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G^overrvmervt Corvcessiorv to the Kootervouy Syrvcbicccte { JJir rh ) of_ 52 l** )t ' "k re bpy eft rrm^ "^ Hep :b.v. $t,4.,cU IS ^OK .qtf) isj^smamm ,...-.,^nw^»..>.-— .-^-»-^ «*»^' i\ KOO' Secured 1 Geograpti N..rtli-Wcstt sIiaiM.' the K liiiso liiu' of 6 tlio iutt'nuiti CV>Iinu1>ia fn Stilt OS ; /.('., of till- triiinjj; thi- L'iist the '. froiitiiT. Tl cull Ill'st 1)0 ahoiit 1,50 m Tho (M-nt chain of iiioi tlio scone of 1 Kaihvay has Ocoan, living London. Tho Solli horseshoe, « horseshoe wo District, nai reniainint;- o valley, run r Idi'lvS from tl The Upi Eivcr, and whore the i the inaccessi source, and i the internati' a distance of at the very f Mountains, v latter is on I rounded, hill slopes from t Colorado, wh across the U District, is ol sharply and 1 valley at its 1 small lakes. ii i H i ttfmitj i v-tl i r- ^«^ ^ Mr. W. A BAILLIE-QHOHMAN'S DESCRIPTIVE REPORT OS THK KOOTENAY VALLEYS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, ANI> THK 73025 ACRES OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST LAND Secured to the KOOTENAY SYNDICATE (Limited) by a Special PAETIALLY FBEE GEANT from the Government of British Columbia. Geographical Position. -Kootenay Distny the rnj,'H'ed Gold Ran^'e, while towards the east the lloeky Mountains form an e(|ually well-dffined natural frontier. The district eovcrs an immense area, the extent of which can best be i-ealisod by remembering that while tln' buse line is about 1,50 miles, the other sides of the triangle are !?(I0 miles loni;. The centre of this triauj^iilar district is occupied \>\ i, separate chain of mountains; i.r., the Selkirks, now attra<'tin^' attention as the scene of ld Range. The Upper Kootenay Valley is formed hy the Kootenay Eivcr, and eommenees at what is known as the Canal flat, where the river first emerges from the Rocky Mountains, in the inaccessible i-ecesses of which, ](X» miles aAvay, it has its source, and it ends where the river in its southward course crosses the international boiuidary line and enters United States territory, a distance of about 90 miles. The valley for its whole length lies at the very foot of the abruptly rising main chain of the Rocky Mountains, which run parallel with tlie Kootenay River while the lattt^r is on British soil. The Rockies are here very different to the rounded, hill-like mountains rising in the monotonously gradual slo|>es from the arid and elevated plains of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, which one sees on the familiar Trans-Continental routes aeros.s the United States. This great range, seen from Kooteiuiy District, is of very bold and grand apjiearance ; its piiuiacles rise sharply and to great altitudes from the sunny, Ix'autifully-wotjdeil valley at its feet, where wide, ]iark-like stretches of meadow land, small lakes, and grand forests, (combine in producing an attractive pastoral ]>icturc. unlike, I uniy say. anything f have ever seen on the North American Continent. The valleys in the distrii't are all nuich lower than the somewhat exposed plains east of the Rocky Mountains; their elevation ahovethe sea varying lictw en lO.'jO and 2.') K!* feet. As it is i.erhapn hardly ni><*'HHarv to point out, this great wall of mountains, towering J'OOO or lO.(M»0 feet over till- valley, forms not only an incomparable shelter against the freezing east and north wimls which nuike tho i)leak elevated plains on the other sidi' of the Rocky MountainH. their playgroMud, hut also acts as a most desirahle " i»<)ij»»" arresting the warm Pacific Ocean lireezes, also known as ifflitv Chinook, which on siriking thisformidahle wall ar<' detleet.(Hld«irrt-i wards into the valley to |ilay havoc with the snow. The abBflnoiv of deep snow — a circumstance to which all travellers who in past years liave visited tin- Upper Kootenay Valley revert- -is e.v)ilained bv this favourable contiguration, cansnig it also to be a long-known favourite wintering ground for the Kootenay Indians, who, in this valley, raise large bands of fine horses, some <'attle, and, in their desul- tory way. also some wheat andvegetables,thechit>f piirtof thefatniing work being, however, done hy the missionaries and their assistantH,*. An interesting Parliamentary Blue Book gi\es us im]"trtant information al>out th<.' Kootenay ciumtry, imjiortant lip(!auKe the siiurce is an entirely authoritative one. I am referring to Captain Palmser's Report upon thk Expi,okation ov Bkitihh NortH' America, presenttHl to Parliament in 18fJ!], embracing in four volumes his own rejwrt and those of several men of scienei- Hj^jcially chosen and sent out under the auspices of Sir Rfideriok Murchison and Sir AVilliam Hooker. The exjMtlition