CHAPTER XI. 



PIONEERING IN KOOTENAY. 

 EARLY DAYS IN KOOTENAY. 



ONE of the conditions of my land concession from the British 

 Columbia Government was that I should forthwith place a steamer 

 on the navigable portions of the Lower Kootenay river and lake. 

 This was a far more formidable job than I had anticipated, for, as I 

 have said, the country was then a perfectly wild region, Dick Fry 

 with his squaw and half dozen half-breed children at their "ranch/' 

 where now stands the thriving town of Bonner's Ferry, being the 

 only resident white man in the whole of the Lower Kootenay 

 country. After obtaining prices from Oregon boatbuilders at 

 Portland, I came to the conclusion that the speediest and probably 

 cheapest way of fulfilling my engagements was to bring a steam 

 launch owned by an English friend, who, with a few others, had 

 joined me in carrying through the land enterprise, over from the 

 old world, and take her by rail as far as Sandpoint, and from thence 

 transport her overland to Dick Fry's ranch, which was the nearest 

 point on the Kootenay river. She had last navigated the waters of 

 Norwegian fiords, so, though small in size, her teak hull made her a 

 staunch little craft. I brought her across the ocean on deck of the 

 Polynesian, landing her at Montreal, from whence, by taking 

 advantage of the artificial and natural waterways that penetrate 

 into the heart of the continent, she was finally put on two Northern 

 Pacific cars at Duluth, almost half-way across the continent of 

 North America. 



Canada we know protects her home industries by a very high 

 Customs tariff, and among the few articles that can be taken in free 



