Forr Fraser Division. 17

FRANCOIS-OOTSA LAKE DISTRICT.

An area of roughly 1,500 miles, set in a great interior plateau, well watered by
great and small lakes and many streams, is comprised in the Francois-Ootsa Lake
District. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 3p, Nechako Sheet.) It is reached via the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway and the wagon-roads from its route. Surveys for pre-emp-
tions have taken place for the past ten years. The district, part of the inland
plateau, with general elevation of from 2,700 to 2,900 feet above sea-level, presents
the appearance of a low, undulating country, with ranges of hills which occasionally
rise to an elevation of 500 to 1,000 feet above the level of the larger lakes, generally
by “easy slopes, while more rarely they are broken and rugged in contour. The
low-lying country is dotted with numerous lakes that mostly drain in an easterly
direction to the main streams of the plateau. The ranges of hills follow approxi-
mately the general direction of the axis of the Coast Range. The low-lying country
is timbered with poplar, willow, spruce, and jack-pine, interspersed with numerous
open patches of grass land and meadow. Flanking the streams and lakes are
numerous leyel benches, which frequently extend back to a considerable distance
from the banks before they join the slopes of the hills. The greater part of the low
country is well below the 3,000-foot contour, and therefore, as far as altitude is
concerned, not too high for profitable farming. The aspect is essentially that of a
district with moderate rainfall, forest areas alternating with practically open grassy
stretches. On the southern slopes poplar and willow groves are prevalent, and the
soil is carpeted with a growth of grass and vetches, which often become very
luxuriant. The northern slopes are characterized by a greater preponderance of
spruce and balsam, while pine prevails when the soil is sandy and slopes less
prominent. There are no mountains of any size except those of the Coast Range,
which start from about fifty miles west of the head of Ootsa Lake. All the lakes
empty into the Fraser River, Francois Lake doing so by means of Fraser Lake and
the upper meadows, and Ootsa Lake emptying into a watercourse which carries the
waters of Tetachuck, Entiako, and Eutsuk (otherwise known as Big Ootsa) Lakes,
and falling into the Upper Nechako River, joining the Fraser Lake water at the east
of Fraser Lake.

The open grass land and meadows can be put under cultivation with little or
no clearing. There are extensive lightly timbered areas that are practicable for
grazing purposes, as are also the grassy southern slopes of the hills. Grasses,
yetches, etc., grow with great luxuriance, and oats, barley, and wheat do just as
well. Potatoes and all root-crops generally give very satisfactory results, as do also
all garden-truck. Berries seem to do very well, though so far very few are grown in
the district. Apples and other fruit-trees have not been tested, yet there is no reason
to anticipate that they wouid not give good results, especially on the north shore of
Francois Lake. On the whole, the district is eminently suitable for mixed farming,
dairying, and cattle-raising, in which respects it offers a most promising field for
enterprise. The cost of clearing runs from $5 to $100 per acre.

Sort.

A sandy, clayish loam, which has been formed by the redistribution and disinte-
gration of boulder-clay with the addition of materials derived from the disintegration
of local igneous rocks, is prevalent all through the district, varying in texture from
fine silt to coarse granular soil mixed with gravel and sand. Where the pine is
prevalent the soil is often more sandy, and on the higher benches very stony. In
the natural hay meadows and ancient lake-beds a deep vegetable mould overlies the
alluvial soil. In the poplar- and willow-covered bottems and slopes, which are a
prominent characteristic of the district, the soil has a good dressing of vegetable
mould, varying in depth from 2 to 12 inches, which is absent where pine preyails.
The great fertility of the soil is evidenced by the luxuriant growth of wild grasses,
yetches, and weeds.