Settlements in British Columbia 37

& sweeping view, for miles in all directions, of waving fields of grain where but a
few years ago all was wilderness. Before the building of the railway, it was
the distributing point for the district, being the last post on the old Edmonton-
Peace River-Dunvegan wagon road. Railway surveys have been projected
from the south to this point, but no construction has yet taken place. In
addition to the Hudson’s Bay, Revillon’s and the Peace River Trading Company’s
posts, there are various other places of business, also a bank, a weekly newspaper,
post office, telegraph office, schools and churches.

Bear Lake lies about 9 miles northwest of the town of Grande Prairie, and is
surrounded by land in a very advanced state of improvement and high cultiva-
tion. Here may be seen vegetable and flower gardens which cannot be surpassed
for variety and yield anywhere in the West. Even ornamental and fruit us ees
and shrubs, grown from seed, are progressing quite satisfactorily.

Smoky and Wapiti rivers have deep valleys heavily wooded, and for some
miles on either side of these valleys the land is rough and broken, though much
of it is good for grazing. At the junction of these rivers, 20 miles east of Grande
Prairie station, is the village of Bezanson, about which the land is very good.
North and east from Bezanson there is good land, mostly lightly Ww ooded,
extending to Sturgeon Lake and High Prairie.

Clairmont and Sexsmith, on the railway line, are springing up into flourishing
little towns in the midst of a well-improved section. Other centres are Kleskun
Hill and Glen Leslie, lying between Grande Prairie station and Bezanson,
Niobe and Hermit Lake, centrally located, and Valhalla, Hythe, Beaverlodge,
and Halcourt, situated towards the western limits of the district.

Pouce Coupé

The Pouce Coupé prairie lies in the south-eastern part of the Peace River
block in the province of British Columbia. It comprises several townships of
gently rolling prairie and a number with scattered bluffs and light woods. The
extent of this choice area is about 25 miles wide by 40 miles long. It is separated
from Spirit River and Grande Prairie by high wooded plateaus on the east and
south. To the north and west, it extends to the rough wooded banks of the
Peace and South Pine rivers. It is reached by a winter road following the
railway grade from Spirit river, a road from Grande Prairie by way of Lake
Saskatoon, Beaverlodge and Hythe, or a trail from a steamboat landing on Peace
river to the north.

The location of the main line of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British
Columbia railway passes through this district from east to west. Grading has
been completed from the end of steel at Spirit River to Pouce Coupé village, a
distance of about 55 miles, and it is hoped steel will shortly be laid. With
railway facilities, this district promises to be one of the finest yet opened. Upon
development of the coal and other resources of the upper sections of the Peace,
and the completion of railway connection to the coast, undertakings which are
but a matter of time, the value of this section will be further enhanced. The
principal centres at present are Pouce Coupé and Rolla.