lasted almost four years, and some of the chief members passed two wuiters at the severail Hudson Bay Company's [)osts adjacent to Kootenay District. • '" The re]iort in rpiesticm contains mimerous refiirenees to the superior breed of horsea raised by the Kootenay Indians, iuid to the winter climate of that valley, which latter lieor (uit my own impn V ions and that of others regarding its much greater mildiioss in comparison to that of the North-West, Manitoba, and Montana, east of the Rocky Mountains. ' ! Captain Pallism- says : ''In Wide Valhy (Upper Kof)ti*n,ayVal!ey) Janfe haiidn of horae^i are kept mfhniit thv uliijhtext danijer from, the stiow throiiijhnni ihe whole winter." Further on, the Blue Book, wheiij referring to the Upper Kootenay Valley, contains the following passage: "Here the Koafevayx raitie the en havh of hor»e« for irhlrh they are famoun ainoiuiM all other IndianK, the drif gird, and niifrifli>n.-> hunch tjraiiK prodiirimj a hreiuj of miperior hardihood and. sirlffn-efte.*'-' And again: '^The^-e i^ very fine pasftirruje in a6,tie pmiit ♦ Sue Ciii>t.riillii*er's Geiicnil Sectimi mniw, wliie)i (tivo tlmt ult;tiiilc to tlio source of the t'cliimliia River, the liif,'liest jioint in the three aliove iiiiiiie! iiiiiin viilleja. \ 13b87-« [ 2 1 «/ Ihu valley (r/i/iir Ki>oti'nH(mt ill th«' U|>|M'r Knotfiiiiv Valli-v. First of ail we find that a fine furt'Ht Tc^ctation HoiiriHlifs on tin- Hlopt'tioii liotli HidfH of the vallnv. whwrt! u iiio\ild loixcd with sand |iror ]jast ages reannl their horses — " beau- tiful animals, and as wild as deer," as the Blue Book does not tire to call them. Their number, it may be mentioned, has, in the twenty years since the report was written, not increased, though some of the Kootenays, such as Sub-Chief Isidor, who is reported to own 800 head, i^ssess quite large herds, liesides some cattle, the good corlflition of which, as I saw them the two last summers, standing on the meadows along the river, in grass shoulder-high, seemed to manifest the eminent qualifications of the country and of the climate for horse and cattle raising. The Valley is well watered by the Kootenay River, a fine, but in places shallow stream 300 or 400 feet wide, fed by numerous side streams, that afford good water jwwer, as well as Viy numerous small lakes, scattered about over the foothill terraces, as if made for pastoral purposes. Having now briefly described the forests and the grazing hinds in this valley, it remains for me to speak of the land in the immediate vicinity of the Kootenay Eiver, i,e., the Meadow, or BOTTOMLAND IN THF UPPER KOOTENAY VALLEY. These are more or less extensive areas of level land scattered along 1 till' Kootenay Rivit, raised miiy a few IVetover the wafer level uf tin- river when 111 its average height. The soil consists in most purls of rich alluvial loam, a|>paretitly capal>le of growing in great iilnin- daiiee any crop of the temperate /one. On my two visits to the Ul>per Kootenay Valley I saw and iiispeeled some iiiicoiiiiiioiily tine. I liKiking v th<; rising of the Kootenay River during the freshet season, cJiietly in June. Now and again the overflow assumes siich forinidalile proportions as would destroy all agrii'ultural develop, inent of these very rich lands, so that to make these tracts per- manently available for the farmer, the overflow will have t(» be ]ireveut.ed once for all. With a view to encourage the undertaking, which is in many ways favoured by Nature, the Government of British Coluinl>ia was induced to grant to the Kootenay Syndicate (Limited), of- London, a favourable concession in the shajie of a l>artially free grant, not only of these bottomlands, but also of those more extensive ones in the Lower Kootenay Valley. Briefiy stated, the reclamation of these lands, or rather the ])reventlon of the overflow, consists in deviating the dangerous freshet waters coming down from the ROcky Moiuitains from the E oitenay River into the Upl)er Columbia Lake by means of a e.iivil provided with gates or other means to regulate the outflow from the Kootenay River, for in order to ])reserve the navigalile •ip.acter of this waterway during its entire course through the I'plier Kootenay Valley, the volume of water at ordinary stages must not be reduced. At the spot where it is projwsed to construct ' this canal a very singular hydrograjdiical configuration exists. j Here, as can be seen by a glance on tlie maj», the Kootenay River ! approaches the Upper Columbia Lake, which is the source of the Columbia River, to within what one might almost call rlHeshot distance, the actual distance from water to wat<.'r being at one ]K)int a mile less a few yards, the water level of the Kootenay River being at