CHAPTER VIII.

A Large Amount of Iron Ore in the Northeastern Corner of the Region, on the North East Side of Lake Athabaska.—Indications Favourable for the Discovery of Coal.—Nickel and Traces of Cobalt on Reindeer lake.—Medicinal Waters.—Bituminous Springs and Pit Coal on Cree river.—Tar Sands Near Buffalo lake.

In the report of his explorations in 1892 and 1893, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell notes the occurrence of several areas of Huronian quartzite along the northeast side of Lake Athabaska. In one case, he states:—“At a distance of a mile and a half from this island (four miles and a half east of Beaver Lodge island) in a direction north 66° east, a conspicuous red hill rises one hundred and twenty-five feet above the water, its abrupt red cliff standing out boldly towards the southwest. On its northeastern side, at its base, it is composed of thinly fissile quartzose schist, very much reddened, striking north 30° west, and dipping south 60° west, at an angle of 10°. Farther up the side of the hill the rock is a quartzite, interbedded with layers of hematite, which in some places forms the larger part of the mass. The summit of the hill, several hundred yards in length, is composed of a highly hematitic quartzite, mingled with a large quantity of limonite, especially on the higher points. In places the rock is a conglomerate, with quartz pebbles, and a matrix of limonite. Other similar red hills can be seen in the distance on the strike of the rocks, and the total amount of iron here and in the vicinity is doubtless very large.”

Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, before the Senate committee of 1907, stated that from a line at Cumberland House, on Saskatchewan river, northwestward to Churchill river, and westward along Churchill river, the country to the south is underlaid by the more recent clay rocks of the plains, and the mineral wealth that is to be looked for there is

Coal and Iron.

He had considerable confidence in both those most useful products being found in that country. Coal is found on Saskatchewan river at Edmonton, and on Pembina river, west of Edmonton, and there are several more outcroppings of coal down Saskatchewan river as far as Prince Albert. Most of the country north of Saskatchewan river had not been explored for coal. It is a country of gentle slopes covered with grass and wood, and the coal outcropping in such a country is certain to be covered. There is no possibility of seeing it as a natural outcrop. It has to be looked for, but it has not been looked for in that country sufficiently to find it, so he was perfectly confident that the same seams thatoutcrop on the Saskatchewan, in the west at all events, would be traced much further north.

Writing in his report of his survey of the west shore of Reindeer lake, Mr. Dowling states:—“From Priest’s point (proceeding southward), the lake gradually narrows from a minimum width of four miles, to a narrow inlet less than a mile wide at the outlet, and the course of this part lies very nearly southwest and northeast following in a general way the strike of the rocks. A band of dark mica-schists is crossed, reaching from near Priest’s point to twenty miles southwest, and along the course followed through the islands many small dykes of a quartzose fine-grained granite were found, in which iron pyrites is freely developed. The beds of fine-grained gneiss on Camping island, ten miles south from Priest’s point, are also found with many veins of pyrites and on the hill in the centre of the island many of the beds are very much rusted and decomposed. The pyrites are found to contain a small percentage of

Nickel and Traces of Cobalt.

At the north side of a small creek on the west shore, southwest from Camping island, the Indians report a soft soapstone or serpentinous rock from which they make pipes, but a visit to the locality did not result in finding this rock, which was then said to be obtained in small pieces from the shore and generally under the water. The rock there was, however, a light green sericite-schist, and it is possible that unfoliated or less cleavable portions of this might be soft enough for the purpose named. The stratigraphical relations of this band with the surrounding gneisses, could not in the time at the disposal of the party be made out, so that it is problematical whether this may be a small area of highly altered Huronian beds or not. The next rock occurring to the south is a dark garnetiferous gneiss, followed by reddish granitic gneiss to the outlet of the lake.”

Mr. Dowling mentions that in descending Reindeer river his attention was attracted by the red colouring of a hill near the river, below the mouth of Stump river. He states:—“On a nearer view, this red colouring is found to be due to the debris of a decomposed band occupying the crest of the ridge. The rock has been very highly charged with iron oxides and pyrites. The strike of the beds is south 10° east, with dip eastward at angles varying from 60° to 80°. Several large seams of red granite cut into the hill and break up the beds somewhat.

“A section of the hill shows a light, coarse gneiss near the bottom, with a dark mica-schist, followed by a bed of light, rusty coloured gneiss having a thickness of about five feet. This in some places seems to have been very rich in pyrites and is weathered out to a reddish ochre. The outcrop is just below the crest of the ridge, and from it the ochre falling down, stains the whole face of the hill. Above, on the summit, the rock is mostly a dark-red gneiss.”

