Читать книгу The Unexploited West - Ernest J. Chambers - Страница 12

Prairie Land on lower Nelson river.

“It begins to thaw at Albany about April 8 or 10. There is a good soil there for six or eight inches, which may be gained within about a fortnight after the beginning of the thaw; that in two or three weeks more, as the weather happens, it thaws to the depth of two feet, commonly by the beginning of May. The frost sets in again about the beginning of October, and when the witness was there, October 4, it came in very hard. The witness believes there is time enough to grow wheat, for if summer grain were sown early in the southernmost parts, he thinks there would be time for it to ripen and to gather it in, but the frosts break sooner up in the country and come in later. There are vast tracts of land fit for cultivation, and the witness has seen very good lettuce, spinach, dewberries, strawberries and black cherries. The Indians very rarely eat any bread, nor do they live long enough in one place to raise corn, nor have they any yams or potatoes, their provisions being fish and flesh, which they preserve by drying it, not having the art of salting. In case they were interested in the arts of tillage, he does not know whether they would stay in a place long enough to raise corn, for though they love bread dearly they would rather go hunting than cultivate land. The wild oats he mentioned before never came to seed, being little better than a species of grass. Grass grows there sufficient for the support of cattle, and they have made hay at Albany. If the Company were to grow corn, they apprehend the French would come and take it as they did their sheep in the last war, but they might protect their corn from the Indians. Witness does not think it to the benefit of the Company to grow corn, because they must have a house built at a distance from the factories, and men to watch it, to prevent the home Indians from stealing it. They must also have men to cultivate it, which would be very expensive. The witness cannot determine whether it would not be more so than having their corn from Europe, and he thinks the Company would sow it, if it were for their advantage.”

Mr. John Hayter, another witness, said that he had been house carpenter to the Company six years at Moose river, three years at Churchill, and six months at Albany, and knew that no other trade was carried on there but that of furs. He had seen good barley grow at Moose river, and helped the person who grew it to dig his ground and sow it. It produced about the quantity of half a bushel, which he saw rubbed out. The ear was large, and yielded as well, in the opinion of the witness, as the barley sown on common ground in England. Some of the seed was sown the next year, and it grew again but the witness did not see the produce of it. The person who grew this corn told him the reason why he discontinued sowing corn was that the Governor hindered him. Witness further said that he had made hay at Moose river.

Mr. Edward Thompson, who had been three years at Moose river in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s service as surgeon, being required to give an account of the commodities, soil and climate there, before the committee, said that the chief commodities were the furs of the beaver, the marten, the fox and the bear. He testified that he had seen better barley and oats grow at Moose river than ever he saw in the Orkneys, but the quantity sown was but very small. The seed would bear sowing again, but diminished in goodness. There was suitable enough ground for this corn, but never any encouragement given for sowing it, but quite the reverse, the Governor absolutely forbidding it, for no other reason, as the witness apprehended, but that if corn had been sown, a colony would soon have been erected there, and he could not say whether that would be for the advantage of the proprietors. The witness himself sowed about half a dozen corns of wheat, for a trial, in October, which lay in the ground all winter covered with snow and came to perfection in August. It was sown in a piece of good ground near the foot of a tree, which was in some measure a fence to it. The witness thought that beans, peas, barley and oats would grow there. He never tried it anywhere but at Moose river, but apprehended that corn would grow in the inland countries at a hundred miles distance, even as far north as Port Nelson, for he had found the climate warmer the further one goes inland.

Enoch Alsop, who had been armourer to the Hudson’s Bay Company at Moose river, informed the investigating Committee of 1749 that he had sown barley and oats there, the same seed three years successively, and that it grew very well. He sowed a handful or two of barley and oats at first, mixed with dust and ashes, which produced two or three quarts or a gallon of barley, and he thinks in the third year he had above half a bushel. Governor Stanton then

Forbade Him To Sow Any More

but gave no reason for such prohibition.

Robert Griffin, another of the witnesses, stated that he had been informed that the soil one hundred miles up the country would produce corn. He had seen oats grow to perfection at Albany. He had also seen peas, beans, turnips, salading (sic) and cabbage, and some few carrots. The beans were generally blighted, but the turnips, peas and cabbage, were “in great plenty and perfection.” They had fresh seed sent over every year. The land was then cultivated for about a mile round Albany, being dug with spades upon the breaking of the frost, which generally happened from April 20 to 27.

