THE KEEWATIN AREA.
(Newest Ontario and Northern Manitoba.)
Agriculture and Arable Land.
Early Agricultural Experiments and Their Success.—Evidence before
the Parliamentary Committee of 1749.—Testimony of Official
Explorers and Residents.—Many Areas Fit For Agriculture
Described.—Wild Fruits Grow in Profusion.—Successful Gardens.
—Much Country Capable of Improvement by Drainage.—Climate
Inland Warmer Than Further East.—Natural Hay Meadows.—The Clay
Belt.
The region west of James bay and southwest of Hudson bay, being the
southern portion of the area known up to the time of the creation of the
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan as the district of Keewatin, and
comprising the territory recently (1912) annexed to the provinces of
Ontario and Manitoba, was the first part of the still unexploited
northwest with which white men came into touch.
Some years elapsed between its discovery by Henry Hudson and Sir Thomas
Button in 1610 and 1612 and the establishment of the first posts therein
by the Hudson’s Bay Company at the mouths of Albany, Severn, Nelson and
Churchill rivers. These posts were established and have since been
maintained entirely for the purpose of the fur trade, and consequently
no settlements have sprung up around them, and there has been no
systematic attempt to exploit the agricultural possibilities of the
adjacent areas. Nevertheless, it was some of the older servants of the
big fur company who first drew attention to the fact that this region
had agricultural possibilities, and it was from the posts on the bay
that the first explorations of the interior were made. Of recent years,
much information as to the agricultural possibilities of this area has
been obtained by explorers of the Geological Survey of Canada, and
through the explorations attendant upon the surveys for the location of
the Hudson Bay Railway, which is projected to run in a northeasterly
direction across this region from The Pas to Port Nelson.
The main object of those who secured the appointment of a select
committee of the British House of Commons in 1749, to inquire into the
condition of the Hudson bay territory and the trade carried on there
(See page 8), was to secure the cancellation of the Company’s monopoly
and to throw the country open to settlement. With this object in view
much evidence was produced to show that the territory offered
inducements to colonists, and, as inscribed in the pages of the official
report, this gives us the earliest account of pioneer agriculture in
this region, and an idea of the possibilities of the country from the
old timers’ points of view.
Mr. Richard White, one of the witnesses examined before the committee,
said that he went to Albany Fort in the year 1726, as clerk to the
Company, and remained there seven years, and that he had been ten years
at Churchill, which was the northernmost fort. He testified that “the
Governor at Albany had a garden in which peas, beans, turnips and salad
grew as well and plentiful as in England, but he never knew of seed
raised in that country to have been sown again. He saw a small quantity
of barley growing near Moose river in August, which is about two months
before the cold weather, which barley was in the ear, but not full, but
as he has never been used to tillage, he is a very indifferent judge in
those matters.”
Mr. White stated that “he apprehended the countries adjoining to Hudson
bay might be settled and improved, and that in the southern parts, oats,
barley and peas would grow, but if persons were allowed to settle, he
did not apprehend they could at first subsist by the cultivation of
lands only he did not know why the Company did not grow their own corn,
nor whether any proposal had been made to them for that purpose, for he
really thought corn would grow there, which certainly would tend much to
the advantage of the Company, as well as to the security of persons
residing there. Their common provisions were fish and fowl, and they had
no bread but what came from England; that all grain kept there very
well, except peas; that in a general way they had two years’ provisions
beforehand in their forts, especially of bread.”
Being asked if the Indians could not cultivate corn for one-third of the
price it costs in Europe, this witness said—“The Indians are in general
a slothful people and cultivate no corn.”
SOIL GOOD AND CLIMATE MILD
Another of the witnesses examined before the committee, Mr. Matthew
Sergeant, stated that while in the Company’s service he had been twelve
miles up the country at York Factory, thirty miles up the river from
Albany Fort, and had travelled by land from Moose river to Albany Fort,
one hundred miles along the coast. The soil was good and produced good
turnips, the climate for four months in the year being mild.
The record of the evidence continues:—“The good soil is not quite two
feet deep, when you come to a stratum of loam and sand. In some places
the frost is never out of the ground, but you may dig through it. The
turnips he has eaten there are as good as ever he ate in England, but he
does not know whether seed raised there would produce the same. It is
the general opinion at York Factory that the soil is proper for wheat,
barley, rye or oats. He has seen very good peas and beans grow there,
but he never saw any corn grow there, except some wild oats; and that
his mess-mate did sow some corn there, which, though it grew a good
height, never came to perfection; but, in the opinion of the witness,
oats would ripen at Albany, where he has seen a cherry-tree bearing
black cherries. He has seen the Indians bring down currants, which, they
said, grew in their country. They also brought down sugar, which was
very black, and made from the tree of which their paddles are made; that
the Indians informed the witness that there are large lakes behind the
factory; that the witness had been in a lake ten miles long, without any
fall going to it.
[Illustration: Prairie Land on lower Nelson river.]
“It begins to thaw at Albany about April 8 or 10. There is a good soil
there for six or eight inches, which may be gained within about a
fortnight after the beginning of the thaw; that in two or three weeks
more, as the weather happens, it thaws to the depth of two feet,
commonly by the beginning of May. The frost sets in again about the
beginning of October, and when the witness was there, October 4, it came
in very hard. The witness believes there is time enough to grow wheat,
for if summer grain were sown early in the southernmost parts, he thinks
there would be time for it to ripen and to gather it in, but the frosts
break sooner up in the country and come in later. There are vast tracts
of land fit for cultivation, and the witness has seen very good lettuce,
spinach, dewberries, strawberries and black cherries. The Indians very
rarely eat any bread, nor do they live long enough in one place to raise
corn, nor have they any yams or potatoes, their provisions being fish
and flesh, which they preserve by drying it, not having the art of
salting. In case they were interested in the arts of tillage, he does
not know whether they would stay in a place long enough to raise corn,
for though they love bread dearly they would rather go hunting than
cultivate land. The wild oats he mentioned before never came to seed,
being little better than a species of grass. Grass grows there
sufficient for the support of cattle, and they have made hay at Albany.
If the Company were to grow corn, they apprehend the French would come
and take it as they did their sheep in the last war, but they might
protect their corn from the Indians. Witness does not think it to the
benefit of the Company to grow corn, because they must have a house
built at a distance from the factories, and men to watch it, to prevent
the home Indians from stealing it. They must also have men to cultivate
it, which would be very expensive. The witness cannot determine whether
it would not be more so than having their corn from Europe, and he
thinks the Company would sow it, if it were for their advantage.”
Mr. John Hayter, another witness, said that he had been house carpenter
to the Company six years at Moose river, three years at Churchill, and
six months at Albany, and knew that no other trade was carried on there
but that of furs. He had seen good barley grow at Moose river, and
helped the person who grew it to dig his ground and sow it. It produced
about the quantity of half a bushel, which he saw rubbed out. The ear
was large, and yielded as well, in the opinion of the witness, as the
barley sown on common ground in England. Some of the seed was sown the
next year, and it grew again but the witness did not see the produce of
it. The person who grew this corn told him the reason why he
discontinued sowing corn was that the Governor hindered him. Witness
further said that he had made hay at Moose river.
Mr. Edward Thompson, who had been three years at Moose river in the
Hudson’s Bay Company’s service as surgeon, being required to give an
account of the commodities, soil and climate there, before the
committee, said that the chief commodities were the furs of the beaver,
the marten, the fox and the bear. He testified that he had seen better
barley and oats grow at Moose river than ever he saw in the Orkneys, but
the quantity sown was but very small. The seed would bear sowing again,
but diminished in goodness. There was suitable enough ground for this
corn, but never any encouragement given for sowing it, but quite the
reverse, the Governor absolutely forbidding it, for no other reason, as
the witness apprehended, but that if corn had been sown, a colony would
soon have been erected there, and he could not say whether that would be
for the advantage of the proprietors. The witness himself sowed about
half a dozen corns of wheat, for a trial, in October, which lay in the
ground all winter covered with snow and came to perfection in August. It
was sown in a piece of good ground near the foot of a tree, which was in
some measure a fence to it. The witness thought that beans, peas, barley
and oats would grow there. He never tried it anywhere but at Moose
river, but apprehended that corn would grow in the inland countries at a
hundred miles distance, even as far north as Port Nelson, for he had
found the climate warmer the further one goes inland.
Enoch Alsop, who had been armourer to the Hudson’s Bay Company at Moose
river, informed the investigating Committee of 1749 that he had sown
barley and oats there, the same seed three years successively, and that
it grew very well. He sowed a handful or two of barley and oats at
first, mixed with dust and ashes, which produced two or three quarts or
a gallon of barley, and he thinks in the third year he had above half a
bushel. Governor Stanton then
FORBADE HIM TO SOW ANY MORE
but gave no reason for such prohibition.
Robert Griffin, another of the witnesses, stated that he had been
informed that the soil one hundred miles up the country would produce
corn. He had seen oats grow to perfection at Albany. He had also seen
peas, beans, turnips, salading (_sic_) and cabbage, and some few
carrots. The beans were generally blighted, but the turnips, peas and
cabbage, were “in great plenty and perfection.” They had fresh seed sent
over every year. The land was then cultivated for about a mile round
Albany, being dug with spades upon the breaking of the frost, which
generally happened from April 20 to 27.
In his evidence, Mr. Joseph Robson, perhaps the principal witness,
explained that there was grass in abundance a yard high in the most
northern parts of Hudson bay region he had seen. He did not believe corn
would grow in the far north but grain would grow over large areas. He
had eaten peas and beans which had been grown at York Factory, in
latitude 57°, but he never knew any other corn tried there. The quantity
of peas and beans he spoke of was as much as six or eight people could
eat, but there were a thousand acres of ground in latitude 57°, which,
if cultivated, would produce the same, and there was a much larger tract
to the southward. The peas and beans grew by common cultivation, without
any force, but the produce was not so large as in England.
Being asked if it would not be a great advantage to the Company to grow
corn at York Factory or their other settlements, Mr. Robson said it
would doubtless be so, and it was reasonable to think they would do it,
but there were many things not done which would be of great advantage
besides that, and there must be some secret cause for it to which the
witness was a stranger. It had been demonstrated that the soil about
Hudson bay would bear roots, such as carrots, radishes and turnips. It
also produced coleworts, and all of these roots and greens grew in as
great perfection as they do in England; yet he did not think that there
were two acres cultivated at both the factories where he had resided.
Being asked how long the frost was out of the ground at York Factory,
Mr. Robson said it was hardly ever quite out of it, for he had dug three
feet and a half deep, and then found a shell of ice under which the
ground was all soft. The hole he dug was in low ground, about thirteen
feet from high water mark. He never had an opportunity to dig up in the
country, but the surface of the ground was free from the latter end of
May to the latter end of August, and in the summer they had
EIGHTEEN HOURS SUNLIGHT AT CHURCHILL.
