covered by over a foot of snow which had
fallen during the night. The temperature
had dropped to nearly zero, so the rest of
our journey home was not exactly a picnic.
This being in the month of October, any-
thing in the line of weather was to be ex-
pected in that country. Usually the winter
did not come to stay until after the middle
of November. Snowfalls were not heavy
and the trappers had no great difficulty in
keeping trails open by packing them down
with snowshoes after each fall of snow.
They could then be travelled without snow-

shoes, as thawing Chinook winds and sub-
sequent freezing put a hard surface on them.

During the six years I was stationed in
the Peace River district many changes took
place, and far greater changes have de-
veloped since I left there in 1920. When
I first went there the nearest railway was
four hundred miles from Pouce Coupe; mail
was brought in once a month on pack horses
and there was no telegraph communication.
I have often thought what a wonderful
thing a radio would have been in those days.
By 1916 the E. D. & B. C. Railway was

Of to the wilds.

THE

GRANBY CONSOLIDATED
MINING, SMELTING «&
POWER CO. LTD.

Operating Mine at Copper Mountain
Concentrator at Allenby

Also operating Coal Mines at

Princeton, B.C.

A Major Source of Employment and
Purchasing Power in British Columbia

Over a Period of Forty-two Years

Page Fifty-two

completed to Grande Prairie, Alta., ninety
miles southeast of us, a telegraph line con-
nected us with the outside world and the
Canadian Bank of Commerce had opened
a branch near Pouce Coupe post office,
where there was a store, rooming house,
livery barn, blacksmith shop and some other
shacks which gave it the appearance of a
small village. It was not until 1931 that
the railway was extended to Dawson Creek*
where a town of eight hundred population
now stands. Post offices and schools have
been established all over the country; roads
have been built and such modern conven-

*This town of Dawson Creek has been re
cently the scene of activities of great international
importance, having been chosen as headquarters
for the building of the highway to Alaska by the
United States Engineering Corps. This would be
an outstanding event in times of peace, but is of
far greater consequence now that the United
Nations are at war with the Axis powers, and our
coast is threatened with attempted invasion by
the Japanese. The much talked of Alaska High-
way, already constructed many miles north of the
Peace River, will soon be completed, and will be
of great importance in getting men and munitions
to the naval and military bases in Alaska.

Oliver Sawmills Ltd.
Manufacturers of
Western Pine Box Shooks
P.O. Box 64 Phone 2-R

Oliver, B.C.

Sheep Creek Gold
Mines Limited

(N. P. L.)

Sheep Creek, B.C.

THE SHOULDER STRAP