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PACIFIC

EAILWAT EOUra:S,^^^^

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CANADA.

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-h/L. MI^LEOH),

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" brit/annicus."

A 8EKIKS OF LETTERS PUBLISHED IN THE MONTREAL "GAZETTE."

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These letters are respectfully submitted under the special
circumstances appearing on their face.

1 may add, however, in more distinct terms, that I have
entfered thus somewhat at length— yet too shortly, hurriedly and
imperfectly— into this examination of railway routes across our
far wilds, feeling that no one else was, it would seem, likely to
do 80, though needed.

To public ken, the whole thing is, and has ever been, it may
be said, a sealed book ; and yet, on a true appreciation of it — of
the great scheme in all its Features and bearings — can we — the
people of Canada — alone grapple it with that courage and deter-
mination, and stern honesty of purpose, M'^hich it demands.

PACIFIC RAILWAY ROUTES, 5

— — - ■ •* ^ f i > *_-**'•

, . " • I . . J

LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OP THE MONTREAL GAZETTE, AND
PUBLISHED IN THAT PAPER IN TJIE COURSE OF JUNE AND JULY, 1874.

Sir. — The importance and urgency of
this subject are duch, I liumbly tliink, as
to warrant my obtrusion with a few obser-
vations which may, possibly, bo of some
little value in the way of information to
all or modt concerned. Accidental cir-
cumstances, alluded to by Mr. Fleming
in his report (page 13). viz., my early life
in the far North-West and British
Columbia, and the possession of my
father's papers, reports, journals, maps,
&c., reapecticg those wilds, have enabled
me to give some usefal information as to
the least known of the regions in ques-
tion- -regions untouched by blue-book,
and much untouched by even traveller's
tale. Five years ago, when first the
scbocie of a Canadian Pacific Railway was
mooted, I, under the noin de plume
Britannicui:, wrote a series of letters,
defining descripiioehj, in advance of alt
others, a feasible line for railway from
Montreal to the Pacific. That was during
the session of Parliament (Dominion),
and the information given was practically
acknowledged in the House and by the
Press. All survey since then, over the
greater part of the vast, utter wild in
question, has bfkt confirmed the truth and
correctness of my statements and esti-
mates in every particular. For instance,
as to the distimce from East Nipissing to
Lower Fort Garry (Red River), via South
cndofLakeNepigon, my sections, as pro-
jectively given in 18()'J, aggregate 970
miles. Mr. Fleming's report, as the
result of instrumo.ntal measurement along
the same objective points, is 973 miles.
Only three miles of difFtsrence ! On
actual location of the line we may difler
even less. Ilis section at this part is
ruQ out, however, to Lake Manitoba, ''65
miles" (as he states) beyond Red River,
which makes his total to thai point " I03S
miles," as shown in section sheet 9 in his
report.

Ab to the rest cf the route — route for
raiticay with its elongation by curves and
gradients in conformity with the physical
features of the country — my estimates
are equally well borne out by Mr. Flem-
ing's report, but that in a manner requir-
ing elimination from his different section
sheets, tind as I shall hereafter demons-
trate.

As to the Peace Rivkr Pass, Mr.
Fleming, in page 13 of his report, has
been good enough to give me credit for
bringing it to his notice. Of this more
anon. In the meantime, as to it. I have,
in limine, to say that the htight assi^jned
to it by me w is a mere estimate by myself,
on data given in large detail and tabu-
lated form in my pamphlet, "Peace
River," page xix of my table of heights,
and pages 92, 93 and 90 of text, and also
in the preface to the work. My object in
doing so was, as I state in the preface
" to direct attention at this juncture, to
" the particular fact, as a present objec
" tive point, that the lowest, easiest
" and best Pass of tho Rocky Mountains,
" in fact the only one which presents —
"say by such a Territorial Trunk Road"
(i. e. siich kind of road — for Mr. Fleming
did not speak of this particular one) —
" ad Mr. Fleming in his memorial to the
"Imperial and Canadian Governments
" proposed in I8G3 — a practica' gateway
"to the Pacific Slope, to the waggon of
" the settler, is the Peaco River Pass, and
" which is less — I make it — than eighteen
" hundred feet above the sea." The
road is indicated by yellow lines in my
map to " Peace River." The precise
figures as worked out and given for
height of the Pats were " 1750 feet above
the sea."

No one, that I am aware of, had ever
measured or even given any sort of esti-
mate of the altitude of this important
gateway to our new El Dorado. Mr.
Fleming, as he states in his report,
despatched, on the strength of my
representation, a branch expedition
from Edmonton in the Fall of '872, via
that Pass, placing in the hands of his staff,
for guidance, my pamphlet with its jour-
nals of navel from Hudson's Bay to the
Pass, and thence to the mouth of the
Fraser, viu Kamloops, showing the great
land in its length and breadth. I refer to
this incident, for I perceive that, some
way or other (see Canadian Monthly of May
last) Mr. Iloretsky, the gentleman who,
from his chief at Edmonton, got my
pamphlet as part of his instructions, has
received all the credit of bringing this Pass
into notice. Mr. Macoun, botanist, his
campagnon de voyage, does me, in his re-

;^'/->

bort, better justice. But to proceed.
The height of the Pukr, i. e. of the water
level of the Peact* River, in its paaaage
across the Rocky Mountains, has been
tince meoflured by Mr. Horetsky, with
aueroid, by obnerv itions taken at diil'ereDt
points, and haa been laid by Mr. Fleming
lit ■precisely that height, (see his section
shret 7 of Report at the point marked
" Finlay River") the western or upper end
ol the transverse passage of the river
through the range, i he next object on
the route, westwardn, of which I gave an
estimate of height, was " McLeod's
Lake," on the Pacil c slope of the range,
and which I laid at 1,900 feet above the
H«a. Meaiiured since by Mr. Fleming's
staff, with aaeroid, he ffives it — in bis said
section sheet 7, at " 1,850 feet above the
sea." The next hfight given by me is
that of " Stewart's Lake," forming, with
other large lakes, the trough of the
northern half of British Columbia. This I
laid at 1,800 feet above the sea. After care-
ful measurement since by Mr. Horetfiky,
with aneroid, Mr. Fleming's Report gives
it, in said section sheet 7, at tkat, preci^:ly.
I may state in explanation that I went
into this matter of heights to show that
this northern plateau of British Columbia,
is low enough to admit of profitable agri-
crUure and advantageouR settlement,
r.otwilhstanding its liigb latitudes, viz.,
'irom latitude 5.'5 ' to 5(i ^ ; and more
over, that it offers probable easy, or com-
paratively easy access, by territorial roads,
and ultimately, perhaps, by railway — i.e
secondary railway — across British Colum-
bia.

For a transaontlnrntal railway, how-
ever, — one to be the shortest and best
possible between Atlantic and Pacific
ports, and wholly on British ground, — I,
at the very outlet, advocated the Yellow
Head Fass (old familiar ground to me),
and thence, as indicated by the green
line in my map to the "Peace River" Pam-

Ehlet, to Bella Coola, at the head of the
brth Bentinck Arm. Allow me to give,
from letter 8 of my Britannicus letters of
1869, already alluded to — see slip sent
yon — a summary of sections of the route
propoBed by me : —

Terminal Points Alllea. per mile. Total.

Montreal to OtUwa,
via Vaudr^nil 106

Ottawa to summit be-
tween t,aKa NlplMlnf
and V ittawa River . . 100

MlplMinj to Mlobipl-
ooton RlTer. SW

M lobiplooton Blver to
Fire Hteel River. ... 810

rire Steel River to
Selkirk (Red River)
BettlementM 840

S^lklrlt (Kwl KiVfir)

i<i i-;jm(.iiu)n V*) ao.ico 16,000,010

BJtiinont'in 10 Mil to a

Ptti<8(Yollow Hejiti) a^iO 80,000 7,600,000
Mlitnn MiHH to Bnlirt

Oioip (Novlli i<o'-

Uv.ctiA.tu) 41K) GiVOO 24,(100,000

Total 2,tHr) $«O,!M5,0OJ

^'ay $100,000,000
So I wrote, and so all Parliament read,
in June-July, 180'.). .Since then, as we all
kno^v, "cost" — iron, labor, itc, — has in-
creased at least 2') per cent — but on this
branch of the subject 1 enter not. It is
of routes — and as known to me — that 1
would speak. In giving the above facts
there is, 1 feel, a seeming egotism. It i.s
repugnant to me ; bat I must show
credential, and present some measure of
credibility in this ple.iding. Sh.all con-
tinue in my next.

YourH,

M. ircLKoD.
Aylmer, (J., Juno, 1874.

25,3(fl

2625 00

30,100

5,7i;0,(01)

35,000

11,120,000

40,fOO

12,400,00:;

8IS,I'00 ll.OCO.OOO

LETfER n.

I?IR,— As the work of constritclion of
the great iroi road in question must, in
the main, b.' from nearest Atlantic port
— Montreal — and thence, from shiphold
with r-'vilway plant from England, and
elsewhere perhaps, 1 assume, for the
nonce, this port as a starting point.
Thence to the south-east end of Lake
Nipissing, the line, as reported by survey,
throughout its course of three hundred
miles of the Ottawa Valley, presents every
facility for railway — with an average
gradient of only about two feet per mile,
and, probably at no point — none so far as I
know, and I have pasbed over three-fourths
of il — none, I say, exceeding ten feet per
mile. I speak from personal knowledge and
the reports of Messrs. Shanly, Clarke,
Keefer (T. C), Kingsford and Legge, all
civil engineers of high repute. By the
last named gentleman, the line along the
nwrth side, crossing at the Matawan, anil
thence to the south-east end of Lake
Nipissing, has just been examined in ex-
ploratory survey, and L.^a been, as your
columns showed, most favorably report-
ed on. On the south side from Pem-
broke upwards, I am not aware of any
explorations for railway line having been
made, but from what 1 know of it, al-
though not a civil engineer, I think I can
safely pay, as 1 did in 18G9, there is a
good line fcr railway. I hope to see,
within two years, on both sides of the Ot-
tawa, to Eastern Pacific Railwav terminus
at Nipiss'ng, railways that shall serve as

froiglilw^iya from Atlantic Heaboard, and
from American and our own manufactories
of railway enginery and other plant. With
return freight in lumi)er. and perhaps
f;rain — western grain — from port at
French liiver, there would, 1 jjreBumo, be
profitable business for half a dozen rail-
ways to and from dillerent points, viz.,
Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal,
and even perhaps (Quebec, not to speak of
other lines, Cansulian and American, con-
necting with other Atlantic ports and
market points.

The other points for initiatory work in
construction which present themselves
are, Sault Ste. Mane — if the line be
thither bent — and the head of Nepigon
Bay; and, perhaps, also at i'lince Ar-
thur's Landing, Thunder Bay.

I touch on these points to indicate th?
possibility of constructing the whole of
this section — from Nipissing to Manitoba,
not only " after forty ymr.v," or " if ever,"
as shouted, on hustings, our present Min-
isters of State, and as averred their me-
tropolitan organ, " the Ottawa Times, in
their first flush of victory"-but within forty
months — 1 would say. '1 ho Americans, when
in lowest exhaustion from their late war.
built their Pacific Railway — longer and
more difficult, in three ynars, if I mistjikt
not. Wi y, in the name of common man-
hood, I would ask, should not we, with
the British Jlxchecjuer rei>K.>e at our
back, not do likewise? But, on this
head, more t.non.

