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Forr Fraser Division. 39

inches long, soft, and considered inedible by the Indians. Unfortunately, summer
frosts are of frequent occurrence, no doubt to a large extent resulting from the
proximity of frozen meadows and swamps. The timbered hills are remarkable,
inasmuch as, though not timber lands within the meaning of the Act, the average
of fir is very fair, while at the same time good soil is found everywhere, even to the
very summits. Rock is practically unknown on these slopes; in fact, rock in-place
was only once encountered while running some twelve consecutive miles of line.”

BABINE SEPTLEMENT.

The Hazelton-Babine Trail, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s route to the Omineca
and Peace, passes at the head of Babine Lake, where the boundary of the Fort Fraser
District touches after following the height of land in the Babine Range between
Hazelton and Fort Fraser Districts. Babine Settlement, a Hudson’s Bay post and
Indian village, is the trade depot of the Babine section. The Indian village, at the
outlet of the lake, having been located there to facilitate the trapping of salmon as
they run up the Babine River from the Skeena, comprises about thirty log houses
and outhouses and a well-constructed Roman Catholic chureh, a branch of the
mission at Stuart Lake. There is a good pile bridge across the outlet from the
lake; adjoining the Indian reserve on the south-east is the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
post, the store, warehouses, agent’s residence, and a number of log cabins, which are
occupied in summer by passing travellers, and in winter by miners from Omineca
who come out for supplies. All supplies for the Omineca District pass through
Babine, the pack-trail extending from there easterly to Takla Lake, which is crossed
by ferry. Supplies for Stuart Lake, McLeod Lake, and Fort Grahame Districts
arrive at Babine from Hazelton by pack-train, and are forwarded by sailing-scow
up Babine Lake to the portage at its south-eastern end, across which they are taken
by horses and wagons to Stuart Lake, and by other sailing-scows down this lake to
Fort St. James, at its eastern end, where they are distributed.

BaBINE LAKE,

Babine Lake, while not surveyed, is estimated to be about 105 miles long, with
average width of not over three miles. It has the same characteristics as Francois —
Lake, being a long, narrow, flooded valley. The lake runs north-west and south-
east, with clear, clean, and deep water. The shores-are gravel or sand, with very
little rock or clay. Fish are plentiful, especially trout of various sorts; also white-
fish, a delicious table-fish. Salmon are caught in large numbers: in nets, and
sturgeon of large size are reported to have been caught. Game is not plentiful in
the vicinity of the lake, except ducks and geese during the spring and autumn
flights. The lake, however, being almost free from sheltered bays, reeds, or grassy
banks, they do not remain long.

Wm. F. Robertson, Provincial Mineralogist, who made a journey down the lake,
describing the country washed by it (see Pre-emptors’ Map 3p, Bulkley Sheet), said
of the trip from Babine: “The first day, after rowing and paddling some thirty-
three miles, camp was made on a small island about two miles north of old Fort
Babine of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Generally speaking, the country passed
during the day was, at the south side of the lake, well wooded with medium-sized
spruce. ‘The ground, rising gradually, and usually rather rapidly to the Babine
range of mountains, does not afford any quantity of land deemed fit for cultivation.
On the north-east side of the lake there are no mountains or hills, the land not
exceeding a height of 600 to S00 feet above the lake. The hills are rolling and
rounded and have evidently been burned off clean many years ago, the present
tree-growth being aspen, poplar, and willow in patches, leaving many acres of fine
grass land of good extent. At intervals along the north shore Indian ranches were
seen, with fair log houses, and possibly a stable or shed each, with perhaps an acre
of ground under primitive cultivation, but, such as it was, it proved conclusively