moval of mature timber and enable that of 

 lesser growth to attain full size in a shorter 

 time than would otherwise take place, to con- 

 serve a full volume of water in the rivers and 

 to guard against fire. Permits are granted for 

 grazing on the reserves. These forest areas 

 where wood may only be cut for the good of 

 the forest, are each year the haunts of 

 throngs of nature lovers. They are situated in 

 Ontario and Quebec, accounting in the case of 

 the former for a total of 20,038 square miles 

 and the latter 174,065 square miles. 



The full value of Canada's national parks 

 may not yet be appreciated whilst so large a 

 part of the Dominion still holds its pristine 

 charms unblemished. But in the years to come 

 when the rapidly growing Dominion has made 

 greater onslaught upon Nature's work, the 

 people of the continent will pay a well merited 

 tribute to a nation's foresight in preserving 

 these beauty spots from desecration and re- 

 serving a playground for them for all time 



Canadian-Italian Farm Colony 



Among many succesful foreign farm colon- 

 ies in Western Canada is that of the Italian 

 Colony VENICE on the shores of historic 

 Lake La Biche in Northern Alberta. 



Italians are mostly thought of in this coun- 

 try as laborers and while to a large extent, this 

 is true, there are nevertheless, particularly in 

 Lombardy and Northern Italy, a hardy class 

 of most excellent husbandmen. The history of 

 the pioneering, endurance and perseverance of 

 this Colony in establishing itself in Northern 

 Alberta most emphatically bears this out. 



The idea of establishing an Italian Agricul- 

 tural Colony in Western Canada had long been 

 cherished by a small group of Italians located 

 . in the Province of Alberta. With a view to 

 locating on homestead lands in the North, 

 these men born with an instinctive love for the 

 land, foregathered by twos and threes from 

 Eastern Canada and the United States, taking 

 up such work as they could find until the prop- 

 itious moment arrived for their venture. They 

 had dreams of independence and happiness, a 

 rision before them of creating in the land of 

 their adoption, a bit of that far mother country 

 which they had left in search of work and wel- 

 fare. 



Encouraged and headed by the Italian Con- 

 sul at Edmonton, Signer Felice de Angelis, 

 who secured from the Dominion Government 

 the homestead lands referred to, twenty men 

 pushed north in June 1914. As no railway 

 then ran into the Lake La Biche District, the 

 party proceeded by rail to Colinton on the 

 Athabasca line, from which point their goal 

 lay distant some seventy miles over an almost 

 impossible, semi-obliterated trail. The task of 



finding a good fertile stretch of land not too 

 difficult to clear, not too far from railroad com- 

 munication of the future and large enough on 

 which to locate several hundred Italian farm- 

 ers was not an easy one. Camp was laid at 

 night wherever darkness found them from 

 which point, in the early mornings, the settlers 

 with but a compass as a guide, scouted in all 

 directions. They were insufficiently equipped 

 with tents and supplies while transport was 

 limited to what each man could carry on his 

 back. 



Experienced Hardship and Hunger. 



For two weeks they wandered without 

 success and June was well advanced before 

 they reached the shores of beautiful Massawa- 

 ki Lake and pitched their camp on its shores. 

 Signor de Angelis describes in his own pictur- 

 esque language this occasion. 



"We set out tents on the shores of pictur- 

 esque Lake Massawaki framed by a tall and 

 thick population of trees undisturbed by man 

 and civilization, as pure and silent as the 

 ages of pre-historic life. It was dusk when the 

 camp was laid and for the first time, the echoes 

 of the surrounding forest were awakened by the 

 beautiful and melancholy Italian folk songs 

 those songs which in foreign countries are like- 

 the tears of love for the home beyond the 

 seas." 



On the following day, Mecca for them was 

 in sight. Not a mile beyond the camp the first 

 stretches of promising lands appeared. The 

 long wished for site of the future settlement 

 was reached and the dream of a wandering 

 community and strong-willed men was mater- 

 ializing. It was the birth of the first Canadian- 

 Italian Colony, consecrated by its historical 

 association in the establishment of an Indian 

 religious centre there about 1852 by Father 

 Lacombe. Here "the Black Robed Voya- 

 geur", like his Italian successors, had experien- 

 ced both hardship and privation, lived without 

 bread, milk, sugar, salt or tea, of which,, 

 writing in his diary, he said : "Conquered by 

 Hunger, I learned to consume those vituals 

 (the food of the Indians) without much re- 

 pugnance for under the empire of this cruel 

 stepmother, a world becomes savage". 



The land chosen, being already surveyed, 

 each member of the party proceeded to choose 

 his own and friend's quarter-sections, and two 

 weeks later they joyfully set out for Edmon- 

 ton, bringing the good news to their waiting 

 comrades. Four weeks later, the advance party 

 of thirty-five returned to the camp. Seventy 

 miles from the nearest railway station, without 

 roads and with only two teams to transport 

 supplies, with little means and few imple- 

 ments, they started their brave fight against 







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