You have, Mi . Editor, given a general
statement of the diltercut lines (.three) of
route, in this section — section from Jjake
Nipissing to Lake Manitolta — reported l.y
Mr. Fleming. I take up No. U, the
shortest and best, acconling to his own
account, lie thus defines it, in page '•i\)
of hia report :

" C!ommencing at the south-easterly
" angle of Lake Nipissing, the whole dis-
" tance to Lake Ellen (at head of Nepigon
" Bay) on Nopigon liiver, is about 550
" miles. The line at Lake Nipissing is
'* 730 feet, and at Lake FJllen 004, above
" sea level. Between thesa two ''xtreme
" points, the route passes over two
" main summits, one about 1 10 miles
"northwesterly from Lake Nipissing
" at an elevation of W'A) feet above the
" sea, and the other about 70 miles east-
" erly from the Kiver Nepigon, olevated
" 1400 feet above the sea. Between these
" two summits, for a distance of
" over 370 miles, there is a long fl it
" basin, characterized by no great
" inequalities. The line for this long
" distance will be generally very
" levsl, the ground averaging from 1000

"to 1200 feet above the bc»: at one
" point only. River ilnglish, does it dip
" to h;?0 feet.

" The route, for nearly the whole dis-
" tance east of Nepigon, runs Ix'hiiid Um\
' rugged and elevated belt of country
" which presents formidable ob8tA4;l»>H on
" the immediate shores of Lake >Superior.
" This rough district is crossed directly
" back of Ellen, where it is narrow and
" probably le.-ist forbidding. In c'nnH«
" quencu, about 25 or 3 i miles of the
" lino north-easterly from Nepigon River
"will show heavy work, wtiile the re-
" mainder of the distance to liake ^ip^^l■
" sing, about 5aO miles, will, it is b?-
" lieved, be comparatively lieht." * •

" In ascending Westerly from Lake Ni-
" pissiDu, the rise to the highest point in
" less, and the length of time occupied
" in making the ascent considerably
-' greater than in parsing from Lake On-
" tario to Lake Huron by railways in
" operation across the peninsula of West-
" em Ontario.

•' The Great Western ascends 753 feet in

44 mil'.>a.
" The Grand Trunk ascends 967 feet in

38 miles.
" The (trey and Bruce osconds 1,398 feet

in 52 miles.
"The Northern ascends 748 feet in 27

miles.
" The totJil rise on the Pacific line
" northwesterly from Lake Nipissing to
" the highest summit east of Lake >''upe-
" rior is 090 feet, and the ascent is spread
" over a distance of 110 miles, thus indi-
" eating an average rate of ascent much
" more favorjible than on the Kail ways
"alluded to."

Mr. Fleming, in a foot note, states at
what particular stations and points the
summits occur in the above, p.nd also in
other railways in Ontario, giving heights
and distances, and showing them all to be
less favorable than route No. 2 in ques-
tion.

" Between the crossing of Fed River,"
continues the report, page 32, " and
" Lake Ellen, on Nepigon River, the dis-
" tance is about 416 miles. The diagram
" shows that the former point is 763
" feet above the level of the sea,
" while the latter is 604 feet ; the height
" of land to be crossed is 1,580 feet above
" the same level, and about 300 miles
" easterly from Red River.

" In passing tnrough to Lake Superior
" from the west, a rise of 817 feet has
" therefore to be overcome in 300 miles,
"and a descent of 976 in about 116
" miles.
" The Grand Trunk Railway," he adds,

-A«=

by way of coraparison, " between Mon-
•' treal and I'ortlund, running eaHlcrly
" from Montreal, makes an aBcent of
" 1,3G0 feet in 144 miles, and a corrcs-
" ponding descent in 153 miles.

" The information obtained suggests,"
he concludes, " that it will bo i)08BibIe
'' to secure maximum easterly ascending
" gradients, between Manitoba and Ijike
" iSuperior, within the limit of L'G feet to
" the mile, a maximum not hn'f so grea
"as that which obtains," he declares,
" on the ma.jority of the railwnys of the
" continent."

The route is certainly unoxccptionably
good, especially in view of the fact, as
shown by the report, as the result of
careful meteorologiciil oViKervations regis-
tered and returned over the whole route
during two winters, thai " the depth of
" snow is" — ts Mr. Fleming, in page 34-1
of his report, says — " generally loss on an
"average than it is at the city of Ot-
" tawa."

An excellent feature in the line is that
it touches navigation where beat it should,
viz., at Nepigon Bay, nearest good port-
accessible by rail eastwards, from the
Prairie or wheat region — anfl also, that at
the point of crossing Red liiver, viz., at
Lower Fort Garry, called "Stone Fort,"
it touches the head of LaKe Winnipeg
navigation, and ut Manitoba Lake, dcos
the same service to the chain of large
lakes it belongs to — an internal naviga-
tion requiring but little for practical and
beneficial developrient.

So much, for tin present, as to this
"Woodland Section" or 1038 miles, as
Mr. Fleming designates and reports it.
Yours,

M. McLEOD.

Aylmer, Q., June, 1874.

LETTER in.

R£D RIVER TO YELLOW BEAD PASS.

Sir, — ^This section embraces what Mr.
Fleming veiy appropriately calls " 'Iho
Central or Prairie llegion" — not that it
is all praii-ie, but that it is chiefly so.
The distance assigned, on mere exploratory
survey, however, is " 1,040 miles," viz.,
750 from Red River to Edmonton, and
the balance thence to the Pass. The
average grade from "Fort Garry to Ed-
monton" is " 2 3 feet per mile." "The
" immediate ascent to the Yellow Head
" Pass is not difficult, and the Pass it-
" self is, as it were, an open meadow."

So reports Mr. Fleming, in page
3"J, Wnon speaking of bis forty
miles a day ride through it in 1872.
From the summit of the Pass to a point
"49 miles eastwards" there has been very
careful survey, and ia reported in pagea
143-4. " From the summit the line lol-
" lows the Miette River down the Caledo-
" nian Valley to its junction with the
"Athabasca, a distance of 18 miles, with
" a total fall of 352 feet. In the first
" nine miles and a quarter ihe fall is only
" 141 feet, with light work; in the next
" two miles the fall is 120 feet, but by a
" slight deviation of the line a srade of 1
" per 100 (52.80 feet per mile) can be
" obtained without heavy works. The
"rest of the distance to the Athabasca is
" by easy descending grades, nowhere ex-
" ceeding 30 feet per mile, and the w^rks
" will not be heavy." The rest of the route
to Kdmonton was also surveyed, and is
represented — see pages 186-7 — as, on the
wliole, even more favorable. The sum-
mit of the Pass is given at 3,746 feet
above the sea.

From it to nearest seaport — Montreal
— a practicable, and, in every respect,
a most favourable route, almost in air
line, has been found, with an average
gradient low beyond compare, so far as I
know, and at no point, in eastward
course, exceeding — says Mr. Fleming, as
before stated — " 26 feet to the mile." I
say, "almost in air line," but it is to be
remarked, that if Sault Ste. Marie be
touche'V, the divergence — and that trans-
versely and diagonally over very rough
and rocky ground — will be fully one hun-
dred and fifty miles oft' the true line. If
this Americ'^a connection be determined
on, it would be better to have an inde-
pendent line, 1 would say, along the com<
parative flat immediately back of the
duron shore rim, striking into the
Nipissing basin, and there touching rail-
way centre, at the main terminus. Be-
tween such line and the one surveyed by
Mr. Fleming, along the valley of th»
Montreal River, there is a continuous up-
rise — for it scarcely can be called hill —
with irregular broken ridges of rock run-
ning, in the main, across ihe line of
route. Not to speak of military con-
siderations — and they ought to rule in
this matter — such an elongation of line,
say over two hundred miles, would mater-
ially affect, prejudicially, the commercial
character of the route, as the shortest, of
railway, from Ocean to Ocean, between
the "Great Sailing; Arcs," in Northern
Atlantic and Pa'^iiio, and between mid-
Europe and mid-Abia.

To these two main objective points

UiMt all IhU work of paaa way for Irnftio
and travel between the two *'woil(lt<" —
Bant ftDd West-be bent. The YoUow
Head Pan in 52<3 50', or about that, of
north latitude, ia precisely in line, it may
be said. The nearest natural ocean port,
open to ui, thence westwirds, is Bella
Coola, at the head of the North Bentinck
Arm. Its latitude, as determined hy
Vaooouver, Sir Alexander McKen-
sie, and Lieutenant Palmer, R. S., in
about 52^ 21'. That of Liverpool iis Ht&ted
in Norie's navigation tables (a standard
authority) is?20 24'. Ijower Fort Garry
(Red Biver crossing) is in about 5()'=>l'(r.
This last is, for Faoitic Ilailway route in
Canada, a defined objective point by na-
ture. The same may be said as to the Yel-
low Head Pass. From its summit to tide
water, N. Bentinck Arm, the diutance I
assigned in my Britannicua letters was,
for railway route, with its unavoidable
ourratura, "400 miles." My map to
" Peace Biver," indicates it.

TBIjIiOW BEAD PASS TO PACiFIO OCKAN.

The description of the route from the
summit westwards is thus given, in page
144 : — " From the summit of the Yellow
" Head Pass the line follows down the
" valley nearly due west to the head of
" Moose Iiake 13^ miles, in which the fall
" is 344 feet ; on the first 2^ miles the
" fall is about 45 feet per mile to Y''ellow
" Head lake, thence along the
"phoro of the same 3^ miles level,
" leaving the average fall for the rest
" of the distance 20 feA per mile.
" The line follows the north shore of
" Moose Lake 8 miles to its outlet at the
" west end ; on this there are easy undu-
" lating grades. The works from the
« summit to this point, 27 miles, will not
" be heavy. From the outlet of Moose
" Lake there is very little fall for a mile
" and a half, but thenoe to Tote Jaune
" Ctohe, 18 miles, the Fraser falls 924
" feet) giTiug an average of over 51 feet
" per mile. At Tete Jaune Cache the
'* line leaves the valley of the Fraser and
" turning almost at right, angles follows
" up a valley on a south-easterly course
*' to Cranberry Lake. The distance from
" Mooise Lake to this is about 32 miles,
« and the average descent is 26 feet per
" mile." • * • " From Cranberry
" Lake to the crossing of Canoe River, 3.^
" miles, IS practically level, as the surface
" of the river is only 20 feet lielow that of
" the lake ; thence to Albreda 1 ake, 10
^' miles, there is a rise of 264 feet. This
" is on the watershed between the tribu-
" taries of the Thompson and Columbia

'• Hvers, and, »)y our surveys, is 2,866
" feet above sea level."

