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K B8H«faa-j!.;;aa:ii>',i.'3|^ Excerpt from the Journal and Proceedings of THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1, Savile Row ; FRANCIS EDWARDS, 83, High Street, Marylebone, VV. , t. «' i'iii :' i * * Uiia .tsteti'tH- v<.« < ;;; *il( Jiff JS ! I'- MMMinai^^- •I '1 I • VI. — On the Geof/rajyhy and Muiiittaiii Passes c" ^ ish Columhia in Conntdion with an Overland liouie. By A. W'addington, Esq. Ih'wl, March 9, 1868, The possibility of openiii;^' u direct and available coinmnnifatioii between the Canadas and the l*aei(ie, through British iS'orth America and the Kooky Mxjuntains, has been for many years a subject of discussion, and even of doubt. True, the portion west .|.H-:'it!3 ii;.l'W!.lfi.*Ui'-'ii|-..«N4yWlK. ^fountain Passes of British Columhia. no of Lake Huiicrior was tliorou^hlv ox|)lorccl for this |)\ir{)oso ns fur as tho K(mI Uivcr Settlcnicnt and the lower end of the (Jrcat Saskatchewan in 1857-H, at th(! expense and hy order of the Canadian («overninent, and the explorations of I'aHiser, Hector, Bhikiston, SuHivan, and others, have nnide ns accpiainted with the main features of the Saskatchewan territory, and, to a certain extent, with some of i\w juisses through the Rocky 3Ioimtains. Ihit the dilliculties of connecting; an overhmd rail- way with the I'acific through British Columbia were not gene- rally known, nor have tho geographical features of tho country west of tho Rocky jMountains ever heen laid before the public. Tho chief object of the present pai)er is, therefore, to collect and embody what I have learnt respecting them, so as to supply this deficiency, and furnish such details as were still wanting. The writer has spent over five years in studying them, and has laid out considerable sums in equipping and sending out ex- ploring parties in all directions under reliable engineers, or conducted by himself; and tho result has been the discovery, after mucli uncertainty and expense, of a feasible route for a railroad through tho Cascade Range, followed bv the survey, and partial opening of 222 miles of road, through an entirely unknown country, from the coast to the mouth of Quesnelle River, and which must necessarily form the first link in any future overland route. From this point (whence a road leads to the Cariboo Cold-mines in the neighbourhood) tho Upper Eraser is navigable for steam-boats for 280 miles farther up to the " Leather," or " Yellow Head Pass," through the Rocky JMoun- tains, and shortly after their watershed forms the limit of the colony. The colony of British Columbia is to a great extent occupied by two ranges of mountains, running N.N.W., but gradually diverging from each other towards the north, where they enclose a vast plain, of which more will be eaid hereafter. That on the east side bears the name of the Rocky Mountains, and the other that of the Cascade or Coast Range. They have one feature in common, which is that their eastern edge rises in both cases abruptly from an elevated plain ; and in the Rocky Mountains the highest crest or ridge is also on that side ; whereas the descent on the western slope, though greater, is extended over a wider distance, and therefore '" general more moderate. The Main crest of the R< Ky Mountains, several of the peaks of which rise to a height of 16,000 feet, forms the eastern limit of the colony, and runs from its south-east corner at the boundary line in a n.n.w. direction to beyond the northern limit of the colony, in Lat. GO''. I say the main crest, because what generally bears the name of the Rocky Moi/utain^ jis, composed 120 Waddington on the Geography and in British Columbia of tliree distinct ranges, divided from eacli other by rivers and deep depressions, and having each its own crest or ridge. Of these the two western ones, though less elevated, are chiefly composed of metaniorphic rocks, and there- fore, geni'rally speaking, more distorted and abrupt than the rounded and ^: anitic peaks and domes of the main crest. The whole forms a triple fence as it were to the colony, or one vast sea of mountains, averaging from 150 to 100 miles wide. The Middle range, which, as before said, is somewhat lower than the main one, and which takes the names of the Purcell, Selkirk, and jMalton ranges successively, is separated from the main ridge by the Kootanie River, the Upper Columbia, the Canoe River, and the Upper Fraser ; and presents one uninter- rupted line of mountains, some of them 12,000 feet high, for 240 miles, from the Boundary-line to the great bend of the Columbia, in 52° N. Lat. The Columbia River here runs towards the north, and, after separating the