a rich black loam in the bottoms and on the benches of lighter texture, with,
generally, a gravelly subsoil.

The district is much varied in so far as its mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes
are concerned, and therefore it will be necessary to treat each distinct valley in
separate detail, or divide the district in portions to convey an intelligible description
of its characteristics. Generally speaking, however, the valleys are at an approxi-