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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 i s ■ -" i ^r— ■ : •/ I J 2d ^/i : CHRONICLES BY THE WAY. A SERIES OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE MONTREAL "GAZETTE," DESCRIPTIVE OF A IKIP UlRoUCll MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST. e». ' iiflontrcal : PRINTED BY IIIE (GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY. f 1879- .., • • CH A SEl MAxNJ I 'chronicles by the way. A series; of letters addressed to the MONTREAL "GAZETTE," DESCRII'TIVK ()|.- A IKIl' niKoUGII |MAxNlTOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST. iiftontrcal : PRINTED I]Y THE GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY, 1879. A SERIE MANl MONTRBAL TC rilAVBI. — 1 I KLbKNOK — COLIiKCTOK AND 1TB Inl Minns The trip fro bappily uo lo tukiMi by so ma bly ffimilmr, oi from dt'Bcript press by tl: the jourufy, bio you witl will bereafter t those who may this seasou. 'I OBUiil time, an distance can b that, jompared hardy nor'-wes prairie wilderne who have rece trado than that lots have been c traveller has bt Railway at nigh to Detroit, and 1 a comfortable b iog car, into Chi ten o'clock, and morniDg at six, CHRONICLES BY THE WAY, /I SERIES OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE MONTREAL "GAZETTE, " DESrUII'TIV I': nh' \ I'ltll' |': liui (ill MANITOHA AND THE NORTH-WEST. LETTKH I. ( MONTKKAL TO WINNirKO — COMl'ANIONSUI 1' IN rilAVBI, — TllK (iUKAT W K8T AND ITH IN- FLfKNOK — A DISAl'l'OINTMKNT-A CANADIAN { COLLKC'TOK STOI'I'lNd TBAVEL— MINNKAI'OLIS iAND ITS I«DUSTniE8. MiNNSAi'OLis, Mth August, 1870. The trip from Uontroal to Winiiipofi; is happily uo lon^'er a novolty. It has been tuittui by so many as to bavt; become t()h;ni- bly fiimiiinr, cither by actual experience, or from descriptions given of it in the press hy those who have " dontj " the journey, that I filial! not trou- ble you with any details, ex<:ept ap will hereafter appear, by way of warning to th«)se who may contemplate doing it during this season. Three days and a half is the neual time, and, no mishap occurriiig, the distance can bo covered in that time. So that, compared with the expertencrs of the hardy nor'-westers who fur-traded in the prairie wilderness, or even vvith the settlers who havo recently sought to make other tiado than that in the furs of animals, our lots have been cast in pleasant pine r,. The traveller has but ti> take the (irand Trunk Railway at night ; the next night brings him to Detroit, and the following nioruir •(, after a comfortable breakfast iu the Pullman din- ing car, into Chicago. He can lea ;e there at ten o'clock, and reach St Paul the following morning at six, and he ought immediately to start fc»r St. Vincent, and he could do so but at this point begins the inscruttble mys- teries of (ravel, which I will refer to heiealter. As it is, hi! remains over until live in the evening— a l>ii;t imjiortant tc bo remember- ed, because it so disposeil he can spend the liay in Chicago insteud of Ht. Paul, making close conn.ction at this point. He reaches St. Vincent th*- following evening and takes the bout to Winniptg or the train to St. l>oniface, making either point some tim'^ the next moming— that is, I am told ho does, but as I have not reached that point yet, it is perhaps as well that he should not li.t too ceitiiiii, in so fur as he will depend upon the information ci>ntaincd in this letter- until I report furllier from Winnipeg. Count that up, and it will piizzlf you to know how the journey i.~ made in three diiys and a hwlf. liut then it must be rememb-red that, judg- ing by the time consnuied, it is furtner from Montre.il to Winnipeg than from Winnipeg to Montreal. The St Paul and Pcicitic comes, in the laltt-r cas*, happily at the (ommeiui ment instead of the end of the journey ; and after leaving it, close coanec- tions can be made to your city, and ttie twelve hours detention to which I have re- ferrt (1, can be avoided. It is astonishing how much the pleasure of a journey depends upon your link in fall- iiig iu with compunionalde people travelling in the same direction. This is esptcially the case in cicean travelliug, but a railway journey is sulject largely to the suno intiuence. The difference is that in the former case you are doomed to the same companionship for the eight days, I while in t)i« luttur it in an ovor viiryin^' cbangt?, II picturtt of bniiuin life, lit cadi nta tiou Bomo ditiuppcnriii^', in ho tar iy trrivcll.n^; oweH much of itn cotulort to the factor <>!' coiupaniontihip 1 wati fortunate in tliis respect. My tiret wan a Chicago Canadian, and that Ih saying a ^ood deal for bioi, tor Canada lias no reason to I>1ukIi for the n coid which her sons are making iu tliu great cen- tre of commerce and vice. 111! was an old Hhip'd companion, who liad nbared with me the discomforts of that wretched fourteen days' voyage in the City of London, wliich followed inimi'diately upon that iu which the ill fated "• City of Boston" BO mysteriously disaipeared. After recalling the incidents of the voyage for a while, we lapsed into a conversation on the country and its prospects. My Irieud is an intense weetern man. Witli that entliu- siasm, which is at once the cause and con- sequence of western development, ho argues every question from the standpoint of tlie great west. " 'I'here is a levelling process going on," said he, as he looked out upon the mngniticent tields, giving evidence of the abundant harvest they bad or were yielding, and the comfortable homesteads and out- buildings which showed forth the thrift of the husbandman. " There is a levelling process going on, not only here but all over the con- tinent, and even in Europe. Their farmers can't maintain the high price ot their lands which is the measure of their wealth, in presence of events in the Great West, f hey hold their lands at from seventy-tive to a hundred and fifty or two hundred dollars an acre. But that can't last. Who will pay that, when with the price of a good »v/,nd garden patch be can have his pick of a farm in the Western territories or Manitoba." "The increasing facilitit s of trans, portation," he continued, " arc) removing the objections of distance, and the cost is infinitely more than made up by the greater productiveness, and the superior quality of the production in the Western Country, and depend upon it, it is a case of there we go up, up, up, and here, and in Kurope, we go m Chicago, my friend takes wlieat as the basis of all argument iu reflation to tlio value of land. If be could get rid ot this idea — to a 'Jiiicagoan an impossibility — lie niight, perhaps, modilj' somewhat bin opini.in as to tlie inevitable (K'a r a young Canadiiu who has recently passed creditable examin- tioiis in Euroiiuan s( liools of mines. I was g!a.l to meet thi;in ; and have hail st"! greater reason for ^atisfacti(«n, as tlio inci- (lent.s of the journey li ive developed. This morning, on nearing St. I'aul, 1 asked the slecj.iug car porter at what time the train i)y the St i'aul & I'acitic; left for St. Vincent. " Seven twenty," he replied, sententiously. How far is the station from tliul at which wo stop " Two squares,'' and the porter having thus reiieveil himself of what turned out not to bo very valuable information went on with his work, putting up the berths. I'n sently the inevi- table baggage porter came along. " Want any baggage checked for hotels or any part of the city?" " At what hour does the train ou the St. Paul and PaciTuj start for St. Vin- cent?' I enquired. "To-morrow night Mt five o'clock ; any baggage to check ?" " But I mean the first train." "That's the tirst train ; only one train a day, every evening at five o'clock, except Saturday. No train leaves on Saturday." Here was a pleasant surprise for us ! We were due in Winnipeg on Sun- day morning, according to the general state- ment, three << >ys and a half from Montreal to Manitoba, and here was a thirty-six hours' detention I We made the best of it, however ; got breakfast at the Merchants' Hotel, did the city in the morning, ami came on to this more important point— as the Minneapolins call it — by the noon train. Minneapolis is a very flourishing city, with all the evidences of commercial activity and of increasing individual wealth. It is the centre of the saw mill and flour mill interest for tiie Nii| on the Mit With the New Orlcil Ameiica a| fine stone and fifty b(l and a capal barrels of is being liil ■times, andl them altol years siiicJ this city, il fiifty tboul than tilt! ol( ment of we feel that if the earlier his views i more than tiou foi tht CANAniAN OK COI! — Till KNTKK AKKKdl r On thr The newi reached thf perience to civilized c( Bank of A unsafe. A the obMg Canadian I venturtii the larges In the wor me with a I «' excuse no webJern cc worth two Inerednloui oflieials I t boldly pre ftn(i (lih'.Ti •'Can't yo Bald the 5 in Kiiropt), wo jro t n tho VVtht.iu III tl aiiy oiitt tiiiii h thcru JH ill ntiiu iiilifrtvi tbiit frit ml fnkoH wh«;it rW ill n^ifitidii (<> i ((lulil Kft rill ol 111 iuipoHHiltility — ly KDuiowhiit hJH J (K'lidrnco of tilt h » coiipin (if gen. ran Muiiitohii ; Oiu) .Sfotiuu,— II iiiiiu goroiJH ability in >f iiii(!c(t()t(>, and I, wlioui hv (luotnH itcHt (lllt;t:ti()H or yoniig (JiiiifMliiu ro(liti»l»K! i;x!iniiii. of niiutiH. I WHS hiivo hiiil kH"! tion, as tlio iiici- lovolojKil. This itul, I UKkcd lilt- time the train hy for St, Viuconf . d, Ht;utfUtioUHly. [ion from thai Two equans," thus rt'iii;v*'d not to bo vtiry )a with his work, gently the inevi- aloHff. « Want )tel8 or any part iir does the train ^tart for St. Vin- orrow night ut check ?" " But That's the first very evening at No train leaves pleasant surprise innipeg on Sun- le general state- from Montreal thirty-six hours' tof it, however ; ants' Hotel, did came on to this o Minneapolins shing city, with ial activity and iltb. It is the ur mill interest for the Northwest, there beint,' at this point on the MisstHsipi a magnitii ent water power. With the HJngle exception of one mill at New Orleans, (he largest tlniiiing mills in Ameiica ar>i here. I visited one to-dny, a line stone building, with its seven tmutlred and fifty horse power, its thirtv tun of stones, and a enpacity of turning out fifteen liunrlred barrels of llourdinly. Another still iHigta is being built, whieh is to have forty mn of stones, and there are some d the Far West. It was a novel ex- perience to learn that there were places in civilized countries, where the bills of the Bank of Montreal itself were regarded as unsafe. At the hotel at Minneapolis, the obliging clerk would not take Canadian billB of any kind ; and when I ventured to suggest that bills of the largest private banking corporation In the world should be good, he looked at me with a knowing stare, as if he should say, •• excuse me, we don't know much in this wes'ern country, but we do know a trick worth two of that." If the hotel- man was Incredulous, the St. Paul and Pacific Hallway oflieials I thought, would know better. So I boldly presented myself at the ticket offi^.e. »nd f.llend Bank of Mimtreal bills. •'Can't you give me American money?" said the gentlemanly ollicial. ■' Why sun ly these hlllB should bo as good as Aineriean money at this otlice at any rUe, ' I replied. " Sorry, sir, but I have to (»bey instructions. If I take theHo bills I must charge you a discount," and I went away n'tlecting uj)on the ingratitmio of hiimiui nature. Here was an enterprise whit li owed much to the Muik of Montreal, 1 tlioiigbt ; whieh has lieen carried to com- pletion l>y money I'urniHbed by the Piiiiik of Moiitriial 1 eoiild not help redacting that so great service deserved better treatment than the depreuiation of the piper of Ihu bene- fictor At liv( thirty eight we left Minneapolis and stopped for supper at \ little place called Minntkoiiki, situated on the lake of that mime. It is a charming place for a summer resort, and the lake, studded with sail and row l>oats, indicat'd that tMs was the popu- lar view. The St. Paul find Pacific Railway runs e.\(ursion trains out from St. Paul dur- ing the day, so that people cnn get a wbitT of fresh air at least once a week during the summer months. The fact rather die. sipated the ie8peil- liiirdH, lliey may \h' i'onsidered us tolernbly Bafo. We Bee lari^e exp'uiseH with tlie wln-at cnt, and in sheaf, and at one point the steam thresher is at work. The wheat crop in the State it is said is not panning out as well av it promised to do The St, Paul Pioneer of Saturl'iy ret'erK to the (vt, ami states that there is considerable disappoint- ment among the farm' is at the result. Such information as I could get (rom those in a position to give it was in tiie same sense, the general testimony being that the aver-i^'o ot tho state will not be much over ten bushels to tlie acre. Even that avorngo gives an enormous aggregate, and the question of transport-'tion bocomi's the burning question of the North- west as producers, and of the East as car- riers and shippers. I he<»r of another scheme whicli is said to lie backed by strong intitu^nre in which Montnal and Quebec have a very decided interest. Jt is said that a party leaves St. Paul this weel^ to go over the ground. It is a proposal to build a railway from St. Paul to Sault Ste. Marie, crossing at that point, and then proceeding to connect with the Canadian Pacific Railway noith of Lake Nipissing. Ifnny of my readers will take the time to look at the map, they will find that the line from St. Paul to Montreal is almost a direct one. The estimate is that a train leaving St. Pawl by the proposed route will reach tide water at Montreal in between three and four hundred miles IcFS distance than by the present routes f'irtChicagoand south of tho lakes. Thatdifler- ence is certain to settle the question of trans- port by the northern line, and to ensure its construction. And as St. Paul is row the distributing poi::*^^ forthe north-west country, it is not difficult to estimate the numerous advantages certain to result from ai \;h a rail- AMKItlOAN UNI'ATUIO NIPIU — T way. A comparatively short lino from Dii luth would connect with it, and thus mak* it the eastern outlet for tlie Northern l'aciti< . as well as of the trideof thet.'anadian North aii-way biva west (oming over the line from Winnipeg to Pembina. I hopt« no patriotic Canadian will become ex( ited over the f k t that a lai;.;e part of this line, when built, will l)e in United States territory, that it will be built with I'nitid States money, and con There are trol!..;J by Ignited States enterpriHe amllt.v, and tb» energy. I remember that the idea embodled'lalns the tin in this scheme is substantially tin* same as'aul and I'aci that wlii( li sir Hugh Allan propoumled iii»y train by his i'eterboro speech. It is true that in hit-Janada I'acil' ciise he did not make St. Paul an oi.jectiv.ioat by the point His proposal was to carry the limiow, I believ iiorlli of iiake Huron, to cross at the Sanlt.he St. I'aul a and thence to conned with the Northern>lna branch i Padllc at Duiiith. But it had the sani. Jppt'"" & ^" rcsidt in view, that of making the North-'Xperience— i west, both Aineiican and Canadian, tributary^ h^PPY on», to Caiia'li.'in sbip|iing interests. He was di-ibat it takes noiinced as a traitor foi tlu- suggestion. Thi«lxty-tive mil Wo/» and its sati'llitcs pointed out how set Jetween t best tienicnt in Manitoba would be impeded liv»nd Pacific', h<" Yankee immiirratioii bummers atttcking tli'^omake that immigrants on the American part of tlnOlore pleasan road and iniliK ing them to settle in tlK^Mt are detail United States. A road exclusively on Cana.3«Bily nnderst dian territory was dec'ared to be the only^'^he tram fi thing worthy of (Janadiin suoport. That \4o, from St. 1 s.yeii years ago. The (,'/„/„.., fritnds havOkicago in tl been in office during five of those years, and*"'^^ ** '^'■ what have they done ? They left ollice witliB»orning inBt< a link of a hundred and eighty mibs of tlu'og- »nd ^^^^ line from Thunder 15ay to Selkirk inlet, witlif^^cbing Wi tht Pembina branch uncomplete, simply in^^^''^) •'* ^" the interests of the Donald A. Smith an(l*JK|^t. w","'*' l\itson cli(iuo of anti-"anadian manipulators P^^'^^K- '^^^' We ought to have had by this time a Cana.