above middle or Selkirk Range from the Rocky Mountains proper, cuts through it at the Big 13end, and, turning south, again separates it in ite downward course from the third or more westerly range. But the travel- lers who have discovered the different passes (such as they are in this latitude) through the Rocky Mountains, were unable to push their explorations further than this eastern or upper por- tion of the Columbia, excepting near the boundary-line ; so that neither the middle range nor the western one, which were perliaps supposed, as being less elevated, to present less diffi- culties, had been hitherto examined. In consequence, however, of the gold discoveries at Kootanie and the Big Bend, or in con- nection with thejn, they were carefully explored last year ; but no practicable pass could be discovered through the Selkirk Range, which thus presents an impenetrable barrier for a rail- road in that direction. The Third, or more westerly range, is the least elevated of the three, though still ranging from 4000 to SOOO feet high. South of Fort Shepherd and the Boundary Line, where it forms eleven sharp ridges ruiniing north and south, it bears the name of the Kulspelni Mountains, and further north of the Snowv Mountains or Gold Range. The Bald IMountains in Cariboo, 0000 to 8000 feet high, are also a continuation of this range, which, after crossing the Fraser below Fort George, lowers towards the north, and takes the nanie of the Peak Mountains. The orily good pass from the Columbia throligh this third range is to the south end of Sousliwap Lake, and was discovered last year by Mr. j\Ioberly, the Governr.ient Engineer at Eagle Creek, in Lat. 50° 50/. An important feature in both the middle and western rajigep,yisfr llescribed is their gradual depression north of ^m^m Mountain Passes of British Columbia. 121 i Ciiriboo, to where tlie Upper Frasev, after separating the middle range from the Rocky Mountain? to the cast, abandons its north- westerly course, and makes a eiraular sweep through the deprer.- sion from east to west, and then south to below Fort Georgu. This depression forms a large tract of level flat country, on each, but more particularly on the south, side of the Eraser ; and as the country and climate are both well adapted for settlements offers every inducement and facility (if, indeed, it be not the only pass) for a future railroad through these two ranges of the Rocky llountains. The Cascade Range forms the Coast-line of the colony, which it follows from near the mouth of the Fraser into the Russian (now American) territory. Its average width is about 110 miles, and it may also be considered as a sea of moun- tains, some of which attain, if they do not exceed, a height of 10,000 feet. Its crest, starting from Mount Raker, a few miles south of the Boundary Lino, passes a little north of the head of Jervis Inlet, some 25 miles north of the head of Bute Inlet, 22 miles east of the head of North Bentinck Arm, and crosses Gardener's Channel about 20 miles west of its head. From Mount Baker the Cascade Range throws out a spur east and north in the direction of the Great Okanagau Lake and Fort Kamloops, so as nearly to join the Gold Range ; and it entirely envelopes the Fraser from a little above Harrison River (55 miles above New Westminster), up to its junction with the Thorajison at Lytton, and even a few miles beyond, on both rivers. But the most rugged portion in this direction lies between Yale and Lytton, where mountain succeeds mountain, and where those along the river present the most formidable aspect; bluff after bluff of solid perpendicular granite, inter- mingled with steep slides of rolling rock, washed by a deep impetuous stream and 1500 to 2000 feet high. In short, not only has this portion of the Fr;i?Cj: valley been declared utterly impracticable for a railroad by Major Pope and other competent autiiorities, but it is so fenced in with mountains, that there could be no reasonable way of getting at it with a railroad if it were. It is over these mountains that the present waggon-road passes at an elevation, in one place for nearly 40 miles, of 3000 feet above the sea : the oidy road to the Cariboo mines and the north of the colony, and, considering circumstances, a lasting monument of Sir James Douglas's energetic and provident administration. Unfortunately the difficulties (as may be seen in Milton and Cheadle's ' North-West Passage,' p. 356, where there is a good sketch of one of them) were Alpine. Many places are most dangerous, the endless ascents and descents iatiguiu'^ and laborious in the extreme ; and as the sharp turn- 122 AVaddington on the Geograj)hj and ings, besides