Indian Camp near Fort Smith.
Indian Camp near Fort Smith.
In the last annual report of Superintendent G. E. Sanders, D.S.O., commanding “N” Division at Athabaska, and dated October 1, 1911, that officer describes the area from Athabaska river to Great Slave lake and west to the Rockies as an agricultural country. He states:—“The general state of the district from an agricultural and business point of view is one of great development and progress. The stream of settlement into the country round about Athabaska and to upper Peace river and Grande prairie has continued to a much larger extent during the year. With the influx of settlement traders have followed and a general
Air of Prosperity Prevails,
with very optimistic hopes for the future. The homestead entries at Athabaska for the first three months of this year exceeded the entire number for 1909, and for the past months the entries are upwards of one hundred and seventy-five in excess of those received during the whole of 1910. The homestead entries at Lesser Slave lake and Grande prairie have increased at an even greater rate. At the latter place, the first day the Land Office opened there, seventy-five entries were received.”
“It was generally expected that the railway would reach Athabaska in November, but the contractors have met with so many set-backs, due to the weather, shortage of labour and, lately, sickness amongst their horses, that it is extremely doubtful when the work will be completed.
“As a consequence of the coming of the railway the town of Athabaska has experienced quite a boom in real estate, and the prices for lots in the townsite and for land adjoining have become very high, lots that sold for three hundred dollars last year are now exchanging hands at three thousand dollars, and land within a mile has been sold for one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre. A great deal of building is going on and every one predicts an important future for the place on account of its many natural advantages, and its situation making it the distribution point for the vast country to the north.”
In an interview, Hon. F. Oliver, ex-Minister of the Interior, stated, after his long trip in 1910 (See p.27) that along the rivers passed through proceeding from Edmonton to the delta of the Mackenzie where the banks are high the soil and climate conditions are perfectly good for agriculture. So far as McMurray, conditions are entirely good for agriculture, judging from what he saw himself and from what people told him.
The minister explained this statement by pointing out that the difference in latitude is neutralized by the great drop in altitude and the
Influence of the Warm Chinook Wind.
Indian Family arriving at McMurray for Treaty.
Indian Family arriving at McMurray for Treaty.
McMurray, while two hundred miles farther north than Edmonton, is but eight hundred and fifty feet above sea level, while Edmonton had an altitude of two thousand two hundred feet.
Mr. Oliver here made reference to conditions which are to-day recognized by men of science.
According to Mr. E. A. Preble, of the U.S. Biological Survey (See p.22), “The climatic conditions of the various parts of Athabaska valley vary considerably, according to location. The more open portions of the upper part of the valley, though lying at a considerable altitude, enjoy the ‘Chinook’ winds, which so temper the climate that it compares favourably with more easterly regions lying much farther south. Lack of detailed data precludes the possibility of comparing absolutely the climatic conditions of the upper and the lower Athabaska; but the effects of the ‘Chinook’ winds are felt to some extent throughout the course of the river.”
According to the same authority—“The climate of Athabaska lake is not radically different from that of other parts of the Mackenzie region which are practically removed from the influence of the warm Pacific winds. Though it lies at a low altitude, the proximity of the lake to the “Barren Ground,” from which winds are frequent, keeps its average temperature rather low. An occasional warm west wind slightly tempers the winter climate. The Peace and the Athabaska break up at their mouths about May 1, but the neighbouring part of the lake usually does not open until about the middle of May, and the eastern part probably not before June. The lake usually closes at Chipewyan some time in November.”
Mr. H. A. Conroy informed the Senate committee of 1907 that he had travelled through Athabaska-Peace river country once when for twenty-one days in January he did not need his coat in the middle of the day. The cattle were all out in the pasture fields. He had been going in there every year for eight years, and had been there for five winters. Mr. Conroy stated that he never saw a very deep snowfall in that country. He felt pretty sure that the ‘Chinook’ winds go through to Athabaska lake. He remarked that in that country in the winter he did not suffer as much from cold as he had suffered in Ottawa, and he slept out every night, sometimes under a tent and sometimes in the open. He travelled once with a dog train and afterwards with ponies, and got along very well with them.
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY
CHAPTER XI.
Where Wheat Has Been Grown with Remarkable Success for Many Years.—Scientific Explorers Early Recognized this as a Wheat Growing Country.—A Head of Cabbage Fifty-three and a half inches in Circumference.—Livestock Lives Out of Doors in Winter.—According to a Church of England Missionary, Peace river Enjoys the Finest Climate in the World.
The more westerly (or Peace river) section of northern Alberta is attracting much attention on account of its remarkable agricultural possibilities; and the numerous settlements which have, during the past few years, been established, have practically demonstrated that the glowing accounts which have from time to time reached the outside world as to the fertility of Peace river country, have not been exaggerated.
Peace river, which has lent its name to the country along its banks, whether in British Columbia or in northern Alberta, is formed by the junction of Finlay and Parsnip rivers, two transmontane streams, and is the largest and longest of the tributaries of the Mackenzie. It rises in and drains a large district west of Rocky mountains, and then continuing eastwards, intersects the axis of that range and drains the country lying along its eastern slopes, through four degrees of latitude. Its length, from the confluence of Finlay and Parnsip rivers, to the point at which it unites with the waters flowing from Lake Athabaska to form Slave river, is seven hundred and fifty-seven miles, but measuring from Summit lake, the source of its principal branch, it is approximately nine hundred and five miles.
From the confluence of the Finlay and the Parsnip, the Peace flows in a general easterly direction for some three hundred miles to its junction with the Smoky, falling in this distance a little less than eight hundred feet. The country through which it flows may be considered as a plateau in which it has excavated
A Rather Deep Valley.
