Lowermoun-

tains.

Quadacha
iver,

Great valley.

18 ¢ FINLAY “AND OMENICA RIVERS.

the Finlay from the west, a few miles lower down. The mountains
east of the bordering gneissic range of the Rockies are comparatively
low in this latitude, and are separated by wide wooded valleys often
holding lakes of considerable size. Their lower elevation is due to the
relatively softer and more easily eroded nature of the argillites and
cale-schists of which they are composed. Farther back, near the
centre of the range, the cale-schists are replaced by hard limestones,
and higher and bolder-looking mountains again prevail.

From Paul’s Branch to the Qua-da-cha, or Whitewater, a distance
of eleven miles, the Finlay runs in a nearly straight direction, skirting
the base of the range bordering it on the east. The width of the
river here is about 250 yards, and its current has a rate of about four
miles and a half an hour.

The Quadacha, or Whitewater, as it is appropriately termed on
most of the maps, is‘the largest stream which enters the Finlay from
the east, and is usually referred to as “The Fork,” although its volume
is scarcely one-sixth that of the main river. It is a deep rapid stream
about one hundred feet wide. Its water is filled and whitened with
fine sediment, evidently derived from glaciers, and presents a strong
contrast in this respect to the clear blue water of the main stream.
The two streams flow side by side for several miles before comming-
ling. The Quadacha follows the western side of the same valley
which the Finlay has occupied for so long, for several miles, and then
turns eastward into the Rockies. It is reported by the Indians to
fork soon after entering the mountains, one branch coming from a
large lake, while the other heads in a glacier near the centre of the
range. At the Quadacha, the Finlay bends to the west, and three miles
further on receives the Tochieca, a stream about seventy-five feet
wide. Soon after, still turning westward, it leaves the great valley
which it has hitherto occupied. The valley extends northward with
undiminished size, although it now holds only an insignificant tribu-
tary of the Finlay.

The great Inter-montane valley referred to above, and of which
mention is so frequently made in this report, forms one of the most
important topographical features of British Columbia. It crosses the
international boundary about longitude 115° 10’ W. and runs in a
direction N. 33° W. along the western base of the Rocky Mountains,
separating the latter from the Selkirks and other ranges on the west,
for a distance of over 800 miles. It is entirely independent of the
present drainage systems of the country, as it is occupied successively,
beginning at the boundary, by a number of rivers belonging to distinct