*»KJ^ "f |* ^^ dian summer route to carry immigrants into"**'*'''' "'"^ our Northwest territories, and we woulii "***** "'****''^ have had it but that the interests of tin* Btrong teir clique required postponement, and the lab'**^^ would l Oovirnment could not resist tho appeal *■ P''*^^'8"'y Bnl the question of getting the grain of thc^"' *°*^ ^' , Northwest out 18 an entirely different qu.s*'**'"'^' ^'^'^ ' tion from that ot getting immigration in, and '"^PJ'"^"^'"'^ it is in the interest of the former that I hopi ^' d'' ■'''PP*'** ^'^ port of Montreal in the East, must depend jO^B^'^ "'*"*" the future of your city as a great shipplDi.' "^ '^''"' . 1 point for the produce of America. ^^^ ^° hort lino from Dii LKTIKK 111. It, nnd thiiH in»kf ____ «i Northern l'H<;ifl. , li«)(.'anniDa branch is leaned hy the (jovernnient to it had tho Ham. Jpper A Co , who iue now running? it. Its ikiiiL,' the North-'X|"'rience — riK to (onutrnc lion, iiaH not heen iinadian, trihiitarvt htppy onv, and it is not yet bdlHHted; ho 'cHtH. Me was de-'bat it taken fonr honrn and a half to do the wn^,'oro pleasant. Why pasHferx from the to KtttlH in till *Bt are detained twelve hours in Ht. r»nl is lut^ively on Cana-J^sily understood i" the li^'ht of tliis rivalry. d to he the only W the train started, as reaHonuhly it should uoport. That isJo, from St. I'aul on the arrival of that from "/"'.I friends haviOkit'aRO in the morninp;, passenijers would those years, and'Hive at St. Vincent at six o'clock in the H'y left o(H(re witliinorninf,' instead of six o'clock in the even- chty mil.'H of fhclng. »id with day li^jht, anti the prospect of eikirk inlet, witliW^ching Winnipeg about noon, the lioats, nplete, fsimply jnWhich, in that case, would only reach at d A. Smitti and^^^l^ti would stand a poorer chance of lora- ian manipulator,'! P>t>"K- They wouM still have the; advan- this lime a Cana.***" of » sail up the river tiy day-light, immigrants intn''b'«^''it with those to whom a few hours was and we would ">*>* * matter of much consequence, would be fnteresfs of the* strong temptation; but the business ciir- ent, and the lati**^* would pass over the railway, and that sist tho appeal *■ pi't'L'isely what is not wanted by the St, the grain of thf^"' ^^'^ Fscific. This, alter all, is human y difleront qu'S- ''**'"■*'. *nd my reflections must be taken as migration in, and ***P''*D''t<'i'y rather than condemnatory lint rmer that I hopr Udid seem, when we arrived at St Vincent, ferred to carried •■i^ tli" policy was carried a step too tar. such enterprise,-; The junction is a few hundred yards from succcess of the ^^ steamboat landing, ami it would not ap. ihe Oovernment P**"" to t)e an excess of courtesy to have expenses of th<' ■topped so that passengers going on by rail St, must depend "B'ght disembark for supper, before chang- » great shippiDi,' '*^ '''*"• ^"^ *^ supper, and 1 believe a erica. '" ^'y comfortable one, is served on the the steamer, tliero is an additional reason for embarrasHing travellers by rail, and the train runs oown to the steamboat landing, remaininu' there lorn; enough to discharge bagi.'iti;e,and then leisurely moves back to tho jiimlion. The conductor on the rembina brunch is fortunately an obliging young man, and he detained thr train long enough to permit lis to have a hurried meal. In spite of these ellorts tn force travel by the steamers, the majority of the passengers took till* I rain. We had an oiiportunify of realizing how desperate are the ellorts of the I'nited States lamt and immigration aL,. .' s, to prevent im- migrants troin settling in Manitoba, Among tlie |)aHseiiLrers wete a young man and his will- and child, with a brother, just arrived from Irel'iud, evidently respectable well-to- do Irish I'rotestants ; and another family from tlie neighborhowl of Kingston. They said they had been greatly discouraged by the stories told them t>y people on the train astheycame on, of the miserable condition ot .Manitoba and the Northwest, and tho greater adv'tn ages of settling in Minnt^sota or I) tkota. To stiangers going into a strange country, it is not wonderful that these stories have their depressing intluem o. We had a chance of learning soon how persistent are these inducements and misrepresentations. A tall intelligent-looking man, farmer like in his nppeaiance, without the slightest air of otlicialdom about him, struck up a conver- sation with the party, and with a glibness that was simply mHrvellous, and that surely ■sprang from some other motive than a tixed sal.ity, he descanti (I on the greater advan- tatfes of th.! States over the Canadian North- west for settlers. It was liad tmough that these bummers should be on the track of immigiants to Canada on American railways. But here was one following up the prey through Canadian territory, to the very door of their future home, \Vhat is being done to counteract this kind of thing I don't know. That something slionld be done all will admit, and it is fortunate for Canada that the department whoso duty it is to look after this branch of the public service, is presided over by so cleur-h'aded and practi- cal a man as the present Minister of Agricul- ture. It is a pity that the spirit of party is so strong as to give as tho most valuable allies of these American agents a portion of the Canadian press. The Winnipeg Fref Press is a well conducted, enterprising paper, whose proprietors have given the best poFsi- 8 ble proof of their interest in tliis country by casting in their lot with the people. But they are opposed to the Dominion GoTcrn- ment, and are bent upon rendering it as un- popular as possible, and daily there are state- ments of the increased ^out of living as the results of the National Policy. If the stati - ments aro true to (iome extont, the empha- sizing of them would, as a matter of policy, be unwise. Manitoba has much less interest in the question of whether (^onserviilives or Liberals rule thau it haw in the greater qu's- tion of the settlement of its li nds and the consequent development r,f its resources. For weal or for woe the na ioual policy is the policy of Canada for five years at least ; and I believe it will befoie the end of that time hiive so vindicated its wisdom by its results as to ensure its continuance for a much longer time. The immediate result in some cases may be a rise in prices ; but the experience of the Americans, our own ex- perience in all those departments in which manuractures have been successful, is that the ultimate result is a lessuuiag not au in- crease of prices. Surely under these circum- stances it is not wiP'- to be furnishing daily the ammunitiuo wl ich is most ellective in the hands of American agents to dettr settle- ment iu r'anada. In the case of Manitoba the facls are against the Free Prens in pre- cisely those departments that are most es- sential to the new settlers For instance it ventured the statement that the price of lumber halt been increased in consequence of the N.P., and the Tunet! thus furnished the proof to the contrary : — " Mondny altoriioon a fepresentative f)f tlir 7'tm'.< waited on Mr. Maeaulay, ol' Mac ula,\ --e Kenllemeii do a very lara;e l)uslness in liinilxT. They have extensive limits in the Ruseau district and also in Keewi*.vclin In answer toeniiuir- les, Ml'. Maeaulay stated lliat, liis lirni is sell- ing lumber mncli lower tliaulast yea--. lie compared aMinnesita prIeo-lisL ot.May, 1H7!». with one for the same month of 1878, and f 'Und the , rices tliere hif^her lor this yeai' than last. Being re(inpsteil, ho rnrnishi'd a list of his prices I' >r lumber at the presfnt time. 'J hey are given below, and lor the pur- pose of comparison, tliey iire tahnlaleil with one of his firm's price-lists for IH78, so as ti> sliow the ilitfercnce. 'J he rates (luoted are per M. : — 1878. 1879. 1st Common Boards, 12, 11, IB, 18 and .0 feet $28 2,1 Culls, Common Boards, 12, 11, 10, . 18 2() tj^cantling. Joists and T'nber, 20 .. 20 feet and under 28 25 Stgck boards, all widths ;!0 28 " dressed one side,. .. :« m " dressed two sides... 35 32 1st Mooring, dressed 45 40 ^je treeB bl .Srd " .'.'.■.'.■.■.'.'■:;.".' 35 30 ich would r" 1st ceiling. 1 inch, dressed 1 side . 4r> 40 i large and . 2nd " " " " .. 40 ■^'» ildinirs of w l.st siding ■.; 45 40 oudantclayl 2nd " 40 35 d substantial ;'■;' '' •■;,•••;••, ,•••.•,•••■ 5?, 30 ^ ^t a very * Isi ceiling, 1 inch, dressed sides. . 50 '.> ^ . „ „„4'u:| l'ikI single case has the price increasei»ZETTR my that only ri,r clap-boavds, and 2nd and .3r clear, are tlii; rates as ligli as last year, an thrtt ill every other case they are considerabl cheaper." What I have just written is by way t parenthesis. We reached St. Boniface, th terniium of the Pembina branch, at half-pas elev u, find crossing over to Winnipeg-DB indi.vn t whi h is done by a large ferry steamer upoi ki.i.khs — which the vans and omnibuses are driven ualk-ure we reacl'ed the Canada Pacific Hotel, where put up, at a little after midnight. What i 'rousiiii'- wanted here is a bridge, so that cars coul \vhi<;at v come directly into the city, or until that i built, a track down to the ferry, so as to ge! over nearly a mile of not very good road at the best of times, and almost impossible 01 Journeys ac baggage in wet weather*. There is a by-lawjoj^ infinite now before the municipal electors of Winni-^miiiar with peg, authorizing the Council to vote $200,iio are maki 000 by way of grant to the Canadian Qovgiird some n erument towards the construction of a rail-g|e this. C way bridge across the river, which is to begQt,]y gont voted upon on Monday next. There is flf a youn liitle doubt that it will cirry ; and with anjery soon th( kind of reasonable counection with tht*h« danger c oi-tside railway world towards the ac-jg^rded at complishment of which the first great de-ithough all siderituin is the speedy completion of thef the bufifal line from Thunder Bay to Selkirk, the con-garce, hungt stiuctiou of the bridge will be a great ad-egg and caui vantage to the city. Winnipeg is as busy^hlch, as 1 and thriving a place of its size as can beg of immin found anywhere. The streets are wide andpfflrient int well laid out, the main street being two^QOQces of si chains in width, amply autticient to allow of, act of gene Che party ^, , he plains, •Thetrnok has since been continued to 'bc._|j ' ^ r river side, and the station Is a mile nearer the "»"•'"»' "' city. tn authority 9 40 85 *^^ ttees being placed on either side. 35 .TO Job would greatly beautify it. ThestoreB ^ ''*'*'® ■ 40 ?r ' ^'Se and well appointed, and the public "5 '^\ lldings of white brick, for which there is 45 40 andant clay in the vicinity, are haudsonid ,|0 ;« (J RTibstanttfil looking City lots are pell- l sides. 50 ir, ? "* * ^♦''"y *^'ph price — as high as in the " . 45 40 >Bt flourishing towns of similar size in j^ " • '^ ^<5 itario. That Winnipeg has a great future oil. .... .* 60 ^5 fore it no one can doubt, and the t-nter- 50 5() iaing men who cast their lot in at the first 40 40 ihly murit all the advantrtges that are cer- 5 ^ inly in store for them. I start to-morrow 5 1 lOming by wteamer up the Assiniboine to ^ 4 trtage la I'rairie, and thence for a ten days' 3;} ^ ive across the plains towards the Kooky %S 30 onntains ; and as postal facilities permit iual ofdicse flgun'* fontiuuo to give the readers of the the price inerea.sei»S!BTTB my " Chronicles by the Way." s, ai:(i 2nd and .ir Jh as last year, an ley are coiisiderabi ,... „ . . LETTER IV. itten IS by way o 1 St. Boniface, th branch, at half-pa? er to Winnlpeg_nB i\di.\n (ii'KSTioN — tricks ri'ON ti!.\v'- ferry steamer upoi ki,i,ku,s— ui" Tin.; AssixiiioiNi: — tiik iibuses are driven cific Hotel, where "'^lk-iikekd lands axi> thkir i-hopkie- aidnight. What I toksiih' — i'oiitaijio i-a I'RAtuin — thu so that cars couh whkat i-'iki.us. ity, or until that i ferry, so as to gei On the Assiniroine, i very good road at 21st August, 187'.i. j nost impossible oi journeys across the plains to the far west inere 18 a by-lawjQ,^ infinite amusement at times to those electors of Wmni -^miiirtr „jth them at the expense of those ncu lo vote poo.-ho are making them for the first time. 1 10 l^anadian GoVe«rd some rather good stories which illus- istruction of a rail-rtB this. One of the parties that have ro nl'^tnL^^ • ''^'antly gone west was in command TV H •*t*^"' * y^^^^ gentleman, who became ry ana with anjery soon the butt of some practical joking, lecnon with thi'h* danger of possible Indian troubles is not <)war(i8 the ac-jg^rded at Winnipeg as very imminent, Qe nrst great de-uhough all pirties reali/.n that in the event 's'Sk- k ^K^ '•^♦'f the buffalo continuing to become metre Selkirk, the con-gatee, hunger may drive the Indians to ex- III ne a great ad-ew and cause trouble. The question is oue inipeg 18 as busy,hlch, as I have said, though not reirarded 8 size as can beg ©f imminent concern, is, nevertheless, of eis are wide and offlcjent interest, and in its possible conse- sireet l.e.ing two nences of sutticient moment to bo the sub- cient to allow of,9ot of general and constant conversation Phe party referred to was 8tarH»'g for continued to the '*^^P''*'°''' """^ "■ e"nt'"man, an old a mile nearer the •""*"^* of the North-Went, and, therefore, A authority on the Indian question, meet- ing the leader, referred to the danger of travel at this time, and to the Indian habit of scalping, remarking in a half .joking way upon the fine opportunity his long hair would give for such im operation. The mxt day meeting Mr. - again, he observed that he had sacrificed his locks, had, in fact, sub- mitted to the ciosest kind of velvet crop. " Hallo," said he, " what have you been doing with your head?" " Well you knr>w,' replied Mr- . " I thought after what you told me about that scalping business, that as a pre- catitionary measiin' I had better have my haircut." The tormentor looked alarmed as he said, " Why, you've made things worse. If the Indirtus nee sm h a head as that they'll be stne to tomahawk it." 1 li ft Winnipeg last night, and am mak- in.j the trip up the Assiniboine in the steamer Marquette. These steamers, built expressly for the navigation of these rivers, are all of the same pattern. Some, of course, are better fitted up than others, those on the Ked Uiver, between St. Vincent and Winnipeg, the Manitolta and the Minnesota, are the best in the m.itter of appointments; but the " Marquette " ici a comfortable boat, drawing about two tuet of water, and with the inevi- table stern , addle wheel. She runs between Winnipeg and Portage La Prairit>, a distance by land of sixty-five miles, and by water of about one hundred and thirty. The river is very winding — in some cases so much so that wo siil due west and then due east within a few minutes interval. The banks are fringed with wood, and the action of the water haa made them, as ii general thing, perpendicu- lar, showing a depth of line alluvial soil which fully ac(;ount8 for the wonder- ful pro.luctiveness of the country. Thertf are stopping points along the route, and at these the steamer runs ag linst thi- shore, one of the men jumps off, fastens the lino to a tree, a plank is thrown out, and the passengers or freight are landed or taken aboard, as the case may be. It is a primitive method, which relievt s the country from the expense of wharves and wharfingers, and it answers every purpose. Even at Winnipeg, there is no wharf where we took the steamer, although gangways of a more lormidablo kind than arts u.'