many other portions, have liad to be built up on cribs or cross timbers, which will very soon rot, the repairs will form a heavy charge on the Colony. So that, supposing the difficulties of the Kocky Mountains to be got over, the Cascade Range still intercepts all com- munication by railroad between the eastern parts of the Colony and New Westminster. To say nothing of the utter worth- lessness of the country to be traversed, amounting to 450 miles out of the 600 from its eastern limit by Howse Pass. Add to this that the navigation across the Gulf of Georgia, and at the entrance to the Eraser, by a narrow intricate channel, through shifting sands, full five miles long, is both difficult and dangerous, and that the river itself is frequently frozen up in winter for long periods, and it will be evident to every impartial mind that New Westmuister, with its 700 or 800 inhabitants, can never become the terminus of an overland railway to con- nect with Victoria and the ocean. Further north along the coast there are numerous inlets which penetrate into the Cascade range, but the greater part terminate abruptly, like the fiords vr> Norway, or are too distant ; or like Gardener's Channel, Dea^ s CuFud, or the Skeena, are. too far to the north-west to bo available for any present communication with the mines or the interior. There are, however, two excep- tions : the North Bentinck Arm, by jMilbank Sound, in lat. 52° 18', and Bute Inlet, opposite Vancouver Island, with a safe and easy inland communication by steam to Victoria, distant 185 nautical miles. Both these inlets terminate in a valley of some extent ; and as attempts have been made to open both of them, it becomes necessary to explain why the writer gave a decided preference to Bute Inlet for a waggon-road, and a fortiori for a railroad, over Bentinck Arm or any other line. Sujyerioritj/ of tlie Bute Inlet Route. — The advantages of the Bute Inlet route consist in its central position, fine town-sito and harbour, or rather its two harbours, accessible at all seasons of the year, its easy and safe connection with Victoria and the ocean, and the proximity of the coal mines at Nanaimo. The port of New Westminster, on the contrary, is dilficidt of access, in consequence of its constantly-shifting sandbanks, and closed, as aforesaid, by ice during 2 and even occasionally 8 and 3^ months in the winter. The harbour at Bella Coola, on the Bentinck Arm Trail (the only other feasible route to tlie mines), is situated 485 miles further to the north, and lias been pronounced to be totally un- wortliy, presenting no shelter, no good anchorage, no good landing-place, but a vast mud fiat, with a mile of swamp, inter- sected by a shallow river, barely navigable for canoes. Or to Mountain Passes of British Columbia. 123 quote the wordri of Lieutenant Palmer, of the Royal Engineers, in his official report on the Bentinck Arm Trail, " A largo flat shoal, extending across the head of the Arm, composed of black fetid mud, supporting a rank vegetation, bare at low spring tides for about 700 yards from high water mark, and covered at high tide with from 1 to 8 feet of water, and at a distance of 800 yards from shore term'nating abruptly in a steep shelving bank, on which soundings rapidly increase to 40 and soon 70 fathoms." The whole is, moreover, subject to violent winds and powerful tides. On the Bute Inlet route the snow, owing to its mo- j moderate elevation, and its more southern latitude and aspect, melts fully 3 weeks sooner than on the Bentinck Ann Trail ; and the road is dry, entirely exempt from snow slides, and level the whole way through : unlike the endless mountains on the Fraser route, or the steep unavoidable ascent from the sea, and nu- merous swamps by that of Bentinck Arm, Tlie Bute Inlet Trail cuts through the Cascade Mountains by a deep valley studded with rich bottom's, affording plentiful pasture and rising imper- ceptibly for 80 miles, when it nearly attains its greatest height (2500 feet), from which point forward in the plain it was free from snow for 25 miles in February, 1862. The Bentinck Arm Trail, on the contrary, is obliged to climh over the range, owing to the valley, when 35 miles from the inlet, turning abruptly to the S.S.E., and running longitudinally with the range, instead of cutting througli it ; so that the trail on leaving it attains in a very few miles from that point a height of 8840 feet, as will be better slio\vn by th(i following table, compiled frop.i Lieut. Palmer's report : — Gradients. Miles. Per Mile. One in Rise. Altitude. Fe"t. Feet. Feet. Feet. From the inlet to Shtooiht, at the turn\ of the valley ) .35 •• Say 500 Thence