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[Altli()ii}j:h the lust of ou' l;iif;c K'lvcriiiiicnt tracts oflaiid has heoii jiarrck'd out for sottloniont. lioiiio- scclvci's iipcd not despair. In tiic iircit Northwest there are still tolio found thousands of acres of nnoccujiiecl fi'riili' lii'ld. Last niontii we called attention to the nndevel(,,ied resources of this vast domain, and in this nunilier wc have the t,'ood fortune to lie aide to ])i'esent ;u\ article hy Mr. S. A. Tlioni]tson, who sets iin'th in facts and tijiures its wonderful ])ossil)ilities. As Secretary of the Duluth Chanilier of ("oniiiierce, Mr. Thonip- Hon has for a tniinher of years been actively entraKed in seekuif; '"if iiH"! imshinn' forward olf(>clive means for hrinn'inic the N'orthwest into (doscr communication with tlie rest of the American Continent, and he is, there- fore. al)le to write with an intimate knowledj;<> of his subject. Dr. Johnson, whosi article "Inland Water- ways for t lie Northwest'" well sui)i)lements that of ^Ir. Thoni]ison, is Lectvi.ei' on Transportation in the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Pennsylvania, and has recently j;iven to the public ii inonn.ij;raph on the subject of " Inland Wfitorways." — The Editor.] " T RESPECTFULLY recommend that the post be And all those wonders havt» been wrought by and in J. abandoned, for the reason that the surroumling a city which but seventy years ai,'o. lay all undreamed country is of such a character that it is imjiossible of in the womb of Time. that it can ever support a sufficient jxipuhttion to Such was the pessimistic jirophecy in 1^*01!, and justify the e.xiiense i- ressary to maintain a fort at this thus has fate made answer in IX!):?. point." Thus, in snt)stauce, wrote the officer ni com- inand of l-ort Dearborn to the Secretary of War m IM'JIi. And dreary enouy;h, no doubt, was the situa- Before the pos.sibilities of the Great ?'orthwest can tion of the forlorn little outpost of civilization from be intellitfently discussed some unh jjresent and pi'osjiective, of Keewatin, Manitoba, As- stream crawled slowly down to join the waters of a .siniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Athabasca, Macken- lake on which no sail was ever seen. Westward for zie and Britisli ('oluml)ia ; ami third, of the American uncounteil leagues there stn'tched a wihlerness al- Territory of Alask.a. most unknown, and peopled onlv bv savages. ' • • " THK .VMKIUC.VN NORTHWEST. SEVENTY YK.\1!S I,.\Ti:R. It is doubtful if the avera:. American has anv ade- Not for the reason given by the officer in charge, ,j„,^^,. ^.o„,.,,p,i„„ „,• ,]„. ,,„„n,.,ms >iy.v of the Xorth- but for others as diff.'rent as is day from night, the ,,.,,^tern States <,f th.- Union. Taken together they little fort upon the far frontier has been abandoned. ,.„„t.,i„ ,,„ ,„.,.,i ,,f s,-,!».:W.-, square miles, as appears In its .stead there stands a splendid city, home of fi.,„„ the following table : more than fifteen hundred thousand souls, trade mis- ,,. . . ., o<- .... J ^1 .., i. Minnesota S.i ."if,,!. tress of an empire m extent more vast than that , ,..., r.. ,,.,- ^ iO\\ ct • )ll,Uiv>l> whicli bowed in ancient days beneath the yoke of x,„tli Dakota TO.T!),> Home. Westward lie a score or more of sovereign Simtli Uaicota TT.ii."i() States, and iJi-osjierous towns and cities l)y the huii- Nela-aska "riJtUl dred dot the level jdaiiis and nestle ii> the mountain Montana HCi.(is() valleys whi<']i lie between tli' waters of Lake :\rich- Wyoming '.iT.silo igan and the blue Pacific. Most womierfiil of all is I'k'ho s4.s(K) that citv within a cit v wiiich stands beside the inland ^Vi'shmgton C'.Msi) ^, ■ , ■ ,^,, .^ ^.. 1 • 1 1 • Oreu'oii '.Il),n:i0 sea— the marvelous White* City — winch has risen '^ ^ from the shifting sands as if by touch of some en- Total KV.t :;•'."» chanted wand. Within its walls there have been placed the choicest fruits of fore.st, field and mine. It is ja-obably just as doubtful if the average . \iner- tlie tri-imi'hs of science and of art. all that is best and ican lias any adequate coiicei)tion of what thes(> fig- highest in Imnian achievement, gathered from every nres reaily mean after they have been stated, but a tribe and nation on the earth— the greatest exposition few conqiarisons may iiid in giving the reader a of the progress of the race the world has ever seen. clearer understanding both of their import and their , r. POSSJB/L/r/HS OF THE GREAT NOKTHH'EST. 525 iniportuncc. St. Louis ('(Hiiity. Minn., liicks tint a trifli of lifiu!,' lis lar^^c as C'oiiiici'ticiit and Hlio(l(( IslanilcombiiiiMl. Miuiicsota is nion- than ten limes as largo as Massarhu-ftts, ami Montana is three times as larj,'e as New York. Tliere are four counties in Wyoming, each of wliicli is lar;;er than either Ver- mont, ^lassachnsetts or New Jersey, ami three coun- ties in Montana, each of which is largi'r than tlmse three States comlnned. The ten States which I'onstitute the American Northwest are larger by 1:2,710 s(|uare miles than all the States lying east of the Mississippi river, and be- tween the (ireat Lakes and the (inlf of Mexico, with the exception of Maine. Such illustrations might be multiplied (itl iiijiiiituin, but thos(; which have been given must suffice. It i.s, of course, impossible to go into details in deal- ing with so vast a regioii. VoluniL' after volume uiight be written concerning each one of the ten Oimn l.