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DELIVERED BY HIS E:^OELl.ENdY ♦"^ -"^ ^,"^#5' S ^ .1^ QOvwi$m aMERAB.t>lp Canada, J5 »¥ 'A^HVUXP^Qi ^ ^^> L' * /H .^», _^ Published by' the l^i^ifi^tmeijit of 'Agnrioulturd, of €he Coir«^^^^ent of Canc^kv l 1i afiWO: L^J •^1= # ** ^ 188i., -» i. ' .ii'i )' i i timmi^ tfuf/mmmm » '1 k i^' ■* '''t4 I -^d< The EDITH and LORNE PIERCE COLLECTION of CANADI ANA \ueerCs University at Kings. \ 'i^^-b^IIh >' '^^Sskf'> ^Si^^l ''kcW!-^. ^H^H H _»_l 1- i' 'H («., '^.41 fm MO IBR no w •D 118 l» Wf wo Route of His Excellency Stopping Places on Do. J /li« Governor-Gene 'rom Sth August to vnl f/tnTCitt thu^ , ^^^^m. .^ ^ y 2gth September, shown '"' /^./ '«^ Y ««S »*»^ ^-u^. E!SMM«Mtf < l"""*"*— £9 C 1^1. / wu inwtwnal ./•r5. Mw lELENA ^ D T E ueo IIS TIIC BURLMO UTHOtmmtC COMIWTfKM., r Tv^flr-.ss,v«»r»3f**nrtr 4rq v/ll ^oVxw o e M t3 2 7 ^ The Canadian Northwest A SPEECH DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE, GOVERNOR GENERAL of CANADA, ▲T WINNIPEG. M^ i^ I Published^by the Department of Agpiculture, of the Government of Canada. OTTAWA: 1881. I INTEODUCTION. ^ I I Tb« object of thii publication ii to reproduce '• report o( a tpeeoh of His Excellency the Marquis of Lobni, Qovemor Oeneral of Canada, delivered on the occasion of a Dinner given to him by the Winnipeg Club on October 10th, descriptive of his impressions of the Canadian Korth-West. The route taken by His Excellency, aooonjpanied by a party of gentle- men, is sketched on a skeleton map attached to this pamphlet. The time taken in travelling occupied from July 4th to October 15th last. The total numbers of miles travelled were :— By rail 6661 •« road 1366 •• water 1127 Total 8054 miles. The travel by road, or, more correctly, by prairie trail, comprised the greater part of the distance between Winnipeg and the Rooky Moun- tains, the western objective point of the journey. The conveyances were waggons with such relays of horses as could be obtained on the prairies ; the party spending their nights under canvas. The following is a rough tabulated Itinerary of His Exoellenoy's journey between the dates above mentioned : — FROM TO MILES. Rail. Road. Water. Halifax Toronto 1191 96 Toronto Collinewood Oollinewood Thunder Bay 727 Thunaer Bay Winnioee 325 115 9 447 160 Winnipeg ' '""'F^e Carleton . . . . • Carleton Prince Albert 60 Prince Albert Battleford 180 Battleford Calgarry 324 102 22D 84 180 Calgarry Fort McLeod Fort McLeod Fort Shaw Fort Shaw Helena Helena Dillon Dillon Oeden 347 1032 370 454 1631 Oeden Omaha Omaha St. Paul , St. Paul Winninee Winnines Ottawa Total 6561 1366 1127 I /£0f£4E The.«p«eohM d«UTered at this dinner by Hr. Bmtdau, the Freiident of the dub, rad H remember that the men who will succeed here as in every young commtmity are usually the able-bodied, and that their entry on their new field of labour should be when the year is young. Men advanced in life and coming from the Old (Country will find their comfort best consulted by the ready provided accommodation to be obtained by tho purchase of a farm in the old provinces. All that the settler in Ifanitoba would seem to require is, that he should look out for a locality- where there is good natural drainage, and ninety-nine hundreds of the country has this, a^d that he should be able readily to procure in Winnipeg, or^ elsewhere, some light pumps like those used in Abyssinia for the easy supply of water from a depth of a few feet below the surface. Alkali in the water will never hurt his cattle, and dykea of turf and the planting of trees would everywhere insure him and them the shelter that may be required. $5(X) should be his own to spend on his arrival, unless as an artisan he comes here, And finds that,, like the happy masons now to be found in Winnipeg, he can get the wages of a British Army Colonel, by putting up houses as fast as brick, wood and mortar can be got together. Favourable testimony as to th» climate was everywhere given. The heavy night dews throughout the- 9 North- West keep the country green when everythfaig is burned to the south, and the steady winter cold, although it sounds formidable when registered by the thermometer, is universally said to be far less trying than the cold to be encountered at the old English Puritan city of Boston, in Massachusetts. It is the moisture in the atmosphere which makes cold tell, and the Englishman who, with the thermometer at zero, would, in his moist atmosphere, be shivering, would here find one flannel shirt sufficient clothing whUe working. I never like to make comparisons, and am always unwillingly driven to do so, although it seems to be the natural vice of the weU-* travelled Englishman. Over and over again in Canada have I been asked if such and such a bay was not wonderfully like the Bay of Naples, for the inhabitants had often been told so. I always professed to be unable to see the resemblance, of course entirely out of deference to the susceptibilities of the Italian nation. So one of our party, a Scotsman, whenever in the Rocky Mountains he saw some grand pyramid or gigantic rook, ten or eleven thousand feet in height, would exclaim that tho one was the very image of Arthur's Seat and the other of Edinburgh Castle. With the fear of Ontario before my eyes I would therefore never venture to compare a winter here