Fi-om this hinijing point all survey Hhs
proved itself too southerly. The true
line is wostwardn, due west, or nearly so,
to the head waters of Luke Quesnel, dis-
tant, as 1 estimated, and stHted to Mr.
Fleming, probably about 50 or 60 niilt«H
from the " Cache"— a space unknown to
the old fur traders in these parts, and a*
to which, I saw by a draft of my father's
special report on tli ubject to the (M>v-
ernor and Director^ Committee of the
Hudson's Bay Company in liOndon, dated
" Kamloops, Spring, 1823," when m sharge
of what wns then known as the Thump-
son's Kivei District, extending from tbe
Kocky Mountains to the Pacific, and from
the Columbia northwardn, in faot,all what is
now British Columbia and part of Oregon,
that he thought a trade track .brough
it could be found, and be proposed,
to that end, to send two or three men,
along with certain Indians, occasionally
fre<juenting Kamloops, called the " Snare
Indians,'' a small mountain tribe of about
"60 families," frequenting both sides of
the mountains. They failed to return for
a year or two, and the matter vrtu left as
it had ever been — even to the North West
Company's repeated etl'orts in that wa> —
a something sought, but unfound. Mil-
ton and Cheadle, with true British pluck,
half did the feat.

Mr. Fleming, when charged with the
Pacitic Railway, put, at the earliest pcssi-
ble moment — as appears by his Pi-ogret a
Report of 1872 — two specially strong
'* divisions" of his statf, viz , Mcljennan's
and Mahood's, to the task. The former
worked his way up from Kamloops,
by the North Thompson, to Albreda Lake.
The eflbrt— a really splendid one — cost
him 87 out of the iOO of his picked moun-
tain train (largely Mexican) of horses and
mules. Mahood had been icstruoted to
begin at the mouth of the Quesnel River
and work up thence to the source. He
disobeyed orders, arrived at the river,
and not finding, as he says, '' boats suit-
able," he allowed himself to be draivn to
the glacier heights ot Cariboo, where, of
course, and as his master knew, and might
have told him, there was no pass for rail-
way. Since then this Quesnel route,
strange to say, luis been untouched, save
just recently, by a Hying trip by the Dis-
trict Engineer. Of this, more anon, in
my next.

Yours truly.

M. MoLBOD.

Aylmer, Q., June, 1874.

LBTTEB IV.
QUEANSL LAKE ROUTB.

PiR,— ReBuming thia subject whero I
left it in my lact Tetter. I propose to i^ire,
from the report itself, sufficient to indi-
cate the correctness of what I have ad-
Tanoed on this point. Itoferricg to page
129. under the head " Journey to C^ues-
nelle Lake," we hare the following from
Mr. IfarouB Smith, District Engineer :—
" Friday, 11th October, I received," (he is
addresstnj Mr. Fleming, then, in 1872, on
his trip {torn ocean to ooefin) " your last
instructions this morning." • • •
<* On the 16th I arriTcd at the Slue
" Tent, 01 127 mile house." • • "Next
« day I reached the 150 mile house."
" Monday, 2lBt October— I started with
" three white men, two Indians, and a
" train of seren animals ; on the second
<* day's journey the trail crossed a large
" farm in Beayer Lake Valley, near which
" we camped. Thhi ralley, as far as I
" could see each way from ttia adjoining
*' heights, looked remarkably favorable
'* for a line of railway : and as I have
" already stated, there is out a short neck
" of land between the head of it and
" Horse Fly Vallev. Next day we ar-
" riTed at the forks of the Quesnelle
" riter : here there is a thriving village."
• • •'24th October— We started with
" our i>ack train on a very rough trail up
" the right bank of the South branch of
" Quesnelle river, and at the end of 9
" miles came to still water, where the
" boats were lying." • • " Sentone of
" the Indians bade with the pack animals
" to Beaver Lake, to pasture till our re-
"tnm

Frooeeding in two boats, a large and
small one, he reports :—

"25th October, 2:30 p.m.— Reached
" Nim's Point, 22 miles from the foot of
" the lake. The line of tiie south shore
" of the lake for the first eight miles is
" tolerably uniform, and the slopes from
" the water not very steep ; then there
" are about four miles in which it is
" rocky and broken to where the six
" mile oreek enters the lake. From this
" to Mitchell's Landing (south) is a flat
" beach covered with cottonwocid." * *
" 26th October.— * * The south shore
" of the lake, from where we struck it
" this morning, is an easy wavy line, and
" the slopea not very steep. All the
" hills that bound the lake on the south
" shore are covered with timber from the
** water's edge to the simimit ; those on
" the north are higher, with bald rock."

" Island (58 miles,) where the axU of
" iht Cariboo ilatt igold-bmring) range
" crosses the lake. ' * In three hours
'* arrived at Limestone C^amp (No. 7) — 72
'* miles — where the lake bends due
" north (magnetic.) The first lA miles
" of this day's journey the shore line of
" the lake runs in easy curves, and
" though the mountain slopes comedown
" to the water's edge, their inclination is
" not great. Of tiie other fourteen miles,
" six are bold and rooky, but with heavy
" work, practicable i^r railway construe*
" tion ; the rest is easy."

"Monday, 28th October— W', were
" within seven miles of the entrance to
" the second narrows " (79 miles from foot
of lake). * * "Here I had a fine view of the
"Nanows(N. 45© E. magnetic^ twenty
" miles to the 'u«t Kado' the lake where
"it runs due ior'h vx or seven miles to
"its head" * * This narrow pai t o?
"the lake j henr'-i i in by bold reeky
" moimta'i , the cuff along the shores
" risinfe '" ieet to ' ■" feet m bright, in
" some ^ia: as over-hanging. My impret-
" slon U that the lake here poises through
" the Caribto range, for directly westward
" were the tsnow-oapoed peaks that had
" been on our left (north) of the lake, anH
"a little to the south of east were the
" peaks, apparently of the same range
" between the Thompson and Clearwater,
"and which continued fVom the Gk>la
" range west of the Clolumbia river.
" There were no very high mountaitu
" visible northwards.^'

N.B.— My course, as proposed, is from
" norlhwutls." at this point. The report
goes on to sa^ —

" Mr. Barker," the gentleman of the
"flourishing village" aforesaid, who
furnished the boats, and guided Mr.
Smith — " confirms this — he says that the
"Niagara River (head tributary and
" source of the Quesnel) enters the north-
" east side of the lake tliree or four miles
" inm its head, that the fifdls of this river
" are about 200 feet high, and for four
" miles up from this t£e river is very
" rapid, then there is dead water for about
" fortt, miles, in a wiie, swampy basin^
" where the Indians himt benver, &o.

" From repeated readings of the ane-
" roid, I estimated Quesnel Lake to be
" about 2,580 feet above sea-level." N.B.
— Thr ve hundred feet lower than Albreda
IdJce as already reported.

" 7: e Clearwater River," continues Mr.
Smith n page 132 of report, " rises in a
" range of mountains to the north-east of
" Quesnelle Lake, which can be reached
" by a past (the entrance to which I saw)"

" 27th October.— * * Arrived at Hlate —he says himself— "said to be eajyancliio^

«
r

J-

" Mry At0A. There in Ihen only Iho Hhorl
" ipace betweea Clearwater liako and the
" north or Cariboo fork of the Tbompson
" river, about which I can get no informa-
" tion more than that iherti certainly is a
" vail. I havo only met one Indian who
" bad travelled over it some year« ago,
" when he was ^<oo young to retain an
" clear recollection of it. This is undoubt-
" edly part of the Helkirk range and 1
'* have no expectation that a railway
" could be got through it without a tun-'
" nelof oonsidorable length, but this route
" would shorten the line lo much that it is
" well worth consideration."

Preciaely I But why, I would ask Mr.
Smith, d'd he not see to this before, in-
stead of starting, as his report shows, "U7
miles down the North Thompson." about
9<) miles off— too far couth — ibr even the
line proper for Bute Inlet, and at a point
over tuo thmuand feci unntctisarily too low
on this meridian 7 Section sheets 4 and 5
show glaringly the faulte of this line, start-
ing from a point on the North Thompson,
1397 feet above the sea, and b^t^/eon that
and the Fraser having to climb heights
Gtated at 3,500 feet, and 3,104 feet above
the sesj all which the Quesnel
south snore, as ddscribed, avoids.
As to that " tunnel of considerable
length," in Mr. Smith's "mind's eye," it
would certainly be interesting to know
all, or S0mething about it, in an engineer
ing point of view. If I may be allowed
— as one to the manor born — to offer an
opinion on that point, I would be ixicl^nd
to say, that the pass there — a point vtnere
three ranges meet, and, by law of nature,
break into fragments, iianking curve,
with moderate gradation — if 1 mi>y so
use such word — would overcome all moun-
tain difficultr. Billowy, rather, and not
mural, are all our mountains thereabouts.
That " tunnel," in fpct— good Mr. Smith
— should not, I humbly think, be so posi-
tively asserted by you I This scheme for
Canadian Paciiio Railway has "lions
enough in the way," in all conscience,
without such « one from one employed to
runove sucL jg-bears.

In speakin, of the difiSculty that tbejfur
trade met with in its attempts to pene-
trate this upper region, with its fine bea-
ver flats of " forty miles" in extent, it
was not — I would observe — the height or
steepness of the mountains that blocked
the way, but the character of the moun-
tain forest — its immense growth, with an
underbrush and heavy obstructive swamp
flora, which, commencing at a point about
45 miles up the North Thompson — I re-
member well the beauteous stream, in its
placid lower reaches meandering, Pacto-

lean— increased upwards to neailv 3,000
feet al)Ove the sea. Clearwater Uiver, as
any good map — say Trutch's— will show,
is only a fork of this N ••rth Branch of the
Thompson Uiver, whiou fork (Clearwater)
lit its head — a long lake— has a tributary
trom the east, rising close, apparently Uwh
tliAn a mile, from the main fork, a point
easily accessible, by stream course, from
Albreda Lake. Tnoro is no room for
tunnellable heights between these waters
— waters in common — of the " beaver "
flats" aforesaid. The " peaks 7 abouy
wooded to top or snow-capped, Bui adofy^
the scone — and to the I'-oail, when njocio,
will but give, in their ivltitudo above romi
bed, snow-shed in winter and sun-^hado
in summer. > .

Yours,

M. MoLJSOD.
Aylmer, Q., June. 1S74. . ^ ' .

LETTER V. .

qUESNEL LAKE TO BELl,A COOL A.