*D>in4, l.'Ok-vdMlww-p, iu, ■It'll ming is the " Dome of the Continent."' for fnini amid lier maze of mountains the waters run nortli, and e:ist, and south and west. Beyond the Rockies are other mighty ranges running ajiproximately jiarallel and having grc^at valleys and lofty table lands be- tween, and then — the broad Pacific. THK CANADIAN NdimiWKST. An effort has been made by some comparisons to aid the reader to understand the immensity of the American Northwest. But if it lie difficult for the average reader to coniiireli<>nd tht> vastiiess of this portion of his own country, it is still more difficult for him to get an adeipiate understaiiding of the al- most illimitable area of the Canadian Northwest. Few persons realize that before the purchase of Alaska Canada was larger than the United States, but such is tJie fact, for th(» territory of the Domin- ion is 3,470,:i'J2 s(iuare miles, while that of our coun- try was but S.O-.'o.COO. The area of the ten Northwe.stern States, as has been shown above, is but 859,285 square miles, while the area of the or- ganized jirovinces and districts (corresiionding to our States and Territories) of the Canadian Northwest aggr<>gates 1,245,805 s(piare miles, as appears from the following table : Manitoba Kewatin Assiniboia Saskatchewan Alberta Athabasca British Columbia. 73,(K)() 40(I,(KI0 !15,(H)0 114,000 100,000 122,000 341,305 1,245,.'!05 ;L' ri I T s :? MAP SHOWING BARREN OROtTNDS, AHABT.E AND PASTURK LANDS AND N" >l{THi;i{N I.I.Mns OF THE I'OSSIHLE CULTIVATION OF BARLEY AND W1U:AT. States named, and in the narrow comi)ass of a maga- zine article only gener dizations of the broadest kind car be employed. The eastern half of the territory comprised in the ten States under consideration is rage elevation at its eastern edge of about 1,000 feet above the sea. rising steadily higher toward the west, until it breaks into the foothills, and then leaps skyward to the snow clad summits of the Rocky Mountains. Such local elevations as the Tennillion Range in Northern 'Min- nesota, or even tlie Black Hills in South Dakota, while important enough when considered by them- selves, iire insignificant when compared either with the almost continental sweep of the i)laiu front which they rise, or with the mighty uplift of the Rocky Range which lies beyond. Minnesota might be a^itly named the " Mother of Waters," for from her borders the waters flow southward to the Gnlf. eastward to the Atlantic and northward to Hudson's Bay. Wyo- This is nearly fifty per cent, greater than the area of the American Northwest, but still beyond these provinces and dis- tricts lies an tuiorganized territory with an area of more than sixteen huntlred thousand square miles. But area is not tlie only thing to be considered and tite reader nmst be left to struggle for hims-if with the meaning of these almost incomprehen.sibif figures. The Canadian Northwest falls naturally into three great divisions. The territory lying between Hud- son's Bay and the great chain of inland lakes in the valley of the Mackenzie River, exteiuUng from Lake Sujierior to the Arctic Ocean, is wooded, mostly rocky and swampy, but with some areas of good land, merging finally into what are known as the barren grounds in the extreme northea.steni portio", northwest of Hud.son's Bay. Second, the great strett.. of fertile plains, part jmiirie and i)art wooded, lying between the great lakes above mentioned and the Rocky Alountains and extending from the interna- tional boundary line almost to the Arctic Ocean. IB-ifdi? U 7 I 1 r)2(5 THH REyiFM' OF RF.yiFM'S. * Third, the Alpine ri>;,'i(ni cxtciKli!)^ I'miii tlic R(i<'kv Mduntains to the P;iciHf (Ji)ast. As haw bivu .'■■aitl liy Mr. Hrastus Wiiuaii. in " Tlie (xrcatcr Halt'of tiic Con- tiiiciit:" "In t'aiiada. inclr.diiif^ tlu> j^rcat lakes wliich encircle it and which penetrate it, and file rivers of eiKirnioiis size and lenj,'th which Tiei'nieate it, is t'dund nioic than one-halt' of the fresh watei- i^f the entire j^lohe."' There arc^ more than ten tiiousand miles of navigable rivers in the Canadian Northwest — navijiable, that is. not merely by canoes, but by steamboats. The sup])lies for all the posts of the Hndson's Bay Company are car- ried by water from Winnipej^ even to points beyond the Rocky INIonntains and the Arctic Circle, and the ;iMiri',.jr;ite hiiid transportation over the portajjes is only one linndred and fonrteen miles. It is possible to so by water from the month of the St, Lawrence throuj;h the threat lakes and down the Mackenzie to the Arctic Ocean, a trip of more than six thousand miles, in which less thim one luind^'ed and fifty miles will necessarily be on land. The {^reat lakes of the Canadian Northwest are second in size only to the largest of thegi'eat lakes on the international bound- ary. Great Bear Lake is one Inmdred and fifty miles in length : Athabasca Lake, two hundred and thirty ; while the (Treat Slave Lake is more than three hun- dred miles long and has an average width of fifty. The Mackenzie river is descril)ed Ijy Archbishop Clut as a deeper, wider and grander river than the St. Lawrence, and it furnishes with Wa t''ibutaries more than twenty-five hundred miles of navigable waters. AI..\SK.\. Alaska, the third and last division of the Great Northwest, has an extreme length from north to south of eleven hundred miles. The most westerly point of the maiiiland is twenty-five hundred miles west of San Fra icisco, and the most westerly island of tlie Aleutian chain is more than thirty-five hun- dred miles west of that city. Its ai'ea is 577,890 square miles, of which 28,S'jO is insualar, and it has a total coast line, including islands, of '2(),:!