328 Our North Land. 



a la Corne is in a sheltered nook on the south side of the Saskatche- 

 wan. The buildings are on a terrace about thirty feet above the 

 water, behind which the ground rises for more than 260 feet above 

 the plateau. There is the usual stockade around the buildings, 

 enclosing a small yard. The buildings are small, of logs, and very 

 common looking huts ; but the store-room, if your visit is in the 

 proper season, will be well filled with valuable furs. There are no 

 half-breeds at this post ; but a number of Indian wigwams decorate 

 the adjoining grounds. 



Not far away from the post, to the south, excellent prairie lands 

 are reached, and scattered settlers may be met with, while to the 

 north there is a continuous forest, through which the Indians roam 

 and hunt during the winter months. The crops of wheat and other 

 cereals produced in the neighbourhood of Fort a la Corne are very 

 satisfactory. It is one of the finest agricultural regions of the 

 North- West. Wheat is harvested in September, barley in August, 

 the former yielding over thirty bushels to the acre. Vegetables 

 do splendidly, as also do all kinds of root crops. Potatoes yield 

 over one hundred bushels from one bushel of seed. In this neigh- 

 bourhood the frost does not penetrate the ground more than four 

 feet — less than in the Province of Manitoba. The soil is about 

 twenty inches in depth, with a clay sub-soil. 



At Fort a la Corne winter sets in about the first of December, 

 sometimes a little earlier, and it breaks up about the first of April, 

 when the snow leaves the ground. June is the hottest month ; 

 and in July the most rain falls. From records kept, there appear 

 to be cycles of wet and dry years of ten years each. The ice is 

 generally all out of the river by the 10th of April. The river 

 commences to rise about the 10th of June, and continues for about 

 ten days, when it reaches its highest mark in the year. There is 

 generally another rise in August, and the river reaches its lowest 

 mark in September. The greatest difference between high and low 

 water at Fort a la Corne is never more than twenty feet, and seldom 

 over fifteen. 



The chase affords the Indian musk-rats, beaver, moose, deer, 

 mink, marten, fisher, otter, black bears, and an occasional grizzly, 