Sir, — Returnmg to our starting point
in consideration of uiia Quesnel Ijike
section of the route, viz., the " large
farm" in Beaver Lake Valley,- and pro-
ceeding westwards we have the following
desoription of the route, in pAge 1 1',i of
ihe report : " Journey from the 150 mile"
(mile, on waggon road alo g Fraser Kiver
bank) "Ilouoe to the North Branch of
" the North Thompson River." " Friday,
" 6tli September — At 'J a. m. started on
" tbiii journey." " We followed the
" well^aten trail to the forks of tU Ques-
" nei.^, about eight miles, . then ' took
" an Indian trail running in a more
" easterly direction. On the second day
" we entered Beaver Lake valley." Beaver
Lake is given at "2,110 feet above the
"sea." We are now on the right bank of
the Fraser, at or near Soda Creek. No sui-
veyfor crossing at this particular point is
reported, but is so at a point a little way
—about 10 or 12 miles further down — at
the Jose Valley. The report, in page
151, m this matter of crossing the Fraser,
runs thus: "The line follows the north
" shore of William's Lake, ■ 5 miles in
" length, with undulating grades, and not
" heavy work, thence down the Jose Val-
" ley to the Fraser River, t little over
" seven miles. Approaching the Fraser,
" the valley becomes deep and nairow,
" and the descent more rapid, so that
" grades of 1 to 1.60 per 100 have to be
" used, but with no heavy work. The

n h

'•* lio« erossea the Fraser at an angle of
" about 45 (Ipgrees, requiring bridging
" 800 feet" ((hay Hght hundred feet— not
a ♦' a mile at leatt," as Captain Butler pre-
tends, and that, according to him, at a
height of ♦« 1,200 feet") 'long, and 30"
{mUy thirty) " feet abo?e tne river level,
" or 1,374 feet abo^re the oea level : it then
•' follows the right or west bank of the
♦* river for 17 miles, in which it has to
" cross the face of some heavy clay slides
" and high slate rook bluffs, with some
♦' grades of 1.20 per 100 ; in this section
" there will be some very heavy works,
*' including two tunnels through lime-
" stonb rock, one of 1,500 feet, and the
«' other 2,000 feet in length."

i.B to this matter of crossing, it is to be
observed that it would be much easier
further up the Fraser, but on this point
the report is silent.

I am now following this too southerly
line merely for the nonce, as no other is
given, and at a certain point, viz., apex in
the "Chilootin Plam," marked "3,700
feet above sea level," in saction sheet 5,
assume it, but merely for determination
of distances and comparative reference as
to character of route, for indication of
my line to Belle Coola. The middle
reaches of the Chilcotin Valley might,
however, be used in common for the Bute
Inlet and N. Bentinck Arm routes. AU
descriptions of the country traversed,
even at such altitude, about 3,500 feet
above sea, represent it as a fine roll-
ing plateau, with forest, meadow and
prairie, and do thai with beautiful and
iish-teeming lakes, the whole admirably
fitted for agricultural settlement. The
description in pages 120 and 121 of the
report so represent it, and so I have
given forth, for years past, in press^
newspapers and books, but unfortunately
there have been no members of Parlia'
mant of these parts to take up the cause
of Upper British Columbia.

In page 121 of iha report, speaking of
better ground found considerably north
wards of that surveyea^ in the first in
stance, the description m the report is
as follows : — '• We followed up the Fraser
" Valley two or three miles, the we made

a long detour to the north to head out

a deep ravine ; passing this, we
" ascended the high level of the rolling
" plateau, and saw spread out before us,
" as far as the eye oould reach, an undu-
" lating grassy plain, dotted with trees,

" the water courses and lakes being dis-
'' tinguishable by belts of groves of
*' fir and poplar, £:d clow to us
" was a deep but open valley, which
" v;e could trace far away to the north
" till lost in the undulations of tho
" plateau. In vhe bottom of this,
" right in our course, lay a cultivated
"far^n, to which we descended— 1,400
" feet — by very steep slopes, and there
" mot the owner, L. W. Biskie, Esq., a
" Folisu gentleman, by whom we were
" hospitably entertained, &o."

From the Yellow Head Pass, via the
" 97 miles" divergence down the N.
Thompson, and thence over the two inter-
mediate summits aforesaid, to the Fraser
via Jose Valley and thence " 17 miles
further down," and thence to this apex
in the Chilcotin Phiin of 3,700 feet above
sea, vhe distance is given iu beotion sheet
5, at " 334 miles." In section sheet 7,
the precise point stated at 3,700 feet in
section sheet 5 is not given, but a point
marked "Old Fort" (Chilcotin), at a
height stated at " 3,800 feet above sea, is
given— and, as the nearest possible, it
may, for calculation of relative distances,
be approximatively assumed as the same.
From this point to the mouth of Bella
Coola River, the distance assigned,
on Lieutenant Palmer's measurements,
or estimates, is 170 miles of crooked
trail track. This, with the 334 miles
makes an aggregate of 504 miles. From
this, deduct for :he "97 mUes" diver-
nence at the N. Thompcnn, say, at least
1^ miles, and for the Fraser Crossing, at
least 24 miles, and we have, as closely as
may be "400 miles"* as tbe probable
length of railway route from the summit
of the Yellow Head Pass to tide-water
Bella Coola, via the south shore of Lake
Quesnel, as marked by my railway line in
grf^en, m my map to "Peace Kiver,"
and as advanced ir c:y Britannicus Letters
of 1869. I nevi , of course, actually
measured the route, but I bad, acciden-
tally, data to go on, which, then— I .be-
liev cl — no one else had, at least, not to
the ofiir ^ oxtent. I might say much on
this score, but will not unlen& forced to do
so by controversy — should it arise.

THE DELLA COOLA ROUTE, GORGE AND SEA-

PORT.

This gorge, or valley rather, with its
numerous— 13 or 14 I believs — lateral
vs^leys, each with its appropriate river, or

• The oalottiatiun, in detail, rung thus : Half of total divergence, on triangulation on base line from
eaat end of (jaesnei Lake to meridian of " Old Fort Chilcotin" 72 milei<. deduction a« per Lieut.
Palmer's estimatA, on trail track (tortuous) for "road" route ' etween ' Old Fort" and "The Preoi-
l)lce," say 25 percent, on 97 miles— say '& miles. Reduction, for road, on trail, from " Precipice" to tide
wati^r, say 5 per cent, on 73 miles— say four miles. Total reductions for road to PoUa Coola, 101 miles
—deducted from .503 miles, loaves precisely 402 miles. From which, for the nhorter ar*-of mv more
northern line, a small deduction is to bo made— brtPKing a result within my original predicate.

Bra

M-

lid«
lies
lure

Btrebmlet, is, I am coQvinoed, "not half
well enough known." The charter pros-
pectus (printed amn sent to me) for a
waggon road through it, in 1862— thus de-
Bcribes the proposed pojt, and route
thence to Cariboo : — ♦' The North B' n-
" tinck Arm possesses an excellent har-
•' hour, of sufficient capacity to accommo-
" date the largest ileeta at all seasons of
" the year.

•' The country through which the road
" will pass presents few difBculties of con-
*' struction, and is studded in every direc-
" tion with open prairies, lakes and'ex-
" tensive meadows, affording abundant
" feed for pack animals.

'• The tovm site of Bella Coola is admir-
" ably adapted lOr the formation of a
" oomi^iorcial depot for the northern por-
<■ tion of British Columbia, being access-
" ible by steamer from Victoria in forty
" hours at all seasons of the year. The
" toad would be about 2fX) miles long,
»« that is to say, from the head of the
"inlet to the point required on Fraser
" River— say Alexandria. With the ex-
" ception of a part of the deacent through
'' the Coast Riuige the trail is decidedly of
" a level character. This descent, or
" rather slido, is really the only
<* obstruction, and could easily be over-
' • come or avoided— a fact that nmst be-
" come evident to every one when in-
" formed that we passed and returned
^'packed horses over it during our trip last
" summer" (1861). "From the place where
" the trail fjrat strikes the Bella Coola
" River in the Coast Range (that is at the
" i'oot of the slide, travelling from the in-
" tenor to the coast) it runs along its
" bank the whole way to the head of
" the Inlet, through a deep gorge or pass
" iv, the Mountains, which varies in width
" from halfamile to ^ve miles."

The report goes o\^ to speak of its prac
ticability, first for "mule trail, ten feet
wide," then for waggon road ; speaks also
of its harbor as " favorably reported on
by seafaring men" ; of its admirable site
for a town, facilities for wharves, docks,
&c. ; abundant timber; gold, copper, &c;
and fisheries of " cod, b&libut, salmon,
" oulaohans, herring, &c,, and finally the
worthy promoters — one of +hem (Mr.
Kauald McDonald, son of Chief Factor
Archibald McDonald), a gentleman bom
in the country, and thoroughly familiar
with it, and the other, John C. Barnston,
Esq., barrisner, late of Montreal, son of
Chief Factor Bamston, Hon. H. B. Co
and now, I believe, a menber of the
Local Legislature of British Columbia —
thus wind up : "So that it appe rs to us
" probable enough that, the future town

'■ of Bella Coola will yet be the ierminus
" of the much talked of Paeific B*ad
" through British Territory."

I do not, of course, givo the above m
" authority," or as ground for au^ht than
further enquuTr towards authentus d er-
mination of the questions of fact in>
volved.

In the meantiire I purpose to examine
what best evid<)nce we, so ibr, have on
the subject, and which Mr. Fleming's re<
port— an exhaustive effort— presents to
us. This in my next.
Yours,

M. MoLBOD.

Ayimer, Q., June,. 1874.

retype

" lets on the coast,

" tinck Arm receives at

t LETTER VL

Sir, — Continuing under ihis head, I pro-
ceed to jhow what the report of Lieut.
Palmer, R.E., of his survey in Avtnmn,
1862, as given in Mr. Fleming's report,
says of it.

Page 219 of Report :— "North Bentinck
" Arm, a mere water-filled indentation in
" the mountains, some 25 mUes in length,
" and from 1 ^ to 2^ miles in breadth, ma/
" be takea as a fair type of the other in>

• ♦• North Ben-
itc head the wa*
" ters of the Bella Coohk or Nookhalk
" River, a rapid mountain stream, 80
" miles in length, which rising beyond the
" principal crest of the Cts^i^ Mount-
" ams, flows through and draios a
" portion of that range and, subsequently,
" the chadm or valley formed by the oon-
" tinuation of the mouatain vraUs of North

" Bentmck Arm.' The valley of

" the Nookhalk for 40 miles from iti
" mouth is undoubtedly of estuajryformao
" tion, low, and, in many places,
" swampy throughout, and to the same
" process by which, for ages past, the land
" has been gradually forcing back the
" waters of the ocean, viz., the deposit of
"vast quantities of alluvium ana drift
" which have been brought down by the
"Nookhalk, is to be attributed the
" existence of the large, flat mud-shoal
" which extends across the head of the
" Arm. This shoal, oumposed of black,
" fetid mud, supports a rank vegetation of
" long swamp grass for about mdf its dis-
" tance outwards ; it is bare at low water
" spring tides for about 700 yards from
" Ugh water mark, and at a distance of
" 8(M yards from shore terminates abrupt-
" ly in a Bteep shelving bank on which
" soundings rapidly increase to 40 and
"soon to 70 fathoms." [Note by my-
"self. * A little dredging wiU
" easily improve this.] " Another small

r^ ^ — '

;'j) ii ." i 4 i | ^ii i i n ii 'i i )n ii>ii i .ii i ii K(;. i . i '''"", "' . .'"" " "" -^i— «— >—

" anchorage is said to exiat at the mouth
" of the Noomamu River, r.^out 3 milea
* • down the north shore of tho arm. " • •

" To build wharves and perhaps a few
" sheds on the rocky shores of the anchor-
•' age, and thence a road along the moun-
" tain sides to the spot indicated in the
•' accompanying plan as suitable for a
" town site,' is the only method I can ar-
" rive at by which to meet the require-
" ment« of any future traffic that may
" occur on this route. The site I have
" selected is, m fact, the only available
" ground in the neighborhood, a sloping
" tract of land of about 1,200 acres in ex-
" tent, covered with a profuse wild vege-
*' tation of clover, vetchen, or pea-vine,
*' grass, and berry bushes of various de-
" scrip tions, timbered in many places and
" generally dry, but breaking up towards
" the river and the head of the Arm in low
•' swamps end ponds, and damp, grassy
*< hillocks.

