FOREST AND STREAM 
605 
In California there are many more ducks 
around San Francisco Bay and in the marshes 
'bordering it and San Pablo Bay, and also in 
the Alviso sloughs and ponds than there were 
last year. Prospect for shooting very good. 
E. T. MARTIN. 
(ESTABLISHED 186 6) 
J. H. LAU & CO. 
The best excelsior is made from basswood, or 
linden. Aspen and cottonwood, however, supply 
nearly half of the total amount manufactured. 
75 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK 
Arms—Ammunition—Loaded Shells. 
Fencing—Baseball—Full Line Sporting Goods 
The “Last Frontier" Going 
Observations of a Traveler Who Reports Plenty of Game and Wild Life, 
but an Incoming Flood of Settlement 
Until within very recently, the great region 
lying in the northwest of Canada was regarded 
as beyond possible civilization for generations 
to come. It was also regarded as beyond the 
reach of any but the hardiest trappers and ex¬ 
plorers. This view no longer holds good, and 
the “last frontier” will soon be traversed by 
railways and connecting roads. Forest and 
Stream prints the following extracts from a 
letter by Martin J. Ravey, a very observant cor¬ 
respondent, who has just returned from a long 
trip throughout Northwestern Canada. He gives 
a very vivid picture of present conditions, but 
shows that while to-morrow, may mean settle¬ 
ment, the present is still the day of the hunter 
and fisherman. Mr. Ravey writes: 
“I have just returned from an extended tour 
through the Peace River country. This part 
of British North America is so brimful of won¬ 
derful resources that it should not fail to in¬ 
fluence the wave of settlement bound to fol¬ 
low the terrible European conflict. 
During the past two and a half months I have 
been through a most remarkable country, full 
of opportunities. Eleven years prospecting 
around the mining camps of Alaska and the 
Yukon left me with an everlasting impression 
of the wonderful possibilities offered to those 
ready to come and settle in the great northwest¬ 
ern section of the American Continent, but what 
I saw in those days will not stand comparison 
with the country which I have just returned 
from. 
The Peace River country abounds in nature’s 
wonders. Millions of acres of arable land, in¬ 
tersected with rivers, lakes and streams, which 
make irrigation totally unnecessary, await set¬ 
tlement. A greater part of this area is prac¬ 
tically open and ready for the plough. Pea 
vine, vetches, redtop and a variety of other 
natural grasses grow in the wildest profusion, 
and the few settlers who have gone in ahead of 
the railroad, speak of the whole country through 
which I have passed as being particularly adapt¬ 
able for stock-raising, while, when it is properly 
farmed, the land will grow anything that can 
be raised outside a tropical climate. 
One thing which should be particularly ad¬ 
vantageous and inducive to rapid settlement is 
the unlimited supply of game, fish and wild 
fruits, which can be taken with the greatest 
possible ease. 
Throughout the timbered portions of the 
whole country moose, deer and bear roam the 
woods, and are so numerous and almost tame 
in certain places that it will not tax the marks¬ 
manship of anyone who has learned to handle 
a rifle to provide all the meat required for the 
table, while the country has almost become over¬ 
run with rabbit. 
The streams abound in wild duck and geese 
of different varieties, and at frequent intervals 
I ran into covers of grouse and prairie chickens. 
Fishing is another form of supply for the 
necessities of life. Whitefish, pike and pickerel 
of the finest quality, averaging five pounds in 
weight, can be secured in almost any quantity 
by using a net in the lakes, while salmon trout, 
speckled trout, greyling and numerous other 
varieties of game fish can easily be taken in 
any of the streams with the use of either fly 
or bait. 
Another very valuable asset is the remarkable 
quantity of fur-bearing animals which appear 
to be rapidly increasing instead of decreasing, 
as anyone would imagine, for many settlers and 
the native Indians have relied on these as a 
means of livelihood for many years past. This 
appreciable increase is no doubt largely due to 
the Government regulations, which provide for 
a close season. I was, indeed, very much sur¬ 
prised to find such a.number of valuable foxes. 
There were black, silver grey and red specimens. 
In the Pouce Coupe district a fox farm has 
already been established on a profit-earning 
basis. Mink, martin, otter and beaver are also 
plentiful, and from these trappers also find a 
most useful source of income. 
I spent seven weeks on foot and raft in the 
vicinity northwest of Edmonton, covering a dis¬ 
tance of about fifteen hulndred miles, going in 
via Grand Prairie by way of Edson through 
Pouce Coupe, Nose Mountain, Pine River Pass, 
on to Fort St. John and Peace River Landing, 
down to Grouard, at the head of Lesser Slave 
Lake, thence into Edmonton. 
Like in many other parts awaiting settlement, 
the chief thing lacking is transportation, but 
this is practically an assured fact. The lines 
of no fewer than four companies coming from 
the East have already been surveyed and partly 
constructed, while communication with British 
Columbia is promised as soOn as details have 
been completed in connection with the line which 
will eventually run from Bella Coola through 
Pine River Pass to the heart of the Peace River 
country and out to Hudson Bay. 
Government surveyors who have reported on 
the district are agreed that this route will afford 
the shortest way with the lowest grade for all 
the great northwest products, which in a few 
THE PARKER GUN 
93x100 from 19 yards 
By P. H. O’BRIEN 
Winning 
The Pacific 
Coast Handicap 
AT PORTLAND, OREGON 
Shoot a 
PARKER GUN and Win 
Send for Catalogue 
Parker Bros. 
MERIDEN, CONN. 
Resident Agent, A. W. duBray 
P. O. Box 102 San Francisco, Cal. 
New York Sales Rooms: 
32 Warren Street 