In his evidence, Mr. Joseph Robson, perhaps the principal witness, explained that there was grass in abundance a yard high in the most northern parts of Hudson bay region he had seen. He did not believe corn would grow in the far north but grain would grow over large areas. He had eaten peas and beans which had been grown at York Factory, in latitude 57°, but he never knew any other corn tried there. The quantity of peas and beans he spoke of was as much as six or eight people could eat, but there were a thousand acres of ground in latitude 57°, which, if cultivated, would produce the same, and there was a much larger tract to the southward. The peas and beans grew by common cultivation, without any force, but the produce was not so large as in England.

Being asked if it would not be a great advantage to the Company to grow corn at York Factory or their other settlements, Mr. Robson said it would doubtless be so, and it was reasonable to think they would do it, but there were many things not done which would be of great advantage besides that, and there must be some secret cause for it to which the witness was a stranger. It had been demonstrated that the soil about Hudson bay would bear roots, such as carrots, radishes and turnips. It also produced coleworts, and all of these roots and greens grew in as great perfection as they do in England; yet he did not think that there were two acres cultivated at both the factories where he had resided.

Being asked how long the frost was out of the ground at York Factory, Mr. Robson said it was hardly ever quite out of it, for he had dug three feet and a half deep, and then found a shell of ice under which the ground was all soft. The hole he dug was in low ground, about thirteen feet from high water mark. He never had an opportunity to dig up in the country, but the surface of the ground was free from the latter end of May to the latter end of August, and in the summer they had

Eighteen Hours Sunlight at Churchill.

By the accounts of the people coming down, the frost breaks some months sooner up in the country.

Mr. Robson said he had seen oxen and horses belonging to the Company at Fort Prince of Wales (Churchill) which were brought from England and fed with hay and corn, the hay being got there and made into stacks.

Robson, who first went to Hudson bay in 1733, and finally left there in 1747, serving for some time as a mason, and later as “mason and surveyor,” in the construction of Fort Prince of Wales at Churchill, published his book “An Account of Six Years’ Residence in Hudson’s Bay” in 1752. In this volume he mentions going out in the “Mary” frigate, and says, in writing of Churchill:—“We had brought over in the ship a bull, four heifers, ten oxen and a horse. There was an Orkney bull there before. Some of the heifers afterwards calved, and I think with care they would have increased and done well, though this place is in 59°, and the most northerly settlement in the bay.”

On page forty-two of his book, Mr. Robson states:—“It is not to be imagined that the most northerly settlements in the bay should have as good a climate as the southerly settlement, there being so great a difference of latitude, as from 59° to 51° 30′. I was no farther up Churchill river than eight or nine miles but can say that the soil is very good, and that there are gooseberries and black and red currants growing near the sea upon points that appear almost barren. Those I have seen grow so low that the grass covers them. The marshes and low grounds are full of good grass, and there is a patch of ground near the fort on Eskimo point (near Churchill) which, though exposed to the north and northeast winds, produces good radishes, coleworts, turnips, small carrots, and lettuces, and other salading; blackberries also grow upon the heath. Upon clearing away the snow in the spring, we generally found the under part of it congested to ice, three or four inches thick, lying hollow from the ground. Whether this was caused by the snow melting and thawing downwards, and then congesting from the coldness of the earth, and moistening the snow which was afterwards congested again, I am not able to determine. I am inclined to believe the latter, because the top of the snow was formed into a hard icy crust, and within was heavy, though soft. However, beneath this arch of ice we found green vegetables growing up an inch or two above the ground. Cattle here would live and do well, if the same care were taken of them as is generally taken in England. The horses I found among them had been kept several years, and were constantly employed in drawing stones and other materials for the use of the fort. And if they can subsist and be fit for service at Churchill river in 59° they would surely subsist and increase also at the bottom of the bay in 51° 30′, and in all the more southerly settlements.