By the accounts of the people coming down, the frost breaks some months
sooner up in the country.
Mr. Robson said he had seen oxen and horses belonging to the Company at
Fort Prince of Wales (Churchill) which were brought from England and fed
with hay and corn, the hay being got there and made into stacks.
Robson, who first went to Hudson bay in 1733, and finally left there in
1747, serving for some time as a mason, and later as “mason and
surveyor,” in the construction of Fort Prince of Wales at Churchill,
published his book “An Account of Six Years’ Residence in Hudson’s Bay”
in 1752. In this volume he mentions going out in the “Mary” frigate, and
says, in writing of Churchill:—“We had brought over in the ship a bull,
four heifers, ten oxen and a horse. There was an Orkney bull there
before. Some of the heifers afterwards calved, and I think with care
they would have increased and done well, though this place is in 59°,
and the most northerly settlement in the bay.”
On page forty-two of his book, Mr. Robson states:—“It is not to be
imagined that the most northerly settlements in the bay should have as
good a climate as the southerly settlement, there being so great a
difference of latitude, as from 59° to 51° 30′. I was no farther up
Churchill river than eight or nine miles but can say that the soil is
very good, and that there are gooseberries and black and red currants
growing near the sea upon points that appear almost barren. Those I have
seen grow so low that the grass covers them. The marshes and low grounds
are full of good grass, and there is a patch of ground near the fort on
Eskimo point (near Churchill) which, though exposed to the north and
northeast winds, produces good radishes, coleworts, turnips, small
carrots, and lettuces, and other salading; blackberries also grow upon
the heath. Upon clearing away the snow in the spring, we generally found
the under part of it congested to ice, three or four inches thick, lying
hollow from the ground. Whether this was caused by the snow melting and
thawing downwards, and then congesting from the coldness of the earth,
and moistening the snow which was afterwards congested again, I am not
able to determine. I am inclined to believe the latter, because the top
of the snow was formed into a hard icy crust, and within was heavy,
though soft. However, beneath this arch of ice we found green vegetables
growing up an inch or two above the ground. Cattle here would live and
do well, if the same care were taken of them as is generally taken in
England. The horses I found among them had been kept several years, and
were constantly employed in drawing stones and other materials for the
use of the fort. And if they can subsist and be fit for service at
Churchill river in 59° they would surely subsist and increase also at
the bottom of the bay in 51° 30′, and in all the more southerly
settlements.
“The soil at York Factory, which is in 75° 10′, is much better than at
Churchill river. Most kinds of garden stuff
GROW HERE TO PERFECTION,
especially peas and beans. I have seen a small pea growing without any
culture, and am of the opinion that barley would flourish here, and
consequently in much greater perfection at Moose and Albany rivers,
which are 51° 30′ and 52°. Gooseberries and red and black currants are
found in the woods, growing upon such bushes as in England. Up the river
are very good patches of grounds, and bottoms under banks, so defended
from the north and northwest winds that there is a fine thaw below when
the top is freezing; here whole families might secure a comfortable
subsistence, if they were as industrious as they are in their own
country. Upon Hayes river, fifteen miles from the factory, is such a
bank as I have just mentioned, near which I pitched my tent. After
paling in some ground for a covey-warren, and for oxen, sheep, goats,
etc., I should expect by no more labor than would be proper for my
health to procure a desirable livelihood, not at all doubting of my
being able to raise peas and beans, barley, and probably other kinds of
grain.”
On page sixty-three, Mr. Robson expresses the opinion “that the lands
are capable of tillage, affording a good pasture for horses and cattle
in the summer, and good hay for their subsistence in the winter. At
Churchill, the most northerly factory, horses and cows have been kept in
winter, though greatly exposed to the frost and cold. All sorts of
garden stuff flourish at the factory, and where barley and oats have
been sown, they come to perfection. At Moose Factory at the bottom of
the bay, sown wheat has stood the winter frosts, and grown very well the
following summer, though the cold is greater and continues longer than
within land; black cherries planted here have also grown and borne
fruit, as would other trees if propagated.”
Reverting to the subject of climate, Mr. Robson states:—“I perceived
that the garden ground at York Factory and Churchill river thawed much
sooner and deeper in the space of one month than the waste that lies
contiguous to it, and the same is to be observed in England. By the heat
therefore which the earth here would acquire from a general and careful
cultivation, the frost might be so soon overcome that the people might
expect regular returns of seed-time and harvest.”
AN EXCELLENT FARMING COUNTRY.
Ed. Umfreville, in his volume “Eleven Years in the Service of the
Hudson’s Bay Company and Four Years in the Canada Fur Trade”, published
in 1790, speaking of latitude 55°, says:—“The Hudson’s Bay Company
servants have tried Indian corn and barley by way of experiment which
came to perfection. Potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, etc., have been
reared and found as good as those in Canada (Quebec). The natives
collect vast quantities of wild cherries and bring them to the fort.
Raspberries, strawberries, currants, cranberries, and an infinity of
other kinds of which I do not know the names, are to be found
everywhere. The grass grows to a great height which fattens our horses
in a short time.
“The late Chief Factor Archibald, in his journal of Sir George Simpson’s
trip from York Factory to the Pacific in 1828, speaks of having had, on
July 12, two days after leaving York, “a peep at the Rock, an old
establishment with its gardens.”
The Rev. John Semmens, who spent many years as a missionary in the north
country, went to live on the banks of Burntwood river, at Nelson House,
in the year 1874. He remained there two years, and for a number of years
thereafter paid occasional visits to the locality and made journeys
through the adjacent country. He writes:—“The most of my tripping was
between Norway House and Nelson House, though I have been as far north
as Indian lake, as far west as Nelson lake, and as far east as Split
lake. The information I have to offer, therefore, concerns the lower
reaches of the Burntwood after its junction with Rat river at Nelson
House. Much of the country specified is hilly, with frequent outcropping
of granite rock, and some large tracts of muskeg or swamp land, but
there are found large areas of open country, and valleys of tributary
rivers, where the soil is rich and deep and where grazing and stock
raising could be very successfully carried on. The sheltering forests,
and the abundant water courses, the numerous beaver dams, and the rich
native grasses would indeed make this locality ideal to sheep raisers
and general ranchmen. The absence of anything like a market has hitherto
kept this country from being reported of, but if a railway becomes an
actual fact, Manitoba will add very much to her available resources,
when extension comes, and settlers will find that in soil, in wood, in
grasses, and in waters, this unknown land will afford comfortable homes
for thousands. It will be seen by the map that about one hundred miles
down the Nelson all the branches of that noble river unite in one. From
that point we are accustomed to strike across country to Landing lake,
Wintering lake, Pipestone lake and thence into Burntwood river. This
short cut has along its course many thousands of acres, such as I have
described, and for fishermen as well as ranchers must some day be a
paradise.
“The cold at Nelson House is no more intense than that of a winter in
northern Manitoba as at present constituted, but the frost sets in
rather sooner, and tarries rather longer than it does at the north end
of Lake Winnipeg. Roots and vegetables planted about May 24 do well and
are gathered about September 15. The presence of so much water so
regulates the temperature that there are few frosts either early or late
to make growth uncertain, yet, in my experience, wheat is not a sure
crop. All depends on the season. Oats and barley will do well any
time.”—(J. A. J. McKenna’s report on the Hudson Bay Route).
SPLIT LAKE REGION.
The Reverend Doctor John McDougall, one of the pioneer missionaries of
the west, has thus expressed himself regarding the region to the south
of Split lake:—“The summer begins early, and the growth and vegetation
are almost of a tropical character. This is attributable to the longer
hours of sunshine that prevail, and to the proximity of streams of
living waters everywhere in the district, each of which is conducive to
plant nourishment. There is considerable rock throughout the section
which indicates in the near future a season of development for the
mineral prospector but there are also countless acres of good land which
can be easily made to yield fruitful returns to the farmer, as has been
the case southward in Manitoba and westward in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The soil is of clay sub-strata with sandy loam on the surface, and,
although wooded to a considerable extent, is a far more enticing
agricultural proposition than that which faced the early settlers on the
bush farms of Ontario and other eastern provinces fifty years ago, and,
with the advent of railways, a better market than the eastern settler
had would be always available. The district in which are situated Norway
House, Cross lake, Oxford House, Island lake, Nelson House and Split
lake, covers a wide area, and at each of these places garden vegetables
and grain for personal requirements have been successfully grown for a
term of years. Summer frosts are practically unknown and the germination
of vegetation, owing to the long hours of sunshine, is exceedingly
rapid.” (McKenna Report.)
Doctor Robert Bell, in the report of his exploratory trip from Lake
Winnipeg to Hudson bay in 1878 (See p. 17), states:—“Along the direct
overland route from Churchill to York Factory the timber is reported to
be generally small, and large prairie-like openings are said to occur,
in which the ground is dry and covered with grass or other herbage. I
saw very good potatoes and turnips growing in the gardens at Churchill.
Previous to the advent of Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, the cultivation of
potatoes had not been attempted, and the possibility of raising them at
Churchill when suggested by Mrs. Spencer was ridiculed by the oldest
inhabitants. However, in spite of predictions of certain failure, the
ground was prepared, seed planted, and a good crop was harvested. The
experiment has been repeated successfully for seven consecutive years,
so that the question of the practicability of cultivating potatoes on
the shores of Hudson bay in this latitude has been pretty well solved.
“Hay can be cut in abundance in the neighborhood of Churchill, and
cattle thrive well, yet the same ignorance or obstinacy, as the above
referred to, formerly prevented any attempt being made to breed stock on
the spot, so that every fresh animal required had to be brought from
some other place. Now, the small herd which is kept at the place is
recruited by raising the animals calved at the fort itself. The open
grassy land near the sea is practically of unlimited extent. Much of it
is dry and undulating, affording abundance of pasture for the cattle.
The butter made by Mrs. Spencer could hardly be excelled for quality and
fineness in any country.”
LAKE ST. JOSEPH SECTION.
In the report (Part G., Geol. Sur. Report, 1886) of his exploratory trip
in 1886 (See p. 18), Doctor Robert Bell, speaking of the country in Lake
St. Joseph section, in the extreme southern side of the region under
review, writes:—“The climate, in the immediate vicinity of the lake at
all events, appears to be sufficiently good to admit of the growth of a
variety of crops. At Osnaburgh House, near the east end, where the soil
is of a sandy nature, the principal crop cultivated at present is
potatoes, but early Indian corn, peas, beans, and a variety of roots and
other vegetables, to say nothing of a profusion of flowers, were in a
flourishing condition at the end of July. In former years, when cattle
were kept at the post, barley was said to have been a regular crop. Hay
grows very luxuriantly. I was creditably informed that pumpkins and
muskmelons had frequently ripened at this establishment.”