•' On the ncrth side of the river much
*' of the land is heavily timbered within
" tho line of high- water mark with cedar,
" cotton wood and some species of fir,"
&c.

" Half a mile from the mouth, and on
"opposite sides cf the Nookhalk are
" two Indian villag-w, &c. Two miles
" further up is another viil -ge, popula-
" tion about 1,200 souls. The natives are
•' physically a line race, tall, robust and

" active."

" river is by canoes.

"The Nookhalk Valley,

Navigation of Aiou and
• rage 222.
which averages
" from one-half to one and a half miles in
" width, opening out considerably," (pro-
bably to the extent of five miles as re-
ported by McDonald and Bamston) " at
*' the confluences of the principal tribu-
'' taries, is walled in ly giant mountains of
" from two thousand lo nix thousand feet
" in height, presenting the usual variety
" of scenery met with in mountain
" travels in this countiy." • • • Page
223. " The valley abounds with the na-
*• tural features usually met with at low
" altitudes in this country ; tracts of
" heavy forest and dense underbrush,
" such as we see in the valley of the Low-
" er Traser, succeeded here and there by
' ' groves of alder, willow and swamp woods,
" occasional open patches of low berry
" bushes, forests of smaller timber with
" a comparative absence of brushwood.
" large alluvial flats, abrupt mountain
" sides, poor gravelly soil, patches of
" swamp land, innumerable brooks and
" sloughi, and large quantities of fallen,
" and, occasionally, burnt timber. * *
" Although the present trail passbs
'* through a great deal of swampy land,

" there ia nothing to prevmt a good bridle
" path or waggon road being carried tLe
" whole way to Shtooiht, &o., (57 miles)."
Page 224— '• Happily, in this T*lley
" th>9re is a comparative absence tf rocky
" bluffs running sheer into the rivtr."

" TUB GHHAT 8LIDB "

AND MINOR CrES.

" There is an unavoidable slide of fras-
" mentary rock, half a mile in length,
" at 27 miles from Ko-om-ko-oti, and rock
" in situ would be met with about two
" miles above Nootkleia, but neither
" difhoulty is likely to prove of a s^srious
" nature."

" Atnarko" (river with two tributaries,)
" Valley is similar in many general cba-
" racteristics to that of the Nookhalk : as
" its stream is ascended so do the diffi-
< ' culties of progress increase. The valley,
" which near its mouth is about one mile
" in width, gradually contracts, and the
" mountains, although di-nrnishmg sensi-
" bly in apparent altitude, become more
" and more rugged, and frequently Jut
" out in low, broken masses into the
" stream."

"Herb the fiiist serious obstaolbs tj
" road makin<} are met with. From the
" crossing of the Cheddeakult" (one of
" said two tributaries) " to the foot of the
" Great Blide, mountains crswd closely in
" upon both sides of the stream ; fre-
" quent extensive slides of fragmentary
" trap rocks of all sizes run either directly
" into the river, or into the low swampy
" lands bordering it, which are liable
" to inundation at the freshets, and
" the Indian trail which winds along
" their faces is difficult and almost
"dangerous for travel. These slides
" vary from 300 to 600 feet in height,
" and are capped by rugged cliffs extend-
" ing to an average altitude of 1,5(X) feot
" above the river, and since they are un-
" avoidable, the labour of trail making be-
" tween Shtooiht and the Great Slide" (14
miles) will be considerable, and eatail a
probable expense of "£1,000" (only
one thousand pounds)—" Distance from
" Bentinck Arm, 57 miles. "

" At dokelin, 1,110 feet above the level
" of the sea, the trail leaves the Atnarko
" running about south-east, and strikes to
" the northward, directly up the face of
" the Great Slide, at a high angle of elo
" vation."

[Query by myself— Could not a mil-
way line be run diagonally across its face,
and, if need be, in zigzag 7]

" The height of the actual loose rock,
'' as indicated by Imrometrio measure-
'' ment is about 1,120 feet, the trail
<' barely even winding up this portion,

le lerel
tnarko
ikes to
faceot
of elo

a irail-
Is face,

rock,

leaBure-

trail

lor lion,

**' but wriggling almost dirdctly up the
" faoe in would-be zigzags bitterly trymg
" to pedeotriana. Above tbLi it is lost
« among olifb and hollows dotted with
"small timber, and rises more gradu-
" ally until, five miles from Coks^, an
" altitude of 1,780 feet (2,890 feet above
" the sea) is now attained. The trail
" now emerges on an elevated, rolling
" district, where the moimtains, with
" whose summits W6 are aearly on a level,
" seem of inoonsiderable height and lose
« much of their rugged appearance."—
Altered vegetation. — "Down by a gradu>
"al descent of 500 feet to the brooL
" Hothuko, a tributary of the Alnarko,
" and up its valley seven miles in an east-
" north-easterly direction to its forks,
" meeting with no serious obstructions
" but fallen timber and occasional small
" rook slides. The space between the
" forks of the Hotharko, which run in
" south-easterly and west-north-westerly
" directions, is occupied by a peculiar
" mountain mass of basaltia rock, 1,350
" feet in height, which has received the
" name

*THH PRBCIPIOk.'

"Tbe ascent of this mountain is ex-
" oessively steep, the trail at first running
" up the back bone of a singular spur,
" further up winding among crumbling
" fragments of rock, and finally, reaching
" by a dizzy path the summit of the per
** pendii^ular wall of rook, 100" (only one
hundred) " feet high, which crowns the
" mass, and from which it derives its
" uame."

[Here I would respectfully observe — a
tunnel — it seems to me — say about a
mile in length, from the eastern slope
(slope shown in section 9heet 7) of this
"precipice" to the base of its "100 feet
perpendicular," would bring the lina to
the head of a system of natural sades
and "heavily timbered slopes," which,
though steep for ordinary railway gra-
dients, certainly present no feature insur-
mountable to milway construction and
working, as proved, abundantly, under
such like conditions, and worse, with
higher heights, and steeper gradients, as
on the Nevada of C"Ufomia; on the
Andes of South America (with average
gradients of 500 feet to the mile) for 30
miles together, on Pacific slope ; on the
Ghauts of India: and on the Alpine
heights of Switzerland and other moun-
tain lands, all — save British Columbia —
thoroiighly or partially railwayed.

At this " precipice" alone, with its
"slides," would special plant and motor
be required, in the whole route from

ocean to ocean. The same can eoarc<^Iy^
be said as to tbe Bute Inlet line between
the N. Thompson and Fraser, as surveyed, '
and now given in report.

In Sir Alexander McKenzie's account
of this interesting spot, in this Adam
Trail, and his, to the Pacific in 1793, we
have the following as given in pages 233-
234 of Mr. Fleming' p report. Approach*
ing from the east, he says: "We con*
"tinned our route with considerable de-
"grde of expedition, and as we proceed-
"ed, the mountains appeareu to with-
"draw from ua. The country between
" them soon opened to our view, which
"apparently added to their awful ele-
"vation. We continued to descend
"till we came to the brink of
•* a precipice. The precipice, or rather
" a succession of precipices, is covered with
** large timber, which consists of the pine,
" the spruce, the hemlock, the birch and
" other iirees. In about two hours we ar-
" rived at the bottom, where there is a
" cenflux of t^ro rivers that issue from the
" mountains."

Reverting to Mr. Palmer's report, we
see it stated by him that the distance
from Cokelin to the Precipice is "16
" miles," and that the " top of the Preci-
" pice is S.840 feet above tLe level of the
"sea." "Arriving here," he continues,
" the traveller enters on the level of the
" great elevated plateau which intervenes
" between the Cascade Mountains and
'• the Fraser. Looking eastward the pla-
" teau presents but few object « to attract
" attention, and the eye grows weary in
" wandering over a vast expanse of wav-
" ing forest, unbroken save by the lakes
" and marshes, which are invisible from
" the general level." • • "The summit
" ridge is crossed at a distance of about
" fifty-five miles from the Precipice, and
" a height of 4,360 feet above the sea. The
" extreme elevations of the rolling pla-
" teau are very inconsiderable, seldom
" more than 800 feet above fhe general
" level. Distance from Slide to Alexan-
" der" (Alexandria on Fraser River) "180
" miles."

•V vv A .Yours,

M. MoLEOD. ,

Aylmer, Q., June, 1874. r«j ,«iifa*+lt&

LETTER VII. ,j.pf,.s|j<t.5i »jm>'
LEATDER PASS. i

TO THE EDITOR OF THE aAZETTE.

SiK, — ^This is a term applied — or at least
was BO by the Fur Trade — ^in a general
way to the whole passage from the North-
ern Bend of the Fraser, eastwards to Jas-

per House. The tdirm " T^te Jannc" was
applied nther to the ** Cache," and was
■o aeUed firom the color of the hair— not
unfrequent Mnongst French-Canadians of
Breton mud Nor&em France origin — of
an enterpriaing French trapper, of the
name of I>ecogne, who used the singular-
ly appn^Hriate locality — an immenbe hol-
low, bttt comparatiTely level, of some TO
square nsUee in area, amongst the moun-
tuns th«re — for his *' Cache" or entrepdl in
his line of work.

0A0H8 TO KORTQ FRASEB BEND.

The Pass was, in my time in thoiie
parts, and for some years after, a highway
not only for loads — leather principally —
but for the siok and «ven paralytic seek-
ing medical aid hi Canada, from all parts
of British Columbia, even from the
Babine country. I, however^ never passed
through it, nor approached it nearer than
Old Henry House (tiiette), 18 miles from
the summit.