“The soil at York Factory, which is in 75° 10′, is much better than at Churchill river. Most kinds of garden stuff

Grow Here to Perfection,

especially peas and beans. I have seen a small pea growing without any culture, and am of the opinion that barley would flourish here, and consequently in much greater perfection at Moose and Albany rivers, which are 51° 30′ and 52°. Gooseberries and red and black currants are found in the woods, growing upon such bushes as in England. Up the river are very good patches of grounds, and bottoms under banks, so defended from the north and northwest winds that there is a fine thaw below when the top is freezing; here whole families might secure a comfortable subsistence, if they were as industrious as they are in their own country. Upon Hayes river, fifteen miles from the factory, is such a bank as I have just mentioned, near which I pitched my tent. After paling in some ground for a covey-warren, and for oxen, sheep, goats, etc., I should expect by no more labor than would be proper for my health to procure a desirable livelihood, not at all doubting of my being able to raise peas and beans, barley, and probably other kinds of grain.”

On page sixty-three, Mr. Robson expresses the opinion “that the lands are capable of tillage, affording a good pasture for horses and cattle in the summer, and good hay for their subsistence in the winter. At Churchill, the most northerly factory, horses and cows have been kept in winter, though greatly exposed to the frost and cold. All sorts of garden stuff flourish at the factory, and where barley and oats have been sown, they come to perfection. At Moose Factory at the bottom of the bay, sown wheat has stood the winter frosts, and grown very well the following summer, though the cold is greater and continues longer than within land; black cherries planted here have also grown and borne fruit, as would other trees if propagated.”

Reverting to the subject of climate, Mr. Robson states:—“I perceived that the garden ground at York Factory and Churchill river thawed much sooner and deeper in the space of one month than the waste that lies contiguous to it, and the same is to be observed in England. By the heat therefore which the earth here would acquire from a general and careful cultivation, the frost might be so soon overcome that the people might expect regular returns of seed-time and harvest.”

An Excellent Farming Country.

Ed. Umfreville, in his volume “Eleven Years in the Service of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Four Years in the Canada Fur Trade”, published in 1790, speaking of latitude 55°, says:—“The Hudson’s Bay Company servants have tried Indian corn and barley by way of experiment which came to perfection. Potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, etc., have been reared and found as good as those in Canada (Quebec). The natives collect vast quantities of wild cherries and bring them to the fort. Raspberries, strawberries, currants, cranberries, and an infinity of other kinds of which I do not know the names, are to be found everywhere. The grass grows to a great height which fattens our horses in a short time.

“The late Chief Factor Archibald, in his journal of Sir George Simpson’s trip from York Factory to the Pacific in 1828, speaks of having had, on July 12, two days after leaving York, “a peep at the Rock, an old establishment with its gardens.”

The Rev. John Semmens, who spent many years as a missionary in the north country, went to live on the banks of Burntwood river, at Nelson House, in the year 1874. He remained there two years, and for a number of years thereafter paid occasional visits to the locality and made journeys through the adjacent country. He writes:—“The most of my tripping was between Norway House and Nelson House, though I have been as far north as Indian lake, as far west as Nelson lake, and as far east as Split lake. The information I have to offer, therefore, concerns the lower reaches of the Burntwood after its junction with Rat river at Nelson House. Much of the country specified is hilly, with frequent outcropping of granite rock, and some large tracts of muskeg or swamp land, but there are found large areas of open country, and valleys of tributary rivers, where the soil is rich and deep and where grazing and stock raising could be very successfully carried on. The sheltering forests, and the abundant water courses, the numerous beaver dams, and the rich native grasses would indeed make this locality ideal to sheep raisers and general ranchmen. The absence of anything like a market has hitherto kept this country from being reported of, but if a railway becomes an actual fact, Manitoba will add very much to her available resources, when extension comes, and settlers will find that in soil, in wood, in grasses, and in waters, this unknown land will afford comfortable homes for thousands. It will be seen by the map that about one hundred miles down the Nelson all the branches of that noble river unite in one. From that point we are accustomed to strike across country to Landing lake, Wintering lake, Pipestone lake and thence into Burntwood river. This short cut has along its course many thousands of acres, such as I have described, and for fishermen as well as ranchers must some day be a paradise.