Doctor Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, testified:—“Potatoes
and all such vegetables would grow in Hudson bay district, but the
immediate influence of the sea is unfavourable for gardens. Gardens
close to the sea do not flourish as well as gardens inland. The frequent
change from heat to cold and the fogs from the sea prejudicially affect
them, and cause a sort of blight on vegetation close to the sea shore.
But a few miles inland vegetation is more rank, and you can grow
potatoes and the ordinary root crops. There are plenty of grasses there
to keep cattle and sheep. There are many kinds of grasses there, also
sedges, wild peas or vetches and lentils. They would make splendid feed
for cattle.”
Mr. Fawcett (Annual Report, Dep. Interior, 1885, pt. II, p. 37),
speaking of his descent of the Wenassago to Lac Seul, says:—“In a few
places I noticed soil of vegetable mould and clay loam, which would be
well suited for the growth of grain and vegetables should the climatic
conditions be favourable. I also observed here that the best soil
generally produced a growth of poplar, and wherever it appeared large
and thrifty, good soil might be looked for, comparatively free from
rock. On the rocky ridges, as usual, scrubby pine was the prevailing
timber, while the flats and muskegs were invariably covered with spruce
and tamarack. The good land noticed seemed to be in belts three or four
miles wide and extending north and south for a considerable distance, as
might be expected from the geological formation, the depressions and
elevations succeeding each other in very regular order and much in the
same direction.”
On Big Black river, which flows into the east side of Lake Winnipeg, Mr.
A. S. Cochrane, of the Geological Survey, who surveyed that stream in
1882, reports the soil as “excellent, being a light-gray friable
clay. . . . . The land up to Pelican portage is first class, but above
this there is a low and swampy country, which extends to
‘Rapids-close-together’. A border of good land, on which some fair-sized
timber grows, runs along both sides of the river.”
FAVOURABLE LAKE AND SEVERN LAKE.
Mr. Low, in the account of his trip in 1886, reports that along the
shores of Favourable lake (which is from two to five miles in width)
“there are considerable areas of good land, the best being on the
peninsula and along the southern part of the lake, where the underlying
rocks are hornblende and chloritic schists; the northern part is more
barren, the soil resting upon gneiss. The soil is a fine, rich sandy
loam, quite suitable for growing good crops, and summer frosts seem to
be the only drawback to successful agriculture. These are said to not
occur at Trout lake, though situated further to the northeastward. At
the end of the peninsula the foundations of several old houses were
discovered, out of which trees twelve inches in diameter were growing.
These ruins evidently mark the site of some old Hudson’s Bay Company or
more probably North West Company trading post. . . . .
“There is much good land about Sandy lake. Indeed the greater part of
the land around these lakes would make good farms.”
A short distance above Severn lake, according to Mr. Low, there is a
considerable area of country “almost flat, with good timber and soil.”
Mr. Low describes Trout lake (east of Severn lake) as being forty miles
long by twenty miles wide. He states in his report that Mr. Tait, the
officer in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at that point,
“says that good crops of peas, potatoes and other roots are raised here
yearly, and are very rarely injured by summer frosts. This being the
case, the country to the westward, between Severn and Sandy lakes, which
is more favourably situated, having all the appearance of a better
climate and a richer soil, must undoubtedly be well suited for
agriculture, and will at some future time prove valuable land for
settlement.”
Mr. Low reports the soil around Fort Severn as a heavy clay and very
swampy. Nothing but a few small turnips are with difficulty grown there.
On August 8, strawberries, then beginning to ripen, were picked by Mr.
Low on clearings around the post.
Mr. Low was examined at length before the Senate committee of 1907 (See
p. 27), and stated in his evidence that the country between Norway House
and Hudson bay is not very elevated. The highest points in it are
probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of one thousand feet above sea
level. For about half the distance to Hudson bay it is practically a
rolling plain, and the rocks are ancient rocks of the Laurentian and
Huronian ages. Beyond that there was an ancient deposit of limestone and
sandstone, extending in a wide line around the northern part about half
way across. These are large limestones, and they are lying almost flat.
The country for about half way down from Norway House to Churchill
slopes very gently towards the bay, so that the grade is not more than
eight or ten feet to the mile, if it is that. The northeastern part is
practically a plain.
There are considerable areas of low swampy lands. The surface going down
into Hudson bay after reaching the Wolstenholme country is fairly
swampy. The rivers have thrown up banks, and it is only at an occasional
place that a break through those banks occurred to let out the drainage.
In many places the river banks are from five to ten feet higher than the
surrounding country, and in consequence the land beyond is drowned more
or less, very often extending back for a distance as far as one can walk
in a day.
Mr. Low considered that probably half the country due east from Norway
House, say for one hundred miles, would be
FIT FOR AGRICULTURE.
He would rank the agricultural possibilities there as fair.
Of course there are very few settlements in there now, and the only one
Mr. Low visited was a Hudson’s Bay post at Trout lake, and they were
growing peas and garden truck of all kinds, also potatoes and fairly
decent looking crops. They were not bothered very badly with summer
frosts, as Mr. Low could see from the crop of green peas. The climate
seemed quite favourable for hardy crops. The soil areas that are fit for
agriculture are fairly large; the rocky hills crop out only at
intervals, and there is quite a large area there that Mr. Low thought
would be fit for future settlement.
The low flat plain, southeast of Nelson river, appeared to be largely
covered with muskeg and small spruce. He would suppose that there was
more muskeg and spruce land than hay areas. The subsoil is clay largely.
Down in the lower country near the bay there is a certain amount of sand
on top. There was a fair amount of vegetable growth. Mr. Low remarked
that he would not consider this low-lying area a good agricultural
country at present, but with some drainage he thought a great deal of
that country around James and Hudson bays is going to make a good
agricultural country.
With regard to that territory north of Lake Winnipeg and east of Norway
House and in the country southeast thereof, Mr. Low thought it would be
a somewhat rocky country, but probably not more than one-third would be
of that nature. Most of the land not rocky would be timber land. This
would run up to about the eighteenth degree or probably more.
Mr. Low, speaking as to the climate of the region west of Hudson bay,
explained that in the southern part, south of the Nelson, it is fairly
good, he thought, for settlement. The summer frosts are rare, and he
thought with the opening up of the country it would probably improve. He
considered that settlers in there would not have any more difficulty in
summer than they would in the settled part of the northwest. The summer
is probably equal to that of Saskatchewan. The length of the summer days
is an advantage. They get more sunlight during the summer than do the
people of older Ontario or other points farther south, and that is a
distinct help to vegetation.
[Illustration: Portaging canoe at Long Spruce rapids, Nelson river.]
In the summer of 1896, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell explored the country north of
the mouth of Saskatchewan river. As a result of the exploration he
states in his report:—“From Nelson river westward to longitude 100°
30′, and from the north end of Lake Winnipeg northward to beyond
latitude 56°, the country is generally covered with a coating of
stratified clay, varying in thickness from a few feet up to fifty,
sixty, or even one hundred feet. This clay is of much the same character
as that of Red river valley, having been, like it, deposited in the bed
of the old post-glacial lake that once occupied the basin of Lake
Winnipeg. The rivers have, as a rule, cut down through this clay to the
underlying rock, but away from the water-stretches rock exposures are
not of any frequent occurrence. The
SOIL IS RICH AND FERTILE,
and the country will doubtless produce in abundance all the hardier
roots and cereals grown in the province of Manitoba; and cattle, sheep,
and horses could be successfully raised. If the country were made
accessible by a railway passing through it to Hudson bay, it would
certainly support a considerable agricultural population.”
At page seven of his report (Part F. Geol. Sur. Rep., 1900, Vol. XII)
Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Much of the land is well adapted for agriculture.
At Norway House some fine barley had been sown and ripened in the
garden, and all the ordinary vegetables grown in Manitoba have been
raised for many years past. At Cross lake many of the Indians had good
large gardens of potatoes and other vegetables, and McLeod and Mclvor,
two fur traders, had excellent gardens in which were growing potatoes,
turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes, cabbages, cauliflowers, onions,
lettuce, beans, peas, etc. At Nelson House in the extreme northern part
of the district explored, many of the Indians regularly grow potatoes,
and both the fur traders and the missionaries cultivate small patches of
ground on which they raise abundant crops of all the vegetables
mentioned as growing at Cross lake. It is probable that the hardier
varieties of grain would also ripen here, but at present there is no
object in growing grain of any kind for it could not be readily
utilized.”
In a foot note, Mr. Tyrrell states “Wheat ripens well at Norway House
and Cross lake on the Nelson.”
On page eight of his report Mr. Tyrrell says:—“During the summer of
1896 no frost occurred until August 29. At Nelson House we were informed
that, during the preceding seven years at least, no frost that would
injure garden produce had occurred at an earlier date.”
At page thirty-four of his report Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Wuskwatim lake
is a very pretty sheet of slightly murky water, six or seven miles long
and three miles wide, surrounded by sloping clay-covered hills wooded
with white spruce and poplar. Its surface is varied by a few islands
composed of clay overlying a floor of gneiss. The two falls above
mentioned, at and near its outlet, would furnish a large amount of
POWER FOR DRIVING MILLS
or machinery of any kind, while a supply of timber for building and fuel
could be obtained from the surrounding country, and the soil would grow
any of the ordinary roots or more hardy cereals, so that it is not
improbable that before long when this fertile country is made accessible
by the advent of a railroad from the south, one of the most prosperous
towns in the district may grow up on the shore of this now secluded
lake.
“Footprint lake, on the northern shore of which the Hudson’s Bay Company
have had a trading post for a number of years, and the Methodists have a
small church and mission house, has somewhat the shape of a rude cross,
seven miles long from east to west, and six miles from north to south.
The latitude of the trading post was found to be 55° 48′ 26′′ north. The
lake is surrounded by banks of light grey friable clay from thirty to
forty feet high, through which rise rounded hills of gneiss up to two
hundred feet or more in height. The clay extends over the lower portions
of these hills, but some of the higher summits appear to rise above it,
possibly having risen above the surface of Lake Agassiz where the
surrounding clay was deposited on its floor. When the lake was visited
in August last both the trader and the missionary had excellent gardens
in which they were successfully growing potatoes, cabbages,
cauliflowers, onions, radishes, lettuce, peas, beans, turnips, carrots
and other vegetables, and many of the Indians had patches of potatoes
sufficiently large to assist materially in the support of their families
throughout the winter.
“I enquired from the Indians who were living around the lake, how far
the fertile clay-covered country extended towards the north, and they
told me that it extended as far as Indian lake on Churchill river, north
of which the surface is either of sand or rock.”
