Farm LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES. II

From Lough Raymond
Station at Kelly Lake con-
siderable cattle are shipped,
and from Kelly Lake, prac-
tically all the way to Fort
George (Mile 480), the
Pacific: Great Eastern Rail-
way traverses a country of
exceedingly rich farming
land. In general, creek and
river bottoms and the land HAVING EN CARIBOO,
around the lakes can be made unusually productive, hay, gia vegetables,
and alfalfa yielding large crops. 2

Roads to Ranching Districts.

A road from Lough Raymond follows on to a connection with Big
Bar and more distant settlements. Big Bar Creek heads in the plateau
upland known as Beaver Dam area and north-west of Clinton encircles the
northerly slope of Marble Mountain. Jesmond Post-office (Mountain
House) is a stopping-place on the road, while 4 miles below is Riley’s farm
and store, where the road forks west to Big Bar and north to join the roads
from Clinton and 70-Mile at Canoe Creek. Big Bar has a narrow valley
surveyed and held from Riley’s 14 miles down to the Fraser River, the
lower two miles widening on to the fertile benches near the Fraser that have
been successfully farmed for years. Near here some surveys have been
made near Butcher Creek and on the west side of the Fraser near Watson
and Ward Creeks. At Watson Creek the surveys are on small benches
broken by ridges} with good rolling range north and south. Between
Watson and Ward Creeks a ranch that covers some 500 acres of bench land
grows alfalfa, oats, and fruits under irrigation. Lands surveyed north of
Ward Creek are mostly broken and suitable for range.

The Big Bar Mountain Country.

North of Big Bar Creek is Big Bar Mountain, a fine rolling upland
where the Western Canadian Cattle Company has extensive holdings, ship-
ping from Lough Raymond Station. Until 1912 this area, with large tracts
of open country and little or no timber, covered with bunch-grass and
wormwood, was used only as pasture. Then a lone pre-emptor settled at
the north boundary near the big cattle-range and began dry-farming. A
number have since followed his lead and are raising excellent crops. Large
areas here need no clearing whatever and the plough can be put right into
the ground. This section is dotted with small lakes, mostly without outlet,
and depend on winter snows for replenishment. A general store is main-
tained where the road climbs from the creek-valley to Big Bar Mountain.
Soil here is clay loam 2 to 4 feet deep, covered with small black pine. Some
of the best parts have been burned over and almost cleared.

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