SCENIC EXCURSIONS 



BY A. 0. LEUSCHNER 



Professor of Astronomy, 

 University of California 



NORTHERN TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES. The 

 Grand Trunk Pacific Route from the eastern 

 part of the United States and Canada to the 

 Pacific Coast at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is 

 the most northerly and the newest of the several 

 transcontinental routes, and has been completed for 

 through travel in time for the season of 1915. The 

 low altitude of the pass, 3700 feet, enhances the 

 grandeur of the peaks of the Canadian Cordillera 

 on either side of the railroad. From Prince Rupert, 

 connections are made by steamer with Vancouver 

 and Seattle, as well as with nearby Alaskan ports. 



The route from Prince Rupert northward by 

 steamer skirts the south shore of Digby Island, 

 enters Chatham Sound, and continues through 

 Dixon Entrance and the sheltered waters of Port- 

 land Arm to Stewart, near the dividing line be- 

 tween British Columbia and Alaska, or to Anyox 

 and Granby Bay on Observatory Inlet, past the 

 Indian village of Metlakahtla, to the east, and then 

 to Port Simpson, thirty-seven miles from Prince 

 Rupert. There is a fine glacier near Stewart. Port 

 Simpson was established as a Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany post more than one hundred years ago. Round 

 trip fare from Prince Rupert $10.00, including 

 meals and berths; two sailings each week; length 

 of trip twenty-six hours. 



The Queen Charlotte Islands are extremely pic- 

 turesque, rich in minerals, forests, and fisheries 

 products. The totem poles of the Haida Indians 

 of these islands are especially fine. Round trip fare 

 from Prince Rupert approximately $20.00, depend- 

 ing on the number of points visited; two sailings 

 per week; length of trip twenty-eight hours. (See 

 below for trip to Juneau and Skagway.) 



Some of the wildest and most beautiful moun- 

 tain scenery in the world is to be seen from the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway, which passes for 600 

 miles through the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and 



NOTE. This chapter gives in a condensed form authori- 

 tative information kindly furnished by transportation com- 

 panies, chambers of commerce in the several cities of the 

 Coast, and by tourist associations. Further information may 

 be obtained from books mentioned in the list of references 

 appended. 



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