The Nechaco and the Town---Views Looking Northwest
and Northeast

F the two pictures on the opposite page were placed side

by side, they would give an excellent idea of that por-

tion of the Fort George townsite abutting on the Nechaco

River, for they were taken from almost the same point—the

roof of the Fort George Hotel, cornering on Central Avenue

and Hammond Street—the camera in the upper picture being
pointed northwest, and in the lower picture northeast.

The upper illustration shows the water tower at the
northern end of Central Avenue, and a corner of the Natural
Resources Security Company’s Fort George office. To the
left of the water tower, but not visible in the picture, is
the government ferry, connecting with the road to the Salmon
and Peace River Districts.

The lower picture looks northeast across the Nechaco,
and eastward to the Indian Reserve, now the property of
the Grand Trunk Pacific. In the immediate foreground are
some of the buildings on Hammond Street, and lumber piles
hauled to the sites of buildings about to be erected. “The fine
new road parallelling the Nechaco is plainly in view. The
white opening, immediately below the white house in the
middle distance, is the courts of the Fort George Lawn
Tennis Club. The line of trees, just behind the house,
marks the western boundary of the Reserve. Just beyond this
point the land drops to a low flat, made up of mud and silt

brought down by the Nechaco, and barely above the level
of the river. This mud flat is cut up by sloughs and inter-
sected by backwater river runs for a considerable portion of
its area, but with proper filling will make excellent railway
yards,

In the distance, over the western edge of the Reserve, can
be seen the contour of the high hill, on the farther or eastern
bank of the Fraser, which is joined by the Nechaco at this
point.

Clearly shown in this picture, also, is the high cut bank—
400 feet to the summit—on the northern side of the Nechaco,
opposite the Indian Reserve. “The two illustrations give a
truthful representation of the hilliness of the northern bank
of the Nechaco opposite the Reserve, and the country im-
mediately back of the river, in contrast to the level character
of the Fort George townsite.

The two pictures give a good idea of the immense value
of the Nechaco as a navigable waterway. River steamers
can steam up stream to the western extremity of Fraser
Lake. By going up its principal tributary, the Stuart, access
is gained to other magnificent bodies of water, Lakes Francis,
Stuart and Babine. ‘Tvraffic from all these waterways, and
others accessible by short portages, will connect Fort George
with transcontinental, sea-base, and other railways running to
practically all points of the compass.

Page Nine