A number of streams, Pine river from the south being one of the largest, discharge their waters into it. Back from the river the country is mainly level or rolling, and is thinly wooded. Smoky river is the largest tributary of the Peace. Its principal branches rise on the eastern slope of Rocky mountains, and it drains a large extent of thinly wooded and prairie country. Below the mouth of the Smoky, the Peace turns and pursues a winding though general northerly course nearly to Fort Vermilion. It is bordered at first by steep sandstone cliffs, but its valley gradually becomes wider and shallower. Extensive plains comparatively level and clothed with grass or a sparse growth of poplars, border it onboth sides. North of Fort Vermilion this character of country is said to extend to the valleys on Hay and Buffalo rivers. The country between Peace river and Great Slave lake, however, is very imperfectly known.
One of the first records we have of successful agriculture in Peace river country is in the famous diary of Daniel Williams Harmon of the Northwest Company’s service, who spent several years there. He speaks favourably of the situation of Dunvegan (north latitude 56°, west longtitude 119°), where he found himself located in October, 1808. He goes on to say in his diary:—“Our principal food will be the flesh of the buffalo, moose, red deer, and bear. We have a tolerably good kitchen garden, and we are in no fear that we shall want the means of a comfortable subsistence.”
In an entry in his diary dated May 6, the following spring, Harmon states:—“We have planted our potatoes, and sowed most of our garden seeds.” Under date June 2, the same year, we find the entry:—“The seeds which we sowed in the garden, have sprung up, and grow remarkably well. The present prospect is, that strawberries, red raspberries, shad-berries, cherries, etc., will be abundant this season.”
July 21 Harmon writes:—“We have cut down our barley and I
Think it is the Finest
that I have ever seen in any country. The soil on the points of land along this river is excellent.”
Under the date of September 1, the same year, Harmon noted the commencement of the annual migration of wild fowl southward, and on Friday, October 6th, he wrote in his diary:—“As the weather begins to be cold, we have taken our vegetables out of the ground, which we find to have been very productive.”
In his diary for the following year, Harmon records a summer frost on June 23, writing:—“The last night was so cold, that the tops of our potatoes were frozen.” The frost in question does not seem to have damaged the crops, for on Wednesday the 3rd of the following October this observant diarist wrote:—“We have taken our potatoes out of the ground, and find that nine bushels, which we planted May 10 last, have produced a little more than one hundred and fifty bushels. The other vegetables in our garden have yielded an increase, much in the same proportion, which is sufficient proof that the soil of the points of land along the river is good. Indeed, I am of the opinion, that wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, etc., would grow well in the plains around us.”
It is very evident that all of the officials of the fur trading companies who were on duty in Peace river country did not devote the same intelligent attention to agriculture that Harmon and his colleagues did.
When Charles Horetzky, C.E., was at Dunvegan in 1873 (See p.17) there was no bread used, and the only vegetables served at meals were some “very diminutive potatoes.” Mr. Horetzky comments as follows on this subject:—“Owing to the fact that the Company’s agents are liable to be suddenly removed from one post to another, those people are, not unnaturally, averse to the expenditure of time and labour necessary for farming experiments; hence the absence offarm produce at these posts. But the natural advantages of excellent soil of unlimited extent, and the proverbially early disappearance of the snow in spring, would lead one to believe that good crops of barley, potatoes, and fall wheat might be successfully raised in this part of the Northwest.”
One of the strongest arguments advanced by Mr. Horetzky in his advocacy of Peace river pass route for the Canadian Pacific Railway was that a line built via this route would open up
A Vast Fertile Region
situated to the south of Peace river—“a region probably comprising an area equal in extent to Manitoba, well wooded with abundance of fresh water, of excellent soil, and in all probability possessing unlimited quantities of good coal. The climate is most salubrious, and, by all accounts, as mild as, if not milder than, that of Red river. On the extensive plains bordering upon Peace river, both north and south of it, snow rarely exceeds two feet in depth, and never packs.”
The travellers and traders who have been in Peace river country are as enthusiastic about its picturesque appearance as about its apparent fertility.
Mr. Horetzky reached Peace river a few miles above the mouth of the Smoky September 30, 1873, and thus describes the scene:—“We feasted our eyes on the glorious landscape now mapped out before us. A strong westerly gale was blowing, but the air was so warm and balmy, that to recline on the beautiful grassy sward, full face to the blast, was positively delicious. For several miles, to the southwest, the noble river, flowing eight hundred feet below us, on its silent course to Arctic ocean, could be distinctly traced as it meandered through its mighty valley. Several large and wooded islands dotted its surface here and there, causing eddies and whirlpools, which in their turn made long and faint streaks of foam, barely visible in the distance. From our position, and embracing an angle of fully one hundred and thirty degrees, or, in other words, from the northwest round to south, a boundless and nearly level expanse of country could be taken in at a glance, the only breaks being the great valleys of Peace and Smoky rivers, than which nothing we had ever seen could be more beautiful, the former especially, in its magnitude and depth, surpassing all we had anticipated.”
The pioneer missionaries attached to the Church of England and Roman Catholic missions appear to have done more towards demonstrating the agricultural possibilities of Peace river country, and the whole Mackenzie basin, than the fur traders.
In the “Mission Field” of January 2, 1882 (a London monthly publication of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), the Right Reverend Bompas, Bishop of the Church of England in Athabaska and Mackenzie districts (his diocese comprising the centre Arctic watershed of British America), published the following:—“The excellence of the land in Peace river country for farming purposes is well known; the
Soil is Rich and Productive,
and the climate most salubrious. A mission station is established at Fort Vermilion under the charge of the Reverend Arthur Garrioch, and a church is fast approachingcompletion. Other mission stations have been started at different parts of the river, and in 1878 a mission farm was begun which the bishop hopes will in time obviate the necessity of procuring all the supplies of flour, etc., from Red river, the expense of which, from heavy freights, is so great that every bag of flour by the time it reaches the missionaries north of Athabaska costs upwards of £5.”
