vi REPORT OF THE ^ No. 3 



purposes and collected on account of Crown leases $6,911.12. The total area of 

 lands of the Crown disposed of during the ten months was 104,821 acres, and the 

 total collection on account of lands sold and leased was $388,729.52. 



The region lying north of Lake Temiskaming has continued to attract the 

 largest number of settlers. The land is known to be good. It has been demon- 

 strated beyond question that grains and roots of all varieties can be successfully 

 grown there. The country is being opened up by the Temiskaming and Northern 

 Ontario Railway, and colonization roads are being built in various directions. 

 Labour has been in demand and good wages paid. The mining industry and the 

 construction of the Transcontinental Railway have employed a large number of 

 men, and there is a good market for all that can be grown. The actual settler 

 who is residing on his lot with a small clearing of two acres has the privilege of 

 selling any timber other than pine growing upon his land. Spruce is plentiful in 

 the Temiskaming region and the bona fide settler can, therefore, earn considerable 

 money taking out pulpwood which commands a ready sale. • This enables him to 

 remain on his lot during the winter months instead of having to go away in search 

 of employment. 



A number of townships were opened for settlement along the line of the 

 Transcontinental Railway; a considerable area of land has been taken up therein 

 and many settlers have gone into occupation. Other intending settlers are waiting 

 the completion of the Transcontinental before moving their families in per- 

 manently. It is only a short time since the town site of Cochrane was put upon 

 the market in what was a veritable wilderness. Now it is a flourishing incorporated 

 town with a Mayor and Council and a population of about 800 souls. When the 

 railway is constructed east and west, Cochrane, as the divisional point for both 

 railways and an important junction, will no doubt become a large and flourishing 

 town. The additional surveys made recently afford additional evidence that the 

 statements concerning the agricultural possibilities of that great territory were if 

 anything too moderate. The recent gold discoveries at Porcupine have given an 

 added interest to that region, and as soon as the spring opens there will be a great 

 influx of population. 



In the Sudbury region, also in the vicinity of Port Arthur and Fort Frances, 

 considerable settlement has taken place. 



The Department has endeavoured to make certain that only land capable of 

 cultivation is being taken up and that settlers prosecute their improvements in 

 compliance with the law and regulations. Lands are inspected upon application 

 being made, and if they are not suitable for agriculture they are not sold. Careful 

 and systematic inspection of sold and located lands is made in order to see that 

 parties are in residence and prosecuting their settlement duties in a satisfactory 

 manner. If they fail to do so they are immediately warned to go into actual resi- 

 dence within a certain period and failure to do this entails forfeiture of their claim. 

 By means of these inspections settlers are kept alive to their duties, and people 

 ^taking up land, hoping to strip it of the timber, are baulked in their efforts. 



Free Grants, 



The best land available in the old free grant districts has been taken up. The 

 Department has considered that a location should not be taken up as a farm unless 

 it has enough land to warrant the expectation that a man can make a living on it 

 by agricultural pursuits, for which purpose at least 50 per cent, of it should be 

 good land. In old townships, too, there is a desire to obtain land just to strip it 



