CHAPTER V 



1872 



Meets Mr. Sandford Fleming and Rev. Geo. M. Grant — 

 Becomes botanist to their Expedition across the Prair- 

 ies and Mountains to the Pacific, in search of a route 

 for the Canadian Pacific Railway — Descriptions of 

 Country — Incidents of the journey across the prairies. 



IN 1857, the British Government sent out an expedition under 

 Capt. Palliser, to explore in Canada. This expedition spent 

 four years in the country and made a report stating that it 

 was impossible to make a railroad through the Rocky Mountains. 

 Their report also said that the largest proportion of the prairies 

 was nothing more than part of the Great American Desert. This 

 report gave the country quite a setback. In 1867, Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick joined Quebec and Ontario, forming a united 

 Canada. As soon as this took place, the ideas of Canadians were 

 apparently enlarged, for immediately they asked England to 

 arrange for the purchase of the Hudson's Bay Company's claims 

 for the North West Territories. This purchase was accomplished 

 in 1869. These efforts caused a good deal of irritation amongst 

 the Company's servants in the North West and especially amongst 

 the half-breeds at Fort Garry. This resulted in the "Riel Revo- 

 lution," which took place in the winter of 1869, which led to the 

 expedition of the Canadian Militia under General Wolseley, and 

 the revolution was suppressed in 1870. Next year, British Co- 

 lumbia joined the coalition and on July 20th, 1871, signed the 

 agreement. Immediately after the signing by British Columbia, 

 survey parties started work both at Victoria and Ottawa to survey 

 the route of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, which 

 was subsequently called the Canadian Pacific. 



In the winter of 1871, I was asked again by Mr. Watts of 

 Montreal, if I would go to Lake Superior the coming summer and 

 make another collection for him of the plants that grew around 