this jn'ocise spot about 11 feet higher than the lake. The intervening stri]* of land is an apparently iierfeotly level stretch of washed gravel, overlaid by a thin coat of si>il, upon which a scattering growth of trees subsists, the incline towards the lake being so gentle as to be hardly percejitible. At no point along the Canal route is the surface more than three feet over the level of the river at hi^^h water ; and, as Mr. Muuroe Miller, in his "Resources of British Columbia," quite correctly savs, " so nearly is the Kootenay River ma level with the waters of fhe Upper Cohimhia Lake, that a plough furrow would carry the water across the ni'le or two of lhinly-t'> mtered meadows from the Kootenay to the head ^tf theColumhia," There is e '"'•> reason to suppose that in past ages the Kootenay River branched at this spot, a ])ortion of its water flowing over this flat, while to 8])eak of more recent times we have proof thiit not longer than forty years ago the water, during 1)ig freshets, actually found its way from the Kootenay River inti> the Columbia Lake over this mile strip. The well-known missionary. Do Smet, I who first visited this sjwt as early as 1845,/speaks of this in one [ '■? ] (if Ills It'HiTH |iiililiHlicil ill his '• ( )r.'u:i)ii MisNiniis." It is iIhIimI " Hi-iiil "/ llif i'liliniiliiii U'lrrr. 'Mh Srjitniiliir, iHl'i," mid lii' huvh : ^'Tlir lird liihr of tlir I'lil iiiiiliiii (Vfififf ('iihiiithiii Liikf^ in Inn niilfii iitiil ii-hiil/ illntdHf from till' i-lrrr Ih'ti Airtt-ii.j'liif ( Kuuffinni). niul riTiii'i- II fKniinii 11/ ill' irnlir iliiviiuj llir ijitiiI Hjniiiii friHlnt. Tlni/ iifi' Mfiiiiniti'il III/ II liiithiiii-liiiiil." Till' iM' iiriitt' iiii'iisiirciin'iils ut' a (oiiiiii'triil Kii'^lisli civil i'iit,'iiii'i'r iiikI tlu' iiri'sriirc nf mi iinii ol' till' liiki' imvi' rcilini'd tlic ilisliiiicc tn less 'liaii <>iif-liiill', iit a a\hi\ to which l>i' iSiiii'l's iittciitiiMi lmi'nvi; a rcnj iiniioiiutit imiiit. The rliiiiutv i« ilfliiihljiil, the e.vtremen iif heatoitd eohl are xelilum known. The hand 0/ i.ian would tninn/nrm it into II terrea/rial I'aradiiiv." The Climate is a bracinp: and healthful one: early Hprings, warm summera freo of frosts, fairly short and fairly cold winters with little snow. (Jattle and horses nstially winter out, lint with the introduction of lietter stock wome provision will have to l)e made, for it ajipears that every seven or eie;lit years severe winters occur. It is tieuerally acknowled'^'ed that the iu:)nth of March is the most tryiui; month for stock winteriui;' out without shelter or fodder. From an KiiLjlish i^entlemau. Colonel Jamos Baker, who settled in the Uppi'r Kooteimy Valley last year. I ohtained the followiiiLT carefully kept temperatures for the latter jiart of the winter 18SI-.5, a senson which was an uncommonly severe one in many parts of the West. Tiius in the cattle country in Wyoniiuif in the first week in March, 1885, the thernioineter was low (h)wn in the forties lielow /eio and a tierce wind blowing-, while in Uppi.'r Kootenay, on account of its sheltered positimi, there is no wind in winter, and owinji' to its elevation lieinii some o500 or 4t-l00 feet lower than most parts of VVyominii, no loss than to its comparatively close neiehliourhood to the warm currents of the PaciKc, the coldest at the same period was only 14 Fahr. a differ _'nce of sonm 60 (U';j;rees, and yet it is (juite 500 miles north of the <^reat centres of the cattle raising industry of Wyoming. SOME WINTEU TEMrEKATUUES IN THE UlTEK KOOTENAY VALLEY. Februarv 25 >( '2(i » 27 11 128 March 1 HiilMinttl' At No.Mi Uillt'-liolli' iK'fill-B ill II10 lifter Hniirise. SliiuJu. SuiiKet. Ptthi-, Fiilir. FiiliV. 26 61 33 33 60 28 30 4(! 28 26 16 2() 2U 43 i 34 "t — >■ -'jr t—rt Hiilf hniir At Niinti lliiir lioiir ll'llllO hi tlii< Mft.T Siiiiriiu', HIiixU'. HiiiiMi'l. FmIii'. I'lilir, K,.|ir. Mareh 2 28 47 20 II 3 20 43 22 II 4 28 43 25 II 6 ... 14 41 22 II 18 43 "lO II 7 2(! 47 30 1$ 8 20 •15 28 II 20 43 , 32 10 33 47 • 28 I* u 28 54 28 II 12 30 54 28 II 13 30 57 ' 26 It 14 2«i 55 30 fi 15 30 53 30 »• i» 38 55 26 II 1: 20 55 24 II li^ 24 cr. 26 ii 1!» 20 57 28 20 24 57 34 II 21 36 55 26 ii 22 20 42 20 II 23 22 52 28 II 24 22 50 20 II 25 22 50 33 I* 26 28 55 28 II 27 26 53 28 ft 28 24 67 31 II 29 33 63 33 ii 30 32 66 30 II 31 24 (!7 44 There were, in Decemlier and January, three very cold spellft, each lasting aliout three days. On the 10th M.iy oivnrred the la -l nij^ht frost. £arly Springs. — Of these another BI liooi,. \ '■,':* tim , an American one, in the shajie of "Keports «'■ \ xplorations udStf ■ made under the dii'eetioii of the Secretr 't War, ,i;i.' jirc* n-cd ?,o the Senate of the United States in 1863— ," ^'ives (v..