B.. C. has twice the agricultural area of Sweden, and they support 5,000,000 peopje.
FORT
British Columbia has ten times the agricultural-land contained, in the Japanese .empire.
VOLUME 1, NO. 40
south Fort george, b. c, may 13, 1911
$ 3 DOLLAR S. P E TL A NNU M
The District as Seen by an Albertan
Vi'. have received ti copy of an article in which the views and impressions of a corespondent to ii prairie paper, who visited this district last summer, are set forth. The writer is Mr. (!. A. DuBorgus, and' the article; appears in the "Staverly Standard" in Alberta. In part it roads as follows:
"Looking buck upon the trip to Fort George, in the Cariboo District, which I have just finished, it is difficult to say which hus impressed mo, the enchantment of the trip itself, or the varied beauty of the country traversed and its .equally varied resources.
As to the city of Port George, the writer continues, I will say that there is about �JUDO acres laid out for townsites so far, with a few quarter sections held in readiness as suburbs. I should judge that so far they have laid out a townsite capable of containing 50,000 people. Of this there is old Fort Gecfrge, or South Fort George, on the hunks of the ij'raser River, near where the Xechaco River joins. Here is grouped to-i/ether an,Indian village, next to the'. JS'e-chaco River, then, south, of the village comes the Hudson's Hay post, and tten Smith Fort George.'Here are the steamboat 'landings, banks, post office, saw-mill newspaper, telephone office, hotel, restaurants,. pool room, butcher shop, two barber shops, the many stores, a shipyard, bakery, and real estate offices, etc., in fact everything that constitutes a starting town.
West of this is Central Fort George, a (ownsite without a building, and north and west of this is the Fort George townsite which has been so extensively advertised by the Natural Resources Security Co.
Where the town will be is difficult to say, lull common sense; points to the site nearest the conflux of the two rivers, which means South Fort George, with the Hudson's Bay tfrnpuvty. and the Indian village. It is practically admitted.by Hudson Bay people that I lie Grand Trunk will get their land by purchase.
It is advisable for anybody to fight shy of any.Fort'George town lots offered at a distance frjom the ; Fraser or Nechaco Rivers, as th"e value of such property is practically �iihderleminab'le for a person not qrrihe spot t" look over the ground. y'
The Fort George countryfis a section of I tie future, a country iprthe young and the ' courageous, for Uuyiswr and the man who I i- not afraid ofxfrqntier inconveniences, for '' t'i<' poor man .who has Ins start to make,
r.hese are my impressions ua 1 looked the country over. The land is there, sy/by nil i' � � ms-go and see it vourselves. '"""' .
The Worm
The worm, lying in the sunget glow, is beginning to turn.
It is a nasty, slimy, worm wo have ref-
l'i -nee to; one of the species that leaves a
.^Liny trail-of filthy slaver in its tracks; the
\ !;�rt of creeping crawling thing one walks
i- :"�>und, perforce, as to. step on it would be
'�ontaihinatiilg by its filth. ..,
An Article was published amongst the ''Sunset Glows"-in the Saturday Sunset,-a promotion weekly, published in %Kanconver <�i the fifteenth of last month. We huve only. j'ist received it, owing to -tlte congestion in * he mails which is inevitable^ the period
between the finish of sleighing and the opening of navigation, the obvious purport of the article was to.write "finis" on a controversy which has raged -around the town-Hi to question here.
Bruce, of the Sunset, was in his element during the conflict. He throw his energidi into the bolstering up of a rotten townsite' proposition. He fawned upoivtlie flensing claws of a carrion get-rick-quick promoter who has aleeady been dubbed "jail-bird" in the public print, and libelled the pro oters of the South Fort George townsite. And now, owing to the fact, that it is the general desire to call a truce upon the damaging war of printed words, he tries' to slide out from under with a veneer of journalistic credit, as though he had accomplished an object.
Bruce makes a scapegoat of Nick .Clark, the promoter of companies, but he knows that he is foolishly inconsistent a.? Clarke was-always beside the .issue,-which he made the "promoters of. the South Fort"George townsite. He still tries to keep the lie afloat about the resolution of the Hoard of Trade asking for an investigation by the government into the methods employed by lot-selling concerns hereabouts, being rescinded; It never has. The Sunset fool trios to make out that the resolution was engineered by the Herald editor and one other. If the editor of the bucket-shop rug would pause to consider'lie would know that this could not be. lint he never considers, he just writes � mushy, brained rag-time.
