Forr Fraser Division. 3

mate elevation of 2,250 feet, are narrow, fertile, well watered, easily cleared, and
provide excellent herbage for stock. The mountains rise to about 2.500 feet above
the yalleys, and in some places on their lower slopes suflicient sedimentation has
been deposited to yield a heavy growth of peavine or vetches. For the most part,
however, in the higher altitudes they are timbered with pine and fir and insufficient
soil forbids the existence of vegetation. Between the mountains and valleys proper
the land usually rises in either jack-pine or poplar terraces, often too dry for any
purpose without previous preparation. It is often said that jack-pine will grow
only on poor land, but it is very noticeable, wherever a small spring or a very small
creek whose bed is only slightly lower than the surrounding land exists, vegetation
_has grown luxuriantly for some distance on either side. Such places referred to do
not leave any room for any theory of sedimentation which would form a foreign
soil, but only demonstrate the necessity of irrigation for successful fertilization.
Throughout the district the beaver has, contributed largely to the formation of
meadows, many of them very wet, as the animal continues his work of land forma-
tion by damming the small valleys and waterways at all available points. Smaller
meadows formed in the gradual reduction of lakes, often resulting in their entire
disappearance by earth carried down from the higher levels with the spring freshets
and snowslides, are frequent and occur at most unlikely altitudes. As the timber
in the yalleys and lower lands is almost exclusively poplar and jack-pine, and the
mountains are usually skirted by terraces, road-building is comparatively a simple
matter. With the existence of beaver and their wet swampy meadows, often
erroneously called ‘“ muskeg,” it is only to -be expected that summer frost is not
entirely unknown. Some portions of these swamps seldom, if ever, are absolutely
free from the winter ice. Other places where heavy moss has covered up wet lands,
possibly caused by river-overflow, or the former workings of a colony of beaver, and
where the warmth of the sun never penetrates to the ice which lays below, contribute
to the chilly nights experienced. Some settlers have started a campaign against
moss, and no doubt its removal from each swamp will aid materially the climatic
conditions of the immediate neighbourhood.

TRANSPORTATION.

Access to the district is given by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from east or
west. Steamers ply regularly from Victoria and Vancouver to Prince Rupert, the
western terminus. The railroad skirts the southern shore of Fraser Lake, coming
from the west by way of Bulkley and Endako Valleys, and from the east by ‘the
Fraser and Nechako Valleys. The Nechako is crossed at Fort Fraser. The Govern-
ment Agent’s office is at this place, at the east end of Fraser Lake. The railroad
stations are but few miles apart. From Burns Lake Station, 316 miles from Prince
Rupert (about sixteen hours’ travel), 151 miles from Prince George (seven hours’
trayel), a good wagon-road runs south to Francois Lake Settlement, fourteen miles
distant. There is a hotel, general store, and post-office at Burns Lake. A ferry
operates across Francois Lake, and the road continues south-easterly about twenty-
four miles to Ootsa Lake, whence it runs along the north of the lake about ten miles to
Wistaria and connects with the road from Houston Station, on the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway, forty-nine miles west of Burns Lake. This road extends southerly
from Houston thirty-six miles to the west end of Francois Lake, which it skirts,
and continues south-easterly about sixteen miles to Wistaria. From where the
Burns Lake Road nears Ootsa Lake another road runs easterly about twenty miles
along the north of Skins Lake and Cheslatta River to the west end of Cheslatta Lake.
Another road extends from the Burns Lake Road at the south of Francois Lake
south-easterly about ten miles to the north of Uncha Lake, while another road
connects Francois Lake, Lot 2402, via Bickle, with the main road. The west end
of Francois Lake is connected with the west end of Fraser Lake by road about six
miles long, and launches connect easterly along the lake. At the east of the district

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