|. !., j , .r . ,-, ;2) some interestinf.j details. In Captain Mull, 'I's report, when Hf't .icinfr of his arrival in the month of Ajiril at thw .1 »otenay iiiv«r, lOt fur from the international houndary line, tha> afi..i..,., olelirated traveller says : " The ijraitn here in e.^eeedinijlij 1 ieh and larii riant. At the point where we ftriirl: the river (Kootenai/) ire found it to he 400 i/ardis wide, and Jloieinij tln'oinjh loin hankn with a ijenili enneni. The eoiiulnj on it>> left hank forinn an itmnente Imo prairii' bottom, in which the ijravii ijrnwn I imiriimtl 1/ ,- thin i\iiendn to the baiifl of the inonntainH on the e.o«t. The eonntrij on the right bank, at the ninnv jilaee, in formed by a. series of jiine-elad hills that extend to the mountains of the north, which latter are veryhiijh, their snuw-ea/rped siiiiimits seeminrj lost in the clouds. The soil along the Koothnay Hirer is rery fertile, and at the point vhere ire struck it (Ayiril 26fh, 1854) (7 was carpeted by a beautifnl tjrecn sward, upon which was iiroiriiKj an ejcccedinijly great number of beaiitifvlly-colmircd a7id varied plants. This pla^<. is a ijrcat resort for the Kootenay Indians when not hnntinij in the mountains, as here ia fmmd at every sea»on an. abundance of ercellenf, nnlritions ijrass, Thn winters are represented a» beinij niihl, and tlie wafers of the Kootenay Uiver afford tliom at cli seasons a bountiful supply of the salmon trovf," Markets and Transportation - The fi;eo{,Tai)hical ponition 1 f the U])por Kootenay Valley favours future facilities for trans- portation and communication. It lies >)etween the two jjjreat railway systems of the north, bein^r about oquidistaut from the CanadH I'acitic and the Northern Pacific Railways. With the fonuer il communicates by the Cohmibia River, whicli is a navi<,'ai)le stream [ 4 ] an 80 a(|i a4 mt Hn pr at va tb o\ wl re i2 /ip oj ia to A re m 111 a\ oJ I i T a t» (^ d CI 6 o o I' I M il from its v<>rr . source — /'.e., tho U]iiicr Coluinhia Lako — to GoUlci. City, tln' icari'Ht station ou the Canada Pacific, a distance of lOf) or 110 miles, sfeamers liein<; al)le to land and take in goods at the Canal Flat, where a site for a Hteand)oat landing has already Keen Helfctt'd, though at one jioint some work to remove snags and deepen a sand l>ar will have to be done before steamers can enter tho upiM>rmost lake. This the l)(miiniou Government ](ro[>ose to carry out at an early date, an engineer, so I am informed by the Minister of I'id)lic Works, having already l)een dispatched thither. The Upper Kootenay River, from the i»rop(^sed canal down to the boundary line, is navigable for steruwheel steamlioats drawing little water, so that when the two rivers have l)een connected, direct communication from the farms along the Ui)i)er Kootenay to the Canadian Pacific Railway will be possible, for it is the intention to make the canal navigable, so that no trans-shipment will be necessary. The Northern Pacific, about 150 miles to the south of the valley, is approached over undulating oj>en prairie ground, a natural road for waggons or cattle, so that the future catth'-i-aiser or farmer in the Upjier Kootenay Valley has the choice of two markets, and, what is quite as im])ortant, the choice of two great trans-continental railways for the transportation of his produce, an important and effe<'tual pn^veiitative against the arbitrary high freight rates so usual in the west in the al)sence of competing lines. Until last year, owing to its isolated j)osition, farming was very much neglected in the valley, the mineral resources occupying almost exclusively the attention of permanent or temporary residents. To show what can be done, I ma; mention that one of the settlers who two years ago start<'d a small farm close to the Canal Flat, raised 50,000 ll)s. of ])otatoeson little more than 2 acres of laud. 5,000 lbs. he sold in the ground at 2jd. a pounti, the rest fetching ft-om Hd. to 3^d. a 11)., so that his two-acre jwtato |)atch realised him about iiSOO. Colonel Baker raised this year 42,000 lbs. ou less than 2 acres of land on which potatoes had l)tH)u grown for nine years naming without manure. Beef fetches 6i pouiid, while pork is eagerly bought up by the Chinese uiiiiers at from lOd, to Is. a lb. live weight. Butter cost 3s. a lb. and eggs 4s. a dozen, so that a large margin of profit rewards the farmers. Hitherto gold mining has been almost the sole industry in the Upper Kootenay Valley. At one time there were several thousand miners in the Upper Kootenay Valley, and one stream alone (the famous Wildhorse Creek) yielded, so good authorities report, two million d(dlars in two stunmers. In those days, however, everything had to be transj>orted 500 