CHAPTER V. 



Spying Out the Land. 



I spent a week inspecting fruit ranches on tiie 

 shores of the west arm of Kootenay Lake, near 

 Nelson, at prices ranging from $100 to $135 per acre, 

 the ranches being all what arc called " improved " — 

 that is, each had a certain proportion of its acreage 

 cleared and planted with trees of various ages, and 

 a further proportion in different stages of clearing. 

 Then I looked at a few unimproved fruit-lands, the 

 prices, of course, ruling lower. It was one of these, 

 situated near Bonnington Falls, in the Kootenay 

 River, eleven miles below Nelson, that appealed to 

 me most strongly. The soil was first-rate and of great 

 depth. A large portion of the land was cleared in as 

 far as big trees were concerned, and on the remainder 

 the big timber-trees were all sold and the purchaser 

 was busily engaged cutting them down and getting 

 them out. The aspect, a gentle slope towards the 

 south, well sheltered all round, was in every way excel- 

 lent. Five to ten acres were ready for breaking and 

 ploughing at once, and if this were done without 

 delay a crop of some sort could be reaped the first 

 year. The place was close to a railway station, 

 through which three trains passed each way, to and 



34 



