ALONG PEACE RIVER 



259 



trading companies, politicians and sev- 

 eral surveyors. It took three weeks to 

 reach Fort St. John where from the river 

 banks, nine hundred feet high, the Rocky 

 Mountains are to be seen. The first of 

 civilization in the persons of several 

 young settlers went to St. John with us. 



Here also are remnants of 

 once powerful Beaver tribes who 

 in early days burned the trading 

 post and killed the traders. As 

 treaty had been paid consider- 

 ably in advance of the adver- 

 tised date the Indians were 

 nearly all far back from the 

 river securing food for the 

 winter. 



A week's stay was made at 

 Dunvegan, some miles from 

 which place a band of Beaver 

 live on the reserve. Near them 

 were several prosperous agricul- 

 tural settlements. Dunvegan 

 itself had not as yet responded 

 to the efforts of the real estate 

 agents at Edmonton. Its white 

 population varies from three to 

 five depending upon the move- 

 ments of the mail-carriers. 



Coming back to Peace River 

 Crossing was pleasant and 

 should have been easy. If one 

 sits down on a raft or in a canoe 

 and sits still he will quietly pass 

 the two hundred and forty miles 

 from St. John to Peace River 

 Crossing. Our luck was a canoe 

 loaned to us. Because it was 

 the homeward journey the nat- 

 ural speed of the current, three 

 miles, was increased to five or 

 six by the use of the paddles. 

 It is tiresome work, but a few 

 days of it puts a large share of 

 conceit into one when he tries his muscles 

 against a loafer. Yes, there were bears, 

 there always are on the Peace, This 



was the time of ripe berries and there 

 were many bears. We know that they, 

 Indian-like, must have "made medicine" 

 against us, for nothing else could have 

 prevented our killing one. 



We were very happy when Sunday 

 night at eleven o'clock, two hours after 



Alexander Mackenzie, a descendant of the original 

 Alexander Mackenzie, explorer and discoverer of the river 

 which bears his name. Mr. Mackenzie is standing on the 

 site of Fort MacLeod where the earher Mackenzie spent his 

 first winter on the Peace River before starting out for the 

 Pacific. 



darkness had come in the early days of 

 September, we paddled our canoe along- 

 side the Company's boat "Peace River." 