^ed along the roiitt; span tlie distance between tlio steamer an,' and our p simply involves reversing the tsngine, drivMr. P»., in th' vessel stern foremost against one fi;i(who is in and then by a forward movemtiut circ i.board diiivv venting the offending shoal. The tirst bin Wiigsfon, < ing that strikes the eye on Hearing the l;1i Savings without nny exaggeration they looked idiB, phiiosoi the sw.irm of shad flies one sees in June, ioe, is a yoi the stream beside the road as we drove HI^i ^^^ ' the wild ducks are abundant, and so 1 hW^^"*^^ con that the rattle of the waggons did not i{«i in i'lP ^ turb them. This plru;e isa very paradis. : f5)*^Qt s^ni sportsmen at this season of the year, t West, to leave at tour in the morning for our U *") ^\^^*^ buck-boardjourney of six hundred miles »Uli*^r with i has been showery all t(^-day. Weaiehop" further for fine W( ither during the coming ten diiMWOghfares which will prol)al 'y be consumed in t^tti^** and jojiney over the plains to Car on, our pi«rq"alifica sent destination. >k- 'I'h" " lioe is sontl B»pid City, M bad roa( ve taken 1 fttan path. 11 A PcAiRiE, August 2 i LETl'ilU V. t throe o'clock, and night The iHtter 'btart for the praiiubs — land spECUiiA- 1 tedious, for the rfv .,r,A *l. 1 V ^^BS — A KKKPTICAU MAN1T( HAN— Fi^KnYINfi , and the boat whs ( Id. Forlunatelyget^"*= wiiitk-mld bivbr— fouu miles here is not a seifHROuoii a SLOij8, leaving out of account Mr. Gigot, who. ine ; and s lUio new have said, was only goinga short distance, sheaf, gave evidrgisted of the buck-board, driven double. arvest has been. 1 express waggon, three men and live extra ?heat field, I am tises. If we had driven np St. James street Lake Manitoba. 1»0 left the portage, I have no doubt we he black bnr'^. J jld have crented a grenter sensation tliin 3r word describes i recent stupid run upon the (Mty and Dis it wheat, so thick iJt Savings Hank. Mackay, who is our tion they looked ide, philosopher and friend us tar as Fort I one sees in June, ice, is a young man of about twenty years road as we drove M[e, who has already seen much of the l)undant, and so tifwwest country, his forefathers being en- waggoiiB (lid not .{«d in the H. B Go's service, and he hav- > is a very paradis ' l|)ent some seven or eight years in the son of the yoar. r West, townrds the Ror ky Mountains. Morning for our 1( '«) although still young, thoroughly ix hundred miles iUiar with what in some cases, as wiU ap- '-day. Weaiehop^r further on, are the almost trackless the coining ten diJiOUghfares of this immense country. He be consumed in (••tive and intelligent, and adds to his i to Gar. on, our [KMrqualifications that of being a good camp >k. The usual mode of trivel to Fort lioe is south of that taken by us, crossing Bapid City, and if our object bad been to aid bad roads, we would have been wise to ye taken the better known and better fttin path. There is a constant passage of caits, with goods or passengers traversing it, while, Judging by the experience of to-day, none go or come by tho northern road. Last night 1 visited a freighter's camp at the por- tage. There were about twenty lied River carts in it, eight of which, drawn by oxen and in charge ot two men, were to start earlv this morninsr for Carlton. These freighters do the work of transportation, whieh I hope will soon be done by tho railway, through this country. We passed over a fine piece of prairie country on our way across the portuge to- wards Lake Manitoba. For tlie first seven or eight miles of the lue which we took, a little west of the shortest lino between the As-iniboine and Lake Manitoba, are magni- ficent fitilds of wheat, some of it partly cut, and giving indication of an abundant yield. Mackay, who was driving mt;, and who ia familiar with all parts of the Province, says the average yield this year is expected to lie, and so far as can be judged from what is cut and threshed, will be from twenty-eight to thirty bushels to the acre, in Minnesota, so far as I could learn, the avernge is not now expected to be more than about one-third of that. Passing from these fields the land is unculti.ated, an evidence of what is certain to prove an inj'iry to Manitoba, the fact that much of tho best lands have got into the hands of speculators. It is paid that one rather .prominent gentleman in Montreal, who has recently become almost rqu dly well known in the West, has secured some twenty sec- tions, which are remaining unculfivaled and unsold, waiting fur the time when the induR- tiy and thrift of the settlers will render them valuable. If ever a plea could be mav''" '" you'll have the railway at the Portagt**"'""^' ^"^'^ year "Look here," said Shannon, loanint®"'''' •':'""'■ moment in an attitude of defiance upr'*''^ ^' '",'" hay fork, " I'll bet you a horse we i?on't*^^ y*"l it next year, nor th(i next." "-b""* •■•p*>l " Well, they are going to begin it at*"'*"'** ' " this season." " >»''* •'""'' " "An wh'it good'U that do us? Sur^ow nmnv lot a ^'VefU Vbont two 1 Pembina branch was commenced six ago, and it is not quite finished yet. you the trouble with the farmers hi"^®"' '^'"'y' that they are being humbugged witlA*"',^ "" J"'^, mises If you would tell them honestlf*"^'/^** '*' they are not going to get the railw^**.*"'**^ ^,''''''' would be a great deal better ; th y woul^**"'^ . " be disappointed then. But the m. i: »»".' '''^ '^ * of Parliament and politicians t- 11 th. ^« ifi an . n kinds of stories about the railway, until ™""' ^' , , are getting heart .sick with the disapi'* '"' , !. ment." ''itoba, wbi. 1 •' Well I'm not a member of Parliamif®'''"'^';. ^ a politician, and I tell you the railway ""* "^' '*" ' be built to tht! Portage next year." ""'"f^' "''y "Oh. sure if you are not a politi. ar,l»|™y'^ '' M can't know anything about it." *"^ fiirm, H The question led to a conversation on * ^'^l, ' ' value of the place, for which he was wif Z''*'^ ^ f v to take the cost of improvements — all ' "^ i ,,* more willing, I am inclined to think, bec^**' * ' q. we were not at all likely purchasers, wl JL^^°[„, t he put at three thousand dollars. He (.T^ farmt plained of the now land regulations okI?''] ^™ e, another I . B and m ground that eighty acres was of no use farmer in that country, and especially on'' iggtd it at ] in , and we're no nv^^ *''** t'^'V would rotard settlement, IBC! the teririK were leHH ffivourable than igs have changed g'ven in Dakota, where, he saic', uiany way at the Portagt'*^*'''^!^ who olherwiHo would have tome yhannon, leaning o"''"'" -"'"K '" f""" '■'>iggera- tion, to, at times, conceal absolutely from view the Spare horsi's which were running loosB, The bottom was black mud, and a smell prevailed, us the result of our distuib- ing it with the wheels of the buck-board, which was not at all like either Florida water or Eau de Cologne. We were in f ict, in what was known as a sKugh. The waggon, with the baggage, went first, we keejnng up close behind, when suddenly the mull s in front ap- parently made a deeper plunge than usual. " Whoa, get up there," shouted the driver, and the poor mules plunged as if for dear life. Presently the smaller one seemed almost to di8iippear,aHd in the ellortto extricate itself, broke the whippletree. Here was a situation ! but the men were equal to it Mackay encour- aged us to " gee '* a little to one side, and to make the crossing of this, the worst spot. Wo did so, and after a desperate pull got through safely. Then the active young fellow dismount- ed his horse, and, up to his waist in water, fished out an extra whipjiletree from the waggon, and proceeded to fix it. We went on for some distance in the hope of getting out of the almost intolerable stench, but the risk of missing the track inclined us to halt. It seemed a terribly long time, and night was approaching. We could hear the men talking, and presently the voice of Mac- kay pressing the animals on. The heads of the mules alone were visible from our stand- point, and their bobbing up and down show- ed that they were making efforts to get on. Finally the "go on," and" get up," " get up," came more loudly and rapidly, and the animals had pulled the waggon out. That was sim^dy an exceptionally bad spot of the four-mile slcugh, over the whole of which we had to drive through water and long grass, giving us a realization of what our friends at tlie ferry described as a " pretty bad piece of road." It is the more rt murk- able that 80 inexpressive a term should have been used, as the roads generally were really gooif. These sleughs, however, are simply Swamps. They are not musk-egg, of which we have all heard so much ; and wli'^ess regi( claimed, as they can be, Just as the St^dtury, and Flats weve reclaimed, in spite of wisi^gmor Lair ions to the elliict that the thing was ige hours' sible, they will be valuable lands. 'Ibreakfsst, teution in getting through the sleugli| eggs. Af it dark when we halted at this point aifj uud pre up our tent for the night. Wo have ot, and as oidy forty miles from the I'ortage, Bto\)ped it tilteeu miles less than we hoped to -ience was ° when we .set out this morning. A cup r^ and 1 giv — Hudson's r.iy Company's black tea, »{ had ;dr article, and a biscuit, has answered for sidcb will and we retire for our first night of teuta erected on the prairies. Good-night. LETTEU VI TuNTINCi IT ON THE PBRIENCK — WHAT iced in a ga d other vt the use of bS busy pret f got in a e ^^ use of 1 jvonshivo m I'RAtRIU— SETTLKK8/ aboUt SIX CAN HB OONK iN^BbOUtthe rm laborer Ived to take SASKATCHEWAN ji^y .^^.^^.^ an NORTHWBST — CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMt. CROSSING THK LITTLE MOUNTED I'OLiCE— TUUNDER STORM o.sig already SU I'LAINS. Fort Ellioe, N. W. T., 25 Aug , ta»\ outlay 8 oxen, his for bringii I closed my last letter just as we mild up here for our first night of camp life on the prai the land, I We were up at lour o'clock, that bciii:ot exceeded orthodox camping hour for rising, hareat hopes < had a good night's sleep. To be sure -le country ' horses, b-'longiug to the neighborhood, iubout him b' ed on grazing uucomfortably close to ) say that ii tent, at times pawing it ;is if asking adietes, as ht sion. But this is evidently the custom oiet on any w country, and we did not mind it. It i.sad careful, that there might have been an inconveiiBM as a fan result if the horse's leg hiid come throawe cotidit It didn't, and there is no use in speculahote who \ upon disagreeable probabilities. A cUilat it is on tea, to prepare us for (he start, was alloy man on took, resolvimr that if compelled to ri>aiteation oi prairie hours, we should at least break fasng»tip of th an aristotrutie city hour; ai i we startcdif ttiousand the day's journey, contemplating geltiueek in it im few miles beyond the Little Saskatchewry. Nolhi It was a pleasant morning drive, as we vis during tl guarded with the musquito nets, fiom thfible fact ol sence of which we had suffered, in addiiJABBTTB, w to our other troubles, in the sleu^jh theitV- in the before. The country continues good, WitnenH. soil somewhat lighter, but certainly not lOtse- back, ferior to that of the richest lands in Manittlto-baK fas Six miles brought us to the boundary of Winnipeg. Province, and we entered upon that almth^ Little 16 fX- TEU so ttiich ; and wliitieHg ugion knowu hh tho NorthweHt , . ' •''^^.'^ '*» the ''^'■ritoiy, muI wem undHr Iho jiirixiliction ot Af"*!,"^'!!^ "' W'«r brtakfast we procoiulcd on- lei at thiH point aui^^ ^ud prestntly came upon a now sottle- ih n ^^^^' °*' ""'^ "" '•'^' owner was at the roHilside the I'orUge, gtopped tor a chat with him. Uis ej iiian wo hoped to ^ence waa both interesting' and encoura^ morning- A cup ,^ and I give it. He iiamo up this spring, up.iDy 8 black tea, ,j ti^d already broken a lot of ground, iiaa answered f,.r Kidoh will luMeady for whoj'.t next spring; - j" °'f''"*"f t«utd erected a house and ouihousH ; hud '^ • iced in a garden, in which were potatoes d other vtgetibioH, more than sullicient • the use of his family for the year, and ts busy piepaiiutj more land for grain, hav- ^- i got in a couple of largo stacks of hay for —— use of liis cattle in winter. He is a )Vonshire man, who came out to this couu- I'RAtRiB— gBTTLEi{8,r about sJx years ago, and hag been work- CAN UB DONB i,\|f about the ueighboihooil of Stratford as a DiTiONS OK skttlb.mk'"'** 'aljor*^"' utilil this spriiig, when he ro- pi L- a.^..-.™ Ived to take a homestead of a hundreil and ity acres and .strike out tor himsell, and he -TuiiNDBK STOKM o.Nig already succeeded as 1 have described. His tnal outlay in cash, ixclusivo of course of ^ W T *>'i A •* oxen, his cow and his implements — that ' . ' " "S I ' for bringing himself, his wife and one Btter just as we i.tUd up here, and his exuenses in .settling ■ainp lite on the prai tho land, has, atjconiing'to his statement, o clock, that bcin-ot exceeded one hundred dollars. Hts is in our for using, hareat hopt 8 of his own future and ot that of «tjp. r<) bo sure -le country where ho has settled, the farms le neighborhood, iiibont liim b-iug all taken up. It is proper ifortably close te > gay that ho is one of those men who be- lt as if asking aiJieyes, as he put it himself, that a man can -utiy the custom oiet on anywhere if is ho sober, industrious >t nuud it. Iti.sad careful. He had saved ten pound.s a been an inconveiiear as a farm servant in England. So that >g had comu thidatige conditions should bo remembered by no use in speculahote who wish to parallel his experience, ibabilities. A cii,lat it is one which may be paralleled by iho start, was allnf man on the same terms, and it is an il- compelled to ri-Qghration of how great a blessing thr open- II at least broakfasngf-up of this country must be to humlredH '■; ai 1 we staitcdif thousands of people, who will each year tempJating gettitieek in it new fields of enterprise and indus- Little Saskatcht wry. Nothing of special morraent occurred to lug drive, as we vis during the day, except tho rather remark- Jito nets, fiom thrible fact of our mooting an old oii'iche of the enhered, iu addiJAajSTTB, who is trav^jlling through tliocoun- the Bltu^h theitr in the interest of your neighbor tho i'ontiuues good, Wi^ufn. Ho was travelling single, on but certainly notaowe-ha^k, with his provisions strung Had- 38t lands in Manittil«-bag fashion, and waa on his return to the boundary of Winnipeg. It was late when wo reached d upon that almtba Little Saskatchewan, so thttt we could not cross that night. A slight shower of rain, the lant end of what had evidently been a seV( 10 thunder storm to the south-east, gave us but little inconvenience, although it. perhaps, returtod us Kimiewhat. VVe camped for the night on the banks of the river, at a place called Tanner's. There were some other camps there, and we learned from a mau, fornurly from Brantford, now settled here, that it was a f.ivorite place for camping for tho .settlers that have come oa this year, ilo says as many as a hundred a day have crossed at this point, and in his boarding house, tor he has converted his log hou.se into a boarding bourse, as many as twenty-live have htot)ped over night. This is an illust'dtion of iho extent to which im- migration, now about over for tho .season, hits been going on this year. Our informant i.s not very anxious about tho railway im- meiliatcly, and in this respect he is an ex- ception to every one I have met. His argu- ment iri that the settlers who are iu bow will have an auuinlant local market for their produce, through the immigraliou that is coining in, and he his undoubted contidence, notwJth.