vi. REPORT OF THE No. ii 



University Lands. 



The area of these lands sold during the year was 3,109i acres, for 

 11,594.87. The collection on account of these and sales of former years was 

 11,015.78. (See Appendix No. 3, page 6.) 



Crown Lands. 



There have been sold for agricultural purposes during the year 74,911 1 

 acres, for $62,656.43. The collection on account of these and former sales 

 was SS59,360.14. There were sold for mining purposes 7,559 acres, for 

 118,842.90, and collected on account of mining sales, $23,445.30. 



There were leased for. mining purposes 4,917 acres, for $4,877.57. 

 There was collected on account of m^iing leases, |20,611.81. There were 

 3,865 acres of Crown Lands leased for other than mining purposes. The 

 collection on account of these and former leases was |6,165.56. The total 

 area of land disposed of during the year was 94,628 4/5 acres. The total 

 collection on ax^count of lands sold and leased during the year was $118,- 

 565.25. (See Appendix No. 3, page 6.) 



During the past few years settlement has flowed into what is called the 

 "Temiskaming Region," that is the country lying north and west of Lake 

 Temiskaming, and there are now a number of prosperous settlements through 

 that country. Ever since the exploration of 1900 public attention has been 

 from time to time called to what has been described as the "Clay Belt," 

 which is an area of some sixteen millions of acres of good farming land, 

 reported by the exploration parties as lying on the Hudson Bay slope. Owing 

 to the distance of this land from the settled parts of the Province and want 

 of communication, no settlement had gone in there, and by some even the 

 existence of this large area of good land was regarded as mythical. The 

 Department, in order to satisfy itself as to the character of the country, has 

 been running base and meridian lines through the "Clay Belt" region, and 

 the result of these surveys having demonstrated that the land is as good 

 as reported, the Department has surveyed one hundred and twenty townships, 

 containing 2,625,000 acres, in what is known as the "Clay Belt." In addi- 

 tion to subdividing these townships, it has by survey blocked out in nine mile 

 townships one and a half millons of acres additional. These surveys were 

 made so that the country might be opened for settlement promptly, as soon 

 as circumstances warranted that action. The reports of the surveyors who 

 ran the base and meridian lines and blocked out the townships, shows the 

 land in that region to be even better , in quality than the reports of the 

 explorers led us to expect. 



For some years the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway has been 

 extending in the direction of this "Belt" with the ultimate idea of tapping 

 it in a few years. The immediate construction of the Transcontinental Rail- 

 way, which it was found would traverse the "Clay Belt" from east to west, 

 a distance of some four hundred miles, and which gave assurance of great 

 development and enormous traffic, caused the immediate construction of 

 the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway to become a necessity, so 

 that settlement might flow in from the older parts o"f the Province, and that 

 the population of that region should have easy communication with the 

 Seat of Government of Ontario. So much energy was displayed by the Tem- 

 iskaming and Northern Ontario Railway Commission that last autiimn the 

 Province's railwaj' was constructed to the town of Cochrane, which is its 

 junction point with the Transcontinental. The Railway Commission also 



