234 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



important fact has been noticed, that any railroad con- 

 structed within the limits of the United States must pass, 

 for a distance of twelve hundred miles west of the Mis- 

 sissippi, through uncultivable land, or, in other words, a 

 comparative desert. Along the 32nd parallel the breadth 

 of this desert is least, and the detached areas of fertile soil 

 greatest in quantity, but the aggregate number of square 

 miles of cultivable land amounts only to 2300 in a dis- 

 tance of 1210 miles (Appendix No. VII.). The northern 

 limit of the Great American Desert is an imaginary line 

 drawn from the Touchwood Hills to the Moose Woods on 

 the South Branch, then south of Battle Eiver as far as long. 

 112°, when turning south it sweeps along the flanks of the 

 Eocky Mountains in long. 115°. North of this limit of the 

 Great American Desert there is a broad strip of fertile 

 country, rich in water, woods, and pasturage, drained by 

 the North Saskatchewan and some of its affluents, and 

 being a continuation of the fertile prairies of Eed Eiver, 

 the eastern water shed of the Assinniboine and Eed Deer 

 Eiver, with the outlying patches called the Touchwood 

 Hills, File Hill, &c. 



It is a physical reality of the highest importance to 

 the interests of british north america that this con- 

 tinuous belt can be settled and cultivated from a few 

 miles west of the lake of the woods to the passes of 

 the Eocky Mountains, and any line of communication, 

 whether by waggon road or railroad, passing through 

 it, will eventually enjoy the great advantage of being 

 fed by an agricultural population from one extremity 

 to the other. 



No other part of the American Continent possesses an 

 approach even to this singularly favourable disposition of 

 soil and climate, which last feature, notwithstanding its 

 rigour during the winter season, confers, on account of its 