IVom the summit of the Pass <o the
Cache, the latest re'survey has determin-
ed most favourably, as shown by report
alraadv eited, the question of railway line.
The duitaaoe of the Cache from the sum-
mit is given at " 50 miles; " its height,
" 2,500 feet above sea level." From the
Oacne the trend of the Fraser is in a gene-
ral course N.W., until at a po'nt for which
'•Qiioome's Portage " may be assumed,
it bends sharply, and strikes due south.
This turning pohit may be laid at 54 ^ 25 '
N. latitude. The Fraser at the Cache may
be Uid si 520 55.' The trending is there-
fore, ikoiay be said, 100 miles due north,
and all that off the true Ime to N. Ben-
tinck Arm P<»t. The distance from the
Cache to this bend has never, so far as I am
aware, been measured. In section sheet C,
under head *' Fraser River," there is a
pouit marked "248" (I.e., miles from
summit of Y. H. Pass), with a line of
*' altitude," marked « 1,900" (feet above
BOM level), but there is no name or desig-
oaticm given to the point. I assume it
to be ine exbeme northern point of the
bend, as in distance and height (river
level) it agrees with or very closely ap-
piozimates the distance and height assign-
ed by me, in my pamnhlet "Peace River,"
page 113, under neaa "Jite Jaune Cache."
The gradient, from 2,500 to 1,900 feet,
in the distance (assumed in sheet) viz., 108
miles (river course, navigable to canoes,and
without; falls) would average scarcely two
feet anc\ a-half per mile. From "Giscome
Portage," whioii, by the way, was never
a trade-route, to a poinf( in section sheet
7, marked " Croaa Black or West Road
Rtver," the distance, in sheet, is 95 miles ;

thence to " Bebtinck North Arm (Pacific
Tide Water)," according to the same
sheet is "215 miles," which, however,
being tortuous Indian trail, to avoid
lakes and swamps, would, for roai route,
as Lieut. Palmer explains, be reducible,
according to his calculation, about 25 per
cent, save ns to that part, " 73 miles,"
from the head of the Arm to the top of
the Precipice. I assume that Mr. Flem-
ing has taken Mr. Palmer's ^aiMistances
as given in report. As to the rest of this
line, viz., from crossing of West Road
River to Bend of Fraser, and thence to
the Oaebe, no measurement of distance or
height has, bo far as I am aware, ever
been made by any one. For lack of bet-
ter, I take the figures given in section
sheets 6 and 7. They stand thus : —

MUes.
From Te'low Head Pars (Snmmlt) to

Caobe ^ M

From Cache to olBOome PorUtfre 198

From Olicome f ortage to crowlag of West

Road River 0S

From oroBBlnKuf W. RoadR. to Tide Water

KT. Bentlnok Arm 316

Total.

e&it

Reducible, probably, to 500 for railway
route — the whole way, and especially
from a point about 45 miles S. W. of Gis-
come Portage to the PrecipicOj admit-
ting, I believe, almost an air Ime — say
175 miles — making my calculations thus,
including also a reduction on the "198
miles" given for the distance from the
Cache to Giscome Portage: —

Mi:e<i.
Summit Y. H. Pass to Caobe (measnred) • • ^"^
Cache to Olscome Portage (noi measured; . 175
(ilsoome PortaKe to Precipice " . . 220
Pieclploe to Tide, N. Bentinck Arm (mea-
sure!) ^ 73

Total 618

NlplBninKto Yellow Head Pass (Mr Flem-
ing's estimate and measurement of
lart) »13

Total.

'2631

I take the liberty of giving these
figures, in case it should prove, on sur-
vey — if such survey ever be made — that
the Quesnel Lake line, as I have in-
dicated, is too unfavorable for a doption.
I really think, now, it would be found
considerably shorter than I have ad-
vanced. At the same time, in point of
gradients, it will assuredly be less
favorable than the Northern Fraser
River Bend Route. The latter route,
Mr. Fleming, as he says in his
report, has ever looked to as an al-
ternative certainty for acc3ss to the Chil-
cotin Plateau, even for route to " Bute In-
let." North Bentinck Arm, I would ob-
serve, is fully a hundred miles or more
north of Bute Inlet, and is certainly two-

lll!e4.

led)., ifl
reUj . 175

' Z.'O

HeBr

. 73

. &U

I-

.. aots
.. :^i

g these
on Bur-
e — that
Ave in-
option,
found
,ve ad-
oint of
p less
Eraser
route,
m his
an al-
)he Chil-
ute In-
luld ob-
r more
ily two-

thirds of that distance (say about 70 miles)
ntarer the N. F. Bend, and, I humbly
think, is equally accessible by rail; we
have, at least, no evidence to the contrary.
In any case, "Bute Inlet," as I shall here-
after show, is out of the question — is a
political anomaly and physical impossi-
bility for such a terminus as our highest
and ultimate behests require, however
well it may serve the special local — but
purely load — Interests to which all effort
in this great matter seems, most strange-
ly — most unfortunately, so far — to have
been bent. On this point, I can only re-
peat what I have said in my "Peace River"
pamphlet, page 103 : — " Surely, it is
not," I ask, in protest against 7U)n-«xpZora-
tion qf all British Columbia, " that the
"men of the touih of British Columbia
" who hold present rule," (April, 1872)
" are aX^d to open to public view the
" grand middle and north of the magniii
" cent country in their trust?"

BrploraHoK, not only of British Colum
bia, but of our whole vast North and
North-West regions yet untouched by
authentic record, and of which the very
people of Canada, called on to give so
largely of their financial resources for
development, know less than they do of
the centre of Africa. It struck me also
' (/«.*<.-(■ that such exploration should precede the
instrumental work of survey tor railway,
Hence my Britannicus letters of 1869, in-
viting it. On the strength of them, as
avowed by the Finance Minister (Hon, Sir
John Rose) in moving the item, when asked
cut bonof by the Hon Mr Holton, "£300,-
000 sterling" — besides the like sum for
payment to the Hudson's Bay Company
for their surrender of charter rights — was
unanimously voted — voted specifically for
exploration — eo nomine.

I was in the House at the time, and of
course, with much interest, noted what
occurred and was said.

In 1872, early during session in April,
seeing nothing done in that way — for the
railway survey stafi^ with its incidental
cumber and procrustrean measure of
work, oould not do such flying duty — I
wrote my pamphlet, headed " Peace
Uiver," touching, in exposition to further
invite exploration, the wiwle field from
Hudson's Bay to Pacifio, and from our
Arctic coast to the Ck)lumbia Kiver. I did
so, as before said, from pei«onal know-
ledge and my father's and otb^r well-
garnered papers, maps, &o., fuul other
special in&rmation as to the regions in
question. From Sir James Douglas— the
highest authority as to the geogitiphy of
British Columbia — for he has spent
nearly half a century there, and most of

the time as its local chief ruler — I M-
ceived, in recognition of my pamphlet
and letters, a note, in warmest terms, of
date 3rd April, 1873, from which, as being
essentially of public moment and not
" private," in its strict sense, I proceed
to give the following extracts. As a matter
of form I ought, perhaps, to ask his
leave, but in the present emergency
th re is no time for it. ,-

[Extract.'i ''

"Dear Mr. McLeod,— I hsve had the
" pleasure, &c." • • « * • "Your
" notes and tables Of distances [given in
"much detail in pamphlet] must have
"been," he says, "of immense service
" to Mr. Fleming in preparing his last
" annual report, which, befotre i received
" your letter showmg how he acquired
" his information, greatly surpris^ me
"by its fulness of detail and evident
" familiarity with the leading physical
" features of the country, as well as the
" bread Lh and vigor with which it grap-
" pled and dealt with the whole subject
" of the overland route.

"I must certainly add my teatimony to
" that of Mr. Fleming'^ — (Mr. Fleming
had spent some nours with him, in 1872,
in his trip from ocean to ocean) — and,"
he adds, " of many other friends artd sup-
" porters of the grand Canadian enterprise,
"as to the extreme importance of your
" literary contributions in promoting the
" VBork.'^ • * "I retain a lively recol-
" lection of your worthy father. It was at
" *Isle d la Ciosse' that I had tht» plea-
" suie of seeing him, about the year 1821
"or '22." • * "We never met on the
" west side of the mountains, aa he left
" before I came to the Columbia Depart-
" ment." He then goes on to inform me,
in correction of my statement in the

f)amphlet, that it was he saved my father's
ife from Indians at the Dalles of the
Columbia, that it was not he, but the
celebrated botanist, Douglas.

Of coui se, I do not pretend that it was
from me alone that Mr. Fleming got all
such information as could be got only
from us old Hudson's Bay and North-
west people, who, in those stirring old
times in the far North, travelled much
more than they do now, but, up to the
time of starting his survey, I do not know
from whom else, especially as to the in-
teriop of British Columbia, he could have
got it, save from Governor 8u> James
Douglas.

I may odd — on this point of acknow-
ledgment and approval, in most oases, in
marked terms — of my pamphlet, the fol-
lowing authorities:—
Tuo Colonial authorities [Secretary of

■/:

■f

State for tho Colonies] England~Hia Ex
cellency the Earl of Duti'erin, — Hib Honor
Lieutenant Governor Morris, Manitoba
and North West Territories, — ^The Hon
Hudson's Bay Company, by its QoTemor
and Board of Directory in London — a
body not given to such "small-moving,"
and whose act has, to me, a special value,
in that it excuses my apparent violation
of much of their traditional esoteric, —
The Surveyor General of Dominion Lauds
[Colonel Dennis] — Mr. Crosby — statisti-
cian, and compiler [with much merit]
of Lovell's Gazetteer of British North
America [a standard work, and in which,
under the heads " British Columbia," and
" North West Territories," my statements,
tabulated, and in descriptive order, as to
the economic areas, relatively, of 'wheat,"
and other economic resources, and general
geodesy of the whole vast terrain in ques-
tion, are given, in my own words, with
due credit, by name, to me, and that
with the long list of corroborative authori-
ties consulted on the subject by the com-
piler.] I might add to the lis^ the Hon.'
Mr. Langevin and others. But coming
back to the auestion of route : —

■ ' \:' INLET. . -: '

From this Fraser River Bend — a hing-
ing point — say Giscome's Portage, to the
north-east comer of the head of the
northern arm of the Gardner Inlet, a
point determined by Vancouver as
Latitude 54 « 4' N, Longitude "231 © 19',"
as he puts it, (in old style), but which,
now, may, be stated at 128* 4i' W. of
Greenwich, — the distance, in air line, is, I
estimate, about 240 miles — assuming
Giscome Portage (eastern end) at 122*
35' W. Longtitude, and, as aforesaid, at
54© 25' N. Latitude.

It is, I believe, available throughout,
and without " heavy work " or gradients
beyond 20 or at most 30 feet per mile at
any point, not even in approaching tide-
water. The course would be to old Fort
Fraser, (50 miles. West by S. from Fort
bt. James), thence along the south-side —
all fine plain and lake country, alhiost
level— of the North- West Branch of the
Fraser — thence along a chain of lakes,
known to the old Fur Trade as the Nateo-
tain Lakes to a summit lake — reported
as of the same chain — whence by a
river marked "Salmon Biver" in th«H. L.
Go's, charts, as copied by Arrowsmith —
see my map to "Peace River" — the water is
representeil to flow to the Pacific. I refer
to this in my pamphlet, page 105, thus,
in giving certain extracts from a work,

citing Chief Factor Harmon's Journal,
which j JMrnal I|had not seen, however, at
the time I wrote. Bztract— " 1812,
" January 20th, I have returned from
" visiting five villages of the Nateotains,"
[Note by Ed. (*. e. myself) " Tribe be-
" tween Fraser' s Lake and crest of the
" Cascade Range, at the head of Salmon
" river, which strikes at Hopkins' Point,
" the head of the northern arm Douglas'
" channel or canal of Gardner's Inlet]
" built," says Harmon, " on a lake vTiich
" givei oi-igin to a rivir that falls into
" Oardner'a Inltt. They contain about
" two thousand inhabituits, who subsist
" principally on mlmon and other small
" fish, and are well made and robust.
" The salmon of Lake Nateotiun have
" small scales, while those of Stuart's
" Lake have none." [Note- by Ed. (my-
self.) "The only solution of the apparent
" anomaly is that the Nateotain, or Nu-
"teotum, as I have seen it elsewhere
" spelt, salmon is a different kind, pro-
" bably the powerful Ekeioan — of wmcb,
" more anon, which had taken the short
" out from the sea to the height, via the
" Salmon Biver."