Archbishop Clut, examined before the Senate committee of 1888, stated that he had seen sulphur springs on Clearwater river. Asked if he had ever heard of the existence of valuable minerals in any part of the country northeast of Lake Athabaska, Bishop Clut explained that he had seen a man named McCarthy, at Fond du Lac, Lake Athabaska, who told him that he had discoveredgold, but as he was not an educated man, the bishop did not know whether he was mistaken or not. The man said he would not show it to anybody, but that he was almost sure that he had found a gold mine. Nobody had brought to him specimens of gold, silver or anything of that kind from that region.

Bituminous Springs and Pit Coal.

Chief Factor A. McDonald chronicles in his journal having passed bituminous springs on Cree river, south of Lake Athabaska, just above the junction of the Pierre au Calumet or Pipestone river (McLeod’s “Peace River”). He also reports having passed, the same day, “Large strata of pit coal all along either side of the river.”

Mr. Alfred Von Hamerstein informed the Senate committee of 1907 that “on Clearwater river there are first class medicinal springs. The natives have been using the water right along, and it acts very well on the bowels. It is like the well known Hunyadi mineral water. It is a very nice, picturesque country, and the natives go up there and doctor themselves.”

In the course of his examination before the Senate committee of 1907, Mayor Cook, of Prince Albert, explained that nobody in the region north of the Saskatchewan bothers about the coal. Coal had been discovered at Lac La Ronge—there was no doubt about that. Good samples had been brought in, but nobody bothered with it yet because wood was so plentiful.

W. F. Bredin, M.L.A., stated before the Senate committee of 1907, that on his way from McMurray to Prince Albert, he found that the tar sands appeared on Buffalo lake, which is on the Churchill system of water, and that, in his opinion, showed that the tar sands are both on the Mackenzie water system and on the Churchill system, on both sides of the divide there.

Mr. Crean in his 1908 report says:—“At the narrows between Little Buffalo lake and Buffalo lake, there is a tar sand outcrop. The Indians use it to pitch their canoes.”

Mr. Crean also says:—“Lac la Ronge district is claimed to have great possibilities as a mineral district. The Laurentian range of rock crops out here and is easily traced to the northwest. Whether this outcrop really contains mineral of economic value is still unsettled. Numerous claims have been staked at Nickel island in Lac la Ronge and on the mainland close by, also on Churchill river above Stanley. I had not time to prospect the country, but from casual observation I should think that it would repay a closer investigation. The vein on Nickel island is very distinct and about eighteen inches wide on the outcrop. Several small companies have been formed and development work in a limited way is progressing.”

So far there has been very little systematic prospecting for economic minerals in the portion of the province of Saskatchewan north of the river of that name, but the people of Prince Albert and Battleford and the pioneers settled in the wilderness north of those towns, have for years believed that coal, iron and other minerals will be found in the vicinity; trappers, traders and Indians often return from the wilderness with stories of mineral discoveries.

CHAPTER IX.

“So Fine a Country for the Chase That It May Be Regarded as an Extensive Preserve.”—The Wood Buffalo Used To Roam Over It, but Do Not Now.—Moose and Caribou Plentiful.—The Indians Kill the Moose for Their Hides.—Fish of Various Kinds in Abundance.—Sturgeon That Weigh a Hundred Pounds.—One Indian Killed Eighteen Moose During One Season.

As fish has always been the staple food of the inhabitants of that part of the province of Saskatchewan north of the river of that name, and the fur trade their only industry, it goes without saying that the country abounds in fish and game. A very few quotations from travellers and explorers is all that is required to give an idea of the species of fish and animals to be found in this region, and of their occurrence.

In his account of his passage through the Clearwater country, Simpson writes:—“This is a fine country for the chase, and so little frequented in winter, that it may be regarded as an extensive preserve. We saw three moose deer on the top of one of the hills, and their tracks and those of the wood buffalo were numerous in every direction. The valley of the river is entirely sheltered from the inclement north and northwest winds, but its exposure to the east usually rendered the snow deep and soft, as we found to our cost. . . . . . . . . Just before breakfasting we saw, on the northern hills, a large moose, and a band of five wood buffalos sunning their fat sides—a sight sufficient to make the mouths of the pemmican eaters water, but they were beyond our reach, and, taking the alarm, quickly disappeared. The declivities of the hills seemed, as we passed along, completely chequered with the tracks of these and smaller animals.”

Mr. H. J. Moberly, chief trader of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Rapid river, (Lac la Ronge) Cumberland district, forwarded the Senate committee of 1887 evidence in writing regarding animal life in the far northwest. He explained that he knew Saskatchewan (north) river and valley from the mouth of the Saskatchewan on Lake Winnipeg up to its source in Rocky mountains. He also knew Athabaska river and valley from its source down to its mouth in Athabaska lake, and was well acquainted with all the country between those two rivers, from Rocky mountains down to Carlton, and from there, taking a line via Green lake, Beaver river, Ile à la Crosse lake, Deep river, Buffalo lake, Methye river and lake, Methye portage and down the Clearwater to its junction with Athabaska river, as an eastern line and Rocky mountains as a westward. He knew well all the country between Athabaska and Peace rivers, from their mouths to their sources.

