~ industry.

whitefish and trout on the various lakes, but a

recent years they have engaged to some extent in ©
agriculture, producing garden-truck and cereals, _
and some have a few cattle.
has a number of well-built log houses and a large
church, lumber for which was whipsawed by the
Indians and erected in 1902. Nautley and Stellako
are straggling villages of log houses on the river-
banks. Fort St. James is a well-built picturesque
village on the lake-front.

The scenery in the district is beautiful. In the
Nechako the wide stretch of fairly flat, lightly
timbered areas, broken by the stretches of culti-
vated farm lands and farm buildings, is not marked
by the mountain backgrounds seen in other parts
of the Province, and few hills break the view for
many miles to where Mount Pope rises near Stuart

Lake to the north and Sinkut Mountain to the

south, and some park-like country with beautiful
vistas is found over a large part of the lake
district to the south of Nechako Valley. Near the
lakes of the district the scenery is especially attrac-
tive, and many parts of the district offer interest
to the tourist and pleasure-seeker. ‘The lakes and
streams abound with fish. At Vanderhoof a com-
pany is engaged on Nechako River fishing for
sturgeon, and large quantities are shipped.

NECHAKO VALLEY.

Nechako Valley, which has been surveyed into
townships, 15 to 25 miles wide north and south, is
a rapidly developing farming area in which mixed
farming, dairying, and stock-raising is carried on;
the installation of a creamery at Vanderhoof in
1920 having given much impetus to the dairying
From Fraser Lake eastward for 40
miles the country stretches for many miles on either
side of*the Nechako River and the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway in a. great gently undulating
plateau country, with average altitude little over
2,000 feet, where agricultural experts maintain
that the largest compact area of good land within
easy access within the Province is located. ‘Rain-.
fell is not great, but sufficient for requirements,
and ‘the soil, a deep silt, is exceedingly fertile; the
luxuriant growth of peayine, vetch, lupine, and
other wild vegetation indicating its fertility to the
pioneers, and since cultivation has shown its excel-_
lence for roots, grains, grasses, small fruits, ete.

Settlement began many years before the railroad
was surveyed, when the river was the main high-
way, and trails lead into the country from it, and
| since the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway began —

if Spe Gene. in 1914 vie has eo, a ere eat nt Bag

Stony Creek villages i i

ment and many excellent farms.
nearly all good arable land, are scattered through-

settlement is increasing steadily, also development.
There are now many farms which have 200 to 300
aeres under cultivation, some of them utilizing
tractors. The settlers are raising fodder-crops to
a large extent and engaging in mixed farming,

many herds of cattle and also flocks of sheep being

raised. Dairying, notably since the establishment
of the creamery at Vanderhoof in 1920, is steadily

increasing and will likely be the chief farm

industry, and many anticipate that within a short
time both the Bulkley and Nechako Valleys will
be notable for their dairy products. Throughout
the district there is a heavy growth of wild pea-
vine, vetch, red-top, and blue-joint, providing excel-
lent pasture until late in the fall. Provision has
to be made for about five months’ winter feed.
On the cultivated land red clover, alfalfa, and
timothy do very well, and many ridges when sown
in clover make good grazing land. The crops of
oats, rye, etc., raised each year on the wide level
tracts north of the river are excellent showings.
Sheep-raising is a comparatively recent develop-
ment, and one farm north of Vanderhoof has a
flock of 400, and others have lesser amounts, and
herds of grade cattle and stocks of pigs are found
on many farms. Hay, oa'ts, barley, ryé, ete:, are
grown largely, and vegetables of all descriptions.
Land for pre-emption is limited in extent, practi-
cally confined to the more rolling and broken areas
at the northern and southern limits of the surveyed
area, the bulk of the surveyed area having been
taken up for many years. Two areas have been
included in. settlement areas of the Land Settlement
Board, in which land can be purchased on reason-
able terms and conditions from that Board, to
which all applications for terms, information, etc.,
with respect to, these areas should be made, and
not to the Department of Lands. The Land Settle-
ment Board has, in addition to the head office at
Victoria and sub-office at Telkwa, an. office at
Vanderhoof, where an official deals with applica-
tions for land in these areas. Settlement Area
No. 3 covers’ a tract 18 miles wide, with Vander-
hoof about: equidistant from the east and west,

extending about 4%. miles north from the Nechako

In this area there is considerable settle-
Remaining tracts,

River.

out the area. Another HSE EIR Area No.

4-—ig in vicinity of Marten Lake, which is 19,

miles west from Wanderhoof, the area stretching
from 2 miles east of Fort Fraser for 7 miles east

along, the railway and from 2 miles south to 6.
miles” north, mostly in cee 14, Se see

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