114 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



range and are slowly being eliminated; deer are fairly numerous in 

 places, but it is strikingly noticeable that these places are those that 

 have been relatively inaccessible because of blocking of trails by 

 windfalls and forest fires. Goats alone are on the increase, but it is 

 a well-known fact that the Stoneys scarcely ever hunt the goat, so 

 that this fact merely serves to prove our contention that the alarming 

 decrease of game in the Canadian Rockies is due principally to the 

 unrestrained hunting at all seasons of the year by these Indians. 



There are, however, other evidences that support this view. In 

 four sections of the mountains, the activities of the Stoneys have been 

 curbed. These are the portion south of the Crowsnest pass, the 

 present Rocky Mountains park and the Red Deer valley north of it, 

 the Athabaska valley, and the north side of the Brazeau river. In the 

 south country the Stoneys have been driven out by the Provincial 

 game warden, Mr. Riviere, and in spite of a very large mining popu- 

 lation, and an increase in both local and foreign hunters, there has been 

 a very notable increase in all kinds of game. This is especially true 

 of sheep, while nearly all the elk in the Rockies are in this section. 



Rocky Mountains park and the Red Deer valley have been created 

 a game preserve and are patrolled by the Parks Branch of the 

 Dominion Government. There is a very good stocking of game in this 

 area, principally sheep, goats and mule deer, but no elk or moose. Of 

 course, all hunting is prohibited, so that this increase is not due solely 

 to the restrictions placed on the Stoneys, as it is in the south. 



The Athabaska valley was largely denuded of game by the resident 

 Indians and the locators and builders of the Grand Trunk Pacific. 

 Since the Indians have been removed from the region, although hunt- 

 ing has been permitted, an increase of game has been noted, the most 

 striking of which is the return of the caribou, which had been exter- 

 minated before the advent of the railroad. 



The strip of country lying along the north side of the Brazeau has 

 been comparatively immune from excessive hunting because it was a 

 more or less neutral belt between the Beavers and Iroquois from the 

 north and the Stoneys from the south. This resulted in a remarkable 

 increase in deer and moose, and in the survival of the elk, but this con- 

 dition is now threatened by the inroads of the Stoneys who have ex- 

 hausted more accessible regions and, from the base established on the 

 Kootenay plains, are hunting in the Brazeau valley. Unquestionably, 

 therefore, there can be no hope entertained for the Rocky 'Mountain 

 big game until these Indians are compelled to observe the game laws. 