It was as superintendent of the mission farms that the head of the Lawrence family, the originators of farming on an extensive scale and by scientific methods in Peace river country, was attracted there.
Besides the satisfactory pioneer attempts at tilling the soil of Peace river country, the raising of live stock was many years ago demonstrated to be successful. As early as 1823 there was an infant ranching industry there, Sir George Simpson’s party having noted a small band of half a dozen horses when approaching Dunvegan.
In the reports of the government explorers a great deal of interesting information will be found as to the soil, climate, and agricultural possibilities of Peace river country.
Professor John Macoun was the first scientific explorer to draw attention to the agricultural possibilities of Peace river country, after making a thorough examination of the natural flora, the soil, climatic conditions, etc. Mr. Macoun had accompanied the first Canadian Pacific Railway survey expedition, and had subsequently been botanist to the geological survey party appointed to investigate this very country. There was much information as to the agricultural possibilities of the country in Professor Macoun’s official reports, and he summarized his conclusions in his book “Manitoba and the Great Northwest,” published in 1882. He defines a tract lying between the upper reaches of Athabaska river and the fifty-seventh parallel of latitude, in Peace river basin, which he considers “may be classed as fertile,” and estimates its area as about thirty-one thousand five hundred and fifty square miles. Speaking of this tract, he states:—“Its average elevation may be stated as little over two thousand feet, and this is maintained with considerable uniformity, for though the general surface slopes slightly from the north and south toward Peace river, the region as a whole may be considered as a plateau through which the great gorge-like valley of the Peace has been excavated.
“The northern banks of Peace river valley are also very generally open grassed, and parts of the valley of the Smoky and other rivers have a similar character. The total area of
Prairie Land, West of Smoky River,
may be about three thousand square miles. The remainder of the surface is generally occupied by second-growth forest, occasionally dense, but more often open and composed of aspen, birch, and cottonwood, with a greater or less proportion of coniferous trees. Some patches of the original forest, however, remain, particularly in the river valleys, and are composed of much larger trees, chiefly coniferous, among which the black spruce is most abundant. Handsome groves of old and large cottonwoods are also to be found in some of the valleys. Where the soil becomes locally sandy and poor, and more particularly in some of the more elevatedparts of the ridges before described, a thick growth of scrub pine and black spruce, in which the individual trees are small, is found, and in swampy regions the taramack is not wanting, but grows generally intermixed with the black spruce.
“Though the prairies are most immediately available from an agricultural point of view, the regions now covered with second growth and forest, where the soil itself, if not inferior, will eventually be equally valuable. The largest tract of poor land is that bordering the valley of the Athabaska on the north.”
Professor Macoun was examined before the Senate committee of 1888 and gave a considerable amount of information, all valuable at the time, and much of it still so, as to the character of Peace river country from Macleod in latitude 55°, to Lake Athabaska, up the Athabaska to the Clearwater, and up the Clearwater to its head.
Starting from the Parsnip and through Rocky mountains, the good country for agriculture commences, according to Professor Macoun, at Rocky mountains portage at Hudson Hope (in British Columbia) or The Hope of Hudson, as Capt. Butler puts it. From that point down the country is suitable for agricultural purposes, the whole distance; on the prairie, not on the slopes of the river, but on the prairie above. The north bank of the river, that is the one facing south, has hardly any wood, but is covered with berries, and witness found the cactus growing there. The other side of the river, facing the north, was covered largely with spruce down to the river’s edge, the whole upward slope. It was only the banks of the river that were wooded; above, all was prairie, with poplar and willow in clumps. It was of the same character as the North Saskatchewan, but with much taller grass.
Said Professor Macoun:—“While at Fort Vermilion, on Peace river, in latitude 58° 24′, I was informed by old Mr. Shaw, who had charge of that post for fifteen years, that
Indian Corn Would Ripen
well every year there, and at Battle river corn ripened three years in succession, and that frost never injured anything on this part of the river. The whole country at Fort Vermilion is a plain, not elevated at its highest point more than a hundred feet over the river, but the greater part of it is less than fifty feet. The soil is wonderfully like that of the second prairie steppe, in the prairie region, as the surface is composed of black loam, mixed apparently with limestone gravel. From Fort Vermilion, Caribou mountains are visible about forty miles off. These may have the effect of keeping off the cold winds from Great Slave lake, and hence the country is permanently warm. Both days and nights have been warm down on this part of the river, whereas on the upper parts, where high banks are, the cold was even felt at night in August.
“The grain at Fort Vermilion was sown on May 8 and 20, and was cut on August 6. Wheat growing among the barley and by the fences was almost ripe August 12, when I was there. At Rocky mountain portage (British Columbia), where Peace river issues from Rocky mountains, latitude 56 degrees, we found a first rate garden with vegetables far advanced, July 21; new potatoes, onions, and carrots were part of our bill of fare. That was in 1875. Five days later, at Fort St. John (B.C.) vegetation was even further advanced, and all kindsof garden stuff were in the greatest perfection. Nigger Dan’s barley was colouring on July 26, and would be cut the first week in August. His potatoes were large, and enough for fourteen men were dug on August 2.
“I may mention that strawberries were fully ripe on July 6, at Hudson Hope (B.C.). At Dunvegan, barley was almost fit to cut August 4. Cabbage in the priest’s garden were closing, and all his garden vegetables far advanced.
