THE GREAT NORTHERN INTERIOR.

10)

ieee in 1902, a small bulletin, numbered Three, was issued, giving intormation

mainly about a portion of the North-west Coast called, for want of a better name,
the Skeena River District. So great was the demand for it, that in a very short time it
became necessary to issue, in an enlarged form, another—Bulletin No. 9—of which a
very much larger edition was printed. This included descriptions of the country
ultimately suitable for settlement lying between the 52nd and 57th degrees of north
latitude. It was entitled “‘The undeveloped areas of the Great Interior of British
Columbia.”

A revised edition of this Bulletin, published in 1904, has all been issued and the
demand for information, especially in regard to the Bulkley Valley and Ootsa Lake
Districts, continues to increase.

The present edition is limited to a reprint of the matter previously published in
regard to the districts chiefly inquired about, to which have been added reports recently
received from Messrs. W. W. Clarke and V. M. Scribner.

A Worpb oF WARNING.

The object of the bulletin is not, primarily, at the present time to encourage settle-
ment, but to afford information about a country regarding which enquiry is rapidly
increasing. Until a railway is built, and roads and trails to connect with it are
constructed, settlement is difficult. To what extent the Government will supply
facilities of communication in advance of railways cannot be determined at the present
time. It must be understood that the routes in are long and through absolutely new
country, and that roads practicable for travel are very expensive to build. Therefore,
to persons who have Bulkley, Kispyox, Ootsa Lake, Nechaco, Canoe River or Peace
River in view for settlement at an early date a word of warning is necessary, and for
that purpose it might not be amiss to reproduce a portion of the introductory remarks
to Bulletin No. 3, which still apply, though a railway is now more definitely in sight.

“Tt is not desirable, either in the interests of the Province or of the (then-proposed ~
Bulkley) Colony itself, that the development of the enterprise should be hampered by
men and women who are unused by experience to the trials of pioneer lite, unfitted by
training to take up the work of actual farm labour, and unable by physical endurance
to withstand the hard labour involved. It must be understood that settlers who go in
there will, for some time, be wholly isolated, and that for three years, at least, their
property will be unproductive. The prospects for success in five years’ time, or as soon
as railway communication is afforded, are very good, and all accounts are favourable to
the belief that Bulkley Valley is one of the most fertile in British Columbia, and
particularly well adapted for stock-raising ; but the way to success is long and hard,
and without pluck, untiring industry, intelligent effort, self-reliance, physical endurance,
and some capital to back up these qualities, disappointment and failure are sure to
result, Those who are not prepared to accept the situation as stated and stay with it,