Mr. Tyrrell reports that many of the smaller fruits grow on the
clay-covered country explored in great profusion. Among those that he
reports as especially abundant were raspberries, gooseberries, red and
black currants, strawberries, blueberries and headberries (_Rubus
Chameomorus_).
Strawberries were growing “in great profusion” in the tract about
Muhigan rapids on Muhigan river.
The country above Wuskwatim lake, according to Mr. Tyrrell, “seems to be
a great clay plain, cut through by the sloping trough of the river, and
trenched by wide lateral gulleys. The surface is generally covered with
small poplar, with some spruce in the valleys, and there are no signs of
rocky hills, or of rock, except here and there at the water’s edge.”
Mr. Tyrrell reports that McLaughlin river, throughout its whole course
from the long narrow lake to its mouth, flows through a level,
clay-covered country, the rock merely rising here and there in knolls
and ridges above the general level.
Mr. Tyrrell, reporting (Summary Rep. Geol. Survey, 1890-91) on his
survey of the district about Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis, mentions a
cliff at Limestone bay, in the extreme northwest of Lake Winnipeg,
rising in some places to a height of forty feet, composed at the bottom
of a stiff, blue alluvial clay, and at the top of a mossy peat, and
further on in the report proceeds to say:—“A deposit of clay similar to
that on Mossy point extends all along the east shore of Lake Winnipeg,
and the waves washing against the soft cliffs become charged with the
mud from which the lake derives its name. This clay is also of great
economic interest, for instead of the east shore of the lake being an
uninhabitable rocky wilderness, as is generally supposed, it is largely
covered with
A RICH BLUE ALLUVIAL SOIL,
and the area of rock surface is relatively small. Much of this land is
covered with forests of poplar and spruce, while on account of the
retentive, impervious nature of the clay soil much of it is also boggy
and wet, but when it is cleared and drained it will form rich
agricultural land. At Badthroat river, Mr. Wood, the local Inspector of
Fisheries, had cleared a beautiful farm out of the midst of the poplar
forest, and he informs me that he grows successfully all the crops
ordinarily raised in Ontario. Mr. McKay, the Indian Agent at Berens
river, has also a clearing situated on the south side of the river in
the midst of what was a dense forest of small spruce. He has under
cultivation a nice garden, and this year the potatoes were not cut down
by frost till the middle of September.”
During his examination before the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. Tyrrell
described the whole stretch of country extending from Lake Winnipeg and
Split lake on the east to Churchill and Athabaska on the west[14] as a
“country essentially suited for agricultural purposes.” He could not say
what there was beyond the limits mentioned as he had not been there.
This was a forest belt. The eastern side of this tract would be Nelson
river. Not having been east of that river with the exception of twenty
or thirty miles, he could not speak of the country beyond. Mr. Tyrrell
declared:—“That belt of forest is for the most part excellent
agricultural land.” As far as the observations of Mr. Tyrrell went, he
believed that that country, while a little harder to settle up, and not
so attractive to settlers who are going in and looking for farms ready
made and cleared for them and ready to put the wheat in, would be as
fine an agricultural tract of land as there is in the Northwest.
Everywhere in travelling through it, the evidence of rich vegetation was
abundant, and everywhere where gardens or any kind of agriculture or
horticulture had been attempted in this forest belt, it had been
eminently successful. It is a forest country, a spruce covered country,
and lies southwest of Hudson bay, west of Nelson river, north of
Saskatchewan river, and extends to Mackenzie and Athabaska rivers. It
would be about two hundred miles wide from north to south. Witness did
not remember the length of it. It is land similar to that of Ontario,
and will grow practically everything that will grow in that province,
except possibly down in the southern peninsula. The summer is warm. The
winter does not count, because things do not grow in winter. There is a
good rainfall. A small part of the district is park country, half
wooded. It is a continuation northward of the Saskatchewan country.
Mr. Tyrrell said he had seen growing in that country all the garden
products that they grow in Ontario—potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage,
cauliflowers and all the ordinary garden produce. He saw excellent
potatoes in the district around Nelson House. He could not say what time
they were planted, because he was not there. The Indians constantly,
when hunting, plant little patches of potatoes here and there in the
spring and leave them all summer and dig them up when they go back to
their hunting grounds in the fall, and use them for their winter supply.
The witness had gone out and dug a pail of beautiful potatoes on several
occasions out of these little Indian patches buried in the woods. They
had never been hoed or cultivated in any way. They were not looked after
from the time they were planted in the spring until they were dug in the
fall. The potatoes seem to be able to grow sufficiently to keep down the
weeds. As a protection against wild animals these potato patches are
usually planted on islands. Witness had not actually seen wheat, barley
nor oats grown in that country. He has fairly good evidence that they
are grown there, but as far as he remembered he had not seen any
himself. He had been told and believed that they grow there. There is no
doubt whatever that the country described will support quite a large
population. North of Lake Winnipeg there is another magnificent area of
from five to ten thousand square miles of as fine country as there is in
Manitoba or anywhere else. When Mr. Tyrrell came out of that district in
1896, after spending a summer there, and said there was
A RICH AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY NORTH OF LAKE WINNIPEG
the Hudson’s Bay Company’s men and the people in the southern country
pooh-poohed the idea. They said they had been up at the head of the lake
and knew there was not a foot of good land there. But Mr. Tyrrell
emphatically declared that there is a magnificent stretch of country
there, which extends westward along the Churchill. These lands north of
Lake Winnipeg are clay lands, an extension of the same basin as the
Manitoba clays.
Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, in his evidence, pointed out that “the effect of the
large body of water in Hudson bay and James bay on the temperature,
summer and winter, of the surrounding country, was the equalizing of it
very much, making the summers colder and the winters milder. There is a
foggy climate around the bay. It is without much sunlight, so that it
has not a chance to dry. The mean temperature of the summer within one
hundred miles of the bay will not be so hot as it is back of that. The
thermometer does not fall very low in winter at Churchill. At the same
time any person will find it terribly cold on that coast, although the
thermometer does not fall very low. There are a great many different
matters in connection with temperature and climate that have to be taken
into consideration. There is the amount of moisture in the air; whether
the barometer is standing low or high; there are a great many of those
things that have to be taken into consideration in any question of frost
or of climate that arises. You may have frost with a north wind, while
if that north wind were blowing up over a wooded country, where all the
leaves were giving out their vapour from the ground into the air, you
would not have a sign of frost.”
As to the climate of the great belt of arable land, that he had
described to the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. Tyrrell said that at
Nelson House the snow leaves the ground in May. There is little or no
summer frost in that wooded country. He understood gardening commences
the end of May, and the frost does not appear in the fall until about
September 20. He had never known the potato crop to be lost through
summer frost.
Asked as to the isothermal line, Mr. Tyrrell remarked that the
isothermal is a line connecting points that have the same mean
temperature for the year round. It has nothing whatever to do with
vegetation. Things do not grow in the winter time. People have got to
put the winter temperature absolutely out of the question. The summer
temperature is the only temperature that counts for growth in the
northern country where there is frost. In dealing with that, you have to
take into consideration as between two places in different latitudes,
the length of the day and the amount of sunlight, in order to get at the
summer temperatures. Of course the sunlight has a great effect on the
growth, and where the days have eighteen hours’ sun a plant will grow
faster than where the day has only fourteen hours.
Mr. Tyrrell submitted to the committee a memorandum from Mr. R. F.
Stupart, Superintendent of the Dominion Meteorological Service,
comparing the temperature conditions of the district between Lake
Winnipeg and Split lake in the several months, May to September, with
European countries, as follows:—
May—50°-40°, with north of Scotland and southern Norway.
June—56°-54°, with Scotland.
July—63°, with south of England.
August—57·5°-55°, with Scotland.
September—50°-45°, with northern Norway and Sweden.
Mr. D. B. Dowling, reporting (Part F. Annual Rep. Geol. Sur. Vol. VII)
on his 1893 explorations (See p. 19) states:—“The agricultural
possibilities of the valley of upper Berens river seem to be limited,
and the areas suitable for cultivation are only to be found in isolated
patches. These are principally in the neighbourhood of the larger lakes.
The Indian reserves have been located with this end in view as they seem
to cover about the best land seen. The soil is a light grey clay with a
little vegetable mould, and the gardens made by the Indians produce
potatoes of fair quality, the only vegetable grown. In the southern part
of the district, better land is found and in greater extent than in
Berens river valley. On Lac Seul, at the mission and trading post, there
are
SEVERAL VERY GOOD GARDENS
in a flourishing condition, with all the ordinary vegetables growing
very satisfactorily. The Indians appear to care little for any gardening
except a very primitive attempt at raising potatoes. Land suitable for
gardening was seen at Mattawa, and indeed the best and largest extent
for this purpose is to be found between Lac Seul and Shallow lake.”
Mr. Dowling, writing of the northern branch of Berens river,
states:—“The land reserved for the Indians on the upper part of this
branch of Berens river, is a small tract situated on the north side of a
long arm or narrows, running to the eastward, from a lake to which the
name Pekangikum is given. The river enters at the eastern end of this
area, coming from Sturgeon lake by a short stretch of river half a mile
in length, in which there are two rapids. The Indian reserve appears
fairly well timbered—principally with Banksian pine of slender growth
and some spruce. The Indians have been able, in building their houses,
to obtain timber of suitable size for the walls and rafters, and spruce
of a diameter of fourteen inches is fairly plentiful. The shores of the
lake are rocky, but strips of country inland appear, on which there is
probably a fair quality of soil, though the surface is generally sandy.
On one of the islands in the larger part of the lake, soil of good
quality (clay) was seen, on which the Indians were growing potatoes. No
doubt there is better land for this purpose on the reserve they have
selected, but as they make their summer camp on a small island near the
deeper part of the lake for the purpose of fishing—by which they mainly
subsist—they naturally utilize the nearest land for their summer
gardens.”
Mr. Dowling, writing in his report of the country north of Lake Winnipeg
and south of Burntwood river, says:—“As the area is situated so far
north of the boundary of Manitoba, it might be presumed that much of it
is unfitted for settlement, but it is discovered that over a large part
there is good soil, and
THE EVIDENCE OF SEVERAL GARDENS
at various posts shows that for all the ordinary vegetables and coarser
grains the climate is not too rigorous. Splendid gardens were found as
far north as Nelson House, which is in the northern part of the area
here mapped. Proper drainage is needed, however, to bring much of the
surface into a condition fit for agriculture. Along the river banks this
is evident, for while the strip bordering the streams produces a great
variety of grasses, shrubs and trees, a short distance back this is
replaced by a swamp covered by moss and stunted spruce. This is more
noticeable in the western part of Nelson valley, where the country is
thickly covered by a coating of clay, and the surface is so uniformly
level that its gradual slope to the east is not sufficient to drain it.
