From the Pacific to Hudson's Bay. 303 



The country on the east side of the Parsnip, towards the Misin- 

 chinca and the Pine River Pass, is densely wooded, or covered with 

 wind-fall or bruU. The surface rises gradually. Following the 

 south bank of the Misinchinca, we pass over sandy and gravelly 

 benches, which are generally less than one hundred feet above the 

 river, and covered with pine of small growth. Crossing the river in 

 latitude 55° 14' 39", where it touches the hills on the left of the 

 valley eighteen miles above its mouth, we continue in broad flat- 

 bottom lands until within two miles of where it is joined by the 

 Atunacthe. The river then changes its character, flowing swiftly 

 over coarse gravel and boulders, and spreading widely in seasons of 

 flood through " sloughs " and alternate channels by which the 

 valley bottom is cut up. Most of the land in the bottom of the 

 valley is elevated only a few feet above the river, and some of it is 

 evidently liable to overflow. The mountains at the sides of the 

 valley rise boldly to heights of 2,500 or 3,000 feet above it in some 

 instances, and are densely tree-clad, with the exception of the highest 

 points. Large trees of black spruce and cottonwood occur in some 

 places, several of the latter being observed to attain five feet in 

 diameter. 



But we are nearing the Pine River Pass. The valley which is 

 occupied by the lower part of the Misinchinca may be said to come 

 to an end at the mouth of the Atunatche, inosculating with a 

 second which runs in a north north-west b}- south south-east course 

 parallel to the main direction of flexure and elevation in this part 

 of the Rocky Mountains. In the opposite direction this depression 

 becomes the Atunatche valley, and further on that of the upper 

 part of the Pine River, which, after flowing north north-westward 

 for eleven miles, turns abruptly to the eastward and finds its way 

 to the Peace River below Fort St. John. 



From the mouth of the Atunatche River to the lower end of 

 Summit Lake, a distance of about four miles, the valley is about 

 half a mile in width, of flat ground or gentle slopes. Summit Lake 

 is a small body of water ; its south end is bounded by a low, grassy 

 flat. The lake drains into the Atunatche ; but about three-fourths 

 of a mile beyond its north-western end a stream, forming the source 