to those of our greatest Province, but I am bound to mention that when a friend of mine put the question to a party ot sixteen Ontario men who had settled in the western portion of Manitoba, as to the comparative merits of the cold season in the two provinces— fourteen of them voted for the Manitoba climate, and only two elderly men said that they preferred that of Toronto. You will, therefore, see how what is sometimes called that very unequal criterion of right and justice, a large minority, determines this question. Now although we are at present in Manitoba and Manitoba interests may dominate our thoughts, yet you may not object to listen for a few moments to our experience of the country which lies further to the west. To the present company the assertion may be a bold one, but they will be sufficiently tolerant to allow me to make it, if it goes no further, and I, therefore, say that we may seek for the main chance elsewhere than in Main street. The future fortunes of the country beyond this Province bear directly upon your prosperity. Although you may not be able to dig for four feet through the same character of black loam that you have h«re when you get to tiie country beyond Fort Ellioe, yet in its main features it is the same, right up to the forks of the Sas- katchewan. I deeply regret that. I was not able to visit Edmonton which bids fair to rival any place in the North- West. Settlement is rapidly increasing there, and I met at Battleford one man who alone had commissions from ten Ontario farmers to buy for them at that place. Nothing can exceed the fertility and excellence of the land iJong ftlmost 10 the whole course of that grent river, and to the north of It in the wide ■trip belting it« benka end extending up to the Peaoe River, tiiere will be room for a great population whose opportunities for profitable culti vation of the soil wiU be most enviable. The netting of wood, of which I have spoken as covering all tiie prairie between Winnipeg and Battle- fM^, is beyond that point dra^fn up upon the shores qf the prairie sea, and lies in masses of fine forest in the gigantic half circle formed by the Saskatchewan and the Bookiei. It is only in secluded valleys, on the banks of large lakes, and in river bottoms that much wood is found in the Far West, probably owing to the prevalence of fires. These are easily preventable, and there is no reason why plantations should not flourish there in good situations as well as elsewhere. Before I leave the Sas- katchewan let me advert to the ease with which the steam navigation of that river can be vastly improved. At present there is only one boat at all worthy of the name of a river steamer upon it, and this steamer lies up during the night.' ▲ new company u, I am informed, now being organised, and there is no reason why, if the new vessels are properly equipped and fVtmished with electric lights, which may now be Cheaply provided, they should not keep up a night and day service, so that the settlers at Prhice Albert, Edmontmi, and elsewhere may not have, during anotiier season, to suffer great privations incident to the wants of trans- portation which has loaded the banks of Grand Bapids during the present year with flight, awaiting steam transport. The great cretaceous coal seams at the headwaters of the rivers rising in the Bocky Mountains or in the neighborhood of steeams flowing towards your doors, should not be ibrgotten. Althoui^ you have some coal in districts nearer to you, we should remember that on the headwaters of these streams there is plenty of the same, which can be floated down to you before you have a eompiete railway system. Want of time as well as a wish to see the less vaunted parts of the country took me south-westward from Battleford, ovw land wtidi in many of the maps is variously marked as consisting of arid plains or as a continuation of the " American Desert." The newer maps, especially tiiose containing the explorations of Prof. Macoun, have corrected this wholly erroneous idea. For two days' march— that Is to say for about sixty or seventy miles south of Battleford we passed over land whose excellence could not be excelled for agricultural purposes. Thence to the nei^borhood of the Bed Deer Valley the soil is lighter, but still in my opinion in most places good for grainr—in any case most admirable for summer pasturage, and it.will certainly be good also for stock in winter as soon as it shall pay to have some hay stored in the valleys. The whole of it has been the favourite feeding ground of the boflblo. Their tracks from watering place to water- ing place, never too ftr apart fiom each other, were everywhere to baves handsomely and kindly. I may possibly know something of the nature of such affection, for as the eldest of a round dozen I have had experience of the fraternal relation as exhibited by an unusual number of younger brothers. Never have I known that fraternal tie to fail, but even its strength has its natural limit, so Canada's Affection may be measured. None of my younger brothers, however fond of me, would voluntarily ask that his prospects should be altogether overshadowed and swallowed up by mine. So Canada, in words which our neighbours may understand, wishes to be their friend but does not desire to become their food. She rejoices in the big brother's •irength