To the north spreads upward, and backward to its summit, the vast
bank of the river, varied as to surface by rounded bare hills and
valleys and flats sprinkled with aspens, cherries, and saskatoons,
the latter loaded with ripe fruit.
The banks of the Peace River are a country in themselves, in
which, particularly on the north side, numerous homesteads might
be, and indeed have been, carved out. Descending to the river,
we found a Hudson's Bay Company and Police post. The river here
is about a third of a mile wide, and was in freshet, with a
current, we thought, of about six miles an hour.
At Smoky River we met a couple of prospectors, Mr. Tryon, a nephew
of the ill-fated Admiral, and Mr. Cooper Blachford, down from the
Poker Flat mining-camp, this side the Finlay Rapids, in the Selwyn
Mountains. They reached that camp by way of Ashcroft, B.C., in
twenty-two days, the Peace River route being very much longer and
more difficult. They described the camp there as a promising one,
with much gold-bearing quartz in sight, but the cost of provisions
and the extreme difficulty of development under the circumstances
held it back.
There being but a few half-breeds here, we crossed the river, and
decided to go on to Fort Dunvegan, and on our return complete our
scrip issue at the Landing; so, partly on horseback and partly by
waggon, we made our way to our first camp. The trail lay along
and up and down the immense bank of the river, debouching at one
place at the site of old Fort McLeod, and passing the fine St.
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