To: Father [Robb?], [Dundonald, County Down?]
From: Alexander Robb, Nicola Lake, British Columbia
Nicola Lake
Dec[ember?] 14th 1868
Dear Father,
I have been
reproaching myself for some
time for not answering your
last kind letter which I received
in the latter end of October
'Tis true that I have been very
busy, but still I might very
well have spared enough time
to write to you. When I last
wrote I told you that I had
come up here and that I was
much pleased with the looks
of the country. In fact it
would be impossible to be
otherwise than pleased
with it for it is beyond
comparison, by far the best
part of British Columbia
I have yet seen. It lies in
what is called the dry belt
of British Columbia, and indeed
it may be well called so far
a shower is rather a rare
occurence [occurrence?]. In summer it is
warm and dry and in winter
it is cold and dry. Of course it
would be impossible to grow
my kind of crop without
artificial watering, so when
anyone is looking out for a
farm he has got to look
out for a place near a creek
where the water can be easily
got in the land one wants
to cultivate. The irrigation
of the land is done by making
small water furrows about
