24 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS.

“On the completion of this work I moved to the west end of Uncha Lake, where
I surveyed nine and a half sections. The land along the stream connecting Takysie
and Uncha Lakes is good and comprises numerous small meadows and willow-swaimps.
The uplands are lightly timbered with pine, spruce, and poplar, and the soil is a
clay loam, with a gravelly subsoil. Lots 2568, 2564, and 2565 are somewhat rough
and broken.”

BETWEEN OOTSA AND CHESLATTA LAKES.

Between Ootsa and Cheslatta Lakes there is a considerable area of very good
agricultural land. (See Pre-emptors’ Map No. 3B, Nechako Sheet.) On Cheslatta
Lake the hills become more rocky in character, and sandy soil with jack-pine pre-
dominates. Between Ootsa and Cheslatta Lakes, on the trail by Bear Lake, the land
is generally light, sandy, or rocky hills covered with pack-pine and light spruce.
Some low meadow land is seen covered with wild hay. Immediately north of the
west end of Cheslatta Lake, and on the bench about 150 feet above it, are three or
four sections of good land.

BETWEEN CHESLATTA AND FRANCOIS LAKES.

J. M. Milligan, B.C.L.S., surveyed 41,000 acres for pre-emption in 1914 in this
vicinity. (See Pre-emptors’ Map 8p, Nechako Sheet.) He said: “This district,
roughiy 400 square miles in extent, is strategically situated between the great
Nechako and Francois-Ootsa Valleys, the permanent character and bright possibilities
of the agricultural industries of which have been thoroughly demonstrated. Although
somewhat rougher in contour than either of the larger valleys mentioned, and with
a general altitude slightly higher, impression of the general conditions leads to the
belief that future settlers may reasonably expect the same advantages and prosperity
enjoyed by those following agricultural pursuits in the surrounding valleys already
settled.

“The lands surveyed during the past season, about 41,000 acres in all, include
the most desirable areas in the district. Surveys were confined to the lower levels
as far as possible, and embrace the basins.of Uncha, Binta, and Knapp Lakes, the
general altitude of which is about 2,750 feet. Towards the close of the season a
plateau lying north of the west end of Knapp Lake was surveyed to include some
grass meadows. The lands included in the surveys north of Uncha Lake are hilly
in contour and have been almost completely fire-swept. A luxurious growth of pea-
vine and natural grass and weeds that would furnish very good feed has sprung up,
Patches of windfall here and there on the higher levels, if burnt out, would render
the whole an attractive cattle-grazing proposition. The fact that a corner of the
block fronts on the south shore of Francois Lake, thus affording immediate access,
will not be overlooked.

“Those lands lying between Binta and Knapp Lakes and northerly appear
generally to have escaped the more recent forest fires; the growth of timber, chiefly
pine, varying from 6 to 10 inches in diameter. This growth, for the post part, is
open and park-like, carrying little or no underbrush; and since it is seldom of
practical value as merchantable timber, the suggestion has been made that systematie
burning of the lower levels, where the depth of soil permits, would materially
simplify the matter of clearing, and effectively contribute to the attractiveness of
the lands generally.

“Considerable country immediately outlying those areas actually surveyed has
been cruised in detail and roughly triangulated for the purposes of mapping, and
also to determine the rough amount of arable lands. The information thus gathered
authorizes the statement that further limited tracts are still available, for which

there will be a demand as settlement progresses, although they are less suited,
perhaps, for agricultural purposes in their present natural state than the surveyed
areas. Of these lands still outlying the surveys, the most likely are found between