PLATEAU AND VALLEY LANDS

Where Rich Vegetation with an Abundance of Fresh Water, make Stock
Raising a Success. Bulkley Valley, B.C.

The Nechako Valley in much of the area from about fifty miles west of Prince
George to Fraser, Francois and Ootsa Lakes is covered with a light growth of small
poplars and conifers, easily removed, and has many open spaces, all eminently suited
for mixed farming, dairying and fruit growing, owing to the even temperate climate

and richness of the soil. Cattle and horses graze out all winter.

In the Bulkley Valley the country is generally open, or nearly so, and is a con-
tinuous belt of extremely fertile land some fifteen to twenty miles wide, extending
from Burns Lake to Moricetown, a distance of approximately eighty miles, the ele-
vation above sea level being from 1,350 feet at Moricetown to 2,300 feet, the highest
point at Bulkley. At the latter point ranches have been in operation for some years
with marked success in cereal and vegetable crops. Hardy fruits will probably do
well, as the conditions are parallel with those existing where the finest apples and plums
are produced.

Irrigation is entirely unnecessary in the section of Central British Columbia along
the route of the Grand Trunk Pacific, and in consequence the quality of cereals, vege-
tables and the hardy fruits is superior to like crops grown under artificial conditions.
The rainfall is ample, but in no case excessive. Numerous spring-fed streams with an
unusually abundant growth of pea-vine and red-top grasses, furnish ideal conditions
for stock raising and dairying.

The settler who desires spring-fed trout streams, beautiful lakes teeming with
salmon and all varieties of trout in his vicinity, and his farm set in a park-like country
of entrancing beauty, cannot get away from such conditions anywhere along the route
of the Grand Trunk Pacific in British Columbia.

Nature provided perfectly for the content and prosperity of the settler in Central
British Columbia along the route of the Grand Trunk Pacific. A rich black or choco-
late loam from three to six feet and more deep proclaims the fertility of the soil. Splen-
did climatic conditions, with long summer days of over twenty hours’ light in the grow-
ing season, maturing crops in record time, and the tempering breezefrom the snow-

capped distant mountains, insure comfort. The winters are much shorter than in the
prairie provinces of Canada or the Northwestern States, and not nearly as cold.

The Skeena River section of the Grand Trunk Pacific route has much bench-
land areas suited to dairying and fruit farming, a ready market for the products being
found in Prince Rupert, Alaska, Yukon and Prairie Provinces of Western Canada.
The Kitsumgalum, Copper River and Lakelse valleys are sufficiently far inland to escape
the extremely moist conditions common to the entire North Pacific Coast, and have
demonstrated already their ability to grow all the hardy and more delicate fruits in
wonderful yields, size, quality and unrivaled flavor. Free homesteads can be obtained
in these val'eys but only at some distance from the railway. There is, however, plenty
of excellent land to be bought, and prices vary from $10 an acre, for unimprov ed to $35
for cultivated farms. During the past summer the ranchers in this neighborhood have