“The cold at Nelson House is no more intense than that of a winter in northern Manitoba as at present constituted, but the frost sets in rather sooner, and tarries rather longer than it does at the north end of Lake Winnipeg. Roots and vegetables planted about May 24 do well and are gathered about September 15. The presence of so much water so regulates the temperature that there are few frosts either early or late to make growth uncertain, yet, in my experience, wheat is not a sure crop. All depends on the season. Oats and barley will do well any time.”—(J. A. J. McKenna’s report on the Hudson Bay Route).

Split lake region.

The Reverend Doctor John McDougall, one of the pioneer missionaries of the west, has thus expressed himself regarding the region to the south of Split lake:—“The summer begins early, and the growth and vegetation are almost of a tropical character. This is attributable to the longer hours of sunshine that prevail, and to the proximity of streams of living waters everywhere in the district, each of which is conducive to plant nourishment. There is considerable rock throughout the section which indicates in the near future a season of development for the mineral prospector but there are also countless acres of good land which can be easily made to yield fruitful returns to the farmer, as has been the case southward in Manitoba and westward in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The soil is of clay sub-strata with sandy loam on the surface, and, although wooded to a considerable extent, is a far more enticing agricultural proposition than that which faced the early settlers on the bush farms of Ontario and other eastern provinces fifty years ago, and, with the advent of railways, a better market than the eastern settler had would be always available. The district in which are situated Norway House, Cross lake, Oxford House, Island lake, Nelson House and Split lake, covers a wide area, and at each of these places garden vegetables and grain for personal requirements have been successfully grown for a term of years. Summer frosts are practically unknown and the germination of vegetation, owing to the long hours of sunshine, is exceedingly rapid.” (McKenna Report.)

Doctor Robert Bell, in the report of his exploratory trip from Lake Winnipeg to Hudson bay in 1878 (See p. 17), states:—“Along the direct overland route from Churchill to York Factory the timber is reported to be generally small, and large prairie-like openings are said to occur, in which the ground is dry and covered with grass or other herbage. I saw very good potatoes and turnips growing in the gardens at Churchill. Previous to the advent of Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, the cultivation of potatoes had not been attempted, and the possibility of raising them at Churchill when suggested by Mrs. Spencer was ridiculed by the oldest inhabitants. However, in spite of predictions of certain failure, the ground was prepared, seed planted, and a good crop was harvested. The experiment has been repeated successfully for seven consecutive years, so that the question of the practicability of cultivating potatoes on the shores of Hudson bay in this latitude has been pretty well solved.

“Hay can be cut in abundance in the neighborhood of Churchill, and cattle thrive well, yet the same ignorance or obstinacy, as the above referred to, formerly prevented any attempt being made to breed stock on the spot, so that every fresh animal required had to be brought from some other place. Now, the small herd which is kept at the place is recruited by raising the animals calved at the fort itself. The open grassy land near the sea is practically of unlimited extent. Much of it is dry and undulating, affording abundance of pasture for the cattle. The butter made by Mrs. Spencer could hardly be excelled for quality and fineness in any country.”

Lake St. Joseph section.

In the report (Part G., Geol. Sur. Report, 1886) of his exploratory trip in 1886 (See p. 18), Doctor Robert Bell, speaking of the country in Lake St. Joseph section, in the extreme southern side of the region under review, writes:—“The climate, in the immediate vicinity of the lake at all events, appears to be sufficiently good to admit of the growth of a variety of crops. At Osnaburgh House, near the east end, where the soil is of a sandy nature, the principal crop cultivated at present is potatoes, but early Indian corn, peas, beans, and a variety of roots and other vegetables, to say nothing of a profusion of flowers, were in a flourishing condition at the end of July. In former years, when cattle were kept at the post, barley was said to have been a regular crop. Hay grows very luxuriantly. I was creditably informed that pumpkins and muskmelons had frequently ripened at this establishment.”

Doctor Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, testified:—“Potatoes and all such vegetables would grow in Hudson bay district, but the immediate influence of the sea is unfavourable for gardens. Gardens close to the sea do not flourish as well as gardens inland. The frequent change from heat to cold and the fogs from the sea prejudicially affect them, and cause a sort of blight on vegetation close to the sea shore. But a few miles inland vegetation is more rank, and you can grow potatoes and the ordinary root crops. There are plenty of grasses there to keep cattle and sheep. There are many kinds of grasses there, also sedges, wild peas or vetches and lentils. They would make splendid feed for cattle.”

