The Great North-West— The Territories. 417 



Thus I have given the most unquestionable testimony of the 

 great productiveness of the Canadian North-West. But to all this I 

 must add the testimony of Professor Macoun, especially with regard 

 *o the higher latitudes. He says: — "At Vermillion, latitude 58° 24', I 

 had a long conversation with old Mr. Shaw, who has had charge of this 

 Fort for sixteen years ; he says the frosts never injure anything on this 

 part of the river, and every kind of garden stuff can be grown. Barley 

 sown on the 8th Ma} 7- , cut 6th August, and the finest I ever saw ; 

 many ears as long as my hand, and the whole crop thick and stout. In 

 my opinion this is the finest tract of country on the river. The 

 general level of the country is less than one hundred feet above it. 



"At Little River I found everything in a very forward state. 

 Cucumbers started in the open air were fully ripe ; Windsor, pole 

 beans and peas were likewise ripe August 15th. Fort Chippewayan, 

 at the entrance to Lake Athabaska, has very poor soil in its vicinity, 

 being largely composed of sand ; still, here I obtained fine samples 

 of wheat and barley, the former weighing sixty-eight pounds to the 

 bushel, and the latter fifty-eight pounds. The land here is very low 

 and swampy, being but little elevated above the lake. At the 

 French Mission, two miles above the Fort, oats, wheat and barley 

 were all cut by the 26th August. Mr. Hardisty, Chief Factor in 

 charge of Fort Simpson, in lat. 61° N., informed me that barley 

 always ripened there, and that wheat was sure four times out of 

 five. Melons, if started under glass, ripen well. Frost seldom does 

 them much damage. Chief Trader Macdougall says that Fort 

 Laird, in lat. 61° N., has the warmest summer temperature in the 

 whole region, and all kinds of grain and garden stuff always come to 

 maturity. He has been on the Yucon for twelve years, and says that 

 most years barley ripens under the Arctic Circle in long. 143° W. 



" The localities mentioned were not chosen for their good soil, 

 but for the facilities which they afforded for cai'rying on the fur- 

 trade, or for mission purposes. Five-sixths of all the land in the 

 Peace River section is just as good as the point cited, and will pro- 

 duce as good crops in the future. The reason so little is cultivated is 

 owing to the fact that the inhabitants, whites and Indians, are flesh 

 eaters. Mr. Macfarlane, Chief Factor in charge of the Athabaska 



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