()1 miles. The southern coast is mountainous. The highest mountain on the coast is the great volcano, Mount St. Elias, which marks the turning point in the boundary between British and American territory. The principal feature is the valley of the Yukon, one of the great rivers of the world, which rises in Briti.sh Columbia and. after a coui'se of two thousand inil(>s in ii general westerly direction, falls into Bering Sea, The northern and western coasts are low. and the im- mediate valley of the Yukon for more than a thou- sand nnles from the sea has an elevation of less than six hundred feet. The river is navigable in the sum- mer for this distance by small steamers to Fort Yukon, which lies just upon the Arctic circle. More than two-thirds of the territory is still unexplored for scientific and economic purposes, and it is mainly the coast that is known. A STORY AND A MORAL. It is stated that upoti one occasion a traveler, who had been hospitably received by a dusky monarch in the heart of Africa. entertaine(l his host with stories of tlie railway, the steamboat and all the wonders which the white race has achieved. All went well until it occurred to him to say that at certain season.s of the year in tlu^ white man's country all the lakes and rivers grow solid on the top, so that the king's elepliants could walk across and would not wet their feet, " I have believt'd all you have said so far."' said the angry king, "although you have told me many wonderful things, but now I know you are a liar!" All the Africans, from Tripoli to Znlulaiid and from Somali to Soudan, would have sustained the king's ojanion had they been appealed to, and would have joined vociferouslj' in the cry of "liar!" winch lie r;iise(l. Yet none the less the traveler's tale was trne. The moral of this story is that a statement is not necessarily false becaus(» it is contrary to all the knowledge and experieiic(> of an individual or a race. This moral is earnestly connnended to tlie careful consideration of the reader who shall peruse tlie facts which follow. WHEUE WHEAT CAN lUO (JK(JWN. To the people of the Eastern States the city of Dulutli, no doubt, .seems very far away to north and West — almost, indeed, upon the very verge of jjossi- ble settlement ; but, as a matter of fact, the limit of the jirofitable cultivation of wheat lies at least sixteen hundred miles to the northwest of the city at the head of Lake Supei'ior. If a circle be drawn ujjon a map of Nortli America, with this distance as a radius and with Duluth as the centre, it will include within its sweep a portion of the Arctic Sea upon the north, half of the Gulf of Mexico upon the south, and all of Washington and part of California upon the west, touch Newfoundland on the east and fall five hun- dred miles into the Atlantic Ocean beyonil the city of New York. Rye and oats can be grown at least two hundred miles still further north, while the possible limit of the ripening of barley and of potatoes lies beyond the Arctic circle, full two thousand miles northwest of Duluth. CLIM.VTIC CONDITIONS. It is the general idea that the further north one goes the colder the c-limate, but in the Great North- west, from Iowa north to the Peace River Valley, and even on to the shores of the (ireat Slave Lake, a range of nearly twenty degrees of latitude, climatic conditions are essentially the same. It is a region marked by great heat in summer and intense cold in the winter. Many illustrations might be given to show this .similarity of climatic conditions over such a wide extent of territory, but one or two must suf- fice. Hon. J. W. Taylor, who for nearly a quarter of a century prior to his recent death had been the consul of tlu! United States at Wiiinipeg, and to whom I am indebted for many of the facts contained in this arti- cle, says : " The prairie's firstling of the spring has the popular designation of crocus, but it is an anemone — ^1. PnU 'is, the purjde anemone, the •.•in' flower — but I preier the (;hildren's name, suggest* J by its soft, furry coat, the ' gosling ' flower, which, J.. POSS/BIL/T/HS ()/•■ IHH (iRP.AT SORTH\l^HSl\ : witli sti>n(;» tin- woiiili^rs ill Wfiit well rtain .sciisuiis all the lakes at the kinj;"8 lot wet tlicir : so far,"' said lid nil' many jiro ii liar ! " lid and from 'd tlic kind's would have !" wliic'h he ale was true. ;>uu'nt is not y to all the nal or a ra<'e. I llic cari'ful •nso the facts < the city of to north and ■rye of possi- , tlie limit of b least sixte(>n e city at the rawii uj)on a •e as ;i railins iclude within on the north, th, and all of ni the west, all five hnn- id the city of at least two the possihle potatoes lies nisand iiiilee ler north one (Iri-at North- iiver Valley, Slave Lake, a ude, climatic t is a rejiii >u tense cold in be given to ms over such wo must snf- i (luai'ter of entile consul ) whom I am I in this arti- e spring has )ut it is Hn nie, the • .'in le, suggest* X ower, which, with its delicatt! lavender petals, is fully ti-n days in advance of otiier ventiii'esome sj>riiig blossoms, it is often gatherecl on the ^lississippi bluffs near the Falls of St. Anthony on April lo. It appears simnltatie- ously on the dry elevations near VVimiipeg. It was observed even earlier, on April 11$, during the Sas- katchewan campaign of IbS.') and is reported by 'i^Kx-'i Tlio straiKlit lines (iii this map defliio three territories, nil jMiiiits ill (luo of wliicti arc iioaror to Duhitli than to Clii- can'o or (ialvi'stoii ; all iioiiits in the socoml nearer to Chi- cago than to Dulutli or (talvcston, and all jioints in the third nearer to (Jalvestcjii than to Duluth or Chicago. Major Butler in his ' Wild North Land ' as in pro- fusion on Peace River, l,oOO miles from St. Paul, on April 30. Even beyond one thousand miles, on the Yukon, within the Arctic circle, Ardideacon JIc- Donald, a niis.siouary_of the (Church of England, has gathered the flower on May 14. Eipiully significant as this delicate herald of the spring are the records of ice olistruction in the rivers, their emancipation bi.'ing simultaneous from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, to Fort Vermilion, Athaliasca." ALTITUDE VS. LATITUDE. The recorded observations of many years c(jnfirm tlic truth of these statements, but it will be in ordt-r to state some of the reasons for this similarity of the climate over so wide a range, with the far northwest- ern extension of the growth of wheat and (jther cere- als which the existence of these conditions renders possible. Latitude has something to do with climate, but not everything. Altitude is at least as impor- tant. The effect of altitude in overcoming the intlu ence of latitude is shown by the mountains crowned by