I 



Marcli 1883. 



The Progress of the Keiu Dominion. 



355 



ory scheme 



one which 



ually iiiter- 



;nt in open- 



tlic North- 



tniction of 



epcnds tlic 



Jrcat West" 



the hopes 



la. U[) to 

 relatively 



agricultural 

 loviiices has 



eir growth, 

 wide field 



capita! and 



provinces — 

 itii more or 

 all the good 

 tario on tlip 

 — vet it niav 

 ic provinces 

 ible to com- 

 1 States for 

 l']urope, and 

 mist mainly 

 lishinent of 

 development 

 riie opening 

 it last places 

 j-ground a> 

 the United 

 al resources 

 losc of that 

 the produc 

 :lier cereals, 

 hat wcstcri 

 e importan' 

 union of tlu 

 ^or ccnturie: 

 [falo roamcc , 



this " loni 

 prescntativc; 

 ill very re 

 " the grea 

 '8, who ob ; 

 rom one o^ 

 ys ready Ui 

 heir favour ■■ 

 ! pen. Iler s 

 idrcd milc; 

 ;rior to tW 



Rocl<v Mopntains, from lied River 

 to Hudson Bay, were established 

 little stations, commonly called 

 " forts," but rough buildings and 

 enclosures at the best, where the 

 company's servants passed their 

 solitary lives, only relieved by peri- 

 odical visits from Indian and half- 

 breed trappers, and by the annual 

 arrival of the "trains" with mails 

 and su[)[)ries. Up to the time of 

 confederation this company reigned 

 suj)reinc in a territory of whose 

 vastiK'ss and value the world was 

 entirely ignorant. The only settle- 

 ment was that on the banks of the 

 lied River, the headquarters of the 

 com])any — the home of a few thrif- 

 ty, industrious Scotclmien, and a 

 considerable half-lireed population. 

 Here several religious denomina- 

 tions had established schools and 

 churches, but rbove them all loomed 

 the stately Roman Catholic cathe- 

 dral, whose bells, at the hours for 

 matins and vespers, gladdened the 

 lieart of many a wearied traveller 

 as he struggled over the })lains. 



" Is it tho clanp: of wild gceso, 



Is it tlio Indian's yeJl, 

 That ffivos to tlio voice of the north 

 \\iiid 



The toues of a far-ofT bell? 



The voyageur smiles as ho listens 

 To tho sound lliat prows apace: 



Well ho knows the v(>sper ringing 

 Of the bells of Ht. Jionifacc. 



The bells of tho Roman mission 

 That call from their turrets twain 



To the boatmen on the river. 

 To tho hunter on the plain." > 



This North - west Territory, at 

 last reclaimed from the hunter and 

 trappc, is largo enough to give 

 Canada half-a-dozen or more pro- 

 vinces as productive '«= any of the 

 AVestern States. On its prairie- 

 lands can bo raised better wlieat 

 and roots than in Illinois and 

 Iowa ; this, too, year after year, 

 probably for twenty years, without 



the use of manures, as the expe- 

 rience of the old settlers of the 

 Red River vallev has conclusively 

 proved. The wheat produces 

 sounder Hour than that of Illinois 

 or Indiana, and the soil is easily 

 tilled all over the prairie region. 

 As the tourist travels day after 

 dav over these rich lands, ids eye 

 becomes perfectly wearied with the 

 monotony of the " endless sea of 

 verdure," only broken at intervals 

 by the muddy shallow streams and 

 lakes that, for the most part, water 

 the region. Rut monotonous as 

 seems the landscape, it represents 

 to the practical eye a vast lieritagc 

 of comfort and wealth. Here the 

 settler can, with a very little la- 

 bour, raise his crops, and avoid all 

 the toil of clearing the forest, which 

 is one of the troublesome features 

 of pioneer life in the old provinces. 

 The most valuable disti'icts of the 

 territory are watered \>y the Red, 

 Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, and 

 T'eace rivers; and many years must 

 elapse before the rich lands can be 

 exhausted, even if the tide of immi- 

 gration flows into the country witli 

 the same rapidity as it has poured 

 for several decades of years into 

 the Western States. Where the 

 prairie-lands end, stretches a roll- 

 ing country towards and up tho 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains, 

 where herds of cattle can be raised 

 far more profitably than in tho 

 States to the south ; and there have 

 been already established in that 

 section several large " ranches," the 

 beginning of a productive industry, 

 in view of the yearly increasing 

 demand for animal food for expor- 

 tation. One fine province has 

 already been carved out of tlie ter- 

 ritory, and others will soon follow 

 as the necessity arLscs for provin- 

 cial organisation. 



Manitoba has now a population 

 of between eighty and ninety thou- 



Whiltier— Home Ballads. 



j^ 



