Section IV, 1920 [45] Trans. R.S.C. 



The Origin and History of the Great Canon of Fraser River 

 By Charles Camsell, B. Sc, F.R.S.C, F.G.S.A. 



(Read May Meeting, 1920) 



Introductory Statement 



Ever since its discovery in 1808 by Simon Fraser, the valley of 

 Fraser river has been the route most frequently followed by travellers 

 going from the interior of the Province of British Columbia to the 

 Pacific Coast or in the opposite direction, for the great cafion that 

 extends from Lytton to Hope is the strongest gap in thé Cascade and 

 Coast mountain systems between Columbia river and the Skeena, a 

 distance of nearly 800 miles. 



The early travellers were forced to make passage through the 

 canon on foot or more rarely by canoe, but all passages were made at 

 serious risk and under great difficulty. The pretense of a trail which 

 existed, when Simon Fraser made his trip in 1808, was later improved 

 and used for a short time by the brigades of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany and in 1862 was enlarged to a wagon road to accommodate the 

 thousands of gold seekers who, at that time, were pouring into the 

 placer gold fields of the Cariboo district in search of fortunes. 



This old road, which is known as the Cariboo road, was almost 

 completely destroyed by the railway builders about 35 years ago and 

 all traffic through the caiion has since been by rail on either the 

 Canadian Pacific or the Canadian National railways. 



Plans are, however, now being made to rebuild the Cariboo 

 road to provide motor connection between the coast and the interior 

 of the province and as a link in a great trans-continental highway 

 which may in time be extended across the whole of Canada from the 

 Pacific to the Atlantic. 



Geology 



The oldest rocks of the caîïon are highly disturbed sediments of 

 Carboniferous age which have been correlated by Dawson with the 

 Cache Creek series. With these are associated a younger series of 

 rocks which have not been separated in detail from the older rocks, 

 but are believed to be of early Mesozoic age. Both of these series 

 have a strike approximately parallel to the mountain ranges. 



Granitic rocks, which are intrusive into the older sedimentary 

 series, occupy a great part of the carion. These form part of the 

 great Coast Range batholith and were intruded in two distinct periods 

 in the history of the region, namely, Jurassic and early Tertiary. 



