Читать книгу The Unexploited West - Ernest J. Chambers - Страница 13
ОглавлениеMay—50°-40°, with north of Scotland and southern Norway.
June—56°-54°, with Scotland.
July—63°, with south of England.
August—57·5°-55°, with Scotland.
September—50°-45°, with northern Norway and Sweden.
Mr. D. B. Dowling, reporting (Part F. Annual Rep. Geol. Sur. Vol. VII) on his 1893 explorations (See p. 19) states:—“The agricultural possibilities of the valley of upper Berens river seem to be limited, and the areas suitable for cultivation are only to be found in isolated patches. These are principally in the neighbourhood of the larger lakes. The Indian reserves have been located with this end in view as they seem to cover about the best land seen. The soil is a light grey clay with a little vegetable mould, and the gardens made by the Indians produce potatoes of fair quality, the only vegetable grown. In the southern part of the district, better land is found and in greater extent than in Berens river valley. On Lac Seul, at the mission and trading post, there are
Several Very Good Gardens
in a flourishing condition, with all the ordinary vegetables growing very satisfactorily. The Indians appear to care little for any gardening except a very primitive attempt at raising potatoes. Land suitable for gardening was seen at Mattawa, and indeed the best and largest extent for this purpose is to be found between Lac Seul and Shallow lake.”
Mr. Dowling, writing of the northern branch of Berens river, states:—“The land reserved for the Indians on the upper part of this branch of Berens river, is a small tract situated on the north side of a long arm or narrows, running to the eastward, from a lake to which the name Pekangikum is given. The river enters at the eastern end of this area, coming from Sturgeon lake by a short stretch of river half a mile in length, in which there are two rapids. The Indian reserve appears fairly well timbered—principally with Banksian pine of slender growth and some spruce. The Indians have been able, in building their houses, to obtain timber of suitable size for the walls and rafters, and spruce of a diameter of fourteen inches is fairly plentiful. The shores of the lake are rocky, but strips of country inland appear, on which there is probably a fair quality of soil, though the surface is generally sandy. On one of the islands in the larger part of the lake, soil of good quality (clay) was seen, on which the Indians were growing potatoes. No doubt there is better land for this purpose on the reserve they have selected, but as they make their summer camp on a small island near the deeper part of the lake for the purpose of fishing—by which they mainly subsist—they naturally utilize the nearest land for their summer gardens.”
Mr. Dowling, writing in his report of the country north of Lake Winnipeg and south of Burntwood river, says:—“As the area is situated so far north of the boundary of Manitoba, it might be presumed that much of it is unfitted for settlement, but it is discovered that over a large part there is good soil, and
The Evidence of Several Gardens
at various posts shows that for all the ordinary vegetables and coarser grains the climate is not too rigorous. Splendid gardens were found as far north as Nelson House, which is in the northern part of the area here mapped. Proper drainage is needed, however, to bring much of the surface into a condition fit for agriculture. Along the river banks this is evident, for while the strip bordering the streams produces a great variety of grasses, shrubs and trees, a short distance back this is replaced by a swamp covered by moss and stunted spruce. This is more noticeable in the western part of Nelson valley, where the country is thickly covered by a coating of clay, and the surface is so uniformly level that its gradual slope to the east is not sufficient to drain it. The areas to which it would be possible to introduce a system of drainage, would at first be restricted to a narrow margin along the streams. The northwest corner of the district for present purposes may be classed as without a sufficient soil for agriculture. This may roughly be outlined as being composed of all the country lying to the west of a line from the outlet of Burntwood lake to that of Reed lake, and north of the escarpment which shows the northern limit of the Trenton limestone. In this the surface is rolling and hilly, the rocky ridges having a scanty coating of boulder clay and an occasional thicker deposit in the depressions. It will probably remain the home of the hunter and the trapper.
“To the south the country, underlain by limestone, has many of the characters of the northern part of old Manitoba. In the valley of the Saskatchewan there are large areas of rich soil formed principally by the river itself, which has brought down an enormous amount of silt from the upper part of its valley. The western part of the valley of Nelson river is covered by a thick lacustral deposit which reaches west to Burntwood lake and east to the channel of Nelson river. In this area good soil is found in almost every part and where drained would no doubt make fair farming land.”
