Forr Fraser Drvision.

Township 10.

“None of Township 10 was travelled, but from information received from settlers
long in this district, the south-western half seems much like Township 11, though
possibly a little more variable. The remainder is similar to the plateau stretching
north from Townships 18 and 19 toward Stuart Lake.

“With the exception of a small area near the eastern end of Sinkut Lake, there
is practically no arable land of consequence in Townships 7 and 8. In Township 7
Sinkut Mountain rises to a height of several thousand feet, and is the most con-
spicuous elevation surrounding the valley.

“Prom Sinkut Lake the trail runs directly east to Prince George. After leaving
Sinkut Lake a few miles the country becomes undulating, gradually becoming more
broken and variable as the trail is covered. Near the lake is the Telegraph Trail,
which is the eastern boundary of this district, the remainder of the valley to the
east lying in Fort George Land District.

CLIMATE,

“The climate of the greater part of the Nechako Valley is very similar to that
of Fraser Lake. The prevailing winds are west and south-west, high winds being
the exception all over the district. The snow averages from 18 inches to 2 feet
deep and is usually powdery. It falls about mid-November and disappears by mid-
April. The ground usually freezes from 15 to 18 inches deep before snow comes.
The annual precipitation is not heavy, usually coming with an east wind, probably
one retarded and turned back by the Selkirks.

“The precipitation, while light, is sufficient to grow splendid cereal and root
crops if any intelligent attempt is made to conserve it. Summer frosts are frequent,
but are likely to disappear to a great extent as soon as the valley becomes more
thickly settled and larger clearings are made. The fact that a large continuous area
of country can be cleared and brought under cultivation, thus coming more under
the influence of the prevailing westerly breezes, will doubtless have a great effect
in lessening the number of frosts in the Nechako Valley. The parts least subject to
frosts now are those along the lakes. This is due to good air-circulation, and doubt-
less partly also to the fact that fogs commonly occur along these lakes in the night
and early morning. :

VEGETATION.

“This yalley and the Fraser Lake country, as well as many other parts of this
north country, has undoubtedly been covered at one time with a heavy growth of
spruce, Douglas fir, and pine. Douglas fir of good size is found now to some extent
on both the north and south shores of Fraser Lake. Many trees 3 to 4 feet in
diameter are found on the rocky ridges, bluffs, and hillsides surrounding the lake.
Very little is found in the Nechako for sixty miles east of Fort Fraser. The
remainder of the country to Prince George has some Douglas fir scattered along the
ridges, though in only a few places does it become at all thick and heavy. The
general forest-growth, however, is the ever-prevalent poplar, jack-pine, spruce, willow,
alder, and birch. Occasionally the pine reaches 1 foot in diameter, but where found
as large as this it is very scattered. Where it assumes its characteristic slender
growth (lodge-pole pine), the soil is very sandy or rocky, being of no use agricul-
turally. However, where the pine is scattered the soil is often a rich clay silt.
This is trne of a considerable area of the Nechako, and the only way to know the
nature of the soil in a particular place is to examine it thoroughly.

“Poplar-growth is also variable. In only a few places trees reach 12 inches in
diameter. The greater part of the valley is covered with poplar 4 to S$ inches
through, making a fairly thick growth amongst the scattered jack-pine and spruce.
Clearing costs $50 to $75 per acre, varying much in different parts of the same
township, section, or even quarter-section. In many parts of the area surveyed as
townships poplar grows very thick, but small, forming practically the only tree-