314 ,.. Out North Land. 



" It is scarcely to be supposed that a region so extensive would 

 be found all fertile land. The great American desert, which covers 

 a wide area in the centre of the United States, was at one time 

 thought to extend north for a considerable distance into Canada. 

 The Boundary Commission's reports, however appear to show that 

 the arid and unproductive tract is more limited on the Canadian 

 side than was previously supposed ; and that a great breadth of the 

 country previously considered valueless may be used for pastoral 

 purposes, and some of it ultimately brought under cultivation. 

 There are other places within the territory described as the Prairie 

 Region which are unfavourable for farming pursuits ; and although 

 certain drawbacks claim recognition, there can no longer be any 

 doubt respecting the salubrity of the climate and the existence of 

 vast plains of rare fertility. Information on this head has been 

 obtained year by year. Professor Macoun, a well-known botanist, 

 has recently been commissioned specially to investigate this subject, 

 He estimates that there are no less than 260,000,000 acres of land 

 available in this region alone for farming and grazing purposes. 



" The mineral riches of this great division of Canada are but 

 imperfectly known. It has, however, been established that immense 

 deposits of coal exist in many parts, chiefly along the western side. 

 The examinations of Mr. Selwyn, Director of the Geological Survey, 

 carry the impression that the coal-bearing rocks pass with their 

 associated coal seams and iron ores beneath the clays farther east, 

 and it may be that shafts would reveal workable seams of coal at 

 such limited depths beneath the surface as would render them avail- 

 able for fuel and for industrial purposes in the heart of the prairies. 

 Should these views of Mr. Selwyn prove correct, their realization 

 will be of the greatest possible importance to the country. Besides 

 coal and iron ore, petroleum, salt and gold have also been found. 

 The Red River settlers, exposed to many vicissitudes during a space 

 of half a century, did not greatly prosper. But since the incorpora- 

 tion with Canada of the whole country formerly under the sway of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company, marvellous progress has been made. 

 The Province of Manitoba has been created around the place which 

 was once the Selkirk settlement ; its population has increased from 