Mr. Wm. McInnes describes the country about Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers, explored by him in 1903, 1904 and 1905, as consisting of three areas, the first a limestone area, along the bay shore, the second a boulder clay area, behind it, and the third in rear of it again, a high interior plateau. As to the latter area, he says:—“Although, considered as a whole, the central, elevated region cannot be spoken of as generally adapted for agriculture, there occur basins covered by heavy deposits of stratified sand and clay that seem to have been laid down in lakes held in between barriers formed by the walls of the retreating glacier and ridges of drift. An examination of some of these clays by Doctor Hoffman shows them to be highly calcareous and somewhat siliceous, a composition that with the admixture of the surface vegetable mould should produce an
Excellent Soil for General Agriculture.
The question of climate, which is, of course, of the utmost importance when considering the agricultural possibilities of a district, will be referred to more particularly in another place. It may be said here, however, that the climatic conditions are, if somewhat adverse, not by any means prohibitory to the general cultivation of suitably situated tracts.
“Muskeg, alternating with low ridges of gravel and boulders, covers wide tracts. It was noticed that the surface drainage became more perfect in that part of the region extending westerly towards Trout lake. . . . . . . . . .
“The tract referred to as the boulder clay area consists of a broad belt of country, about one hundred and fifty-nine miles in width, lying between the Archaean highlands and the edge of the limestones of the basin of Hudson bay, overlapping the latter, however, so that the surface features of the two are generally quite similar. Gently undulating, and with a slight slope northerly and easterly, its general surface aspect is that of a great swamp, sparsely covered with stunted and deformed trees, that reach a growth approaching their normal only along the immediate banks of the rivers where drainage is afforded by frequent short gullies into the trenches that constitute the river valleys. The interior, to within a chain or two of the river-banks, owing to the impervious character of the till,
Is Quite Undrained,
and consequently covered by a thick deposit of sphagnum moss from two feet to ten feet deep, the surface layer still growing, and even the bottom only bleached a little, but not at all oxidized. The short cool summer season, and consequent low temperature of the water that saturates the moss, is probably the principal reason for the absence of any of the visible effects of decay. The rivers flowing through this region have no real valleys, that is to say, they occupy trenches but little wider than the immediate channels in which they flow, cut down through the stiff, tough till, which stands up in nearly vertical walls that rise from the freshet mark on either side. At low stages of the water a slanting beach, often paved with boulders, slopes gradually from the foot of the bank to the edge of the diminished channel. A more or less continuous layer of marine clay, rich in fossil shells, overlies the boulder clay, ensuring, wherever it is present, a soil of good quality. The absence of other than swamp vegetation must be ascribed, then, to the almost total absence of drainage, and to the generally unfavorable climatic conditions.
“In the matter of the actual cultivation of these northern areas we have little to go upon. At the Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts at Fort Hope and Osnaburgh potatoes have been grown and small gardens maintained from the time of the establishment of the posts, and little difficulty has been experienced in maturing the common garden vegetables of Ontario, though occasionally the frosts of late summer have cut off all but the hardier kinds. As the posts were located with a view to their favourable situation for the purposes of the fur trade with the Indians, neither one is situated on ground well suited for cultivation, and much better results might reasonably be expected were trials made on more favorably situated tracts. An Indian cultivating a small garden plot at the head of the Pineimuta branch of Attawapiskat river succeeds in raising good crops of potatoes and turnips.”
As to this part of the country drained by Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers, Mr. McInnes in his report says:—“The climate, as would be expected in these latitudes, and in a wilderness country approximately a thousand feet above sea-level, is somewhat severe. The summer temperature, though on occasional days rising as high as 85° Fahr., averages very much lower, and the nights are practically always cool. Frosty nights often continue into the early summer, and recur again in the autumn before most grain-crops would be ready for harvesting. Temperatures were taken with the thermometer during two seasons, and these, averaged, gave the following results for the months of July and August on lower Winisk river, and for July, August and part of September on upper Winisk and upper Attawapiskat rivers:—
| 6 a.m. | noon. | 6 p.m. | |
| Lower Winisk river | 57° | 69° | 57° |
| Upper Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers | 47.5° | 61.6° | 58° |
“The only points in the region where any attempts at cultivation of the land are made are the two Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts at Osnaburgh, near the foot of Lake St. Joseph, and at Fort Hope, on Eabamet lake.
“At these posts small kitchen gardens and potato-fields are maintained with some success, though neither place is favourably situated for the purpose, the soil in both cases consisting of an almost pure sand. Timothy and clover grow luxuriantly, and all the common
Garden Vegetables Thrive at Both Places.
Indian corn, however, is not sufficiently filled out for table use when caught by the frost. Barley has been successfully grown at Osnaburgh, and the potato crop, wherever a suitable tract of land has been utilized, has been generally fairly good at both places.
