1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 25 



but is creamy white in color and nearly two inches in diameter 

 when fully expanded. The violets are represented by blue, yellow 

 and white species, and our Claytonia or Spring-Beauty by a smaller 

 species with larger flowers. Forty or fifty species may usually 

 be collected on any mountain summit near snow, and as has been 

 said, these spring flowers vary little, the same species being 

 found everywhere. 



The whole region traversed so far is a veritable sea of moun- 

 tains, and if the scenery were broken up into small parcels there 

 is enough of it for the whole of eastern Canada. Gold and silver 

 have been found but not in paying quantities with transport 

 facilities as they are now. 



Crossing the summit, Whipsaw Creek is followed until it 

 reaches the Similkameen, and a few miles further on, at the junc- 

 tion of the Similkameen and the Tulameen is Princeton, or Ver- 

 milion Forks as it was formerly called. Princeton is to be the 

 great city of the interior of British Columbia according to those 

 interested in the town-site and the mines of the vicinity, but its 

 situation is somewhat too high for successful fruit growing, and 

 the minerals are ch efly low grade. Coal and copper are the most 

 important. The coal is soft, but will be valuable for smelting 

 purposes and for use in furnaces and locomotives. Copper Moun- 

 tain contains an immense amount of copper, but the ore is low- 

 grade as is unfortunately the case with so much of the British 

 Columbia ores. From Princeton to Midway, a distance of 105 

 miles, there is a fine wagon-road, and the ''Northern Flyer" 

 stage which makes the trip in 32 hours will carry the traveller 

 through all kinds of climate in little more than a day with frequent 

 opportunity to examine the soil and flora as the stage toils up 

 steep hills. A little distance below Princeton is the western 

 limit of the rattlesnake in this region. 



About 20 miles below Princeton following the Similkameen 

 is Hedley, a comparatively new mining camp, but one with great 

 future prospects. The " Nickel Plate," the chief mine, is owned by 

 Standard Oil men, and the properties included in their claims will 

 continue to produce gold long -after we are all dead as practically 

 the whole mountain is made up of ore that will repay working. 

 Within two or three years at the farthest, the Similkameen will be 

 opened up by at least one railway, and with transport made easy 

 the mines of the whole region will be developed. Up to the 

 present all mining machinery has been brought in on wagons at 