and status, but is not anxious to nourish it by offering up her own body in order that it may afford him, when over hungry, that happy festival he is in the habit of calling a " square meal." (Loud laughter.) I must ask ynu now once more to allow me, gentlemen, to express my acknowledgments to you for this entertainment. It affords another indication of the feelings with which the citizens of Winnipeg regard any person who has the honour as the head of the Canadian Gov* «rnment to represent the Queen. (Cheers.) You recognize in the Gover- nor General the sign and symbol of the union which binds together in one the free and kindred peoples whom God has set over famous Isles and over fertile spaces of mighty continents. I have touched in speak- ing to you on certain vaticinations and certain advice given by a few good etrangers to Canadians on the subject of the future of Canada. Gentle- men, I believe that Canadians are well able to take care of themselves, of their future, and the outside world had better listen to them instead of promulgating weak and wild theories of its own. (Loud applause.) But however uncertain, and, I may add, foolish may be such forecasts, of one thing we may be sure, which is this, that the country you call Canada, and which your sons and your children's children will be proud to know by that name, is a land which will be a land of power among the nations. A benefit of her hardy milliona a large shar* of the oomnierce of the wor ' .' To the east and to the we^t nhe w'U pour forth of hAr abundance, her treiwures of food and the ric lion of her mines and of her lorestn, demanded of her by the leai fortunate of mankind. I Asteem those men favt^'^red indeed who, in however slight a degree, haT« had the honour, or maj >e yet called upon to take part in the oounoila of the statesmen who in this early era of her history are moulding thia nation's laws in the forms approved by its representatives. For me, I feel that I can be ambitious of no higher title than to be known as on« who administered its Government in thorough sympathy with the hopr K/ and aspirations of its first founders, and in perfect consonance with tbf) will of its free parliament. (Cheers.) I ask for no better lot thai t'^ b» remembered by its people as rejoicing in the gladness born .eir independence and of 'their loyalty. I desire no other reputation than that which may belong to him who sees his own dearest wishes in process of fulfilment in their certain progress, in their undisturbed peace, and in their ripening grandeur. His Excellency concluded by proposing the health of Mr. Brydges, who was, he said, equally at home as the King of the Fur Traders, the King of a Railway, or the King of a Club. (Ap- plause.) I ask you to drink to his health in flowing bumpers. SPEECH or MK. BRYDOEB. Mr. Brydges in respouuing begged to thank His Excellency most warmly for the very kind manner in which he had proposed the toast. It might be interesting to His Excellency to hear something of the coun- try which he travelled over before he met His Excellency at Qu'Appelle, and which was through what is known as Southern Manitoba, passing through the Mennonite reserve, Pembina Mountain, and Turtle Moun- tain, towards the Souris River. That was a different route to the on* followed by His Excellency to Qu'Appelle where they met. That coun- try I found to be teeming with a large and industrious population. I found farms there of an extent which would rival any I am acquainted with in the Province of Ontario. I saw fieliw of wh< at ready for the reaper, and many of theiiiin the latter part . of x. . .'ney bei . ^ath ered into stacks waiting to be threshed ei . >'r ior tue consumption of the people of this country or to be carried beyond its borders to feed the populations of the old world. In many places I was surprised to find that I could count with the eye twenty farm houses in sight at one time <9ur<^unded by fields glowing with the harvest which they were about \> v«ap {Loud cheers.) I was told by many of the farmers that they ^>c)n> ^ nablO' to Sreak as much land as they were desirous to breaks It b«MUBe they could not get the produot* to the markets of the world, and , I found this BtAtement amoDgit them all that they only wanted the faoi- Utiea oi 1 lilway oommunication to enable them largely to inoreaie what they were ali-^^'ly growing, and to transport it tio a diotanoe. (Cheer- ing.) I became HtiUdfied from what I saw and heard that a railway would not only be of immense importance to the development of the country, bnt that it w< uld pay those who pit their capital into the construction of the railway so much required. (Applause.) I may say aH ■'• wtuit has fallen (tom His Excellency I do not think it would be unin ^ei ^sting to him to hear that the company I have the honor to represent q this country is endeayoring to do its shve in disseminating inforn^&tioR among the older countries of the world as to this country (rheers. It used to be rather a reproach to the Hudson's Bay Company that t «y desired to keep this land a preserve to carry on fUr trading, v 1 1 have no doubt that like a great many others they, to some ezte % wer« actuated by selfish motives ; but we all see now that th ; time L .