8A PEACE POWER SOUVENIR EDITION

Wednesday, September 25, 1968

Project visitors view cast of dinosaur tracks unearthed during excavation of damsite.

On Famous Journey to sea

SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE FIRST TO PASS

First man west is the proud
accolade history gives to Alex-
ander Mackenzie, fur trader and
explorer who reached the Paci-
fic Ocean “from Canada by land’?
on July 22, 1793.

He had crossed the continent
10 years before the Americans

sung journey, and in doing so he
travelled through a country that
now — suddenly — no longer ex+
ists,

He struggled through the awee
some Peace River Canyon, then
followed the Peace River to its
origin in the confluence of the

Lewts and Clark made their much

Finlay and the Parsnip to its

headwaters where ha walked 817
paces over a low hill — and be=
came the first white manto cross
the Continental Divide.

From there {t was down the
Fraser, west on the Blackwater
and the Bella Coola until at last
he reached “the stinking lake’
as the Indians called the area

in what is now known as Dean
Channel,

Mackenzle was only 29 when he
made this epic voyage, He had

already traced tha river that now |.

bears his name, the Mackenzie,
right to the Arctic Ocean,

But rather than being elated by
such a major discovery, he re-

UTILIZATION

| Mackenzie talked them into push=

ed to turn the other way — the

turned to his base bitterly dis-
appointed that he had not achiev=
ed his dream of reaching the Pa-
elfic,

He got leave and returned to
England where for six months he
studied navigation ‘at his own ox-
pense.

In the autumn of 1792 he was
back in Fort Chipewyan, on Lake
Athabasca, ready to begin his
journey.

He travelled ina single canoe,
accompanied by Alex Mackay, his
second in command, six French=
Canadian paddlers and two In«
dian hunter's, ;

They wintered at a previously

ver and, aS soon as the ice broke
next spring — May 9, 1973 —
they set cut.

Alter a period of relatively
easy going they met their first
obstacle — the Peace River Can«
yon,

They could not paddle their
canoe against the raging current
but had to use poles and ropes,

At one point they had to cut
steps in the solid rock for 20
feet, In another it was necessary
to unload and carry everything
but the canoe four times in two
miles.

The men wanted to go back but

ing on

The canyon became so bad
eventually ‘that no. alternative
was left us; nor did any means ao!
proceeding present themsetves
to us, but the passage of the
mountain over which we were ta
carry the canoe as well as the
baggage.”

This “very alarming enter=
prize’ of portaging got them
around the appropriately named
Portage Mountain — a distance
of 11 miles — in four days,

Once past the canyon another
problem presented itself, The
river split in tvo — one branch
heading southeast (today's Pars-
nip River),

The Finlay presented a .more
likely looking appearance —
broad smooth and safe, The Pars-
nip. was narrw, swifter and
appeared more dangeraus,

Mackenzie's entire crew want-

Mackenzie wintered.~ there,
then returned ‘to Montreal and
England, where he was knighted,
He died in Britain on March 11,
1620, aged 56, .

: But “he and his companions, by

prepared camp on the Peace Ri-| -

Ancient —

Remains
Found

by W, A. CHATIERTON

Workers digging for the
future at the Bennett damsite
also dug up the past,

What they have found over
the past few years has pro=-
ven that largeness and the
Peace River country have
been synonymous for mil-
lions of years, ;

The proof is contained in
a growling collection of
geological finds,

Included in the collection
is an 11,600-year-old piece
of mammoth tusk that was
unearthed In the South Mor-
aine excavation, four miles
from the damsite, while fill
material was being gathered
for the dam, |

Evidence of a prehistoric
forest fire in the same area
has also beer discovered by
geologists,

GIANT TUSK

The 2,5 foot tusk was sub-
mitted to Dolmage, Camp-
bell and Associates, con-
sulting geologists, by J, P,

Ottesen, Peace River pro- .

ject manager. The Vancou-
yer firm sent a specimen of
the tusk and asample of car=
bonized wood to Isotopes In-
corporated, of Westwood,
New Jersey for dating by the
“Carbon- 14’? method,