to Cokelin, " by a narrow j gorge, ht'iiiiiied in by steep and > U 43-G 121-1 610 1110 continuous clitFs " ) From Cokelin to the Great Slide 5 snc-o 14-8 1780 2890 From the Great Slide to the I'recipice 11 8u-3 (ii--2 9,)0 3840 Or, supposing it possible to ecjualise j these grades fa thing next to im- > TiO 111-3 47-4 3340 , , practicable), we should have . . j "After which the trail continues to rise gra luallv, the soil becoming shallow aiul moaorre, the veirotation thinner and inferior, for (!0 miles moi-e, till it ci-ossestho suniinit raugo at an altitude of 1300 feet." — (Lieut. Palmer's report.) And it then only enters > ) I f b Q r .t e d 124 Waddington on the Geography and ou ^oocl soil some 20 miles before crossing the Bute Inlet Trail at lieucliee Lake ; wliereas, along the latter lino, the bunch grass peculiar to the country flourishes over thousands of acres. Finally, the distance from Bute Inlet to the mouth of Ques- nelle Biver is fully 25 miles less than by the Bentinck Arm Trail, and not much more than half that from New Westminster (222 against 393), besides having no i)ortages or mountains ; thus presenting an open communication during the wliole winter which exists on neither of the other routes ; and a diminution of nearly one half in the time and cost of conveyance, as com- pared with that by the Fraser. Lieut. Palmer, in his report, admits " the geographical advantages of the Bute Inlet route over the others." Another item in favour of the Bute Inh^t route is its great strategical security in case of any difficulties with our American neighbours. The Fraser River, from Fort Hope downwards, runs for 80 miles paraHc' to the boundary line, and at a distance A^arying from U to 12 miles from that frontier, whilst the only road from New Westminster to Hope and the interior has been constructed between them ; so that a detachment of a few hun- dred men could at almost any point intercept all^'ommunication, and literally starve out the wliole colony. The Bute Inlet route, on the contrary, would be perfectly safe, and its approaches im- pregnable. General Features of the Ground over icJu'ch the Bail road ivould pass from Bute Inlet to the Mouth of i^uesnelle lilver. — The valley of the Homathco Kiver, which tails into Bute Inlet, pre- sents a deep cut or fissure through the Cascade IMountains, varying from 3 miles to less than a quarter of a mile in width, is 84 miles in length, and rises imperceptibly to a height of 2400 feet or more above the sea, at the point where it enters on the plain beyond the mountains. For the first 31 miles, up to the canyon, or defile, the bed of the valley is composed of diluvial soil, consisting of a sandy clay or loam, and forming a hard dry bottom. The canyon itself is exactly 1 J mile in length. Beyond the canyon the valley again forms and opens for about miles, the soil partaking of the nature of the rocks from which it is derived, and becoming more gravelly, and of a reddish cast. The river after this is again confined to a narrow bed, but the country is more open, and the road passes for other miles near the river along the foot of the mountains, until the valley once more opens and recovers its flat level aspect, which it maintains up to the plain. The mountainous region thus ti'aversed is composed, for the first 40 miles, up to the neighbourhood of Ticdeniaii's (JIaeier, of brittle quartzose granite, hard to drill, but yielding easily to Mountain Passes of British Columbia. 125 the blast. The rock then becomes more feldspathic, and con- tains more hornblende, the former element decomposing into a reddish-white, greasy clay. This continues until a short dis- tance below the First Lake, where the granite ceases, and is replaced for six or eight miles by a clay-slate of variegated colours, bearing the marks of igneous action. This slaty zone is supposed to be auriferous, and is in all probability a con- tinuation of the Bridge River diggings. It is followed by beds of stratified granite, of apparently more modern origin, and which are intersected here and there for a short distance by veins of augitic rock, varying from inches to 2 feet in thick- ness. The valley now opens more and more, till at a distan'^e of 84 miles from the inlet the mountains cease abruptly, and the road enters on the plain beyond. The rise in the valley, though apparently uniform, presents considerable variations. Thus, the canyon presents a lise in 30^ miles of only 860 feet above the sea. The river then becomes much more rapid, and gives for the next 13 miles an ascent pro- bably of 780 feet, after which for 40 miles and up to Fifth Lake, the rise diminishes to 630 feet, '^eyond which