As to wood buffalo, at the time Mr. Moberly wrote, there was a band, probably about two hundred, between the Saskatchewan and the Athabaska. (Thereare none there now). They kept on the mountains between Lac la Biche and McMurray. Another band, probably three hundred strong, was between Athabaska and Peace rivers on Thickwood and Birch mountains. A third band, probably seven hundred strong, was scattered through the mountains between Liard and Peace rivers, and from Salt river to the foot of Rocky mountains.

Moose Run All Over the Wooded Country

north of the prairies and east of Rocky mountains.

The distribution of other game and fur animals in far northwestern Canada was given by Mr. Moberly as follows:—Reindeer (cariboo), large—all over the wood countries from Saskatchewan, to the barren grounds of the north; reindeer, small—all over the barren grounds in the north, and come south in winter as far as Lac de Brochet, Athabaska lake and Peace river, close to Rocky mountains; red deer—Athabaska and Peace river valleys; black tail deer, jumping deer and chevreux—same country as the red deer; black and brown bears—all over the wooded country and Rocky mountains; grizzly bears—Rocky mountains, valleys of the Peace, Athabaska, Liard, and Fraser, but seldom farther than two hundred and fifty miles from the foot of the Rockies; beaver—Athabaska, Peace river and in fact all over the wooded country.

In his report of his exploration of the country between Churchill river and Lake Athabaska in 1892, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell writes:—“The moose (Alces Americanus), roams through the more thickly wooded parts of the country as far north as Stone river, which is probably near the northern limit of its range. Seven individuals in all were seen during the course of the summer. The woodland caribou (Rangifer caribou) is said to occur in the more southern portion of the district, near Churchill river, but none were seen. The barren ground caribou (Rangifer Grœnlandicus) comes south in winter to the south end of Reindeer lake and the upper portion of Mudjatik and Foster rivers. It travels north in spring to the Barren Lands, but a very few animals are occasionally left behind, one having been shot in July near the north end of Cree lake. The Canada lynx (Lynx Canadensis) is moderately abundant in some seasons in the more southern part of the district. The gray wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) roams over the country, but is not plentiful. The coyote (Canis lisatrans) is found occasionally as far north as the height of land, one having been shot by the writer on one of the small lakes near the source of Foster river. It is, however, certainly not common in the district. Red, black and cross foxes (Vulpes vulgaris), wolverine (Guloluscus), marten (Mustela Americana), weasel (Putorius vulgaris), mink (P. vison) and skunk (Mephitis mephitica) are all found in greater or less abundance in the rolling wooded country underlain by Archaean rocks. The otter (Lutra Canadensis) was found on all the streams north to Stone river. The black bear (Ursus Americanus) roams over the whole country. A few beavers (Castor fiber) may still be met with in many of the streams. A considerable colony was found in the untravelled country near the source of Geikie river, but our canoemen brought back word of this (to the Indians) important discovery, and doubtless the beaver were killed during the following winter. The muskrat (Fiber zibethicus)was seen swimming in all the streams. The rabbit or American hare (Lepus Americanus) is found everywhere in the denser woods, but it did not seem to be anywhere abundant.

Fish in Abundance.

“Fish seem to be everywhere abundant in the lakes and streams, but the number of species is very limited. The lake trout, (Cristivomer namaycush) is, however, the largest of any of the finny tribes. One was caught near the mouth of Stone river weighing twenty-five pounds. The whitefish (Coregonus clupeiformis) is found everywhere throughout the district, but more especially in the shallower lakes. The blue fish or Back’s grayling, (Thymallus signifer) was caught in Stone river at the foot of the heavy falls below Black lake. Pike, (Esox lucius), pickerel, (Stozostethium vitreum), methy, (Lota lacustris) and two or three species of suckers, (Catastomus teresandMyxostoma macrolepidota) were found in almost all the water stretches.

Mayor Cook, of Prince Albert, when examined before the Senate committee of 1907, explained that at that time he held the appointment of inspector of fisheries. He testified that once, some years previously, on Beaver river, he had seen thirty-two thousand whitefish caught in two nights, which would average about two or two and one-half pounds each. They put up the winter supply of fish in three or four nights. These fish were caught by half-breeds and Indians. The fish were coming down after spawning, and those catching them set the nets right across the river. This happened in close season, “but they did not bother about that; it was the fish they were after.” There are whitefish, trout, jackfish and some sturgeon in Torch and Saskatchewan rivers. Reindeer lake and the small lakes all around it are full of fish. They fish up there until December 1. Sometimes the lakes are open until December 15, and break up again about May 15 to 20. It depends upon the size of the lake. If it is a very large lake it will take a little longer. Witness had seen the lakes open on December 15. Those lakes are teeming with fish,—whitefish, sturgeon and trout. The trout run as high as fifty pounds.