“The first killing frost in 1903 occurred on the night of September 3, and in 1904 on the night of August 30.”
Mr. McInnes (Geol. Survey Report for 1906, pp. 87 and following) describes the region explored by him in that year as follows:—
“It is bounded by north latitude 53° 50′ and 56° 10′, and by west longitude 99° 15′ and 101° 15′. Its general elevation above the sea is between seven hundred and nine hundred feet. . . . . For purposes of general description it may, in a broad way, be divided into three areas; the limestone area embracing all the tract underlaid by the horizontal or gently undulating, magnesian limestones or dolomites of northern Manitoba; the Archaean area, a somewhat broken and rugged country extending from the northern edge of the limestone escarpment northward and eastward until covered by the lacustrine sediments of the third or clay area. The latter, a gently rolling, clay-covered country, extends from the valley of Nelson river on the east to a contour, westerly, where the general elevation of the land is in the vicinity of nine hundred feet above the sea, or to approximately west longitude 99° 30′. The northern edge of the clay basin was not reached, but the Indians of Burntwood river region agree in saying that Churchill river valley forms its most northerly extension. The last of the three divisions is, generally, well suited for cultivation, but throughout the first two the areas suitable for agriculture are of limited extent. No part of the region is prairie though along some of the valleys, and here and there on the uplands, are found extensive hay marshes, with only occasional small clumps of willows, that, with drainage, would become virtually prairie lands. . . . . Northwest of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Split lake the country is generally low, swampy and intersected by a network of small lakes; near Waskaiowaka lake, however, an extension northeasterly of the clay land of lower Burntwood valley forms a comparatively dry ridge.”
A Garden in new Manitoba.
Speaking of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading post at Norway House, Mr. McInnes said:—“The chief factor in charge of the district cultivates a large garden, where, on June 10, peas, beans, beets and other vegetables were well started. Wheat had been successfully grown here as well as at Cross lake farther down the river, in latitude 54° 40′. There are many tracts of land along the river suitable for cultivation, though for long stretches the banks show only rounded surfaces of biotite gneiss, smooth and glaciated. The cultivable areas are confined to tracts overlain by lacustrine clays which alternate along the shores with glacial gravels and the bare rock surfaces devoid of any soil cover.”
Mr. McInnes also reports:—“Below Cross lake no land is under cultivation until Split lake is reached, just north of latitude 56°, where the postmaster for the Hudson’s Bay Company raises potatoes and the commoner garden vegetables.”
Mr. McInnes reports that, ascending Burntwood river a few miles above Odei or Hart river, there is much land “apparently well adapted for cultivation. The clay is entirely free from boulders, and mixed near the surface with enough vegetable humus to produce a friable and seemingly productive soil. The gentle slopes give good natural drainage, and the open character of the forests makes it a country easily cleared. For the next nineteen miles the river valley and neighboring country present the same general aspect. Where the valleys of the main river and the Odei approach one another they are separated only by a dividing ridge a little over a mile across, and a hundred and fifty feet high. The ridge is clay covered to the flat summit, where knolls of gneiss project. Beyond the valley of the Odei, to the north, is a rolling forested country with hills clay-covered to the tops, rising by gradual slopes to about a hundred feet above the intervening valleys, that are themselves from twenty to fifty feet above the river level. For the next twenty-eight miles the river, flowing in a rock-bound basin, has the character of a long, narrow lake from half a mile to over a mile in width. Covering the well-rounded ledges of gneiss that form the immediate shores is the same thick mantle of clay forming
A Country of Very Attractive Appearance.
Rising gradually from the river level to heights of from twenty to fifty feet, a flat or gently sloping plateau extends back from two to three miles to another rise, where the general level is increased to about a hundred feet. Recurring forest fires have not only denuded this section of its trees, but the stumps have for the most part been burned away, so that it is now covered only by an open growth of small white birch, poplar, willow and Banksian pine, with an undergrowth of vetches, grasses and small shrubs. Just above is Manasan falls where the river pitches over a ledge of gneiss with a vertical descent of thirty feet.
