Part 15 (1/2)
For the last five rassy valley where many hoofs had worn a plainlyin from its southwest bend to meet thereen bushes, also could be seen co in from almost every direction Farther to the west and south lofty reat altitude The Selwyns, on the other side of the Fraser, stood behind the hills which climbed to the shoulders of Mount Robson itself The whole made an extraordinary landscape
”We're in the Tete Jaune Valley,” said Uncle dick, halting at the edge of the grassy expanse which seemed quite flat for fivenow to one of thepoints in all the Rocky Mountains, and one of the least known Soood one Yonder is the original pathway of the Fraser--five hundred feet across here already, and a great river before it gets much farther toward the Pacific We leave it here, so let's not give it a worse name than we have to, for, take it all in all, it hasn't harmed us thus far
”On across the Fraser, to the south, is the North Thompson,” he continued ”Not very much known by any except a few of our explorers
It's rather rough-looking in there, isn't it? The Albreda Passet to the Canoe River?” said John ”It's over in there somewhere”
”No, the pass to the Canoe River is a wonderful thing in its way for this high country Look over there to the south twenty miles or so, and you'll see Cranberry Lake The McLennan River runs out of that to join the Fraser right here, and that lake is just twenty-one feet above the level of this ground where we stand! You could pole a boat up there if you liked Just over Cranberry Lake it's only a mile to where the Canoe River bends in from the west That country is just made for a pass from the Fraser to the Colu as any of these great mountain passes I don't know of any divide as low as this between tays as great as those of the Fraser and the Columbia It's only two thousand five hundred and sixty-three feet above sea-level at the summit, and, as I said, is only twenty-one feet above the Fraser”
”We must have come down quite a way,” said Rob, ”since we left the pass”
”More than a thousand feet And in that thousand feet the Fraser has grown froreat river--in fiftyabout the pleasant valley which lay before theood place for a town”
”Certainly,” said the leader of their party ”There'll be h here across the Yellowhead Pass, very likely, and already they aresurveys down the Fraser and Thompson and the Canoe River So Bend of the Columbia below us, and it will have a branch up here, as sure as we're standing here now That will open up all this country fro the Canadian Pacific Then all these names--the Thompson, the Fraser, and the Canoe--will be as fa public as the Missouri and the Mississippi Yet as we stand here and look at that country it is a country as yet unknown and unnah that country south of us is one of theof the continent, it is one of the least known In short, that's the garizzly e get south of that flat divide”
”Well,” said John, ”that'll satisfythis far”
”All in good tiood sport as you're looking for, at least, ith rapids and grizzly bears
”But noe o on and find Leo, if we can I sent word to him last fall for him to meet me here at the Cache this month We'll see what luck there is in the wilderness despatch”
They passed on rapidly along and across the sunlit valley, exulting in a sense of freedoloomy mountains into an open country where they could see all about the above the tops of the low trees, and discovered it to co poles, precisely like the tepees of the tribes east of the Rockies
”That's the Shuswap village,” said Uncle dick ”Leo lives there with his people Soo on down to the end of the trail I want you to see the actual location of the old Tete Jaune Cache”
When they pulled up at the bank of the Fraser it was on an open flat shut in by low pines and poplars They could see no building at all; only a few poles and tent-stakes littered the ground
”This is the Cache,” said Uncle dick
”It isn't so much of a place as I expected,” said John ”Weren't there any houses here?”
”Over there, no doubt, were sos once upon a time,” said Uncle dick ”No doubt the old trappers built their cache well and strong, for plenty of good furs cah here--marten and ermine and beaver and otter--for the ladies of Great Britain to wear nearly a hundred years ago But, you see, in this clih here, as well So when the traders left these old trails Nature soon claione the way of Jasper House and Henry House”
”What became of all of those old fellows?” inquired Rob ”We only hear of the ones that wrote books”
”They are gone and forgotten,” said Uncle dick ”No one knows even where old Tete Jaune himself--whether he was Iroquois or Swede or plain Injun--lies buried to-day There is no record of where he laid his bones to rest He was a brave e of adventure Think of what heall his life in a country like this!
”But each to his own day, I suppose Here we are at the end of our trail We'll have to cross the Fraser I must see Leo, and learn what he has done about the boats--I've told hi boats--bateaux--to take us down the Canoe River over yonder
”Here, you see, we leave the trail,” he continued ”Yonder is the Fraser trail down to Fort George Once at Fort George, you know, you can take an automobile down the old Ashcroft trail to the Canadian Pacific”
”Automobile! What do you know about that!” exclaimed Jesse ”I didn't knoithin a thousand miles of one”