1902.] Prof. J. N. Collie on Exj)loration in the Bocky Mountains. 153 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, May 9, 1902. 



His Gbaoe The Dukb of Northumberland, K.G. D.C.L. F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Professor J. Norman Collib, Ph.D. F.R.S. 

 Exploration and Climbing in the Canadian Bocky Mountains, 



In the west of Canada lies a " Great Lone Land," a land with few 

 inhabitants, a land almost deserted, if we except a few prospectors, 

 trappers, and Indians, who spend their time among its mountain 

 fastnesses, either hunting wild animals or searching for gold and 

 minerals. This land is where the Rocky Mountains have place, where 

 a mass of hills, valleys, snow-fields and rushing rivers divide the 

 prairie land of Alberta from the canyons of the west in British 

 Columbia. 



Since, however, the Canadian Pacific Railway has bridged the 

 continent, these solitudes of the far west are more accessible to the 

 ordinary traveller, and the wild secluded valleys of the Canadian 

 Rocky Mountains are becoming more frequented. The future of this 

 country is not hard to foretell ; unfit for agricultural purposes but 

 full of the most beautiful scenery, it must, like Switzerland, become a 

 playground for those people who care for hunting, fishing, or 

 mountaineering, or for those who take a delight in spending a holiday 

 surrounded by snow, ice, and glaciers, mighty woods, beautiful lakes 

 and great rivers. No doubt, like Switzerland, it will some day be 

 completely overrun. At present, however, it is unspoilt; and as 

 there does not seem to be any likelihood of its ever being the centre 

 of any great manufacturing district, and as this mountain land is 

 vastly greater in extent than the Alps, for many years to come it will 

 remain the hunting-ground of those who can spend their spare time 

 living amidst fine scenery and in breathing pure air. 



The exploration of that part of the mountains near the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway is going rapidly forward, the valleys are being 

 explored, the snow-fields and glaciers are being mapped, and many of 

 the highest peaks have been ascended. In 1897, however, when I 

 first visited this country, little was known of the mountains that 

 lay over thirty miles away from the railway. It is true that one or 

 two parties had cut their way through the dense woods in the chief 

 valleys, but the great expanses of snow-fields and many of the higher 

 passes and snow-peaks were then undiscovered. 



