 |
| Fur, Gold & Opals - Sample Chapter |
Three hours' drive from the coastal fjords and rain forests of British Columbia's lower mainland, the Trans-Canada Highway leaves the Fraser Canyon and a new vista begins to appear. The coastal Douglas fir and red cedar have given way to the tough little ponderosa pine and even tougher sagebrush. The tall ferns of the rain forest are no more; in their place, tiny spiny cactus await the unwary traveler.
The winter rains that created the tall coastal forests have been barred by the spectacular Coast Mountains, allowing only sunshine and a little snow to penetrate the Interior Plateau. Just over the mountains to the west, annual precipitation may exceed 100 inches, while here, in the interior drybelt, less than 20 inches of rain falls in the average season. Summer showers, lost in the same high mountains, seldom find there way through to break the weeks of hot dry weather.
The Thompson River drains much of the southern portion of the dry Interior Plateau, a portion known as the Thompson Plateau, and Lytton, Canada's hot spot on many days of the year, is the turning point in the journey up the Thompson. Lytton is the meeting place of two magnificent rivers. From the north comes the larger of the two, the muddy, sift-flowing Fraser. Entering it from the east is the Thompson whose green waters soon disappear into the Fraser.
From Lytton, the Trans-Canada Highway follows the Thompson River upstream through a colorful canyon cut through the northern yip of the Cascade Mountain chain. It clings precariously to the rocky canyon walls in some places and in others, it dips down to where the spray of the rapids seems to almost reach the road. North of Spences Bridge, the highway climbs gradually up to the benchland of the Thompson Plateau. Here, on a summer day, the vista is one of hillsides dotted with sagebrush, bunch grass and the occasional wind twisted scraggly pine. Where the water from the streams that flow out of the hills can be utilized, giant irrigation sprinklers create man-made rainbows over the fields of corn and alfalfa. Small orchards and market gardens flourish where the rich soil can be watered and fruit stands area a common sight. . . |
|
|
Return to Full Product View
|
|
|
