about five miles from there is Barge Camp, which was a camping-place in the days
of the Klondike rush. A barge, the remains of which were left on the river-bank,
was constructed to ferry parties across the river. The trail ascended the Finlay
and up the valley of the Fox River, a tributary draining from the mountains at
Sifton Pass, through which the route went to the Kachika River and down it to
the Liard.

MANSON RIVER.

The Manson River enters the Finlay on the west not far above Finlay Junction,
flowing north-east through a break in the Wolverine Range. It often changes its
channel, long sloughs, once main channels, being found in places. Not far from the
junction with the Parsnip is Pete Toy’s Bar, which is rich in gold, probably brought
down by the Omineca River. Here Pete Toy, a pioneer prospector, is credited with
having obtained a considerable amount of gold. Properly speaking, this is not a bar,
but a low gravel bench on the side of the river, some 6 to 8 feet above high water.
It shows evidence of having been extensively worked by shallow workings, not
extending more than 5 feet deep. Panning by recent prospectors indicates that the
gold found is fine and flaky.

INGENIKA RIVER.

The Ingenika River enters the Finlay from the west, about twenty miles above
Fort Graham. The low flats along the river are good, but limited in extent, averag-
ing from 40 to 60 chains in width for the last twenty miles of its course, the soil
being a heayy black loam, timbered lightly with spruce and poplar. The benches,
rising sharply from the bottom to a height of 150 feet, are dry and sandy and
covered with small pine. The river is very swift, but free from canyons, with a
fall of about 8 feet to the mile, and is navigable for canoes, except at high water,
for about thirty miles.

This river has been the scene of considerable mining excitement. In the vicinity
of the mouth of McConnell Creek, a stream about ten miles long, flowing in a general
south-easterly direction, which enters the Ingenika River from 100 to 120 miles up
from the mouth of that river, is a massive flow of granite which continues for ten
miles down the river, when schists come in, and in the inequalities of this smooth
granite bed-rock, in small, irregular areas, gravel, sand, and boulders have collected.
Prospectors have worked these pockets with good success, the gold found being flat
and flaky. This granite-bed, containing pockets of gold-bearing’ gravel, sand, and
boulders, is also found for some distance up McConnell Creek, which for two miles
up is confined to a narrow valley, gravel benches rising in terraces from the water.

OSPIKA RIVER.

The Ospika River, which enters the Finlay from the east, about twelve miles
from the mouth, flows for the last ten miles of its course across the valley of the
Finlay, outside of which the land along the river is poor, the benches being narrow
and sandy and the river-flats very smiall in extent. This river is somewhat smaller
than the Ingenika, and is very swift, having a fall of about 9 feet to the mile.

G. E. Townshend, Ranger of the Forest Branch, who visited this section in 1913.
said the Ospika Valley contains no timber of any value. Except a small amount near
the foot of the mountains, it is all burned. The country in the Finlay basin has been
generally burned over on the east side between the Ospika River and Fort Grahame.
the burns being restocked in the area between the river and the mountains, some five
or six miles, with jack-pine, poplar, and a small amount of spruce.

Above the mouth of the Omineca the islands in the Finlay become scarcer. The
banks on both sides are from 12 to 20 feet high, and in places there are clay bluffs,
some reaching to a height of from 200 to 300 feet.

FORT GRAHAME.

Fort Grahame is an outpost of Fort St. James and Fort McLeod. It is located
fifty-eight miles from Finlay Junction. William Fox, who was in charge for many
years, has grown different kinds of vegetables in a small garden at the post. He

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