Warning to Workingmen
South Fort George is 300' miles from the railway triink. The faro, one way, by auto _;. and steamboat is 844.50. exclusive of meals.' A trreat many working men are on their way in, evidently under the impression tliat thereJs plenty od work here for all. This idea is erroneous. The only employment "Heredvit the present time :s from twe lumber companies that employ about 175 men, the survey parties, most of which are com-; pli'te; the boat crews; townsite clearing and
'"'carpenter"work." There is no railroad con-struction nearer than tho other side of the vVello\yhead Pass, in Alberta, and this is not tho : route[ to take to reach any of the 'amps.. Working men should keep nwiy from the Fort George couptry unless they rare supplied with sufficient collateral to en-"ible them to await possible, employment in 'lie event of none offering on arrival. Living is. high hen?, and no one should allow thom->''lves to be inveigled into -believing that Jhis is a roaring metropolis, offering orn-
� I'loyment of all kinds. It is not�yet. Anyone "coining to Fort George should have -iflficier.it capital to tnake the return trip in i He event Of tl^etr-juivino; bought lots under the irriprossion thntMhi\v own 25 feet on I 11 business: thoroughfare,With houses op. it, �'"i- many of such people will huve^n rude-�wakening. "South Fort George is a tVn.. Anyone owning property on the lower llUw" ' hi sell it hcre"-on the ground, on good leriiis. Other townsites nan not lay claim to similar: conditions.
PILOTS OF COMWERCE. :;
Coast business men. arc becoming alive to the importance of capturing the promising business originating' in the district with South Fort George us the centre, and they will doubtless endeavor to keep it against Edmonfon, the latter the supply point once the G. T./P. reaches the Cache, which will be next fall.
Amongst the 120 arrivals on the first boat the B. X., there were seven commercials men, T. Hall, It. P. Rithet, Victoria; J: Bransen" Woods, Nallance and Leggat-, Vancouver; �I. Kelly, Vancouver Safe Works, Vancouver; J. Cfalbraith, Gajt Bros., Vancouver; C. Caulder; Columbia Flour Mills; R. 3 den, Swift's packing house; R. Molntyre, IT. Malkin & Co., Vancouver.
Tho commercial men had great difficulty in bringing in their sample trunkS/Over the Cariboo Boad. The very stringenfand Czar-like rules of the B. C. Exppess Company/ . limiting baggage to 'IOtb><; caused a flurry among the travellers .�UV'Ashcroft when tild that their trunks could not go through. The resourceful drummers however, lit cigarettes on hearing -tire Order and evolved action along linos/of putting their samples into gunny sivb'ks.' The change, apparently, suited the company, for the samples came through unmolested. This warning should serve /Oihors who contemplate bringing steel frames and big hat boxes into the Cariboo. Cariboo, as yet; is the home of the gunny sack, and not the abode of the highly finis^ hed steel trunk or.Pandora hat box. Give the "B. X." company and 6uj_^_peavine" country tin opportunity to expand. Keep the hat boxes out. \/
y:
; PIANO KROSPECTS. /
We have a letter from a piano house asking jf it could sell any here. We believe that there is^plenty of talent hidden under bushels of overalls or Jl.uckinaws. This musical talent is a funny thing, One usually associates music with fuzzy-haired men who wear fluffy bow ties, but sometimes it crops out in the most unexpected -quarters. Sometime you may have noticed so'me used-up looking individual climb onto a piano stool, and with a hand like a.ham tear olY music that takes you way back of beyond, and makes you regret the follies vof youth when you schemed ways and .-means of side-stepping the professor. Some play the violin, others the piano, for these two instruments personify real music; the only thing played around here with real talent is draw poker.
Arrival of the
First Boat
The first bout of the season has arrived and departed. The welcome roar of her whistle awakened the echoes on monday'evening when Cap. Browne, of the big steamer "B: X." opened the blast throttle opposite Fort George Centre and brought the populace scrambling from their beds to welcome the opening event in linking up the metropolis of the North witli the world outside.
