256 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Regular lots in this system are 13 chains in width and 80.80 

 chains, or a little over a mile, in depth. This gives an area of 100 acres 

 per lot, after allowing five per cent for roads, which, in accordance 

 with the general practice in Quebec, is reserved out of the grant, 

 and may all be used if required for that purpose. During or after 

 settlement, roads may be located in the most suitable places; in the 

 past, where the topography admitted, roads were laid out along the 

 lot fronts but only every two miles apart, in which case the mileage 

 of roads to be maintained is minimized. The opinion of Mr. J. E. 

 Chalifour, Chief Geographer of the Department of the Interior, 

 might well be given here in reference to this 10-mile-square township. 

 He finds, in the present system of narrow, long lots, but a continu- 

 ation of the early system of settlement, with families grouped closely 

 together along the main roads. Such an arrangement was essential 

 for protection against the Indians, but its social advantages have ever 

 been recognized in Quebec where, statistics show, the rural popula- 

 tion do not "leave the farms." 



In Ontario the two more recent systems of survey have been the 

 "six-mile" and "nine-mile" townships. The former system was 

 first introduced in 1859 and was then apparently a direct copy of 

 the township as laid out in the plains of the United States. Further 

 mention will be made of this system in another connection, but, _ as 

 modified, the "section" system (see Fig. C) has been in operation 

 since 1874, and was, for a period of ten years, up until 1906, the sys- 

 tem exclusively used in Northern Ontario, the townships being defin- 

 itely related to each other and to certain "base lines" previously 

 located. Lots are 320 acres in area, being one-half mile from east 

 to west with a depth of one mile. There are no road allowances pro- 

 vided in the original survey, but five per cent is reserved out of the 

 area of each lot for roads or highways. By Order in Council, dated 

 April 24th, 1906, thfe Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines adopted 

 the nine-mile system of surveys (see Fig. 7). An inspection of this 

 plan of Clute township shows that roads are provided around each 

 section of twelve 150 acre lots. This makes it 1% miles between 

 concession roads and If miles between side roads. The dotted lines 

 around the small lakes shown on the plan indicate what is now the 

 general practice in Ontario in such cases, i.e., a public reserve of 

 sixty-six feet around lakes. In Northern Ontario a number of such 

 nine-mile townships have been laid out along the Transcontinental 

 railway. 



The carrying out of township surveys by the Dominion Govern- 

 ment under the direction of the Surveyor General of Dominion Lands 

 has not been interrupted to any extent by the war. With the ex- 

 ception of but a few settlement surveys, in round numbers nearly 

 200,000,000 acres of lands under Federal control have been surveyed 

 since Confederation in 1867, and, what is possibly as noteworthy, 

 all practically under the same system of survey. The Dominion 

 lands system of survey operates in what was originally known as the 

 province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, though the 

 provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta now occupy a large part of 