“At Battle river pease were getting ripe August 8. At Fort Vermilion potatoes were very large and many heads of barley contained sixty grains, others many more. I never saw such fine barley before. Barley was sown on May 8 and cut on August 6—that is at latitude 58° 24′. At Red river (a small fort, fifty or sixty miles below Fort Vermilion), they have no ploughs, and the ground was broken up with a spade or hoe. The garden stuff
Was Wonderfully Luxuriant,
pease, Windsor beans and potatoes being far advanced; cucumbers started and raised in the open air, a very large crop, and a number of them were ripe on August 14.
“At Chipewyan mission, two miles from the fort, there were wheat, oats and barley, a good crop as regards grain. Windsor beans were ripe and pulled up on August 17. Wheat and barley were in stock August 26, and specimens of these, which I brought to Ottawa, are here on the table.
“At Red river fort a Frenchman named St. Cyr had a garden, and he told me he had a particular thing growing in the garden that he did not know anything about. I went out to look at it, and there was a splendid patch of cucumbers, many of them ripe. That was in August. I said: ‘These are cucumbers; how did you start them?’ He said: ‘I got the seed from England and put it in the ground, and that is what has come from it.’
“I passed down the Athabaska (from Chipewyan) to the Mission, and I found growing on soil that would be of no value here whatever, sand and muck, an old swamp where they had planted wheat on May 5, and I found it in the stook on August 26, and brought away from it the grain that was awarded the bronze medal at Philadelphia in 1876. It was forwarded to me, but I said that it did not belong to me, but to the missionaries at Athabaska. I exhibited this very lot of grain in Manitoba before Consul Taylor and many other gentlemen, and the matter of the number of grains in the fascicle was then discussed and made public. They took a quantity of the wheat from me and shelled it, and Mr. Gouin, Inspector of Inland Revenue, weighed it, and it showed a weight of sixty-eight pounds to the bushel.[15]
“The wild pea or vetch grows all through Peace river valley, but was particularly noticed on the plateau above Fort St. John (in British Columbia) in latitude 56°. Here it was actually measured by myself and was found to attain a height of eight feet, while the weeds, such as the purple fire weed of the east (Epilobium angustifolium) attained a height of seven feet. These are given inillustration of the wonderful luxuriance of the commoner plants on that high plateau. The vegetation throughout the whole Peace river valley is of the most luxuriant character, and it seems
More Like That of the Tropics
than a country drawing near the Arctic Circle.”
Professor Macoun explained that in Peace river country, the snow passes off so easily that as soon as it is off the ground and a few inches of the soil thawed, the ground is ready for seeding, because the soil is friable and the snow of little depth. The character of the month of September is almost identical with that of the very best Septembers in Ottawa—a smoky atmosphere with occasional white frosts in the morning, but generally a calm atmosphere. In October the frosts get more severe towards the last of the month. About the 25th at Chipewyan ice begins to form and the rivers and lakes soon close.
Professor Macoun furnished the committee with some data from notes kept by Daniel Williams of Fort St. John, commonly known as “Nigger Dan.” These notes showed that from 1872 to 1875 the date for planting potatoes varied from April 25 to May 10, and for sowing barley and oats from April 22 to May 7. After September 22, in 1874, Williams dug over one hundred bushels of potatoes.
William Ogilvie, D.L.S. (See p.18) in his report of 1884, wrote:—“Opposite Fort Vermilion, on the north of the river, there is an extensive tract of prairie and poplar bluff country, which extends from the Peace to the watershed between Peace and Mackenzie rivers, southwestward along the Peace for about forty miles or more, and northeastward along the river a few miles, until it merges into the country already described. This is said to be a first class country in every way, well wooded and watered, with a rich, deep, black loamy clay soil; and if the life of flowers and berries be any indication of freedom from frost, this district is favoured in this respect, as the berries ripen here when they are killed in the surrounding parts.
“The country southwestward from the end of this tract to Battle river is described as woods and swamps, alternating with patches of prairie and open woods, and from Battle river to the prairie near Dunvegan, generally drier and with more prairie.
“It appears, therefore, that from Dunvegan, on the north side of Peace river, down the river to Peace point, and thence to Salt river on the Great Slave, there is a tract of country about six hundred miles in length and forty miles wide, of which a large percentage is fit for immediate settlement, and a great deal more could be very easily closed.
“Of the country southeast of the Peace, between it and the Athabaska, very little is known. It was described by all whom I met, who had seen any portion of it, as a rolling surface, the ridges heavily wooded with fair timber, and many of the basins containing swamps and lakes of considerable size. Out of one of the latter, Lake Wapisca, Loon river flows into the Peace, and another stream called by the same name into the Athabaska, at Grand rapids. Some of the ridges rise into high hills, and in some of these, rock exposures are said to be visible.
“At Dunvegan, notwithstanding the severity of the frosts, the crops were very good, both in quality and quantity. When I was there, the Roman Catholic missionaries
Had Threshed Their Grain,
samples of which I brought back. The yield was as follows:—Fifty pounds of wheat were sown on April 16 and reaped on August 20, and twenty-seven bushels threshed of good clean grain; fifteen pounds of Egyptian barley sown on April 18 and reaped August 20, and fifteen bushels threshed, weighing fully sixty pounds to the bushel. The Hudson’s Bay Company and the Church of England mission had not threshed, and could not give their returns, but they were well satisfied with their crops of all kinds. The Reverend Mr. Brick, of the Church of England mission, was already using bread, when I was there, made from wheat of the present year’s growth.”
Mr. Ogilvie in his 1891 report wrote as follows:—
“For a distance of six or seven miles back from Peace river valley there is much prairie and meadowland, with some woods and swamps scattered over it. The soil is an excellent black clay loam as rich as any I ever saw, and the growth of hay and grass bears testimony to this fact. The dip of the valley from this plain is very sharp and the banks very steep, falling about eight hundred feet in a mile.
