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Forr Fraser Division. 338

THE CHILAKO VALLEY AND PLATEAU.

The south-eastern portion of this district, which holds much land, is drained by
the Chilako River. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 88, Nechako Sheet.) It is a sluggish
stream, not more than 5 feet deep at high water and less than a chain wide, but it
drains a large tract of country. The bulk of this lies in the Fort George Land
Recording Division, the boundary-line following the Telegraph Trail. For seventy
miles from its source in Lake Tatuk, on the eastern slope of the ridge which encloses
the great interior lake region of Fort Fraser District, and forms the watershed of
the Nechako, the Chilako River runs through a most fertile valley, and empties into
the Nechako seven miles west of Prince George. It is reinforced by the surplus
waters of Naltesby Lake and several creeks. Many log-jams obstruct it and the
river is not navigable. In summer its water is warm and not of the best quality for
domestic use, but good drinking-water is found in the many creeks which join the
river. By panning gravel in the river a few colours can always be found.

Drains PLATEAU AT ELEVATION oF 2,000 Frer.

The valley proper is not of very great width. The plateau it drains has an
altitude of about 2,000 feet above sea-level, and offers an attractive area to the
pre-emptor. If the luxuriance of the wild vegetation of this plateau is any criterion,
then farming in this territory presents attractive possibilities. Natural grasses grow
densely over G and 7 feet in height; vetches are most prolific. The growth is
diversified. There are some good stretches of timber; other land is covered with
poplar and small serub, which can be cleared easily; while the low-lying expanses
are prairies on which the timber has been burned off, and they are now covered with
dense, dank wild hay, averaging in yield between 2 and 4 tons to the acre.

CHILAKO VALLEY NEAR TELEGRAPH TRAIL,

West of the Telegraph Trail, which portion of the basin lies in Fort George Land
Recording Division, the Chilako Valley is rich in meadow and prairie, surrounded
by poplar and pine thickets. The district having been swept by fire in recent years,
the second growth is of no great size, and clearing, where necessary, is light.
Running back from the river-bottom is a series of low benches. ‘To the north the
country is greatly undulating in character, covered with a growth of small pine,
poplar, and spruce, with good grass throughout. To the southward the country is
similar until the foot-hills of the Telegraph Range are reached. These form a low
divide between the Chilako River and the Nataniko River, the latter a tributary
of the Blackwater. :

The bottom lands of Chilako River are particularly rich and deep, having a heavy
black soil that should prove very fertile when brought under cultivation. In the
meadows wild hay and peavine grow thick and rank. Scattered clumps of dense
willow-brush and poplar-wood, with spruce thickets, cover the greater portion of the
lower benches. On the higher land the soil appears to be a light silt, comparatively
free from rock, and covered with a fairly open growth of poplar, pine, and small
scattered spruce. From the natural indications the snowfall in the valley is very
light. Natives and settlers report the average winter season comparatively easy.

Along the river-bottoms the soil is very rich and deep, with occasional sandy
tracts. The benches are of brown sandy loam, with clay subsoil. On the higher
land. traces of rock and gravel appear with the fir and small spruce.

THE STUART BASIN.

The Stuart River basin is reached from Vanderhoof Station, on the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway. from where a Government wagon-road extends to Fort St. James,
at the southern end of Stuart Lake, a distance of about thirty-eight miles. The
same road extends another mile to the Roman Catholic Mission on Stuart Lake.
From the Mission to Manson Creek (Government road) is roughly constructed and