“Above Manasan falls,” Mr. McInnes continues, “the river expands again to form a long, narrow lake for the next ten miles of its upward course. The same rolling clay plateau extends back from both shores of the lake, rising gradually to an undulating, higher tract, perhaps one hundred feet above the lake level. The forest growth is still very open, allowing a good surface carpet of grasses, vetches and other vegetation. Diversified here and there by small open tracts where the grass-covered surface is free from trees, this country often presents quite a park-like aspect. Throughout all the clay-covered region the absence of erratics is striking; for miles no perched boulders nor transported materials of any kind; other than the lacustrine sediments, are seen, and even the country rock is deeply hidden under the heavy clay deposits that seem to be very homogeneous throughout, not laid down in thin layers as in the case of many clays of apparently similar origin in eastern Canada, but, if stratified at all, only in very heavy beds that seldom show their bedding planes. For the next fifteen miles to Wuskwatim lake, the river has a quicker descent and its course is broken by several small rapids. The surrounding country is slightly higher, rising in places about two hundred feet above the river, and more steeply from its shores. From the south shore a clay-covered bench a quarter of a mile wide rises to a comparatively steep slope to a height of one hundred and thirty feet, and extends back for miles at about that level, with a gently undulating surface, free from boulders or rock, excepting very rare exposures. As a matter of fact, but one small knoll of the underlying rock was actually seen, rising through the clay at a point about two miles back from the river. The Indians report that this plateau-like country extends right across to the valley of Grassy river with only gently swelling ridges and no high hills.”
Mr. McInnes estimates the size of Wuskwatim lake as eight miles by four, with a long bay extending to the west from its southern end. He states that “on all sides of the lake are large tracts of
Nearly Level Clay Land
extending back for several miles at heights of from fifteen to fifty feet above water level, and beyond that continuing at a level of a little over one hundred feet. . . . . The grass-covered slopes that rise with very gentle gradients from the shores of the lake, make this a country of most attractive appearance and one that apparently would be well suited for cultivation. The Indian inhabitants of this section cultivate with success small garden patches of potatoes.”
Country of the same general character, Mr. McInnes states, extends for thirty miles up the valley of the Burntwood above Wuskwatim lake.
On the shores of Footprint lake, in latitude 55° 45′, small fields of potatoes planted by the Indians were looking remarkably well, the vines being eleven inches in height and about ready to blossom when this locality was visited by Mr. McInnes, July 10, 1906. Above the lake broad flats extend back from the river on both sides, rising, from half a mile to a mile back, to fifty feet above the river. The greater part of the flats and practically all the high land has been burned over within twenty years, and is clothed now with an open growth of small mixed timber; the land is free from boulders and gravel and has a good carpet of native grasses, including such good meadow forms as the blue-joint (Calamagrostis canadensis, Calamagrostis hyperborea) and the wild rye (Elymus dasystachum). The open character of the forest permits a somewhat luxuriant growth of these grasses, mixed with vetches, strawberry vines, etc., and with currant, gooseberry and other small shrubs and bushes.
“The land lying to the southward of the most southerly bend of the river was found to rise with a comparatively steep slope to a height of sixty feet above the river, and to extend back as a level clay-covered plain with about five inches of clay-loam soil well mixed with vegetable matter gradually merging downwards into pure clay. The plateau has a gently rolling surface, the bottoms of the hollows, where small areas of muskeg often occur, having a deviation forty feet lower than the slopes of the ridges, and the highest land reaching not more than one hundred feet above the river. For six miles back, the areas of muskeg that are not sphagnum swamps, but rather grassy marshes, are comparatively insignificant in extent, the higher land, wooded with Banksian pine, poplar and spruce and diversified by many open grassy glades, largely preponderating. Beyond this, however, a broad belt of wet, grassy marsh land extends southwesterly across to the heads of brooks running into Grass river below Wekusko lake, and forms practically the western limit of the clay-covered uplands, though in the river valleys and along the flanks of their bordering hills the clay land extends much farther west.
“Of the whole of this extensive plateau land, extending from the valley of the Nelson river westward to near Burntwood and Wekusko lakes (west longitude 90° 45′), northerly to beyond latitude 56°, and southerly to the limestone escarpment, an area of
About Ten Thousand Square Miles,
it may be said to be characterized by a heavy clay soil entirely free from boulders. Lacustrine clays, composed of the rock flour once held in suspension by glacial streams and deposited by them as they reached the quiet waters of a great lake, are essentially the soils of this region. There is no distinct surface soil clearly separable from the clay subsoil; the one merges gradually into the other, the clayey character of the soil being strongly apparent at the very surface where merely the shallow cover of decaying leaves and other vegetation is scraped away. Generally, for from five inches to over a foot down, the clay is deep brown in colour from the admixture of vegetable matter, and quite friable, and rootlets of even the smaller surface vegetation reach down far below this level, though on the tops of many of the ridges the light-buff coloured clay, without any appreciable coloration from vegetable matter, comes quite to the surface. The rolling character of the plateau generally provides fair drainage, but over considerable areas in its central portion, far from the valleys of the larger streams, there are large tracts that have not sufficient gradients for the proper flow of the surface water, and which could be made available for agricultural uses only by being artificially drained. The western limit of the good country is about longitude 99° 45′.”
