Pass as
far as the Tete Jaune Cache. They crossed the Fraser there, just as we
did, and turned south, indeed passing up to Cranberry Lake at the
summit, just as we did. Their story tells how they crossed the Canoe
River on a raft and were nearly swept away and lost, the river being
then in flood. From that point, however, they turned west beyond
Albreda Lake, for it was their intention not to go down the Fraser or
the Canoe or the Columbia, but down the North Thompson. You see, they
were trying to get through and to discover a new route to the Cariboo
Gold Diggings."

"What year was that?" inquired Jesse.

"That was in 1863. The Tete Jaune Cache was then sometimes called the
Leather Pass. At that time very little was known of this great region
between the Rockies and the Pacific. Milton and Cheadle named many of
its mountains that we passed. The old traders, as I have said, knew
nothing of this country except along the trails, and these men even
did not know the trails. Just to show you how little idea they
actually had of this region hereabout, their book says that they
supposed the Canoe River to rise in the Cariboo district!

"Now, in order for the Canoe River to rise in the Cariboo district, it
would have to cross a vast range of mountains and two great rivers,
the north fork of the Thompson and the Fraser River. Their map would
not have been as accurate as John's here, although when their book was
printed they had the use of yet other maps made by others working in
from the westward.

"None the less, theirs was a great journey. There were only two of
them, both Englishmen, in charge of the party, and they had one
half-breed and his wife and boy and an inefficient Irishman who was of
no service but much detriment, according to their story. To my mind
theirs is the most interesting account given of early times in this
region, and the book will prove well worth reading.

"These men were observers, and they were the first to realize that
the days of wild game were going, and that if the Hudson's Bay Company
was to keep up its trade it must feed its people on the products of
the soil, and not of the chase. They speak of sixty million acres of
land fit for farming in the Saskatchewan Valley, and speak of the
country as the future support of this Pacific coast. That is precisely
the policy of the Canadian country to-day. They said that the Hudson's
Bay Company could not long govern so vast a region--and all the
hi