niiles on horse- back over miserable mountain trails. Flour cost 4s. to Os. a lb., and other things in proportion, while conunou lalniur was paid for at the rate of JC'i to £,'i a day, so that only the very richest deposits could lie worked with profit. To-day very different coudititms prevail, what with reasonable wages and ilireet coui- nnuiicatiou with the railway, there is little doubt concerning the future of its mines. Good judges pronomice the Kootenay district as being to-day the most pj-omising-lookiug mineral coiuitry they know, a view fore-shadowed by Palliser's Blue Book in which the very competent geologist of the expedition, Ur. Hector, says in his report to Sir Roderick Murchison, Director-General of the British Geological Survey : " There is no reason to doubt that the triaiitjlthir ■rujioii north of the boundary line, and drained by the waters of the Upper Columbia, and Kootenay Mivers, icill be overran by * prospectors,' and then by active iju/d miners." The Govi.'riuuent (iold Commijisiouer for Kootenay district in his official report for . the year 1884, says that 181 mineral claims (gold ami silver) were located iu Kootenay and registered in his office in the twi'lve months, while the output of gold from oiie single stream was during the same period i;74(HI. He strongly imj)resses upon the Government the necessity of establishing an Assay Office " iji view of the prosjiect that quarta mines (gold and siver) woidd Ijc extensively develojted during the season of 1885." It may be as well to diaw attention here to an extremely abrupt elimatic change which occurs in the Upjier Columbia Valley, about 25 or 30 miles di>wn the river from its source, a change which is l)ointe(l out iiy the Blue Book and by .ill the travellers that have ]publishe(l records of their visit. We find, tlu'refore, that Golden City ou tile Canadian Pacific Railway is already iu the moist, densely ■forested, and snowy zone. A day's ride st)uth of it the l)Uii(h- grasB, always an indication of a dry climate, commences, and in the Upper Kootenay Valley there is ordinarily just sufKiieut ram iiiid little snow, while the forests partake more the character oi |iarks. Having glanced at the position, local features, and iK.iwsible futuvu of the Upper Kootenay Valley, we will do tho same with the LOWER KOOTENAY VALLEY. To understand its position, we must first of all follow the erratic course of the Kootenay River, when, after crossing the iuteruational boundary line and entering first Montana and then Idaho Territory, it teioporarily exjiatriates its waters from British s<>il. Wliile flowing through United States Territory one fall and several rai>ids impi'de navigatiini oi this part of the river. The former, the only insurmountal.)l(; obstacle, occurs at the elbow or southernmost point of the great l)end where the river forces its way tlirough the Purcell range, as the southern extremity of the Selkirk range is called. Long bi't'ore the river regains British territory it leaves its gloomy gorges and enters, as if as a reward for its patricitic intentions, the Lower Kootenay Valley, a la'oad sunny valley terminating in Kootenay LiiKe. Here the character of the stream undergoes as great a change as its surroundings. The turbulent mountain torrent is suddenly meta- morphosed into a stiitely slow-Howiug river, of a very considerable depth, averaging 4t feet, and aljout littO to 700 feet in width, winding in inimeiii-e U)o]>s through the Iiroad, almost perfectly level valley. The I'iver banks are throU'.;hout lined with a fringe of stately elm or cottonwood trees and alder thickets from 100 to 200 yards in width, leaving the rest of the valley jierfectly treeless, Inigi! expanses of waving grass that attains in September a height of four to eight feet. These meadows merge on both sides of the valley into pine-clad hills and mountains that rise from the level jiastnres in pictures(pie slopes to a height of from 1500 to 5800 feet. Wliile the Lower Kootenay River, following its sinu- osities, is quite 100 miles long, the valley it forms is but 65 miles in length, the stream being a remarkably tortuous one. There is no doubt, in view of the surroundings, that the whole valley laud is, geologically sj)eakiiig, of recent formation. It was once part of Kootenay Lake, but has been gradually filled up with the alluvial dejiositsand veg(?tal.ile mould, the denudation swejit down from the main chain of the Rockies by tlii^ river, and dei)osited in layers on the flats by the ai'.niial freshet. From Bonner's Ferr\ , tin.