The areas to which it would be possible to introduce a system of
drainage, would at first be restricted to a narrow margin along the
streams. The northwest corner of the district for present purposes may
be classed as without a sufficient soil for agriculture. This may
roughly be outlined as being composed of all the country lying to the
west of a line from the outlet of Burntwood lake to that of Reed lake,
and north of the escarpment which shows the northern limit of the
Trenton limestone. In this the surface is rolling and hilly, the rocky
ridges having a scanty coating of boulder clay and an occasional thicker
deposit in the depressions. It will probably remain the home of the
hunter and the trapper.
“To the south the country, underlain by limestone, has many of the
characters of the northern part of old Manitoba. In the valley of the
Saskatchewan there are large areas of rich soil formed principally by
the river itself, which has brought down an enormous amount of silt from
the upper part of its valley. The western part of the valley of Nelson
river is covered by a thick lacustral deposit which reaches west to
Burntwood lake and east to the channel of Nelson river. In this area
good soil is found in almost every part and where drained would no doubt
make fair farming land.”
Mr. Wm. McInnes describes the country about Winisk and Attawapiskat
rivers, explored by him in 1903, 1904 and 1905, as consisting of three
areas, the first a limestone area, along the bay shore, the second a
boulder clay area, behind it, and the third in rear of it again, a high
interior plateau. As to the latter area, he says:—“Although, considered
as a whole, the central, elevated region cannot be spoken of as
generally adapted for agriculture, there occur basins covered by heavy
deposits of stratified sand and clay that seem to have been laid down in
lakes held in between barriers formed by the walls of the retreating
glacier and ridges of drift. An examination of some of these clays by
Doctor Hoffman shows them to be highly calcareous and somewhat
siliceous, a composition that with the admixture of the surface
vegetable mould should produce an
EXCELLENT SOIL FOR GENERAL AGRICULTURE.
The question of climate, which is, of course, of the utmost importance
when considering the agricultural possibilities of a district, will be
referred to more particularly in another place. It may be said here,
however, that the climatic conditions are, if somewhat adverse, not by
any means prohibitory to the general cultivation of suitably situated
tracts.
“Muskeg, alternating with low ridges of gravel and boulders, covers wide
tracts. It was noticed that the surface drainage became more perfect in
that part of the region extending westerly towards Trout
lake. . . . . . . . . .
“The tract referred to as the boulder clay area consists of a broad belt
of country, about one hundred and fifty-nine miles in width, lying
between the Archaean highlands and the edge of the limestones of the
basin of Hudson bay, overlapping the latter, however, so that the
surface features of the two are generally quite similar. Gently
undulating, and with a slight slope northerly and easterly, its general
surface aspect is that of a great swamp, sparsely covered with stunted
and deformed trees, that reach a growth approaching their normal only
along the immediate banks of the rivers where drainage is afforded by
frequent short gullies into the trenches that constitute the river
valleys. The interior, to within a chain or two of the river-banks,
owing to the impervious character of the till,
IS QUITE UNDRAINED,
and consequently covered by a thick deposit of sphagnum moss from two
feet to ten feet deep, the surface layer still growing, and even the
bottom only bleached a little, but not at all oxidized. The short cool
summer season, and consequent low temperature of the water that
saturates the moss, is probably the principal reason for the absence of
any of the visible effects of decay. The rivers flowing through this
region have no real valleys, that is to say, they occupy trenches but
little wider than the immediate channels in which they flow, cut down
through the stiff, tough till, which stands up in nearly vertical walls
that rise from the freshet mark on either side. At low stages of the
water a slanting beach, often paved with boulders, slopes gradually from
the foot of the bank to the edge of the diminished channel. A more or
less continuous layer of marine clay, rich in fossil shells, overlies
the boulder clay, ensuring, wherever it is present, a soil of good
quality. The absence of other than swamp vegetation must be ascribed,
then, to the almost total absence of drainage, and to the generally
unfavorable climatic conditions.
“In the matter of the actual cultivation of these northern areas we have
little to go upon. At the Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts at Fort Hope and
Osnaburgh potatoes have been grown and small gardens maintained from the
time of the establishment of the posts, and little difficulty has been
experienced in maturing the common garden vegetables of Ontario, though
occasionally the frosts of late summer have cut off all but the hardier
kinds. As the posts were located with a view to their favourable
situation for the purposes of the fur trade with the Indians, neither
one is situated on ground well suited for cultivation, and much better
results might reasonably be expected were trials made on more favorably
situated tracts. An Indian cultivating a small garden plot at the head
of the Pineimuta branch of Attawapiskat river succeeds in raising good
crops of potatoes and turnips.”
As to this part of the country drained by Winisk and Attawapiskat
rivers, Mr. McInnes in his report says:—“The climate, as would be
expected in these latitudes, and in a wilderness country approximately a
thousand feet above sea-level, is somewhat severe. The summer
temperature, though on occasional days rising as high as 85° Fahr.,
averages very much lower, and the nights are practically always cool.
Frosty nights often continue into the early summer, and recur again in
the autumn before most grain-crops would be ready for harvesting.
Temperatures were taken with the thermometer during two seasons, and
these, averaged, gave the following results for the months of July and
August on lower Winisk river, and for July, August and part of September
on upper Winisk and upper Attawapiskat rivers:—
6 a.m. noon. 6 p.m.
Lower Winisk river 57° 69° 57°
Upper Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers 47.5° 61.6° 58°
“The only points in the region where any attempts at cultivation of the
land are made are the two Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts at Osnaburgh,
near the foot of Lake St. Joseph, and at Fort Hope, on Eabamet lake.
“At these posts small kitchen gardens and potato-fields are maintained
with some success, though neither place is favourably situated for the
purpose, the soil in both cases consisting of an almost pure sand.
Timothy and clover grow luxuriantly, and all the common
GARDEN VEGETABLES THRIVE AT BOTH PLACES.
Indian corn, however, is not sufficiently filled out for table use when
caught by the frost. Barley has been successfully grown at Osnaburgh,
and the potato crop, wherever a suitable tract of land has been
utilized, has been generally fairly good at both places.
“The first killing frost in 1903 occurred on the night of September 3,
and in 1904 on the night of August 30.”
Mr. McInnes (Geol. Survey Report for 1906, pp. 87 and following)
describes the region explored by him in that year as follows:—
“It is bounded by north latitude 53° 50′ and 56° 10′, and by west
longitude 99° 15′ and 101° 15′. Its general elevation above the sea is
between seven hundred and nine hundred feet. . . . . For purposes of
general description it may, in a broad way, be divided into three areas;
the limestone area embracing all the tract underlaid by the horizontal
or gently undulating, magnesian limestones or dolomites of northern
Manitoba; the Archaean area, a somewhat broken and rugged country
extending from the northern edge of the limestone escarpment northward
and eastward until covered by the lacustrine sediments of the third or
clay area. The latter, a gently rolling, clay-covered country, extends
from the valley of Nelson river on the east to a contour, westerly,
where the general elevation of the land is in the vicinity of nine
hundred feet above the sea, or to approximately west longitude 99° 30′.
The northern edge of the clay basin was not reached, but the Indians of
Burntwood river region agree in saying that Churchill river valley forms
its most northerly extension. The last of the three divisions is,
generally, well suited for cultivation, but throughout the first two the
areas suitable for agriculture are of limited extent. No part of the
region is prairie though along some of the valleys, and here and there
on the uplands, are found extensive hay marshes, with only occasional
small clumps of willows, that, with drainage, would become virtually
prairie lands. . . . . Northwest of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at
Split lake the country is generally low, swampy and intersected by a
network of small lakes; near Waskaiowaka lake, however, an extension
northeasterly of the clay land of lower Burntwood valley forms a
comparatively dry ridge.”
A GARDEN IN NEW MANITOBA.
Speaking of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading post at Norway House, Mr.
McInnes said:—“The chief factor in charge of the district cultivates a
large garden, where, on June 10, peas, beans, beets and other vegetables
were well started. Wheat had been successfully grown here as well as at
Cross lake farther down the river, in latitude 54° 40′. There are many
tracts of land along the river suitable for cultivation, though for long
stretches the banks show only rounded surfaces of biotite gneiss, smooth
and glaciated. The cultivable areas are confined to tracts overlain by
lacustrine clays which alternate along the shores with glacial gravels
and the bare rock surfaces devoid of any soil cover.”
* * * * *
Mr. McInnes also reports:—“Below Cross lake no land is under
cultivation until Split lake is reached, just north of latitude 56°,
where the postmaster for the Hudson’s Bay Company raises potatoes and
the commoner garden vegetables.”
* * * * *
Mr. McInnes reports that, ascending Burntwood river a few miles above
Odei or Hart river, there is much land “apparently well adapted for
cultivation. The clay is entirely free from boulders, and mixed near the
surface with enough vegetable humus to produce a friable and seemingly
productive soil. The gentle slopes give good natural drainage, and the
open character of the forests makes it a country easily cleared. For the
next nineteen miles the river valley and neighboring country present the
same general aspect. Where the valleys of the main river and the Odei
approach one another they are separated only by a dividing ridge a
little over a mile across, and a hundred and fifty feet high. The ridge
is clay covered to the flat summit, where knolls of gneiss project.
Beyond the valley of the Odei, to the north, is a rolling forested
country with hills clay-covered to the tops, rising by gradual slopes to
about a hundred feet above the intervening valleys, that are themselves
from twenty to fifty feet above the river level. For the next
twenty-eight miles the river, flowing in a rock-bound basin, has the
character of a long, narrow lake from half a mile to over a mile in
width. Covering the well-rounded ledges of gneiss that form the
immediate shores is the same thick mantle of clay forming
A COUNTRY OF VERY ATTRACTIVE APPEARANCE.
Rising gradually from the river level to heights of from twenty to fifty
feet, a flat or gently sloping plateau extends back from two to three
miles to another rise, where the general level is increased to about a
hundred feet. Recurring forest fires have not only denuded this section
of its trees, but the stumps have for the most part been burned away, so
that it is now covered only by an open growth of small white birch,
poplar, willow and Banksian pine, with an undergrowth of vetches,
grasses and small shrubs. Just above is Manasan falls where the river
pitches over a ledge of gneiss with a vertical descent of thirty feet.
“Above Manasan falls,” Mr. McInnes continues, “the river expands again
to form a long, narrow lake for the next ten miles of its upward course.
The same rolling clay plateau extends back from both shores of the lake,
rising gradually to an undulating, higher tract, perhaps one hundred
feet above the lake level. The forest growth is still very open,
allowing a good surface carpet of grasses, vetches and other vegetation.
