From the Kishinina Patrol Cabin a faint trail will get you to the Canadian border. From this point it would probahly be best to follow Kishinena Creek but beware of the swamp.

"On Monday the 6th of September we regained British ground immediately on starting at 6 a.m.; we travelled up the creek till 10; when we halted for breakfast. It was cold, raw, and clouded.

As you sit quietly beside the marker today watching the Kishinena gently flowing below, it is interesting to think of those individuals who have been largely forgotten but who struggled to mark out the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Strait of Georgia on the west coast.

Following the Kishinina you will eventually meet up with a British Columbia Forestry Service Road which will take you to the area below the South Kootenay Pass. Overgrown with time you will probably have to search out the trail.

"We crossed a thickly wooded gully, and then commenced the ascent to the water-shed through thick wood. The snow increased in depth as we ascended until, on arriving at the crest, it was two feet on the level, and in places heaped up to double that depth. It was cold work trudging through the snow in thin leather moccasins without socks; and, to make matters worse, it was blowing and snowing all the time.

"I, however, on arriving at the water-shed, with the assistance of the Indian 'James' whom I always found most willing, unpacked the horse, with the instrument boxes, and obtained a reading of the barometer, which gave an altltude of 6,030 feet. We ascended along the ridge about 100 feet more, and then by a zig-zag track commenced a steep descent.

"We soon arrived at a small mountain torrent flowing eastward, thus regaining the waters of the Atlantic after an absence of sixteen days. The trail continued mostly through woods down the valley due east.

"The rocks on the tops of the mountains on either side were often of very curious shapes, and the strata in places much contorted;

. . . there were also some magnificent cllffs, and the cascades of snow water falling down the narrow gullies added motion to the grandeur of the scene.

"After two hours travelling on level ground along Red-stone Creek we emerged on the Saskatchewan Plains just six geographical miles north of the 49" parallel, and camped at Waterton Lakes, two miles east of the mouth of the pass.

Place names are fascinating and you have just read the first reference to the name Waterton Lakes.

"The uppermost and largest of these lakes lies in a gorge in the mountains, and is crossed by the boundary line. The scenery here is grand and picturesque, and I took care to make a sketch from the narrows between the upper or southernmost and second lake.

Possibly the most beautiful spot in all of the Waterton Lakes, it is a tragic loss that Blakiston's sketch has not survived the years.

As you drive along the Red Rock Canyon road today, those of you who have developed an interest in the flora and fauna of the park will probably have noticed the stunted Limber Pine, a tree that is not very common in the area. Blakiston again displays his biological interest.

"I was here fortunate enough to discover a stunted species of pine which M. Bourgeau, the botanist of the expedition, had not obtained.

"I gave him the specimen of this, as well as of some ferns and other plants which I had collected.

"I remained camped at this pleasant spot two whole days for the sake of the horses, and in order to examine more carefully the nature of the country.

Game was abundant, including grisly (sic) bears, and we obtained hoth fresh meat and fish. The trout and pike in the lakes were of large size.

This corner of the mountains appeared to he a very windy spot, and when it was not blowing much on the plain, a strong breeze came from the south down the gorge in which is the Upper Waterton Lake.

You have just been travelling over some historic ground. Consider again the Kootenai Indians returning each year from their buffalo hunt with meat and hides.

Or if you prefer, consider seven years after Blakiston, when the man most people identify with Waterton Lakes, Kootenai Brown, followed this same path.

Soon it was time for Blakiston to leave for Fort Edmonton, but before he left it was most important that he see our most famous feature.

"The Chief's Mountain was not visihle from the camp, hut I ohtained a good view of it from a knoll on the prairie about four miles distant, which with my previous bearings enabled me to lay it down, and curious enough, the boundary line passes just over this peculiar shaped mountain, which stands out in the plain like a landmark.

In 1792 when Peter Fidler travelled as far south as the Livingstone Gap, he noted and took bearings on this rnagnificent mountain. He said it was "called by these nuians 'Nin nase tok que' or 'the King' and by the Southern lndians the 'Governor of the Mountain', being the highest place they know of. . . Surely every visitor since has been struck by its majesty.

"In this account of the return passage of the Rocky Mountains, by what I have called the Boundary Pass (South Kootenay), I have not entered into such details as in the case of the Kootanie Pass (North Kootenay), because, as will he seen by the accompanying plan and sections, more than one half of it lies in American ground; . . . Moreover, I do not consider the Boundary Pass so well suited for the passage of a railroad as the Kootanie Pass."

On the 10th of September Blakiston headed north towards Fort Edmonton, the location members of the Palliser Expedition had earlier decided would be their winter quarters.