MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 227 



dividing ridge of the Cascades, and the route would any- 

 way be impracticable for at least seven months in the year. 

 Through Lytton, therefore, or the Kayoosh district, by 

 the valleys of the Thompson and Bonaparte Eiver to Ni- 

 colas Lake and Fort Kamloops, and thence to the border, 

 all supplies must eventually pass, and hence the necessity 

 of establishing good means of communication with these 

 points from either the Fraser Eiver or the sea." 



"All the practicable means of access to British Co- 

 lumbia, except from the sea, strike the Fraser north of 

 Fort Hope." 



"In connexion with this subject it remains but for me 

 to remark, that, from my own observation, and from in- 

 formation afforded me by Mr. M'Donald, I know a frontier 

 road north of the 49th parallel to be practicable from the 

 Similkameen, eastward to the N. Saa-app Lake in the N. 

 Whoyalpitkwu Valley ; and further that Captain Palliser's 

 explorations have determined the possibility of extending 

 such a road from that point to Fort Shepherd, though 

 his report on the intervening tract cannot be pronounced 

 as favourable as might be wished." 



The communication through British territory between 

 the Atlantic and Pacific has not been lost sight of by 

 Governor Douglas. 



His Excellency says, in the Blue Book before referred 

 to (No. 26, Part. III.), " The great object of opening roads 

 from the sea coast into the interior of the country, and 

 from New Westminster to Burrard's Inlet and Pitt Eiver, 

 continues to claim a large share of my attention. The 

 labour involved by these works is enormous; but so 

 essential are they as a means of settling and developing 

 the resources of the country, that their importance can 

 hardly be overrated ; and I therefore feel it incumbent on 



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