“At Fort St. John the Hudson’s Bay Company have a small patch on which they raise potatoes and garden stuff along with barley and oats. The grain always ripens and the vegetables are as good as one would wish to use. Mr. Gunn, the officer in charge here, has been in Peace river district since 1883, and in the interval he has wandered around the adjacent country a good deal.
“The Hudson’s Bay Company have several bands of horses in the vicinity of Fort St. John, only a few of which have ever been broken. These animals live on the prairie on the north side of the river, winter and summer, and
Very Seldom Are There Any Losses,
except by wolves, or when the Indians are starving they may quietly dispose of one or two and report them lost.
“At Dunvegan, the Company has grown wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and garden stuff generally for many years with astonishing success. When I was there in 1883-84, I saw grain and vegetables fully equal in quality and quantity to any I have ever seen anywhere, the garden vegetables being especially fine. Last year everything was harvested and stored when I got there, but what I saw of the produce was excellent. I saw two sunflowers which measured fourteen inches across the disc. With the corolla attached, these flowers would have been nearly two feet in diameter. The seeds of each weighed fourteen ounces and measured nearly a quart. A head of cabbage was shown from which I stripped off all the loose leaves leaving it fit for cooking and then measured and weighed it. It measured fifty-three and one-half inches in circumference, and weighed twenty-eight and one-half lbs. This was an exceptionally large head,of course, but the general run of both cabbage and cauliflower was large and would be considered so anywhere. Mr. Round, the officer in charge of the post, told me he two years ago made a departure from the old fashioned method of growing these plants, and instead of developing them in hot beds, he simply planted the seed once for all in drills in the garden, and when they arrived at the proper stage, pulled out the superfluous ones. He found this method just as satisfactory and much less troublesome. The other garden vegetables were just as large and good as one would wish to see them. Mr. Round informed me he planted fifteen bushels of potatoes last summer, and after using them freely for the sustenance of his family (five members) and the servants, in all eight or ten, from the time they were fit for use, until they were harvested, he harvested upwards of two hundred bushels. He sowed about four bushels of wheat, and though the dry season much affected the result he would have about sixty bushels. This grain is used in various ways, some of it being ground into flour by the aid of small hand mills. He sowed four bushels of oats, and though part of the crop was destroyed by a hail storm, one hundred bushels were threshed. In 1890 he planted twenty-five bushels of potatoes, and though they were freely used from the time they were fit for use until harvested, seven hundred and twelve bushels were harvested. The Anglican and Roman Catholic missions here also successfully raise both grain and vegetables, the latter depending for much of their subsistence on the results of their agricultural labours.
“This post has been in existence for the greater part of a century, and more or less farming has always been done at it during that time.”
Mr. Ogilvie embodied in his report a number of extracts from the Dunvegan post journal which are interesting as conveying an idea of the
Climate and the Growth of Vegetation.
Some of these extracts are worth requoting here:—
“1829. Ice began to move in the river April 12. Sowed barley April 17; planted potatoes April 30; cut barley August 10; cut wheat August 25; harvested potatoes September 24; first snow October 21; first drift ice October 24.
“1830. Ice broke up April 28; sowed thirty quarts of wheat May 3; sowed garden seeds May 4; planted potatoes May 5; cut wheat September 14; commenced digging potatoes September 27; first drift ice October 29; ice set fast November 25.
“1886. Ice started to break up April 13; sowed barley May 12; planted turnips May 13; planted potatoes May 17; began harvesting operations August 20; cut buckwheat September 2; harvested potatoes September 23; stored nine hundred and eighty-four bushels; slight snow October 12; first ice drifting November 10; ice set fast November 30.
“1887. Ice started April 27; sowed oats April 29; sowed other seed May 2; commenced planting potatoes May 5; sowed garden seeds May 9; sowed peas May 11; finished planting potatoes May 28; planted fifty bushels; severe frost June 7, injuring young vegetables, etc., severe frost again on June 25, cutting down everything to the ground, potatoes and all; July 29 new potatoes for thefirst time; first snow fell on September 16; commenced taking up potatoes September 20; harvested six hundred and eighteen bushels; took up turnips and carrots September 5; first drift ice in river October 24, but it cleared out again and returned November 12; set fast November 29.
“1888. Ice moved May 1; began sowing barley May 9; began planting potatoes May 10; sowed oats and wheat May 15; sowed garden seeds May 16; sowed turnips May 28; slight frost August 1, injured garden stuff; cut barley September 5; cut oats September 7; started taking up potatoes September 27; finished October 3, five hundred and twenty-nine bushels; took up turnips October 5; first snow October 15; first ice in river October 27; ice set fast November 27.”
Mr. Ogilvie continues, in his report:—
“I would now call particular attention to the mention of frost in June, 1887, and to the fact that it cut down vegetables to the ground. Alone there is nothing very wonderful about the statement, as it is just what we would expect frost to do; but in conjunction with using new potatoes for the first time on July 29, just one month after the frost, and the further fact that
Six Hundred and Eighteen Bushels Were Harvested,
it is most astonishing. Mr. Round, the officer who made the entry, was a witness of the event, and he is a gentleman whose sanity I would as soon doubt as his word. I questioned him about it and he assured me emphatically of its correctness. He can offer no explanations, if it is not that a fog generally settles on the river valley after a frost and shields plants from the direct rays of the sun a good part of the day; but even that does not account for this case, as he assures me the potatoes were cut down, black, to the ground.
“The Reverend J. G. Brick, Anglican missionary, who spent some time at Dunvegan, combining farming with mission work, in 1886 started what might be called a branch farm at Old Wives lake, about thirty-six miles from Dunvegan, on the cart trail, between the latter place and Smoky river crossing, on the plateau above the immediate valley of the river. Reference will be made to this later.
