From the Pad fie to Hudson's Bay. 315 



a mere handful to many thousands, and it has to all appearance 

 entered on a career of unexampled progress. 



" Manitoba, although a Province with prospects so brilliant, 

 occupies but a small corner of the fertile lands in the interior of 

 Canada. The Prairie Region, as set forth in the foregoing, is alone 

 ten times the area of England, reckoning every description of land. 

 Such being the case, it may be no vain dream to imagine that in due 

 time many Provinces will be carved out of it, and that many 

 millions of the human family may find happy and prosperous homes 

 on these rich alluvial plains of Canada." 



Since the above was written by Mr. Fleming, much that he pre- 

 dicted has been realized. Extensive coal mines have been opened 

 in the Saskatchewan Valley, and are proving of vast utility to the 

 people of the North-West. Petroleum has been discovered in large 

 quantities, and arrangements are now being made to bring it into 

 market ; and the agricultural capabilities of the region are proving 

 to be much greater than the estimate then placed upon them. The 

 whole prairie region has been divided into five divisions, viz. : the 

 Province of Manitoba, extending from the western boundary of 

 Ontario westward to the 102nd meridian, and northward to the 53rd 

 parallel ; the districts of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan, extending 

 from the western boundary of the Province of Manitoba to the 

 111th meridian, and northward from the International Boundary 

 Line to the 55th parallel, the former comprising the south half of the 

 territory described, and the latter the north half ; the Disti'ict of 

 Alberta, extending from the western limits of Assiniboia and Sas- 

 katchewan to the eastern limit of British Columbia, and northward 

 from the International Boundary to the 55th parallel; the District 

 of Athabaska, extending northward from the northern limit of 

 Alberta to the 60th parallel, and eastward from the eastern boundary 

 of British Columbia to the 111th meridian. The last four will, in 

 due time, be erected into Provinces with responsible governments* 

 with about their present boundaries. 



These five future Provinces are larger than any five of the north- 

 western States, and must, at no distant day, contain as great, and 

 possibly a greater, population than the States of Michigan, Wis- 



