THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION. 203 



by side not even divided by any natural boundary, 

 as England is from France have always maintained 

 their original national characteristics. Those of 

 Quebec evince a contentedness with their lot in 

 life, and a dislike to change of all sorts, not only as 

 regards their manners and customs, but even their 

 place of residence ; whilst those of Ontario, descended 

 from British ancestors, retain that love for adventure 

 and that spirit of enterprise for which our countrymen 

 are so generally celebrated. 



The men of Ontario have always suspected the 

 truth of the statements made regarding the great 

 prairie country which every one knew lay between 

 the Red River and the Rocky Mountains. For years 

 back their gaze has been fixed upon that territory, 

 longing for the privilege of planting it with grain, 

 and of establishing themselves in a country where 

 rumour said that luxuriant crops were obtainable 

 without either the labour of clearing it from timber 

 or the cost of manuring it. 



The distance from Canada was so great, and the 

 intervening difficulties were of such magnitude, that 

 it was practically out of the power of farmers or of 

 the ordinary class of emigrants to make a journey 

 there. Unless, therefore, Government stepped in, 

 and, by opening out roads and improving the almost 

 continuous line of water communication existing be- 

 tween Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, 

 enabled the working class to reach Fort Garry at a 



