72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



results, the valleys, prove, has been operative in the past also. This cutting up ot 

 the Canadian Cordilleras in comparison with the American is under such cir- 

 cumstances an indication that the general arrangement of the rainy districts on 

 the west side of the Pacific has experienced no essential change for a considerable 

 time but only oscillations. 



It was already evening when we passed the Shuswap lake on the 4th of 

 September, and that night we went past the Kamloops lake. Thus those of us 

 who did not return by the C.P.R. lost the impression made by these great lake 

 surfaces with their peculiar surroundings which form the rather dry plateau of the 

 Canadian Cordilleras, lying enclosed between the Coast Chain and the Gold Range, 

 an outpost of the great arid territory of the United States and like this latter 

 distinguished by the outcrop of late volcanic rocks. On the morning of 

 September 5th we found ourselves far down on the Fraser River which, for a 

 while, follows a cretaceous trough on the eastern border of the Canadian Coast 

 Range. These mountains rise not far from its banks to a height of 3,000 meters. 

 But their proud heads were concealed in the clouds ; our view was confined to 

 the valley which indeed had enough to offer us. As a mighty stream the Fraser 

 rushed along ; we follow it upon a terrace of varying height. In several places, 

 as for example at Hellgate, the valley narrows to a gorge, its walls rise over 

 1,000 meters from the river, which above such places seems to be dammed up, 

 and has left plain highwater marks twenty meters above its September level. 

 Laboriously and by astonishing feats of engineering skill the railway finds room. 

 Here and there in the distance one sees Indian camps, inhabited by fishing parties 

 and surrounded by platforms full of dried salmon. Besides these there are 

 Chinese immigrants. They travel in bands along the railway line. The forest 

 grows more and more luxuriant, the single trees rise like giants. Everything 

 combines to make the journey thi'ough the Fraser canyon, as the magnificent 

 valley is called, a most magnificent one, full of unique experiences. 



The Fraser River gives the C.P.R. an outlet to the sea. It finds its way 

 there south of the Canadian Coast Chain, where this range makes an obtuse angle 

 with the North American Cascade Range. At this point it has descended to a 

 level less than sixty meters above that of the sea and is bordered by broad alluvial 

 plains. The projection of its great delta lies in the above-mentioned obtuse angle. 

 Here rises beside it the volcano Mt. Baker, 3,256 meters high. A heavy rain 

 shower as we were passing deprived us of this fine scenery ; our view was con- 

 fined to the delta, in whose great gravelly masses were embedded numerous tree- 

 trunks which the river had brought down. A dense and lofty wood extended 

 originally on all sides, but is now already cleared to a considerable extent. Here 

 in an angle of the Straits of Georgia which the River Fraser has not yet filled up 

 is the city of Vancouver, and here in a forest of gigantic trees still preserved in 

 part, and within sight of the mountain is the terminus of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway. The line across the continent from Montreal to this point measures 

 4,677 kilometers ; it is a journey of five days and six hours. Of this 946 kilo- 

 meters and thirty hours' travel are taken up in traversing the Cordilleras. 

 Certainly the longest mountain road in the ■ world and everywhere uncommonly 

 beautiful, more than three times as long as the longest of the Alpine railways — the 

 Brenner line. 



A large river steamer brought us from Vancouver through the Georgia strait 

 in eight hours to Victoria, on the Island of Vancouver, the capital of British 

 Columbia. It was an uncommonly instructive journey. The sky cleared, and 

 the continental Coast Chain, 2,000 meters high, and the almost equally high 

 mountains on the Island of Victoria became partially visible ; between them we 

 glided. along over a surface smooth as a mirror, approaching a few small islands, 

 which consist of evenly deposited cretaceous strata, and passing rapidly by the 

 low alluvial land. All the banks are bordered with driftwood, brought down by 

 the Fraser to the sea, which its muddy current troubles for a long distance from 

 its mouth. By this one could realize vividly the geographical conditions under 

 which originated the cretaceous strata that traverse the Canadian Cordilleras. 

 They must have been deposited in narrow arms of the sea like the Strait of 

 Georgia, in the neighbourhood of great river mouths which provided the wood for 

 their coal deposits. Thus the present topography of the cou.utry still preserves 

 features of times long gone by. 