Mr. Fawcett (Annual Report, Dep. Interior, 1885, pt. II, p. 37), speaking of his descent of the Wenassago to Lac Seul, says:—“In a few places I noticed soil of vegetable mould and clay loam, which would be well suited for the growth of grain and vegetables should the climatic conditions be favourable. I also observed here that the best soil generally produced a growth of poplar, and wherever it appeared large and thrifty, good soil might be looked for, comparatively free from rock. On the rocky ridges, as usual, scrubby pine was the prevailing timber, while the flats and muskegs were invariably covered with spruce and tamarack. The good land noticed seemed to be in belts three or four miles wide and extending north and south for a considerable distance, as might be expected from the geological formation, the depressions and elevations succeeding each other in very regular order and much in the same direction.”

On Big Black river, which flows into the east side of Lake Winnipeg, Mr. A. S. Cochrane, of the Geological Survey, who surveyed that stream in 1882, reports the soil as “excellent, being a light-gray friable clay. . . . . The land up to Pelican portage is first class, but above this there is a low and swampy country, which extends to ‘Rapids-close-together’. A border of good land, on which some fair-sized timber grows, runs along both sides of the river.”

Favourable lake and Severn lake.

Mr. Low, in the account of his trip in 1886, reports that along the shores of Favourable lake (which is from two to five miles in width) “there are considerable areas of good land, the best being on the peninsula and along the southern part of the lake, where the underlying rocks are hornblende and chloritic schists; the northern part is more barren, the soil resting upon gneiss. The soil is a fine, rich sandy loam, quite suitable for growing good crops, and summer frosts seem to be the only drawback to successful agriculture. These are said to not occur at Trout lake, though situated further to the northeastward. At the end of the peninsula the foundations of several old houses were discovered, out of which trees twelve inches in diameter were growing. These ruins evidently mark the site of some old Hudson’s Bay Company or more probably North West Company trading post. . . . .

“There is much good land about Sandy lake. Indeed the greater part of the land around these lakes would make good farms.”

A short distance above Severn lake, according to Mr. Low, there is a considerable area of country “almost flat, with good timber and soil.”

Mr. Low describes Trout lake (east of Severn lake) as being forty miles long by twenty miles wide. He states in his report that Mr. Tait, the officer in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at that point, “says that good crops of peas, potatoes and other roots are raised here yearly, and are very rarely injured by summer frosts. This being the case, the country to the westward, between Severn and Sandy lakes, which is more favourably situated, having all the appearance of a better climate and a richer soil, must undoubtedly be well suited for agriculture, and will at some future time prove valuable land for settlement.”

Mr. Low reports the soil around Fort Severn as a heavy clay and very swampy. Nothing but a few small turnips are with difficulty grown there. On August 8, strawberries, then beginning to ripen, were picked by Mr. Low on clearings around the post.

Mr. Low was examined at length before the Senate committee of 1907 (See p. 27), and stated in his evidence that the country between Norway House and Hudson bay is not very elevated. The highest points in it are probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of one thousand feet above sea level. For about half the distance to Hudson bay it is practically a rolling plain, and the rocks are ancient rocks of the Laurentian and Huronian ages. Beyond that there was an ancient deposit of limestone and sandstone, extending in a wide line around the northern part about half way across. These are large limestones, and they are lying almost flat. The country for about half way down from Norway House to Churchill slopes very gently towards the bay, so that the grade is not more than eight or ten feet to the mile, if it is that. The northeastern part is practically a plain.

There are considerable areas of low swampy lands. The surface going down into Hudson bay after reaching the Wolstenholme country is fairly swampy. The rivers have thrown up banks, and it is only at an occasional place that a break through those banks occurred to let out the drainage. In many places the river banks are from five to ten feet higher than the surrounding country, and in consequence the land beyond is drowned more or less, very often extending back for a distance as far as one can walk in a day.

Mr. Low considered that probably half the country due east from Norway House, say for one hundred miles, would be

Fit for Agriculture.

He would rank the agricultural possibilities there as fair.

