a large plateau covered with jack-pine thickets and, against the mountains
to the south, open spruce-swamps. At Pelly Creek, 40 miles up, a long
mountain parallels the river on the south for 30 miles, being only cut
through once by a transverse valley. To the north Mount Pelly rises,
the range continuing westward without a break to the North Fork.
Above Pelly Creek the river is very crooked, looping through heavily
timbered spruce bottoms. About 1o miles of timber occur here, with
much willow and alder bottom and large open spruce-swamps. About
41 miles up the valley has been denuded by fire and the river blocked
with fallen timber, resulting in a shifting bed and new channels, the
whole width of the river being blocked 56 miles up. From here the river
fast becomes a series of riffles, shallow rapids, and drift-piles, the whole
valley being fire-swept, and the mountains on each side become more
rugged and close in. At 70 miles up the river-grade becomes 46 feet in
a mile, and 5 miles beyond is a canyon ending in a chute with a drop of
15 feet through a gap 25 feet wide. Above, the river improves for a few
miles, but bordering country is rough.

Swannell River is 80 feet wide and swift. The South Fork heads
in a wide valley paralleling the Finlay and running through to the
Omineca, containing Mesilinka River for the larger part of its course.
At the divide between the Ingenika and Omineca waters several long
lakes occur. Pelly Creek, the largest affluent of the Ingenika, occupies
a deep mountain-bordered valley. Tucka Valley has considerable areas
of meadow and bottom, but the amount is too limited and altitude too
high for the land to be of value agriculturally. Wrede Creek has practi-
cally no land, the only large flat, at 2,900 feet, at the first forks, being a
stony barren. The North Fork has a comparatively wide valley with
large meadows continuing northward for 20 miles. The Ingenika sweeps
in from the south-west beyond this fork, following the foot of a long
unbroken mountain.

Russel Creek, the first tributary of the Finlay of size on the right
north of Ingenika River, occupies a valley which, continuing beyond
the head of the creek, becomes the valley pirated by the Finlay after
breaking through at Long Canyon.

Akie River, which joins the Finlay from the east, 12 miles above
Deserters Canyon, has no agricultural possibilities, nor has Paul Creek.
There is no agricultural land on Kwadacha River, excepting at its mouth
and between it and Fox River, which drains a valley above 5 miles wide.
Ten square miles at the mouth are burned clean; the soil, however, is
sandy and farther up becomes gravelly.

TIMBER QUANTITIES.

Parsnip River drainage-basin, 4,492 square miles, with 23 per cent.
above timber-line, carries 7,382,500,000 board-feet of saw-timber, includ-
ing 36,912,000 feet of Douglas fir, 1,476,500,000 feet of balsam, 5,536,875,000
feet of spruce, and 332,213,000 feet of lodge-pole pine. Stands exceeding
10,000 feet per acre cover 21 square miles and 5,000 to 10,000 feet per

Thirty-six.