32 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS.

exploration proved an agreeable surprise, as a succession of meadows extended,
gradually rising to the height of land between the Bachiniko and Nechako Rivers.
This summit was found to be 3,300 feet at a distance of twenty miles from the
Nechako. Exploration was continued down the Bachiniko to the crossing of the
124th meridian. At a point fifteen miles west of the meridian some excellent land
was found. It was estimated that 20,000 acres of very good meadow and lightly
timbered land was suitable for agriculture. Between the Nechako and the summit
50,000 acres would be a conservative estimate of land meriting survey, while adjoin-
ing the main valley a similar amount averaging second class could be obtained. All
of this land is at present hard to get at, but will in the future, when transportation
is provided, be utilized.”
UPPER NECHAKO RIVER.

Soon after it leaves Natulkuz Lake the Upper Nechako River runs regularly
with average current of four miles an hour, and eighteen miles from the lake it
runs into a gorge and continues for ten miles in a continuous canyon, with high
walls and in places not more than 25 feet apart. There are a number of falls in
this canyon. Soon after emerging from the canyon the river is joined by a stream
which waters a valley to the east. Cheslatta Creek drains to the Nechako through
a smaller lake, called by the Indians Chesla Chesley, and Cheslatta Creek, a swift
and shallow stream two miles long, with two falls and cataracts. The two lakes,
Chesla Chesley and Cheslatta, are connected by a deep sluggish creek one mile and
three-quarters long.

In 1910 blocks of land near the Upper Nechako from three miles below the
mouth of Cheslatta Creek to two miles above Fraser Lake by river (see Pre-emptors’
Map 3p, Nechako Sheet) were surveyed by F. C. Swannell, who reported regarding
this section as follows: “The region is readily accessible by water. The Upper
Nechako River, which has an average width of about 500 feet and depth of 10 to 15
feet, has been navigated by river-steamer for twenty-five miles above Fraser Lake,
where there is half a mile of rapids. By the removal of one or two rocks a steamer
could get through these. Four miles farther is a short canyon, but being deep and
straight it would not be a bar to navigation. Other than these two places the river
presents no obstacle to steamboats for sixty miles. Three miles below Cheslatta
Creek rapids start, and a mile above the river breaks through a mountain range,
running in a box canyon for about twelve miles, with waterfalls and cataracts the
entire distance. Besides the river, the Cheslatta Trail, which roughly parallels the
river, provides access.

For the first seven miles up-river the land west of the stream is mountainous
and rocky. Four miles above the second canyon a large creek comes in on the east,
running out of a large valley which extends across to Nulki Lake. There is an
indifferent trail across to Laketown from this point. At Lot 1126 the river bends
south-westerly and the country to the south flattens out, there being no hills visible
as far as the Blackwater Divide. This stretch of country, while undulating as far
as visible, is, however, very gravelly. To the north of the river and a few miles
back the country is badly broken up, and good land is to be found only in scattered
areas around the numerous small lakes which occupy the depressions. Between
Copley and Hallett Lakes, however, there is an area of undulating country to the
extent of about 8,500 acres. In the area surveyed the soil is mostly sandy loam on
the benches, with black mould in the meadows and along the river flats. Silts are
nowhere so prevalent as in the Nechako Valley proper. The meadows, as a rule,
are not large, and the only extensive area of willow-bottom land occurs north of
Copley Lake. The valley is timbered mainly with poplar and pine, with willow and
alder along the river. The only creek on the north side is that draining Hallett and
Copley Lakes, which enters the Nechako in Lot 1148. On the right bank of the river
a large creek enters four miles above the second canyon, and another enters from
the east at Lot 1147.