In his diary for the following year, Harmon records a summer frost on June 23, writing:—“The last night was so cold, that the tops of our potatoes were frozen.” The frost in question does not seem to have damaged the crops, for on Wednesday the 3rd of the following October this observant diarist wrote:—“We have taken our potatoes out of the ground, and find that nine bushels, which we planted May 10 last, have produced a little more than one hundred and fifty bushels. The other vegetables in our garden have yielded an increase, much in the same proportion, which is sufficient proof that the soil of the points of land along the river is good. Indeed, I am of the opinion, that wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, etc., would grow well in the plains around us.” It is very evident that all of the officials of the fur trading companies who were on duty in Peace river country did not devote the same intelligent attention to agriculture that Harmon and his colleagues did. When Charles Horetzky, C.E., was at Dunvegan in 1873 (See p. 17) there was no bread used, and the only vegetables served at meals were some “very diminutive potatoes.” Mr. Horetzky comments as follows on this subject:—“Owing to the fact that the Company’s agents are liable to be suddenly removed from one post to another, those people are, not unnaturally, averse to the expenditure of time and labour necessary for farming experiments; hence the absence of farm produce at these posts. But the natural advantages of excellent soil of unlimited extent, and the proverbially early disappearance of the snow in spring, would lead one to believe that good crops of barley, potatoes, and fall wheat might be successfully raised in this part of the Northwest.” One of the strongest arguments advanced by Mr. Horetzky in his advocacy of Peace river pass route for the Canadian Pacific Railway was that a line built via this route would open up A VAST FERTILE REGION situated to the south of Peace river—“a region probably comprising an area equal in extent to Manitoba, well wooded with abundance of fresh water, of excellent soil, and in all probability possessing unlimited quantities of good coal. The climate is most salubrious, and, by all accounts, as mild as, if not milder than, that of Red river. On the extensive plains bordering upon Peace river, both north and south of it, snow rarely exceeds two feet in depth, and never packs.” The travellers and traders who have been in Peace river country are as enthusiastic about its picturesque appearance as about its apparent fertility.