snow which lie witliin the tropics. This fact is known to every one, lint few have given considera- tion to the reverse effect produced by the decline of ahitiide 111 niu'thern lands. The great central plain of North America is two miles higii iu Mexico. Tlie> entire Colorado basin has an average height which is greater than that reached by the tireat Northern Railway where it cro.s.ses the main divide of the Rocky ^Mountains near tlie international boundary line. Tho Union Pacific crosses the dome of tlio continent near latitude Id with its highest elevation at Sherman of eight tliou.saiiil feet, and with an average elevation of five thotisaiul feet for fifty miles 6.eastward from tlie Rocky Mountains. It is higher for tliirteen hundred miles of its course than any jioint between the Atlantic and Pacific, on a surveyed routi! through the Peace River country. The eleva- tion at the cr.isMng of tliu Canadian Pacific Railway on the south branch of tho Saskatchewan near lati- -'" tilde 51 is but three tiiousand feet : in the Athabasca '^•^ district, latitude 5,'} , is two thousaml feet; the val- '^•'^leysof the Peace and Liard rivers, latitude 50' to ()()', is but one thousand feet ; and falling still toward tho north, till! navigable channel of the Mackenzie River is reached at an elevation of only tliree hundred feet above the Arctic (X'ean. The difference in tin; alti- tude of the continental plain in Wyoming and in the valley of the ^Mackenzie River is eiiuivaleiit in its climatic effect to 13' of latitude. But the climatio conditions of thofrreat Northwest do not depend alone upon latitude and altitude. OCKAN CUIiUENTS AND I'ACIKIU WINDS. The grinit Japan current sweeping northward from the island kingdom to the Arctic Sea, is caught by tlie Aleutian Archipelago and the Ahiskaii peninsula and deflected to the east and south along the shores of Alaska, British Columbia and tlie States of the Pacific Northwest, producing effects exactly similar to those caused by the (xulf Stream upon the climate of Nor- way and the British Islands. A large portion of the Pacific Coast tif North America has, instead of winter and summer, a rainy season and a dry season, after the fasliion of tropical lands. Even as far north as Sitka, it is said that ice sufficiently strong to .sustain the weight of a. twelve year old boy occurs but once or twice in a generation. Tho ameliorating influence of this great warm river of the sea, while exerting its greatest effect upon the coast, extends also into the hi- terior. The mountain barriers are not only far less lofty ill the north, but are less in width. As has been said, the Union Pacific crosses the Rockies at an elevation of 8,000 feet ; the Great Northern at an elevation of but5,;'.00feet ; the Canadian Pacific,.still further to the north, at an elevation of a litth* over four thousand feet ; while the passes of the Peace and Pine rivers have an elevation of but twenty-five hundred feet aliove the sea level. The Rocky Mountains in Colo- rado are nearly twenty degrees away from the coast line, while in the Peace River country they stand but ten degrees away, and these degrees, it must also bo remeniijered, are short^'r because of the higher lati- tude. "The Utah basin, a iilateau eight hundred miles or more in width, at an eh'vation of five thou- sand feet, lying betweeifthe Rocky Mountains and the ■J) I .-* ■■ I ali.s niH Kl.l IHH- Ol- KHrilill s. Sit'i'i'ii Xcv.idas, iiiiiliiiiu a tnttil iinniiitiiiii luirricr of t'lPiirlicii liiiiiilit'd miles, fxiliidi'S tin waniitl' Jitiil iii(ii>tmi' (if tlir I'lnitic wimls fiuiii ilii' central areas of the ('(illlilieiit, while tile iliterli M'kilii;- \alleys (if tlie ("dlmiiliia and the Missduri (Hi tiie idiiie of Iht'Ndrtli- ciii I'aritic liailidad. and of the I'razer and Cdlumbia ]{ivers and the Sa-katclie\van (Hi the I'onte df the ■Canadian I'aciHc. facilitate the iniii'ess of tlie( 'liinoolc, as the wail n western wind of the Pacitic Coast is called, to the plains of ^Montana. Allicrta imd Saskat- chewan, I5nt it is only ill lat it nde .■>.") to od' that the remaikalile condition is fonnd of the Peace and Liard rivers, lisiny: on tlie western slojies of the Itocky Mount ains, and lireakini^ throuj:;li this tiarrieron their way to the ^[ackellzie. after iiiterldckini; at their sdiirces witli the Skesiia and the Stikeeii, which flow into the I'acilic."' AXOTJIKII I'.Xl'l.ANAlIoN Ol' Till': (TIIN(H)K. It is dlijected by some that the lower elevation df tilt; iiiountaiii harrier and the iiasses throiij,'h the same is not sntticieiit to explaiii the occnrrt'iico of the Chinook uiioii the jilains to the east of tlie niountaiiis. The writer has observed the ctfect of this wind as far east as the James Uiver Valley in North Dakota, where nj)')!! one (H'casion he saw eighteen inches uf snow utterly vanish in thirty-six liour.s without pre- vions nieltiii,ir, and without leavin.i,' a trace of nind be- hind. It was simply licked up by the tongue of the wind and carried away into the air. At the same time there were hundreds of miles of siiow-covered in(>untains to the west over which this wind luul blown oil its course from the Pacitic and upon which the snow remained uninelte(l. |)r. (J. M. l)awson,of the ( 'anadian ( icdlo^iical SuiNcy, says; " The coiniileti) e.xiplanation is to be fdimd in the ^^reat (inanlily df heat rendered latent when moisture is evaiiorated or air isex]iaiide(l in volume, but which becomes sensible anain on cdndensatian of the nidisture orcomiiression of the air. The pressure in the upper re;;idns df the atmds]>here beinj;' so much less than in a IdWer, a bddy of air risinii; fnim the sea level totlie summit of a mountain raaj^-e niu>t exjiand, and this, implyini^ niolecul.ir worlc, results in an absdi'ptidii of heat and coiise(|nent cddlinj;'. When tlie air d 'sceiids a^ain on the dtlier side df the mountain rann'e its condensation results in an increase of sensible heat e(pial to