- I)eginniug of the valley, to the Kootenay Lake, the soil is apparently of uniform composition, an ama/ingly fertile silicated clay sandy-loam, mixed with the annual self-mauuringdejiosits of its perennial vc'getation. During low water the annual liiyers laii i>e easily observed on tb losed and very steep river bunks. Its composition ensures great pi oductiveness, and the hastiest examination of the vegetation to be found, of course at lu'eseiiT in a perfeitly wild stiite, ou this land, shows an almost tro]iical luxuriance. The tleptli to «liicli this comjiositioii extends must be very great, for our careful souiuiings of the rivt'r, displaying, ;is it does, a remarKablc uniformity of depth — in to (Jtt feet— proved to ns that the bottom of the river consists of precisely the same matt'rial. So richly charged with this silt is the water of the river during the freshets, where it emerges from the rocky gorges above Conner's Ferry, that a <'Uiiful will deposit in a short time a thin film of silt on the bottom of the vessel. It is not nniiitcrestiug to note that even so ui'^nioiioual ami v<'teraii a traveller as Sir George Simpson gi\es spafc to warm lulmiration of the Lower Kootenay Valley, "a litlln paradise" as he calls it, in his "Narrative of a Journey roiii-d the World." liookiug down from a promontory overlooking a piirt of the valley, he writes: " At iiiirfi'it lay a ralli'ji .... boinnlid on the ireKtirn xiilr hy lofty nionntains, and an the eastern \)y a lower ninije of the suiiir kind, while thr Verdant liottom, nnbriikeii by a sinijle nionnd or hilloek, was U M llcrs thiit havi' I', lllllt (iuldfll ' moist, tli'iisulv it tile liiiiiiii- icx'H, aiul ill tli(,' iciout niiii Mini ictor oi jiiirlis. jKissiiilo t'ulUl'L' with the all follow ilio r crossinj;' tlio itaiia and then 's troiii British i-y out' fall and h(; river. The ,t the elbuw or river forces its ;treiuity of tlie regains Britisii if as a reward k^'alley, a liroad reat aehaiiiieas suddenly ineta- ry considerahle feet in width, niost jterfectly lined with a r thiekets from valley jierfectly 8 in September mertjo on both s that rise from of from 1500 to )wiii5;' its sinu- is but 65 miles one. There is lole valley laml as once part of ith thealhivial down from the ed in layers on valley, to the Diiiposition, an h the annual irin<,' low water )t)sed and very uetivene.ss, nner acre. With a small mowing-machine and a ]iair of horses, a man and a l)oy in my em))loy cut 24 tons in two and a 1 alf days, off a patch of ground certainly not excivding 7 or 8 acres. There also grow an abundance of wild flowers, wild and tame thyme growing most ;)rv>fu8ely, peavine, and in the thicket fringing the stream several species tif wild berry bushes. None of these plants seemed to have suffered by the temporary inundation to which they had been exposed. Tliat the soil is suitable for cereals was proved to us by finding so early as July 25th a pati'h of Australian Club wheat of good quality, four feet high, the ears being well developed and nearly ripe. It -was growing on the rivi-r l)aiik, and had probably s])rnng from some stray seeds drf these mi'iulow flats the water drains off as quickly as it rises; on one or 'wo of the lower ones it remains longer. There are two remedies to jn-event the overflow of this bottom- land. One is to dyke the land ah)ng the river l>aiik by throwing' ui> a low embankment, the material for which is of ssible construction. The height of the dam need l)re8uinably not exceed four or five feet, for the natural bank is without any exception raised a. few feet over the rcMt of the meadow land behind it, a circumstance I'Xplained by the fact that in those years when the river dot;s overflow the iMinks, the sediment with which at that season the water is so heavily ■• building in which Nature has indulged, probalily, since the ciiuHiieiKement of the metamorphosis of this portion of Kootenay Lake. A more ra/licaland under cireumstant-e more economical it'inedy consists in the widening and deepening of Kootenay Lake outlet at two points, to allow the freshet water to escape as fast as it pours into the lake. Also in this direction does Nature favour our projinsed undertaking. At one time, it is probable, the outlet was of s ifticient capacity to take off the inflow as fast as it cAme iu, howevei- vastly incrt»a8ed it might be in spring, and, equally probably, would have continued so hiwl not, just at the two narrowest jiarts. two siile streams, (turbulent mountain torrents,) lu'cumulated, at their mouths, in the course of ages, fan-shaiied bars of bo\tlders and gravel, washed from the imjtending heights by the action of the streams. The work, therefore, consists in the removal of a jiortion of these bars, an undertaking which will not l)e comparatively costly when once the necessary aj.pliamies can be glaces for the moved materi I The Climate is on the whole very like that