ON THE TEAIL TO PEACE KIVER 89 



Trappers and traders are confined to the water, as a rule, 

 and see little land away from the shores of streams and lakes. 

 The only people who, through their employments, knew the 

 interior well were the Indians and half-breed hunters. It 

 was the statements of these, therefore, and of the few pros- 

 perous farmers and stockmen scattered here and there, which 

 afforded us our only reliable knowledge. 



The most extensive prairies adjacent to the Upper Peace 

 Kiver are those to the north already described. The nearest 

 on the south side are the prairies of Spirit River, a small 

 stream which divides several townships of first-class black, 

 loamy soil, well wooded in parts, but with considerable 

 prairie. The nearest farmer and rancher to Dunvegan, Mr. 

 C. Brymner, who had lived for ten years on Spirit Eiver, told 

 me that during seven of these, though frost had touched his 

 grain, particularly in June, it had done little serious harm. 

 It was a fine hay country, he said, even the ridge hay being 

 good, and therefore a good region for cattle, he himself hav- 

 ing at the time over a hundred head, which fed out late in 

 the fall and very early in the spring, owing to the Chinook 

 winds, which enter the region and temper its climate. South- 

 east of Fort St. John there is a considerable area known as 

 Pooscapee's Prairie, getting its name from an old Indian 

 chief, and which was well spoken of, but which we did not 

 see. 



A much moire extensive open country, however, is the Grand 

 Prairie, to the south-west of the Crossing, which connects 

 with the Spirit River country, and is drained by the Smoky 

 River and its branches, and by its tributary, the Wapiti. 

 There is no dispute as to whether this should or should not 

 be called a prairie country. As a matter of fact, it is an 

 extensive district suitable for immediate cultivation, and con- 

 taining, as well, valuable timber for lumber, fencing and 

 building. 



The first inquiry the intending immigrant makes is about 

 frost. At the Dunvegan and St. Augustine Mission farms. 



