It must have been of some such place, though farther north, that Holmes was imagining when he wrote:
Yon stream, whose sources run
Turned by a pebble's edge,
Is Athabasca, rolling toward the sun,
Through the cleft mountain-ledge.
The slender rill had strayed
But for the slanting stone,
To evening's ocean, with the tangled braid
Of foam-flecked Oregon.
At the parting of the streams, a pretty rustic framework has been erected, bearing the words, "The Continental Divide."
We are now on the Columbia's waters. We are also in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, and in the midst of a perfect sea of mountains. It has been said that British Columbia is “fifty or sixty Switzerlands rolled into one.” Here are five distinct ridges, up and down, and through and around which, the Columbia and its affluents chase each other in a dizzy dance.
The descent of the west side of the Divide is appallingly steep. From Stephen to Field is a drop of one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven feet in ten miles. In that distance are several places which reach two hundred and thirty-six feet to the mile. Most explicit directions are given to engineers in respect to handling trains on this grade. A speed of only six miles an hour is allowed, and frequent stops and tests of air-brakes and signals are required. By reason of the exceeding care, no serious accident has ever occurred. In ascending three locomotives are required for an ordinary train.