of Ujiper Koot*'nay. Summer frosts are, it is generally reported, (juite unknown in both the KiHitenay Valleys. In 1883 the first night frost occurrfJ on the Itith September; in the year 1884 the first was three days earlier. The summer heat is perhaps a trifle greater than in the more tlevat«'d valley ; for it is eijually wel] shelt"red, and has a lower altitude— 1750 feet. Kootenay Lake never freezes, but the river, at that season with [ 6 ] a «< a a ■ i no percept i bit' current iii it, <;l(x.'» freeze, usually iHKiur, end of Noveuiber, breiikiu^j up a^ain about niitlille i)t' March. By the 1st A])ril ^reeii ;^rasH iipjiears. Means of Access to the Lower Kootenay Valley. — For a coujtle of years to louie, until the short niilway ; mountains. The Lower Kootenay Valley naturally opens towards the south, a twenty-five miles wide strip of foi'ested coiuitry Iteiiig all that intervenes between K<.)otenay River and the fornii-r railway. An Americ-an Company have built this year, at an expenditure, it is said of £()()00, a wajr^tm road (toll road) from tln' Northern PiK'ific Railway t« the Kootenay, t(t enal>le them to transi)ort ore from their mines on Kootenay Laki^ to the railway. They also propose to erect Hnielting works next year on the lake. The mineral outlook in the Lower Kootenay is a promisini,' one, but not in the same direction as in Upper Kootenay. There are few ^old mines iu that vallev, I tut on Kootenay Lake there are deposits of silver iieariuj^ lead (ijalena). Their development will call for snieltiuji; and reduction works, means of cheap transportation, increased trade, and necessitate the steady employment of larije numbers of miners,. These arj^entiterous lead deposits on Kootenay Lake, expert judf^es pronounce to be of an unusual size, thouj^h the contents of silver in the ore is, iu comparison to some other miniui^ regions in the States, not so vi'ry ^^'cat, niakiu;^' rheap transportation to the railways a matter of importance. These increased facilities for traffic, such as (1st) The jirojiosed liranch railroad from the Northern Pacific system to Bonner's Ferry, on the Kooteuay Bivtr,(2ndly) TIk; 25 miles Um^ railway down Kootenay Lake outlet, the only piect* of unnavii^able water between Boiuier's Ferry and the Canada Pacifii; system, and the establishment of a steamer connection betw(!eu these points and (;3rdly) The estaldishment of steamer navij^ation on the Lower KiKitenay River (only four small steamers wore runnint; on the river this year) will, it is to be ju'esumed, soon create a tiourishini)' 'uining community, so that settlers on the reclaimed bottondand in this valley will l)e able to make a gocnl liviufj' by supplyini; the j^rowinir wants of this luiniuif ]>optdation, makinti' them, probaiily, (piite independent of other more distant mark"ts. To i^ive an idea of the rapidity with wiiich the Kooti-nay Distrirt has, owinj,' to late mineral discoveries and the construction of thr Canadian Pacific road. leape«l into jiromiuence, I may mention tliat in 1882 when I visited Northern Idaho for tiie first time, Kootiimv was almost an al)Solute wilderness, for its approaches were all Imt im])eiietrable. In that year there were only about 15 resident whit,. men in the entire Kootenay district; in 1888 they had increased tn 200; and the f(dlowin<,' to ;350o, whiK' this year that mnnber was quite doublwl. The iireater [iroportioi; of these men weiv employed (Ui the Canadian Pacific Railway. Now that the line is I'ompletefl, of coiinse, many will l>e lookiufi for farms or occu- jiation with farmers and other labour-employinti- men. At one bound, while furnishino' the settlers with means of connnunicatioii and transportation of their produce, the hitiierto serious iaixtur question will i>e solved. In 188!i I had to pay 14s. and more a (lay for ordinary lal)our, this year I could i,a*t it at from 4s. to t>s. and next year it will probably b,' yet l<.we'\ whih' Chinese laboiir, (the best "for earthworks), of w":i h d r '.sample supply, is i-heaper than even European rates. The Kootenay Indians, w]?u li.c in noth valh'ys. are subdivided into the Lower and Upper tribe, each havini;- its sej.arate chic)'. They are very peacableand intcUijjent Indians, missionaries havint,' converted them thirty or forty years a^jo. From what I have seiMi of them I jndt;e that their presence will do away with many of the difliculties consequent upon scarcity of labo\ir, th\is for hop-picking; their jiresence und innate handiness W(Uild prove invaluable. In the hojiyards of the adjoinin*; Washini^ton Territory, Indians iiavc up to lately been exclusively einph»yed and 1,^1 v en c;eneral satis- faction. My own ex]ierience with the Kootenay Indians was always of a most .satisfactory nature. I found them ^o(m1 ami williiii,' workers. L'^p to 1884 they roamed it will over the vlmlc district, but in that year a Government conunission laid out suitable resen'es for their excluciive use. Prom the otli( i.il census taken mi that o(;casiou it appears that the Upper Kooti u;. , Indians owni.l 2511 horses and (}18 head of cattle. Portions of their reserves include land ■(^lui-b. the {iroiiiisi"! reclamation will reclaim from overflow, and wi "U r.'f rinif to siirli a part, Honbl. P. O'Reilly, the Governniei.