perature was 72 degrees, which occurred upon one day only; during the month of
June the highest registered temperatures were 72 and 75 degrees, which oceurred on
the plateau at Graveyard Creek, also in the course of our travels; during the month
of July the highest registered temperatures were 82 and 92 degrees, which also
occurred upon the upper plateau during the course of our travels, in the year 1906.

“The first winter the thickness of the ice upon the river did not exceed 2%
feet, at the utmost 8 feet 6 inches. During the year 1906 the thickness of the
ice upon the Peace River was 4 feet generally. In some places it exceeded that
thickness.

“During the course of our travels upon the plateau in the months of May and
June, 1906, we were visited with frost upon several occasions during the night. The
registrations of the thermometer were taken at 6 in the morning, the thermometer
apparently not registering quite the lowest temperature, which had apparently been
attained during the night. On May Gth it registered 30 degrees; on May 7th it
registered 25 degrees; on June 15th it registered 34 degrees, with evidences of frost
upon the vegetation.”

In going through the details of Mr. Macdonell’s observations, it would appear
that 92 degrees was the highest temperature recorded, it occurring on July Sth and
15th, 1906; while 48 degrees below zero was the lowest recorded, it occurring on
January 22nd, 1906.

¥. C. Campbell, formerly Government Agent at Fort St. John, in a report on
climatic conditions in the Peace River country in 1909, says: ‘As I was travelling
during the summer, I did not take any thermometer readings ; however, I experienced
the first frost while camped on Tea Creek, on the night of August 22nd. On the
afternoon of August 26th, while on the plateau about thirty-five miles north of Fort
St. John, we had sufficient snow to whiten all fallen timber, but what fell on the
ground melted almost immediately. One might say it was more of a sleet than a
snow-storm. During the night globules of ice formed on the grass and bushes, while
our boots were stiff with frost in the morning. The next night, while camped on
a small creek, perhaps twenty-five miles farther north, it was also very cold, the
ereek being skimmed over with ice. Again, while camped at Moose River on the
plateau east of Fort St. John, we had a yery heavy frost on the night of September
Sth. Howeyer, the plateau to the north of the Peace is said to be colder than that
to the south. On the south side, about ten miles west of Sucker Pond, on the night
of September 19th, I experienced very heavy frost, sufficient to freeze the ground
quite hard. Again, on the morning of September 26th, I found the still water in
Rocky Mountain Creek skimmed over with ice. A little dry snow fell on October
7th on the plateau south-west of Fort St. John, and continued at intervals through-
out the day. About 8 or 4 inches of snow fell at St. John from October 19th to 21st,
but was taken off by a Chinook wind on the 23rd. I found the wind very prevalent
on the plateau, and after the first week in September somewhat chilly.

“J am informed that snow usually lies on the ground from about November ist
to about April 15th, and attains a depth of probably 18 inches at Fort St. John. Of
course, it would be considerably deeper on the plateau; but on the hillsides, which
are wind-swept, but little snow remains in place.

“From the Hudson’s Bay Company’s journal, I find that the ice started to run
in the Peace River at Fort St. John on October 28th, 1908, and that the river closed
on December 4th following; that it started to break up again on May 8th, and that
the river was clear of ice on May 14th, 1909. This may probably be taken as an
average. ‘The current in the Peace runs at a speed of about four or five miles an
hour, consequently the ice drifts for a considerable time before finally jamming and
closing the river.”

G. B. Milligan, B.C.L.S., who made surveys adjoining the Peace River Block in
1912, said: ‘“ Observations regarding the weather during last winter were taken by
my assistant, who spent the winter at Fort St. John. The only cold weather experi-
enced occurred during the first part of January, the thermometer registering 50
degrees below zero on the 11th. February, March, and April were marked by
alternating snowfalls and Chinook winds; the weather was variable. Snow would

6