ON THE ISLAND OF VANCOUVER 227 



The town of Vancouver, not to be confused with 

 its namesake island, lies opposite, on the mainland, 

 and is the western terminus of the four- thousand- mile 

 Canadian Pacific Railroad the longest railway in the 

 British Empire. 



In reference to the wooden trestle viaducts men- 

 tioned above a good story is told. The railway zig- 

 zags over these viaducts to and fro as it gradually 

 climbs the mountain range, and, looking out of the 

 car window, one can see straight below the section 

 of railroad and high wooden trestle that was traversed 

 perhaps half an hour before ; and above another 

 section, that will be reached in another half -hour 

 or so. At each end of the straight lengths of viaduct 

 the line curves in serpentine fashion, or double-loop. 

 Here the turns are made. The story goes that one 

 dark night the driver of a particularly long train saw 

 ahead of him, as he thought, red danger-lights just 

 when he was rounding a double-loop. He promptly 

 pulled up, only to discover that they were the rear 

 lights of his own guard's- van at the end of his long 

 train ! 



My object in visiting Victoria was to explore the 

 San Juan river and valley, lying some forty miles 

 away up the west coast of Vancouver Island, and 

 hitherto seldom, if ever, visited by sportsmen. A 

 scheme of State-aided settlement in this valley was 

 then contemplated, and I wished to examine its nature 

 and resources for myself. The sport enjoyed was 

 a natural incident of my trip. 



Vancouver is a densely-wooded island, about 100 

 miles in length, covered for the most part with 

 magnificent spruce and cedar trees, second only 

 in height and girth to the timber of the State of 



152 