Of course there are very few settlements in there now, and the only one Mr. Low visited was a Hudson’s Bay post at Trout lake, and they were growing peas and garden truck of all kinds, also potatoes and fairly decent looking crops. They were not bothered very badly with summer frosts, as Mr. Low could see from the crop of green peas. The climate seemed quite favourable for hardy crops. The soil areas that are fit for agriculture are fairly large; the rocky hills crop out only at intervals, and there is quite a large area there that Mr. Low thought would be fit for future settlement.

The low flat plain, southeast of Nelson river, appeared to be largely covered with muskeg and small spruce. He would suppose that there was more muskeg and spruce land than hay areas. The subsoil is clay largely. Down in the lower country near the bay there is a certain amount of sand on top. There was a fair amount of vegetable growth. Mr. Low remarked that he would not consider this low-lying area a good agricultural country at present, but with some drainage he thought a great deal of that country around James and Hudson bays is going to make a good agricultural country.

With regard to that territory north of Lake Winnipeg and east of Norway House and in the country southeast thereof, Mr. Low thought it would be a somewhat rocky country, but probably not more than one-third would be of that nature. Most of the land not rocky would be timber land. This would run up to about the eighteenth degree or probably more.

Mr. Low, speaking as to the climate of the region west of Hudson bay, explained that in the southern part, south of the Nelson, it is fairly good, he thought, for settlement. The summer frosts are rare, and he thought with the opening up of the country it would probably improve. He considered that settlers in there would not have any more difficulty in summer than they would in the settled part of the northwest. The summer is probably equal to that of Saskatchewan. The length of the summer days is an advantage. They get more sunlight during the summer than do the people of older Ontario or other points farther south, and that is a distinct help to vegetation.

Portaging canoe at Long Spruce rapids, Nelson river.

In the summer of 1896, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell explored the country north of the mouth of Saskatchewan river. As a result of the exploration he states in his report:—“From Nelson river westward to longitude 100° 30′, and from the north end of Lake Winnipeg northward to beyond latitude 56°, the country is generally covered with a coating of stratified clay, varying in thickness from a few feet up to fifty, sixty, or even one hundred feet. This clay is of much the same character as that of Red river valley, having been, like it, deposited in the bed of the old post-glacial lake that once occupied the basin of Lake Winnipeg. The rivers have, as a rule, cut down through this clay to the underlying rock, but away from the water-stretches rock exposures are not of any frequent occurrence. The

Soil is Rich and Fertile,

and the country will doubtless produce in abundance all the hardier roots and cereals grown in the province of Manitoba; and cattle, sheep, and horses could be successfully raised. If the country were made accessible by a railway passing through it to Hudson bay, it would certainly support a considerable agricultural population.”

At page seven of his report (Part F. Geol. Sur. Rep., 1900, Vol. XII) Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Much of the land is well adapted for agriculture. At Norway House some fine barley had been sown and ripened in the garden, and all the ordinary vegetables grown in Manitoba have been raised for many years past. At Cross lake many of the Indians had good large gardens of potatoes and other vegetables, and McLeod and Mclvor, two fur traders, had excellent gardens in which were growing potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes, cabbages, cauliflowers, onions, lettuce, beans, peas, etc. At Nelson House in the extreme northern part of the district explored, many of the Indians regularly grow potatoes, and both the fur traders and the missionaries cultivate small patches of ground on which they raise abundant crops of all the vegetables mentioned as growing at Cross lake. It is probable that the hardier varieties of grain would also ripen here, but at present there is no object in growing grain of any kind for it could not be readily utilized.”

In a foot note, Mr. Tyrrell states “Wheat ripens well at Norway House and Cross lake on the Nelson.”

On page eight of his report Mr. Tyrrell says:—“During the summer of 1896 no frost occurred until August 29. At Nelson House we were informed that, during the preceding seven years at least, no frost that would injure garden produce had occurred at an earlier date.”

At page thirty-four of his report Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Wuskwatim lake is a very pretty sheet of slightly murky water, six or seven miles long and three miles wide, surrounded by sloping clay-covered hills wooded with white spruce and poplar. Its surface is varied by a few islands composed of clay overlying a floor of gneiss. The two falls above mentioned, at and near its outlet, would furnish a large amount of

Power for Driving Mills

or machinery of any kind, while a supply of timber for building and fuel could be obtained from the surrounding country, and the soil would grow any of the ordinary roots or more hardy cereals, so that it is not improbable that before long when this fertile country is made accessible by the advent of a railroad from the south, one of the most prosperous towns in the district may grow up on the shore of this now secluded lake.

