82 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



The grass was luxuriant, and the region teemed with tiger- 

 lilies, yarrow, and the wild rose. 



The Little Prairie, as it is called, is really a lovely region, 

 in appearance resembling the Saskatchewan, country. There 

 was an old Hudson's Bay cattle station here, at that time 

 deserted, and here, too, we were charmed with a mirage of 

 indescribable beauty, an enchanting portal to the mighty 

 Peace, which we reached about mid-day on the 15th of July. 



The view up the Peace River from the high prairie level 

 is singularly beautiful, the river disclosing a series of 

 reaches, like inland lakes, far to the west, whilst from the 

 south comes the immense valley of the Heart, and, farther 

 up, the Smoky River, a great tributary which drains a large 

 extent of prairie country mixed with timber. 



To the north spreads upward, and backward to its summit, 

 the vast bank of the river, varied aa to surface by rounded 

 bare hills and valleys and flats sprinkled with aspens, 

 cherries, and saskatoons, the latter loaded with ripe fruit. 



The banks of the Peace River are a country in themselves, 

 in which, particularly on the north side, numerous home- 

 steads might be, and indeed have been, carved out. Descend- 

 ing to the river, we found a Hudson's Bay Company and 

 Police post. The river here is about a third of a mile wide, 

 and was in freshet, with a current, we thought, of about six 

 miles an hour. 



At Smoky River we met a couple of prospectors, Mr. 

 Tryon, a nephew of the ill-fated Admiral, and Mr. Cooper 

 Blachford, down from the Poker Flat mining-camp, this 

 side the Einlay Rapids, in the Selwyn Mountains. They 

 reached that camp by way of Ashcroft, B.C., in twenty-two 

 days, the Peace River route being very much longer and 

 more difficult. They described the camp there as a promis- 

 ing one, with much gold-bearing quartz in sight, but the cost 

 of provisions and the extreme difficulty of development under 

 the circumstances held it back. 



There being but a few half-breeds here, we crossed the 