The tests show the tusk to .

be approximately 11,600
years old and the carbonized
wood about 40,000 year's old,

Dr, Douglas D. Campbell
reported to Mr, Ottesen that
the Peace River ages have
considerable scientific sig-
nificance, both from a pale-
ontological and glactologi-
cal standpoint,

Dr. Campbell said the two
significant features of the
mammoth tusk date are:

1, The date of the decaye
ing phase of the Jast Peace
River glacier of the Cordil-
lera Ice Age was about 11,-
000 years ago, approxi-
mately the same time as the
Fraser River ice at Hope,

& Radiocarbon dates of
‘all previous American ele-
phant remains, mostly inthe
Vaited States, have indicat-
ed that these animals be-
came oxtinct about 10,000
years B,P, (Before Present)
The Peace River tusk indi-

cates that a few animals at

least still survived in the
mountains at the fringe of
the Cordillera Ice Sheet up
to about this time,

BACKGROUND

The geologist also provid-
ed some background in-
formation on the mammoths,

The American elephants

were divided into two main
species of the same genus,
Mammuthus, One was the
woolly mammoth and the
other was the imperial, ap-
proximately 12-15 feet in
height at the shoulder,
' These animals survived
the end of the prehistoric
period of North America
fauna, which came about 12,-
000 years ago, With the ele-
phants were the North Am~
erica species of horse, bi-
son and camel, all now ex-
tinct,

In the next period, from
12,000 to 11,000 years BLP.
artifacts of man appeared in
North America as hunters
invaded the continent trom
Abia.

This migration occurred —

during the peak of the tinal

Pleistocene lee Age, 14,000 .

to 20,000 years ago, whena
land bridge ‘eristed between
what 1s now Siberia and Al-
aska, Yukon and Alberta to
the Great Plains, ©

By 10,000 years B,P, the

horse, the camel and the
elephant had all become ex-
tinct, at least fn the United
States, as indicated by dated
remains.

SPEAR POINTS

k is of Intriguing interest
Dr. Campbell said, that all of
the known elephant remains
dated after the appearance
‘of Man are accompanied by

_stone spearheads, called
Clovis points.
After the extinction of the

Husky Tusk

Bulldozer operator Gerry Lampagna of Dawson Creek J
-shows giant mammoth tusk he uncovered to Peace River | oo
Hydro employee. ‘Susan Findlay.

A Book Review

Writer Cherishes
Waterway Memory

Au things change, they say,
and when man really sets about
altering the face of the map—as
he has done with the Peace River
power project — change can be
as great as it is sudden,

As the world goes, there will).

not be many who will realize the
full scope of the changes wrought
in British Columbia's Peace Riy-
er country and the Rocky Moun-
tain Trench by this dam, Their
numbers will be far outweighed
' by the many thousands whowill—
eventually — enjoy the great lake
as a major new recreational
asset,

jor, This new book is 4 song of
mourning for what is passingand
a paean of tribute to the menwho
first explored the region,

CANOE TRIP

English - born, a one « tlma
banker, this long-time resident
of Canada has frequently suc-
cumbed to the iure of canoeing,
He brings his love of the country,
his skill in capturing its beauty I
with the written word and a keen #3
awareness of history to all his Bm
writing, i.

This is nowhere more appar- }
ent than in Finlay’s River, He im
links bis own journeying — by §
canoe. — along the. Parsnip, the
Peace and the Finlay — with the ia
historical background, Nearly &
all his own experiences relate am
naturally with those of the early op
visitors to the region, oe

The book looks into history, aim
ends with the 1916 expedition of
an Anierijean history professor, iia
Leland Haworth, for this was the iim
last big recorded trip inthe area gia

before the outboard motor — and Bim
_of this- country that-is even now . =,
‘being drowned, albeit for the that to“ Patterson is the end, & |
eventual greater good, Y

. Mr, Patterson has already won . ON THE WAY.
wide respect and admiration for a

“On the way, however, he writes

his previous books — Dangerous
River, The. Buffalo Head, Far] of Finlay, of Samuel Slack rhe
explored fax more of the rives

