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REPORT!

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EXPLORATIONS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA,

CHIEFLY IN THE BASINS OF THE BLACKWATER, SALMON, AND

NeEcHACcO RIVERS, AND ON FRANCOIS LAKE, BY | GEORGE M. DAWSON, Assoc. R.S.M., F.GS., ADDRESSED TO |

ALFRED R. C.. SELWYN; Esq, FBS, F.G.S.,

DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA.

In April last, as soon as the weather permitted, regular field work was begun by the preliminary examination of the country in the vicinity of Leech River, Vancouver Island. A short visit, for which opportunity offered, was then made to Bute Inlet, and on the 19th of May I left Victoria for the interior of British Columbia, where the greater part of the summer was spent. The routes followed, and par- ticular localities examined are described in the following pages. In conformity with instructions received, attention was devoted to the area between the Fraser River and the Coast Range, to the east and west, the Bella Coola Valley, and Francois Lake, to the south and north. In this country various lines were in course of examination as possible railway routes, and it also formed a natural extension of that in which the reconnoissance work of the summer of 1875 was carried on.

Short excursions were made late in the autumn to the Cariboo region and to the Nicola Coal Basin. Some results of these, with other details of purely economic interest, have been published as Appendix F in the lately issued General Report on the Canadian Pacific Railway Surveys, and appear again in a revised form in connection with the present report.

Acknowledgments are due to the gentlemen engaged on the Canadian

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Regions examined during the season..

Acknowledg- ments,

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