Diversified here and there by small open tracts where the grass-covered
surface is free from trees, this country often presents quite a
park-like aspect. Throughout all the clay-covered region the absence of
erratics is striking; for miles no perched boulders nor transported
materials of any kind; other than the lacustrine sediments, are seen,
and even the country rock is deeply hidden under the heavy clay deposits
that seem to be very homogeneous throughout, not laid down in thin
layers as in the case of many clays of apparently similar origin in
eastern Canada, but, if stratified at all, only in very heavy beds that
seldom show their bedding planes. For the next fifteen miles to
Wuskwatim lake, the river has a quicker descent and its course is broken
by several small rapids. The surrounding country is slightly higher,
rising in places about two hundred feet above the river, and more
steeply from its shores. From the south shore a clay-covered bench a
quarter of a mile wide rises to a comparatively steep slope to a height
of one hundred and thirty feet, and extends back for miles at about that
level, with a gently undulating surface, free from boulders or rock,
excepting very rare exposures. As a matter of fact, but one small knoll
of the underlying rock was actually seen, rising through the clay at a
point about two miles back from the river. The Indians report that this
plateau-like country extends right across to the valley of Grassy river
with only gently swelling ridges and no high hills.”
Mr. McInnes estimates the size of Wuskwatim lake as eight miles by four,
with a long bay extending to the west from its southern end. He states
that “on all sides of the lake are large tracts of
NEARLY LEVEL CLAY LAND
extending back for several miles at heights of from fifteen to fifty
feet above water level, and beyond that continuing at a level of a
little over one hundred feet. . . . . The grass-covered slopes that rise
with very gentle gradients from the shores of the lake, make this a
country of most attractive appearance and one that apparently would be
well suited for cultivation. The Indian inhabitants of this section
cultivate with success small garden patches of potatoes.”
Country of the same general character, Mr. McInnes states, extends for
thirty miles up the valley of the Burntwood above Wuskwatim lake.
On the shores of Footprint lake, in latitude 55° 45′, small fields of
potatoes planted by the Indians were looking remarkably well, the vines
being eleven inches in height and about ready to blossom when this
locality was visited by Mr. McInnes, July 10, 1906. Above the lake broad
flats extend back from the river on both sides, rising, from half a mile
to a mile back, to fifty feet above the river. The greater part of the
flats and practically all the high land has been burned over within
twenty years, and is clothed now with an open growth of small mixed
timber; the land is free from boulders and gravel and has a good carpet
of native grasses, including such good meadow forms as the blue-joint
(_Calamagrostis canadensis_, _Calamagrostis hyperborea_) and the wild
rye (_Elymus dasystachum_). The open character of the forest permits a
somewhat luxuriant growth of these grasses, mixed with vetches,
strawberry vines, etc., and with currant, gooseberry and other small
shrubs and bushes.
“The land lying to the southward of the most southerly bend of the river
was found to rise with a comparatively steep slope to a height of sixty
feet above the river, and to extend back as a level clay-covered plain
with about five inches of clay-loam soil well mixed with vegetable
matter gradually merging downwards into pure clay. The plateau has a
gently rolling surface, the bottoms of the hollows, where small areas of
muskeg often occur, having a deviation forty feet lower than the slopes
of the ridges, and the highest land reaching not more than one hundred
feet above the river. For six miles back, the areas of muskeg that are
not sphagnum swamps, but rather grassy marshes, are comparatively
insignificant in extent, the higher land, wooded with Banksian pine,
poplar and spruce and diversified by many open grassy glades, largely
preponderating. Beyond this, however, a broad belt of wet, grassy marsh
land extends southwesterly across to the heads of brooks running into
Grass river below Wekusko lake, and forms practically the western limit
of the clay-covered uplands, though in the river valleys and along the
flanks of their bordering hills the clay land extends much farther west.
“Of the whole of this extensive plateau land, extending from the valley
of the Nelson river westward to near Burntwood and Wekusko lakes (west
longitude 90° 45′), northerly to beyond latitude 56°, and southerly to
the limestone escarpment, an area of
ABOUT TEN THOUSAND SQUARE MILES,
it may be said to be characterized by a heavy clay soil entirely free
from boulders. Lacustrine clays, composed of the rock flour once held in
suspension by glacial streams and deposited by them as they reached the
quiet waters of a great lake, are essentially the soils of this region.
There is no distinct surface soil clearly separable from the clay
subsoil; the one merges gradually into the other, the clayey character
of the soil being strongly apparent at the very surface where merely the
shallow cover of decaying leaves and other vegetation is scraped away.
Generally, for from five inches to over a foot down, the clay is deep
brown in colour from the admixture of vegetable matter, and quite
friable, and rootlets of even the smaller surface vegetation reach down
far below this level, though on the tops of many of the ridges the
light-buff coloured clay, without any appreciable coloration from
vegetable matter, comes quite to the surface. The rolling character of
the plateau generally provides fair drainage, but over considerable
areas in its central portion, far from the valleys of the larger
streams, there are large tracts that have not sufficient gradients for
the proper flow of the surface water, and which could be made available
for agricultural uses only by being artificially drained. The western
limit of the good country is about longitude 99° 45′.”
[Illustration: Portage on Moose river.]
Mr. McInnes reports that the country lying to the south of Reed and
Wekusko lakes, and stretching to Saskatchewan valley, contains very few
tracts of land suitable for settlement. Practically only the river
valleys, a few tracts adjoining some of the lakes, and parts of some of
the slopes flanking the limestone ridges, can be considered as affording
land suitable for cultivation. The upland is generally almost bare of
soil, flat-lying limestones forming its actual surfaces, and the slopes,
though covered to a good depth by clay, are for the most part too
bouldery for tillage. Limited tracts occur here and there, suitable for
individual holdings notably near some of the principal lakes. Of the
agricultural possibilities of the country south of Reed and Wuskwatim
lakes, Mr. McInnes writes:—“Experimentally but little is known of its
capabilities, though we have instances here and there throughout the
area, to beyond its northerly limit, of the cultivation of all sorts of
garden vegetables, including, at The Pas,
TOMATOES AND INDIAN CORN.
On September 6 of this year (1906), Indian corn well headed out was seen
in Mr. Halcrow’s garden at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post, the ears
large and full and quite fit for table use. The Indian, never a very
enthusiastic agriculturist, succeeds everywhere in getting good crops of
potatoes, and at the homestead of an old settler named George Cowan, on
Cormorant lake, an exceptionally good yield of very large potatoes was
being dug in September.”
Mr. McInnes, during his explorations in 1906, gave particular attention
to the question of climate, which he rightly considered of vital
importance in connection with this region. He kept a careful record of
temperatures, and from the time it was begun, on June 19, until the
night of September 29, when the thermometer fell to 26, there was no
frost that affected even tender vegetation. On the night of August 10
the temperature fell to the freezing point, but did not get low enough
to do damage, at least not in the valley of Grassy river, though some of
the potato vines on the summit of the high ridge north of The Pas were
slightly touched. Mr. McInnes said he was convinced that the district is
not at all too cold for general agricultural operations. The longer
daily duration of summer sunlight in these high latitudes, he points out
in his report, must be taken into consideration, and, for purposes of
comparison with more southerly localities, yearly averages of
temperature are of no value. A region lying in a higher latitude, though
showing a lower yearly average temperature, may, during the growing
months, owing to its longer hours of sunshine, have quite as good an
average as one farther south. Mr. McInnes’s record showed that during
July the temperature at 6 o’clock p.m. was equal to or higher than the
noon temperature on fifteen days; during August on nine days; during
September on eight days. The 6 p.m. averages for these months were lower
than the noon averages by only 1°, 1½° and 2° respectively. For the
purpose of comparison, Mr. McInnes procured from the Director of the
Meteorological Service at Toronto an abstract of the same summer’s
temperatures at Minnedosa, Stony Mountain, Hillview and Brandon, and,
comparing them with his record, he concluded that the country along the
route of the proposed railway to the bay
IS CONSPICUOUSLY WARMER
than the same latitude four hundred miles further east.
Mr. McInnes, examined before the select committee of the Senate in 1907,
declared that the whole region from Split lake to a line about forty
miles north of the Saskatchewan is a clay-covered country. After leaving
Split lake, ascending the river, this clay-covered country shows
absolutely no boulders and no gravel. Even the shores of the lakes,
until you reach a height of about eight hundred feet, show no gravel
bars at all. There is absolutely nothing to interfere with the
cultivation of the soil there. It is a country that has been burnt over.
The witness assumed that Burntwood river got its name that way. It has
been subject to repeated burns. At the present time it is covered by a
very open forest. Grasses grow fairly luxuriantly. There are two species
of this, blue joint grass and a wild rye, that are the prevailing
grasses. He understood from Professor Macoun, though he was not very
familiar with the grasses himself, that these are very excellent meadow
grasses, and make excellent fodder. Mr. McInnes left Norway House in the
second week of June, and made the circuit and came out at The Pas on
September 6, so it was in June, July and August he was there. He saw
grass growing from eighteen inches to two feet high.
The witness computed the area of this country at about ten thousand
square miles. He did not mean to say, he explained, that all of that ten
thousand square miles is good land, but the basin characterized by this
deposit of clay has an area of about ten thousand square miles. It is
bounded on the north by Churchill river. The witness was at about the
centre of the basin. The Indians told him it extended north to the basin
of Churchill river. Beyond that, northwards, mud and gravel took the
place of clay. Starting at The Pas and proceeding towards Churchill, the
witness first passed through about one hundred and forty miles of
country underlaid by the flat limestone of northern Manitoba. He walked
for miles over
HILLS OF ALMOST BARE LIMESTONE
with hardly any soil. Beyond that—that is, about the contour he had
spoken of where this clay was deposited, there is about one hundred and
seventy miles to Split lake (Split lake is about two hundred and fifty
miles from The Pas), possibly in a straight line about as the railway is
projected, that is characterized by these clay deposits.
As to the flat country in Keewatin, beyond this clay area, it is a
country of a different character. The witness proceeded from the Albany
one hundred miles across country by the portage route to a large lake on
Agnooski river and then another one hundred miles across to Winisk lake,
and down Winisk river to the sea, and he crossed through the country
between Agnooski and Winisk by three different routes, perhaps forty or
fifty miles east and west from one route to the next, and the country is
very much the same character. It is a country that is very much denuded.
The country generally is characterized by hills of boulder and gravel
and intermediate valleys very largely muskeg. Except in the immediate
valleys of the larger rivers there is very little land that would be
suitable for agriculture. From one hundred and fifty miles inland down
to the sea, the country is of an entirely different character again;
that is to say, it is country that is originally overlain by from a very
few feet at its edge to one hundred feet or more, a very tough
impervious boulder clay, which holds up the water, and on which the
drainage, up to the present time, is of a very imperfect character. The
present drainage of that area is comparatively recent, and imperfect. An
instance of its imperfection is seen in Winisk river. There is a lake
near the head of the Winisk from which the main river flows, and from
which the west branch flows north. They come together at a point
(following the main stream) two hundred and fifty miles below, inclosing
an island two hundred and fifty miles long. There are two other islands
of this character
ALONG WINISK RIVER,
one eighty miles in length and the other about fifty.
