SUNSET-CANADA •BRITISH COLUMBIA and BEYOND • cm our i. '^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ^ SUNSET CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA AND BEYOND "SEE AMERICA FIRST" SERIES Each in one volume, decoraiice cover, firofaiely llluitrated CALIFORNIA, ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL By George Wharton James $3.50; carriage paid, $3.85 OLD PANAMA AND CASTILLO DEL ORG By C. L. G. Anderson $3.50; carriage paid, $3.85 THREE WONDERLANDS OF THE AMERICAN WEST By Thomas D. Murphy $3.50; carriage paid, $3.80 ON SUNSET HIGHWAYS (California) By Thomas D. Murphy $3.00; carriage paid, $3.20 TEXAS, THE MARVELLOUS Winter By Nevin O. .^ * „ $3.50 ; carriage paid, $3.85 HOUSEBOATING ON A COLONIAL WATER- WAY (The Jamea River, Virginia) By Frank and Cortelle Hutchins $2.50; carriage paid, $2.70 PANAMA AND THE CANAL TO-DAY By Forbes Lindsay -j «,,„ $3.00; carnage paid, $3.20 ARIZONA, THE WONDERFUL By George Wharton James $3.50; carriage paid, $3-85 COLORADO: THE QUEEN JEWEL OF THE ROCKIES . „ By Mae Lacy Bacgs . ^ $3.50; carnage paid, W-oS OREGON. THE PICTURESQUE By Thomas D. Murphy ^^^^_ ^^^^.^^^ ^^.^^ ^^g^ ENCHANTMENT FLORIDA, THE LAND OF ., DYBy Neviniitvin O. Winter . * oc ^^^^. carnage paid, Sf3-oS Beyond) SUNSET CANADA (British Columbia and Archie Bell By ^^^^. ^^^^.^^^ ^^.^^ $3.85 THE PAGE COMPANY Boston, Mass. 53 Beacon Street, Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924076067903 Twin Falls in Yoho Valley. (See page 279.) BRITISH SUNSET COLUMBIA AND CANADA BEYOND An Account of its Settlement; Its Progress from the Early Days to the Present, including a Review of the Hudson's Bay Company; Its Amazing Variety of Climate; Its Charm of Landscape; Its Unique Cities and Attractive Towns and Their Industries; A Sur- vey of the Different Peoples to be Found There, including the Japanese and Doukhobors ; An Analysis of What it Offers in Opportunity to the Home Seeker, the Agriculturist, the Business Man, the Sportsman and the Traveller. BY ARCHIE BELL Author of "The SpeU of China," "The SpeU of Egypt," "The SpeU of the Holy Land," etc. With a map and fifty-six plates, of which eight are in colour THE PAGE COMPANY BOSTON * MDCCCCXVIII '^OVMvX^ Copyright, ins. By The Page Company All rights reserved First Impression, March, 1918 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A, TO KATHERINE M. BELL FOREWORD One who has cruised to Bermuda or Porto Rico from the eastern seaboard of the United States has known the joys of Atlantic travel, but he has not crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In the same way, the tourist who has crossed British Columbia has known the joys of the mountains. He has placed his feet on glacial ice, followed trails to snowy peaks, prowled among forbidding chasms and plucked flowers from the terraces of the valleys. Ang- ling, hunting, canoeing, camping — all the sports of the Alpinist have contributed to those rare days of his excur- sion into one of the most satisfying regions of the North American continent. But if he halt at the line that divides the provinces, even at the mountain roof where the great trail divides and the waters begin their descent toward the two oceans that wash continental shores, he has not seen the Rocky Moun- tains of Canada. To turn back at the provincial bound- ary posts would be like discontinuing the Atlantic cruise at an island washed by the Gulf Stream. To know the mountains and to experience the full joys of making friends with them, to survive the first impression of austere rebuke, caused by their majestic and frigid hau- teur, one must ascend the great staircase from the Pacific and follow the trails that lose themselves in the plains of Alberta, where they have been erased by the settlers' plow. Thus, while the following chapters relate primarily to the Sunset Province of the Dominion of Canada, they also vii Tiii Foreword continue the narrative of the Rocky Mountains Excursion into Alberta. The volume contains no reference to the latter province, however, excepting as concerns the tour- ist resorts on the granite embankment at its western boundary. Archie Bell. Cleveland. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Preface vii I An Outpost of Empire ...... i II Victoria Regina ii III Island of Romance 26 rV " Gentlemen Adventurers " 38 V The Island Highway 48 VI Memories of Norway 64 VII An Unfulfilled Prophecy 80 VIII Captain Vancouver's Namesake ... 95 IX " The Royal City " 113 X Vancouver's Side-trips 130 XI "The American Liverpool" .... 144 XII The City of Golden Memories .... 162 XIII Orchards and Lakes 188 XIV " The Tour of the Lakes " 207 XV "What Would Jesus Do?" 229 XVI Through Ancient Gorges 252 XVII Among Lakes in the Clouds 272 IXVIII Capital of the Rockies 291 Bibliography . .,.,.,.-. • 307 Index ,.,.-.. 3^1 ix LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS Twin Falls in Yoho Valley (In full colour) . (See page 279) ...... Frontispiece MAP OF BRITISH COLUMBIA . i Entrance to Victoria Harbour (In full colour) . 