Telegraph Creek is the Great Canon which extends for
many miles and is quite impassable either for steamers or
boats. |

The Stikine River is open for navigation from the latter
part of April to about November 1 when ice or “sludge”
begins to run. The river usually freezes over before the
end of November.

Prior to World War II the Barrington Transportation
Company operated a steamboat service from Wrangel,
Alaska, on an island near the mouth of the Stikine River to
Telegraph Creek, a distance of about 175 miles. The
average of freight rates between these points was $50 per ton.

From Telegraph Creek to Dease Lake, a distance of
72 miles, a good gravel road is provided for truck and motor
car trafic. The pre-war average of freight rates between
these points was $80 per ton.

Dease Lake is to the east of the divide and its waters
flow into Dease River, a tributary of the Liard. It has an
elevation of 2,660 feet above the sea, lies nearly due north-
south, is 24 miles long and has an average width of rather
less than a mile. It is navigable for its entire length.
The average of freight rates from Dease Lake Settlement at
the south to McDame Creek, 52 miles down Dease River,
is $60 per ton.

Owing to the high altitude, the lack of large entering
streams and the small outlet, the ice on Dease Lake remains
until quite late in the season. The lake is open for navigation
from early June to early December.

Dease River flows from Dease Lake to the Liard River,
a distance of 180 miles. It leaves Dease Lake as a small
stream averaging from 100 to 150 feet in width and 3
feet in depth. It meanders through a wide flat valley for
about 8 miles before it enters the Cassiar Mountains, which
it cuts for a distance of 142 miles. For the last 30 miles
to Lower Post, where it enters the Liard River, it passes
through low hills which rise to a plateau at some miles
distant. Although navigable for its entire length, it is
tortuous, swift, and has numerous rapids and gravel shoals.

This route to the interior of British Columbia has
long been used by the Indians, by the miners of the Cassiar
goldfields, and by traders. In 1941, it provided a means
of entry for the contractor charged with the construction
of the airport at Watson Lake. To move the large quantity
of building material and equipment to Watson Lake the
Barrington Transportation Company was authorized to
build new boats for the ascent of the Stikine River from
Wrangel to Telegraph Creek, and 1 stern-wheeler, 3 tunnel-
shaft, shallow-draught power-boats, and 12 barges were
specially constructed at Wancouver for operation from
Dease Lake to Lower Post. These were shipped in knock-
down form to Dease Lake, where they were assembled
and launched. A road, 26 miles in length, was built to
move the freight from Lower Post to Watson Lake.

Lower Post is located only a few hundred yards from
the Alaska Highway and it is expected that when the

{ 114 }

Highway is opened to the public, Lower Post and the
lower Dease River region will be served by the Highway
rather than by the Stikine-Dease route.

LIARD RIVER

The Liard River is one of the major streams of the
Mackenzie River system. It is about 700 miles in length.
Like the Peace it rises on the western side of the Rocky
Mountain ranges and has to find a difficult passage east-

- ward to join the parent stream. It was used for about

40 years by the Hudson’s Bay Company as a trade route
from the Mackenzie to Dease and Frances Lakes. It is,
however, not navigable between Lower Post to Fort Nelson
River for any craft except canoes. Even for canoes it is a
very dificult and dangerous water route, involving many
portages because of the number of canyons and rapids
that break its course through the mountains. Its most
serious obstruction is the Grand Canyon between Devil’s
Portage and Hell’s Gate where for about 40 miles it cuts
a narrow gorge through the northern end of the Rocky
Mountains system. Devil's Portage itself involves a carry
of 4 miles over a ridge 1,000 feet high; and the canyon
below to Hell’s Gate can only be navigated safely in the
low water period of the late summer.

The route was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company
to supply the posts of Fort Halkett, Dease and Frances
Lakes, but was finally abandoned when it was found
impossible to find canoemen who were willing to traverse
the route, in spite of the payment of double wages. They
were not only unwilling to risk their lives on the river but

were afraid of the Indians who lived on the headwaters
of the stream.

The route was last used as an alternative route to the
Klondike during the rush of 1897 and 1898, when a few
parties ascended the river during the winter. Very few of
these got through and some of them perished on the way.

HicHWaAys

’ Public interest in highway development through the
North Pacific Region has been stimulated by the construc-
tion of the Alaska Highway. This road was built under
extreme pressure of time as a national defence measure; its
prime objective was to provide ground service for an airway
which had just been established through northwestern
Canada and Alaska. Although it was expected that the
highway would be of value as a supplemental overland
military supply route to Alaska, unfavourable developments
in the war with Japan, pointing to the possibility of increased
hazards in North Pacific coastal waters, suggested the
possible prime importance of the project as an emergency
overland supply route to Alaska should shipping by water
become impossible.

Decision as to the route for this highway had to be
made without undue delay. The paramount purpose was
the selection of the most feasible route that would connect