The Winisk is a good large river. Mr. McInnes estimated the flow at some
twenty-five thousand cubic feet per second. It runs in size somewhere
between the Gatineau and the Ottawa, not quite so large as the Ottawa,
but larger than the Gatineau. Over the whole of the country in the last
one hundred and fifty miles down to Hudson bay, granting the proper
climate and proper drainage, this green clay would make an excellent
soil. In fact it is quite the same as the clay in the vicinity of
Ottawa, practically clay of the same soil, and is very impervious. There
are little streams running into the sides of the river, but they cut
very sharp-walled trenches, as steep as boulder clay will stand, and
that means an angle of say sixty degrees, eighty to ninety feet high.
You get on top of these banks and you have a mossy place, sometimes six
feet of moss. It is never peat, never having turned into peat. It is
simply a green moss which is pressed into layers of a couple of feet in
thickness at the bottom of the six or ten feet, but never apparently
oxydized or never carbonized at all, practically unchanged. The growth
is going on still. It is merely the successive layers which are pressed
down by subsequent layers on top of them, so that in places the
thickness is quite ten feet. There are no grasses in that mossy district
in the valley of the Winisk. A river of that size in places has some
shores, perhaps a quarter of a mile, here and there, beyond the actual
shore of the river, and it is grassy there. That is, there are
occasional bottom lands, but there is no extent of them. Mr. McInnes did
not think there is an agricultural country in that eastern district. It
is entirely different from the country of which he had been previously
speaking.
Upon Nelson river wheat has been grown successfully at Norway House, and
also at Cross lake. The Hudson’s Bay Company grow no grain at any of
their Keewatin posts nowadays. In the old days they grew it and ground
it in hand mills. Mr. McInnes saw potatoes that were grown about fifty
miles north of The Pas. “They were quite showy potatoes, great large
fellows like those you see exhibited in fairs—tremendously large, grown
on practically new land, and they had a very large crop of them.” There
are no settlers in Nelson district. The Indians, however, grow potatoes
at several points, even in the northern part of it, as far north as
Nelson House, about latitude 55° 50′. On July 11, when Mr. McInnes
arrived at Nelson House, the Indian potatoes had vines about eleven
inches high, and were almost ready to flower. When he got out on
September 6 to the Saskatchewan, at the Hudson’s Bay post there, at The
Pas, Indian corn was very well headed out, with very large fine ears
quite ready for table use, and there was no frost until September 29. He
knew that because he stayed there until then.
With eighteen hours of the daylight, and no frost in the summer,
vegetation is rapid. In a country where you can ripen Indian corn you
can grow practically anything.
Mr. McInnes explained that he could not closely indicate the isothermal
line on the part of the country he had explored the previous year, but
he could say that the country averaged in the summer months from four to
five degrees higher temperature than the same latitude farther west. He
thought that
THE ISOTHERMAL LINE
which would go past the north end of the country he had been speaking
of, would come down as far as the north shore of Lake Superior, which
would be a very long distance south. He had records kept during all
summer of the temperatures through that western country, and he had a
summary of the record kept in the preceding summers. He was rather
surprised at the warmth of that western country in summer, and at the
way heat kept up in the evenings. He kept the thermometer readings
morning, noon and six o’clock in the evening, and found the six o’clock
temperatures were almost as warm as the noon temperatures. That country
has a very long day in summer. The day in those high latitudes is very
much longer, and the growing time proportionately longer. In June they
have about eighteen hours of daylight.
As to the district where he found the one hundred and seventy miles of
agricultural land he had described, he reached there only about the
middle of June. There was no frost in the balance of June or in July,
and no frost in August, excepting once, on, he thought, the 29th, when
the thermometer dropped just to freezing point. There was not enough
frost to touch vegetation at all in the valley of the river where he
was. He noticed when he got out to the Saskatchewan there was rather a
high ridge on which there were a lot of half-breed settlers. He got
there on September 6, and noticed on top of the hills where they had
potatoes that they had been touched just on the tops, but down in the
villages the potatoes in the garden of the Hudson’s Bay post had not
been touched at all. He presumed that was the frost on August 29.
Owen O’Sullivan, C.E., of the Geological Survey of Canada, was one of
the witnesses before the Senate committee of 1907. He explained that in
1904 he was engaged as assistant to Mr. Wilson in examining the west
coast of James bay. They went up the river Kapiskau for one hundred and
fifty miles and surveyed it, and found mostly swampy ground, right to
about the headwaters of the Kapiskau, longitude 86°. His impression was
that the whole coast from the southern extremity of James bay, at the
mouth of the Hurricane, up to Cape Henrietta Maria, for an average of
one hundred miles in depth, is mostly swampy ground. It is partly peat
and wet spagnol (wet moss). There is a bluff of small spruce isolated
here and there.
In 1905 he was sent to survey the coast between York Factory and Cape
Henrietta Maria. The shore between these points was swampy as far inland
as he could walk in two or three days.
Mr. O’Sullivan testified that during the summer of 1906 he started from
Split lake, on the Nelson, and made for the headwaters of Little
Churchill river, going down the Little Churchill to the Big Churchill.
The country between Split lake and Big lake is mostly swampy. The
country about Big lake is a good loamy soil, with easy slopes
surrounding the lakes. From Big lake to the Big Churchill the country is
rocky and swampy, with a good deal of good loamy soil in places—a rich
clay loam. The rock is mostly granite and gneiss. It is very hard to
find out whether the land is suitable for agriculture on such an
expedition. It is hard to know the extent of the soil, but Mr.
O’Sullivan thought
THE CLIMATE WAS SUITABLE FOR AGRICULTURE.
There are lots of boulders all through the country, but it is possible
to cultivate what there is of the land. There are places where the land
extends to the size of a dozen townships, and then there would be three
or four times that much without having in it enough arable land to make
a good-sized township. In the vicinity of Churchill there is grass in
the valleys of very good quality. It occurs about half-way down the
Little Churchill.
Good potatoes are raised at Split lake. Mr. O’Sullivan had obtained a
bag of potatoes grown there. They were rather small, but very palatable.
That was in June, and they were grown the previous year. Split lake from
the coast, by the Nelson, would be about one hundred and seventy-five
miles. He went down Nelson river and north to Churchill. The general
character of the country from James bay farther north is good,
agriculturally. The country from Split lake rises to Wabishkok about two
hundred feet. That is about thirty miles in a straight line. Besides
potatoes, he had seen turnips, cabbage and lettuce growing, and all
appeared to be very good. The potato vines in September were touched
with frost rather severely. The potatoes were taken up on August 23 and
25, 1906.
Mr. O’Sullivan stated that he had been up near the head of Lake
Winnipeg, where the river leaves the lake. There is good agricultural
land around there. He never had such good potatoes as at Cross lake. He
did not see them growing, but had them in June and also in September.
The June potatoes would be the previous crop, and the September ones
possibly the new crop. They do not grow any grain there; they have no
cattle, and there are no settlers in there. The Hudson’s Bay factor
raised the potatoes. He had just enough to keep his own family. He had
them in three or four different quarters. Mr. O’Sullivan saw lettuce and
turnips growing at Churchill.
Mr. J. W. McLaggan, of Strathcona, Alberta, in 1907, made an exploratory
trip over a portion of the same country as Mr. McInnes, but going
farther west. He left Prince Albert on August 2 and reached The Pas on
August 15. On August 25 he crossed Clearwater lake. He describes the
country he passed through as low and swampy, and
WILD BERRIES OF ALL KINDS
as plentiful. The land north of Cormorant lake he found to be of good
clay loam, and capable of being farmed successfully on a small scale
after being cleared. A garden of potatoes, turnips, carrots and cabbages
looked well, and on August 27
SHOWED NO EVIDENCE OF FROST.
On upper Cowan river there are small hay meadows; the rest of the land
is poor and hard to clear. Approaching Reed lake the soil is a clay loam
which could be farmed if drained. The country about Herb lake and river
is rocky, with patches of fair land, suitable for raising vegetable and
garden produce. When the rapids of Grass river are passed the country
becomes low, but in places there is good soil of clay loam with sand,
and towards Setting lake there are good hay meadows. Although the
country between Setting and Paint lakes is very rough and rocky, there
is some good land. To the north of Paint lake there is a limited
quantity of good land; about Methy lake Mr. McLaggan considers the land
of little value for farming. Between Reed lake and Elbow lake there are
some small spots of good land, but as a general thing the country is
rough, rocky and swampy. The country between Elbow and Cranberry lakes
is mainly muskeg. There are some patches of good land towards the lower
end of Cranberry lake. There are some small hay meadows between
Cranberry and Athapapuskow lakes, but the ground is generally rocky with
some muskeg. There are some stretches of fairly good land along the
lower part of Goose river but the country generally is rough and rocky.
The country about the upper end of Goose lake was found to be boggy and
of very little use.
ALONG GOOSE RIVER, BELOW THE LAKE,
there is quite a tract of fairly good land, and there is another on the
Sturgeon, between the mouth of Goose river and Cumberland lake. The soil
is a clay loam mixed with a little sand. It is covered with brush and
small poplar and would be easy to clear.
Mr. McLaggan, after his trip, stated that the growing season seemed to
be satisfactory, “and where good land is found there should be no
trouble to raise good crops of all hardy grains and vegetables, but the
greatest drawback to farming would be the difficulty of making waggon
roads from place to place, as the country between the spots of good land
is rough and rocky.”
The climate seemed good to Mr. McLaggan. In the first week of September
the foliage was green; there was no sign of severe frost, and
butterflies, hornets and other insects were numerous and active. The
first frost noted was on August 31, “but not enough to damage wheat.”
The weather was fine in the morning and it rained in the afternoon. On
September 13 he noted that the weather was fine but cold, with a heavy
frost in the morning; that the leaves were falling, and that it began to
look like autumn. Considerable rain followed, which, on October 4, gave
place to snow, to be followed again by rain. The night of October 7 is
noted as the first really cold one of the season, but the morning
brought rain. There was snow again on October 8 with high wind and ice
on the water along the shore of Goose lake. It was “fine and warm” on
October 11, and “clear and cold” on October 13 when he reached The Pas
on his return.