one decree Centi;j,rade for e.ich huiidre(l meters. It thus becomes easy to understand how the Western Terri- tdries may be flooded with air nearly as warm as that of the coast, though it has traveled to them over a reyioii comiiaratively cold.'' The explanation of the Chinook, whattn'er it may be, is of much less iiiipur- tauce than the fact of its existence. (IHEATKK 1-ENOTIl OK DAYS. Lif:;ht, by the chemical action which it produces, i,s scarcely less imp.ortant than heat in the jjtrowth of vegetation, and in these far uijrthern latitudes the days are very muidi longer than they are further south. Ill latitude ."itJ degrees, which may be taken as the averagt' of the Peace River co.intry, sun- rise occurs on June :20 at 'A.Vl A,M., and sunset at 8.50 l".M., being a difference in the length of day- ri.oi (;iiiN(i MAI! (aaswoi.i), Manitoba. FOSSIHILmi:^ Ui- NIL UKLA I SOK IIIH i:bl\ oJ.\) ipiiii wliii'li ic (•(iliililcto initiitity of iliiinitcil (ir ii('ss('ii>il)lo mils (if llic a luwcr. u suiiiiiiit oi:' >, iiniil.viiit; if lii'fit iiiid (IsiiKiiiii "11 )ii(li'iisati(m [iial 1(1 one •s. It tluis tern TciTi- iMii as tliat icm (jvcr a tioii i)t' tho less iiapor- [rt'odiK'i'S, is jivowth of tituiles the arc furtlicr ly \)i- taken iiitry, smi- (1 sunset at th of (lay- A WHKAT KAUM NKAK KKlilNA, ASSIMBOIA. li{ is at least partly due tho wonderful raiiidity with which vcj;-ctation ad- vances. At Fort Sinnison, at the junction of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers. Arclihisliop Chit speaks uf the tri'cs iiassin-^ in a sinude week from hud to per- fect leaf, and v'a.s.-es. yr.iins and vegeiahlcs of all kinds niatur(> throUf,diout tlie Xortliwcst in a nnuli sliorter time than in tlie rej,'ions further snuili. .\s an instance it may be pointed out that Indian corn i^ harvested from three to five weeks earher in Minne- sota than it is in the Oliio Valley. MAXIMl'M OV I'ltLCTlIU ATliiN. In the (Ireat Xortlnvest. the rcLciou uf xijioroiis winters, c-old, moist spi-iiius and dry but iiiteiiM' sum- mers, the undue hi.\uriance of .stem and foli.in-e is checked in the earlier sta.u^es of ^jrowth, K'l'ently to the advantaj^e of the fruit and .si'ed. This vi^or jituatious. as in Irelanl. in the South the sun forces the ]intato on to fructilicatioii before the roots have hid lime to attain the jn-dper cpialities for nourishment. As a fiirtlier illustration Consul Tay- lor cites the fact that in Liwa, near tlie xnitliern border of the sjiring wheat region, seldom more than two wellforiiie(l grains are found in each clii-ter or fascicle foriniiig the row; in Xortheru Jliunesota. Dakota and Maiiitolia three grains liecoiiie habitual, while in wheat from I'rince Alliert on the S,i.-.katclie- waii. and Fort Verinilioii on the Peace Rixcr. ea( h cluster i.'^ made up of ti\c well foi lucd Liraiii-.. Space is lacking for a disi-iis>ion of the ]io.s>ibili!ie,> uhich lie in the gradual accliinati/.alioii of plants, but it may be pointed out that in Siberia, where conditions are certainly no more favorable tliaii in the Northwest. civilize(l man, in his migrations northward, has car- rie(l with him api>les, jiears, cherries and jiliims, until these fruits are successfully grown at and lit- yond the latitude of Moscow, which lies si. \ degrees north of Winiiiiieg. ..o / .,v '■ I r,:\{) nil Ri-rii'ir iV- Ri.riiu s. l-:xri:i!ii;Mi'; c > ii:i;i iimnA 1 1> riii;i •id . Ini- rcali nl' tlir ,i;i'aiii> ii^innd, nl i lii> avri'a^c \ idil per Pructnr Kiiiiii ill lii> taiiHiiis >|m'iiI. nii |)iiliil!iiM acri' sdiillicirtlif lpnuiiilar\ liiii'. Nui' iimst \vr (|c|priiil 1S7I. saiil : •• Wlm will liavc tin' liarcliliuuii tu ii-.(> iiikhi tliiMii'i/.iii-' alniir as tn i In- |Mi-.,-.il)ilitirs ot'llii' far ill liis Mat I'll liiis lliinr a 111 I a --rrl t lial. I'xrrpl inn' tin' * 'aiiaijiaii Xml liw i>t. I,\ iii^- iipnii the la hie in rnnit jiiin' liii-iii's. till' (■iilirrrry;iiiii w miiil iml pru'hicf \t;,'- nf iiir w.^ I w ■ ilr air saiiijilrs nf wiirat ;;i'iiwii in IS!)-.' « I lit inn ('111 mull m Icn years tn iaiti'ii a Ki'iisshuppi'i'.-"' liy the Kin . .1. ( iuuuh Urirk at llir Sliallislniiy Mis- Iii 1S!»|, twriity years after 11ies<' derisive Wnrds sinn. .-ix iiiili> iiurlli nf tiie juiietinn nf the l'ea<'e and were littered. Minnesi >la, I lie two ])aki)tas, Iowa and SnniK-y ri\ii>, in the iieiuliliniliiMid nf riH imi'ih lati- Neliraska prndiieid, aernnliny; tn the esliiilllle> nf tilde and III ■•0' west IniiLcil llde, < )ne s|ieeiineii the ALtriiuliiiral 1 »epartiiieiir, Is-.'.Ms.iino l)ii>hi I- of was.snwn nil the May in, reaped nii Aii:,'iist 'JS, and wheat. ^(il.'-o'i.iiiiiiliii-hiKnfenrnand'.'l:!. •.'•.'•;. ncniiiish- yielded ;!1 lnishels tn tiie acre nf lari;e. plnnip, I'ls of oats, a total of !is;.s;i,),(iun Imshels nf the ilueL' Hiuiy herries, wei;;hini; CmI^ pminds tn the measured f-iaiT I'AiiM Mvm; ti \i;i{IS()\-, Hurnsii roi,rMniA. jiriiieipal cereals, of an estimated value nf .s;!il:).,'iKi. ;)\\\. These li;4'ures are iiiterestiiiur r.taiidin.Lr alniie, Imt lieenine still 11 Hire interest iliLf liV cniiiparisnli with tlie tntal prnde.ctinii nf the same crnps ill the I'nited Slates. IVir the yields ahove iiieDtioned coL'stituled :!•' jier cent, of the wheat, ~7 per cent, of the corn and iv! ]ier cent. t)f llie oats i,n'()\ni i:i llie wliole country. If In this could be added the value nf alloilier farm anil dairy ])riiducts, the ti.u'ures would he almost i;iciim- ]:reheiisili]e. Crnssini^' the line into .Manitoha. jiro- ductiveness seems to be iiicreasi'd J'ather than diniin- i hed, for the prairie ]ii'nviiice produced iii ISIM) 'J4.r)(;.j,70'.» Imsliels of wheal, '.'..'d:!.!:!:] bushels nf oats J'.nd ■^.()()'.>. "I.") bushels of barley. These totals M'ein .Miiall when coiiiiiared with tho>e i,'iv(ii for the live Statesabove named, but tlie point lies i;i the fact that the yield per acre in Manitoba was largely in exce.