MANITOBA. 



513 



miles, is very fertile. This plain does not in- 

 clude any of the Coteau de Missouri, or the 

 " Height of Land," lying chiefly south of the 

 49th parallel and extending to the mountains. 



The soil has ;i rich dark color, due to the 

 accumulation of prairie-fire remains, to the 

 deposits of the millions of wild fowl that even 

 still frequent the province, and to the droppings 

 and bones of the buffalo that now frequent it 

 no more. Like all prairie-land, it is hard to 

 " break," but when broken is easily tilled. 

 The marly alluvium underlying the surface is 

 also a soil of the best quality. 



Climate. Like the climate of the whole in- 

 terior of North America, that of Manitoba is 

 very warm in summer and very cold in winter. 

 The autumn is colder than in Ontario or in 

 northern New York, while the spring is from 

 one to three weeks earlier. Once the spring 

 begins, it becomes warm suddenly. The mean 

 annual temperature at Fort Shaw is 46-91 ; at 

 Winnipeg, 34-31 ; at Toronto, 46-05. 



The rapid spring and warm summer, and the 

 entire absence of frosts during those periods, 

 satisfactorily determine Manitoba's fitness for 

 agricultural pursuits. The winters in the Red 

 river settlement are undoubtedly severe ; but, 

 owing to^the great dryness of the atmosphere, 

 the cold is not felt nearly so much as in more 

 southern moist climates. 



Vegetation is rapid, and fruits, flowers, and 

 garden vegetables grow to maturity with as 

 little danger from frosts as in central Ontario. 



The following figures represent the average 

 yield per acre, of the named products, for the 

 five years ending 1881. (In all cases fractions 

 are thrown off.) 



In 1881 farmers residing near Winnipeg ex- 

 hibited at > the local fairs roots and vegeta- 

 bles of the following dimensions : Cabbage, 49 

 pounds; carrots, 11 pounds: turnips, 32 pounds; 

 potatoes, 4 pounds ; squash of seven weeks' 

 growth, 5 feet 6 inches around; onions, 4| 

 inches through ; citrons, 18 pounds ; mangolds, 

 27 pounds ; beets, 23 pounds. 



Settlement. During 1881 and 1882 more than 

 150,000 immigrants settled in the Canadian 

 Northwest. In the first four months of 1883 

 there were 25,000. These are chiefly from 

 Great Britain, Germany, Norway and Sweden, 

 and Canada at least 60,000 from the latter. 



Fuel. Coal or lignite underlies the whole 

 country from the 49th parallel to the Arctic 

 Ocean, and from the Souris river, 250 miles 

 west of Winnipeg, to the Rocky mountains. 

 The following are some results of analyses made 

 of coal from the various localities along the 

 line of the Canada Pacific Railway : 

 VOL. xxiii. 33 A 



The figures indicate the quality of the coal 

 in the river-valleys. As the banks of the streams 

 are very high, the seams are all exposed, and 

 can be worked horizontally. There are many 

 smaller seams, both above and below the main 

 seams. In the Bow and Belly river districts 

 the coal is somewhat better than on the Souris. 

 The deep river-valleys are found only in the sec- 

 ond and third prairie steppes. The average 

 height of the second steppe is about 1,300 feet 

 above the sea. The escarpment forming its 

 eastern limit crosses the boundary at Pembina 

 mountain, and continues northwesterly bv the 

 Blue hills of the Souris. the Blue hills of 

 Brandon, Riding, Duck. Porcupine, and Bas- 

 qtiia hills. It has a width of 250 miles along 

 the 49th parallel, terminating about the 104th 

 meridian. This vast undulating plain, having a 

 greater elevation, has been acted on by the 

 rivers for a much longer period than the first 

 plain. On a near approach to one of these 

 rivers, the traveler finds himself on an almost 

 precipitous embankment, overlooking, at a 

 height varying between 50 and 350 feet, a 

 broad, level valley, from 500 to 5,200 yards in 

 width. Through the "bottom " meanders the 

 stream, its surface usually some five or ten feet 

 lower than the valley, unless in the spring, 

 when the " bottom " becomes one great lake 

 or river. These valleys, as well as the slopes 

 and gravelly knolls, are as a rule well timbered 

 with oak, birch, poplar, aspen, etc. These 

 " coulees " and the various marshy tracts are 

 the only effective barriers to the destructive 

 prairie-fires in their career over the vast plains. 

 The soil of this steppe closely resembles that of 

 the first, but it is not so deep. 



As the second steppe differs from the first, 

 so does the third from the second. Its average 

 height is about 2,000 feet, and its breadth along 

 the 49th parallel about 465 miles. The section 

 lying immediately along the line is not consid- 

 ered good for farming, inasmuch as the north- 

 ern limit of the " Great American Desert," or 

 the Coteau de Missouri, extends for about fif- 

 teen miles into Canada for nearly eighty miles 

 along the boundary. This strip is almost devoid 

 of vegetation, its chief product being a thin 

 growth of cactus and stipa. Immediately north 

 of this unfruitful tract, and stretching far away 

 north and northwest to the 60th parallel, ex- 

 tends in one almost unbroken prairie a great 



