CHAPTER LV. 

 A Nobleman's View of the North- West. 



A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE VAST PRAIRIE REGION — FUTURE 

 HOMES OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE — THE CANADIAN ZONE AND 

 TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE — OPINIONS OF THE MARQUIS OF 

 LORNE — THE FUTURE OF CANADA. 



||REViOUS remarks have indicated the great certainty of a 



continuation for many years to come of immigration 

 from the Old World to the New, and that in the future, 

 far more than in the past, it will come to the terri- 

 tories of Canada, and particularly to the Canadian North-West. 

 Hitherto, the great difficulty has been for the immigrant, after 

 arriving on the shores of America, to reach the prairie region. The 

 route has been circuitous and expensive, and beset with many 

 temptations calculated to greatly impede the settlement of that 

 region. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway will greatly 

 remove these obstacles, and bring the countries of Europe into com- 

 paratively direct communication with the North- West. As a conse- 

 quence we may expect a large increase in the volume of immigration 

 to that part of Canada, but the flow of population to the North- 

 West cannot be expected to reach its flood-tide until the route by 

 way of Hudson Strait is opened. 



As to the country itself, the evidence of its capacity to support 

 a vast population is overwhelming. Much of this has already been 

 given, but to that may properly be added the testimony of the 

 Marquis of Lome. Lord Dufferin made a journey through the 

 prairie region of the North -West during his term as Governor- 

 General of Canada, and upon his return in a lengthy and now 

 celebrated speech, at Winnipeg, he said : — " From its geographical 