W. Thibaudeau, C.E., states in his report (See p. 23):—“At Churchill,
potatoes, turnips and other vegetables have been successfully raised at
the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fort. For many years cattle and horses have
been successfully kept and bred at the Hudson’s Bay post; excellent
butter was also made. Splendid pasture and hay meadows are found on both
sides of the river above the harbour for a known distance of thirty-five
miles. At the head of Button bay there is an area of two thousand acres
upon which
GOOD HAY CAN BE CUT,
which has been pronounced by Professor Macoun as affording excellent
forage. Wild black and red currants and gooseberries are found in great
quantities, and are equal, if not superior in flavour, to garden
produce. Barrels of black currants can be picked around Fort Prince of
Wales. Cranberries exist in great abundance everywhere. Other berries
which are indigenous to the climate abound.”
As to the region examined in his exploration trip from Churchill to The
Pas, Mr. Thibaudeau states:—
“About thirty-five per cent. of the country travelled through is marshy
and swampy; more or less hay is grown. Under marsh or swamps the soil is
generally clay. I have no doubt that when the swamps and marshes are
drained, and the moss is stripped, they will be susceptible to farming
operations between Churchill and The Pas, and at a later period, after
the northwest is settled, this land will become valuable.”
Mr. John Armstrong, in his report of the preliminary survey conducted
under his direction in 1908 and 1909 for the proposed railway to Hudson
bay, mentions that as the greater portion of the survey work was
completed during the winter months when the ground was frozen and
covered with snow, it was impossible to obtain much information on the
subject of agricultural land and minerals. He continues:—“It may be
remarked here, however, that although these lands may require more or
less improvement in the way of clearing and drainage, the fact that they
are situated within a few hours’ run of an ocean port may give to these
lands a value not hitherto thought of, and may cause a more rapid
settlement than expected. At the inland Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts all
kinds of grain and vegetables have been grown successfully for years. A
study of the records of the Meteorological Office indicates that the
climate is quite as favourable for farming operations as that of Prince
Albert.”
[Illustration: Typical country on Hudson Bay Railway Survey.]
During the summer of 1910, an inspection of the timber along the line of
the proposed Hudson Bay Railway from The Pas to Split lake was made by
J. R. Dickson, B.S.A., M.S.F., Assistant Inspector of Dominion Forest
Reserves, and his report was printed by the Forestry Branch of the
Department of the Interior, as a Special Bulletin (No. 17) in 1911. Mr.
Dickson’s exploration covered a distance of some two hundred and
thirty-five miles along the line of railway. The line of inspection
followed was along the waterways on the northwest side of
THE PROPOSED LINE OF RAILWAY,
from which men were sent in at intervals of a few miles in each
direction so as to locate the timber. On the return journey the waterway
route to the south of the line was taken and similar inspections made
from it. The special object was to locate and estimate the areas of
commercially valuable timber that could be made use of in the work of
constructing the railways, and as a result a good idea of the character
and location of the timber along the line has been obtained.
The route followed by the party was from The Pas to Moose lake, thence
by portage to Mitishto river, down that stream and via Setting, Paint,
Wintering, Landing and Sipiwesk lakes to Cross lake. From the last
mentioned lake the party crossed to Minago river, and via that stream,
Moose lake and the Saskatchewan returned to The Pas. The area covered
was estimated by Mr. Dickson at eight thousand square miles. In addition
to the information about the timber of this district given in this
report there are many facts as to the topography of the country and its
natural resources.
Mr. Dickson’s party found that except for a varying percentage of rock
outcrop usually in the form of low ridges covered by stunted jackpines,
there is a great muskeg extending northeast along the whole course of
Mitishto river, and appearing in fact to blanket the entire watershed in
the region between Saskatchewan and Grass river systems.
Mr. Dickson’s exploring party, in passing from Setting lake to Cross
lake, by way of Paint, Wintering, Landing and Sipiwesk lakes, traversed
part of the so-called “clay-belt” which, according to Mr. Dickson’s
report “contains upon the whole from fifty per cent. to seventy-five per
cent. of arable land and probably has
A GOOD AGRICULTURAL FUTURE.”
The report as to the rocks and soils of the area explored says:—“The
bedrock for one hundred miles northeast of The Pas is
limestone—probably largely dolomite—and it frequently obtrudes through
the muskegs or shallow soils which blanket it. These outcrops form low,
narrow, flattened ridges, rising just above the general level of the
muskeg, and nearly always running northeast and southwest. The line of
contact between this limestone area and the Laurentian granite (upon
which it rests conformably) runs northwest and southeast from a point
ten miles east of Limestone bay on Lake Winnipeg across the southwest
end of Hill lake on Minago river to Cameron falls on the Mitishto,
thence passing in a westerly direction along the south shores of Reed,
Wekusko and Cranberry lakes. Along this line, especially in the vicinity
of Hill lake, there is a zone of deep clays of very promising
agricultural value. In the area of granite farther north, the whole
future, so far as agriculture or forestry is concerned, depends upon the
general depth of the boulder clay. From the mere fact that it is a drift
deposit, this depth constantly varies, but only a detailed soil survey
of each township could show where and how much. There are large areas of
almost pure rock outcrop and muskeg of little or no value even for
timber production. But in general, over the great clay belt, the soil,
which is almost uniformly
A VERY TENACIOUS BOULDER CLAY
(nearly free of boulders, however), averages between four and twelve
feet in depth, quite deep enough, therefore, for cultivation. It must be
understood that no hard and fast boundary line can be laid down as
showing the confines of this clay belt. The change is often so gradual,
and so many as yet unknown factors enter—as, for instance, soil depth
and possibilities of drainage—that any estimate of the bounds, area and
average arable content of this belt can, with our present very limited
knowledge, be given only in general terms. I estimate the area of that
portion included from north to south between Wintering and Cross lakes,
and from east to west between Setting and Sipiwesk lakes at two thousand
square miles.
“With regard to soil conditions, drainage is the great necessity
everywhere. To render the soil fertile for cropping, the heavy stiff
boulder clay must be opened up to the action of the air. Probably the
use of a subsoil plough might obviate the necessity for underdrainage
over large areas. But however secured, aëration is necessary to change
the present cold, dead, impervious soil to a warm, porous, friable one,
full of bacterial life, available plant food, and resulting fertility.
The soil is exactly similar to that around Cochrane in New Ontario,
which yields such large returns under right treatment.”
Mr. Dickson says in his report:—“The climate and the soil conditions
are the two basic factors which determine farming value. Where frequent
or recent fires have not resulted in the formation of purely ‘temporary’
or ‘fire types’—as e.g., young jackpine on heavy clay—a study of the
existing flora answers many questions as to the climate and the soil. On
well-drained spots as far north as Split lake the flora is almost
identical with that of similar sites in Riding mountains of Manitoba,
proving that during the growing season these localities lie under one
and the same isotherm, or nearly so, And yet Riding mountains are nearly
four hundred miles southwest of Split lake. Two other factors which help
vegetation in this northern clay belt are the low absolute
elevation—only five hundred to seven hundred feet—and the large
proportion of sunlight during the growing season, because of the long
day. No doubt also the large proportion of the country covered by water
has a tendency to prevent late spring and early fall frosts. In the
absence of weather records, it is impossible to say whether the summer
of 1910 was an average season or not, but certainly it was favourable
for farming operations. There were showers every week and the growth of
the native vegetation
WAS AMAZINGLY RAPID.
The total annual precipitation, including two or three feet of snow,
would appear to be about the same as for western Ontario, to wit, thirty
to forty inches. At Cross lake no damaging frosts occurred between June
8 and September 11, an interval of ninety-three days. But as a
‘sixty-day’ oat or barley in Ontario will mature in that region in
forty-five or fifty days—a general rule which applies as well to
fruits, roots and vegetables—there would appear to be no difficulty
from a climatic standpoint in growing all the hardier products of the
temperate zone. The size and the quality of the wild fruits between
Setting and Split lakes were first-class. During the last week of July
we enjoyed ripe raspberries, gooseberries, black and red currants,
blueberries, saskatoons and strawberries (late ones). The first three
mentioned were especially fine—the bushes loaded down with fruit as
large and juicy as many tame varieties in Ontario. The average
temperature of the growing season is about 60° Fahrenheit. Certainly
vegetables will grow to perfection anywhere between Cross lake and
Nelson House. At the former we ate potatoes weighing a pound and a half
each, dug on the last day of August, and when we left on September 10
the corn and tomatoes were still untouched by frost. I would
respectfully point out the advisability of the Dominion Government
placing several small experimental stations at suitable points within
the limits of this clay belt to make careful test of its seasonal
variations and cropping possibilities. When the railway is completed
such information will be of the utmost value to intending settlers. The
winters are quite as enjoyable as in Manitoba—probably more so. Mr.
Clifford, one of the railway location engineers, who has spent two years
between The Pas and Split lake, assured me that he
LIKED THE WINTER SEASON THERE
much better than the summer. Whereas in many parts of the continent the
summer of 1910 was a peculiarly dry one, in Keewatin it was just the
opposite. Rain fell frequently, and high winds, especially nor’easters
from Hudson bay, were almost constant and occasioned us some loss of
time on the larger lakes.”
Mr. William Beech, for many years back, and still, a resident of
Churchill, in a communication to the press in 1911, wrote:—“The opinion
generally entertained concerning the country around the bay and at
Churchill is that it is a barren waste, covered with ice and snow for
the greater part of the year, and devoid of any vegetation whatever. The
opinion is an erroneous one. At the head of the bay there is an area of
from two thousand to three thousand acres where in the summer months
good hay can be cut, and which Professor Macoun has pronounced as
affording excellent forage. There are many other places also where the
same condition exists, and where the country is covered with a rich
thick growth of grass. It would surprise you, wouldn’t it, if I should
tell you that there are at least half a dozen different species of wild
fruit which flourish in great abundance in the rocks and among the
mosses throughout the country round the bay. Wild black and red
currants, gooseberries, cranberries, crowfoot berries, and baked apple
berries may be gathered by the bushel in season, and make the very best
of preserves, so that we don’t really have to depend on dried apples up
there as many of you imagine. As for vegetables, I have seen radishes,
lettuce, and turnips raised right at Churchill.
“Of course it is generally understood that the winter climate of the
country round the bay is usually very severe. The lowest temperature I
have experienced there, however, was 39° below zero on Nov. 29, 1906,
with a strong wind blowing from the bay, which intensified the cold. It
is exceedingly rare to have winds off the bay in the winter months. In
winter the wind is generally from the west and northwest, while in
summer it is generally from the east and northeast. I have always found
the thermometer lower one hundred and fifty miles inland. It can never
be called dark in the north, even in the depth of winter.”
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[14] It will be observed that part of this evidence treats of other
districts than the one immediately under consideration; but it cannot
conveniently be eliminated here without awkwardly dislocating Mr.
Tyrrell’s evidence.—(E. J. C.).