transition the country merges into the Interior Plateau, while to the east summit levels
rise to greater altitudes in the heart of the Cariboo Mountains near Bowron Lake.

The maximum relief in the Stanley area is about 1,800 feet. The ground rises
from Lightning and Slough Creeks, both lying at about 3,800 feet elevation, to the
summits of Mount Nelson, Burns and Grub Mountains, which lie at about 5,500 feet.
The divide between Chisholm Creek, flowing into Lightning Creek, and Devils Lake
Creek, flowing into Slough Creek, is at about 4,250 feet elevation. The main road from
Quesnel follows along these creeks and through the low, steep-sided, narrow, rocky
pass which connects them.

The area is drained by Lightning and Slough Creeks, both of which flow north-
westerly on gentle gradients and are roughly parallel. Their tributaries are short and
fairly steep, and flow north-easterly and south-westerly into them. In plan, the
drainage lines form a noticeably rectangular pattern.

For about 14% miles down-stream from the mouth of Houseman (Eagle) Creek,
Lightning Creek flows through a series of steep-sided rock-canyons with remnants of
bedrock benches and high gravel terraces flanking the creek on either side. From the
foot of Spruce Canyon, just up-stream from the mouth of Van Winkle Creek, the valley-
bottom widens progressively from about 100 feet to 800 feet or more near the mouth
of Anderson Creek. In this section the creek is flowing on from 50 to 150 feet of fill,
of which the top 5 feet or more is hydraulic tailings from the operations at the mouth
of Amador Creek. Very few remnants of low bedrock benches and higher gravel ter-
races appear along the valley-sides, the most obvious being Nason Point, the Point, and
the benches on both sides of the creek at and below Stanley.

A notable feature of the valley between the cemetery below Stanley and Davis
Creek is the pitted, kettle-hole topography of the glacial fill along the north side of
Lightning Creek. The undrained depressions extending southward from the canyon
on Lightning Creek just below the mouth of Houseman Creek mark another stretch
where the valley was blocked by glacial material. A few isolated kettle-holes are to be
seen east of the mouth of Perkins Creek and to the east of Stanley.

Slough Creek valley is wide, the valley flat being about 2,000 feet across, and at
some earlier time both Williams and Jack of Clubs Creeks may have drained through it.
It is flanked on the south side, between the mouths of Burns and Nelson Creeks, by a
prominent bedrock bench. The creek flows north-westward on a low gradient over as
much as a 290-foot depth of unconsolidated valley fill. The surface of the gravel benches
east of Devils Lake Creek display a variety of irregular glacial kettle topography.

The valleys of Chisholm and Devils Lake Creeks head at a divide having an eleva-
tion of about 4,250 feet. In Chisholm Creek valley, near the junction of Oregon Gulch,
the surface of the glacial fill, which has a depth at the Snowden shaft of 203 feet,
displays irregular kettle topography. This valley is open and straight and stands out
in. sharp contrast to the narrow, sinuous, steep-sided rock-walled valley of Devils Lake
Creek to the north.

For the most part the tributaries of Lightning and Slough Creeks are fairly short
and have steep gradients. In their lower stretches they may flow through a short
canyon before joining the parent stream.

In the two major valleys the sides rise fairly steeply, in some places by a series of
steps, to the highest terrace level, which may be as much as 300 feet above the valley-
bottom. From there the slope lessens somewhat and the valley-walls rise more or less
uniformly to the three high summits.

On a small scale, particularly on some of the eastern slopes of Mount Nelson and
near the summit of Burns Mountain, there are alterations of short, steep, and gentle
slopes that may be the result of differential weathering of gently dipping, alternating
layers of hard and soft rock.

Other noticeable topographic features, whose interpretation may be of some prac-
tical use, are numerous northerly-trending straight steep-sided depressions or gullies.

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