In cc:^nection with this, in page
99 of my pamphlet, I say, " I refer to all
" these salmon streams " (speaking of
the Skeena, Fraser and the "Salmon River' '
now in question) "as being, probably,
" possible highways for man as for the
" salmon which are found in their source
" lakes on the very plateau now marched
"on. No^salmon has ever been seen or
" known to top in its leap fourteen feet in
" any British stream. Possibly the ' Ekew-
" an' (hereafter described) of our Pacific
" nay, in his special liUie and strength, :
" do more, but certainly not more than a
" foot or two. These facts are measure i,
" approximate at least, in the question
" or problem of feasibilities for railway
" or roadway of some kind from this
" plateau to the ocean."

The description given in Vancouver's '
report — page 255 of Mr. Fleming's —
reprr.asrts the point in question at the
mouvli of the said Salmon River, as one
of eicceptonal features, with a "low''
" vP/xley, three or four miles wide, form-
" Ing nearly a plain, covered with tallJ
" forest trees, mostly of the pine tribe, '
" extending some leagues to where the
"distant mountains appear to connect
" the two ranges." Twre, possibly, may
be our Eureka ; but alas I it is a little too
far nm-th for our Grand Trunk Soad to
(Thina. For home service it would,
however, answer well— 8ay_ for our mo-
dem Eldorado — richest in the world

probably— jufct discovered in noithcrn
British Columbia.

Yours,

M. MoLEOD.

LETTER Vni.

PEACE RIVER PASS TO NORTH
GARDNERS INLET.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GAZETTE.
Sir, — ^The following ia my estimate on
this head — estimate unavoidably vague,
but still based on somt data, as given in
pages 21 to 25, and 06 to 106 in the text
of my pamphlet " Peace River," and in
pages xii, xiii, zviii and zix of my tables
of distancf>q and heights in the same.

Mr. Horetsky (a mere ex- Hudson's
Bay clerk, so far as I know, and probably
employed by Mr. Fleming for his pede j-
trian experience as such) not being, it,
would seem, a railway engineer, nor
furnished with any instruments to make
any obser'ations - - which probably he
could not make — in determination of
latitude, longtitude or diaiancts; and as
in what he does give of these last, he
varies very little indeed from those given
by Sir George Simpson, Mr. McDonald,
and myself, and as to heights, perfectly
accords with me ; I may say, although
mine were meru calculations from jour
nal entries, in a canoe voyage of over
three thousand miles from Hudson's Bay
to the mouth of the Fraser — from Ocean
to Ocean — and his are, professedly,
" aneroid measurements," I am forced
to rest on my own data, aa re-
ported and given in my " Peace River."
Peace River Pass is, as I show in page 90
of my pamphlet, '.ii about Latitude ^d'^
18'— 236 miles non*: of the Yellow Head
Summit.

The following is my estimate of Railway
route by it : —
Pe«ce B. Pass to McLeod Fort—

conttnaoTU average grade IJ

feet per mile no miles,

McLeod Fort to Fmft St, James,

nndolating, with probable

max, gr, 20 feet per mile. . 80 "
Fort Bt, James to Gardner Inlet

Nortb, along Bonth side of

N, W. Branch of Fraser, nn-

dnlsting at the beginniDg and

end, bat level in middle. . . . 2io_ "

400" "

Add— Nipissing to Bed

Blver — (measured) 973 m.
Bed Blvet te Peace B

Pass— my estimate. llSOro, 2123_ "
Nipissing (E) tu A Gardner Arm,

Total 2623 "

Mazimn^ height, lay 2,200 fett above the

Bsa.
Here, it may be well to give in juxta

relation, the route to the same I'acitic

point, via the Yellow Head Pass.

Nipissing to Bed Biver— (aea-

smed) 973 miles.

Bed Blver to Edmonton— (eatl*

mate) 760 "

Edmonton to Pass [Y H J— [mea-
sured] 288 "

Bammlt[)rilj to Cache— [mea-
sured] 60 >•

Cache to N Fraser l}«nd— [esti-
mate] 186 «•

Thence to N Gardner Arm^[es-

tlmate] 366 "

2513 «

Maximnm height, 3,746 above the Bea :—

Add for height above that of the ;.'<4

Peace B zoute >- operative
O[0ivalent 100 ■■

Total...., 2612 <•

COMPARATIVa ESTIMATE OF TOTALS.

Yellow Head Route with ope-
rative equivalent 2,612 miles.

Peace R. Pass Route 2,523 <•

89 "
Balance in favor of latter, say. 100 "

That is for N. Gardner Arm, but the
same might be fairly assumea for the
i^outh Arm. The South Arm would be a
little nearer, but, on the other hand, the
approach to it would, most probably, be
considerably higher.

Of the gorges of the Cascade Range,
north of the Georgian Gulf, there remains
but that — if such there be, as is probable
—at the head of the Dean Inlet. I know
nothing about it— but would have done
so, I think, had it I :)en known to the Fur
Trade in those parts ; and I have under
my hand and possession the best, and
perhaps fullest record of the whole his-
tory, in all working detail, of the coast
trade of the Hon. H. B. Co. from its very
initiation. However, I see in Governor
Trutcb's splendid map of British Colum-
bia the largest river through the range,
in those latitudes, marked to the head of
Dean Inlet. The head of the inlet is in
about 52*=* 52', and is apparently about
40 miles nearer the N. Fraser Bend than
is the N. Gardner Inlet, and is about
the same distance as South Gardner Inlet,
from that common shunting point. Im
the Arrowsmith map before me — one used
of old, and still, by the H. B. Co. in its
work, and constructed from the Com-
pany's own charts — there is only a dotted
tine— signifying unexploration— from it

I'l

fv,.

to a point Hboui, midway on the trail be-
tween old Fort Chilcolin and the head of
the North Bentinok Arm. My idea is,
that about there, there is a gorge, giving
outflow to those " larger" (larger in com-
parison to the mountain waterfalls imme-
diately in view on the mountain sides)
" torrents," which, according to Vancou-
ver, (see report, page 240) " appeared to
" owe their origin to a more general and
« permanent source." He is speaking of
the Cascade Canal, near the head of Dean's
Inlet, and means, I presume, source
inland. The trough of the Dean Inlet
gorge is, however, clearly not that of the
(iai^ner Inlet, and is considerably higher,
probably averaging 2,500 feet, or rather
more, above sea. It certainly should be
nt once explored, and, in fact, the whole
Cascade coast and range, from Bentinck
Arm to Naas.

Before leaving them, I would say a word
as to these

INLETS AND THEIR NAVIOATION

All of them — yea, the whole coist of
British Columbia, has for three quarters
of a century past been the resort — con-
stant resort — in ail seasons, of coasting
traders, ship?, brig?, schoonerc, and other
craft, British, American, Mexican, Rus-
sian and otherp, and I never heard nor
read of a wreck on it. And further, I
ta'ie it upon me to say, that according to
the whole world's record of marine dis-
aster, there is, comparatively to its trade
and usage, no safer coast anywhere, un-
lighted though it be. Vancouver's cnarts
and reports — our only best authority yet
as to those paraoes — prove it. For in-
stance as to the " Burke Channel" — first
explored by him — and of which the
North Bentinck Arm is one of the heads
— he thus reports to Her Majesty's Ad-
miralty, 9ee page 245 of Mr. Fleming's
report, " May 26th : With a gentle breeze
from the E.N.lS. we stood" [exploring an
unknown sea, with many a rocky wild of
isles innumerable] "wo stood up Fitz-
hugh's kk>und" fleading into the channel]
in the evening, with "all the sail
we could spread," The Sound opens
to the broad ocean. "This by four
" the next morning," he goes on to
say, " brought us to the arm leading to

" Point Menzies, whose extent was left

" undetermined, and where
•«

map. Also, we h&ve " Bella Bella," A
present snug harbour and trading post,
referred to by Mr, Iloretsky, and into
which the Hudson Bay Company's little
trading steamer, in wudir/n^c/, safely bore
him. But of those " Pender Kocks ' ' that
this gentleman speaks in his book as
" obstructing navigation," neither the
Trutch map, in its fulness and correct-
nef>s of the coast of British Columbia, nor
Mr. Fleming's report, in its exhaustive
fidelity, make any mention. The sume
kind of mischievous misstatement and
blackening, to make some point sinister,
is made by this same " dedicator to the
Hon. Mr. Mackenzie," as to Bella Coola
as a harbour.

The coast, rough and broken though it
be — corresponding much with that of
Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland and Norway —
in fact, their counterpart, but in grander
scale, as is the Pacific to the A;;lantic, ie,
to use the words of old " King of Borva"
of the Hebrides, "A grand coast for fine
harbours." Further — they all open out
on the best coaling stations in the world,
Fitzburgh Sound having on the one side,
north, the Queen Charlotte Islands, with
their numerous fine harbours, with coal
equal to finest English, and which has
sold in San Francisco at $20 per ton — also
good anthracite — and all most abundant
and accessible. On the other side, south,
is the north-western end of Vancouver
Island, with its admirable harbours and
excellent coal, abundant and ready to
tumble from seam direct into ship's hold,
it may be said. To the more northern
inlets, such as Gardner's — Vancouver
Island is scarce in course to China, it is
true, but is so to Australia, the South
Pacific, and to San Francisco, and West-
em Mexico, Central and South America.
The Queen Charlotte Islands, in their
mineral wealth and fine climate, and
abounding fishing grounds, must become,
quickly, of first importance. They are
worth ten Alaskas.

To Vancouver Island, however, does
Providence seem to point for Eule-Seatoi
the Northern Pacific, yea of all the Pacific.
An aggregation of remarkably good
natural harbours and docks, chiselled out
as it were by nature, easily accessible, and
having everything required

for safety in
unaeterminea, ana wnere in a cove on Lport, lying just on the great sailing arc
shore, about eight miles without its en-Wie Northern Pacific, according to Maury

trace, I expected to join the Chatham
In the preceding page he speaks also of
a remarkably fine cove, large and safe
for ships, in the same passage to the
Burke Channel but further in, which he
designated " Safety Cove" marked also, I
perceive, in Lieut. Governor Trutch's

chart ; with the finest of climates for
active life; good soil and flora ; and coast
line low enough for a railwy from Vic-
toria to Fort Bupert — a railway which
may well be made as part ot our Pacific
Grand Trunbfwt may, and I sincerely hope
to yet see it, as a result, sentimental of

nor

tny poor father's subsoriplion, (Xr)(X)Big.)
with others, nonrly 4U years ago, to the
I'uget'8 Sound Agricu ltuyg l Association in
connection with itJSne groat entrepot,
the newer London'iiSd Liverpool combin-
ed of a greater Ikitain in a wider Ocean.
Ships will, it seems to me, not lose time
to beat up the Straits of Fucja to the
American Kailway Terminus up Puget's
Sound ; easier for them would it be to
discharge at Victoria, Barclay Found;
(^uatsino Sound, or Port Rupert, and
thence may connection be made with botn
Railway Termini, Jiritish and American.
From Victoria to Bella Coolais only thirty
hour?, perhaps only twenty-four hours'
steaming.