Pastures and Trail to the Inter-
= than the man it 1s named for eve;

POWERLINE i) and a number of thar will
STATISTICS

the region, j
He writes, too, of the moder§
Transmission Lines (2):.
Length; 575 miles (No, 1)

PAST RESTORED —

Nevertheless, it is most fitting
that the country as it was be re-
corded — for us andfor posterity
too, This has been done, with
most appropiate timing, in a new
book by a master writer about
the outdoors — R, M, Patterson,

Tha: book is called Finlay’s

River, and it is published by Mac-
| millan of Canada for $7.50, The
book is a magnificent evocation

pioneers he meats along the vasa
And it is with a Hitle sadness
that we read his book, Far d
much ofthis land is golng undaaiag
water, 50 many ofthe islands orga

Congratulations to the British Columbia ‘Hydro and Power Authority:
_on the production of first power at the Peace River project,

conquering the Peace River Can-
Tyon, had established Britain’a
_| elaims tothe North Pacific coast,

558 miles QNo, %)
” Voltage: 600,000 volts

|} snyes will Gisappear, so mug
.[ white water will vanish, so marie
historical sites will be no long

. elephants the Clovis spears
were. no longer, used, The
artifacts found “-after that

"Canadian General Electric is pleased to have been selected as the supplier | shat fearsome canyons acam proc Efrowheads. wits bison ros Currents AMET. or visible.
of generators, transformers, switchgear, data logger . Ee eee Pig ie * mains, Is steel-reinforced alumin- - HAVE 10 GO.

um, Each line consists of wf .
' three phases, each in turn
containing four conductors.

Total length: WB, 700 miles |

“The evidence auggesta
that the earliest manin North
America came armed with
perfected spears and found
that: the elephants were easi-

Mackenzie was first to see, - .
swrong.' Way. But .the explorer

, yemembered a warning of an old
+] Indian, that the northerly stream| .

“and other electrical equipment for the first, phase of this development.

Thay have to go, there's nbal
guing that, The needs of mi .
society demand it, The dévelog

“This important project is a major contribution to the future

‘Sjing-suprame’ will take the ac
off the sense of loss,

Yee it will: be gond for us]
have this book to refer to, 4 a
‘remind us that here was not yo ge
ways a great, inland sea bu
series. of rivera With romary
tales, many ‘of them told ¢
‘|treniely ” wall. by Mr, Patter
In this new kook,

An oy ‘em ~ DONALD STAIN

. economic ros erit of British Colum __ | led into {impenetrable mountains, |. " (both lines) . {ment of Our resources demang
* pre ope y bia. “Againgt ‘the wishes of all tha he remains a &. Diameter; about 1 Ane if, And, the lake that-Will ave}
. ‘others, Mackenzie turned-his ex= “gubsequently.~ Killed oO by. . “Towers: Le tually, ‘provide boating and dls

ped Hon. into the Parsnip — —and apears, aoe

: otal number of towera::
: approximately - 4,900 Moth. 1
, Lines),

f velttal success,: |.
on jone‘of those intriguing near
misses: of history, Mackenzie was
old by: the Indians when he reach-
id the'sea that. anothey white man),
‘whom they ‘galled Macubah -had|:
‘come: to thesis land. ina. great
A apnoe. Just a ‘dew Weeks, pra
ai ‘viously. oe
oe eee 3 (3 most: ‘have baen. cal
‘ ‘George Vancouver. a

Aewith this. background; n
_ Dr, Campbell sald.) "lt e
“therefore: interesting to tind |-
othat elephants existed in the. |
_horthwestern | mountains ‘a- .: |.
“Jong the Peace. River about
11,000: years ago, possibly'
ay riven into: the mountaine''"j,
_gkeier country by hunters,’ = |:

Average span between |
tovera: approximately 1, 250

"Holght rhiiges 0, to’ 105
“feet
(average Heleht: 100° teat.

~ 9204-19891