The sturgeon run from ten to one hundred pounds. Witness had never seen one over one hundred pounds. He had seen one whitefish that weighed seventeen and one-half pounds, and trout that weighed fifty. He had them for the exhibition in Ottawa, but the train was blocked and did not get through. The biggest jackfish he had ever seen weighed forty-five pounds. They have some little bits of things but they range up to that. In other places they have big fish from ten to forty-five pounds in weight.

According to Mr. Crean, Methye lake is a fine body of fresh water and is well stocked with fish. “Wild fowl of every kind abound here. Moose and caribou are plentiful. The result of Nature’s bounteousness, is that the native, content with Nature’s provision, grows nothing. He kills the moose for its hide.”

In his report on the area explored by him, in 1908, Mr. Crean stated:—“The staple food of the native north of the Saskatchewan is fish, and with this commodity he is amply supplied. Whitefish are found in all the lakes and rivers. Green lake is stocked to repletion with as fine whitefish as will be found anywhere.Ile à la Crosse lake is also amply supplied. Canoe lake, Marten lake and all the immense water area comprised of the numerous lakes in this district are well stocked with this valuable food.

“Game of all kinds abound, the principal species being the moose, the caribou, the deer, the black bear, the cinnamon bear, the lynx, the wolf (timber), the fox, the wolverine, the otter, the beaver, the mink, the marten, the muskrat, the rabbit, and the squirrel. Among the principal birds found are swans, geese, ducks, partridges, ptarmigans, gulls, jays, (whiskey jacks), kingfishers, crows, robins and loons.

Moose are Still Plentiful

but are being killed in large numbers by the natives and the wolves. The same remark would apply to caribou of the woodland variety. The barren land caribou or reindeer come down as far as Cree lake (one hundred miles north of the Churchill) in numbers, and a few stray farther south. I shot one in the muskeg just north of Lac Ile à la Crosse.”

Landscape in Clearwater valley.

Mr. Crean states that an Indian living on Snake lake at the mouth of Sandy river killed eighteen moose during the autumn of 1908.

“Game, particularly moose,” according to Mr. Crean, “is plentiful in the Meadow lake district, and easily obtained. Beaver are plentiful in one or two districts, particularly along Clearwater valley and the rivers tributary to the Clearwater from the north. They are, of course, very easily killed, and consequently form a large portion of the fur in the north. When other fur is scarce, the Indian devotes his attention in particular to the killing of beaver. Muskrat were extremely numerous and were taken in very large numbers. Early in the fall, however, before the fur could possibly be of any use they were being killed in great numbers.”

THE ATHABASKA COUNTRY

CHAPTER X.

A Section of the West Where Officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company Were Directed to Cultivate Gardens.—Some Points Where Wheat has been grown, Including the Sample which took First Prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.—Crude Indian Gardens at Cowpar lake.—Livestock Grazing out in December and January.

A glance at the latest “Railway Map of the Dominion of Canada,” published by the Department of the Interior, will show that the surveyed, and consequently fully-explored, part of the province of Alberta extends considerably farther north than do the lines which mark the northernmost limit of the surveyed territory in Saskatchewan.

The areas of arable land in Northern Alberta are admittedly so extensive and important, and there has been such a large accumulation of evidence as to the latent agricultural wealth of the actual agricultural experiments in this most promising region, that, with the object of enabling the reader the more readily to follow the text, and to assist him in locating the geographical points mentioned, it has been deemed advisable to divide the material referring to arable lands and agriculture in this territory into two separate chapters, corresponding with two divisions of the area immediately under review. The country readily lends itself to such a division; in fact, invites it.

The region west of the 114th meridian has long been known and designated as “Peace river country,” and possesses characteristics, and to some extent, a history quite its own. The remaining or eastern half of the territory, at least as far north as the lower reach of Peace river, is the main basin of the Athabaska and, as such, will be treated as a distinct area in the present chapter, the one immediately following to be devoted to the subject of the arable lands and agricultural possibilities of Peace river country.

