Forr Fraser Division. e298

‘On nearing Tahtsa Lake the stream becomes very swift, and only by poling and
lining is it at all possible to ascend. ‘The mountains are almost perpendicular from
the water's edge. Tahtsa Lake, twenty miles long and one mile wide, affords perhaps
the most magnificent scenery of any 6f the mountain lakes.

Peaks rising to 10,000 feet surround the lake, while at its west end a gap reveals
the peaks extending along Gardner Canal. The timber around the lake is of no
value, being stunted balsam. The elevation of Tahtsa Lake is 3,000 feet and the pass
to the west 3,500 above sea-level. This pass may, at some not distant date, be
utilized for a railway to tap the Ootsa Lake District.

Butrsuk LAKE.

- Eutsuk Lake (elevation 2,810 feet) with Tetachuck Lake is separated by very
short stretches of river, which has one riffle, easily navigable for any boat. The
land on both sides is of small value as agricultural land, being for the most part
hillsides and gravel ridges. On the south side of the lake the country rises in a
succession of high ridges jutting out from the Coast Range, of which they form the
foot-hills. The land on these ridges is poor, being principally gravel and supporting
a dense growth of scrub jack-pine, very difficult to penetrate on exploration-work.
At a point some thirty miles from the east side of the lake a large stream enters
from the south, having its source in the high mountains of the Coast Range. This
stream, or river, at normal water-level is about 100 feet wide and about 3 feet in
depth, but very swift and difficult to cross at high water. This river forms a dividing
line between the Interior Plateau and the Coast Range, as west of it the mountains
rise abruptly from the shore of the lake to a height of 8,000 feet. . The entire westerly
end of the lake is in the heart of the Coast Range, and the scenery in consequence is
magnificent; glaciers are frequent and at the extreme west end come almost down
to the water's edge. On the north shore there is a narrow strip of land separating
this large lake from Whitesail Lake. This strip of land, one mile in width, has been
utilized by the Indians to good purpose in forming a very short portage for their
canoes. <A rough skid-road has been laid down, and with sufficient perseverance it
is possible to drag large canoes over the low summit to the waterway opening up
to the north. ;

WHITESAIL LAKE.

_ Whitesail Lake (elevation 2.750 feet), two miles in width and about eighteen
miles in length, lies in an almost easterly and westerly direction in the form of a
crescent. From the portage west the mountains rise abruptly from the water’s edge
to a height of 8,000 feet. These mountains jut out from the Coast Range between
Butsuk and Whitesail Lakes. An ascent was made to the top of.the large mountain
near the portage, and a magnificent view was obtained of all the surrounding country,
Anahim Peak and Mount Swannell being easily picked out with the naked eye, while
all the country to the north and east was clearly shown. No land of any value was
seen on the shores of Whitesail Lake, but on the south shore a belt of very good
spruce ten miles in length by three in width was found, which will prove of great
yalue when sawmills are established in the district. Perhaps the most valuable
asset of this country will prove to be its minerals; several claims were inspected on
the south shore which had assayed at very good values.

TErACHUCK LAKE AND RIVER.

Tetachuck Lake, which is about thirty miles long and a mile and a half wide,
lies to the west of Enchu Lake and is separated by Tetachuck River, one of the
largest of the Nechako tributaries. ‘The river itself has a fall of about 150 feet in
six miles. This drop is due to a succession of falls which are situated about half-way
between the lakes, the largest fall being 25 feet. These falls constitute the only
barrier to navigation by large boats between the canyons of the Nechako and the

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