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and McLeod Lake, and from this time on the region was regularly visited by
the agents and voyageurs of the fur-trading companies. Finlay River was
ascended in 1824 by an officer of the North West Company, John Finlay,
after whom the river is named. In 1828, Sir George Simpson (1872)
travelled up Peace and Parsnip Rivers on a trip to the Pacific, and McLean
(1849) tells of 25 years in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company in this
region.

During the winter of 1872 and spring of 1873, W. F. Butler journeyed up
Peace River en route from Winnipeg to Vancouver. His book (1874)
relates a trip by dog sled from the forks of the Saskatchewan to Fort St.
John and by canoe west from Peace River Canyon to Parsnip River. He
ascended the Omineca, an easterly flowing tributary of the Parsnip, to
reach the Germansen and Manson Creek placer fields, and then proceeded
south on foot and by horse to Quesnel. He describes the Fort St. John of
that day as consisting of a few ruined buildings on the south shore of
Peace River, and Hudson’s Hope as a solitary house (Hudson’s Bay Com-
pany post) that marked where Peace River emerged from the canyon.

Sandford Fleming (1874), Engineer-in-Chief of Exploration and
Surveys for the Canadian Pacific Railway, sent Messrs. Horetzky and
Macoun on a trip to the Pacific Coast by way of Peace River Valley in 1873.
They ascended the Parsnip to McLeod Lake, from where Horetzky pro-
ceeded west to the Pacific by way of Babine Lake and Skeena and Nass
Rivers, and Macoun by the southern route via Quesnel and Fraser River.

Alfred R. C. Selwyn headed the first geological expedition into this
region for the Geological Survey of Canada in 1875. He was accompanied
by John Macoun, botanist. Selwyn entered the country via Quesnel and
Parsnip River. He descended the Peace as far as Fort St. John, and
explored Pine River Valley. Macoun continued alone down the Peace and
returned to Winnipeg via Athabaska River and Ile-a-la-Crosse Lake.

George M. Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada passed through
the Peace River country in 1879 en route from Port Simpson on the Pacific
to Edmonton. Dawson was assisted by R. G. McConnell, and they
travelled a large part of the way in company with H. J. Cambie and H. A.
F. MacLeod who were searching for a favourable railway route to the
Pacific on behalf of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

R. G. McConnell re-visited the Peace River region in 1898. He
descended the Parsnip and then Peace River as far as the Foothills, and
after a hasty examination of the structure of the Rocky Mountains returned
to the Parsnip at Finlay Forks. Finlay River was then ascended as far as
Fishing Lakes, 30 miles north of Thutade Lake, and a side trip was made up
Omineca River, with visits to the Germansen Creek, Manson Creek, and
other placer mining camps, then nearly all abandoned.

In 1906, the Provincial Mineralogist for the British Columbia Depart-
ment of Mines, W. Fleet Robertson (1907), made a trip overland from
Hazelton to McLeod Lake, then by canoe down Parsnip and Peace Rivers.
He made a trip south to Moberly Lake and to Pouce Coupé before going
south via the Lesser Slave Lake route to Edmonton. In 1908, W. Fleet
Robertson (1909) made an overland journey to Finlay River, investigating
placer gold occurrences on McConnell Creek and Ingenika River en route.