• com^^ when this country must be opened up and peopled. (Cheers.) We Havi^ a large estate in this country to administer, and have taken most ^ ve steps to explain to the people on ;,he other side of the Atlant oe advantages which will accrue to them fVom planting their lot '^e. (Cheers.) So far as we are coneernt d, I am happy to say that • <4se efforts have been productive of very t- atisfactory results. (Cheers.) ^he Canadian Pacific Railway are taking smilar steps to ours, and we e both working in harmony on that question. And it may be interest ;; to state that so great has been the desire by immigrants o«ming into <* country fVom old Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, i Scandinavia, to buy land, that the Hudson's Bay Company have sold actual settlers upwards of forty thousant acres of land during the lam two months, all of which 1 believe are now in possession of the parties who have bought and who have been will, ng to pay an average price to possess that land at rather more than $5 m acre. (Loud cheering.) I can only say so far as the company I represent is concerned, that we shall continue in the path I have deBcribe< , and that we shall do our utmost to induce people to see the advant «ges offered to them in this country, and I am glad to see that we ar^- being joined by the Cana- dian Pacific Railway Company in our efforts in this direction. (Applause. I think that one of the greatest inducements and inceurives to the settlement of this country is the rapid construction of railway lines throughout its farming lands. (Applause.) It is quite impossible that we can expect that people will come intr this country and settle amongst us unless they are to be provided with those means of communication which so largely and admirabl ' exist to the south of us. - That country, the United States, has shown a most wonderfvil and 18 unmiBtakable energy in settling their western country, much of which now teems with happy populations. It is our lot to emulate them, or, at any rate, to follow in the steps which they have shown us ought to be followed, and I am glad to see the Canadian Pacific Bailway Company are doing what is required with an energy which I know exists, and musi and will carry out to a successful issue the measures which are neces- sary to make this country a great and happy agricultural commanity, (Cheers.) I believe it would be interesting to us, and I know it is the desire of His Excellency, to hear what the C. P. R. have done and what they are about to do in order to accomplish the results which I am quite satisfied will follow from their efforts, and I trust therefore that I shall not be considered as going beyond the list of toasts which were placed in my hands if I -ask you to drink an additional one, and thus give us an opportunity of hearing from our friend Mr. Donald A. Smith, one of the directors of the Canadian Pacific Eailway Company, some account of what they have done and intend to do in order to aid the operations of the Government and other parties in filling up this great country. I therefore ask you to join me in drinking Prosperity to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, coupling with it the name of the Hon. Donald A. Smith. (Great cheering.) The toast having been enthusiastically drunk, SPEECH OF MR. D> A. SMITH. Hon. D. A. Smith on rising was received with long continued applause. He said : Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency and Gentlemen — On behalf of the Pacific Railway Company and of my colleagues in the direction of that corporation, I beg to thank you for the very cordial mention novr made with respect to it. I had hoped on coming to this very pleasant meeting this evening that one of the gentlemen more immediately connected with the administration here of the affairs of the Canadiaa Pacific Railway Company would have responded to this toast. I com- municated with one and the other, but found it was their desire alsa that I should make any few observations to be made here now. You will all understand — for I speak now before gentlemen who are not only amongst the most intelligent to be found in this community, which is a more than ordinarily intelligent one, but who are also men of business habits, and who know how business affairs ought to be conducted, and it is hardly, necessary for me to say before them that in the initiation of such a large scheme, I think I may call it a vast undertaking, as thafe. of constructing a railway to the Pacific there were a good many diffi- culties to be overcome, but having undertaken the work, my frienda connected with the company determined they should carry it out manfully, and honestly; that they should go to it with heart and hand, and fulfil as far aa it was within their power to accomplish the just • '■• ■.-, ?