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utilized, in the second by what highways such regions may be most 

 easily reached. 



A glance at the map will show, that while many of the larger 

 unexplored areas may be affirmed to lie to the north of the limit of 

 profitable agriculture, considerable regions situated to the south of this 

 limit still await examination. Large districts, again, in which no 

 farmer will ever voluntarily settle, may afford timber which the world 

 will be glad to get when the white pine of our nearer forests shall 

 become more nearly exhausted, while with respect to mineral resources, 

 it is probable that in the grand aggregate the value of these which 

 exist in the unexplored regions will be found, area for area, to be equal 

 to those of the known regions, comparing each particular geological 

 formation with its nearest representative. On the grounds alone, 

 therefore, of geographical knowledge, and of the discovery and 

 definition of the reserves of the country in timber and minerals, the 

 exploration of all these unknown or little-known regions may be amply 

 justified. 



Taking a line drawn north and south in the longitude of the Red 

 River valley, which is, as nearly as may be, the centre of Canada from 

 east to west, it may confidently be stated that by far the larger part of 

 the country in which agricultural settlement is possible lies to the west, 

 while the great bulk of the actual population lies to the east of this 

 line. Looking to this grand fundamental fact, I believe it may safely 

 be affirmed that some members of this audience will live to see the day 

 when these conditions with respect to population will be boldly reversed 

 and in which the greater number of our representatives in Parliament 

 gathering here will come from this great western region. 



This disposition cf the cultivable land depends partly upon the 

 physical characteristics of the country, and in part on its climatic con. 

 ditions. Beyond Winnipeg, and stretching therefrom to the west and 

 north-west, is the great area of prairie, plain and plateau which, wider 

 near the forty-ninth parallel than elsewhere on the continent, runs on 

 in one form or other, though with diminishing width, to the Arctic 

 Ocean. This is, generally speaking, an alluvial region, and one of 

 fertile soils. Very fortunately, and as though by a beneficient pro- 

 vision of nature, the climatic features favour the utilization of this belt. 