“In 1889, he established himself in the valley of the river on the north side, about five miles above the mouth of Smoky river. Here he has established a mission and a school for the education of the young, on which he bases all his hopes for the improvement of the natives. He keeps this school open during the winter months, and as an inducement to attend, he gives all the children who live at a distance their dinner.
“This gentleman took in with him a large outfit of farm implements and stock. He has a small grist mill and threshing mill, with which he threshes and grinds his grain. By grinding his wheat twice it makes a fair article of flour, but his facilities for bolting it are not quite up to the times, consequently his flour is not quite so white as our high grade flour, but it makes good bread, nevertheless.
“He is well satisfied with his success agriculturally. He furnished me with the following information relative to his doings in 1891:—
“Began ploughing April 11; sowed first wheat April 15; ice broke up April 20; river cleared April 26; commenced harvesting August 20; cut wheat August 27; about nineteen acres under grain, total yield six hundred and ninety-eight bushels.
Wheat Two Hundred and Fifty Bushels on Six Acres;
oats two hundred bushels, barley two hundred and twenty-six bushels. After all the grain was removed he raked the field and got twenty-two bushels of grain from the rakings. He sowed two varieties of wheat, Ladoga, and wheat he got in Manitoba, which he thinks is Red Fife, but is not sure; both are beautiful specimens of grain. He has some two-rowed barley which he procured while in England in 1888, when he obtained one pound. The yield in 1891 was six hundred pounds of as fine, clean, bright and plump grain as could be seen elsewhere.
“His Ladoga wheat was sown April 21 and harvested August 24, but he allowed it to over-ripen, and thinks he lost at least four or five bushels while harvesting. He sowed ninety pounds and threshed one thousand five hundred. He obtained a sample of black Norway oats from Webb and Company, England, which he sowed on five-eighths of an acre of ground, last year. When harvesting it was all drawn off the field in one wagon load, and when threshed it turned out sixty-four bushels of first-class grain. Last year he tried Indian corn; it did not ripen, but yielded excellent green corn; cucumbers were grown successfully, but did not ripen. Yet I saw as good pumpkins fully developed both here and at Dunvegan as one would wish for.
“Mr. Brick has about forty head of cattle, and several horses; last fall on my arrival there he had about forty pigs, but killed some during my stay, and only intended to winter about twenty-five. He employs a good deal of local labour, and pays for it with food to a very large extent; in fact it is the only way it could be paid for in the country. The hay for wintering the cattle and horses is cut on the plateau about seven miles from the farm. He generally allows his cattle to run out until Christmas, the grass on the meadows being enough for them to feed on it after the early snows have fallen. The horses not kept in for use are wintered out. The Hudson’s Bay Company at Dunvegan have about one hundred and fifty wild horses, and the Roman Catholic mission and the Indians also have many which always winter out on the plains north of the Post, which affords them both food and shelter, as the country between Dunvegan and Smoky river, crossing on the north side, is particularly park-like prairie to a distance of twelve to twenty miles back from the river. The woods afford them shelter and on the prairies the rich grasses grow. There are also large areas
Where Excellent Hay Grows.
Flour Mill at Fort Vermilion.
Flour Mill at Fort Vermilion.
No other attention is, or has been, given to these animals than to occasionally send a man out to hunt them up and count them. This is not so difficult a task as it would seem, as they run in bands; each band consists of mares and a stallion, who will give fight to the death for his mares. Each band is known bythe name of its stallion, and as each keeps pretty well in the one locality, it is not so difficult to keep track of them as it would appear. I saw several bands on my way from Dunvegan and all were very fat, notwithstanding that the cold winter weather had set in a month before, and the snow had been a foot deep for ten or twelve days. ‘Chinook’ winds occasionally visit this part of the country and carry the snow off; here also they blow from the southwest. The approach of one is known some little time before it arrives by the roar it makes. Many people in the country call them the ‘high-winds’ they blow so strongly. They often visit Lesser Slave lake.”
Mr. R. G. McConnell of the Geological Survey, in the report of his visit to the country, wrote in 1888:—“Vegetables of various kinds are grown yearly without difficulty, at Fort Vermilion, Lesser Slave lake, Whitefish lake and Trout lake, while potatoes are grown by the Indians even on the summit of Birch mountain, at a height of two thousand three hundred feet above the sea. Wheat and other cereals have been fairly successful at Lesser Slave lake and at Fort Vermilion, the only places where they have been tried. The prairie country round Fort Vermilion equals in fertility the famous Edmonton district and appears to enjoy an equally good climate, its higher latitude being compensated for by its more western situation and by its lower elevation. This district is about one thousand feet above the sea. In the interior, narrow strips of aspen-covered, but excellent land, are usually found along the main rivers, and surrounding many of the lakes, and numerous areas, often
Equal in Size to Eastern Counties,
might be selected, which appear well adapted for cultivation, but the numerous swamps, muskegs and marshes which separate these areas detract greatly from their value. The western, and especially the northwestern, portion of this district contains the most promising agricultural lands.”