14 Victoria, from House of Parliament ... 22 Captain George Vancouver ..... 28 Totems and Dug-out Canoes, Nootka Sound . 31 Beginnings of Vancouver Island Town . 40 Douglas Fir, on Island Highway (In full colour) 53 Totem Carved to Represent White Man 66 " Indian Shrine for " Oosh-mish 72 Firing Svend Foyu Harpoon Gun 74 Whales at Dock on Alberni Canal 76 Salmon Fishing .... 86 Logging on Vancouver Island 88 Sawmill, Alberni Canal . 92 Vancouver, from the Harbour . 98 " Two Sisters " guarding Vancouver Harbour 104 Big Trees in Stanley Park, Vancouver 108 Siwash Rock, Stanley Park, Vancouver no The Fraser River (In full colour) . 116 Barges loaded with Salmon at Steveston . 122 Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge (In full colour) ..... 132 Prince Rupert and Harbour 146 Jasper Park Entrance and Government Building 152 Mount Edith Cavell . -154 Mount Robson 156 Emperor Falls 158 xii List of Illustrations PAGE Mount Robson Glacier ..... i6o A Gold Prospector ...... 170 The Outside of a Gold Mine .... 174 The Inside of a Gold Mine ..... 176 Indians Spearing Salmon ..... 191 Junction of Thompson Rivers, near Kamloofs . 193 Hotel at Sicamous ...... 196 Kettle Valley Railroad, overlooking Okanagan Lake ........ 198 Cherries grown at Kelowna (In full colour) . 201 Trestle of Logs on Kettle Valley Route . 210 Lake Christina (In full colour) .... 213 View of Nelson, from Kootenay River . 217 " " " Big Billy," the Record Mountain Goat . 222 Indian Blanket Woven from Mountain Goat Wool 224 Kootenay Lake ....... 226 Group of Doukhobors at Brilliant . 234 Peter Veregin, Head of Doukhobors . 246 Illecillewaet Glacier, near Glacier Station . 258 Trail to the Great Glacier .... 260 Mount Sir Donald ...... 262 Christiaan Haesler, Swiss Guide . 264 The Great Divide ...... 281 Lake Louise and Victoria Glacier . 284 Valley of the Ten Peaks and Moraine Lake . 286 Difficult Climbing on Mount Lefroy . 289 Banff Springs Hotel ...... 294 Big Horn Rocky Mountain Sheep . 298 Herd of Buffalo at Banff ..... 300 Mount Rundle, near Banff .... 302 The Three Sisters, near Banff (In full colour) . 304 SUNSET CANADA: BRITISH COLUMBIA AND BEYOND CHAPTER I AN OUTPOST OF EMPIRE There are many routes that lead to Canada, many ports on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that with char- acteristic pride claim to be the principal gateways of the Dominion. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of highways, rivers, railroads and lakes that mark the bound- ary crossing of visitors from other countries. Many people prefer to cross the older provinces of the East and the prairies of the vast territory that stretches from the Great Lakes to Calgary before mounting the colossal staircase that leads to the Rocky Mountains, the Sel- kirks and the Coast Range. They prefer to descend the pathway toward the setting sun that slopes abruptly to the Pacific, with huge inlets, towering crags and tor- rential streams that rush along madly towards the ocean and in their wake leave a landscape that always has been and always will be the delight and bewilderment of all who see it. Statistics prove, however, that the majority of trans-continental travelers in the western provinces of the Dominion prefer the itinerary that takes them in the opposite direction. Easterners going to the Pacific coast, 1 Sunset Canada usually allow themselves the luxury of crossing the United States outward bound, and returning through Canada. One who has crossed Canada from coast to coast many times has no hesitancy in recommending this route. Rather than not see the marvels of British Co- lumbia at all, however, it is advisable to enter it through the towering gateway that leads from Calgary, Alberta, and plunge almost immediately into scenery that chal- lenges comparison with anything in Europe, Asia, Africa — anything to be encountered on the North American continent. But one who may come or go as he chooses, the conscientious traveler who feels that he owes himself the rarest pleasures to be derived from observing the wonders of nature, one who appreciates the psychological effect of approaching a climax in travel as in drama or fiction, will permit the curtain to rise as he stands on the deck of a steamer entering the port of Victoria on Van- couver Island. He will arrange that the rising curtain reveal this enchanting picture of Canada's western gate- way when he is \ forming his first impressions of the Dominion, which, in many v,rays, is one of the most re- markable stretches of land on earth — old enough to have a history, but a country the present and future of which is destined to be written larger in history than the busy outside world is likely to realize without personal knowl- edge of it gained by contact with its people, who have an inheritance from nature such as few nations have had since man began to make the earth his home.