For six months past communication between "this point and the outer world has been solely by way of a sleigh road 320 miles in length. This condition of winter travel will remain in force until the completion of the G. T. P. in two years time. The last boat left here on November the 6th last year. That boat was the ill-fated steamer "Chilco", .wrecked in Gottonwood Canyon two Aveeks ago whilstt being taken to Quesnel for repairs.
Amidst.scenes of the wildest excitement the "B. X." came to her landing on Monday evening. The population, men, women and children were en-masse on the landing in spite of the lateness of the hour, and as the big boat drew into, her slip wild cheering, mingled with the sound's of the bell signals issuing frptn her engine room, and the pant of life compound engines exhausts. The passenger deck and- bow space were crowded with over a hundred passengers. J. ,W. West, manager of the British Columbia Express Company, owners of the boat, stated that the boat had brought up all the passengers bound for Fort George from Soda Creek and Quesnel. There were many people on the way, said Mr. West, although efforts had been made to hold back the rush until the boats were in commission, A.llxthe ac-comodation on the "B. X." was booked for 'several trips -ahred, we were also informed by an official of the company. In addition to the heavy passenger li^t the boat landed eighty five thousandyp'ounds of freight, consigned principally^) South Fort George.
The "B. X./'is in splendid shape for a heavy season's work. She has been thorough ly^overhauled, previous to launching and is manned by a capable personnel of officers and men. Captain Browne, her commander, is the pioneer captain of the upper Eraser run. All,the� officers this year are udorned in brand-new brass bound uniforms with red facings. Some class.
The- Herald wishes the "B. X." a most successful season. Last week we expressed spme doubt as to -whether the mail would come;.through as wires received from Quesnel seated that the boat was still on the ways, possibly the sender had a skate on and mistook the old "Charlotte" for the "B. X.". We take it all back�something-we have never done before� the old reliable has delivered the goods jas heretofore, and we stand humbled and abashed before the multitude.
MINING IN CARIBOO.
The outlook for mining in Cariboo district during the coining season is^excellent, i>wing to the heavy snow fall, according to ,J. 15. Hobson, a veteran mining man of Vie-toriav; says the "Week." Mr. Hobson has been engaged in placer~ mining for half a century. He will take charge this season! of his hydraulic claims of 240 acres at Cresta Blanca, Spanish Creek, in the Cariboo dis-.
trict. His plant a pipe lino with 00 feet ofvpipe.
comprises 1200 feet of flume a head of 200 feet , and 40-< The location's are said vto/be
unusually rich.. They comprise old beaches adjacent to an ample water supply.
OLD AND IN THE WAY.
The poor old decrepid ''Ashcroft Journal a broken down j ob-offiee v rag, printed in Ashcroft by a man whose real vocation is peddling townsite-and fruit land of doubtful value, to get-rieh-quick concerns, takes a crack at The Herald in a recent issue. i The antiquated "enjoyable time was had" j organ didn't like the Herald stating that ! there were only two reliable sources of in-! formation on'the Fort George question, Viz., .'Vt-he South Fort George Board of Trade j and the'Fort George Herald. Also our con-| temporary doubts that this is ~4he oldest printing concern in Cariboo, and referring to our statement that the Herald is the only, newspaper within a radius of 700 miles, not controlled by a townsite company it calls that a "rotten lie.-' Oh/naughty !.
Well, the-matter stands like this. We had not intended to, include the Journal in the radius, in fact an error crept in, and the figure should have been "2'Mnstead of "7", but whilst we, are on the subject we want to say that the Journal is just the kind of a rag we were' referring to in the article to which it takes exception. Aver since the man who owns the Ashcroft fly-sheet, made a clean-up of about.$10,000 in selling some bum fruit lands to the Natural Resources Security^o., tovrnsite and "fruit-land" ped^ dlers; presided over by an easy-money man, who uses such sheets as the Ashcroft Jour--nal, the Saturday Sunset, the Fort George' Tribune and the Cariboo Observer, to further his schemes! The Journal ha9 been trying to gambol around the rotten bunch and lick their slipiy hands, but being old, und decrepid nnul mangy, it has to content itself with growling and wagging its fuzzy old stub of a tail when the master draws high. .