there is a sharp ascent for a couple of miles more of, say, 150 feet, when the summit, or watershed, is attained. We shall thus have the following gradients : — Feet. Feet. Eise BOS in 30 i- miles = 28-36 per mile, or 1 in 186-2 „ 780 9) 13 „ = 60-00 )» j> -^ » 88-0 „ (i30 J> 40 „ = 15-75 1-1 )> 335-2 „ 150 J) >> „ = 75-00 )) )) -'- »> 70-4 Total >425 The above figures must of course be considered as only ap- proximate. The plain consists of a deep sedimentary soil, watered by numerous lakes and small streams, and varied by occasional elevations formed of sandstone belonging probably to the lower series of the chalk formation, and ajjparently owing their up- heaval to plutonic action, which has hardened or calcined the rock. They form hero and there conical elevations, varying from 500 to 800 feet in height. Such, for instance, are jMount Palmer, to the north of Benchee Lake, and several others that figure on my map. These elevations, and the low spurs or ranges of hills that accompany them, necessitate but few deviations from the straight lino, and the plain in general offers every facility for the establishment of a railroad. Towards the mouth of the Quesnelle there is a gradual descent for some miles, but un- attended by any difficulty ; and at the terminus on tiie banks of tlie Fraser there exists a rich plateau of cultivatable soil. 12(5 Waddinqton on the Gcograj)hij and Agricultural Besourees on the Line. — Tlie valley above de- scribed is in general heavily timbered, but studded, as aforesaid, with rich bottoms, capable of producing any kind (jf crops, and offering open spots for small farms. The plain itself (the only one in British Columbia of any extent) has been admired by all who have seen it, on account of its vast jiasturages and park-like scenery. Its width, where it is crossed by tlio Bute Inlet trail, is about 120 miles, and it stretches from the neighbourhood of Lake Ivamloops and the south-west end of the Great Quesnelle Lake across the Fraser, in a n.n.w. direction more than 300 miles to the Skeena, beyond which river it has not been ex- plored. It contains millions of acres of good ground, and some of the best along the proposed route, where large tracts of land are sure to be taken up as soon as the first communications are established. Some objections have been made to its elevation, which averages about 2500 feet above the sea in the southern part, though gradually lowering towards the Skeena, where the climate in consequence becomes considerably milder. But this makes it none the less valuable; for grazing purposes, which will be by far the most profitable branch of farming in the country when there are means of conveyance. At present, the cattle con- sumed in Cariboo are driven overland some 500 or 600 miles from Washington territory. Cereals can also be cultivated with success, as is fully proved by the following list, showing some of the crops which were raised last season on the Fraser route, together with the corre- sponding latitudes and altitudes : — Altitude. Deep Creek .. AVilliam's Lake Cut off Valley Lat. N. 52"! 7' r)2°i2' 2i;!5 2973 Mt. Cornwall 51'=00' 1508 100 acres of i>ats. 200 „ (lats, barley and wheat. 200 „ (lats, barlej'-, ]iotatoes, and a little wheat. 70 „ oats, barley, and 300 bushels of wheat. But the above localities are all to the east of the Fraser, and it must be borne in mind that as the isothermal lines approach the Pacific they extend diagonally towards the north, in the proportion of about 1"^ of latitude^ to 2^ of longitude. Thus at Benchee Lake, on the Chilcoaten I'lain, in the same latitude as William's Lake, and rather more elevated, but 2° more to tlie west, and therefore very probably identical in climate, I saw in the autumn of 1803 a small crop of oats, barley, and turnips, which Mr. Manning had raised on trial, and which had perfectly succeeded ; whilst some potatoes, which had been placed in an exposed situation to the south, had beep, frost-bitten. The Indian horses pass the winter out of doors, without fodder or stabling — the best proof that the winters arc not very severe. :li5(i!*Ji!-it. scSauBHUlV iSbmS^Sma^WmmSSm Mountain, Passes of British Columbia. 127 The superiority of tlio Bute Inlet route (tlie only one which opens a communication available for a raih'oad with this mag- nificent plain) being thus proved, it remains to say a few words on the different passes whicli have been explored through the llocky Mountains, on British territory, leaving out the Atha- basca Pass by Peace Kivcr, in lat. 5G° 28', as being too far north for present purposes : — Names of the Passes. UiDCB 01! Divide. ' Latitude. Longitude. Altitude. 