Athabaska river, which is the most southerly of the three great tributaries of the Mackenzie, rises in Rocky mountains near Mount Brown, at an altitude of about five thousand seven hundred feet, and pursues a northeasterly and northerly course for nearly six hundred miles to Athabaska lake, falling in this distance some five thousand feet, and being interrupted by several series of rapids. In the first three hundred miles of its course it falls about four thousand feet, and receives in succession Baptiste river from the west, the Macleod and Pembina from the south, and the Lesser Slave, draining the large lake of that name, from the west. Below its confluence with the last named stream, the Athabaska turns southeastward for some fifty miles and then resumes its northerlycourse. In the course of the next one hundred and fifty miles it receives, in succession, La Biche river from the east; Quito or Calling river from the west; Big Mouth brook from the east; Pelican river from the west; and House river from the east. Just below the mouth of the last river the Athabaska strikes a range of low hills, and in forcing a passage through them is deflected eastward, and for a distance of about seventy-five miles contains many rapids, falling in this distance some four hundred feet. At the lower end of this stretch it receives the waters of Clearwater river, its principal tributary below Lesser Slave river. The Clearwater rises on the height of land between the Churchill and the Athabaska, and pursuing a nearly straight easterly course for some one hundred and fifty miles, mingles its limpid waters with the sediment-laden flood of the latter stream. In the lower part of its course the Clearwater occupies a deep valley and is very rapid. Thirty or forty miles above its mouth it is joined by the Pembina, a stream of about equal volume. Below the mouth of the Clearwater the Athabaska pursues a nearly direct course northward, receiving Red, Moose, and Bar rivers from the west, and enters Athabaska lake through a number of channels including alluvial islands.

Lake Athabaska was known to the pioneer fur-traders and explorers as “Lake of the Hills,” and it is so described by Mackenzie and others.

The country drained by the Athabaska is

Mainly a Rolling Plain

and with the exception of a few areas of semi-prairie land, is well wooded, with a forest composed mainly of spruce, fir, pine, tamarack, poplar, birch and willow. A large part of its surface is occupied by mossy swamps, called muskegs, and hundreds of ponds and lakes, of which Lesser Slave, seventy miles in length, is by far the largest, occupy its shallow valleys. Immense areas have been swept by fire, sometimes repeatedly, and in some places the original forest covering has been destroyed and small prairies have succeeded.

The first information we obtained as to the agricultural possibilities of Athabaska basin came from explorers and travellers passing through the most northern portion of it on their way to Peace river, Great Slave lake and the Mackenzie via the old canoe route by Methye portage and the Clearwater. In more recent years, particularly since the inauguration of steamboat communication along the long navigable stretches of the Athabaska and Mackenzie, the favourite route to the far northwest has been down the Athabaska from Athabaska, and, as is only natural, our knowledge of the resources of the country has increased greatly.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, as far back as 1787, saw at a trading station of Peter Pond, on Elk or Athabaska river, “as fine a kitchen garden as he ever saw in Canada.”

It might be explained here, that in the spring of 1778, a number of the Saskatchewan traders put their goods into a common stock, and placed Mr. Peter Pond in charge of them, directing him to proceed to the Athabaska and trade with the Indians. He took the present Hudson’s Bay Company’s route, byCumberland House, Frog portage, Ile à la Crosse, and on to Methye portage and down Clearwater river to the forks of the Athabaska. Here he built a house, and in the spring of 1779 planted garden seeds.

As a general thing, at the early trading posts, agriculture of any kind, even the making of gardens, was neglected, and, rightly or wrongly, the officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company got the credit of discouraging such ventures. If this had ever actually been the settled policy of the company, it was officially abandoned some time previous to the year 1826, for, writing in the year mentioned at Chipewyan (north latitude 58° 40′) of improvements in the country, the

Result of Judicious Arrangements

then recently effected by the directors of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Sir John Franklin writes:—“They (the directors) have also directed, where the soil will allow, a portion of the ground to be cultivated for the growth of culinary vegetables at each of their establishments, and I witnessed the good effect of this order, even at this advanced post, where the ground is rocky; the tables of the officers being supplied daily, and those of the men frequently, with potatoes and barley. Such luxuries were very rarely found beyond Cumberland House on the route that we travelled during my former journey.”

Sir John Franklin also mentioned a phenomenon which has a considerable bearing upon the agricultural possibilities of this country, namely the quick change from winter to summer and the rapid growth of vegetation. He wrote of the advent of spring at Chipewyan in 1827:—

“There can scarcely be a higher gratification than that which is enjoyed in this country in witnessing the rapid change which takes place in the course of a few days in the spring. Scarcely does the snow disappear from the ground before the trees are clothed with thick foliage, the shrubs open their leaves, and put forth their variegated flowers, and the

Whole Prospect Becomes Animating.”

Sir John also mentioned that the first flight of swans northward was noticed at Chipewyan on April 15, the first geese on April 20, the first robins on May 7, and the first house martins on May 12. Barley was sown at Chipewyan on May 15, potatoes on May 21 and garden seeds on May 22, and it was expected that all would be ready for use by the close of the following September.

