9

In 1934, Charles E. Bedaux attempted a cross-country journey from
Fort St. Johnto Telegraph Creek with four Citreon half-track motor cars of
a type then used by the Swiss army. ‘The ears (tractors) were abandoned
due to track trouble, and a fresh start was made using horses. Two
members of the expedition, C. E. Lemark and one of the guides, finally
reached Telegraph Creek, but the others were forced to return when their
horses developed hoof rot from standing in damp ground. Mr. Swannell,
a member of the expedition, produced a topographic map of the region
traversed, a copy of which is on file at Victoria

F. H. McLearn continued his studies of the stratigraphy of the Peace
River Foothills during the 1937 and 1938 field seasons. This work resulted
in the discovery of many new Triassic species, which McLearn later
figured and described (See Bibliography).

Commencing in 1938, several geologists of the British Columbia De-
partment of Mines visited the Peace River district in search of geological
structures that might be worth testing for oil. A. H. Cox studied the geo-
logical structures of Kiskatinaw Valley and of the Hudson Hope area in
1938, and in the following season examined areas around Moberly Lake and
in the neighbourhood of Coal Creek south of Peace River. M. Y. Williams
examined structures along the valley of Pine River in 1938, and in 1939
studied the major folds between Pine River and Farrell Creek. C. R.
Stelek carried out geological investigations in Red Willow, Pouce Coupé,
Kiskatinaw, and Pine River areas during the summers of 1940 and 1941.
His report to the Minister of Mines for British Columbia (unpublished
manuscript) mentions a natural gas seepage 1} miles south of the Monkman
trail in direction south 50 degrees east from the south end of Lone Mountain,
and in an area south of that herein described.

A test well was drilled at Commotion Creek during 1940 and 1941 by the
British Columbia Government. Unexpectedly steep dips were empguntered
below a depth of 4,600 feet, and the well never reached Trifissic beds.
Drilling was suspended at a depth of 6,940 feet.

During the period 1939-41, the British Columbia Department of
Lands and Forests mapped the Rocky Mountain Trench topographically
from Finlay Forks to the northern boundry of the province, and a popular
account of the project has been presented by Andrews (1942) in the Geo-
graphical Journal. M.S. Hedley and Stuart 5. Holland (1941) penetrated
the north part of the province with the land surveyors in 1940, and made a
reconnaissance geological survey of the area drained by Kechika and
Turnagain Rivers.

During the summer of 1942, H. H. Beach and J. Spivak made a geo-
logical survey of the Dunlevy-Portage Mountain map-area west of Hudson
Hope, Peace River district, between latitudes 55°45’ and 56°15’ and
longitudes 122° and 122°30’. In the same year Wickenden and Shaw
geologically mapped a large part of the Mount THuleross-Commotion
Creek map-area in Pine River Valley.

In 1939, the Canadian Government commenced construction of the
Northwest Staging Route, with plans for landing strips at Grand Prairie,
Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Watson Lake, and Whitehorse. In the winter
of 1941, Canadian engineers built a preliminary road from Fort St. John to
Fort Nelson.

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