1. Yellow Head Pass, from the Athabasca to the Upper Fraser (Uae) 2. Howse Pass, from Deer I?iver, by Blaeberry River to the Upper Columbia 3. Kicking Horse Pass, by Bow River and Kicking Horse River, to the Upper Columbia (Sullivan) 4. Vermillion Pass, from the South Saskatchewan, by Fort Bow (4100 feet), to the Kootauie (Hector) 5. Kananaskis Pass, from Fort Bow, by Pamsay River, to the Kootanie (with a short tunnel 4600 feet) (Palliser) 6. Crow's Nest Pass, by Crow River to the Kootanie 7. British Kootanie Pass, by Railway River to the Kootanie (Hlakiston) 8. Red Stone Creek, or Boundary Pass, from Waterton River to the Kootanie (partly on American ground) (Blakiston) j ] Degrees. 52-54 51-57 i 51-16 51-06 50-45 49-38 49-27 49-06 j 1 Degrees. 118-33 117-07 116-32 116-15 115-31 114-48 114-57 114-14 Feet. 3760 6347 5420 4947 5985 5960 6030 AYith the exception of the Yellow Head Pass in the above table, which is comparatively straight and short, and the three last, which are tolerably so, but too near the Boundary line to be available ; the four others describe the most circuitous routes, among a labyrinth of glaciers, and mountains covered with per- jjetual snow. Besides which, the approach to them over the plain by the South Saskatchewan is for nearly 1 00 miles through an arid, sandy, treeless district, forming the northern limit of the great American Desert; instead of the rich fertile belt drained by the north branch, which is also the more consider- able one of the two. And it is in the very latitude of this belt that the great barrier of the llocky Mountains is cleft asunder, so that the road runt, along this fertile zone in a direct line up to the lowest and easiest Pass, as to a natural gateway lead- ing to the Pacific. But we have already seen that all the southern passes (and Captain Palliser wished it to be distinctly understood that he considered these as far from being the best that could be discovered) are intercepted further west by the Selkirk range, Avhich presents an impenetrable barrier, and 128 Waddinoton on the Geography, ^-c, of British Columbia. renders them so far next to useless. When, tlierefore, we con- sider their relative altitude, their necessarily precipitous nature, and the p;reat depth of snow (27 feet or more), under which they lie buried duriufj^ eif^ht months of the year, there can be no hesitation (and such, indeed, is now the general opinion) in regarding the Yellow Head Pass through the Rocky Mountains, with its easy gradients and low elevation, as the only feasible one for a railroad. But the same has been shown with respect to the Upper Fraser, and the Bute Inlet valley, through the Cascade range. It is therefore clearly demonstrated that these passes, which connect naturally with each other, offer the best and, indeed, the only really practicable line for a railway to the Pacific through British Columbia. I shall conclude with a few lines on the urgency of a direct communication between the Canadas and the Pacific through. British territory — a fact which is becoming every day more and moi'e evident. In a political point of view, and as a natural consequence of the late confederation, it would contri- bute essentially to its prosperity ; for so long as there is no Overland route, any communication with British Columbia must remain a myth and the Red River Settlement continue isolated, instead of bei oming a valuable annex to ^the Union. At pre- sent England has no other communication with the Pacific but bj'' Is ew York and San Francisco : and in case of war with the United States the only possible postal line would be through her own tei-itory across the Rocky Mountains; whereas by opening an overland communication immediately, a mail service would be established forthwith, not only to British Columbia and Vancouver Island, but before long to Australia and Asia. In the United States the Central Pacific Railroad passes over what is commonly called the great American Desert, a vast tract of country destitute of wood and water, dry, barren, and unfit for the habitation of man ; yet in spite of this drawback, and though San Francisco possesses no coal for steamboat pur- poses, it is progressing rapidly, and the time is not far distant when it will be opened. Passengers, mails, and the lighter, costlier kinds of goods will pass over it ; it is calculated to divert a great jiart of the trat'u of China and Japan from the Old to the New World, and if we do not wake up we shall bitterly regret the lost opportunity, and an important traftic, which might so easily pass over our own territory, and which, from our position, ought naturally to belong to us. -H'-li 4i'*\'i li.Jt^titi^tMl'--