-t luding the new regulations, that this will bo very large. Ho says Mr. Tan- ner, a laiuier in the neighborhood, got this year as much as two dollars a bushel for the wheat h<' iial raised, paid him by new set- tlers coming in. All tho settlers now in de- pend laigi ly upon tho wauts of the now comers to supply thtm with a local market. It will only, however, bo fur one year, for the conditions (jf settlement are exceptionally f.'ivorablo. A man coming in in the spring, bre;iks up tho prairie by putting a plough through it. If remains thus tor about three mouths, suliject to the action of the atmos- phere, and is tlien turned over again, and is thus ready for crop in the spring. Mean- while he finds .ibundant food for his cattle, and in the prairie hay, which is ready at his lianil, plenty of fodder for them through the winder, for tho more cutting and hauling of it. For food ho has the ini^xhaustible supplies of lish and game, which with "a smell dog and a scattering gun" he can take at command. If better conditions for set- tlers can bo found anywhere, I am ignorant of the fact. Wo ignored the evident hint of our friend, that his boarding-house was at our service for tho cousideratiou of a small sum of cur- rut coin of the realm, and camped out. In the morning wo prepared to cross tho river. There are two ways of doing this, one by a raft made of slight logs strapped together, ^ k; A which is (Jifftiifit'd by tho name of ferry, nnrl the other by fordinp tho rivor, which io about a humfind fut-t widf, and thr"o feet deep lit tids point. Tho first involved nn- Ioa(iin^, and (tikinj; the wij^'^ona, i) if,'Kaire, and hoiHes over in d' tachmt nt8, iiuJ a (on- ueijuent Inbor und deb»y, so we elioKe the lat ter The biukiioartl was ^'iven in tlmrj^e of Maciiay, and Mr. 15. ami myself mounted on top of tlie load on the wftj.'t;on, and htdd on firmly i)y the -trips, whieb bound down the tarpfiulin aerosB 'I'ho foveriii;;, and thus we got water was deeper than we thought It fame into the box of the wag- gon, but (i)tunat ly did littl- ifamaize Our appearanno crossing must have been most artistir, and thtie seemeii but one thing necessary to raalte us absolutely happy, the presi-nce of a ptiotognpher. to render his- torical the imiye, and small lakelets, like artificial poud8,studde'l at intervalf", made a picture which cannot be described, but wiii( h can never be forgotten. The nearest approach to description that I can ihink of is to liken it to a highly culti- vated country at hirvest time, with some fields of grain still Rtandin'i8 . In II little un In advance, therefore, aH a not very >ther, the lightniijonB ofifence. The IndlanH who took them to roll ; large dr()|« ftrrested and arralf,'ned before Capt thumb nail, came (Irklmer, who la a .Justice of the Peace, and 'ticn more to briKliiitted to ball, that being conRldored the _ temporary briiclrt prudent courae to purane undtr tlie iiered around us atumatanceB. The Indians have all taken had a rain Htorm, ^Ir treaty at the Fort, and have nearly all ■under and lighfi, for their renerves ; ho that no serious r seen. It was sequences followed the Incident. It Northw.Ht, on a t'lnld be stated that the price of the cattle he hospitable qnari deducted from the f roity money, and the St as it was over, bllans were given to under-*and that while irh a chance of getions are to be served out to them on th»>se ng, was a luxury aBions, they must not venture to forcibly Jt, however charge My thing. viting thing on nilie Indians in this neighborhood are i>,'lit Wis. I tiefljr Santeux and Swampy Indians. The th" men who • teepees or huts remaining, gave us a cage, as miil conitvnce of seeing th^m Some of them were enns frccjuent in ther elaborately ornamented, with faces tiime my chrouimted with red ochre, anl chains of beads reach you I am uua^lt metal hanging from their ears. Moat them can read, and at the Fort was a tsbyterian minister, a full blooded Indian, o could not speak a word of English. ne of their habits are peculiar. Their '^'^ VII, thod of exhibiting their bravery, while ___ deuce of great powers of physii^al en- rance, seems unnecessarily harHh. I heard -NORTHWEST NOMBMi'OUe case, a warrior, who subjected himself iioiNE— FORT BLLict*^'®® ^"^^^ without eating, and thou pierc- wiDtx .„„. - r a hole through the fleshy pwt of his «rARD-TRAVBLUNo '^^ p^j ^ gt,?„g .^rough it,^nd hung .ING HORSB8. Qgglf „p ^ appears almost Incredible i'^. T., 26 Aug, 18;*' ^® could do this, but the statement 7 ne to me well authenticated. Their from »'ortEllice,jniner of mourning is also remarkable. They ably housed, after i}«mte the face and arms and breast.'^ with n the hospitable qiiaip inatrnments, generally flint stones, ao er, of the Northw^t the blood pours from them. During shores of Shoal Lai© present " treaty" one old squaw literally seventeen men of ttihe flesh of her arms from shoulder to tng been built to »igt, in token of her grief for the death of r. Here we learujjfrandchild. The Indian question gives particulars of the i» to a great deal of discussion, and will »t Fort Ellice, whiiddubtedlv require very careful handling; y at Winnipeg reacit I will, when I get further on and have Indian emeute, aiicqnircd more Information, deal with it It got to Ottawa w,«olally. Indian uprising. TiThe drive from Shoal Lake to Fort Ellice learned tiiem, wc » delightful one, through a magnificant ng congregated fmntry which is already beginning to be eaty, had taken f('.ttled. About twenty miles from the Lake 3rty, and killed theie come npon the Bird Tail Creek. The red while waiting l»eiiery is rtmply charming. The creek runs o through a valley, the slopes on either side presenting the appearance of cultivated fields. Already some settlers have built their houses and are breaking up ground for next year's operations. They are to be envied on the site they have selected ; In- deed, the whole valley is destined to be, within a very short period, covered with cul- tivated fields and pleasant homesteads. The nomencliiture of the North-west Is peculiar in its oriifin. Bird Tail creek, for Instance, obtained its name in this way : — Many years ago the grandfather ot our guide, McKay, travelling through the country with his son, then a little boy, shot a bird of rare plumage, having a beau'' 'ul tail, which the boy was carefully preseiviug In crossing this creek, really a small river, they were upset, and their baggage carried off in the stream. On reaching the shore, the first thing the boy asked for was his bird's tail, and from this incident the stream came to be known as the Birl Tail Creek. Nearly all the other names are of similarly simple origin. A drive of about eighteen miles from Bird Tail brought us to the banks of the Assinihoine, opposite Fort Ellice, and a grander view than that which burst upon us, I havi- n'jver seen. The banks on either side are steep and precipitous, on the one side two hundred and U'Xi fL^et, and on the other two hundred and fifteen feet high, with a winding road leading down o the valley, which is tbr e-quarters of a mile wide and through which the river winds like a snake, the curvature so sharp, that it almost tra- verses Uie valley at right angles, backwards and f )rw;irds, in the form given to muslin by a crimping iron, if so famili ir an illustra- tion may be used to describe so sublime a picture. We halted on the top of the hill to take in the view, which sketched on either aide as far as the eye could roach. The sun, shining brightly on the water, gave it the appearance of a silver thread plaited through the valley below. I have never longed for the descriptive power as I did in gazing upon this magnificent picture ; but no word-painting could do it justice. We crossed the river by a bridge, two hundred feet loni;-, erected by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and then ascended to the Fort, which is situated on the hill on the south side of th(^ river. As we approached, the flag of the Company -the Union .Tack, with the letters H. B. C. on the sheet — was run up. We reached the Fort at about lour o'clock in the afternoon, and put up for the night. Fort Ellice is admirably sitnated in the centre of 1 18 • very fine agricultural country, and is lUm- tlned to be an important cumniarcial centre . It wants a flouring; mill, a want which will probably soon be supplied, and then it will, owing to the rapidity with which settlement U being made, become very Hoon the centre of an important trade. It will probably be the objective point of the second section of the railway, now that the Government have resolved to adopt the sensible plau of build- iDg the line through t}iat portion of the country that is suitable for settlemt nt ; and the proper thing to do would be to advertise at onc« for tenders, so that the line could be carried thus far within the next three years. If this is done, I venture the prediction that the road when opened, worked carefully and economically, will be not only self-sustain- ing, but will be a source of revenue and profit to the Dominion . This morning wu started for our j lurney onward. If our escort was imposing leaving the Portage, it was still more so on leaving Fort Ellice. We had eleven horses, includ- ing two mules, if yon will pardon the bull, and they are all fine animals, in apparently excellent condition. One of the mules was branded U. S., and thus bespoke his orgin. Be wag one of those taken by the Indians from General Custer on the occasion of the sncccRsful Indian attack upon the Uuit< d States troops, in which the American General was killed. We were in charge of a half- breed, Johnny Brass, an tmployee of the Company, who is a famous cruide, being equal- ly good as driver or cook. He had as assist- ants another young half-breed, lud an Indian boy of the ISauteux tribe, a fine strapping fellow of about eighieen years of age, with a good-natured, handsome face. He was got np for the occasion. His black felt hat had on it streamers of blue and red narrow rib- bon, which floated imposingly in the bretze. A black frock-coat with hood and large brass buttons, a clean checked cotton shirt, which he wore outside of his pataloons, leggings elaborately worked in beads, and a pouch, similarly worked, in which ho carried his pipe and tobacco. He rode on horseback, his special duty being to look after the spare animals, and he had a long rope, probably twenty fi-et long, with a leather whip lash at the end of it, trailing on the ground beside him, which he used with wonderful skill to keep the horses in line. The loose horses, under charge of the Indian boy, first, Johnny, Brass and his companion with the provision waggon, next, and we bringing up the rear, which we set out ; and the was the order in start, I assure you, was a most imposin),poit)t w) We descended into the Valley of the An|| were l>oa| boine, moved up on the west aide, and uifo Kattli ed the Cju'Appelle, near the conflueniQot Arm ( the two rivers, and after a drive of eiglgird TailCj miles, halted for breakfast. The horseH^ ig h ligb unharnessed, and sent oil to feed upoi wbicli wf prairie grass, that being the only food tBdication get. Canadian horses bronght into . certainly country, cannot for the first year get <.\^Ka this, this way — they invariably break down alluvial S( less they are fed with oats as well. Bui^Mt of For' halfbr*)ed horses, as these are, thrive i^nd look upon it. To cut some wood, get a fire, oreek, we c our bacon and eggs, eat our breakfast, |g n deci repack the provision waggon, is the s^gb which of about an hour and a quarter, and thciQ^y.three horses have to be caught, or at least t plug grou which are to do the hauling foi the next Htj|. lu orci This is a most exciting operation, jg too fa' morning the horses had strayed otf abolitions tying a mile, and were stretched along, perhaiDied, an op similar distance, making thus a long line,,g the two three men, each with a lasso and carryii<)t, thus bo bridle, started for their work, one goiiigy look like either end of the line, and the third get:)n close in behind it. It was a case of surrounding ic race. Th animals, and, strange as it may appear, t| to bed, tin succeeded, bringing the horses together jt of B^rt E group. Then came the exciting mouir^ and our pr The men would approach the horse tn in with th wanted, in a crouching attitude, holding (Borrow. G bridle behind them, and just as they app' ed to have him, the animal would bound ( then came a chase to head him back ; ai approached the man, the lasso was thro and if it proved a good throw the animal caught. Sometimes the men succeeded in \ ting thtir hand upon the horse, and the : ment they did, the animal was secure, the die put on, and then he was left and chase < made for another. The remarkable thing \» moment the horse is bridled be is under e jection, never attempts to go ofiF, but stai unmoved, looking at the operation of cat ing his fellows. It is, in fact, like a chi4t to TODCHW ffBB INDIA^ to REE Till OF THE CO Toucnwo( five o'' game of tag, in which the horses seenmok camp heartily enjoy the sport, and in which Ktinspecm moment one of them is touched, he gives nWi were n all further resistancj, and submits meekly} previouf the duty before him. The horses were fi*B accoui this morning, and it took nearly three (]i;8y were ters of an hour to catch the five required Int. and ha the waggons and the Indian boy. d the day f Our next point of interest was the Big Cem with tx Arm Creek, about thirty miles from Fil*l«B befoi Ellice. On the road we met the first indiiJU submit tion of an aid to travellers over the plains, n»«g*™« ^ the index post, erected by the Monnted Police ^^'y ^ 19 7h„ IT '"''/""""point wh. ^ i^!''?* "''^«' '"''^ "To Rattloford. pruvent the horBes from during the night, for Huch a t'rt' tim tniilH divirnH, nnd upon lK>are iB a light san.ly loam, inferior to that b««m, ih I "P"^ ^^^^^^ w.) had been passing, but yet giv- )rge8 b °h I ' ladicatioDH of being good agricultural tb« fi T'"^ " « certainly very good in any oth"r oonn- »Hahi "L^*'*J ?"* '*•» this, where the romparieon with the »riaDiy break, down alluvial soil of Manitobajand the conn- thl ** [l ^"'3Mt of Fort (Cilice, makes even fair aver- tne wo I*"*'/ fi^" '*"^ ^°^^ inferior. On the west side of «o* ^i * "' ow*l*i "" came again on the rich rolling ^ eat our breakfant.ig^ a decided improvement upon that ggou, is the i,|,gij which we had just passed Another knX ' !