“Footprint lake, on the northern shore of which the Hudson’s Bay Company have had a trading post for a number of years, and the Methodists have a small church and mission house, has somewhat the shape of a rude cross, seven miles long from east to west, and six miles from north to south. The latitude of the trading post was found to be 55° 48′ 26′′ north. The lake is surrounded by banks of light grey friable clay from thirty to forty feet high, through which rise rounded hills of gneiss up to two hundred feet or more in height. The clay extends over the lower portions of these hills, but some of the higher summits appear to rise above it, possibly having risen above the surface of Lake Agassiz where the surrounding clay was deposited on its floor. When the lake was visited in August last both the trader and the missionary had excellent gardens in which they were successfully growing potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, onions, radishes, lettuce, peas, beans, turnips, carrots and other vegetables, and many of the Indians had patches of potatoes sufficiently large to assist materially in the support of their families throughout the winter.

“I enquired from the Indians who were living around the lake, how far the fertile clay-covered country extended towards the north, and they told me that it extended as far as Indian lake on Churchill river, north of which the surface is either of sand or rock.”

Mr. Tyrrell reports that many of the smaller fruits grow on the clay-covered country explored in great profusion. Among those that he reports as especially abundant were raspberries, gooseberries, red and black currants, strawberries, blueberries and headberries (Rubus Chameomorus).

Strawberries were growing “in great profusion” in the tract about Muhigan rapids on Muhigan river.

The country above Wuskwatim lake, according to Mr. Tyrrell, “seems to be a great clay plain, cut through by the sloping trough of the river, and trenched by wide lateral gulleys. The surface is generally covered with small poplar, with some spruce in the valleys, and there are no signs of rocky hills, or of rock, except here and there at the water’s edge.”

Mr. Tyrrell reports that McLaughlin river, throughout its whole course from the long narrow lake to its mouth, flows through a level, clay-covered country, the rock merely rising here and there in knolls and ridges above the general level.

Mr. Tyrrell, reporting (Summary Rep. Geol. Survey, 1890-91) on his survey of the district about Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis, mentions a cliff at Limestone bay, in the extreme northwest of Lake Winnipeg, rising in some places to a height of forty feet, composed at the bottom of a stiff, blue alluvial clay, and at the top of a mossy peat, and further on in the report proceeds to say:—“A deposit of clay similar to that on Mossy point extends all along the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, and the waves washing against the soft cliffs become charged with the mud from which the lake derives its name. This clay is also of great economic interest, for instead of the east shore of the lake being an uninhabitable rocky wilderness, as is generally supposed, it is largely covered with

A Rich Blue Alluvial Soil,

and the area of rock surface is relatively small. Much of this land is covered with forests of poplar and spruce, while on account of the retentive, impervious nature of the clay soil much of it is also boggy and wet, but when it is cleared and drained it will form rich agricultural land. At Badthroat river, Mr. Wood, the local Inspector of Fisheries, had cleared a beautiful farm out of the midst of the poplar forest, and he informs me that he grows successfully all the crops ordinarily raised in Ontario. Mr. McKay, the Indian Agent at Berens river, has also a clearing situated on the south side of the river in the midst of what was a dense forest of small spruce. He has under cultivation a nice garden, and this year the potatoes were not cut down by frost till the middle of September.”

During his examination before the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. Tyrrell described the whole stretch of country extending from Lake Winnipeg and Split lake on the east to Churchill and Athabaska on the west^[14] as a “country essentially suited for agricultural purposes.” He could not say what there was beyond the limits mentioned as he had not been there. This was a forest belt. The eastern side of this tract would be Nelson river. Not having been east of that river with the exception of twenty or thirty miles, he could not speak of the country beyond. Mr. Tyrrell declared:—“That belt of forest is for the most part excellent agricultural land.” As far as the observations of Mr. Tyrrell went, he believed that that country, while a little harder to settle up, and not so attractive to settlers who are going in and looking for farms ready made and cleared for them and ready to put the wheat in, would be as fine an agricultural tract of land as there is in the Northwest. Everywhere in travelling through it, the evidence of rich vegetation was abundant, and everywhere where gardens or any kind of agriculture or horticulture had been attempted in this forest belt, it had been eminently successful. It is a forest country, a spruce covered country, and lies southwest of Hudson bay, west of Nelson river, north of Saskatchewan river, and extends to Mackenzie and Athabaska rivers. It would be about two hundred miles wide from north to south. Witness did not remember the length of it. It is land similar to that of Ontario, and will grow practically everything that will grow in that province, except possibly down in the southern peninsula. The summer is warm. The winter does not count, because things do not grow in winter. There is a good rainfall. A small part of the district is park country, half wooded. It is a continuation northward of the Saskatchewan country.

