Sandford Fleming

“ The Myette has a wonderful volume of water for its short course. It rushes down a narrow valley fed at every corner by foaming fells from the hillsides, and by several large tributaries. A short way from its mouth it becomes simply a series of rapids or mad currents, hurling along boulders, trees, and debris of all kinds. The valley at first is uninteresting, but, five miles up and for much of the rest of the way, is quite picturesque, two prominent mountains, that rise right above the pass and the lake at the summit, closing it in at its head. ”

“ We trudge slowly along the newly cut trail high up among the rocks, to descend again to the flats with its alders and devil's club, until at last we reach a surveyors' camp, twenty-four miles from the summit. Our horses have now to leave us, it being impossible for them to proceed further. The men must carry on their shoulders what we require, through an untrodden forest without path or trail of any kind. We are turning our backs on civilized life and its auxiliaries, again to meet them, we trust, at Kamloops, still many miles away. ”

“ A noble river with many tributaries, each defining a distinct range, and a beautiful lake ten miles long, embosomed three thousand three hundred feet above the sea, among mountains twice as high, offer innumerable scenes, seldom to be found within the same compass, for the artist to depict and for every traveller to delight in. ”

“ Peaks towering behind and above each other come in sight, and the sun poured down its warmest rays, deepening the shadows and bringing out fresh beauties. The smoky air occasionally added to the landscape by developing the aerial perspective.
We pass Mount Cascade, so named from the small stream issuing from its side at the height possibly of two thousand feet, and descending direct to the valley. This mountain, the summit of which is said to be 5060 feet above the plain, is the most striking of the masses we have yet seen on the journey. ”

“ The importance of connecting British Columbia with the eastern provinces was at once recognized, and the stupendous task of building a railway from ocean to ocean was undertaken. Having been appointed engineer-in-chief, my duties soon led me to the mountains, and I have returned to them again and again, always with the same keen appreciation of their grandeur. My purpose here is to recall the past and revivify some of the impressions formed from personal observation, before the mountain region was made accessible to the people of the world by the completion of the Canadian Pacific railway. ”

“ We reach the lower canyon of the Illecillewaet, and climb from rock to rock, grasping roots and branches, scrambling up almost perpendicular ascents, swinging ourselves occasionally like experienced acrobats and feeling like the clown in the pantomime. ”

“ Unanimously we carry resolutions of acknowledgment to Major Rogers, the discoverer of the pass, and to his nephew for assisting him.
The summit on which we stand is a dry meadow about a mile in extent, with excellent grass. Our horses being satisfied, some are actually rolling in the grass, the hour has come to leave the pleasant meadow in the Rogers pass and pursue our journey. The animals are loaded with their packs. At last we are fairly under way. Our descent is rapid. We soon come in sight of a conical peak rising about fifteen hundred feet, above the surrounding lofty mountains. ”

“ The mountains of the Jasper valley would have repaid us for a week's detention.
Jasper House itself is one of the best possible places for seeing to advantage the mountains up and down the valley. It is situated in a pretty glade that slopes gently to the Athabaska, sufficiently large and open to command a view in every direction. There is a wonderful combination of beauty about these mountains. Great masses of boldly defined bare rock are united to all the beauty that variety of form, color, and vegetation give. ”

“ We proceed through a flat, well-timbered valley half a mile in width. There is a dense growth of cedar, spruce and cottonwood; and such magnificent cedar! Four feet and more in diameter. We have now an undergrowth which is the genuine flora of the Pacific slope. As we advance, dense smoke surrounds us, for we are reaching a region where fires have been burning ahead. With difficulty we continue our advance, hour after hour, in the hope of finding a spot where the horses can pasture, but none is to be seen. There is no alternative but to camp in the midst of the burnt timber. ”

“ In the morning we continue our journey, passing through a tall forest until we reach a rugged mountain defile leading up to the summit which we are to cross. The mountain peaks rise high above us. Five miles from our last night's camp we leave Bear creek, a branch of Beaver river, and follow a small stream to the south. Half a mile further brings us to the summit. We are now 4300 feet above the sea, surrounded by mountains of all forms, pyramidal, conical and serrated. ”

“ The days when the fur-trader ruled an empire larger than all Europe have gone by. His realm is now in a different sphere. The railway has to a large extent taken the place of his brigade of prairie carts, his bark canoe or dog-sled. Many changes have occurred under my own eyes during the more than a third of a century since my feet lightly trod for the first time the region of the mighty mountains, when I willingly accepted my first lessons in mountaineering.
It was in 1871 that the mountain region north of the 49th parallel became part of Canada. ”

“ At some places the loads have to be unpacked and the men draw each other up by clinched hands from one ledge to another. We pass cautiously along a steep slope where a false step is certain disaster; creep under a cascade over a point of precipitous rock to comparatively safe ground beyond. So the story goes from day to day. Finally, after many vicissitudes, we reach the junction of the Illecillewaet and the Columbia, and the worst part of our journey to Kamloops is over. ”

“ The prairie diminishes as we advance, the valley contracts to half a mile. Evidently we are about to enter the portals of the mountains. [1] To the north, the bare precipitous rock is stratified and strongly contorted. The geological features are most striking and the exposure is on a grand scale. A great bluff rises almost vertical to a height of possibly fifteen hundred feet, and is about two miles in length. Four miles west, we are completely in the mountains, and every turn of the trail reveals new views of the grandest mountain scenery. ”

“ Cheadle and his companion, Lord Milton, in the silent forest saw in a sitting posture at the foot of a tree a headless skeleton clothed in the leathern garments of an Indian. In vain they looked for the head, but all trace of it eluded their diligent search. ”

“ We could now sympathize with the daft enthusiast, who returned home after years of absence, and when asked what he had as an equivalent for so much lost time,—answered only, "I have seen the Rocky mountains."
Myette is the characteristic mountain of the Jasper valley. There are others as high, but its grand bare forehead is recognized everywhere. It is five thousand eight hundred feet above the valley, or over nine thousand feet above the sea. ”

“ As we rest at the summit, Major Rogers describes to us the history of the discovery of the pass. Eighteen years before, Mr. Walter Moberly had ascended the Illecillewaet river on an exploration for the government of British Columbia. He was the first white man to traverse its banks. He ascended the Illecillewaet to the forks, and followed the more northerly branch some thirty miles farther, until it terminated in a cul-de-sac among snowy mountains. The other branch he was unable to follow, as the season was then advanced, and his Indian guide declined to accompany him. ”

“ We learned from a party of engineers, encamped near by, that the prospect of getting through the mountains in front of us was not encouraging. They had never heard of any one crossing the Selkirk range. As they stated, "no one was known to have passed over from where we stood, by the route before us, to Kamloops; not even an Indian; and it was questionable if it were possible to find a route which could be followed." ”

“ It may not be without interest to look back at the record of a generation ago, along the identical route by which the railway has since conveyed, in ease and comfort, hundreds of thousands, and will continue to convey millions of passengers, througfh one of the great mountain regions of the globe. ”

“ The resources of the island would not admit of our light cotton sheet being stretched as an overhead shelter, so we selected the lee side of a dwarf aspen thicket, and spread our blankets on the gravel; a good fire being made in front to cook our supper and keep our feet warm through the night. ”