Sir George Simpson’s party were regaled with “new, but very small potatoes,” on August 11, 1828.

Sir J. Richardson, before the British parliamentary select committee of 1857, asked to state to the committee any general opinion which he had formed of the capabilities of any considerable portion of the country which he had traversed, for the purpose of settlement and colonization, replied:—“With regard to the production of cereals, wheat may be grown up to the 58th parallel of latitude (same latitude as Fort Vermilion) in favourable places, but only in parts.”

The report of the Dominion Government’s survey parties sent out in advance of the Canadian Pacific contain important references to agriculture in the country. In the report for 1877-78 (p. 332) appears the following reference to Chipewyan (latitude 58·7°):—“Professor Macoun there obtained in 1876, fine samples of wheat and barley—the former sixty-eight pounds to the bushel and the latter fifty-eight pounds. At the French mission, two miles above the fort, oats, wheat and barley were all cut by August 26.” In 1880 report it is stated (p. 102), “Reverend Gordon said in 1880 that wheat and barley raised at Chipewyan received a medal at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876.”

In the report of 1877-78 (p. 326) there is this reference to McMurray (latitude 56·7°):—“Professor Macoun on September 8, 1875, found tomatoes, cucumbers, wheat and barley, under cultivation together with all vegetables found in kitchen gardens in Ontario. He spent ten days there and obtained specimens of wheat and barley which

Have Astonished Everyone

to whom they were exhibited; many of the ears contained one hundred grains and the weight of both wheat and barley was nearly ten pounds above the ordinary weight per bushel. These grains had been raised on soil comparatively poor—very poor for the district—and lying only a few feet above the level of Lake Athabaska.”

In a report of his then recent trip through this country written by William Oglivie, D.L.S., in 1884, he writes:—“A great deal of the soil along the bank of the Athabaska was of very fair quality. At McMurray, where there are a couple of small prairies or meadows, the soil is good, and the root crops and garden produce raised there are generally very good. The Hudson’s Bay Company have a garden at McMurray of upwards of an acre in extent, and the Episcopal mission one of smaller area, but the soil is very sandy. The Roman Catholic mission have a garden also, most of which they obtained by draining a bog into the lake. In the season of 1883 (which was a pretty favourable one in that district, being free from summer frosts) the Hudson’s Bay Company raised about four hundred bushels of potatoes, the Episcopal mission thirty bushels on a small patch, and the Roman Catholic mission about five hundred bushels. Many of the retired Hudson’s Bay Company’s servants also have small patches which they cultivate, potatoes and fish being the principal articles of food used during the winter.”

Doctor Robert Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, testified that they grew cucumbers and melons as far north as Lac la Biche. He had seen them there himself, and he was not sure but that they grew pumpkins, too. He pointed out that where cucumbers and melons grow pumpkins will grow also. It is hard, Doctor Bell pointed out in the course of his evidence upon this occasion, to induce the Indians to grow anything. Even potatoes, which they all know to be a safe crop, they will not grow unless encouraged by supplying them. If supplied with seed in the autumn they will not preserve any over the winter. They would not take the trouble to dig a pit or build a cellar in which to preserve the seed,but in the spring, when the time comes for planting, if anyone were to give them the seed they would plant it. Artichokes would be very suitable to introduce amongst the Indians, because they are very hardy and productive; the seed remains in the ground and the Indians could not destroy it all.

Mr. Alfred von Hamerstein, who has lived in Athabaska district since 1897, trading and prospecting, was examined before the select committee of the Senate of Canada in 1907.

S. S. Grahame at McMurray.

The agricultural resources of the Athabaska district, as far as this witness could understand, were indicated by the farming that was then actually being conducted

With Fairly Good Success

at Athabaska. At Baptiste lake there was, when the witness first went there, no agriculture attempted. He was the first man to introduce farming there. He kept a trading store, and the natives insisted on having different kinds of seeds. Amongst others he got some flower seeds, and some lovely flowers were raised. The people raise some crops there now. It is a very good ranching country—first-class. Several people went up there with cattle. A man named Mailloux took one hundred and twenty head of cattle, and they were in good shape. The kind of grass there is a red top, a very big grass. The country has all been burnt over and the timber has fallen, so the grass cannot be cut with a mowing machine, but in some places they have cleared away the fallen timber and can use machinery now. Vetches and wild pea vines grow all over that country, but there is no bunch grass to be found; it is mostly red top. How far north it grows witness could not say. He had traced it up in very large quantities on Slave river. About a hundred ortwo hundred yards from the river there is a big slough, and this grass grows all along there very luxuriantly. There is no place along the northern shores of Lake Athabaska where grass can be grown. It is mostly rock and muskeg.

