In a minute by the Hon. Joseph W. Trutch, late Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia, it is stated that little has hitherto been done towards the construction of trails or roads across the Rocky Mountains north of the 49th parallel, and that the primitive paths through the various passes of this mountain range, originally tracked out by Indians, and only kept open, year by year, by their travel along them, are still the sole means of communication between British Columbia and the North-West Territory. Many of these passes are, however, even in their primitive condition, so easy of passage that horses carry heavy loads over them with facility, and through the Vermilion Pass loaded carts have been driven on the natural roadway unimproved by labour. But although, adds Mr. Trutch, the work of building a road over the Rocky Mountains has yet to be commenced, much has already been effected by this province towards the consummation of the much-desired line of road communication through British territory, between the sea-coast of British Columbia and Canada. In fact, more than one-half (in cost) of this work within the limits. of the province is now complete. The Cascade Range of mountains, the great barrier between the sea-coast of British Columbia and its interior districts, which presented a far more difficult engineering obstacle to road-making, and one more expensive to overcome than the Rocky Mountains themselves, has been pierced by two lines of coach road, which, commencing at Yale and Douglas respectively, the limits of steamboat navigation on the Lower Frazer and its tributary, Harrison Lake, unite at Clinton, 136 miles from Yale, on the high-rolling plateau in the interior, from which junction-point the road extends 242 miles farther northwards to Cameronton, in the heart of the Cariboo district, distant altogether 378 miles from Yale. A branch road, twenty-three miles long, has also been built from the main line, at a point on the Buonaparte River 110 miles from Yale, to Savona's at the lower (western) end of Kamloops Lake, from which place uninterrupted steamboat navigation extends through Kamloops Lake, and up the South Thompson River to the upper (eastern) end of Great Shuswap Lake, a distance of 115 miles, and also up the north branch of Thompson River, which joins the South Thompson at Fort Kamloops, to a distance of eighty-five miles from the latter post. These roads, constructed at a total cost of $1,339,915 (about £275,000), are of a character very superior to that of public roads in most young countries. Loads of seven and eight tons are hauled along them by mules or oxen, at an average draught load of 1200 lbs. or 1300 lbs. to each team animal; and the mail horses travels between Yale and coach drawn by six Cariboo at the rate of nine miles an hour. From the Cariboo terminus of this road, and from Savona's, as well as from intermediate points along the road, various routes may be traced to the different passes of the Rocky Mountains. Of these passes, nine in number, only three appear to be fitted for forming lines of connection between the sea-coast of British Columbia and Canada, viz. the Leather Pass, 3760 feet; Howse Pass, 4500 feet; and Kicking Horse Pass, 5210 feet. In either case the road, 133 miles in length, already constructed from Yale to Savona, would form part of the line of route. The distances of these two routes do not greatly vary, and the estimate of cost is about the same. Their rival merits, in the judgment of the Commissioner, can only be determined after more exact inquiry has been made. 5. The Cascades, Coast, and Gold Ranges of British The main orographical features of the west coast are the Coast or Cascade Range, the great central hilly plateau or table-land, and the Rocky Mountain chain; subordinate to the latter, and more or less parallel with it, are two other belts of mountainous country, the Selkirk Mountains and the Gold Range. All these mountain chains, and likewise the central plateau, have a general northwest and south-east course. The Coast, or Cascade Range, is the northward extension of the Sierra Nevada; hilly central plateau bears a similar relation to the great volcanic, arid, and hilly table-land of the State of Nevada; and the Selkirk and Gold Ranges may be paralleled with the Bitter Root Mountains between Montana and Idaho, the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, and other chains which occupy a similar position in relation to the main axis of the Rocky Mountains. Exclusive of the volcanic cones and craters of Mount Baker, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, and others, from 10,000 to 15,000 feet high, none of which, however, occur between the Fraser River mouth and Alaska, the highest points of the Cascade Mountains probably do not exceed 7000 feet. The central plateau has an average elevation of from 1000 to 3000 feet. The Selkirk Mountains, especially towards the north, in the vicinity of Cariboo, and about the sources of the North Thompson, have a somewhat greater average elevation than the Cascades, and they appear, likewise, to contain a greater number of glaciers and of points above the snow-line, though their more inland position may perhaps account for this fact irrespective of their altitude. |