VANCOUVER TO PRINCE RUPERT. 



The journey along the North Pacific Coast from 

 Vancouver to Prince Rupert is made by ocean steamer. 

 The distance is about 500 miles (804 km.), and the time 

 occupied usually about 36 hours. The journey is con- 

 tinuous, no stops being made; and as much of the coast- 

 line is passed in the night, only a brief general description 

 is necessary. 



Physical Features of the Coast. 



The route from Vancouver northward along the 

 Pacific Coast follows a long, partially submerged, island- 

 filled depression, bordered continuously on the east by 

 the Coast range and interruptedly on the west by the 

 long mountain ridges of Vancouver and the Queen Char- 

 lotte islands. 



The Coast range is a deeply dissected granitic ridge 

 usually from 60 to 80 miles (96 to 128 km.) in width. It 

 rises directly from the sea with few intervening flats or 

 plateaus to height of 4,000 to 5,000 feet (1,219 to I >5 2 4 m -)> 

 gradually increasing towards the axis of the range to 

 7,000 or 8,000 feet (2,133 to 2,438 m.) The mountains 

 and mountain ridges are massively built elevations with 

 steep, often craggy, slopes terminating in rounded, dome- 

 shaped, and pyramidal summits. The heights as a rule 

 are very uniform, although a few peaks rise to a consider- 

 able elevation above the general level. Deep, ice-worn, 

 steep-sided valleys, often terminating in living glaciers, 

 penetrate the range in all directions, and form one of its 

 most characteristic features. The lower slopes of the 

 mountains, where not too precipitous, are covered 

 everywhere up to a height of 4,000 feet (1,210 m.) with a 

 dense coniferous forest. 



A fiord system is well developed all along the Pacific 

 Coast from Vancouver northward. The fiords not only 

 repeatedly penetrate the Coast range for distances which 

 often exceed 100 miles (161 km.) in length, but similar 

 deep, narrow, water-filled depressions, trending in different 

 directions, separate the numerous islands fringing the 

 coast both from each other and from the mainland. 



The fiords are all very similar in character. They 

 are steep-sided very regular troughs, usually from one to 



