Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-09

through the mountains by the river, the
walls of the canyon being from 100 to 400
feet high. 1t has taken ages to make the
channel through which it rum at the
present time, the old bed of the canyon
being clearly seen over $50 feet above the
river where it now runs. The proof of
this is seen in a series of deep wells cut
in the solid rock by whirling boulders
caused by the eddies of the river, being
similar to such walls on the level of the
river as it run now. These wells are Is
to 20 feet deep and from two to four feet
in diameter, their walls being worn
smooth and polished by the constant rub
bling of the boulders as they turned for
centuries. The banks of the canyon are
composed of a series of sandstone Lodges
with cut banks, clay covering the top,
with numerous coal seams howing clear
ly. These are from one to six feet thick,
and the coal is of good quality, similar
to the coal mined at Edmonton. 10 B.
Three miles from the mouth of the can
yon there is an island which presents at
a distance the appearance of a large ship
of war of the old wooden pattern, with
their numerous port holes. This island
stands about 80 feet out of the river, hav-
ing been cut out in this peculiar way by
the river in the years gone by. The fali
of the river through the canyon is about
270 feet in % miles, n a series of rapids
from it's mouth to Hudson's Hope. NaVl-
cation, although dangerous, is not lmpos-
sible at certain times of the year TO ex-
pert boatmen; but there is nothing to be
gained by attempting to go through:
From Hudson's Hope to the boundary
line between the Northwest Territory
and British Columbia the banks of the
Peace are practically level, and are of an
elevation of between 700 to 900 feet above
the river. The country is mostly covered
by a thick growth of spruce n poplar
with occasional open parts caused py nre
in past years. The river banks are cut
by deep gullies.
The party left Hudson's Hope on No
vember "a, 1898, and arrived in Edmonton
on January 81. Part of the delay IN the
homeward journey was caused by the Ice
on the rivers not being strong enough 10
| carry the horses. The actual time OIL
travelling from Hudson's Hope to Ed
| monitor was 40 days, the distance traV-
eled being $50 miles. The route taken on
the return journey was down the Peace
| to the Crossing, thence overland to Lesser
| Slave lake, down the lake to Lesser Slave
river to Athabasca river, following that
river to the Landing and thence over
! land to Edmonton. The time from the
Landing to the city was four hours
Regarding the weather, 1T has been re-
markable for it's mildness, with the ex-
! ception of one weeks cold weather, one
day being 60 degrees below zero.
General Freight gent Moore of the
Northern Pacific Railway company is
very much taken with Spokane. He has
just returned to st. Paul from a visit to
that city and his is what he said in an
interviews:
mot since the period of depression
have L seen so much confidence among
the merchants and producers of the west
as on this trip. The merchants, without
exception, said they We're satisfied with
their business and the net results and
predicted unprecedented prosperity. Ia
coma, Seattle and Spokane We're flourish
ing, especially Spokane. Where a year
ago Spokane was out at the heels, now
all labor is employed, everybody is feel
ing good, stocks have increased and trade
is better than since the depression.
spokane has an especially bright flu
ture. This year lots of railroad con-
struction south of Spokane is opening up
the Camas prairie and Buffalo Hump dis
tricts. At the latter point are the best gold
finds ever discovered. North of Spokane
the mining business is just humming. l
know no other place with conditions so
favorable for a business boom as Spo-
kane. Everywhere people are saying
this. Spokane's climate helps her
greatly.
"There was a conference of railroad
representatives and merchants at Port
land to have Portland's jobbing territory
extended eastward. The Spokane job
bers are forming an association for the
same urpose In the meantime the
Twin City jobbers want to go further
west, making the situation difficult for
the railroads."