OVERLAND ROUTES TO THE KLONDIKE 115 



sixty days to go from Edmonton to Teslin lake. The citizens 

 of Edmonton are using all means to make this route easy and 

 safe. It cannot be safely used before the middle of May. Pack 

 horses are plentiful, and feed is good from May 15 to November. 



The second overland route, the '' Old Telegraph Trail," begins 

 at Ashcroft, a small village on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and 

 follows the Fraser river over an excellent stage road constructed 

 by the Canadian government to the little town of Quesnelle, 223 

 miles north. Good stopping-places abound along the road. 

 Here the road ends, and the trail turns to the west, and, passing 

 over a nearly level country with good grass, reaches Fort Fraser, 

 on Fraser lake, 125 miles from Quesnelle. Fort Fraser is a 

 Hudson Bay post and trading store, with two white men and 

 several families of Indians, quite well civilized, settled near. A 

 limited amount of supplies will be obtainable here. Up to this 

 point the trail is quite level, and though there are hundreds of 

 creeks none are deep or hard to pass. The three rivers, the 

 Blackwater, the Mud, and the Nechaco, can be forded except in 

 high water, when rafts will have to be used and poled or paddled 

 across. Neither of them is very wide. Many trails cross the 

 route, and it will be necessary to have a native guide, unless 

 some means should be taken to mark the main trail. In this 

 125 miles there are over 300 good hay swamps and many Indian 

 villages where feed for the horses can be found in abundance. 



Beyond Fort Fraser the next supply point is Stuart, a Hudson 

 Bay post, with three or four whites and eighty or one hundred 

 Indians, who live in cabins and make their living by hunting, 

 fishing, and trapping. From Fort Fraser to Hazelton is proba- 

 bly 325 miles. The trip from Quesnelle to Hazelton can be 

 made by pack animals, and will require from sixteen to twenty 

 days. Hazelton has a small population of prospectors who 

 winter in the neighborhood. A Hudson Bay post, a few cabins, 

 and a couple of stores are all that are to be found here, although 

 about 15,000 Indians trade at this point. The goods are brought 

 up by a Hudson Bay boat on the Skeena river during high water. 



" From here it is about 200 miles to Telegraph creek. The 

 trail has been traveled for thirty-five years, and the government 

 has spent thousands of dollars to keep it in first-class condition. 

 It will probably take about ten days to cover this distance, as it 

 is a little harder than before reaching Hazelton." There are two 

 large stores at Telegraph creek at present, and undoubtedly a 

 small town will immediately spring up there. From Telegraph 



