WHAT THE FUTURE OFFERS TO THE PIONEER.

In contemplating the foregoing remarks regarding the Nation Lake country, one
can confidently anticipate what the future offers to the pioneer. Richly endowed by
nature, with soil that can be rendered highly productive at a moderate initial cost,
and with conditions generally that are particularly suitable to mixed farming, settle-
ment must be rapid as the various advantages of the country become known, and
transportation facilities secured for the influx of land-seekers to the Province.

THE OMINECA DISTRICT.

In the Omineeca District, north of the Nation Lake basin, explorations made in
1913 by F. C. Swannell, B.C.L.S8., and A. M. O. Gold, of the Forest Branch, covered
the area between the Nation Lakes on the south, the western boundary of the land
division, the Stranger (or Meslinka) River and Police Trail to Fort Grahame on
the north, and the inlay and Parsnip Valleys on the east.

In a recapitulation of the agricultural areas in the Omineca District within
those borders, Mr. Swannell estimates that the territory covered by him contains
over a million acres of good agricultural land, apportioned as follews :—

_ Acres.
inlay and SParsmips VialleySeccc.: nates nenieteieee tr eretucieiasoe ete tets €00,000
OMINSCAAV alll Cy nar coca cgcracas See eee sede ol eee tener otc eu aise easton 80,000
Horan ger PRI CL: sW alll eye aos chs seers neko enchant sae ates one eree mace meet e 40,000
OoslinkasRiversValley= acne cakes ents iene emer ent 20000
Driftwood Riv er=-Valley. oe Sx teh c eaters: less spa. caeiey tsdoners sm wrerees sp teee 25,000
North Pacla sale soso crn cate eae tre oe Tee ea nee ayo Ee 25,000
Nation Lakes and tributary country ....................3. 250,000

Mr. Gold says that, of the 4,075 square miles explored by him, about 815.5 square
miles, or 521,950 acres, may be classed as farming land; that is to say, this extent
of land is situated at an elevation under 2,800 feet on fairly flat or undulating
country containing soil of such quality as will produce any kind of farm crop if
subjected to scientific cultivation and proper management. He considers that stock-
raising and dairying are the branches of farming most suitable to this region, there
being large tracts of open meadow and grazing pasture distributed throughout the
area, and apart from these over 1,000 square miles of land suitable for grazing
purposes. Mr. Gold did not include the Finlay, Parsnip, and Nation Valleys in the
scope of his report, but included some lands east of the boundary of the division in
the Hazelton Land Recording Division.

RICH IN MINERALS.

The whole of the Cmineca District is highly mineralized. After the first period
of excitement in the seventies, only spasmodic attention has been paid to it owing
to the rich strikes reported in other parts of Cassiar and the Yukon. There are
only a small band of miners now in the district. The placer-workings are, however,
suitable for organized and well-equipped outfits. In the district is found gold,
copper, galena, native silver, and mica. The gold is of high quality, and the
galena has assayed as high as 120 oz. to the ton. The high cost of transportation
has handicapped mining, and with the completion of the wagon-road between Tom
Creek and Tacla Lake, and the proposed steamboat navigation between Fort George
and Tacla Lake, conditions will be greatly improved, and it will then be possible to
bring modern machinery into the country, while provisions sbould be landed at Tom
Creek for from 2 to 8 cents per pound as compared with ten times that amount at
present. ‘Com Creek, Silver Creek, Quartz Creek, Vital Creek, and other streams
which were worked in the seventies and still carry gold, but in such quantities that
it does not pay to work them by the crude hand-made machinery used by the
pioneers, of which remains can be seen at Tom Creek, will be worked again when
the transportation facilities are provided. On the Ingenika River and McConnell
Creek placers exist, and in many parts of this district the miners haye washed fine
gold. In 1908S there was a stampede to the Ingenika River.

26