- some pioneer farms in vicinity ‘of Fraser Lake,

notably on the gentle slopes to the north.

Much of the vicinity of Fraser Lake north and.

south slopes up rather quickly to broken timbered

hills, 600 to 800 feet above the lake, with occasional

patches of flat terrace, some of large size, where
bays have been filled with sediment left by a once-
larger lake. Benches occur at varying heights, some
to about 200 feet above the lake, about 2,400 feet
in altitude. The hills to the north tend to form
ranges which run north-west, with bluffs south-
westward in many places and longer slopes to the
north-east. Surveys are confined to the southern
benches and slopes and intervening terraces north
of the lake, and hill country prevails at the south,
where the hills are lower than at the north, and
while the country is broken and irregular, with
many patches of arable land, the relative amount
of rock-outcrop is less to the south. ‘Timber is
chiefly poplar and jack-pine. Surveyors estimate
the arable area in vicinity of the lake at about
15,000 acres, the greater part on the south side,
most of this land having good clayey silt soil. Oats

are grown in this district with good success, also _

vegetables of all kinds, the tendency being toward
mixed farming, and some of the settlers have cattle,

horses, pigs, and chickens, and, in addition to vege-

tables, grow oats and hay for winter feed.

From the south-easterly part of Fraser Lake the
Cheslatta Trail, leading southerly, connects with a
number of sections surveyed, mostly. west of the
trail, which leaves the south-shore’ wagon-road
about 6 miles from Fort Fraser and runs westerly,
skirting the shore of Drywilliam Lake; thence south
via Klez Lake and Chowsunkut Lake, where the
southernmost of the surveyed tracts are located.
South and west of these surveys broken country
rises to the hills dividing Nithi River from the
Stellako at the east of Francois Lake Settlement,
situated in vicinity of that lake and Stellako and
Nithi Rivers. The area is rolling, broken by grav-
elly and rocky ridges, with tracts of arable land
with black loam or light vegetable mould in the
intervening depressions, and many meadows, some
of large extent. Some of these meadows, formerly
continually under water, have been drained and
sown with timothy, which quickly choked out the
coarse native Swamp-grass, and these meadows now
produce large hay-crops. The country is timbered

with spruce, poplar, and jack-pine, spruce being

heavy near the meadows. Soil in the poplar and

_ spruce areas is excellent.
North of Fraser Lake some surveys have been
“made in vicinity of Ormonde Lake, north of the

hill divide which separates it and Oonabunket Lake,
connected with it by a short swift stream from
Fraser Lake, to which these lakes drain southward

by Ormonde Creek. These lakes, favoured spots
where Indians make camps and put up trout and
whitefish for winter use, are reached by trails
from the wagon-road north of Fraser Lake. and
from Fort Fraser. ‘These lakes are on the rolling
north-east slopes of the hills north of Fraser Lake,
undulating land with gravel and stones on the
ridges, timbered with jack-pine and poplar, with
many small meadows in places where soil indicat-
ing fertility is found. At the north of the lakes is
some good land, with many meadows. North and
west of the lakes the ground is broken and rocky
on a summit over which the trail continues north-
erly to a tributary of Sutherland River, which
flows north-west to Babine Lake, the valley of this
creek and Sutherland River being surveyed from
the head to Babine Lake, which it joins at the

easterly end near the portage-road, 12 miles long, ©

connecting Babine and Stuart Lakes. Sutherland
Valley, about 2 miles long, contains some good light-
timbered bottom land and many meadows.

EXNDAKO VALLEY.

Endako River, which heads on a low narrow
divide between it and Bulkley River, which marks
the western boundary of this land division, in
vicinity of Rose-Lake, at altitude of 2,359 feet, is
a sluggish, tortuous stream, which winds through
a rich though narrow valley, widening at Decker
and Burns Lakes. The Grand Trunk Pacific Rail-
way traverses the valley throughout its length to
Fraser Lake, following the northerly side of the
river. Settlement in the Hndako Valley is largest in
vicinity of Burns Lake, on the north side of which
is a growing well-equipped town of about 300 people,
with good stores, hotels, churches, school, and
businesses—the depot for the Ootsa-Francois Lake
District, with which it is connected by roads and
telephone, with stage service to Francois Lake from

the railroad, and also for the southern Babine Lake

area; near Palling, Rose, and Decker Lakes,
Endako, Savory, and Stellako. Endako, which is
a divisional point of the railroad, is a small town

of about 100, with hotels, several stores, restau-

rants, church, school, and a farming community in
the vicinity. Stellako, 834% miles east of Endako,

is situated about a mile west of the Stellako Indian
Reserve, through which Stellako River flows from
|} the east end of Francois Lake, which has rapids ©
| with fall of 150 feet in 4 miles, offering water-
| power possibility of about 3,800 ‘horse- -power. It

—-f

Se |

Ree Sar
Sebastes

_ Station.

toms are found and open meadows.
cut roads to Rose Lake, Palling, and Decker Lake
Stations, and the old wagon-road paralleling the

has a post-office and school and is the centre of a
farming district, in which many who took up pre-
emptions some years before the railroad was built
have some good farms. ‘There are no stores at
Stellako and Endako is the trading centre. There
is an Indian village on the reserve east of Stellako
Savory, altitude 2,251 feet, is a flag-
station 6 miles west of Hndako, near which a num-

ber of settlers have located. Palling, altitude 2,311

feet, 10 miles west of Burns Lake, is a small town
in a mixed-farming district, in which settlement is
increasing. It has a sawmill, hotel, general store,
post and telegraph offices. Musk-rat farming is
being carried on in the vicinity. Rose Lake, 6 miles
west of Palling, has a general store, post and tele-
graph office serving a mixed-farming and stock-
raising settlement, in the vicinity in which many
pre-emptions have been taken up during the past
few years.

Endako Valley is little over a mile wide in places,
but has very rich soil in the bottom lands near the
river and has been occupied from end to end. In
places where other small valleys join the bottom
land widens. ‘The valley lands are at altitude of

from 2,350 feet at the head to 2,230 feet at the
easterly end, narrow, fertile, well watered, easily
cleared, and provide excellent native herbage for
stock. Adjoining mountain country rises in varying

height to about 2,500 feet above the valleys, with
rolling timbered lower slopes with sufficient sedi-
mentation to carry heavy growth of peavine and
vetch. Between the mountains and the valleys
proper the land usually rises in jack-pine or poplar-
covered terraces, often too dry for any purpose
without previous preparation. ‘The whole district
was in bygone years a haunt of beaver, whose work
is indicated by the numerous meadows, many wet
and moss-covered, which when drained and cleared
have yielded good crops.

Palling and Decker and Rose Lakes are centres

of settlements on either side of the railroad, in
which a fair amount of good arable land is found, —

valley-bottom with black loam and benches and
rolling areas with sandy loam with gravelly subsoil,
which is exposed on the ridges, mainly timbered

_ with poplar and jack-pine, with some spruce in an
open stand,. with considerable vetch and peavine

Scattered willow bot-
Settlers have

growing between the trees.

railroad has been converted into a highway to

ue aun Lake. ‘