Feb. 14, 1859.] OF PASSES THROUGH THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 125 



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 soutliern pass, wliich was discovered by Mr. Palliser, leads into tlie valley of 

 the Kutanie river, and carries you down the course of that river into American 

 territory. The two more northerly passes are entirely upon British ground. 

 One of^them, the Vermilion Pass, leads to the Kutanie river, near to its 

 source ; and a second accessory pass presents itself immediately you have 

 crossed the dividing ridge of the Kocky Mountains. Turning to the right, 

 with scarcely any perceptible elevation, you pass from the head waters of 

 the Kutanie river to a branch of the Columbia river. Northward of that is 

 another pass, a little higher, called the Kicking Horse Pass, of which I have 

 not been able to hear the full details. It remains to be decided which of 

 these two passes — both of them very eligible in point of geographical position 

 — will be the more available for use, subject to the condition that for a great 

 part of the year the mountain range must be covered deep in snow. One 

 word, however, as to the mode of getting to this country. The real difBculty 

 appears to me to be in traversing that small portion which lies between the 

 corner of Lake Superior and Rainy Lake. It does appear, from information I 

 have received from Mr. Palliser, that there is no insurmountable obstacle in 

 carrying a land-road, for a certain distance to the westward, parallel to the 

 course of the White Fish River, which falls into the Kammistaquoia some- 

 what below the Kakabeka Falls. But then there comes a region of swamps 

 and rocks, so intricate that you never seem to remain long on either land or 

 water ; and without some enormous outlay, there seems no practicable mode 

 of making a land-road in the direction which they took. Nor is there any 

 convenient way of travelling by water, except by the tedious one of small 

 canoes and crossing portages, of which 26 were found in the lower course of 

 the White Fish River. Why I allude to this matter is, because the small 

 space of 50 or 60 miles from Pigeon River to the Kammistaquoia, so far as I 

 know, has never yet been explored by white men ; and if it should be found 

 that there is a sufficient amount of dry and solid land on which a road can be 

 made, it will throw open to British enterprise, in the valley of the Saskat- 

 chewan, a tract of territory of greater extent than the whole of France and 

 England put together. Before sitting down I may allude to one peculiar 

 feature of this country, and that is the extraordinary nature of the water- 

 shed in the Rocky Mountains. Except in the Carpathian chain, we have 

 nowhere in the old world anything exactly like it. The rivers seem to 

 pass across the axis of greatest elevation. The two main branches of the 

 Saskatchewan river pass to the westward of the highest mountains in the 

 chain. Mount Murchison and Mount Hooker ; and on the western side of the 

 chain we have this extraordinary fact — two rivers flowing parallel to each 

 other a few miles apart for a long distance, the Columbia and the Kutanie, 

 one running to the n.w., and the other to the s.e. It appears to me one of 

 the most singular facts that we know of in physical geography. 



Lord Bury, m.p., f.r.g.s. — I shall certainly make it a point to follow in the 

 general direction which you. Sir, have pointed out ; but, like the last speaker, 

 I, too, cast rather a longing eye to that corner of the country to which he has 

 alluded. With regard to the present expedition. Captain Palliser has had the 

 advantage, which he shares only with the explorers of some parts of Africa and 

 Australia, of dealing with an almost unknown subject. The reason why we 

 are ignorant of this country is, that it has been to a certain extent shut up by 

 the Hudson Bay Company. That Company holds territorial sway and exclu- 

 sive right of trade over the whole of the country. The importance of the dis- 

 covery of these three passes must depend in a great measure upon the value of 

 the land on each side of the Rocky Mountains. If the land to the eastward 

 between Lake Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains, and the land to the west- 

 ward near to the new colony of Columbia, be valueless, then the discoveries 

 which Captain Palliser has made will be equally valueless. But if we can 



