The Peace River Country 



The common conception of the Peace River 

 District in Northern Alberta is that of a semi- 

 arctic region as yet only half-explored, pro- 

 gressing but slowly at the cost of the toil and 

 privation of pioneers, a country of the future 

 possibly but a future yet remote. 



Against this stands the fact that a hundred 

 years ago, when the wealth of this northern 

 area was apparently realized, when the Hudson's 

 Bay Company had established posts throughout 

 the region and were taking from it furs of inesti- 

 mable worth, the plains to the south, now 1 the 

 greatest contributor to the world's granary and 

 meat market, 

 were considered 

 as barren vasts 

 fit only for the 

 buffalo and the 

 coyote and of no 

 value in com- 

 parison to the 

 obvious richness 

 of the north. 



Iji western 

 history the fact 

 stands out that 

 as far back as 

 1876, when the 

 agricultural pro- 

 ductivity of the 

 west was yet 

 problematica'l, 

 wheat grown at 

 Fort Chipewy- 

 an, a post es- 

 tablished by 

 Roderick Mac- 

 kenzie, a cousin 

 of the great ex- 

 plorer of the 

 same name, 

 secured the first 

 prize at the Cen- 

 tennial Exposi- 

 tion at Philadelphia. This was followed up by 

 another record in 1893, when the prize- winning 

 wheat at the Chicago World's Fair came from 

 the Shaftesbury Settlement, fifteen miles from 

 Peace River Crossing. 



Its Agricultural Wealth Proven 



Following the settlement which has taken place in 

 the past few years, the names of Grande Prairie, Pouce 

 Coupe, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion and Lake Saskatoon 

 have become renowned in western lore from their produc- 

 tive capabilities, whilst that large region from the White- 

 mud River to Dunvegan Crossing as far west as Fort 

 St. John and Hudson s Hope in British Columbia, has 

 proved its agricultural worth after years of successes. 



As the region is attracting to it so many settlers, there 

 being a large number of ex-Canadian soldiers among them, 

 many false ideas of this country, which persisted in spite 

 of proof to the contrary, are being eradicated. We know 

 now that it possesses a climate which surpasses in value 



ANO 



BRfTfSH COL l/MB/a 



ffa/urar 



that of the country to the south of it, with a longer growing 

 season and a milder winter. Crops this year raised on 

 the land tributary to the two railroads are estimated to 

 amount to between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 bushels. 

 Little wonder then that this year, farmers have been 

 flocking in to file on the rich agricultural lands, or that 

 ranchers have been attracted by the luxuriant verdure of 

 the park-like expanses and the mild prevailing winters. 



The discovery of oil in the Mackenzie River basin 

 has drawn fresh interest to the country, and the finding 

 has been described as the most important discovery in 

 the history of Canadian development since the striking 

 of gold in the Klondyke. The strike occurs in a territory 

 embracing a vast extent of the same geological formation, 

 encouraging belief in the possibility of widespread deposits. 

 Certain it is that there is much oil in the region as the huge 

 areas of tar sands indicate. 



A Possible Pulpwood Supply 



A great forested 

 area colntaiLning 

 white poplar and 

 spruce lies between 

 Edmonton and the 

 Peace River 

 country, which is 

 attracting a good 

 deal of attention at 

 the present time as 

 a possible resource 

 of pulpwood supply 

 in view of the enpr- 

 mousdemand which 

 the explpited re- 

 gions of Canada are 

 bei ng taxed to 

 satisfy. Farther 

 back in the interior 

 of the country, 

 where the land as- 

 sumes the aspect of 

 a well laid out park, 

 large stands of the 

 same class of small 

 timber are to be 

 encountered, all of 

 which will have 'a 

 considerable future 

 value. 



Another source 

 of important re- 

 venue which is de- 

 veloping rapidly 

 and assumi ng 

 greater commercial 

 importance each 

 year, is the inland 

 fishing industry of 



the lakes which abound in this territory. Whitefish and 

 other lake fish are now brought down in large quantities 

 and supply not only the Alberta market, but that of 

 eastern Canadian cities, and have also attracted the 

 favorable attention of New York and other eastern cities 

 of the United States. 



In the coming spring, a total of $500,000 will be spent 

 on the Mackenzie River fisheries for the maintenance of 

 a fishing fleet and other kindred operations. The growth 

 of the industry, which commercially is very young, has 

 already justified the establishment of a cannery on Lake 

 Athabasca, completely equipped with modern machinery 

 and employing more than 100 men. This company, 

 when it secured its fishing rights last summer, stated that 

 it expected to catch and can 70,000 pounds of fish daily. 



Wheat, Oats, Barley and Cattle 



The production of wheat in 1920 is estimated at 

 400,000 bushels as against 370,000 in 1919; barley, 250,000 

 bushels as against 50,000; oats, 2,000,000 bushels as 

 against 1,500,000. There are from 25,000 to 30,000 head 