Portage on Moose river.
Mr. McInnes reports that the country lying to the south of Reed and Wekusko lakes, and stretching to Saskatchewan valley, contains very few tracts of land suitable for settlement. Practically only the river valleys, a few tracts adjoining some of the lakes, and parts of some of the slopes flanking the limestone ridges, can be considered as affording land suitable for cultivation. The upland is generally almost bare of soil, flat-lying limestones forming its actual surfaces, and the slopes, though covered to a good depth by clay, are for the most part too bouldery for tillage. Limited tracts occur here and there, suitable for individual holdings notably near some of the principal lakes. Of the agricultural possibilities of the country south of Reed and Wuskwatim lakes, Mr. McInnes writes:—“Experimentally but little is known of its capabilities, though we have instances here and there throughout the area, to beyond its northerly limit, of the cultivation of all sorts of garden vegetables, including, at The Pas,
Tomatoes and Indian Corn.
On September 6 of this year (1906), Indian corn well headed out was seen in Mr. Halcrow’s garden at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post, the ears large and full and quite fit for table use. The Indian, never a very enthusiastic agriculturist, succeeds everywhere in getting good crops of potatoes, and at the homestead of an old settler named George Cowan, on Cormorant lake, an exceptionally good yield of very large potatoes was being dug in September.”
Mr. McInnes, during his explorations in 1906, gave particular attention to the question of climate, which he rightly considered of vital importance in connection with this region. He kept a careful record of temperatures, and from the time it was begun, on June 19, until the night of September 29, when the thermometer fell to 26, there was no frost that affected even tender vegetation. On the night of August 10 the temperature fell to the freezing point, but did not get low enough to do damage, at least not in the valley of Grassy river, though some of the potato vines on the summit of the high ridge north of The Pas were slightly touched. Mr. McInnes said he was convinced that the district is not at all too cold for general agricultural operations. The longer daily duration of summer sunlight in these high latitudes, he points out in his report, must be taken into consideration, and, for purposes of comparison with more southerly localities, yearly averages of temperature are of no value. A region lying in a higher latitude, though showing a lower yearly average temperature, may, during the growing months, owing to its longer hours of sunshine, have quite as good an average as one farther south. Mr. McInnes’s record showed that during July the temperature at 6 o’clock p.m. was equal to or higher than the noon temperature on fifteen days; during August on nine days; during September on eight days. The 6 p.m. averages for these months were lower than the noon averages by only 1°, 1½° and 2° respectively. For the purpose of comparison, Mr. McInnes procured from the Director of the Meteorological Service at Toronto an abstract of the same summer’s temperatures at Minnedosa, Stony Mountain, Hillview and Brandon, and, comparing them with his record, he concluded that the country along the route of the proposed railway to the bay
Is Conspicuously Warmer
than the same latitude four hundred miles further east.
Mr. McInnes, examined before the select committee of the Senate in 1907, declared that the whole region from Split lake to a line about forty miles north of the Saskatchewan is a clay-covered country. After leaving Split lake, ascending the river, this clay-covered country shows absolutely no boulders and no gravel. Even the shores of the lakes, until you reach a height of about eight hundred feet, show no gravel bars at all. There is absolutely nothing to interfere with the cultivation of the soil there. It is a country that has been burnt over. The witness assumed that Burntwood river got its name that way. It has been subject to repeated burns. At the present time it is covered by a very open forest. Grasses grow fairly luxuriantly. There are two species of this, blue joint grass and a wild rye, that are the prevailing grasses. He understood from Professor Macoun, though he was not very familiar with the grasses himself, that these are very excellent meadow grasses, and make excellent fodder. Mr. McInnes left Norway House in the second week of June, and made the circuit and came out at The Pas on September 6, so it was in June, July and August he was there. He saw grass growing from eighteen inches to two feet high.