From now on until November next the "Ii. X." lands here twice a week-with mail7
�WANrED�ah electrician, apply, at Th? Herald office4 . . ^v : ' > s �.....:
June. There will not be many entries on that schedule from ForV George for this is a wonderfully healthy country and the mortality rate is very low. The first funeral in town took place two weeks ago. It was a sad affair, the desceased being a young man who was killed in a lumber camp up the river. It reminded the writer of a scene enacted four years ago, before'VFort George was ever heard of save as a Hudson's Bay Post, at the time when the preliminary surveys of the G.T. P. were being run. Transportation in those days was by dug-outs on the Fraser River. There were no steamboats In running the Giscombe rapids a ca_noe was smashed to pieces and three out of the six in it were drowned. Only one body was recovered, and arrangements were made to bury the decomposed remains behind the post. The few Whites busied themselves with the lust offices to the dead man, and whilst one made a coffin out of. whipsawed lumber two others dug a grave. A skeleton was uncovered in the unmarked spot in the corner of the field chosen for the grave, so another was dug and the rites carried out. It was a rough and ready funeral, that^orie, but a more solemn ritual there never has been. ~\ /
\ THE FIFTH CENSUS. , The fifih census of Canada is now being taken. IA includes any of those who hove died within the past, year ending the first of
TOWN AND DISTRICT
Malcolm McNevinvr6ad superintendent for the. Fort George District, was amongst the arrivals on the^-first boat to commence work on the Government roads and bridges for the year^-The appropriation for the work in the Canboo District is $150,000, a sum which will certainly produce great results under the expenditure of men of McNeVin's practical ability and knowledge of the work. Twb ferries are to be built and installed at this point. One crossing the Nechaco on the Natural Resources Townsite, giving access to the country lying North-west of here, the other crossing the Fraser River at the foot of Fourth Street; connecting with the waggon road that is to be built between here and Quesnel on the east side of the Fraser river.
About 150 men will be employed under Malcolm McAevin.
The annual meeting of the Board of Trade will be held on Tuesday, May 16th* at 8 p. in. sharp for the election of officers for the ensuing year. It is your duty to attend and show interest in the welfare of our city by' assisting in this work.-
About two tons of mail arrived last Monday. Most of the nett weight was made up of seeds, which should be sent by express or freight. In a country such as this it is an imposition upon the Postal Authorities and upon' the mail contractors to- take advantage of the mails in this manner. These supplies are not needed until after the arrival of the first boat of the season as until that date it is too early to sow grain seeds. It is the people who use the mails for freighting that the public' at large has to thank for congested service, and the retarding'of swifter deliveries during the winter months.
Green vegetables at the Club Cafe.
. i �
G. E. McLauglilin, a member of the Northern Development Co., who will be stationed here in the interests of tlie townsite corn-arrived here on the ' B. X." Tuesday.
pany,
He has taken up the offices ied by W. F. Cooke. Asked the plans �or the summer,
formerly occup-as. to what were Mr. McLaughlin
stated that he wanted time in which to acquaint himself "\vith the immediate conditions and requirements of the place.
\i. B. Dean, the sash and door manufacturer, who left here last fallowing to an.attack of rheumatism, came through on the "B. X." last Thursday from Vancouver, at �which point he spent the winter. Mr. Dean will contract for building work this summer.
The "B. X." arrived on her second trip last Thursday loaded with about fifty passengers and a full load of freight. Shortly after arrival the big boat' pulled out for the Nechaco River townsite of the Natural �Resources Co. She managed to wiggle /over the shallows at the mouth of the river and made a landing there in three hours after pulling out of here. The distance is about 3 miles. The water is_ much too low for the navigation of the Nechaco bv^the "B.~ X." and we, doubt if the trip will be attempted again until much later in the season.
J[. C. Wiggins, the realty expert, who was one of the two pioneer real-estate men. oL South. Fort George, was amongst the arrivals on Thursday. Everyone is glad to see Wig., back.
Mrs. Burns left for the coast on the first outward trip of tlie boat". Her sad' mission is to meet her father,at Victoria, who is returning from II azelton with the remains of his son \V. McDonell, and to attend the funeral-. Another sad feature in connection with Mrs; Burns departute is. the news that another brother, J. McDonell,r-died -at Ha-zelton on Thursday last, from heart failure. Mm, Burns wjUL return in October.