-;s. bushel. Similar results iir(> rejiorted from other iiii.s- sioii stations and posts of tli(> Hudson's Bay ('om]iaiiy throiit,diout tlie j;reat Canadian Xorthwpst, e.xtendinf; for 'JOOi* mile.- or more to the north and west of Lake Sniierinr. iiTllKl! IM'.SuflJCES. .'-in mi'.cli sjiaie has been uiven to the aj,'ricultiirul possibilities of the -leat Nnrtliwest that ill the little \vliic-li remains only the l)arest mention can be made if the almost bomii Hess resources in other directions which are found therein. Wot nf the meat belt of wheat country is an enoi'iiinus ail ,1 imt sn well adapted tn tlu^ pi-oduction nf cereals, but admirably suited for the raisinj^ of cattle, iinrses and sheep. Dmtnr J. P). llurlbert, M.n.. LI..!)., of ( )ttawa, says in iv^Mrd to this : •• The entire area is tit for pasturaj^e, as tlie native POSbllULlllliS 01- THE GRHAT NOKTHU'liST. 531 cyiclil per Wl' (ll'lH'llll lit I lie t'iir Ir ill I'lnllt wii ill !«•.; .liiiry Mi>- I'cMCi' illlll iiMi'ili lali Slircillli'll 1st ','S, and 4C, pluilll), } incasiired ft3? ;*'. m. ■^\ '^w^m \\ other luis- y ("(iiiipiiny It, cxtt'iidiiiK lust i)t' Lake ,'ricultnral [ill thi' littlt' |m lit' iiiiidi' directions liiitry is an produetion ' raising of . llurlburt, this : Is the native rAlll.l'; lll.lilMNti. — I'.ANl lIl.Nli S( KNK IN A I.HKI! TA, ■'''•'': ■^'i't^^ grasse:! ;,'ro\v over tlie whnlr cuimti'y. e\»'ii to the .slmres of IfiidsoiTs 15ay and the Arctic < )rcaii. ami ■i ■.;{w' 77//:" KLI^IIM- 01- KLl^lLiyS. KAN(,'IIIN(i SCI'.NK IN ALHKUTA. ^V.'v 4^' •" 7^"'^'!'^QJ^*:' ■'^'^ ~ ,; «r •<^'*??1 DAIRY CATTI.K, KENMORE, ALBERTA. « / V.S.S//i//. //■//:. S ()/•• 77//: (ik'l:.ll .VOA" 7//// 7:.S y :,:v,i ■^r ,^;(r;^ rfT.'"t*^ , ,<©•■• <*outli<'ni sliori'sof Iliulsnii's l!ay. l''urt Simiisdji was liiiilt (if tiiiilitTs l'» iiii'lii'H s(iii,irr, cut frdiii I In- nciyli lioriiiK foii'.sts. aiiil till' sniallir trees were ohiiseii, that tliey iiiii;lit imt 1m' Ino lieavy for (•(Hiveiiieiit liatliUill^'. ( ''illllietellt judu'es estimate tlie aiiinmit of tiiiilter staiidiiii: in Xnrllicrii Miimesuta at oO.diic,- ()(((),0()0 feet, wliile in \Va.sliiiii,'tc.ii aii.l British (.'nlum- liia aro to lie fitiuiil I)nii„,is fir reaching,' a lieij,'lil of ;I0() feet and siiuaiiiiLr I'l in( 'n's for !H) feet fr(jni the liaso, and red i'e(hir ~'iinfitt hi^h anl as larL,'e as :.'0 feet in ilianieter. MINI iiAi. i;i;s()i licKs. In a territtiry so vast ami so little e.xploreil it i^ not likely tliat a tliousatnlth part of the niinei'al riches are known, mnch less worketl. Northern Minnesota miles, with from ."i.Ooo.diMi to !).(Mi(),(i(i() tens nmler each mile. It ranj,'es in <|uality fi'om li'^'nile In Ijiiii- miiioin ami antiiracite. ( 'oal is miiiecl anil ileiivered to cii-tomers al IMmontoti forfl.7") per ton. l)epositH of >;i'eat size and fine ipiality are heim,' woi'ked at I-ethliridi,'(', in Allierta a short distance north of tlio Montana line, to which point a railroad has been liiiih , son'.iiweslerly from tlie ('anadian I'acilic and noil iiward from ( ireat Falls in Montana. I-'ml will he ill no wise lacking for future settlers in tlie (treat N'orlhwest. ]\Iontana is chief amoin,' the States of tho Union in llie value of tlie output of her mines of f^'old, silver and Copper. The taiij^ded mass of mountain ranW'i of wiiich Britisli Columbia conrtists is .s(!anied thronxh and throui^h with veins of jirecions metals. ]\I()ro than s.";:!, (too, (Mil) of ^'old alone has already been taken from li(>r minces. All the mountain ranges are full of the precious metals, even to far-off Alaska. Jlines of K"l'^ iiro worked also on the Lake of tho Woods, lyiii;^ between Minnesota ami !^^anitoba. Salt, sul- phur, asphalt and iietroh nm. metals and minerals of eviry kind and sort lie beneath the soil, waitinj^ tlio needs of the cominj; millions who .shall uuo day make tlu) Great Northwest their home. FISHKUIES AND KIKS. Every la)-r and river in the Northwest, and all tho waters borderni„' upon its thcnsands of miles of sea coast, are tti'miufj; with myriads of fish. Tiie tjreat- est salmon cannery in the world is in Alaska, tho Ynkon River bein.i,' .so full of both red and king s.'ihnon, the latter reaching the length of G feet and a UOLD WASIlIN(i, VAI.K, BiaTlSH COLIMBIA. contains twc. of the greatest iron ranges in the world There is said to be more than 100,000.000 tons of high grade Bessemer ore in sight in mines already ojiened «in the great Mesaba range - ore which is being mined in some cases with a steam shovel, and iilaccd aboard the cars at a cost of less than 10 cents jier ton. Wash- ington is called the Pennsylvania of the West be- fanse of her treasures of iron and coal, and in Mon- tana, too. iron and coal and limestone lie close to- gether, reaily for con.snmption. The coal area of the Canadian Northwest is estimated at 05,000 sipiare AN EVKMNd CATCH, I'lKKNIX CANNEHY, FUAZEIl mVKU. weight of 120 ])ounds, that it was not a very serious exaggeration when it was said that one might walk across the river on their backs. The yield of tho fishei'ies in Britisli Columbia alone in 1890 wa^^ 13,481,433. Latitirde 62 degrees may be taken as approximately the northern limit of profitable agriculture. Beyond this is a vast region, which, while not adapted to set- "WM gumaa i 534 THF RFI^IFM' Oh' RFI^IHIVS. tlement ami cultivation, will probably be in all the future, as it hiis been in the past, a never failing source of supply of tlie choicest fnrs, a monopoly in the trade of which has made colossal fortunes for the members of the Hudson's Bay Company. There is a possible source of immense wealth also in the broe physical effects of climate, whether it behotor cold. In the Northwest work is not suspended in the winter ; even building operations go on almost the same as in summer time. Many of the princ-ipal buildings of Duluth an.M.vmtf^mmimiix '-" j*Jl^s2_l. (^^?.'Ui "; - ,'^, '^ ?oing steadily zero. Alter- »urse, destroy I mortar boti» ore it freezes, dy dried out. h is stronger ler time, ent regularly low zero tlie mpressions of und took off hen it was <► mperature of of the chilly, sphere of the e zero in the mitigate the !eling, which s, and which ;e amount of hich render a !. Minnesota t for invalids, ire especially laints." And IS of the Min- >' lying to the untry, where Manitoba. 