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Palliser, an energetic and efficient explorer, decided to go south with the barometer, check the elevations of what we call Elk Pass and examine the Elk Valley. Sullivan was sent west with the sextant to explore that route to the Columbia Portage. His instructions were to make a conspicuous camp on Canal Flats. (The foregoing is quite in keeping with Palliser's character. In June he took one man and a pack horse to find the St. Ann's Brigade. In July he made a dash to the 49th parallel and spotted Chief Mountain on the 49th parallel.) Now, with constraints of time he, no doubt, forced the pace down the Elk River after a brief look at the Elk Lakes. Following a tough day's journey down the Elk, the travelling would have improved. George Dawson found some good trails in 1884.
Palliser arrived in bad weather at the Columbia Portage on the 27 th. Without the sextant, he was unsure of his position. The jaded horses were too tired to go further without a day's rest. Palliser, not one to rest, spent the 28th climbing a mountain to get a clear view north. He was astonished to find himself 2,300 feet over the surface of Columbia Lake.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sullivan had crossed and recrossed rivers, chopped his way through windfall - (as did Palliser on the upper Elk) -, then broke into the open country of Canal Flats late on the 28th. Palliser walked into his camp early on the 29th and the Expedition quickly moved south.
- Larry Boyd
John Palliser's Exploration of the Canadian Rockies
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