1912-13 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 119 



the centres, to construct a good many short roads in the interior of the town- 

 ships, in order to give settlers who had located on their lands, and were making 

 substantial clearings, an outlet to these trunk roads. This also was found necessary, 

 inasmuch as there were few settlers, children had to walk long distances in order 

 to reach a school, and many miles of road had to he made for that purpose. 



I am glad to be able to report that the work of the season of 1913 appears 

 to have given very much encouragement to the incoming settlers, and this last 

 year has witnessed more lona fide work on the land by the settlers than I have 

 previously observed for many years. I refer more particularly to the country 

 in the vicinity of the town of Cochrane and along the line of the Temiskaming 

 and Northern Ontario Railway from Cochrane south to Englehart and Earlton, and 

 along the Charlton branch to Charlton. Large clearings with good substantial 

 farm buildings are to be met with almost everywhere. 



Along the roads constructed in 1913 most of the lots have been settled upon 

 and small clearings made, and. I have every reason to believe that if the work, as 

 it is now being carried on, is continued for a few years there will be found in the 

 Claybelt along the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway and Grand Trunk 

 Pacific Railway settlements as prosperous as are to be found in the district of 

 Rainy River, or in the country in the vicinity of Haileybury and New Liskeard. 



From my experience during the last two seasons in the construction of roads 

 north of Englehart and over the height of land, I am the more fully confirmed in 

 my opinion, and have not the smallest doubt of a successful future from an agri- 

 cultural standpoint, for that district, provided that, as at present, settlement for 

 the next few years is confined as far as practicable, to the most promising areas, 

 so as to ensure large clearings whereby the climatic conditions may be improved. 

 Little or no difficulty was met with in draining all the roads in the Claybelt which 

 were graded and ditched last season. Much difficulty, however, is found in making 

 permanent roads, for want of gravel or stone, which is seldom met with in that 

 district. 



In the valley of the Rainy River, which comprises an area of about three- 

 quarters of a million acres of good agricultural land, I have found that sections 

 are still unoccupied; and in other sections, during the last fifteen years the de- 

 velopment which might have been expected has not taken place, owing in some 

 measure to the want of roads. The continuation, however, for a year or two of 

 the work commenced in 1913 will remove this difficulty, and I am confident that 

 settlers will go into this district in the future in greatly increased numbers, as the 

 land is nearly all of good quality. 



On my first visit to the Rainy River Valley, over twenty years ago, I found 

 the conditions there almost similar to those in the Claybelt to-day. The character 

 of the country, its soil, and its climatic conditions are almost identical. It is in 

 tiie same latitude, and to-day in the Rainy River Valley where sefjtlement has 

 taken place, and large clearings made, all kinds of grains and vegetables are 

 produced in abundance. Summer frosts are almost of the past. 



In the districts of Nipissing, Sudbury, Algoma, Thunder Bay, and Kenora, 

 the trunk roads as constructed or improved will make it possible for the settlers 

 to reach markets for their produce at all seasons of the year. Other roads are re- 

 quired in these districts to make it possible for the settlers in the out-lying sec- 

 tions to reach the main trunk roads. Several of the trunk roads as graded last 

 season still require to be surfaced in places with gravel or stone. It was found 

 impossible in one season to complete many of the roads. 



