Finlay Rapids on the Peace are encountered just below
Finlay Forks, and farther to the east other rapids are met
in a gorge with precipitous rocky sides where the river
cuts through the Rocky Mountains. Passing out of the
mountains and approaching the Peace River Block, the
valley narrows, forming a deep canyon to the west of
Hudson Hope, through which the river flows for a distance
of eighteen miles. The average width of the canyon is
200 feet, and in it there is a total fall of 270 feet. The
banks, composed of sandstone with bands of dark shale,
rise on either side to an average height of about 500 feet
above the level of the water at the lower end of th

e canyon.
From Hudson Hope to its mouth, in a dist

ance of nearly
700 miles, the only abrupt change in gradient of the river

|Z occurs at Vermilion Chutes, about fifty miles cast of Fort
(Vermilion. Here there is a fall of thirty feet in a distance

of two miles. At “The Chutes,” there is an abrupt fall
of 13 feet over a limestone ledge, and about one and a

half miles upstream there is a rapid with a total drop of
11 feet in a distance of nearly half a mile.

Apart from the obstruction at Vermilion Chutes, the

Peace is navigable for river steamers from the mouth
upstream to Hudson Hope.

Parsnip and Finlay Rivers are the principal tributaries
of the Peace west of the Rocky Mountains. To the east

of the Rockies the largest tributaries are the Pine, Smoky,
Cadotte, and Wabiskaw Rivers.

Water Supply.—Nearly one-half of the drainage basin
of the Peace lies in the mountains, and, in consequence,
the flow of the river varies widely. The greater part of
the run-off comes from the mountain section, and the
amount depends on temperature and precipitation. Low
run-off is experienced in winter, and high run-off in the
spring and summer months.

Discharge records of the Peace River have been kept
at the following locations: Hudson Hope (Drainage area
30,000 sq. mi.) open water periods only from May, 1917,
to September, 1922: Near Taylor—A new station was
established at the Alaska Highway Bridge, July, 1944;
Peace River (Drainage area 72,000 sq. mi.) continuous
records from May, 1915, to October, 1931; Fort Vermilion
(Drainage area 86,000 sq. mi.) open-water periods and one
winter period, 1915-16, from August, 1915, to September,
1922. The records at Peace River showed a maximum
discharge of 375,000 c.f.s. in June, 1922, and a minimum
discharge of 6,350 c.f.s. in December, 1916; the average
annual flow being 62,000 c.f.s.

Of the tributaries of the Peace, discharge records are
available for the Smoky River at Smoky (Drainage area
18,500 sq. mi.) from June, 1915, to September, 1922: Harmon
River at Peace River (Drainage area 735 sq. mi.) from June,
1915, to August, 1921; Nation River, tributary to the
Parsnip six miles below Chuchi Lake, open-water records
from June, 1938, to September, 1943; new stations were

established on the Halfway River near Bear Flat and on
the Kiskatinaw River near Farmington in 1944; miscel-
laneous measurements on a number of tributaries in the
prairie drainage.

Lakes which might be used as storage reservoirs in the
Peace River basin are small in area, and for the most part
are located near the headwaters of lesser tributaries. Their
combined effect would probably be small in regulating the
flow of the main river. More effective regulation might
be secured by the construction of a combined power and
storage dam in the constricted section of the Peace below
Finlay Forks which would flood the valleys of the Peace,
Parsnip, and Finlay Rivers for many miles.

Power Resources.—No development of water power has
as yet been made in the Peace River basin, but investigations
now under way have in view the development of a site
on the Nation River to supply power for the operation of
a mercury mine at Pinchi Lake.

Undeveloped possibilities are indicated at three locations
on the Peace River. The uppermost is below the confluence
of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers, where the Peace breaks
through the Rocky Mountains. Here it would seem, that
a high dam might be constructed which would flood a
large area in the Finlay and Parsnip valleys, providing not
only a large power concentration but also for substantial
regulation of flow. As no field investigations have been
made of this site, it is not possible to make any intelligent
estimate of the power that might be developed. The
second site is located at Peace River Canyon just west of
Hudson Hope. Here the river averages about 200 feet
in width, and has a total fall of 270 feet between high
rocky banks in a distance of 18 miles. No investigations

have been made as to how this site could be developed, but,

assuming the whole head could be utilized, the power
potentiality is estimated at 118,000 horse-power at ordinary
minimum flow or 412,000 horsepower at ordinary six
months flow. The third site is situated at Vermilion
Chutes about 50 miles east of Fort Vermilion, where a
power investigation made by the Dominion Water and
Power Bureau in 1915, indicated that a head of 30. feet
could be obtained by the construction of a dam a short
distance above the Chutes. With this head, the power
available is estimated to be 25,000 horse-power at ordinary

minimum flow, or 70,000 horse-power at ordinary six
months flow. :

Power possibilities are indicated on a number of the
tributaries of the Peace, but information is too meagre
to allow estimates of potentialities, except on the Nation
River, a tributary of the Parsnip, where investigations
have been made by the Provincial Water Rights Branch of
British Columbia. Lakes on the upper Nation afford
storage possibilities, and, with regulation of flow, the
Water Rights Branch estimates that a total of 79,600

horsepower could -be developed at four sites. Canyons
and rapids on the Finlay and its tributaries suggest power

177 I