East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-08-22


not well describe, but to any one who
appreciates nature in her moods OF
grandeur; the trip over the Canadian
Pacific Is one vista of delight. From !
the Fraser river canyon, starting say
at Hope or Yale, on almost to Cal /
gary, one sees scenery that is inspir-
ing and beautiful. At the latter ,
point, Yale, in the old mining days
of 1868, the Dominion government
built wagon road into the famous
Cariboo mining district, When the
railroad came the old road fell into
dsuse, but even now, though land
slides and snowsldes have torn great
gaps in it, and 1t is, of course, no
longer passable even for a person
afoot. There are sections where 1t
winds in sinuous course along the
shoulder of the overhanging hills or
creepse along the lodges high above
the roaring, tumultuous Fraser river, |
where 1t still seems as substantial, as
smooth and as well built as it was
40 years ago, when it was pressed by
the eager feet of the miners bound
for the new Eldorado, the Cariboo
district.
Just beyond Spuzzum after dashing
md ont of tho c,ccaceiop of rock c,,tG
and tunnels, the train passes Hell
Gate. The river seeths and whirls
and dashes itself to spray against the
rocky cliffs whihc confine it. II
comes down to a fifth of its usual
width and seems as though the broad
river had been turned upon edge to
force its way through the knife blade
cut in the rocky roll. All along the
Fraser canyon as well as on the crys-
tal clear Thompson river are the
flimsy stick and skin structures of the
Indians on the rocks. On all sides
you see what looks like an immense
tennis racket five feet wide by 10 or
IL feet long with slant netting of
cords stretched across the peeled will
low frame. The Indians are busy
catching salmon with these crude dip
nets. Lining the river bank at in
tervals for miles are crude frame
structures on which the split salmon
are being dried.
After leaving the Fraser river the
train enters a wonderfully picturesque
region called the Thompson river
canon. 1t is impossible to keep track
of the turnings and twlstings of the
train. 1t almost seems at times as
though the cow-catcher could shake
hands with the rear platform. The
river flowing hundreds of feet below
is a good part of the time a ribbon
of silver so white is 1t from spray
AS we pass Nicoman some one in the
train attracts our attention to the
first discovery of placer gold in Brit
ish Columbia. This was in the year
1851 After passing through some
scenery which keeps the passengers in
the observation car in n state OF abs
and obs of rapture, we halt at the
From here the Cariboo gold fields are
now reached. At Ashcroft we took
on a passenger with whom | soon fell
into conversation. He was telling me
of the mining interests of that section
and of early day mining. A man
across the aisle from us pointed out to
the brown hills and said, "What a
desolate country. Fit for nothing but
sagebrush and rattle snakes"
My seat mate, the gentleman who
had gotten on at Ashcroft, could not
stand for this assertion. He pointed
to the brown hills to the right and
to the shimmering blue waters of
Kamloops lake to the left and then
about 1t, just what you can see from
the car window. What do you know
of what lies back beyond the hills
here. Nothing. Let me tell you. Do
you see that bunch of green trees on
your side of the lake that is an Or
chard belonging to Mr.. Cooney, an
Irishman. He has 400 acres of ir-
rigated land on Tranquille creek. He
cuts 10 tons of alfalfa every year
to the acre. He gets SIS a ton for
1t, baled, or SO a ton loose His or
chard is hard to beat. His neighbor
there, William Fortune, took the first
prize at the worlds fair with his ap-
pies. They weighed from 2S to 32
ounces apiece. Lake Kamloops