FENCING 165 



highway to every farmer of one hundred and sixty- 

 acres. But good roads in the urban district of 

 Saskatchewan are still very few and far between, 

 and not a few of the best throughout Canada are 

 due to the national enthusiasm for motoring. 



My neighbour assured me that the heap of stones 

 supporting a lengthy but infirm pole marked the 

 far side of the road allowance, and not the north- 

 west corner of the farm ; but Roddy McMahon 

 contradicted him flatly, and also prophesied that 

 in any case the surrounding land would never be 

 settled, and the Touchwood Trail would never be 

 abandoned. He carried his point, and the limit of 

 the live acres across the road allowance. Within 

 five years I was hemmed in on every side, and had 

 literally to beg my way through a neighbour's 

 crops to obtain an exit. It seemed the more unjust 

 since taxes drawn from my half-section had con- 

 tributed to the development of the country for 

 over twenty years, and long before any of its 

 environing land had been claimed for culture — 

 but in 1 91 3 the road was graded. 



This making up of the urban highway is one of 

 the most important and yet one of the most 

 neglected of the factors which count in the develop- 

 ment of Canada. From start to finish its con- 

 struction should be in the power of experts only, 

 and held high above the reach of the design of 

 political intention or the self-interest of individuals 

 which frequently hampers it. 



The end of the discussion of the actual boundary 

 was that I resolved to fence the half-section on 

 every side. It was not indispensable, because the 

 forty-acre pasture was sufficient to protect the 



