and nobly the work was done. Not only did Scotland send out fur traders, but also men like David Douglas, after whom the fine Douglas fir takes its name. He was a young Scotchman who came out under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society of London in 1824, and for ten years explored the great forests of the West, studying the birds, beasts, and plants. "To the botanical vocabulary of the time David Douglas added the names of over one thousand plants. Thus this devotee of birds and plants wandered among the forests of America, his pack on his back, and a shaggy terrier at his heels."1 He was a man of plain speech, but on one occasion when staying at Fort Kamloops very nearly lost his life for remarking to the brother Scot in command of the fort that "the Hudson's Bay Company had not an officer with a soul above a beaver skin." The pass across the Rocky Mountains in most frequent use for many years by the fur traders was that known as the Athabasca pass, connecting the northern bend of the Columbia with the eastern river basins. The pass used by the Canadian Pacific Railway was discovered by Dr. Hector, who accompanied Captain Palliser's exploring expedition in 1858. It was called by Dr. Hector the Kicking Horse pass, after the river, on the banks of which, he received a kick from a horse, which disabled him. As his discovery of this pass solved the 1 Bancroft, Hist. of N. W, Coast. IV.] THE KICKING HORSE PASS. 1 51 question as to a practicable route across the mountains. for a railway, I give Dr. Hector's own words. He had crossed the range to the westward, and was now seeking a way back over the range. " August 29th. Reached the mouth of a large tributary, to north-west. . . . Here I received a severe kick in the chest from my horse, rendering me senseless, and disabling me for some time. My recovery might have been much more tedious than it was, but for the fact that we were now starving, and I found it absolutely necessary to push on after two days. On 31st August we struck up the valley of the Kicking Horse river, travelling as fast as we could get our jaded horses to go, and as I could bear the motion, and on the 2nd of September reached the height of land." 1 This discovery of Dr. Hector's was thus commented on by Captain Palliser, in his report to the British Government. "In that pass Dr. Hector had observed a peculiarity which distinguishes it from the others we had examined, viz. the absence of any abrupt step at the commencement of the descent to the west. This led him to report very favourably upon the facilities offered by this pass for the construction of a waggon road, and even that the project of a railroad by this route across the Rocky Mountains might be reasonably entertained." 1 "Height of land" a frequently-used term, meaning "Divide" or "Watershed." No railway had then been made to link ocean with ocean, and it seems most suitable that now after thirty years the pass should for the future bear Dr. Hector's own name, instead of one recalling the memory of his misfortune. Time went on, other lines crossed the continent, and Great Britain could not be behindhand in enter, prises of this nature. Many passes through the Rockies were explored. The Kicking Horse pass could not be beaten, but then there was the Selkirk range beyond. Mr. Walter Moberly had here been the chief explorer, but the railway difficulty was at last solved in 1883 by Major Rogers discovering the pass bearing his name, and also a pass through the Gold range to the westward, the last link necessary to connect ocean with ocean. Thus was Sir James Hector's suggestion of thirty years ago fulfilled, and the Canadian Pacific Railway became an accomplished fact. CHAPTER V. There its dusky blue clusters The aconite spreads, There the pines slope, the cloud stripes MATTHEW ARNOLD. Leave Calgary.-Ascend the Rockies.-Steep descent.-Cross the Columbia. In the Selkirks. The trestle-bridges and snow sheds. -The great Illecellewaet glacier. OUR walk on the prairie had proved so delightfully refreshing, that when the Pacific Express arrived soon after midnight, and we had taken our places in the cars, we sank quickly into dream-land, and did not wake up till the train was far into the bosom of the mountains. On awakening, the outlook seemed very beautiful. The Bow river, along the margin of which we ascended, flashed and sparkled in the morning sunshine. Wreaths of filmy golden mist hung around the sombre pine forest, while above all, the mountains rose on either hand in beetling cliffs and snowy summits. It was a glorious morning, and to a lover of mountain scenery this first near glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, resplendent in the golden light of the rising sun, was one of those experiences in life never to be forgotten. During our time of blissful unconsciousness we had passed Banff, where a very fine hotel has been built by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and were now drawing near to Castle Mountain station. Here we paused at the water tank, and Mr. McArthur, Assistant Government Surveyor, to whom we had been commended by his chief at Ottawa, came on board the train, from his camp close by. He, with his assistant, was en route for the summit of the pass, from which he intended making a mountain ascent for surveying purposes. As he had been for two or three seasons engaged in the survey of this portion of the Rockies, he could give us much interesting information. As we rattled along, he pointed out the various mountains of importance, and said he would like to join us later on in an attempt to ascend Mount Lefroy (11,658 feet), the highest measured mountain in the portion of the Rockies in British territory. Though our special work lay in the Selkirk range, the prospect of exploring some of the peaks of this eastern range seemed most agreeable, so we settled that morning before we parted, that I should leave enough time for this expedition on |