°i *^'''i»ty-three miles brought us to a pleasant wTii ' ?^ X? *^*''* ' PlDK ground, where we put up for the u iDg for the next stj. i^ order to pr.n Iting operation. ,g too fa r *»nh^?^*^''*''''*^" '»!'»« ty'°K t^^*" •« unheard of, they are icneu along, perhajbLd, an operation which is performed by nginusa long lino. ,g the two fore ft et together. Their move- a lassoand carryiiat^ thus hobbled, is a very curious one. Indth °^PJ^"'^7 look like rocking horses in full motion, ana the third get;,n close inspection, like men running a ase Of surrounding k ^e. The tent pitched, supper eaten B8 u may appear, t| ^ bed, finishes our iirst day of travel lenorses together ^ of Fort Ellice. It has been a delightful h^tu moiur^ and our progress most enjoyable, and we roacn the horse („ in with th- hope of a long day's journey ? attitude holding sorrow |a just as they app. imal would bound ( head him back ; &, the lasso was thro throw the animal men succeeded in | he horse, and the i lai was secure, thf was left and chase- emarkable thing Ih idled ho is under 8 to go oflf, but stai e operation of cat in fact, the Good-night. LETTEIt VIII. TO TOUCHWOOD— INCIDHNTS BY THR WAY — THK INDIAN PAYMRNTS— THKY AltB ANXIOUS to KBE THE FAHM-INSThlCTORS— CHAKACTBR OF THK COUNTRY. ToucnwooD IIir,LS, 28th August, 1879. , like a chil44 live o'clock yesterday moinfng wo horses seemuok camp and started for this point, the t, and in which xt in special interest on our journey. The touched, he gives rtOi were not so difficult to catch as on id submits meekljj previous morning, a fact which he horses were fi*« accounted for in two ways : )k nearly three cjiey were further from the starting the five required int, and had less disposition to go back ; liau boy. d the day's travel had evidently impressed rest was the Big (em with the idea that they had responsi- y miles from F.littes before them which they might as met the first indiiJll snbmit to. We had still, however, the '8 over the plains, me game of horse tag, the same submission the Mounted Polit* very moment they were touched, the same meek Htaiirlitm Htill, ixniid Hurrouiiding gillopiMgH and Dxciteuiont, when the bridles were put upon them Fourteen miles brought UH to the borders of wliat Is known as the long plain, and we halted for breakfast, earlier than usual, because we were entering upon a stretch where wood could not be obtainctd, even the small (]uantity re- qiiirtMi for camp cooking purponos. Wo pissed tilt! mail for Winnipeg, an event in this country, seeing tint it passes tfacli wny but onco in three weeks. The drivt-r told IH he bad been ejdven days coming from Battleford and seven from Carlton. " Do you hear any news >il)ont the Indians?" we asked, tliat l>eing at tlie moment the ques- tion of irreatertt interest. His refily was tiiat everything was (|niet,so far as he hitd heard. J'he Indians at ('arltou, he had heard had refused to take the cheques and the money for thtir payment had not arrived. We had already learned, however, to receive with some caution the stories about tlie Indians, and we went on, hoping that this one, like some others which we had heird, was exatrtre rated, if not utterly un- true. " The plain" presents a rolling ap- pearam e, resembling vtiry ruueli the surface of the ocean when the long swell whicii suc- ceeds a itorni is upon it. Tiie land is a light sindy loam, with occasional drifts of gravel, but, on the whole, is fair land for farm- ing purposes. The eye is unrelieved by anything in the shape of wood, be- yord here and there tutts of brush poplar. The mosquitoes wcire unusually troublesome. We had Lttien told that they were gone, and comparativclv speaking, from what we hear of tlioir unusuil numliers this year in the montli of July, for instance, this statement was perhaps true. But their presence In large numbers was painfully t^viclont to us. They are monsters in size, and their force of penetration reminded one of the; story of the weary traveller at Prince Artliur's Landing, who sought protef'tion from mosquitoes by getting under a large sugar boiler. The enemy, however, penetrrttcfd the iron, and ho then amused himself by clinching them on the inside, when, to his horror, tiiey carried off the boiler and left him unprotected. That story is, I fear, apocryphal, but it is told as a forcible illustration of the power of these pijsts in some parts of the country. We passed about eighteen miles through the plain before halting for dinner, over a country which had become monotonous by its sameness. On our way we overtook some set- to ,|.H .:'! tiera iroinfr Into tho cnimtrv, And ant.^hor evidenct) of a pbasu of civili/.ntion we aaw in a playing card, the six of clubfl, lying upon the road Bide. One swallow does not malie spring, nor do«R one card mnlio a pacit ; but its prtmenco at Innst iiidicntod timt travullurs or freigbtern had wliilod away the tinio with a game of euchre or of seven up. We camped forty miles from this point, and after a good night's rest we started varly this morning, a drizzling rain prevailing— a Hcotch mist which proverbially will wot any Irishman to the sl(in. Wu paflsed a camp of freighters, twenty-seven cartn, going in with loads, among which were a num- ber of agricultural implements. The country steadily improved an we ap- proached the hills. The small lakes, which are characteristic of the country, pre- vail largely, and game, chiefly wild geese and ducks, are very plentiful. As we approached the hills, we met with a slight accident, which, but for the admirable provision to meet contingencies which had been made, might have proved inconvenient. Going through asleugh, which proved to be deeper than we anticipated, the horses, in their ef- forts to draw the buckboard through, broke the croRB-bar, and loft us Hittirr In anything but a pleasant predicament. A ^pare bar hap- pened to be among our lugeage in the wag- gon, and as Johnny Brass is as skillful at re- pairing a break as he is at cooking a break- fast of bacon and eggs, wo were soon ready for the road again, the detention not exceed- ing about half an hour. We reached the post of the Hudson's Ray Company, at this point at two o'clock, and found that the work of paying the Indians their " treaty " had just concluded. There are a number of teepees or lodges still left, and we learned something of the difficulties which exist, and of the grievances of which the In- dians complain. There were rumours of trouble in the payments at Qu'Appelle, and the Indians here had waited sometime, some of them were still waiting, to ascertain what their friends there were doing. Among the things which they demanded was that they should be paid twelve dollars in- stead of five, which is the amount named in the treaty ; and they based their claim upon the fact that th<'y were paid the larger sum the first year. It appears, from the explan- ations I heard, that the first year a present of twelve dollars each was given to them, simply as a present on the signing of the treaty, and not as an earnest of future similar payments, which it was distinctly understood would not bo made except as provided by the t<>ti^ we ob^ the treaty. The Indians, however, iil(]^wumt Who has had a ni,g on our way to (Jarlton, a diatance of aer8taniiB8ers-by had erected a cairn of stones, giving it the ap- pearance of a monumental mound. Wild duckn wore marvellously plentiful, and, if I may use the exprosHlon, were very tame. Wo had reached almost to the borders of the plain, and already the indications of better country were appartmt. Wo were fortunate in our hour for dinner, for almost imme- diately after it commenced to rain hard, and wo bad a disagreeable drive to our camp- ing grouudH, about seventy six miles from the Hills. Just as we were reaching it, we overtook a settler going in. Ho drove a light tent covered waggon, single horse, with single cart behind with tbo luggage, and one spare aiiimal . As he camped near us we paid him a visit. He was an active, intolU- geut-lookiiig man, on his way to Edmonton. He settled tbere five years ago, and had re- turned this year to get him a wife from Ottawa, his former place of residence ; and the young couple were spending their honey- moon in the journey to the far West. He was greatly in love with his location. Al- ready, be said, there were a number of settlers there, all doing well, and all anticipating meeting a rich reward from the local market, which now settlers going in will furnish. Our chat with him was not a long one, for it was getting late, it was a wet, dreary evening, and the preparations, in the way of getting firewood and water for supper, hud to be made. We left him, wishing him all the prosperity that bis enterprise and energy de- serve. This was our most disagreeable night out, but wo got on very comfortably. On Saturday morning the rain still con* tinued, and there was every appearance of a wet day, which, happily, the result did not justify. A drive of live miles brought us to the Humbolt station of the Canada Pacific Telegraph. Like everything else connected with public works in this region, it seems strangely located. It is a log but, about a mile from the main line, and half-a-mile ofl the regular trail, and is connected with the main line by a branch wire. It was before seven o'clock, and the people in charge had 22 just got up. A young womciD presfnted her- self at the duor, and to uur isuquiry us to whether the Hue was working, replied that it was working to Battleford, but that the eastern section was down. Her sister, who acts as operator, told us it was expected to be in working order that day or the uext, and wo left messages iu the hope that htr autioi- pations might prove true. " Is the line of- ten down ?" we eiKjuired. " Very often," she replied. Her husbaud, who has charge of looking after it, had only this year been home for a fortuigut. Ii is built through the miserable marshv mupkegg, through which it was proposed, under the promptings of the maligu iufluouce which has ruled in Northwrst matters during ref^ent years, to carry the railway, and the poles go down at every storm. Our mt ssage was to the effect that there was no cause for alarm about the Indians. The woman read it over, and then looking up with a smile, said — " 'No cause for alarm ;' that's what they all say go- ing up, but they think differently coming down." In answer to an enquiry whether she thought there were any grounds for alarm, she replied that she did not ; but her sister was evidently less confident. " There'll be no cause for alarm," she said, '* until the ris- ing takes place, and then we may look for ourselves." Her anxiety is not unnatural. It was a lonesome place, for these two young women and a child to be all alone, miles away from any residence or any help in case of need. Heroic women these, bound to their lonely situation by sisterly and wifely duty. We crossed the telegraph liue abuut three miles from the station, and for some distance the trail runs along side of it. It is as miserable a line as could well be imagined, and it is certainly not much to be wondered at that it is an ex- ceptional circumstance when it is in working order. That it was built at all is an evidence of utter folly. The change of route of the railway will render it useless, and it will re- main as evidence of the wastefulness and want of foresight of the Public Works De- partment under the regime of that practical Mirister, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie. Twelve miles from Humbolt we halted for breakfast, and from that point passed through a beautiful roll- ing countiy, the land most excellent. There is not much timber for the first ten miles ; then we come upon frequent clumps of poplar, the country having a park like ap- pearance, rich lawns fringed with woods. Suddenly, reaching the brew of a hill, a beau- earlj appeared, surrounded by slJMI to studded with islands, Th." *°® ' , the houses t(^« **"* ^ tiful lake hills, and roundings required only them the appeaiance of - ..v«.j ».>.... - „ countiy. It was a beautiful sight, and*' 'f'J " quired not much faith to see in thett®""^™^ future, in the surroundings of this lal<>'^™^r \e site of prosperous settlements of well****^ oi I farmers. The lake is familiarly knoa*^"* .. Quill Lake, but on the map of'Q'a /{"' "', Northwest, it is indicated as Cri*"'^'^" lake, Quill Lakes, Great and Little, l"» •^® situatod north of Touchwood Hills. «•""' ^ \^^^, twenty miks afternoon 'drive of Satii^* ^^^ was, having respect to the appearance o country through which we were perhaps the most charming of our thus far. We had seen abundant appeaiance of a richly culti' f'°^P'^'^^^ J the otb^ ok. of the^ •^o^er ate not v river is a tious of the presence of badgers alont;** ..^ line, but had not seen an animal until t'°® *r^ j^^. Our Indian boy's keen eye spied one, »" *^ „„ j^ the instincts of the sportsman were st* ^® ^^ upon him in a moment. He dismountw?'^ giving iiorso, and with his long whip-ropo attai*^t 8 h IS it. The badger was a good size, and tin'*" ^^^^^ , often upon the boy, who fairly roared, ii*^ brough high falsetto voice, with the exciten*"* .^ ^.^^^ There was no use in killing the animal, iP®^ ' ^^^ over, and after ten minutes' fun, it wa^*'"' ^jf ^^ ^^j lowed to go on its way, with uothir" -^® *^ serious, as the result of the contest, few slaps from the whip. We c*™Pt"^ dement i the night seven miles from the 8i^* j^ j^ j, branch of the Saskatchewan, expectin;*^ ° ^j.^^, reach this point early on Sunday. j* reticent We struck tent early yesterday. ^^ morning was a beautiful one, and we chance of seeing what is nub often set tainly not often by the denizens of ci.||^ viz., the full moon disappearing in the vtV"? gettled and the sun rising in the east almost ^'"^.JfcpViHwan taneously. The moon had rather the a'lwSie confl tage, and thus went down behind the hill*J rQ^g^t S the Saskatchewan, still retaining mucL ^^, ,,pa ^^^ its brightness, and in a halo of ^'gh^.^^ majori was a fine sight, and was worth a iour^^ Y^ad ta to witness. We reached the bills' ^^^ g of the river at about seven o'clock. '^'tSJity or 1 is a ferry across it— the scow, the best j^^^ ^j^j^^p aent or an '»f as they rbire ai* to t\ thi river. had yet seen, being pulled across with o and not by a rope as is usual in f^rrit ij^jj^g^ ^p this country. We called at the house t^^^j^j grope the ferry, and learned to our regret that EJ^^rs g' ! men had all gone to church, about t^e^g* ^^^^ miles distant, and that on Sundays no fei nMal mar ing was dooe until after twelve o'clock. ^^^ doUa was not a pleasant prospect. We could ; |v„ ^^^ but respect the religious character of people which prompted them thus to tra am Baa] TsS^'n.-, 28 map of'*'*'' °"^ ^h^^ ^^^ ferryman bad not gone a8 Cri:*'^'"^^ after all, and in about balf an surronnded by .s!^ ^o early masH, and to observe, for at with islands. TliiA the forenoon, the sanctity of the Sab- only the houses tcl** ^"^ ^ '^'^ afraid I must confess that ce of a richly cultil^OBP*^^^ of remaining on the banks of this )oautiful sight, and " 'o' ^^*' or six hours, waiting tor the re- aith to see in the '^O^^^^'^^'^t^as not calculated to improve ndings of this lakr **°*P^''8> o' 'o fi* "* ^o"" *^^ proper appre- lettlements of welI.