The Washington herald., 1915-09-19


c." Alberta as Alta Saskatchewan
as ''Sas" and Manitoba as MAN,
What province Is all this mess OF
mountains in anyway" asked an East.
ern tourist, as two big oil-burning en-.
gines were laboriously Juggling US up the
stiff grade to the great divide. twistiss
through tunnels shaped like q figure
eight and cut in the heart Of the noun
tain and again clinging to a sheer wall
Of rock with a straightaway drop Of q
thousand feet at one side.
"B. c." replied the much-traveled man
across the aisle.
"Of course. Any fool could tell that.
II this place don't look like 1t was Be
fore Christ's time. I'll eat fried cat"
1t was a gold rush that made British
Columbia a province and it was the in
habitants of this province that black
mailed the government into building a
transcontinental railroad. From May to
July, 1855, more than 10000 miners left
San Francisco in search Of gold along
the Fraser and Thompson rivers. The
invasion of this populace required q
stronger rule than had existed and so
it was only natural that the political
privileges of the Hudson's Bay company
were taken over by the British govern
ment and the colony Of British Columbia
was founded, August 2. 1855.
When the various independent prov
inces had been united as the Do
minion Of Canada. nine years later
British Columbia agreed to come in on
the condition that a railway should be
constructed to link the Atlantic and the
Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway
was the result, being built. so far as
possible, along the lines of the old fur
traders route and the trails taken by
the seekers after gold along the Fraser
Canyon. Every now and then bits OF
the old trail can be seen and the ruins
Of fiimsy bridges across the roaring river.
The gold getting along the Fraser
now is mostly confined to washing tho
sands of the bars where pretty rich de-
posits are found. These gold washers
are now almost entirely Chinese. There
is one place called China Bar" where
there Is quite a settlement of them An
old settler with whom 1 got into con-
versation in the smoking compartment
told me that a Chinaman has no trouble
in washing out from s. to SO worth OF
gold a day. A white man. he said.
scorns to work for any such meager re-
turns, even though they are sure. He
wants to take chances in the hopes OF
getting 1000 or more dollars q day.
When a Chinaman gets a few hundred
dollars of gold dust he packs it down
to Vancouver and banks 1t.
This Fraser River Is supposed to be
full of salmon. 1t may have been.
didn't see any, but It might have been
fun of whales and you couldn't have seen
them. the water is SO muddy. 1t looked
like a torrent Of roaring, dirty. pale-yel-
low paint. Any salmon that went up that
river would have to take a bath after
ward.
A handful Of Middle West school-teach-
ers, who were making the trip so as to
60 home and face their scholars with In
accurate accounts of 1t. saw lots of sal
mon; at least. heard them say so and
exclaim and point. When I couldn't con-
tain my curiosity any longer. I looked to
see the salmon they had discovered, and
found them to be some sticks that the
workmen on the Canadian Pacific North
ern on the other side of the river had set
afioat.
I did see a Rocky Mountain goat.
of them. The old settler
pointed them out to me. He pointed out
two things that looked like bushes on the
and told me they were the
famous mountain goats. One good, long
look at them convinced me that he was
lying, and 30 said:
yes: and I suppose you think am .
city goat?'
That went over him. He only looked
puzzled. and turned his gaze to the
bushes again.
There they go!' he exclaimed.
looked and saw those bushes scram-
bling up the mountainside like Ty Cobb
trying to get to first base.
Now. who are you going to believe when
you are travelling. anyway?
Ever since 1857, when the engineers nrst
iung the steel across this universe Of
peaks. the railway has grappled with the
America. It's 500 miles wide, and no
twenty-four hours on . stretch watching
scenery; and. therefore. hotels were built
at convenient points along the line 30
that travellers could rest. and. II they %
desired. explore the surrounding country.
These hotels have grown With time. and
districts. such a. BaHfR. lake Louise.
Field. and Glacier. have become % popu-
lar that travellers from all over the world
come each year to the matchIess scenery
Of the Canadian Rockies for pure air and
the opportunity Of sport Of several kinds
-nshing. hunting. Alpine climbing, rid
lne. driving, and gnlf.
It's nneA healthisr than living IN crowd
q ssaonoak heooso Il noisome cit3es aud
nee ~ nlaEe dauuoroua deu't recom-
meu1 Il b tha manaseM4nt of the yredA
Air HnDl IT. eAnGreA Ihex WuoA -
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ceoee dewa Il 01eer g ~ - eaecA
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