The witness computed the area of this country at about ten thousand square miles. He did not mean to say, he explained, that all of that ten thousand square miles is good land, but the basin characterized by this deposit of clay has an area of about ten thousand square miles. It is bounded on the north by Churchill river. The witness was at about the centre of the basin. The Indians told him it extended north to the basin of Churchill river. Beyond that, northwards, mud and gravel took the place of clay. Starting at The Pas and proceeding towards Churchill, the witness first passed through about one hundred and forty miles of country underlaid by the flat limestone of northern Manitoba. He walked for miles over
Hills of Almost Bare Limestone
with hardly any soil. Beyond that—that is, about the contour he had spoken of where this clay was deposited, there is about one hundred and seventy miles to Split lake (Split lake is about two hundred and fifty miles from The Pas), possibly in a straight line about as the railway is projected, that is characterized by these clay deposits.
As to the flat country in Keewatin, beyond this clay area, it is a country of a different character. The witness proceeded from the Albany one hundred miles across country by the portage route to a large lake on Agnooski river and then another one hundred miles across to Winisk lake, and down Winisk river to the sea, and he crossed through the country between Agnooski and Winisk by three different routes, perhaps forty or fifty miles east and west from one route to the next, and the country is very much the same character. It is a country that is very much denuded. The country generally is characterized by hills of boulder and gravel and intermediate valleys very largely muskeg. Except in the immediate valleys of the larger rivers there is very little land that would be suitable for agriculture. From one hundred and fifty miles inland down to the sea, the country is of an entirely different character again; that is to say, it is country that is originally overlain by from a very few feet at its edge to one hundred feet or more, a very tough impervious boulder clay, which holds up the water, and on which the drainage, up to the present time, is of a very imperfect character. The present drainage of that area is comparatively recent, and imperfect. An instance of its imperfection is seen in Winisk river. There is a lake near the head of the Winisk from which the main river flows, and from which the west branch flows north. They come together at a point (following the main stream) two hundred and fifty miles below, inclosing an island two hundred and fifty miles long. There are two other islands of this character
Along Winisk River,
one eighty miles in length and the other about fifty.
The Winisk is a good large river. Mr. McInnes estimated the flow at some twenty-five thousand cubic feet per second. It runs in size somewhere between the Gatineau and the Ottawa, not quite so large as the Ottawa, but larger than the Gatineau. Over the whole of the country in the last one hundred and fifty miles down to Hudson bay, granting the proper climate and proper drainage, this green clay would make an excellent soil. In fact it is quite the same as the clay in the vicinity of Ottawa, practically clay of the same soil, and is very impervious. There are little streams running into the sides of the river, but they cut very sharp-walled trenches, as steep as boulder clay will stand, and that means an angle of say sixty degrees, eighty to ninety feet high. You get on top of these banks and you have a mossy place, sometimes six feet of moss. It is never peat, never having turned into peat. It is simply a green moss which is pressed into layers of a couple of feet in thickness at the bottom of the six or ten feet, but never apparently oxydized or never carbonized at all, practically unchanged. The growth is going on still. It is merely the successive layers which are pressed down by subsequent layers on top of them, so that in places the thickness is quite ten feet. There are no grasses in that mossy district in the valley of the Winisk. A river of that size in places has some shores, perhaps a quarter of a mile, here and there, beyond the actual shore of the river, and it is grassy there. That is, there are occasional bottom lands, but there is no extent of them. Mr. McInnes did not think there is an agricultural country in that eastern district. It is entirely different from the country of which he had been previously speaking.
Upon Nelson river wheat has been grown successfully at Norway House, and also at Cross lake. The Hudson’s Bay Company grow no grain at any of their Keewatin posts nowadays. In the old days they grew it and ground it in hand mills. Mr. McInnes saw potatoes that were grown about fifty miles north of The Pas. “They were quite showy potatoes, great large fellows like those you see exhibited in fairs—tremendously large, grown on practically new land, and they had a very large crop of them.” There are no settlers in Nelson district. The Indians, however, grow potatoes at several points, even in the northern part of it, as far north as Nelson House, about latitude 55° 50′. On July 11, when Mr. McInnes arrived at Nelson House, the Indian potatoes had vines about eleven inches high, and were almost ready to flower. When he got out on September 6 to the Saskatchewan, at the Hudson’s Bay post there, at The Pas, Indian corn was very well headed out, with very large fine ears quite ready for table use, and there was no frost until September 29. He knew that because he stayed there until then.
With eighteen hours of the daylight, and no frost in the summer, vegetation is rapid. In a country where you can ripen Indian corn you can grow practically anything.
