A DAY'S WORK IN RIDING MOUNTAIN. 



By H. Claughton-Wallin, F.M., Forest Assistant, Forestry 



Branch. 



When approaching Gladstone, on the Canadian Northern 

 Edmonton Line, the traveller will notice how the flat treeless 

 prairie is gradually disappearing and being succeeded by a wood- 

 ed country. As the train carries you further towards Dauphin, 

 the trees increase in size and variety. There are among the 

 poplars, scattered oak, elm, ash and Manitoba maple, and also 

 here and there an old shaggy lopsided spruce, looking lonely, as 

 if it was wondering why on earth it was left there to struggle for 

 existence among so many strangers. 



On your left you see a bluish wall a few miles distant follow- 

 ing you for several hours. Coming from the east, with your head 

 full of talk about the level prairies of Manitoba, you are surprised. 

 Being a person fond of nature as it was before man tried to im- 

 prove it, and having thoughts for something else than the prosaic 

 "How to invest your spare money to the best advantage," your 

 interest is aroused. 



It is not that the scenery is in any way startling. Had it 

 been, for example, in Quebec or British Columbia, you would 

 never even bother to lift your eyes from your paper to look at 

 that blue mountain wall. But it being situated in Manitoba 

 your interest is, as was said before, awakened. 



In your mind you see yourself there in the wilderness, 

 following an old Indian bridle path through the beautiful forest, 

 drinking the refreshing cold water from some little mountain 

 stream and now and then getting a glimpse of a majestic moose 

 or a graceful elk. 



Well, those were the thoughts running through my mind, 

 and the only thing to regret is that my fellow passengers on the 

 Edmonton Express did not have the same good luck as I, to 

 spend a whole summer up there in the Riding Mountain. 



The writer had received instructions from the Forestry 

 Branch of the Interior Department to proceed to the Riding 

 Mountain to conduct a valuation survey on the Dominion Forest 

 Reserve situated there, and at the end of May I arrived in Dau- 

 phin. To those of my readers to whom this name is not familiar, 

 I may say that Dauphin is one of Manitoba's most progressive 

 towns situated on the Canadian Northern line from Manitoba to 

 Edmonton, twelve miles north of the boundarv of the Riding 



