IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 K 
 
 III 
 
 (.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 
 L25 III 1.4 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.6 
 
 <P 
 
 A 
 
 '^% 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 ,^.. 
 
 ^ > 
 
 .^^J 
 
 "^^V^" 
 
 '>' 
 
 y 
 
 /^ 
 
 r 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 33 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 873-4503 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 ^... -^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / institut canadien de microrRproduciions historiques 
 
 vV 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Wotes/Nctes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 L'tnstitut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a dtd possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger una 
 modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage 
 sont indiquds ci-dessous. 
 
 D 
 D 
 G 
 D 
 D 
 D 
 □ 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 Covers damaged/ 
 Couverture endommagee 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e 
 
 Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes g6ographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Relie avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 a'ong interior margin/ 
 
 La reiiure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge int^rieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas it6 filmdes. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaj'es suppldmentaires. 
 
 □ Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 □ Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommag^es 
 
 □ 
 
 EI 
 
 n 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaur^es et/ou pelliculees 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d^colorees, tachetdes ou piqu^es 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tachdes 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 □ Quality of print varies/ 
 Quality in^gaie de I'impression 
 
 □ Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du mat6riel supplementaire 
 
 □ Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 T 
 
 D 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont dt6 film^es d nouvesu de facon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film^ au taux de reduction i;idiqu6 ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 26X 
 
 SOX 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 !2X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 □ 
 
 32X 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the geniarosity of: 
 
 Morisset Library 
 University of Ottawa 
 
 L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce A la 
 g6n6ro8it6 de: 
 
 Bibliothdque Morisset 
 University d'Ottawr, 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec ie 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmi, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a pointed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and endmg on the last page with 3 printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol -♦-(meaning "CON- 
 TINUED'l, Of the symbol V (meaning "END "), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 antiroiy included in ons exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimde sont film6s en commenpant 
 par Ie premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit pa: Ie second 
 plet, selon Ie cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la 
 premiere page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impresskon ou d'illustration et en terminp/nt par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants appci-attra sur la 
 dernidre image de chaque microfiche, selon Ie 
 cas: Ie symbols — ►signifie "A SUIVRE ", Ie 
 symbols V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Los cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre 
 filmds 6 des taux de reduction diff6rents. 
 Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit an un seul clich6, il est filmd & partir 
 de I'angis sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre 
 d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la m^thode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
mm 
 
 " 'WM 
 
 y^^' /^ Q^ 
 
 
 PACIFIC 
 
 
 EAILWAT EOUra:S,^^^^ 
 
 '1.5 
 
 (, i ■■ i 
 
 CANADA. 
 
 . ■■ ! f 
 ' . - < 
 
 /•..lu 
 
 I '•:> r . 
 
 BY 
 
 ■;?/ 
 
 ^ 
 
 -h/L. MI^LEOH), 
 
 1 ■*• 
 
 " brit/annicus." 
 
 f 
 
 A 8EKIKS OF LETTERS PUBLISHED IN THE MONTREAL "GAZETTE." 
 
 /2 
 
 /:^ 
 
^^^^^^-^ 
 
 < ...ffliymiipwii 
 
 ,^' i X-f^:-.. -*:w'^ .iA.,vr -^^i 
 
 *• •' .■ 
 
 % 
 
 ,]■■■ ., 
 
 M 
 
 ?* ^<*-^* 
 
 t -, 
 
 iq. 
 
 
 l:-Ml 
 
 :pi:^;EFj^ce. 
 
 #:: 
 
 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- 
 
 ;^'/-> 
 
 A 
 
4 
 
 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 
 
5 
 
 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, 
 
ir 
 
 -A«= 
 
 e 
 
 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. 
 
8 
 
 i 
 
 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^ 
 
 1% 
 
9 
 
 e 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 i 
 
 i' 
 
 « 
 r 
 
 ;p 
 
 y 
 
 tt 
 
 J- 
 
 r. 
 
 a 
 
 d 
 
 " 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 
 
/ 
 
 10 
 
 I 
 
 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, 
 
 II 
 
 " 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. 
 
11 
 
 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— «— >— 
 
 12 
 
 " 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, 
 
13 
 
 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- 
 
I' 
 
 u 
 
 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- 
 
15 
 
 lll!e4. 
 
 led)., ifl 
 reUj . 175 
 
 ' Z.'O 
 
 HeBr 
 
 . 73 
 
 . &U 
 
 I- 
 
 of 
 
 .. 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 
 
■/: 
 
 16 
 
 ■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 
 
17 
 
 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,. 
 
 Id 
 
 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 
 •« 
 
 a 
 
 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 
 
 i| 
 
19 
 
 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 
 
 ^ 
 

 20 
 
 ' 
 
 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 
 
 ■ / 
 
21 
 
 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. 
 
 y 
 
 ■ \i T m 
 
BHH^ia