*lon ot the cause — undoubtedly a fitting is familiarly knoK*"" of our detention. Fortunately it on the ndicattid Great and Little iQfj he walked leisurely down to the ouchwood Hills'. *•■", got into his log canoe, and crossed oon 'drive of SatnO' for the scow which happened to be to the appearance c ^^ other side of the river. The hich we were pas"*"* "^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ** ^^^ point of crossing arming of our jou*' *™ "^ot very high, those on the westside seen abundant int^Bg the higher, and being well wooded. of badgers alootrie river is about a hundred and fifty yards 1 au animal until t'^^*^ ^^^ point which we crossed, and is n eye spied one aii<*^8^b'^ for some distance further up. Near iportsmau were nt® ferry is a printed notice, protected at. He dismounttc'™ ^^^ weather by a kind of ng whip-rope atta***! giving the tariff of charges. They are good size, and tiiiO™ ^^^ cents for a single foot passenger to ho fairly roared ir^'T cents for a double team. The scow with the excit'oni*''*l> 'brought over, the waggons were put illing the animal tP<^ i^) ^'^^ ^^o horses, required to haul minutes' fun it wa**"" "P ^^^ landing on the other side, and y, -"' ■'- .-r.u. __ = __. ._. — ._._ .^.„ 3f with nothing i:** '^^^ of the animals were driven into the the contest tha'***'' ^^^ swam across. From the ferry We camped''^ ^*^ learned something of the progress of from the s,9ttlement in this part of the country — 'hip. liles tchewan, expoctiti>^^'^Si^ i^ i^ °ot an easy thing to get infor- on Sunday. Mtlon from half-breed settlers. They are *rly yesterday '*'y reticent, never volunteer either a state- ul one, and wo hi"**"' '^^ ^^ opinion, and answer questions, as ; is not often seou *' *^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ so, by monosyllables, he denizens of t'iriwre are from a hundred and •appearing in the \}^ ^^ ^^^ hundred half-breed fami- the east almost; siir'''* settled on the banks of the South Sas- had rather the acir"'**'^"^*'* between this point and the forks, wn behind the hill** ^® confluence of the river with the North II retaining mud" ^'^^''**' Saskatchewan is called. These a halo of li^ht ''^^'iies are all from the Bed Kiver district, was worth a joi,r''^IW mnjority, if not all of them, are people eached the hi"^ ^*'* taken their scrip under the Maui- even o'clock 'jitolla Act, sold it to speculators in that com- 3 scow the best '■'•^i^y or to others, and coming further west led across with o'"^^^ taken up homesteads on the b^nks of J usual in ferric *^ "^*"'- '^^'^^ *'"' *'' '^"*°S "''^'' ^^^^ d at the house [^•■•^en up considerable land, and have raised o our regret that 9^'^ crops of wheat, for which the wants of hurch, about twe*^^"" 8°'°^ ^°' °^ ^^ ^^^ Government >n Sundays no fir ^ ^'^^^ ^^^ Indians, affords a good ' twelve o'clock '^'**' '""'"^et. Last year they got as high as pect. We conl(i ''**' dollars a bushel for wheat, and this year lis character of ^'^ "^^^ getting a dollar and a half, and hope them thus to tra ^^ ^^^ y®' ^®* ^^^ ^"^^^ P'*°* "K***^- But when it is remembered that flour is sold at ten dollars a bag, equal to twenty dollars a barrel, there is still a considerable toll left for the miller and trader. Safely across the river, we breakfasted be- fore hitching up the horses, and then at about ten o'clock, started for Fort Carlton. The point of chief interest on the road is Duck Lake, about half way between the river and the fort The Lake is not a very large one, and possesses no special features. , But the approach to it is indicated by magnificent fields of wheat. I have been describing in the courst^of my chronicles, cer- tain lands ns of light sandy loam, inferior to the rich alluvial deposits of Manitoba ; but here is precisely the same description of land, subjected to the test of cultivation, and the wheat we saw standing and in the sheaf was a sufticient proof of its excellence for agricul- tural purposes. There is a good deal of land broken up in the vicinity of the lake, which will be in crop next year, so that the Duck Lake district promises soon to be a populous and wealthy settlement. Messrs. Stobbart & Eden, of Manitoba, who are doing a good deal of business in the North- West, being the chief competitors of the Hudson's Bay Company, have a large est'tblishment at the lake, a number of buildings within an inclosure. They have erected a tall flag-staff, from which the Union Jark was flying. A num- ber of teepees or lodges of Indians were in the neighbourhood, some of whom I understood had not yet taken their treaty. As we pass the establishment of Messrs. Stobbart & Eden, we pass through a large tall posted gate, with two panels of fence on each side of it. This WHS erected by Chief Beardie, an eccentric Indian Chief who has been putting forth rather extraordinary pretensions. He claimed a reservation two miles round the lake, which would include all the settle- ments, his intention being that the settlers should pay him an annual rental. His gate and panels of fencing are intended to enclose some ten thousand acres of land, or to at least assert his pretended proprietorship of it. He has refused to take the treaty, al- though recently most of his tribe have done 80, and conscious of waning influence, he has himself shown indications of a disposition to take it now. He has had great influence with his tribe, which is duo to the fact that he is a medicine man as well as a chief, and his followers are afraid of him. Ten miles from Duck Lake brought us to Foit Carlton, on the Great Saskatchewan, and the leading post, in this western part of 24 the territory, of the Hudson's Buy Company. It is sitnated on the low plateau skirting the river, and is reached by a precipitous bill, the longest, except thit descending to the Assiniboine at Fort Ellice, and the steepest without exception, that I have seen. A description of Carlton and a reference to matters of interest here, I must reserve for another letter. LETTER X. FORT CARLTON AND ITS PORTIKIOATIONS— INDIAN WARS — NAVIGATION ON THB SA8KATCHBWAN — INDIAN DIFFICULTIES — A PROPOSED CON- FBRENCK — NEWS FROM THB FRONTIER — GOVERNMENT FARMING — TIMRBB AND COAL — THE RETURN HOMEWARD. Fort Carlton, Ist September, 1879. My last letter, written this morning, brought us to this leading post of the Hud- son's Bay Company. The post is under the charge of Mr. L iwrence Clarke, who has been for many years in the service, and is among the most able and active of the Com- pany's servants. His jurisdiction extends to Fort Pitt in the west, and to La Come east- ward, and involves on his part a constant su- pervision of the Company's interests over an immense extent of territory. He was absent when we arrived, having been called away in connection with detentions and difficulties on the part of the Company's steamer North- cote in bringing up the farming instructors and their supplies. He returned, however, in the afternoon of yesterday, and we have been enjoying his hospitality in his comfort- able residence near the fort. The stores and store-houses of the Company are enclosed within a stockade between sixteen and twen- ty feet high and two hundred and fifty feet square. At each corner are look-out towers, and within are posts about three feet from the stockade, with stretchers connecting them with it, upon which planks can be placed for the men defending the fort, from which they can see over it. All the forts that we have seen are thus stockaded, but none so high or so complete as this one. The object of th se fortifica- tions was not to defend the Company's em- ployees from attack, but, in this case, it was built as a place of refuge for the Cree In- dians, when attacked by the Blackfeet, be- tween which tribes wars were very freqjj tuigery An attack was made upon the Crees b, gases of | Blackfeet as late as 1868, which was th^ people battle between the tribes. On that oci^^ best, tl the latter carried away all the horses oiling to bl former. ywhere hal The Saskatchewan at this point is hti^moretj six hundred feet wide. Near the ceut^j oases haJ the river was what appeared to be an isefally to tj of sand, with a scow lying at the off-biir ,^ted to it, used in ferrying to the Company's Iq^j that h<| store-house, on the opposite side of the t of course, I It turned out, however, upon closer exiitigg fed. T| tion, that what appeared to be an island g^ upon Mi in reality, a peninsula jutting out from igtawasis," side of the river further up, and round a Itahakoup,"! which concealed it from view. When |^ man water is high, it is covered over. B'ort (g^ient, t ton is connected with Winnipeg, for purpgjijeingtal of transportation, by the steamer Nortbc Dewdney which runs to Grand Rapids, separating CtQoe with Lake from Lnke Winnipeg, and thenrtr method. Winnipeg by the steamer Col vile ; and m disposed Fort Edmonton by the steamer Lily, ointment ^ owned by the Company. The latter, unfoi morning, nately, at her last trip down, struck a rj being ii and was sunk. She la built of steel, andxcler that b not considered, on that account, as fitted middle of the navigation of these waters, wl^ialn over inj many obstructions exist, obstructi^he Indians which it would be money well-sptl gend you i to have removed. At the time ^ couple of the accident, Lieut.-Qovernor Laird sm the oth Mr. Dnwdney, the newly appointed Qg^ as is al^ dian Superintendent, were on board. Tl«y were am were obliged to make their way down ii\en by Crt small boat. The navigation to this po^ |o law, b may be considered as over for the sense. In coi The Northcotft was not able to come up fre French ther than the South branch, below Piii^liotit the Albert, at her last trip, so low bus the wa« i^ssible, fallen. As an illustration of how rapii^aliked som and suddenly it sometimes falls, I may mti were th tion that at Fort Edmonton, just before t.a not to departure of the Lily on her last trip, t.|^ bofal water fell two feet and a half in one night bibag witl Last evening Mr. Fred. White, of the Itdl^ so th partment of the Interior, and Mr. Wads wort ia||her a f. who is in charge of the farmers, arrived heiB fj^oux ha having come overland by the same trail tbrjih orde we had taken. Mr. Dewdney was expecttinlftg nort but did not arrive until this afternoon, whtis fide, bu Mr Orde, who came up to relieve Mr. Dic« prevalen enson, the local Indian Superintendent e line and Battleford, arrived with him. Mr. White hiief had al paid the Indians at some of the points ea(ag Bull ai ward, and Mr. Dewdney had met them foldtets • ''■ payment in the west. They were both »ft, were opinion that while there is undoubtediaoricanB HvNMMKtiOTW 25 ' wars were very freni. *u j u ui e upon the Cren^ i ** '"'^'"^^ *™''"^ **'*^"' ^""^ probably 1868 which -,5<»8e8 of actual starvation among th« tribes'. On tha^^ ' people who at such timps come off wftv nil tv,^ 1 ^^'td best, there is no present danger ot an ^ay all the worses o^mg to be apprehended. The Chiefs n at this point is bJ^^*'"' ^?u ^^T e"«^*»^'^«: .^T^'^y o°« ide. Near the '1 ."tod more than they were receiving ; but appeared to b . l^ oases had tal»'^''"P' ' «' 'r'^*^ «*"^ ^'»^'^.«*' *^« '^' )vered over, Winnipeg a man of small stature, with a most * ^r* ^TOlent, thoughtful looking face, the tor purpgj ijging taller and more muscular looking. the steamer Nort uA" . ^ - . m»8cuiar looKing. lianirlfl D^..,. 7, ''"^ Dewdney was disposed to have his con- inSJ?T\^u^ ^'^oe '^ith them at once, but that is not imer pAi !i ^'^^'^^'r method. It was evening, and they were the steame A'l ""^P"^^'^ *" discuss into the night. An Iv Th« I +/ ^"^1 ointment was therefore made for to-mor- > down f b.""^^"' morning, at half past seven, that early s builf J !?° I * '' ^^^^^ fix*'^ *** Mr. Dewdney's request, .t AroLVi- h "'^''>Kler that he might be able to leave about these w t^ ^^^^^^ **^ ^^"^ ^"^ ^"' ^""^« ^^^^'^- ^ exist ^^'^^.' ^'^aln over in order to hear the grievances » m^„ °''^*f"ctl he Indians stated in their own words, and a7 !h ^f."-«M «»nd you the result. Gnv<.rn« ^ T -.^ ^ couple of half breeds have just come in newlv ft •*'/ *" *^*' **"^''' ^''^^ °* ^^*^ "°*'^' *°<* *^^y ^ere on board Tt"*' *' '^ '*^''"^' l^^ ''"'^' «**'"'"& stories, their """;"• iiay were among those who were taken pri- ri-^Ln^L ?^'^ '■*«« ^y t^eneral Miles, being found, con- 8 nv«r f *u '^P^'y'o ^'*''' bunting buffalo on the American h ahiT* ^'^"'«« ^1 conversation with them, for they hvTrh kT^ "rP ^»« ^'^«°«li l^^'f breeds, and conversation an i^«,' K x^ P''th©nt the aid of an interpreter was there- itioii f h ''*P°^^'^'^' ^ learned that they had been m«a fan T ^ ™P't;*toed some days by the American troops, ^tnr! r}^r^ "'* ""^^ ^^^"^ ««°* ^way wi'h ao admoni- nn i^.-' . .^^ '«» »ot *o come back again, or worse iLif' ^*«**"p,tglrt befal them. They were permitted d wV? ""®/'^^' '>''»^ ^i*^ them the pemican they had • «nH M m ^^ ^****» ^"^ *b»* ^l^^y treated the whole affair f«rr^ ■ *^.»d8W()i:nither a good joke. They reported that larmers, arrived lui, gfoux had made a line all along the bor- ^Hn«! ^^'^^ *'**' ^'"»*^ order to prevent the bufialo from Vl.ir^f*^'*^^*P'^^''^"K north. They had seen some few on inis afternoon, wlUg ^de, but did not credit the stories which lo relieve Mr. Dice prevalent of large herds having crossed him M «ru ^ •**°® *"'^ '"'•"S on their way to the north. » of 'fh ■ *'*"' b"^ ^^'^^ ^ ^*'°^y of a fiffht l)etween Sit- 'oitne points eaaip Bull and his braves and the American naa met them foldters. The former, according to their re- JLney were both »rt, were having the best of it, when the 18 uadoubtedimericans were reinforced by bands of Ohe- yennes and other Indians, and Sitting Bull's braves were driven back with some loss. It is, of course, impossible to say whether these stories are true or not. I give them as a sample of the tales which are constantly being brought into the fort by Indians and half breeds, and these, in this out-of-the-way place, really constitute to a large extent the news gatherers, and supply the place of the daily newspaper. If they are not always re- liable, their sources of information are, at any rate, about as good as those of some of the correspondents whose lucubrations reach the reading public through the medium of the Associated Press despatches, and I have no doubt they are quite as conscientious in de- tailing their infon ation. Mr. Dewdney has already traversed a large part of the interior section of the territory, and visited the reserves. He has laid out the site of two farms which are to be worked for the Government, in order to obtain sup- plies fo" the Indians and the mounted police. The one is at Fort Calgarry, on the Bow river, and tho other at ITort McLood, on the Belly river, both rivers being tributaries of the South SKskatchewan. They are just at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and are, in the meantime at any rate, far removed from settlements. It is expected that upwards of two hundred acres will be broken up this fall, ready for seed in the spring, and is mills are to be erected, the question of supplies in the far west will be solved to a large extent. The policy, where these farms are being es- tablished, is a good one, but it is a policy which has to be followed with some caution. It wotild not be wise for the Government to enter into competition with the settlers in the matter of raising supplies. The wants of the Indians and of the mounted police make for the settler going in a home mar- ket, for him a desideratum of great impor- tance. The one question which overtops all others, is the settlement of the country, and every encouragement