THE PLAINS 



As we jouriicy westward llii'oiii;li Ahuiitoha, i'ullowiiig 

 the Canadian Pacific railwa\ into Saskatchewan and east- 

 ern Alberta, the rainfall gradually decreases, and when we 

 have reached the isohyetal line of ten to fifteen inches, 

 which swings northwestward at about the one hundred and 

 se<'oiid uiciidian. we may be said to Ite faii'ly on the Plains. 

 Except along the sti'eanis or among tlie sand hills, there is 

 no native forest growth, and the eye nuiy vainly search the 

 hoi'izon for the sight of a single tree. 



The I'ol ling ground is covered with a tliick growth of 

 grass which in lower, moister situations, is replaced by 

 higher species, a small sage bush, rose-bushes and a recum- 

 bent cactus grow sparsely, and, in season, there is a pro- 

 fusion of flowers. To this sketch a botanist would add many 

 details but here, at any rate, we have those features of the 

 vegetation which impress themselves on the layman. 



I had always attributed the plainsman's glorification of 

 his native heath to lack of experience, love of home, or the 

 infiuence of those associations which so fortunately predis- 

 pose us toward the land of our birth. That a flat, treeless, 

 featureless country^ could, from a scenic standpoint, be seri- 

 ously compared with the forested and watered East, or the 

 mountainous West, seemed impossible, but I had only to 

 live on the Plains to yield to their compelling charm. 



In the first place, the Plains are not flat but are rolling, 

 and their sweeping undulations not only please the eye but 

 appeal to the imagination by concealing what lies beyond 

 each succeeding ridge. The ridges, in turn, give a breadth 

 of view compared with which one's horizon at sea is 

 restricted ; and to this measureless expansiveness of the 

 Plains, more than to any other characteristic, is due their 



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