6 DEPARTMENT or LANDS.

out the different sections visited, that the only frost recorded during the past summer
occurred on May 14th, doing little or no damage, as the crops at that time were only
slightly advanced.”

THE NECHAKO VALLEY,

The Nechako River finds its source in Natalkuz and Cheslatta Lakes, and after
flowing about seventy miles in a north-easterly direction, almost touches the eastern
end of Fraser Lake, and then turns nearly due east, holding this direction for 100
miles to its junction with the Fraser at Prince George. This lower part follows
Somewhat irregularly the 54th parallel of latitude the entire distance. That part
south-west of Fort Fraser is known as the Upper Nechako, while that flowing east
from the fort is the Lower Nechako. It is crossed by a Government ferry near the
fort. It is about 400 feet wide here, deep, and has a swift, strong current. There
is a bridge a short distance west of Prince George.

In 1912 the river was navigated from Prince George to Fort Fraser at the
higher stages of water, but in 1913 the navigation ended at Milne’s Landing, about
forty miles east. In 1914, following the completion and operation of the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway, it was suspended. Opposite the townsite at the west end
of Fraser Lake the Nautiey River, a small shallow stream, empties from Fraser
Lake into the Nechako, which winds south-westerly. Some years ago a small stern-
wheeler was taken twenty miles up the river above Fort Fraser, where.rapids half
a mile long are encountered, and it was considered that, were a few rocks removed,
passage could be made of a short, deep, and straight canyon four miles above, and
possibly the steamboat might reach the vicinity of the Cheslatta Creek rapids at
high water. A mile beyond the Cheslatta Creek rapids, about sixty miles up the
river, the Upper Nechako breaks through the mountain range, and for twelve miles is
in a box canyon with many cataracts and waterfalls. Cheslatta Creek is the outlet
of Murray Lake, about seven miles long and connected with Cheslatta Lake by a
deep, sluggish creek. Cheslatta Creck is swift and shallow, with two falls and
several cataracts.

The Upper Nechako winds generally northward to near the eastern end of Fraser
Lake, and thence turns due east to join the Fraser at Prince George. The eastern
boundary of the Fort Fraser Land Recording Division is about five miles east of
where the Stuart River joins on the north. The Nechako Valley, between Fraser
Lake and the east boundary of the division, through which the Grand Trunk Pacifie
Railway runs, has an average elevation of approximately 2,400 feet. E. W. White
and I. A. Weir, of the Department of Agriculture, who made a report on this section
in 1911, said: “For over forty miles the valley stretches east from Fraser Lake in
a comparatively level and but slightly broken country, lightly covered with poplar,
spruce, and jack-pine. A number of small lakes and ponds, the largest of which
are Tachic, Nulki, and Sinkut Lakes, are found scattered over its surface. It
averages about fifteen miles in width between the points before mentioned, and
forms the largest connected anea of agricultural land on the Grand Trunk Pacifie
between Prince Rupert and the Rockies, s

Necuako TowNsuies.

“This part of the valley has all been surveyed in townships six miles square.
For convenience and ease in following the description, it was thought best to describe
it by townships as much as possible. These are not described in numerical order,
but as they appear on the map, a general description being given, as each could not
be cruised thoroughly through lack of time and trails, About 190,000 acres of arable
land should be found available in the Nechako townships, and a considerable amount
east of that surveyed into townships. ‘There is little really open land, but so light
is the covering of forest-growth over most of it that clearing is not at all difficult,
and usually can be done for $30 to $60 per acre. Good grazing is found over a large
part among the light forest-growth.