At McMurray, according to Mr. von Hamerstein, the land is good, and between the junction of the Clearwater and the Athabaska there is a flat of land about three miles long, and from a quarter of a mile to a mile and a half or two miles wide, which is very fine soil; but the rest of it is all hills covered by an inch and a half of moss, under the moss being the limestone rock. They raise good garden stuff at McMurray. A party there had good crops for three years.

Where there is soil to be found it is very good, mostly old river beds or where eddies have accumulated soil; but the rest is sand and muskeg. East of McMurray there are several lakes, the centre of what is described as fine hay country. The natives there have from sixty to eighty horses, and there are reported to be

Good Grazing Patches

round the lakes. It is probably a better ranching country than an agricultural one. To the northwest of this district are some muskeg lakes, where the natives have quite a few horses and cut considerable hay.

From Fort Smith, going in a southerly direction to a place called Salt river they have a very fine large prairie, and it extends right through to Peace point. The people there are not given to farming. It is against their interests, because they could make a living much more easily by hunting. People often ask why they do not farm, but it must be remembered that in order to raise a crop of potatoes they would have to stay by it the whole season; and there is more variety in hunting. But some of them do farm and raise a few cattle. The country is difficult of access; they do not get any new stock, and it has become badly inbred. As a result he had seen cattle there having the head of a bull and the body of a calf. There are not very many cattle in there; only certain natives have them, and a man with four or five head of cattle is a very rich man. Some patches of land are very good.

Mr. Elihu Stewart,who had travelled over the northwest while Superintendent of Forestry, stated before the Senate committee of 1907 that along the Athabaska the country is composed of a succession of rolling hills, and there is a good deal of light soil. The valleys are very good, and Mr. Stewart understood that the country through by Lake Waubascow, all the way to Lesser Slave lake, is through a good district of country. Through this district there is good land—perhaps not all the way through. Along the Athabaska the country is light, second-class land, but Mr. Stewart found at Calling river, some sixty miles below Athabaska, a man

Raising Wheat There.

He says he raises as good wheat as can be grown, but Mr. Stewart would not consider from the appearance along the banks that there were the same alluvial deposits that are found farther north.

Mr. H. A. Conroyof the Indian Department informed the Senate committee in 1907 that the Indians and half-breeds told him that the country between GreatSlave river and Hay river is covered with buffalo grass, excepting a little timber that grows in a fringe around Great Slave lake. He had information from Indians living in that country that it is an open country covered with prairie grass.

Mr. J. Burr Tyrrell, in his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907, remarked as to the country immediately north of Lake Athabaska that it could not be considered as being within the arable area. The arable belt, however, as one goes west from Hudson bay to Athabaska river, widens enormously. He spoke generally of the vast country west of Athabaska river to Peace river country, and said there is certainly a large tract of agricultural land there. However, one or another may differ about the value of any particular part of that country. In the country, going west into Peace river region, there is certainly a large area of good land that Mr. Tyrrell would not attempt to confine inside of such a belt as he had been speaking of.

W. F. Bredin, M.L.A., in his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907, said that descending Athabaska river from McMurray, where Clearwater river goes into the Athabaska, the elevation of the plateau above the river is very much less than it is on the upper river. It looks like a great alluvial plain, from the river all along from McMurray to Lake Athabaska, two hundred miles. That country is more or less timbered, and the soil is excellent. Going down Slave river to Great Slave lake, for a distance of three hundred miles, on the east of Slave river, it is all rocks; while west of the river the country is all alluvial, and the soil is generally very good, right down to Great Slave lake.

At Chipewyan on Athabaska lake the Roman Catholic priests have a farm which was originally a muskeg, right amongst the Laurentian rocks, and they grow wheat there that was awarded a

Medal at the Centennial Exposition.

The muskeg between the Athabaska and the Peace can all be drained and cultivated. These muskegs are from a foot to three feet deep until you strike hardpan. The moss keeps the heat of the sun out. In fact there is ice in some of those muskegs all the year round, covered with moss.

Mr. Frank Crean, in his 1909 report, gives the following information regarding the country west of Methye and Buffalo lakes and south of Clearwater river:—“Along Pembina river there are fine hay meadows which should enable anybody who desired to keep cattle to procure ample feed for the winter. To the west of Cowpar lake there is a large prairie which would certainly afford magnificent summer range, though I am informed that in winter the snow is too deep for cattle to range out.” Northwest of Cowpar lake Mr. Crean saw some horses grazing in December. Their owner had made no arrangement to winter them, and Mr. Crean was told that the horses thrived.

Cowpar lake lies just south of latitude 56°. It is a small lake, and of itself of no great importance. The surrounding country, however, is exceptionally good farming land, and to the east and south at about ten miles distance is found the commencement of a large prairie about forty miles long and varying from twelve to fifteen miles in width. This prairie is in its present state fitted foragriculture. The Indians from Cowpar lake go there in the spring and plant gardens, leaving them until the fall when they bring the produce to their homes at Cowpar lake.