- 19 ezpeotationB of the Canadian people. (Loud oheen.) I presume ffc is customary, as well here as in other parts of the world, that people look somewhat to the main chance. (Laughter.) They look on busines» #ith a practical eye, but at the same time £ am very sure that my associates in the Canadian Pacific Bail way did not regard it solely ii» that light. They considered that it would be an honor and privilege to> them and a matter that they could look back upon with great gratifica- tion (great cheering), that they had been instrumental in opening up- this great North- West country. (Renewed cheering.) To those whO' know some of these gentlemen, I need hardly say that they are practi- cal business men, such as Mr. Stephen, his colleagues in this country^ and Messrs. Morton, Rose & Co., and others of high standing in Eng- land and on the continent of Europe. But as the hour is very nearly at hand which His Excellency had deto. mined on for leaving us (His Excel lency— " No ! No ! go on I go on ! ") I will not detain you further than a very few minutes. What you desire to know is the progress already madfr with the railway and what are the prospects in the immediate future^ Well, I have learnt from those who have the conduct of affairs here that at this moment they have 150 miles that is, some eight miles beyond Brandon, completed, of which they have actually constructed 120 miles^ and that before the close of this season there will be at least 200 miles completed and in running order. (Tremendous applause.) Besides- some 150 miles of branch line there will be this present year an addi- tional 200 miles of the main line graded, and arrangements have been- made for going on as far as possible throughout the winter with the work. (Great applause.) So far as regards the future during the next year the hope, the expectation indeed, is that something between 500 and 600 miles, and more likely upwards of 600 miles, will have been laid < and if possible in running order, and from this you will see it will not i take a very long time to reach the Rocky Mountains, of which we have heard so eloquently from his Excellency. (Great applause.) Now, with, reference to the land department : I have heard from the land commis- sioner who so ably represents the company — and I may here be permit- ted to say that the gentlemen who represent the other departments also do so with much ability — that up to this time there have been applications for at least a million acres of land for intending settlera (great cheers), of which already a considerable portion has passed intO' their hands ; and that, further, there have been many persons — parties of gentlemen from England- who have come to request that one, two and three townships should be reserved till next spring, so that they might make arrangements in Europe for sending out settlers, and, I may add, settlers of the very best class. And then of the future beyond the next year t I have already sftid that those gentlemen in the direction of 20 !]: I r r r •ih.<6 railway, my asiooiatei, are practical men of business. I may perhaps bepormitted to be personal for one moment and to say that in 1878, -when there were a good many sceptics amongst us as to our having railway communication at all in the Province, I ventured to give the assuranoe, M one interested in the St. Paul and Manitoba Bailway, that the line then 100 miles distant from our frontier would be completed and the trains running on it into Winnipeg by the close of that year. (Loud «heerB.) This promise, as you all know, was fulfilled, and I trust that I ehall be as happy a prophet in announcing my belief on this occasion that thero will be at least 600 miles of railway built next year, and that by the oloh j of the year following the Canadian Pacific Bailway will have reached the Rocky Mountuns. Then I trust we shall have the very great pleasuro of seeing amongst us His Excellency once more, and that we shall have the high honor and proud satisfaction — a satisfaction which will be most cordially joined in not only by every gentleman here assembled, but by everyone now within the province and the territories of the North-West, as well as by those many thousands nhc will in the meantime be drawn hither in great measurofrom the publ'ca-ion of the knowledge communicated to the outside world throug!x tht^ medium of the eloquent address we have heard from His Excelleacy this evening — that by the olese of two years from this we shall have the high honor and very great satisfaction of wafting His Excellency and along with him Her Boyal Highness, we sincerely trust fully restored to health and «trength, to the Rocky Mountains in a railway cwriage, so that they may be enabled to look down together from one of the peaks of those mountains over a country which is not to be surpassed — to have a bird's* «ye view of a country teeming with wealth, and capable of producing not only grain in the greatest abundance, but beef and mutton of the very best quality — such an extent of fine agricultural land in one unbroken stretch as can nowhero else be surveyed from any one place either on this continent or any other part of the world of which we have any knowledge. (Great cheering.) And now, gentlemen, I beg to thank you for the kind and cordial manner in which you have been good •enough to receive the mention of my name. (Great cheering.) The health of the Lieut-Governor was then proposed. His Honour responded briefly, and in the course of his remarks stated that so highly did he think of the country that he had made up his mind to live and die in it. By this time the hour of His Excellency's departure had arrived and «s he left, the members of the club, with one accord, sprang to their feet •and greeted him with peals of cheering, a fitting acknowledgment of the long and laborious journey undertaken by His Excellency from an lk !>^*>- -^*fti*ii2s^^?t'.'* r ,»''-* ii ^-1' ■ ** - . ' "4