REPORT BY GEORGE M. DAWSON. 21

depend for their supply on melting snow, and consequently, even when
full, are clear, though the water has a brownish tint. They rise early
in the season, and like all the streams supplied: by swamps and lakes,
fall to their sammer level, while those with sources in the mountains are
still carrying their maximum amount of water. The Hu-chen-i-ko Valley
holdS many small lakes and lake-like expansions, some of which open
into the river or form a part of its course, while others are steep-
sided and separated from the stream by flat-topped mounds. Three
large lakes occur as expansions of the river in the part of its
length which has been explored. The first I have not seen; the
second, T'as-un-tiat, eighteen miles up the river from its junction with
the Blackwater, is about six miles in length, with an elevation of
about 2,970 feet, and holds many long islands produced by gravel
ridges like those above mentioned, but not distinctly flat-topped. The
ridges in both cases appear probably to be moraines, but at the lower
levels must have been somewhat modified by nearly contemporaneous
water action. Five miles beyond Tas-un-tlat is Klun-chat-is tli Lake,
a mile and three-quarters long, with an elevation of 3,070 feet. Near
the west end of this lake, Tai-uk Brook joins the Ku-chen-i-ko from
the south-west; a stream, which on the sixth of June, with a very rapid
current, had a width of about ten feet, with a depth of twelve inches.
This stream we were obliged to follow in our exploration, the river valley
continuing with much the same aspect that it had heretofore presented,
with a general bearing of N. 42° W. The Indians described to me as
existing in the valley, at the distance of about a day’s journey beyond
this point, some remarkably coloured rocks, from which steam or smoke
ascends in winter. This may very probably be a case of the spontaneous
combustion of a lignite bed, like that described in the Report for 1875 as
occurring at Quesnel.

The portion of the Eu-chen-i-ko Valley followed, has a general course
of N. 65° W. To the north it is bounded by rising and hilly ground,
forming part of, or flanking the Telegraph Range. Hills appear on its
southern side within a few miles of its junction with the Na-tan-i-ko,
and continue to increase in height and width north-westward. In some
places they may rise from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the river. The
valley is wide and flat-bottomed, and while its southern side is thickly
timbered, except in certain spots where fires have run, the northern,
with a considerable portion of the flat ground along the river, is gener-
ally open, and presents a very attractive appearance, being covered with
bunch-grass, with patches of wild onions and occasional tufts of sage (Arte-

Lakes on
Eu-chen-i-ko.

Probable
existence of
lignite. ©

Character of
Eu-chen-i-ko
Valley.

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