A TIOAD BY THE LEATHER PASS. 329 



place, then, we may safely state that, with the excep- 

 tion of one or two rocky and precipitous bluffs — few 

 and trifling obstructions, compared with those which 

 have been so successfully overcome in making the 

 road along the Eraser — there are no engineering 

 difficulties of any importance. From the Red Eiver 

 Settlement to Edmonton, about 800 miles, the road 

 lies through a fertile and park-lik^ country, and an 

 excellent cart trail already exists. From Edmonton 

 to Jasper House, a distance of about 400 miles, the 

 surface is slightly undulating, the lower ground 

 universally swampy, and everywhere covered with 

 thick forest. There is little doubt that a better 

 trail than the one at present used might be found 

 for this portion of the way, by keeping to the higher 

 ground, for the pioneers of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company sought the swamps in the first instance, 

 as offering fewer impediments to their progress, 

 on account of their being less heavily timbered. 

 From Jasper House to Tete Jaune Cache — the 

 pass through the main ridge of the Eocky Moun- 

 tains, about 100 or 120 miles in length — a wide 

 break in the chain, running nearly east and west, 

 offers a natural roadway, unobstructed except by 

 timber. The rivers, with the exception of the Atha- 

 basca and the Eraser, are small and fordable; even at 

 their highest. The ascent to the height of land is 

 very gradual, and, indeed, hardly perceptible ; the 

 level only 3,760 feet above the sea; (^) and the 



(^) According to thp observations of Dr. Eae, with small aneroid 

 barometer. 