possible should be af- forded to the settlers at the start. If the price has been a lit:tle high, the increase in the number of the settlers wiJl soon regulate that on the principle of supply and demand. Already there have been some complaints that the Mounted Felice are engaged in farming instead of in police duty. At 13at- tlefoid, where there were some thirty stationed, it is said that not six were really ready for duty, the rest being employed as servants or farmers, or mechan- ics, doing work, in fact, which should be left to settlers and which would make for the 20 ■I'l M aettlers a source of employment. There Is □0 doubt that the polict) system requires to be thoroughly overhauled and the organiza- tion placed upon a better footing. And in doing this it will be wise not to attempt to use the men for the production of their own supplies. tSo with the farm instructors. There was a report that it was proposed to locate them on farms just outside of the re- serves to which they are attached, using the produce of the farms they cultivate for (Jov- ernmdnt purposes. Such a policy would be most unfortunate. To the ext nt that the; Indians succeed as farmers, they will relieve the Government from the duty of supporting them, and thus by degrees the Indian ques- tion will settle itself. But the farmers should be simply instructors, nothing more ; and that is a duty which is quite incompat- ible with the idea of their cultivating large farms themselves and for Government use. In writing thus, I am but refle ting the pre- valent feeling in the country, a feeling which, as it seems to me, is based upon sound reason. North of Carlton, I learn, there is an im- mense tract of splendid timber, which is cer tain to prove of great value to the country. It is chiefly spruce, but the trees are large and well fitted for building purposes. West of it, near Edmonton, coal has recently been discovered, and is believed to exist in large quantities. This year some of it was taken out, and was UFed on the steamer, proving to be of ex- cellent quality, That which was taken out IB bituminous, but it is said thert; are large deposits of anthracite coal to be found also. The country on the north of the river, and all the way up to the region of the Peace liiver, is well adapted for settlement, the land improving in quality as you go further north, until the Peace River country, which every one speaks of as a very paradise for settlement, is reached. To-morrow we turn our faces homeward . Wo are to go down the iSaskatchHwan in a York boat, the steamer having left. It is lying on the shore, the Tuen busy caulking it to prevent leakage — a necessary precaution, as it has not been used for some time. It is a fine boat, twenty-six feet long, with nine feet beam. Our crew, consisting of eight Cree Indians, who have walked some eighteen miles in, have just ar- rived. The boat is to leave to morrow morn- ing, taking us up at Prince Albert, to which point we wiU drive after the Indian pow-wow is over. LETTER XI. TRACTS. 9 to do sol oaent cHn[ "~~ alfil our THB INDIAN I'OW-WOW — ORIKVANCES OF Tl; P**/^ "^j L porting isl MBN- UOW THB TRBATIKS ARE CARRIK jjno^l,.,Jr' WILD MONTANA CATTLB FOR MILCH C'e StUCk THB INDIAN (iUBSTlON — UOVBRNMBN 1 » to''* '"*'^| en to U8 " producing! Princb Albert, 2nd Sept., ISading, ancf « T. ^ A .v.- .ataid. Thl Mr. Dewdney was ready this mornni,^^^^ alitl his conference at the appointed hoii^j| harvostil the chiefs did not appear until an J^ Qovernr later, and then insisted upon waitiuLjjj Montand arrival of another, who had been stut^jj j^q^ doJ Presently he appear d, a stout, vigjjQjggjjack.l looking man, upon whom want bad H»gQ||,,y thel made no impression. His name was " i^i^^ Theyl wayo," pronounced Cetewayo, signifying them horl man of wind. The conference took piling when one of the offices of the Hudson's Bay (^gg . gome pany. The three chiefs, with their tjm-wasaiif^ cillors, were outside of a bar, the cbic'tui upt tak'J i two others, being seated on a form, auiig good and five other Councillors being squatted oIjjq \n the floor, evidently a favourite attitude 3^^ in m silence of a few minutes prevailed, and nJge cattle '• Atahakoup" — The Star Blanket — , expect and forward. He shook bands first withgn^, We h Diiwdney, then with the rest of us, and ^g been woi commenced his statement. There had q^ it is ii some little difficulty about an interpi||j|^ those tw the Indians being specially suspicion: ^^ can get this poinr, and they had brought one of^{gean bedc own tribe, who was reputed to speak a^ttolive I English, to act in the capacity. Bn\)\ fee please broke down at the very outset; andjjgggonible Taylor, of the H. B, C's service, BQother thin throughout the conference, the Indian Ht^ggyyes. I ] ing by as a sort of cheek. The scatei^^ it was sa in the language of the interpreter, vvH.-|f^y it. I follows :— 'reiit'y that 1 We waited for you, and we see you uf||^ the sr we wonder if our word met you. We lg|^ laid 01 oft*>n been t-ilking of the promises wigg|| troubli and when we saw that they were not cnihij^me, an out in their spirit, we made representat^U^jrwing 01 to the Minister, but they were a^iaiit woul they were thrown into the water, -ay tmtil T 1 are very glad to meet you noW|,oBtponod t! you come with full authority to act ,1^ he told will not teuch on anything but the proin ijW nnt, the which have not been fulfilled. We are 'fflPthrpiB re much pleased with the aid given us, a^j^jb. Tht hear of starvation on the plains, there Ixhl^ileservet no buffalo. We are only beginning to,iq|igapy am able to support ourselves, and it will liiiber son I 27 :TER XI. »W— ORIKVANCBS OF TRKATIBS AKK CARD 9 to do 80 fully. We want what aid Gov- nqnt can give us. We have endoavorod alfll our part of tht^ treaty. We know ,,,^ plan of GovornmeDt to make us self- porting is a right one ; hut we bitvo not "^ knowltidge to carry it out A few of us CATTtB FOR MILCH c-e stuck manfully to the tilling of the fBSTiON — oovBKNMBNi I but many have not done so. The sotsd en to us has been put in the ground, and . producing well, but the crops are still iLBBRT, 2ad Sept., ISadlng. and until they aro harvested wo >8 ready this morni,,^* *^?- Tl'!? '» ^l'" .''''■'Z «^ '*"/*»" '=*?'?f« ' the appointed ho, ,Tl f- ? P ''^ "'^T ^^ f«^'«'°"« appear until an '*' ^''''vesting is done. The cattle wj got sisted upon waitir."" Government all died ; they were brought who had been Sf ni^jJ*'''',^'"*' 'i"^ '"' protested that they ari d a at t i . uW not do. We shw the keepers of them whom want h J'" *»0"«''*^'^- ^"^ ^^^ ^^^ want at the time I Hid r,o~ "'annny the Governor, and we took these I. HIS name was " U.I mu i-i ±v. -i i r . Cetewavo si f • ihey wore like the wild fowl, we conference to'ok pU^ *^"™ ^""'p ^"l t^en they 'Hb appeared ; the Hudson's Rav T*®' ^''*^'^ *^''*^ *" stables, choked them- r.».i«f« ™in, i. . " VM ; some could not bo fed, and to catch of a LT th r 'Jm^wasafigbt so wild were they. They iftteH nn o f ^ *^ ' aot tal^'^ '^o the food, although the grass rs boinJ^«nnJ*?'^"'"'8 80«'*. "lid even barley and wheat fed to ut^a «r«„„!i ^ ',3™» In making the treaty, we expected e& Bla k'r '^"''""''^'''^ *""'■ *"*^ »iu«^„ «°i ■ ,> expect and hope Government will replace the rest of' '^ f*"*- ^^ ^*^« ^'^^ "^'"^ ^«"' a°d these (m«nf tV "^' ?" , ▼• ''t'sn working all summer breaking up «>f«;,f ^^'^^'^^''nd. It is impossible that we can get on ,Joi^L '".*?l^lth those two oxon, and we want some aid pecmiiy suspicioii^^, can get it from Government; and if remS" f '"''' ?' »'« <»° »>« dono, not only raystaf, but all who tlm™ /P^'^n •■**o 'ive by the cultivation of the soil, verv ^^'^ /• ■"' *>« P'*^*^^'^- We think what wo ask is not ry outset; aDd|„ejgonible, and we hope it will bo granted pn/.fl *v. ^i^'^jl'^^i 'nother thing we wish to mention is about S m^'**''*° «'wrv6H. I pc'nted out whtre I wanted it h^ { ' ♦ i ^'^^'''iid It was said a surveyor would be sent to lue interpreter, wH^y^y it. I told the Commissioners at the 1^ ^ 'reaty that I had selected the spot I wanted ■!l mT ^^^ ^^".r "^''*° ^^^ surveyor was sent out I could not u met you. We ^^ft laid out as I wanted it. and that has tne promises w, eeli troubling me since. I protested at iney were not cat,«time, and the survevor told me he was maae representiljirowing out his Instructions. I su!,'ge8te(l ' f7 ^^^*^ "bat it would be better to postpone the sur- -nto the water, -gy until I had seen the Governor, and the survey. I sow the Governor, L Lu ^^^ *<* ^^ *o'^ ™e til** »« I wanted the lines AM rt w P'"''"''^o"t. they would be done. We wanted led. We are 'h© three reset ves to have a mile between "a given us, a have been told since that it is not in the tre-ity. Id insisting on tho yoke of oxen for the three f imilies, we were not told we were not to get them, and wo thought we would have them. As to the cattle, we never expected them to be brought from the Montana quarter, when we were told we were to got mih'hing cows. What was the use of these cattle being brought so far, when tame cattle could have been had as near as the I'rinc-i Albert settle- ment, cr lied River We expected that we ▼culd hiivH had good cattle, but those brought were so poor that it was a mockery of the promises to give us cattle with little else than skin and bone. We had great dif- ficulty in getting the cattle on to our re- serves, and we had no provisions given us to supp >rt us while driving them home. We put them into stables and did what we could with them. We were told by Governor Laird that they were tame, but I saw the Governor cutting away round from them. It would have been better to have given us some buft'alos. Government is too slow in helping the Indians if they are going to help us at all. The fall before last we saw Governor Laird, and wished him to give us more ampls assistance in the way of farm implements and sec^ds. Ho said his powers were limited, but he would write to the Government, and let us know. To all these representations we received no answer. The country is getting so poor that it is for us either death by starvation, and such aid as will enable us to live. The buflalo was onr only dependence before the transfer of the country, and this and other wild animals are disappearing, and we must f^rm to enable us to live. Now, we want to know how we are to live this follow- ing winter, what help we can depend upon from Government In the shape of tood . We have not come here, except from necessity ; but we want to know what nnantity of food t 28 WO can depend upon fur the winter. True, the Government have pacified the country, we have no longer wars with the Blatkfeets, but the buffalo has been driven away. There is no longer war between the tribes; that I Hi been stopped ; but wo are dependent now upon the Qovornment for food. W(« are fond of money, but wo are compelled to spend our annuity in getting food . This last winter wo got a gooi deal of food from Government, and we are thankful for it. So far as we can see, the policy of the Govern- ment has been directed to its own advantage, and the Indians have not been considered so much. What we have mentioned, we would like the commissioner to consider, and we want a definite answer. When wo are asked a question wo answer yes or no, and we would like the Government to do the same. I am an old man now, and am at peace with every one ; weak, and my dependence for support is centred on the Government On the transfer of the country we wore told that the Queen would do us all the good in the world, and that the Indians would see her bounty. With this message came presents ot tobacco, and I took it at once ; and I pray now that the bounty then promised may be extended to us. Ketawayo, was the next speaker. He said : — I understood the treaty in the same way that the others who have spoken under- stood it. When we asked for the yoke or oxen for each three families, although we were not told wo should get them, we under- stood we would. If we had been told that we were not to get them, we would not have complained. It was the expectation of them that made us fool that we could live by break- ing up ground. Every chief, wo uuderatood, was to get four oxen and six cows for him- self; and we did not understani that they were to be used for the whole tribe. 1 think the aid from Government was very slow in coming. With a band of a hundred families it would be perfectly ridiculous that we could get on with four oxen , Every farmer, how- ever poor, at Prince Albert has his yoke of oxen, and we have tried, and find that we cannot do with so few. Wo are new at this kind of work, but even white men cannot get on with so few oxen, and I agree with what has been said about the cattle. I was away when my tribe took them, or I would not have ac- cepted them. We are not used to cattle, and when we were promised milk cows we ex- pected they would be tame animals, that eonld be handled. We know why these Mon- tana cattle were given us ; because the} I have cheaper, and the Government, thinki: a simple people, thought we would ?uiakodp| them. The cattle have all died. If »nt to met got cattle of the country, and they hadit before, we would think it was our fault, and we b Prince J would like to have some help in the shapt miles byj provisions in the meantime, and we wisl'otorced to know what we can depend upon. The ?to I '^•'^ S which the Government and tho HudsWR'®*^'") *'^' Bay Company have given us, has kepiowed were i alivo until now. Mr. Clarke always gd«» of thei UH something when we come to the j****'® ^^ We hear that the Governuaent are senWl* ^*^® *** instructors. They are all from below, ail»* *'<''*• " I am to have one, I woald rather have fk» •^^^ *^ * from the country, who understands the lil^onest o guage, and with whom I could speak fac****! *'® *" face, without an interpreter. There are liltefarmei enough of instructors sent up, and if ni**** ^^tt\ are needed, I hope half-breeds will be sel* P*'* ^^ "' ed, as it will help them, too. There ai*H }^ ^°^ lot of half-breeds who want to take the trd*** ^* '*^^*' and join the reserves, and who would b4**^ '^^^ * assistance : but they were told that t!