Mr. McConnell, before the Senate committee of 1907, explained that his exploratory work in Peace river country had been mostly along the streams. He had, however, been over quite a bit of the tableland. He had nearly always gone back from the river quite a bit, twenty or thirty and forty miles in places. From Lesser Slave lake he started on foot with a couple of men packing, and went through all the country between Lesser Slave lake and Big Knife lake, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. His mission was specially to look for minerals, but, of course, he was supposed to keep his eyes open for anything. As to the extent of land suitable for cultivation in Peace river country, Mr. McConnell said there are aspen ridges all through that country which may be good, but they are separated by muskegs everywhere, except on the table prairie. These muskegs occur with solid ground in between them, and in those places aspens grow, and where those poplars are found the land is nearly always good. But the poplars do not grow to any size. The aspen is not on the prairie; it is on the wooded country, in between the muskegs. Besides there are occasional patches of prairie at Fort Vermilion, following Peace river down, and also Grande prairie. There is no large continuous prairie thirty miles from Edmonton towards the north. There are occasional patches of prairie tableland with only small areas of bottom land. The tableland decreases in height as going northward. Farther down the Vermilion the prairie begins again. At Fort Vermilion the country is not so much subject to frost as in the higher land. Wheat has been grown there a great number of years. In the valley of the river the low land on each side is fertile. There is no great quantity of it on either bank. There are just these flats. Taking the aggregate it is a large quantity because it is a tremendously long river. The valley is probably a mile wide on both sides of the river.
Grande prairie, in upper Peace country, which is
About Seventy-five Miles Across,
is probably the largest area of open country, and there is a prairie following Peace river about twenty-five miles. That disappears going down Peace river, and the country is wooded and partly muskeg as far as Fort Vermilion. Then there is another small prairie area. Taking the upper stretches of the country, northward forty miles from the river, the country is partly muskeg. Travelling across it with horses, one would run into a muskeg every couple of miles, and there are ridges only a few feet higher than the muskegs, and they are nearly always covered with poplar, and those ridges seem to be fairly good agricultural land. But they are always separated by these muskeg lands. This muskeg is very deep. Mr. McConnell had had horses go down in it. Along all the streams there is a certain amount of good land. There are a great many streams in that country, and in the aggregate the amount of water is large.
As to Grande prairie, or north Peace river country, the soil is very good there. There is a subsoil. It is a good wheat country, and in June and July it is looked upon as the best wheat country in the world. He had noticed the pea vine growing in that section, and so far as he could judge from going over it, the country is a good agricultural one, except for frosts. There happened to be some frosts both times he was there, but apart from that the country is certainly good. There is swamp grass growing about the margins of the small lakes. It was after the middle of the month of August that he experienced frost there. He did not know much about the growing of vegetables in Peace river country.
Mr. McConnell considered that at that date the value of Peace river country as a whole as far as wheat-growing was concerned, was entirely problematical. If one went there in June or July he would come to the conclusion that it is the finest country in the whole wide world, but he himself had been there twice in August and found a heavy frost on each occasion. Things changed very rapidly about the end of August. He did not know if there would be frost about the same time around Edmonton, but the two years he happened to be in Peace river district there would be about fifteen degrees of frost at night. That was in the elevated, cattle country, which is considered higher than the surface of Peace river. There were no crops there at that time. The soil in that district is splendid. It is precisely the same as the country around Edmonton. It might be good for the growing of hay, or in fact anything. There is no question that the soil is good, and in June and July it is a
Most Attractive Country.
He went down Loon river, and found much of the country in there partly muskeg; in fact, the greater part of it is muskeg; but there are patches of country covered with aspen, which is probably good for agriculture. He went all the way down Loon river and Red river, which flows into Peace river, and another unnamed stream, and found it was a prairie country down there. There is a grist mill at Vermilion, and a large quantity of wheat is sent there. The wheat is all grown in that vicinity. That country is too good a country to be wasted. The valleys are protected from the wind, and the theory is that it is less liable to frost on account of the wind being kept away. There is a magnificent growth of grass on the plateau, and there is hay in the marshes. It is very much the same country as that around Edmonton. It is a good place for raising cattle, but they probably would have to feed them in the winter time, as they do at Edmonton. Sheep ought to do well. They appeared to have a fair rainfall. He thought that as far as the country is concerned it is very much the same as Edmonton. It is well watered.
Mr. McConnell concluded that a farmer might succeed there even if he could not grow wheat, if he could get a market. That was the only thing that would prevent him from succeeding, he thought.
Much evidence as to the agricultural possibilities and climate of the Peace country was taken by the Senate committee of 1888 (See p.28).
Hon. William Christie, formerly Inspecting Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in his examination before the committee, expressed himself sanguine about the agricultural possibilities of Peace river country, which he considered “is one of the finest countries that you would wish to see. Upper Peace river country is as fine a country as I ever saw.” He did not think Peace river country subject to droughts at all, but the winter snow disappeared much more rapidly than it did in Manitoba. The vegetation in Peace river country is very luxuriant; the grass is more like that of Manitoba than that of Saskatchewan. He thought the wheat crop would be as certain in upper Peace river district as in the Saskatchewan district. Farther down, at Lac la Biche, they never have wheat frozen; that may be affected by the temperature of the lake water. On upper Peace river they are less subject to frost. He had always understood that wheat grew well at Dunvegan.
At Fort Vermilion there was a splendid country. He once rode with Governor Dallas sixty miles through a most magnificent country. The soil was a beautiful dark loam, as they could see by the mole hills, and they were struck with the charming appearance of the country. There were more bluffs than were found on the Saskatchewan, and it was a beautiful country all the way up to Dunvegan. Where the country was open, the grass was higher than on the Saskatchewan. It was not very long—about the same as in Manitoba. As to the testing of the capacity of the country for agriculture, he explained that a good deal had depended upon the characters of the officers in charge of the various forts whether the capacity of the country in the vicinity for agriculture was tested. In the journals of long ago he found that they used to raise splendid wheat crops at Dunvegan, and cattle. Another officer, without any taste for agriculture, going in there might find it very difficult to live. If he had no taste for gardening or agriculture, nothing would be raised. A great deal depended on the officer of the post whether he lived well or not. If he was active and energetic he would always live very well.
Witness agreed with the remark that there is enough good land in Peace river country
To Make a New Province.