Mr. McInnes explained that he could not closely indicate the isothermal line on the part of the country he had explored the previous year, but he could say that the country averaged in the summer months from four to five degrees higher temperature than the same latitude farther west. He thought that
The Isothermal Line
which would go past the north end of the country he had been speaking of, would come down as far as the north shore of Lake Superior, which would be a very long distance south. He had records kept during all summer of the temperatures through that western country, and he had a summary of the record kept in the preceding summers. He was rather surprised at the warmth of that western country in summer, and at the way heat kept up in the evenings. He kept the thermometer readings morning, noon and six o’clock in the evening, and found the six o’clock temperatures were almost as warm as the noon temperatures. That country has a very long day in summer. The day in those high latitudes is very much longer, and the growing time proportionately longer. In June they have about eighteen hours of daylight.
As to the district where he found the one hundred and seventy miles of agricultural land he had described, he reached there only about the middle of June. There was no frost in the balance of June or in July, and no frost in August, excepting once, on, he thought, the 29th, when the thermometer dropped just to freezing point. There was not enough frost to touch vegetation at all in the valley of the river where he was. He noticed when he got out to the Saskatchewan there was rather a high ridge on which there were a lot of half-breed settlers. He got there on September 6, and noticed on top of the hills where they had potatoes that they had been touched just on the tops, but down in the villages the potatoes in the garden of the Hudson’s Bay post had not been touched at all. He presumed that was the frost on August 29.
Owen O’Sullivan, C.E., of the Geological Survey of Canada, was one of the witnesses before the Senate committee of 1907. He explained that in 1904 he was engaged as assistant to Mr. Wilson in examining the west coast of James bay. They went up the river Kapiskau for one hundred and fifty miles and surveyed it, and found mostly swampy ground, right to about the headwaters of the Kapiskau, longitude 86°. His impression was that the whole coast from the southern extremity of James bay, at the mouth of the Hurricane, up to Cape Henrietta Maria, for an average of one hundred miles in depth, is mostly swampy ground. It is partly peat and wet spagnol (wet moss). There is a bluff of small spruce isolated here and there.
In 1905 he was sent to survey the coast between York Factory and Cape Henrietta Maria. The shore between these points was swampy as far inland as he could walk in two or three days.
Mr. O’Sullivan testified that during the summer of 1906 he started from Split lake, on the Nelson, and made for the headwaters of Little Churchill river, going down the Little Churchill to the Big Churchill. The country between Split lake and Big lake is mostly swampy. The country about Big lake is a good loamy soil, with easy slopes surrounding the lakes. From Big lake to the Big Churchill the country is rocky and swampy, with a good deal of good loamy soil in places—a rich clay loam. The rock is mostly granite and gneiss. It is very hard to find out whether the land is suitable for agriculture on such an expedition. It is hard to know the extent of the soil, but Mr. O’Sullivan thought
The Climate was Suitable for Agriculture.
There are lots of boulders all through the country, but it is possible to cultivate what there is of the land. There are places where the land extends to the size of a dozen townships, and then there would be three or four times that much without having in it enough arable land to make a good-sized township. In the vicinity of Churchill there is grass in the valleys of very good quality. It occurs about half-way down the Little Churchill.
Good potatoes are raised at Split lake. Mr. O’Sullivan had obtained a bag of potatoes grown there. They were rather small, but very palatable. That was in June, and they were grown the previous year. Split lake from the coast, by the Nelson, would be about one hundred and seventy-five miles. He went down Nelson river and north to Churchill. The general character of the country from James bay farther north is good, agriculturally. The country from Split lake rises to Wabishkok about two hundred feet. That is about thirty miles in a straight line. Besides potatoes, he had seen turnips, cabbage and lettuce growing, and all appeared to be very good. The potato vines in September were touched with frost rather severely. The potatoes were taken up on August 23 and 25, 1906.
Mr. O’Sullivan stated that he had been up near the head of Lake Winnipeg, where the river leaves the lake. There is good agricultural land around there. He never had such good potatoes as at Cross lake. He did not see them growing, but had them in June and also in September. The June potatoes would be the previous crop, and the September ones possibly the new crop. They do not grow any grain there; they have no cattle, and there are no settlers in there. The Hudson’s Bay factor raised the potatoes. He had just enough to keep his own family. He had them in three or four different quarters. Mr. O’Sullivan saw lettuce and turnips growing at Churchill.
Mr. J. W. McLaggan, of Strathcona, Alberta, in 1907, made an exploratory trip over a portion of the same country as Mr. McInnes, but going farther west. He left Prince Albert on August 2 and reached The Pas on August 15. On August 25 he crossed Clearwater lake. He describes the country he passed through as low and swampy, and
Wild Berries of All Kinds
as plentiful. The land north of Cormorant lake he found to be of good clay loam, and capable of being farmed successfully on a small scale after being cleared. A garden of potatoes, turnips, carrots and cabbages looked well, and on August 27
Showed No Evidence of Frost.