1th Officer of irths. fs. roduce simi- the North- he difference )pulations in tween those n imaginary the two na- lar and the sts are to a I, politically, Dutrolled by feeling ha* tract recog- ide relations nd St. Paul, itical parties iiidary lino, bled in Du- nii'd wise to labilitj- of a icial depres- abandoned. utiou in the it would be 'ly together. (> work that the matter e respoctivo POSSIBILITIES OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST. f).'}.^ I governments, until th(>y take the matter up. and the wishes of the Canadian ami American .N'orth'vcsf will bt> ;,'ranted in so far as the riichts of all the people of both nations will permit. It is a hopeful sign that this purely bn.sine.ss (pies- tion lias been taken up in a jun-ely business way. and jiolitics, in the sense of ])artisanship. has lM>en left en- tirely out of the consideration. AN OrTI.ET TO TIIK SE.V. Something in tlie limitless sweej) of the western ]ilains and the heavenward lilt of its lofty mountains makes the men of the West undaunted by any prob- lem, however serious, or any undertaking, however great. Tlie farmers of the West. Canadians and Aniericaus alike, realize that econoiiij' in transporta- tion lies at the basi * of their prosperity. They see that the average cost of transportation by rail is from 8 to H) times the average cost of transportation on the Great Lakes, and they believe that while it is physic- ally imi)ossible to transjtort their farms a thousand miles nearer the ocean, it is entirely practicabh,' to bring ocean transportation a thousand miles nearer their farms. Hudson's Bay, a gigantic arm of the sea, as long as from New York to Chicago and as wide as from Washington City to the Great Lakes, is thrust dowt' into the centre of the continent, and Port Churchill, on the western shore of Hudson's Bay, is 64 miles nearer to Liverpool than is the city of New York. It is not yet settled whether navigation can bu made commerciallj' jiracticable through Hudson's Straits or not. but there are men in the Northwest who believe that it can he, and who propose at least to find out whether or not it can be done. It may be noted in passing that the ferry steamer " St. Ignace." plying across the Straits of Mackinac, has not been stopped since it was put in oi)eration three years ago. winter or summer, although it has enconntered solid blue ii-e 3 feet thick and windrows over 30 feet in height. Meantime Canada is working steadily forward to get a navigable waterway 14 feet in depth, all the way from Lake Superior t Wel- land and St. Lawrence ( 'anals. The ;L,oveniment of the United States is at work deepening all the chan- nels of the Lakes to the depth of 20 feet, and already demand has been made by convention after conven- tion that this 20 feet be extended through American territory from the Gieat Lakes to the sea. Both channels will be constructed and made available, and if the Hudson's Bay route should not prove to be feasi- ble, a short cut may be added by the way of Lake Nipissiiig and tlie( )ttawa River, which route involves the construction of only 27 miles of actual canal, and a perfectly feasible improvement of the river channel. rf;.\i,izatii>.\ ocTimNs expectation. Who dare attempt to prophesy the possibilities of the Great Northwesl ? All that has been said above is l)ut a brief and imperfect outline of the facts al ready known, and all that is known Tti-day of tliat vast I'egiou which we call the Great Northwest is but the i)reface to a volunH> of imnumbered pages which the future shall unfold. It \: is always been the case that the develoinnent of the Northwest has outrun th<' wildest dream of the enthusiast. When the ques- tion of making a grant of land to aid in the construc- tion of a ship canal around tlie falls of the St. JIary's River was under consideration in Congress, no less a statesman than Henry Clay characterized the iiroject as on a par with tlie building of a railroad to the moon. And when the legislature of ^licliigau was considering the size of the locks which were first ])uilt at that point, E. B. Ward, of Detroit, recog- nized as one of the most far-seeing men oi his daj', stated that the enormous dimensions of tlie contem- plated locks were such as would not be njedeil dur- ing tlie present century, if at all. The first vessel passed through tliese locks in IS")."), but business grew so fast that a new lock, the greatest in the world. 515 feet long, 1^0 feet wide and with 17 feet of water on the miter sill, was opened for liusiiie.ss in \H><\. When this lo(^k wa'^ finished the engineers thought that now they had surely solved the question of the connection between Iiake Superior and Lake Huron fin- all tinip, yet it. was hardly donebetoreit began to be outgrown and the little locks first built have been removed to make way for a lock 800 feet long. 100 feet wide and with 21 feet of water on the sill, which is to be opened for use in the spring of 1896. Still another lock, of ecpial capacity, althougli of different dimensions, being 900 feet in length and (i(> feet in width, is under construction on the Canadian .side of the river, so that there will soon be in opera- tion at the outlet of Lake Superior three gigantic locks, anyone of whi(;h is larger than any other to be found elsewliere in the world. Through the single lock now in use there passed, in 1892, 1 2, .