G. M. Dawson, M.D., LL.D., at the time Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, was examined by the committee and explained that he had personal acquaintance with the Athabaska from Athabaska to Baptiste river; with Peace river valley from Smoky river to the headwaters; and with the country between the above designated portions of rivers.
Quoting from a report he had prepared in 1879-80, on the extent of arable and pastoral lands in the region of Peace and Athabaska rivers, Doctor Dawson showed that Peace river basin comprised an area of about thirty-one thousand five hundred and fifty square miles. Its average elevation may be stated as a little over two thousand feet, and this is maintained with considerable uniformity, for though the general surface slopes slightly from the north and south towards Peace river, the region as a whole may be considered as a plateau, through which the great gorge-like valley of thePeace has been excavated. This valley has in general a depth of six hundred to eight hundred feet below that part of the plateau bordering it, with a width of two or three miles from rim to rim. Its tributary streams, at first nearly on the plateau level, flow in valleys of continually increasing depth as they approach that of Peace river. Those from the southeastern portion of the region rise either in Rocky mountains or near the Athabaska, the tributaries received by the latter stream, in this part of its course, from the north and northwest being—with the exception of the Baptiste—quite inconsiderable.
The ridges and hills by which this region is occasionally diversified, appear in all cases to be composed either of the generally soft rocks of the cretaceous, or of arenaceous clays containing erratics and representing the boulder clays of the glacial period. These elevations are generally slight, and with exceedingly slight, and gradual slopes, the scarped banks of the streams constituting much more important irregularities. These ridges, however, often resemble detached portions of a higher plateau, and spread widely enough to occupy in the aggregate a considerable area, of which the soil is not so uniform in character as elsewhere. With these exceptions, the soil of the district may be described as a fine silt, resembling the
White Silts of the Nechacco Basin,
and not dissimilar from the loess-like material constituting the subsoil of Red river valley in Manitoba. This silt at a short distance below the surface, is greyish or brownish in colour, but becomes mixed superficially with a proportion of vegetable matter to a varying depth. It has evidently been deposited by a comparatively tranquil body of water not loaded with ice, probably toward the close of the glacial period, and has either never been laid down on the ridges and undulations above referred to, or has been since removed from them by processes of waste. As evidenced by the natural vegetation its fertility is great.
West of Smoky river, both to the south and north of Peace river, there are extensive areas of prairie country, either entirely open, and covered with a more or less luxuriant growth of grass, or dotted with patches of coppice and groves of trees. The northern banks of Peace river valley are also very generally open and grassed, and parts of the valley of the Smoky and other rivers have a similar character. The total area of prairie land west of the Smoky may be about three thousand square miles.
Though the prairies are most immediately available, from an agricultural point of view, the regions now covered with second growth and forest, where the soil itself is not inferior, will eventually be equally valuable. The largest tract of poor land is that bordering the valley of the Athabaska on the north. This rises to an elevation considerably greater than most of the region to the north and west, and appears, during the submergence to which the superficial deposits are due, to have been exposed to stronger currents which have prevented the deposition of fine silt, causing it to be replaced by a coarser silt which passes in places into actual sand, and alternates with ridges of boulder clay. This region is often swampy, and, for a width of twenty to twenty-five miles on the trail from Sturgeon lake to Athabaska, is quite unsuited for agriculture, though still in manyplaces capable of yielding good summer grazing when the forest has been completely removed by fire. To the northward, more particularly to the east of Smoky river, peaty and mossy swamps occupy part of the surface, and these may be regarded as permanently unsuited to agriculture.
There is also a sandy tract, though of small width, along the lower part of Wapiti river near its junction with the Smoky. Deducting as far as possible all the areas known to be inferior or useless, with about twenty per cent. for the portions of the region under consideration of which less is known, the total area of land, with soil suited to agriculture, may be estimated as
At Least Twenty-three thousand five hundred Square Miles.
In the absence of complete maps, such an estimate cannot be otherwise than very rough, but may serve to give some idea of the fact.
Doctor Dawson expressed the opinion that “the truly wonderful luxuriance of the natural vegetation in Peace valley prairies indicated, not alone the fertility of the soil, but the occurrences of a sufficient rainfall.”
He went on to explain that the summer season of 1879 was an unusual one, characterized by excessively heavy rainfall, with cold raw weather in the early summer months. These conditions did not extend to the west of Rocky mountains, but appeared to have been felt over the entire area of the plains to Red river valley. As a result of this, the crops generally throughout the Northwest were later than usual, and the mean temperature of even the latter part of the summer appears to be rather abnormally low. Notwithstanding this, on Doctor Dawson’s arrival at Dunvegan, on August 16, small patches of wheat and barley in the garden of the fort presented a remarkably fine appearance and were beginning to turn yellow. On his return to the fort on August 31, these were being harvested, their complete ripening having been delayed by overcast and chilly weather which prevailed between these dates. At the first-mentioned date potatoes were quite ripe, with the balls formed on the stalks, and the garden contained also fine cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, lettuce and turnips. Dwarf beans, cucumbers and squashes were also flourishing and, though these plants are particularly tender, showed no signs of frost. The two last-named, having been sown in the open ground, did not appear likely to perfect their fruit. A few stalks of Indian corn were also growing, though it is improbable that this cereal would ripen in this district. When this garden was again visited, on the last day of August, the beans, cucumbers, and squashes had been cut down by frost, but not completely killed. The potato tops were also slightly nipped.
Rev. Mr. Tessier, who had been at Dunvegan as a missionary for some years, had always been
Able to Ripen Small, Black Butter Beans,
but in some seasons not without difficulty, owing to frosts. He had also tried a few grains of oats, which he procured accidentally, and obtained a return of astonishing abundance. About the date just referred to, the potato plants ofSmoky river post (The Forks) were badly cut down by frost, the tubers being, however, quite ripe, fine and large.