On upper Cowan river there are small hay meadows; the rest of the land is poor and hard to clear. Approaching Reed lake the soil is a clay loam which could be farmed if drained. The country about Herb lake and river is rocky, with patches of fair land, suitable for raising vegetable and garden produce. When the rapids of Grass river are passed the country becomes low, but in places there is good soil of clay loam with sand, and towards Setting lake there are good hay meadows. Although the country between Setting and Paint lakes is very rough and rocky, there is some good land. To the north of Paint lake there is a limited quantity of good land; about Methy lake Mr. McLaggan considers the land of little value for farming. Between Reed lake and Elbow lake there are some small spots of good land, but as a general thing the country is rough, rocky and swampy. The country between Elbow and Cranberry lakes is mainly muskeg. There are some patches of good land towards the lower end of Cranberry lake. There are some small hay meadows between Cranberry and Athapapuskow lakes, but the ground is generally rocky with some muskeg. There are some stretches of fairly good land along the lower part of Goose river but the country generally is rough and rocky. The country about the upper end of Goose lake was found to be boggy and of very little use.
Along Goose river, Below The Lake,
there is quite a tract of fairly good land, and there is another on the Sturgeon, between the mouth of Goose river and Cumberland lake. The soil is a clay loam mixed with a little sand. It is covered with brush and small poplar and would be easy to clear.
Mr. McLaggan, after his trip, stated that the growing season seemed to be satisfactory, “and where good land is found there should be no trouble to raise good crops of all hardy grains and vegetables, but the greatest drawback to farming would be the difficulty of making waggon roads from place to place, as the country between the spots of good land is rough and rocky.”
The climate seemed good to Mr. McLaggan. In the first week of September the foliage was green; there was no sign of severe frost, and butterflies, hornets and other insects were numerous and active. The first frost noted was on August 31, “but not enough to damage wheat.” The weather was fine in the morning and it rained in the afternoon. On September 13 he noted that the weather was fine but cold, with a heavy frost in the morning; that the leaves were falling, and that it began to look like autumn. Considerable rain followed, which, on October 4, gave place to snow, to be followed again by rain. The night of October 7 is noted as the first really cold one of the season, but the morning brought rain. There was snow again on October 8 with high wind and ice on the water along the shore of Goose lake. It was “fine and warm” on October 11, and “clear and cold” on October 13 when he reached The Pas on his return.
W. Thibaudeau, C.E., states in his report (See p. 23):—“At Churchill, potatoes, turnips and other vegetables have been successfully raised at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fort. For many years cattle and horses have been successfully kept and bred at the Hudson’s Bay post; excellent butter was also made. Splendid pasture and hay meadows are found on both sides of the river above the harbour for a known distance of thirty-five miles. At the head of Button bay there is an area of two thousand acres upon which
Good Hay Can Be Cut,
which has been pronounced by Professor Macoun as affording excellent forage. Wild black and red currants and gooseberries are found in great quantities, and are equal, if not superior in flavour, to garden produce. Barrels of black currants can be picked around Fort Prince of Wales. Cranberries exist in great abundance everywhere. Other berries which are indigenous to the climate abound.”
As to the region examined in his exploration trip from Churchill to The Pas, Mr. Thibaudeau states:—
“About thirty-five per cent. of the country travelled through is marshy and swampy; more or less hay is grown. Under marsh or swamps the soil is generally clay. I have no doubt that when the swamps and marshes are drained, and the moss is stripped, they will be susceptible to farming operations between Churchill and The Pas, and at a later period, after the northwest is settled, this land will become valuable.”
Mr. John Armstrong, in his report of the preliminary survey conducted under his direction in 1908 and 1909 for the proposed railway to Hudson bay, mentions that as the greater portion of the survey work was completed during the winter months when the ground was frozen and covered with snow, it was impossible to obtain much information on the subject of agricultural land and minerals. He continues:—“It may be remarked here, however, that although these lands may require more or less improvement in the way of clearing and drainage, the fact that they are situated within a few hours’ run of an ocean port may give to these lands a value not hitherto thought of, and may cause a more rapid settlement than expected. At the inland Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts all kinds of grain and vegetables have been grown successfully for years. A study of the records of the Meteorological Office indicates that the climate is quite as favourable for farming operations as that of Prince Albert.”
