River and Lake Navigation.

Steamboats can run up from New Westminster to Douglas, the head of steamboat navigation on Harrison Lake (50 miles from mouth of Harrison River), as well as from New Westminster to Yale, but the Douglas route to the interior is not at present used.

The Fraser River, above Yale, is not available for much navigation. A steamer relieves transport on the waggon road when required, from Soda Creek, 20 miles below Alexandria, to Quesnel (see Map), 40 miles above that point; or some 20 miles higher when necessary. The navigation is then interrupted by a rapid, the ascent of which is not attempted. Above this point there is clear navigation for steamers for a distance of 60 miles, to within 20 miles of Fort George, where another rapid, impracticable for steamers, occurs. From this point upwards, both by the Stuart and Fraser Lake branches, and in the direction of Tête Jaune's Cache, there are stretches very favourable for steam navigation; but the occasional breaks are a great drawback. Nevertheless, with the extension of mining operations these portions of the river will doubtless in time be made available, in parts, so as to meet the increased demand for transport; and inducements for settlement will thus arise in the upper portion of the province which do not at present exist.

There is a useful stretch of navigation on the Thompson River. From Savona's, at the lower (western) end of Kamloops Lake, uninterrupted steamboat navigation extends through Kamloops Lake, and up the South Thompson River to the upper (eastern) end of Great Shuswap Lake, a distance of 115 miles, and also up the North Branch of Thompson River, which joins the South Thompson at Fort Kamloops, to a distance of 85 miles from the latter post.

The Columbia, Nasse, and Skena Rivers are navigable for short distances by light steamboats. So also, of course, are the Okanagan and other lakes.

Travelling may be said to be at present very expensive in British Columbia, whether by steamboat or coach, compared with the cost of travel in Eastern Canada or England.