^ l(i<1:\u itefierve Com- missioner, says, in his Official Re])ort to his (. i>vi i'limciif • — '• Sh'mlil the rfflmiiailon xrhi'iiif in thv homln of Mr. M". A. ?Ht'lUtf-(iriihi\iini (anil vhifli in I'wnuroiji'il hij tlw Laral (rorcrinu^ r'fi "V'l- ,, niirri.'i!<, 1hi» low tit ret fh of hottoiiihiii(1 may heome of cnnnifhTit' rolne" and of another, " Shoulrl ilii' Kootennij rechiniKfion srhfuii' ln' ciiiripil out, ihv irjioh' 1200 oov.s niiild he hroiiijhf into riittimtion,, ituil voiild, I bfliTi-, prore 11 rntiiahJe /lifi'f of Imnt." VALUE OF THE BOTTOMLAITD XN THE UPPER AND LOWER KOOTENA'X VALLEYS. As /,(• Tir// l')i()ii))t, thi-re is not Ti'/y iiiucli agrkultural land in Brilis/i Columbia, hut, lun^'cvcr limited in extent, it is excellent in quality. TuHt circumstanets make it far more 7'alual'te than is 'equally ^'ood land east of the Rocky Mountains. First of all the presen : ,f -rood local maykcts ; and secondly, I'll* more importantly, the i^ood climate, ichieh enables the fanner to raise far more valuable crops than . < 'h- 'produced amon^^^ the rijforous cl'in/atic conditions in the exposed repons of Eastctn Canada, making if possible for him to net often mo,, f. t ten acres in British Columbia than he could from a hundred acres in the Atlantic provinces. To arrive at a just estimate of the future value of this Kootenay land when reclaimed, it must be compared to eqtialiy ' ,1 land- -there are but few tracts of such rich soil-— situated in other parts of British Columbia, or in the adjacent \V.'ek'e years, Oc'cr £2(1 per . i/,- t>er annum clear projit, the figures being as folloios . ■ (fverage yield per acre of hopland, i(fe improvct ,'<, ;uand fetches double or three times that price Washington Territory sends its fruits bv the train-load to the Eastern States and t, Canada, wnile Califfrn — - . - .- , _ rnia exports annually over 1^2,000,000 ■•n.'orth of grapes, /'ears, peaches, and vegetables. From Biitish Columbia anequally impcrtant fruit trade with tlic East oj Canada and Europe is certain to spring up note that the Canadian Pacific Railyay furnishes the necessary means of transportation, which hitherto did not exist ; and u: iJu /'ootenay Valleys are the most eastern points in thc^ province, their produce icill be so much nearer to markets. Canada, so authorities afjirm, imports almost every pound of hops used in the country, not-withstanding a duty of ^d. a pound, a duty which will protect the hop-grower of British Columbia against competition from the United States. The Kootenay District can be reached in ten days front Liverpool by the Canadian Pacijic Railway, -nd the through fare (emit^rant) is £\o from Liverpool to Golden City. Taking all these circumstances into consideration one may well e.vfircss the anticipation that the value of this reclaimed land will be a considerable one ; good and entirely unpr udiced judges expressing the opinion that it will be worth, anil easily fetch, from six to nine times the estimated cost-price of 13 or 14 shillings per acre, an opinion with which Afr. Ashdown Green, C.E., who has lived on the Pacific coast for twenty years, mote than agrees, for in his report he says he sees no reason why these tracts should not fetch from ^8 to £\o per acre. . bcUci'!' \iiMin the Kontrimy coiailn lmvi> Miiiii'.m'd in (lie " Kidil," Aiigint liOtli, IHMl. .Vitril 25tli, Miiv '.Mli. NovcmlxT 2I»1, Ki'.imiiIht 2iI|1i. IsHj, mm ;iii iii'coUMl of lliili-li Coliiiiil.iii ill the •■ lM.rliiif;lillN Htniew " ..f .laiiimrv. 18H(I. VvY npovl- (111 Koolciiiiy li.\ Air. Ashdown (1ui;i:n, C.K.. fs. I' Chinese lalioiir, supi>h', is eheaper rs, are suhdivided ts sejiarate chief. issionaries liavin;^ what I iiave wen with many of the iisforhoj)-|ii(kin;^ e invabuil)le. In ory, Indians have en gviieral satis- iiay Indians was I theni t>;o(Ml and II over the vhuje 1 laid out snitalile I census taken on :i .' Inditans owned ie!i. the la'oposc.l ref rini;- to siiih vii kewrve Coni- imeat — "Should livUlif-Urohiynni }■ ei'fv •■ (, lOifi; .i!<, Kidrn;' mine" iiifiiin Kclienii' Itr •t illtii riil/lrntidii, t" CEYS. // I'/i quality. T-^'iT wd local maykt'ts ; ■0(fiiceii ai/hi//,^'' the >:•.:■ HiiiiiAiii^lMriMJi^dUid