Mr. Tyrrell said he had seen growing in that country all the garden products that they grow in Ontario—potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage, cauliflowers and all the ordinary garden produce. He saw excellent potatoes in the district around Nelson House. He could not say what time they were planted, because he was not there. The Indians constantly, when hunting, plant little patches of potatoes here and there in the spring and leave them all summer and dig them up when they go back to their hunting grounds in the fall, and use them for their winter supply. The witness had gone out and dug a pail of beautiful potatoes on several occasions out of these little Indian patches buried in the woods. They had never been hoed or cultivated in any way. They were not looked after from the time they were planted in the spring until they were dug in the fall. The potatoes seem to be able to grow sufficiently to keep down the weeds. As a protection against wild animals these potato patches are usually planted on islands. Witness had not actually seen wheat, barley nor oats grown in that country. He has fairly good evidence that they are grown there, but as far as he remembered he had not seen any himself. He had been told and believed that they grow there. There is no doubt whatever that the country described will support quite a large population. North of Lake Winnipeg there is another magnificent area of from five to ten thousand square miles of as fine country as there is in Manitoba or anywhere else. When Mr. Tyrrell came out of that district in 1896, after spending a summer there, and said there was

A Rich Agricultural Country North of Lake Winnipeg

the Hudson’s Bay Company’s men and the people in the southern country pooh-poohed the idea. They said they had been up at the head of the lake and knew there was not a foot of good land there. But Mr. Tyrrell emphatically declared that there is a magnificent stretch of country there, which extends westward along the Churchill. These lands north of Lake Winnipeg are clay lands, an extension of the same basin as the Manitoba clays.

Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, in his evidence, pointed out that “the effect of the large body of water in Hudson bay and James bay on the temperature, summer and winter, of the surrounding country, was the equalizing of it very much, making the summers colder and the winters milder. There is a foggy climate around the bay. It is without much sunlight, so that it has not a chance to dry. The mean temperature of the summer within one hundred miles of the bay will not be so hot as it is back of that. The thermometer does not fall very low in winter at Churchill. At the same time any person will find it terribly cold on that coast, although the thermometer does not fall very low. There are a great many different matters in connection with temperature and climate that have to be taken into consideration. There is the amount of moisture in the air; whether the barometer is standing low or high; there are a great many of those things that have to be taken into consideration in any question of frost or of climate that arises. You may have frost with a north wind, while if that north wind were blowing up over a wooded country, where all the leaves were giving out their vapour from the ground into the air, you would not have a sign of frost.”

As to the climate of the great belt of arable land, that he had described to the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. Tyrrell said that at Nelson House the snow leaves the ground in May. There is little or no summer frost in that wooded country. He understood gardening commences the end of May, and the frost does not appear in the fall until about September 20. He had never known the potato crop to be lost through summer frost.

Asked as to the isothermal line, Mr. Tyrrell remarked that the isothermal is a line connecting points that have the same mean temperature for the year round. It has nothing whatever to do with vegetation. Things do not grow in the winter time. People have got to put the winter temperature absolutely out of the question. The summer temperature is the only temperature that counts for growth in the northern country where there is frost. In dealing with that, you have to take into consideration as between two places in different latitudes, the length of the day and the amount of sunlight, in order to get at the summer temperatures. Of course the sunlight has a great effect on the growth, and where the days have eighteen hours’ sun a plant will grow faster than where the day has only fourteen hours.

Mr. Tyrrell submitted to the committee a memorandum from Mr. R. F. Stupart, Superintendent of the Dominion Meteorological Service, comparing the temperature conditions of the district between Lake Winnipeg and Split lake in the several months, May to September, with European countries, as follows: —