SS. Chilcotin Leaves for Trial Trip to Canyon Tomorrow
The flagship of the Fort George Trading & Lumber Co., the "Chilcotin," was launched at 11 o'lock Thursday morning, and the. company's general manager. Mr. C. E. McElroy, was highly pleased.with the manner in which the boat "was placed in the water. Not a jar marred the operations and the big boat now rests at the foot of Hamilton avenue, facing the massive" rock cribbing dock the company has under construction along the entire face of their Fraser river waterfront.
The delay in the launching was due to the unavoidable delay in replacing several steam-steering gear parts broken last summer at a time too late to replace. The missing parts . were brought,up the river by the Fort Fraser, another of the company's boats, on Tuesday, and installed.
It is exp.octed a trial trip will be made tomorrow (Sunday) or the day following, when a run will be made to the Fort George canyon and the boiler and other machinery for the company's sawmill which was ler't there last fall by the ill-starred Chilco, will be brought up river.
On her return from the canyon the Chilcotin will go into comjnission for the season 1911, and make semi-weekly trips to Soda creek and way ports with South Fort George as the home port. The present schedule of sailings' enumerate Mondays and Thursdays as the days on which they lecve South Fort George, arriving back on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This ensures the Sunday .stop-over at the home port. . � ,
Everything pertaining to the new boat indicates that the infusion of new blood into the company's affairs has systematized all lines, and shippers and others.who last season found difficulty in matters of transport, will have no such complaint to register against the newly re-organized company. � ,
The officers and cre^v of the Chilcotin
Captain�Arthur'F. Doherty.
Mate�E*. Deveaux.
Chief Engineer�W. Daly.
Second Engineer�E. R. Humphreys.
Purser�J. D. Adamson.
Freight clerk�Samuel Ewart. � � Ship's carpenter�J. McPhee.
Steward�W. McGinnis.
The little Fort Fraser will be utilized on upper Fraser and the shallow Nechaco, and it is not likely the boat will go below the canyon this summer. Freight and . passengers for thevCache and other up-river points will be transshipped from' the big boat to the Fort Fraser here, and the, lajtter will run up-river at fixed peridds. Since the loss._ of the Chilco, the company" has had under consideration the construction of a new boat, to replace her on the run to Quesnel, or the lengthening of the Fort Fraser. No definite action, however, has yet been arrived at in this connection.
The causes leading up to the loss of the Chilco last month, as reported to the inspector of boilers at Vancouver, show that the accident was due to*the j bursting of the boiler above the canyon while running1 for safety up-river to avoid the jam. Captain Ritchie says: "We left our winter quarters at 11:30 (April 27) and landed at La Voice's at 1:30, where we took on three cords of wood. Left La Voice's at 2 o'clock. Went to Pedley and1 Smith's, where we took on woodand tied up for supper. Left there at 5:30 and went down to Cottonwood canyon. Saw it was impossible to [get through. Walked down to the canyon. Started back up-river, .running for safety to clear the ice. The boiler blew up 2 172 miles above the canyon. Nobody knew exactly what was the trouble. Could not get a line ashore. The boat tijen drifted into the canyon and at 6:30 landed gently against the ice. Everybody got out on-the ice. At 11 o'clock at night she broke up. The following morning between 5 and .6 l-'saw her hull, which looked as if it was broken in two." , .
/fhe auto transit- companies ori the charm-ingly circuitous Cariboo Road s/houlcl issue life insurance to passengers coining to the one real objective of Cariboo, South "Fort George^ .Last year Mr. Senior had his lower jaw dislocated by the driver trying to make a "portage" over a dead ,log. This year another accident is recorded with similar annoyance; this time to a lady passenger.-The third, or Qthers, may result in strangulation or some other easy form of death. The purposei of this paragraph is to acquaint the youthful drivers on the Cariboo road with the^tact that as there are no hospitals, in thijjtll portion of 'Cariboo district, and as the"~McBride Government says wo don't need"*nny, because of the ever bracing climate, i.t~willjbe a long tinie before we are in a position to minister to_the ailments of those who have suffered tit tho.han.ds of the tender chauffeurs. The graveyard, .though, is at. Central, ? under a new Ught-coplexioned% caretaker. ! . _ :
J