BUTE AND BDRUARD INLETS.

As to the only other Inlets calling for
•notice, 'iz., Bute Inlet and Burrard Inlet,
I have Jj' one word — a sad one — to say.
They wfre. or at least Burrard was our
best for railway terminus. Now, both are
blocked to us by the guns — foreign — of
BftJ^uan 1

TEACB niVER I'ASa AND OTHER PASSES.

Peace River Pass is thus described in
Mr. Iloretsky's report as given in Mr.
Fleming's, Page 10. " We experienced
•' a very stron-^ current all the way up to
" the Finlay Branch (TO miles), i.e. 70
" miles from the head of the Portage at
" the east end of this river Pass, and en-
•' countered two rapids or falls. From
" the head of the Portage to within a few
" miles of the Finlay, the Peace flows
" through the entire Rocky Mountain
<< range. For 30 or 40 miles from the
" head of the Rocky Mountain canyon,
" the valley is encompassed by mountains
" of not very great altitude, but a little
" east of the " Rapide qui ne parle pas,"
" the main range begins, and the river
" flows through it for about 25 miles, and
" until within a few miles of the Finlay
" Branch, and within this distance, peaks
" 4,000 and 5,000 feet above the eye, ex-
" tend back north and soutL as far as
" visible."

*• The banks within this valley are very
" rugged. There are gravelly terraces
" here and there, but steep and projecting
" rocky points occur at frequent intervals,
" and in many places the mountains rise
" up sheer from the river, neces-
" sitatmg, " avers Mr. Horetsky, "in
"the case of road, many deviations
"and heavy works of construction."

I want to ''nail" this statement, Mr.
Editor. Captain Butler, the last, and cer-
tainly not least, but, with Professor
Macoun, the fullest and best authority
on this point, thus describes the particu-

lar rooky points in quAntion, of the war.
In paga 2(if> of his " Wild North Und.'
says Butler, "We were now on the moun-
"tains. From the law terrace" (N. B.
This was on the 8th May, at Spring flood )
" along the shore they rose in Htupendous
"masses; their lower ridges clothed in
" forests of huge sprucf>, poplar and
"birch, Ac." Page 267. 'For two
"days we journeyed through thisviwt vaW
"ley," (i.e. through the range proper,
approaching the head of the Pass) " along
"a wide, beautiful river, tran<|uil as a lake,
" and bearing on its bosom, at intervals,
"small isles of green forest, &c." • •
" Thus we journeyed on. On the evening
" of the 8 th of May we emerged from the
"Pass."

This description of impediment<L\B un-
fortunate; but m connection with it, it
ought to be stated that this same kr
Horetsky — a subordinate officer, who
seems to have ignored his chief, in nis
duty — has, primo, published^ in advance
of, and forestalling Mr. Flemmg's report,
a book, being a report of this same expe>
dition in so far as he took part in it. It
is " by permissi m" " dedicated to tb«
Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, Premier, *o.,"
" by the author."

I refer to the incident as something —
I shan't say monstrous— but certa^.ily out
of the ordinary course of nature in official
life political. Mr. Fleming is our paid
Chief Engineer — our servant. As such,
at our, i\i%public'a cost, he employed this
subordinate to do certain work, viz : tu
get and bring to the table of our House
of Commons that precious thing, /—as
Mr. Fleming so honestly states in his offi-
cial report — had pointed out — had, as he
says, "particularly drawn his attention
to," viz. the "solution of the McLeod
theory," as honest John Macoun calls it —
as to the Peace River Pass — Master sub-
ordinate finds it — just as told in my very
pages in his hand. It became, then, in
ordinary official dealing, a sanctity, to be
laid before the people in due course by
its delegated high-priest, His Excellency

the min-

the Governor-General, by
istry — subordinate still,

m a sense
The thing
hands of
to Mr. Mac-

of his Minister ad hoe,

— yet covered in the

this subordinate — is taken

kenzie, is offered to Mm, individually, in

a sense. He takes it : abuses it, to the

public detriment, and uses it, in a way,

to hi%own sinister ends.

Semndo — ^This description of impedi-
menta is unfortunate : but in connection
with it, it ought to be stated that Mr.
Horetsky is himself claimant to the
" trouvaille'^ — that, I believe, is the term

used by Iiim, or some one who writes for
him — Uy another: a " better" pass, "pro-
bably," as he contends — further South,
some 40 or 50 miles, called — by the In-
dians, for no white man haa yet seen it —
the "Pine Kiver Pass." Fortunately,
bis companion, Professor Macoun, who
had no such " mare's nest" in his mind's
eye, to divert him from the due apprecia
lion of the important physical facts, to
specially examine which, and truthfully
report thereon, this "Branch Expedi-
tion was despatched by Canada's Chief
Engineer, gives us, in bis most able report,
a somewhat different account, thus. Page
97 of Mr. Fleming's report :— " The Peace

^ " River valley, thro'i/h tht mountains"

4 (the italicization is my own ; the words

JL are his) "as far as I can judge" f better
' i ^ .judge than, so far as I know, one who
had never had experience in railway con-
struction) ^^ presents no very aeriotis diffi
" cultiea to the construction of either a
" railway or waggon road."
y He then describes, at much greater
length than Mr. Iloretsky, the special
features of the Pass and its approaches
from the east, facility of bridging, "about
" eight miles below Iludson Hope, and the
" road to be carried up the left bank of
"river all the way through the moun-

► " tains." • « •' Having passed down

" the Fraser and over the Nevada," he
continues, " since seeing Peace Kiver,
" I can say decidedly " (the italics are Mr.
Macoun' s) " that there is no comparison
" between them. The nearest approach
" to Peace River, in appearance, is that
" of the Fraser between Fort Hope and
" Harrison Rive?" (all smooth and open)
" where no canons exist, and to give a
" correct idea ot the extent of the '
(B®.) "chief difficulties of the Peace
"River, I may add they do not extend
" over more than about 6 miles."

As to snow difficulty, as weil as the
general features of the Pass, the truth is
foirly stated by me, with authorities on
page 96 and preceding pages in my pam
phlet Peace River. In toal citation 1
give it :

" There is, in fad, no snow diffi
mlty whatever at thi Peace
River Pass, not evin in mid- Winter;
the threshold is ever clear as that of an
open gateway — ever clean swept by every
wind of heavin. It is the most mftbifi-
cent gateway between the two " worlas "
of this earth, and bears the isothirm of
strongest human development. A great
Territorial Road [with branches] direct
to it, and there striking the centre of
a gold region probably the richest in

" the world, would fast people the whole
" intervening ocean of wheat field."

In this description I am fully borne out,
not only by the authorities above stated,
but those older authorities, whoso posi-
tion and active interests and life at the
time, as leaders in the Fur Trade, forbade
attractive soloring to the eyes of the
world, of their new pastures ; but they
were men of truth. In Sir Alexander
McKenzio, Sir George Sintipson, Chief
Factor Harmon, Chief Factor McDonald,
[Fur Traders all], I find evidence enough
to enable me to say : — Messrs. Macoun and
Butler are deciiedly right, and Mr.
Horetsky as docidely wrong.

So much for routes.

On other branch as of this great theme
— the Bciienio as at present laid — its ex-
ecutive and political aspects, and, so-
called, " financial basis," 1 would like to
ofler a fow remarks, but they are scarcely
proper to me, in my own name. As to
this matter of routes, I had to defend
myself, when attacked and almost robbed
of my just credit as to the same.

Thanking you for your generoua
columnp,

lam, Mr. Editor, i ■ >

Yours ever,

M. MoLEOD. A
Aylmer, Q., June, 1874. ' ^

LETTER IX.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE GAZETTE.

Sin, — The conclusions I arrive at, on the
above, are briefly as follows : —

1. That exhaustive survey has deter-
mined Mr. Fleming's " Route No. 2," as
laid in section sheet 9 of his report, as not
only feasible, but as the best possible, in
every respect, from Bastern Terminus to
the Prairie Region.

2. That in British Columbia, exhaustive
survey has proved the necessity of looking
to some point North of the Georgian Gulf
for a Western Terminus.

3. That a thorough, or at least, suffi-
cient exploration, by competent and
reliable men, should be made of all
British Columbia, from the Rocky Moun-
tains to the Cascade Range, between
latitudes
route.

52= and 57= N., for Railway

4. That in the meantime, between Red
River and ^ipi8sing Terminus, the work
of construction soould at once proceed,
with all possible energy.

That in British Columbia, the line from

■ /

t Vicloriu to Kuuaimo shoulil at once be
) m&de.

' And thnt in Manitoba, with like urgency,

. the Pcmhina Branch ithould be " pushed
I through."

All this may, I presumo, at onco be be-

C p;un with the eight millions of dollars, or

I 11^ least half of that, now being raised in

/ J']ngland on the pretension that the great

scheme is to be faithfully and earnestly

begun and carried out.

IXCIDENTAIi

to the above is the consideration of
" ways and means." This branch of the
subject is beyond what I intended to touch
on, but, as I have already done so in my
liritannicuB letters of 1869, in the course
of which the editor of the Ottawa Tim^i
of that day yielding, after controversy, to
the force of ray argument against aliena-
tion of the " Crown Domain" in areas of
such extent as to create a predomin-
ating clans interest to the jeopardy of
individual political liberty ; and to my ar-
gument also that the "Crown Domain" —
to called — is a holding merely in trust by
this Government for due adminintratioii,
and only administration, in permanent
national behest, happily suggested a sys-
tem of hypothecation of lands to the end
sought. Issue about 8 July, 1869 — or
about then — I have not the precise words.
The "idea" struck me with much force,
and I really think it is, as matters now
are, the most practicable one that has yet
been mooted : adopting it, I respectfully
■^ conclude,

5thly. That our best North-West and
British Columbia lands, to adequate ex-

tent, should be hypothecated, and in due
course, for settlement, be sold, on termH
to attract, and that the proceeds should
be appropriated to the establiHhinent of a
sinking fund to meet railway dobentures.

This, with Jmn^ial aid in fair measure,"
and a moderate racilio Railway ttix, amply
compensated by beneficial returns in a
thousand shapes, ou|;bt, I humbly think,
to be a financial basu that none should
complain of.

6tnly. But, above all, this great Cana-
dian enterprise must not be made the
Elaything, or worse, of political parties ;
ut as a work vital to our national ex<
istence, must be honestly as well as in-
telligently dealt with ; and, moreover, bo
urgml with all our power.

The scheme as at present laid before
us, by the present (tovernment, in its
executive and financial aspects is, I think,
utterly impracticable. In fact, their
whole policy, from first to last, in it, has
been one really of obstruction, though
latterly (probably to raise money in Eng-
land) they give it seeming countenance.
The subterfuge is too transparent for us
at home, here. They speak of " selling a
charter." There was no sale of charter.
But that aside. They, really, are selling
not only a railway charter, out our char
ter of charters- that wfdch we acquired at
Runnymede ; for on this scheme— its suc-
cess, or its failure — rests, I take it, the
question of all British charter right —
question of Britain in America.

Yours ever faithfully,

M. McLEOD,
Aylmer, June, 1874.

■ \i T m

BHH^ia