Mr. Crean continues:—“Pembina river flows through the south end of this prairie, and several small lakes touch it. The prairie is watered by small creeks draining into these lakes, and altogether it is

An Ideal Spot for the Pioneer,

as hay, water, wood and fish are to be found in abundance throughout its extent. The land adjoining Cowpar lake on the east and south is all arable, being open and rolling. To the northeast, towards Whitefish lake, the land is also good. It is easy to predict that Cowpar lake will some day be a centre of a considerable settlement, although at present the only occupants are about four families of Chipewyans.”

Winefred lake, according to Mr. Crean, is a large body of water amply stocked with fine whitefish, and Indians both from the south and north come to Winefred lake to catch fish in the fall. The country surrounding the lake is mostly swampy hay land, but might, he thought, be easily drained. A good deal of muskeg is found in this vicinity, indeed, more than anywhere else that Mr. Crean travelled on the watershed of the Athabaska.

About Heart lake the land is all good though somewhat rolling and inclined to be broken. There is no more obstacle to farming around this lake than there is anywhere else between it and Edmonton. The country is identical with that passed through en route to Edmonton. In fact the country is almost prairie, some bluffs of poplar being the only pretence of woods.

With reference to the northern portion of the area explored by him in 1909, Mr. Crean states:—“In the matter of attempts at agriculture the fact that there is no demand for agricultural produce in the north prevents people who live there from carrying on even experimental work. Wheat has been grown successfully at McMurray, which was about the most northerly point touched by me. Here, too, all the ordinary vegetables grown in the more southerly portions of the province are grown with the greatest success.” Mixed farming would appear to be an industry which most readily adapts itself to northern conditions. Wheat can be grown in almost any part of the north which I have explored. It is undeniable that northern latitudes increase the likelihood of summer frosts. If, however, live stock is kept, the larger yield of grain to the acre, even if slightly frosted, will pay quite as well converted into beef or pork as a smaller yield of the better quality grain in more southern latitudes.”

The officers of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police have contributed considerable valuable information regarding the northern section of the country under review in this chapter.

In his 1909 report, Inspector D. M. Howard, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, referring to the northern section, wrote:—“In the northern part of the district, Chipewyan and Smith Landing, very little grain is grown. The Roman Catholic mission at Fort Smith have put in a small crop of about fifteenacres under oats and barley this year as an experiment. There are about thirty-five head of cattle all told in Chipewyan sub-district, but the stock is not very good, being too much inbred. The Hudson’s Bay Company brought in ten head of horses this year from Edmonton and the Roman Catholic mission brought four from Vermilion; this, with the three police horses, makes a total of about forty head.”

During the winter of 1909 Sergt. R. W. Macleod, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, made a patrol across country from Fort Vermilion to the mouth of Hay river on Great Slave lake. In his report (p. 178, Annual Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police for 1909), he states that from Fort Vermilion for about sixty miles the country is prairie with small poplar bluffs scattered over it, and the next twenty-five miles is mostly pine bush with here and there a small prairie, then on into Hay river at Horse track is prairie with poplar bluffs and willow scrub, a total distance of one hundred and ten miles from Fort Vermilion. In 1905 the government had a road cut out, corduroyed, and graded the entire distance suitable for a wagon road. Previous to that time an Indian pack trail was the only way to travel. The Hudson’s Bay Company and Revillon Brothers each built a sales shop and residence at the end of the wagon road on the south bank of Hay river, and have been doing business there in the winter only, for fur. There are no white people in the country closer than Fort Vermilion. The country between Hay river and Fort Vermilion is nearly

All Apparently Suitable for Farming,

with a splendid supply of wood and water. Hay river is about one hundred yards wide at the Horse trace (local name) and is fed by numerous muskegs tothe north of Dunvegan on Peace river, and the southeast slope of the divide between Peace and Liard rivers.

When Sergeant Macleod and his patrol were at Alexandra falls on January 29, they found that three small bands of Indian horses were wintering out on the portage, which is a prairie with poplar bluffs.

Corporal Mellor (of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police) in September of the same year, made a patrol with horses into the buffalo country southwest of Smith Landing. In his report the Corporal states that from Salt river “we proceeded northwest through about eight miles of small poplar, and then across a large stretch of prairie country. This is not prairie country in the generally accepted term, but simply ground of a marshy nature, perfectly flat, and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. This would doubtless afford splendid land were it not that the water thereon is intensely salty and quite unfit for use. These prairies are of large extent stretching from Peace river, in the south, I am told, to Buffalo river, in the north, a distance of over one hundred miles. They are dotted all over with thick clumps of willows, the only trees growing thereon.”

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