4 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS.

roads run south and south-easterly from Vanderhoof, on the Grand Trunk Pacific
Railway, and northward to the Stuart River section. The distance to Fort St. James
is about thirty-eight miles. The distance from the railway by Stuart River is sixty-
Seven miles, of which forty-two miles is good water. There is one rapid. The
waterway has been improved for navigation and properly equipped boats up to 25
tons can negotiate it regularly during six months in the year. Many sleigh-roads
and trails link together different parts of the whole district and allow of intercourse
with the railway.

When the increasing settlement renders this necessary, it is considered that the
great connecting waterway of the district will prove a valuable factor of transporta-
tion. Many of the rivers are navigable and connect via the lakes. J. D. Galloway,
Assistant Mineralogist, who made an exploration, of which a report is published
in 1917, says the Tahtsa River, which drains Tahtsa Lake, could be made navigable
for river-boats at small expense. The Whitesail River, which joins the Tahtsa, could
be made navigable during at least part of the year. This river drains Whitesail
Lake, and a portage of only one mile separates this lake from the large body of
water known as Eutsuk Lake. The Tahtsa River flows into Ootsa Lake, which is
nearly fifty miles long by three or four wide. The Ootsa River thence reaches
Intahtah Lake, from which the Nechako flows; this river at its commencement being
a large stream, and it is believed it is easily navigable for fair-sized boats to Fort
Fraser, on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

The distance by water route from Fort Fraser to the head of Tahtsa Lake is at
least 200 miles, and from it there is the tributary route up to the head of Whitesail
Lake of forty miles more. Then connecting with Whitesail Lake by portage is
Eutsuk Lake, a stretch of sixty miles of water. It must be remembered that this
system of waterways at present is only navigable for canoes and rowboats, but
throughout there are no falls and only a few slight rapids, so that, if the need arises
in the future for adequate water transportation, it is believed that such could be
provided at a comparatively small expense. The principal work would be in
removing log-jams and in places straightening out and confining the streams in
one deep channel.

SETTLEMENT AND CULTIVATION.

In a report on surveys made for pre-emption in this district in 1915, continuing
previous surveys, I, Butterfield, B.C.L.S., said: “The influx of settlers during the
past year has been very satisfactory. The sudden realization of the country’s
possibilities actuated by the comparatively recent advent of the Grand Trunk Pacifie
Railway has raised the restriction which the settler placed on the extent of his tilled
land, and an advance has been made in quantity of produce in 1915 over former
years. A number of farmers and settlers are experimenting with fruits, and while
it will be some years before the large fruit-trees are yielding, there seems absolutely
no reason why an immediate result of a satisfactory nature should not be attained
with the smaller varieties. To substantiate the belief that it is a small-fruit country,
I would mention that wild fruits have during the season been very prolific. Black
currants more particularly came under notice, and for weeks there was hardly a
day that black currants in some form or another did not find a place on the camp
table. Wild strawberries were also very plentiful, but were unmolested by us, as
the currants were more easily picked. Yearly the residents of the district learn
more of the adaptabilities of the local soil and climate, and last summer, on the
shores of Fraser Lake, tomatoes of good quality matured and ripened in the open.
This, I believe, was the first attempt at growing tomatoes in this district, and no
doubt such success will be an incentive to their more general growth in the future.
Some of the older settlers are breeding cattle, and expect to reap substantial
remuneration for their efforts shortly.

“No class of farming or agriculture has been pursued sufficiently to prove its
limitations, but judging from the crops of the past two years the vicinity of Fraser

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