228 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



me to strain every nerve in forwarding the progress of 

 undertakings so manifestly conducive to the prosperity 

 of the colony, and which at the same time cannot 

 fail ere long to produce a large increase in the public 

 revenue." 



" We hope to complete the last section of a pack-road 

 leading by the left bank of the Fraser, from Derby (Fort 

 Langley) to Lytton, a distance of 170 miles, on or before 

 the 1st day of February next. From Lytton a natural 

 road now exists leading to Eed Eiver settlement, by the 

 Coutannais Pass, through the Eocky Mountains, and from 

 thence following the valley of the Saskatchewan, chiefly 

 over an open prairie country of great beauty, and replete 

 with objects of interest to the tourist and the sportsman ; 

 a settler may then take his departure from Eed Eiver in 

 spring with his cattle and stock, and reach British Co- 

 lumbia by that road in course of the autumn following. 

 This is no mere theory, the experiment having been re- 

 peatedly made by parties of Eed Eiver people traveling 

 to Colville, from whence there is a good road to Lytton ; 

 so much so, indeed, that one of those persons assured me 

 that the whole distance from Lytton to Eed Eiver, with 

 the exception of the Coutannais Pass, which is thickly 

 wooded, may be safely travelled with carts. If the Ca- 

 nadian Government would undertake to open a road from 

 Eed Eiver to the borders of Lake Superior, which really 

 presents no very formidable difficulties, the connexion 

 between British Columbia and Canada would be complete, 

 and the whole distance might I think, be traveled on 

 British soil." 



The town of Lytton and the valley of Thompson Eiver 

 appear to be points of the greatest importance in British 

 Columbia. 



Lieutenant Eichard Mayne conducted an exploration of 

 the districts bordering on the Thompson, Fraser, and Har- 



