14 DrparTMENT or LANDS. Lake and west of the Cheslatta Trail as far south as Ghowsunkut Lake are mostly covered with poplar. The trail itself follows high gravelly and rocky ridges, but leaving the trail westerly the soil improves, ultimately consisting of black loam and light vegetable mould, while rock only occasionally appears on the surface. The whole of this tract is entirely unsettled, and is seldom traversed except by the few Indians who trap through the district.” NORTH OF FORT FRASER. Nine miles due north from Fort Fraser is a settlement reached by trail, but to which a wagon-road is expected to be constructed. In 1914 about thirty pre-emptions were occupied hereabout, the majority having been recorded during the previous two years. Owing to the labour involved in clearing—the land being thickly timbered— there has not been much improvement made, although the settlers are nearly all bona-fide residents, who hope eventually to make this section of the country one of the most productive in the district. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. The district in vicinity of Fraser Lake seems favoured by an earlier spring and seems less subject to summer frosts than any visited between Hazelton and Prince George. Just why this should be is difficult to say, but there is no doubt the lake is largely responsible for it. Much of the wind blowing over the Francois and Ootsa Lakes country finds its way into the depression occupied by Fraser Lake, and, blowing eastward down the lake, seems to keep up a somewhat higher and more constant wind here than on most parts of the plateau. However, high winds are the “exception over all this plateau, and this district about Fraser Lake can only be called windy in comparison with other parts near it favoured to a less extent. Light, intermittent falls of snow come early in November and sometimes in October, but it is usually November 15th before snow falls to Stay. It averages 214 to 3 feet in depth and is somewhat powdery. On the clearings most of the snow has disappeared by April 10th to 15th, though it varies according to the seasons. Winter thaws are exceptional, though one occasionally occurs in January. The thermometer sometimes drops quite low, but only fairly hard freezing weather is the rule. Spring cultivation can be commenced very soon after the snow disappears, So that cereals can usually be sown by May ist, and often a week or more earlier. The spring months are the driest. Summer frosts do considerable damage sometimes. May is somewhat frosty, and occasionally frost occurs in June and sometimes even in July. According to the telegraph operator at Fraser Lake, C. W. Proctor, the Hudson's Bay Company has not lost a single crop of potatoes in twelve years by frost, and its location is no more favourable than most of the land surrounding the lake. Feed is generally found in suflicient quantity to pasture stock by May 6th to 10th. ENDAKO VALLEY. Westward from Fraser Lake, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway follows up the Endako Valley to Burns and Decker Lakes, beyond which is the divide where the railroad crosses into the Hazelton Land Recording Division in the Bulkley Valley. The Endako River, which flows from Burns Lake to Fraser Lake, is more like an attenuated pond than a river; it is so sluggish. It is about 2 chains wide, tortuous, and with scant current. The valley proper, though narrow, is very rich; it contains some good areas of farming land. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 88, Nechako Sheet.) The soil in the bottoms is a rich black loam, with a rank growth of grass and weeds. On the bench lands which rise on either side of the valley the soil is of lighter texture, having generally a gravelly subsoil which is exposed to the surface on the higher lands, while in other localities gives way to a deep sandy soil entirely free from rock. The water-supply is plentiful, many small lakes and tributaries and connecting creeks draining into the river.