-)80 vessels, carrying 1 1,214,3;!3 tons of freight. This was more than three times the number of ves- sels which pas.sed tlii-ough the Suez Canal in the same year, and the freight was greater by more than three million tons. A statement has been made above of the cereal prod- uct of five of the Northwestern States as an indica- tion of the results already attained ; yet even in Iowa, th< oMest settled State among those under considera- tion, not one-half of the area has ever been put under cultivation in any form : in Nebraska, only a little over one-(iuarter : in Minnesota, but one-seventh ; in North Dakota, only one-eleventh. Who shall sum up the jiossible agricultural production of the whole Na'thwest when all the enormous areas above de- scribed have been brought under cultivation : wlieji intensive cultivation has taken the jilace of the exten- sive occujia' ion which has liitherto be(>n the rule : and when, in addition to all else, other vast areas just as fertile, but lacking sufficient rainfall for the purposes of agriculture, have been brought into in-oduction under the magic touch of irrigation ! '• Poimbition." says De Toc(|ueville, " moves west- ward as if driven by the mighty hand of God." From the mountain \ alleys of Asia, where the race V -0.^ i "1/ 536 THh RliyiEH- OF RH^IHIVS. .J • >^4 was cradled, a ceaseless ]iil','riiiia,i;e lias moved ever oil and on. jMouiitaiii walls and continental wilds and treaclier(jns leas^nes of trackless sea may lie nci'oss tlie apijointecl j)atli. l>nt still the miijlity column in its onwaid march surmounts, siilidues, and crosses all, ini]ielled hy I'orci's as I'esistlt'ss as those which speeil the Pleia-l(>ii;j: jonrn(>y shall at last be done; here in the (ri'eiit Xortluvesr the race shall reach its final liome. Hei'e have been Lcroniied, as nowhere else in all the world, mountain and valley an development of th<' individual and the race. Here genial .summer suns shall woo tlie fruits from fertile fields, and winter's stinging cold siiall tend alike to ]ili\sical and moral health. Here for a century to come shall they who hunger for a borne be satisfied and all the needs of myriads of men be well supplied. INLAND WATERWAYS FOR THH NORTHWHST. BY KMORY R. lOHNSON. CHEAPNESS and uniformity of rates of trans- jiortation have become a vital retpiisite of in- dustrial development, and esjjecially is this true in the United States. The ores of ^Michigan and Wis- consin are hundreds of miles from the coal by which tliey are smelted. The forests of the upper ]\rississip]ii Valley and of the vast region draiTied by the Colum- bia River and its trilaitaries are the chief sources of the lumber which must be distributed over the United States. The pi'oducts of the farms of the North, the South and the far West must travel thousands of miles to reach the maimfacturing centres of the Atlantic seaboard and the inark-ets of Europe. When such facts as tiie.se are taken into account, it is no wonder that the United States should have the greatest domestic connnerce of any nation of the world. Tlie figures are so large tliat but little conception of the real magnitude of the transportation business by rail in this country is formtjd by the stati'- ment that the railroads of the United States are ITl.- 3();)miles long, that they carriinl nearly 7(10.000.000 tons of freight during the year ending June liO, IS'tl, and that the n amber of tons freight moved one mile — /. c, the total ton mileage— was over eighty billion ton miles. The stattnnent that so slight a reduction in tariffs on railroad rates as a mill per ton per mile means a saving of nearly one hundred niillion dollai's a year to the general jiublic doubtless teaches more concerning the magnitude of our traffic by rail and the importance of its being (^arried on at chea]) rates, The development of our inland wat(M'ways lias been slower than the progress of the railroad. From the panic of ls;{T until after the Civil War the improve- ment of inland navigation received but little atten- tion, while thi> railroad, especially aft<'r 1S,"")0, sia'ead with phenomenal rajiidity into all ])arts of the United States. Inventive genius brought forth one imi)rove- ment after another till the parlor coach of the ju'es- ent, the i)assent;-er locomotive capable of making a mile in thirty-two seconds the ten-wheel freiglit en- gine that can haul twelve to fifteen hundred tons of grain from Chicago to New York leave little more to be desired or to be hoped for in the railway service. THK HISTORY OF Ol'R WATERWAYS. The waterway has had a different history. Follow- ing the defeat which the small, ill-equipped canal and the niiimproved natural waterways of the first third of this century naturally enough sustained in their attempt to compete with the railroads in the general carrying bn.siness and in both local and distance traffic, came a period during which the public was apathetic toward waterways. In the meantime a pro- found change has taken iilace in the industrial organi- zation of society, a change that has revolutionized the entire transportation business. Great cities have ijjrown up and manufactures have concentrated in tliem. The West has been pouring forth her vast stores of raw materials that cannot find a market without being .shipped long distances. Huge tmink lines and transi'ontinental roads have arisen to meet the new conditions of the carrying trade. The part which the waterway, and e.speciidly the canal, must play in commerce to-day differs from its role of sixty years ago. This fact seems to be .self-evident ; but it has not been generally recognized. A REVIVAL OF INTEREST. A renaissance of general interest in the waterway is in progress. Its functions, as an agent of com- merce", are being studied to determine to what extent its extension and larger use can reduce the costs of transportation. The International Congress on Inland Navigation, which meets biennially in different parts of Europe, is doing much to promote the technical imin-ovement of the waterway and to throw light on the economic aspects of the question of water trans- portation, and numerous conventions in the interest of waterways have met in the United States during the