The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1919-09-13
VISITED THE
DUKHOBORS
COLVILLE PARTY MAKES TRIP
THROUGH BRITISH COLUM-
BIA IN AUTO
Sketch of Interesting Things to BE
Seen by Tourists Across Border
of Stevens County

o. j. Smith Of Spokane who is here
n shF & s@n of Htfy shs First 5dh% nG"sGt B.
Slater and Mrs. Slater recently made
a siX-hundred- mile trip through
n";H lst aoW Gc"mPs y %rSs Ss
trip:
Scouting through a foreign coun-
try one gains information first hand
that is not obtainable through the
columns of the going press, and,
whether it be far away Russia or
just few miles away over the line
in the Canadian country, there are
things of interest to home folks to
be dug out Of the scenery.
The first day out from Colville we
interviewed the American customs
officer at Laurier who took our
names, our auto number and a list
of our luggage, and gave us slip
of identification to the British Gus
toms collector half block away
over the international boundary
line, and he in turn gave us a per-
nit to travel for 30 days over any
part of Canada Should we stay
over the 30-day-limit, we would be
required to pay duty on our car.
Our first stop was at Christina lake
which is one of the prettiest of
mountain gems. Towering hills
covered with green timber roll away
back in all directions from its 30 to
40 miles of shore line, and the clear
waters are tracked by small sailing
and rowing crafts that carry tourists
about its interesting coast. Pc
culiar to this lake is the kokonee
trout, landlOcked salmon weighing
about three to pound, which is
taken by hundreds of tons in the
fishing season and marketed readily
in the towns of western Canada.
The c. p. railway roadbed is chan
neled through the bluffs 1000 feet
above the water level of the lake
and the occasional scream of the To-
cOmotive seems to be the principal
disturbing feature of the solitude.
But the roads! British Columbia
has the states surpassed by its sys-
TEN of roads-both good roads and
bad ones. We travelled over graded
and surfaced roads from Laurer to
Midway, so or 60 miles, through
mountain, hill and vale, without the
necessity for changing gear from
high. Then we went out over
wilderness traversed by an officially
chartered highway between Bride
vile and Osooyoos lake where the
roads were soft and rutted to the
axle. On the west slope of Osoo-
yOOs mountain there is drop of
$500 feet on eight miles of switch
back so uncertain and dangerous
that a mishap by false manipula-
tiOn of the machine would send a
party of auto travellers down over
rocky bluffs to certain destruction.
The Canadians direct travel this way
because it is an all-Canadian road
bed. The Canadian people know
how to get roads where they are
most needed by showing the provin-
cial road officials the bad spots
under proper circumstances. A few
days before we went over the Osoo-
yoos trail the local authorities in
duced the official head of the provin-
cial highway department to make a
personal inspection of the district.
Instead Of taking him down Osoo-
yoos mountain, they took him in a
Ford up the switchback grade on a
hot summer day. The chauffeur
on this occasion handled his car in
such a manner that the passengers
had to walk almost the entire dis
tance and push the car up the steep
pitches at frequent intervals. On
reaching the top after half days
scramble over rocks and through the
suffocating dust the honorable gen.
tleman from Victoria declared that
within the next year he would spend
at least 100000 in making this
route safe and passable. Another
bad stretch on which we were in
duced to travel was the % miles
from Osooyoos to Keremeos over
Richters pass from the Okanogan to
the Similkameen valley which we
made in the night. The roadbed is
solid, but the descent on the west
side is quite precipitous. One makes
a mistake in taking shortcuts. Time
is gained by keeping on the regular
ly built roads by which there is no
finer way of travelling, and the beau
ties of the British Columbia scenery
are correspondingly enhanced.
Then, they have things in Canada
that are not tolerated in the United
States. 1t is % miles from Grand