*#** ^^^^ could not come in, as they had white blf**' '*''*. ^'^ in their veins. Home of the families^f *'^,If * the half-breeds were in the tre^*' '^\^^ and the men would like to co"* ^y *'\® in. He hoped a favorable view wc *•• *1* . be taken of their requests. It is |*Wracieni tor that we should tell each other what i^^®^". think. Hitherto everything we have asked •^•*Vf^" ' been promised to bo represented to the t^*J^J®^ ^ ernment, but we have never got any «D8AKonp again came forward, and said : nave all died. If «at to mention a few things more that I ountry, and they hu(|»t before. I object to white men being VAao\it fault, and we * inflficiently taken into account in dealing aach other what Itkthem. That they asked for the oxen is ng we have asked *4Mibted ; that an emphatic understanding resented to the (]>■* they must not expect them, was not ver got any angv''^^'^ ^t, I fear is also too true ; and with iswer. The chi'*>^'^**° '^^Y request which he makes, and aty a horse and v^^'^ ^^ ^^^ positively refused, he assumes n to be granted * The request in this case cer- tainly does not appear to have been an un- reasonable one. If it was intended in good faith to give these oxen as working animals to break up land, with the view to the In- dians becoming tillers ot the soil, then cer- tainly a yoke to every three families it* not an exorbitant demand. That, however, was not in the treaty. What was in it, six milch cows to each b;ind, seems to have been car- ried out in the most disgraceful way. To fulfil it by sending in wild Montana cattle, was surely a mockery, and there was a tone of bitter irony in the chief's remark that they knew why these cattle had been sent to them, because they were cheap. It is an un- fortunate impression to get among the In- dians that the treaties are made simply as a means of getting peaceable possession of the country, and to be kept with the least regard to their welfare. It would be interesting to know who supplied these cattle, and whether the same American speculators, who have been making a rich harvest out of supplying the wants of the Government in the North- west, bad a hand in the matter. And these Montana cattle are not the only case in which the poor Indians have been the sufferers by Government contractors. They were promised carts, good ones, iron bound,and a horse and waggon for each chief. I saw in the yards of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany some of the carts and wagrons supplied, and which have been refused by those for whom they were intended . The carts are the poorest description of Red River carts, which have been used by freighters up to this point, and are really un- fit for further use ; while the waggons are literally falling to pieces. The Indians re- fused to take them, and they were right. Whether the Government have paid for them is another question, but 1 am inclined • Since this was written, I have received in- formation wJiicli causes me to change my opinion. The treaty was made by the ttonbla, Mr Morris.assistcd by tlie Honble.Mr.Christie, a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company of twenty years' experience, and tlie Honble. James vicICay, prol)alily the most influential nmn in tlie Northwest in all matters relating to the Indians. A t:erbatiin report of the nege- tiations was lf the hill leading down to the fort were eix Red River carts, laden with agricultural implements. These, I learned, were for the Qovernment, aad were destined for Edmonton. They have been three months on the road from Winnipeg, are in charge of a single man, who complains that he is almost starved, his provisions having given out, and his animals — miserable ones at the start — are so utterly broken down that he can go no further. The implements, intended for use this fall, are due in Edmonton now, and yet here they are, after three months' trailing, only a little more than half their journey. It is 'Aad for contractor for transport has sub-let hi^i— t(j tract to persons evidently uneguiMHJ wa the responsibility. Bat whatever e Hud^ cause, the fact is one which ^^etookl challenge the closest enquiry, wi aad ai) view to the prevention of the recurrL'i,tlty as] such disasters in the future. It is tin itartl hoped that the whole system vf transpnr^" he soon be changed, a change which, aH Ighould^ pose showing before this series of lett^ad, l, Uke qi comparatively little expense, if the Go nas ment has the foresight to abandon th*'i him and fetithers which have left so Iiimentiiagcouslj record of waste of time and mon y incoijeif cruq tion with the development of the North ^e htmV in mod krated, ej eachbel LETTER XII. Flndlayl ig in whj — — , kc. rhiob th CARLTON TO PRINOB ALRBRT — SETTLBR'S I Jj j ig p ANB SKTTLKR'S PB08PK0T8 — SPISOOPALBe. " H 81011 — THl TOWN OF OOSHBN — Mo'^*.**"'^^ / Veil MILLS — HOW MONBV HAS BBBN BXPBN*: * hels, ai THE NORTH tVBST — THB FARMER IKSTRlCf go mucll — THB INDIANS. SMt OVer Prinob Albbrt, 3rd Sept., 181.5 ^ggij j We left Carlton at noon yesterday fory»4wo Si drive to this place, arriving about sepias a d( making, allowing for an hour's halt otrders u] dinner, the distance of forty-eight milf b|p cro six hours, the best time made by us sinceuplDy- start from Portage La Prairie. The coiiq^M* on i through which we drove was a really maiaborers. ficont one, and for the last twenty miles* Aft the passed through a continuous settlomAHio or seeing at least from seventy-five to a b.04i dred fields of splendid wheat, which the*1fi!W, a ( tiers are busy harvesting. For about }«i|prou| miles we drove through a regular fovesS W^^^ ' large spruce, the first timber we had s^kfe ^ ' since coming into the Northwest. It *iily ^^ quite like a Canadian forest, and in mari»ttiiO"'^t contrast with other parts of the country. ^^W* ^°^ stopped for dinner near the house of a ?* BU*- ^^ tier, Mr. George Findlay, and as his exlllrttfi^- rience is a type of that of settlers in t"s1p*' " part of the Northwest generally, I cannot»iw P"* better than give it. Mr. Findlay is an arti" |p*'* intelligent man, thirty-one years of age. ''=^'*^^' is a b)cotchman, from the neighbourhood *^J*°' Edinburgh, served his time as a butclMpM*^- came to Canada about eleven years ago, aBlHW*'' ar the house of a f' Jnt this is a good country, is it not ?" we ^dlay, and as his ejijlbed. that of settlers in t'^vTlBs, none better. Anything will grow t generally, I cannot»iW put in the ground here." ur. Findlay is an acti^wtave no intention of buying your farm, y-one years of age. >VTO»dlay ; bat what would you sell it for the neighbourhood tw*nd8, after your three years labour ?" Is time as a butcli»_j^ed. eleven years ago, aiMpeomed at first indisposed to answer, as wo werti not likely purchasers; but finally said he valued it at $2,500. " I would have sold it for less last winter," he H.'iid, ■' us I thought of going further west to Edmonton, but I have partly given up that idua." " But, why should yo« go to Edmonton ? You are well olf here, are you not ?" we asked. " Yes ; but those who get first into the Western country will reap a rich harvest from others going in, who will require seed and ttiiur and cattle, and other things which they lutist buy from the settlers already there." And this idea I find to be a prevalent one. Even here, the tendency of population is w*'stward. Much of the settlement on the Northwest territories, is, as I have point- ed out in former letters, from Manitoba, and as buch points as the Prince Albert district or the South Saskatchewan, be- come occupied, the earlier settlers are dis- posed to pull up stakes, and go further into the interior. I think the western fever is over with Findlay. He certainly has no reason to complain. Three years ago with- out a dollar ahead of him ; now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of splendid land, fifty of them bearing crop cows ; with a .fifty with five oxen and three homestead and its improvements, which is c rtainly not overvalued at two thousand five hundred dollars; and with prospects that might well be the envy of any man. The story seems almost like a ro- mimce, but it is, as I have said, simply a type of the experience of hundreds of others who are settling in this marvellously produc- tive country. Mr. Findlay was a little hard upon my old Peterboro' friends, but his remark carries with it a moral. This is no country fjr men who are not willing and able to work. Its conditions are immensely favorable ; but let no one imagine, on that account, that it is a country where idleness or Ifiziness will meet with other reward than that which happily, may I not say, follows them everywh^'re. The farm 1 have been describing, and which may be said to be the beginning of the settlement between Fort Carlton and PrincMi Albert, is in the township of Lome, The Prince Albert Settlement proper begins a few miles further on, and is undoubtedly tht' most prosperous of any in the Northwest. Last year a census was taken, and it was found to contain seven hundred persons, ex- clusive, of course, of Indians. The estimate n2 •»'■' is that tbe nnmbor now will ronch twolvt) hundred. It is, in fact, along tbe road one continuona settloment, and, for the flrst time, we drove for miles almost tbe wbole way between fences. Tbe great majority of the farmers are men who have come in without capital, and who are on tbe highway to fortune. The settlement is near tbe river, some of it extending to tbe river, so that there is an abundance of water. As we approach the village, we come upon the church of Bishop McLean, a large frame building, barn-lilce in its architecture, except for the small windows, and whitewashed. Near it is the church school, and a few yards further on, tbe episcopal residence, an unpre- tentious cottage. The Bishop himself was away from homo. I saw him in Winnipeg, and he was expected up daily. He has been very successful in England in collecting for bis (.roposed College, having raised about ten thousand pounds sterling, a sum of money which ought to be suflicient to accomplish a great deal. The ^Hudson's Bay post is about a mile eastward from the church, tbe barracks of a squad of mounted police being about half way between the two points : a large house, surrounded by a stockade fence. Orders have been given to lay out a town- plot on the Hudson's Bay Company's reserve, Mr. John Reid b. ag entrusted with the sur- vey. Already enquiries are being made for town lots, and there is little doubt that the town of Goshen, as I believe it is to be called, in honor of the Governor of the Company, will very soon be a large and prosperous one. It is beautifully situated, easy of access with tbe outside world by the river Saskatchewan, in the heart of an ex- ceptionally fine agricultural district, and already the seat of whatever trade is done in the neighborhood. The Hudson's Bay Com- pany are about erecting a flour mill, which will be in operation next season. About a mile from the Post is Captain Moore saw and grist mill, which is doing a good busi- ness, and supplying an important want of the settlers . The logs which are sawn at tbe mill are got from the north ('ide of the river, where there is an abun- dance of good timber. Capt. Moore, the proprietor, is a young gentleman who first came into the Northwest on a hunting excur- sion, and became seized with the idea that there was an opening for such a business as that which he is now carrying on. I was glad to hear that his enterprise and pluck are being rewarded with surcess. In coni>'toK- with this mill I beard an incident «f*^*jj illustrates the manner in which Nor*w, 'I expenditures were made by the late A;' •J' . _ tration. When Battleford was selet tori W»"| seat of Government, and why it was ^ ^"^ ted will always remain a profound*® ' tery, and it was determined to^*! J*"] Government buildings, Capt. Moore '^i "^^' to supply the lumber, laid down at Bi»tit»*» ^ tor sixty dollars a thousand. He recei4«* *"*" answer even to his offer ; but InstoftB** ^*^ Government gave the supplying of thf^^- ber to Mr, Sutherland, furnishing hintlMK '" a mill which was taken to Kdmonton, w^t P**" tiie timber was obtained. The job, I hiio** ""^^ doubt, was eminently profitable to tin'® "^ ' tleman who was so fortunate as to olitd w but the same cannot be said for the (if f*!", . ment. The lumber which had been off."®"*' |?1 be laid down at sixty dollars, cost two liii* P^"^!*^ dollars. Mr. Sutherland, if the statti*"*©* I heard are accurate, and I have no reaf**** ' doubt them, has beea a special favoni PjP® ^ the late Government, having received * ^^ '1 them a grant, by order-in-councll, of a^*** '°^^ dred square miles of timber limitK ;'0 ™'="*'^. neighbourhood of Edmonton. Tho r««*'°*'*^] here is that the order-in-council ^'*'" '*. .""^^i! most properly cancelled by the pr»*^ , ^ ? Ministry. '^^^^ \ A number of the farmer Instructor'® ^"^^^^y here preparing to go to their dilftirei''0'6" ' serves from this point. They have [»• <*^"°* hard time of it coming up. The arrangcn-^t *"'' ' for their transport do not appear to hav( **'i *° well made, though in a country where mio*'"""^ of transport are limited, it is difficult tc^^'^J' portion blame for the blunders which '• ■•** ^* been committed. They were nineteen ^* Amer on the steamer Northoote coming from Ohej P'^^ Rapids, the steamer having been overh «'••**"'' ^ with their supplies, and the water beini.'^l'**^*^' * It was intended at starting that they bIiI*^**''!? go on to Carlton with the steamer, but '^^ "^ was found to be impossible, it being co[>w*tiapi ered unsafe to come furtiier up thanWT''***'^* South Branch. Tho steamer ih« Busk up that river instead of coming l^yij ^"^ to Prince Albert, and the goods IwiiHouse, to be carted a distance of eighteen mpoint m They are being classified this morning, i.; the superintendence of Mr. Palmer Clarkt, ' | Indian agent at this point, and will be 1 warded by the Hudson's Bay Compan 1 their points of destination. As a rule, '^ farmers sent up are intelligent, active i: ^ with the experience to fit them for tbe [^ formance of the dnties upon which they ^ mtm' ■aR»~5-s55r ,^n '' "j'^h H'lrresfl, In romOttlg Mr. Lawrence Clarke, the niaua- " I heard an Incident inches long, being of fiat wood about 68 of timber limitH ;'0 Inches wide, ornamented by two rows of i Edmonton. The r^^l-heatled tacks. They were evidently in ' order-in-councII Las* most friendly mood, coming up and !ancelled by the pr"^**>K hands, utteriug their gut terai "oogh" -which is the equivalent for " the top of the farmer Instructor'^ morning to ycu ;" and having gone > go to their diirerei"0'6h this preliminary they squatted upon point. They have i«« ground and commenced to smoke, pas- '|ng up. The arrangiri-nf *he pipe to and fro from one to the do not appear to havi thWi "^d looking as serious as if they were in a country where nionvning <^or all their wives' relations, tnited, it is difficult to'^vt brought no confirmation of the story the blunders which '• S"*! heard at Carlton of fighting betwer n They were nineteen he American troops and Sitting Bull ; but throte coming from Ghey preferred, for the time at least, the having been overlrW'**''' quiet of the neighborhood of Prince and the water beiD£;k.ltMrt, to the watchfulness and danger of 'tarting that they 8H«itier life. ith the steamer, but '^r hoat has just arrived from Carlton, and possible, it being oor)Wl"trap8 and rations are being put on board, ae furtlier up thanSfS'Btart in a few minutes for our run down The steamer tlU^fiHskatchewan iu an open boRt. Four Jtead of cominglftil, we expect, will take us to Cumberland the goods hadBo*I8e, on Lake Cumberland, from which ind »nce of eighteen „ ified this morning u •fMr. Palmer Clark,, ' point, and will be son's Bay Oompan lation. As a rule intelligent, active i » fit them for the '8 upon which thej t my next letter will be dated. hi LETrER Xlil. TIIH RAILWAY QirESTIO.H — TlIF, LINK FROM TIUNDKR TJAV — TUB I'RRSENT RAILWAY OONNKCTIONS— KI'KKCT OK MONOI'OI.IK.S — A SCANDALOl'S RKCORU 01' UATKH — KVII, KKI'KCT.S UPON TUE QUKSTIOV OP SETTLK- MKNT — rONDlTION OF TUK PE.MUINA IlKANCU. On thb Saskatchkwan, 4th September, 1879, There are two burning questions connect- ed with the early and proper development of Manitoba and the Northwest, which in their importance take precedence of everything else, namely, the regulations relating to the djriposal of the land, and the opening up of the country by a judicious and well-devised system of railways. As I have completed my journey,going over the country through which the railway must pass, I stop for a moment in my description of my trip, to deal with the railwav question as it has presented itself to me in presence of the country to be develop- ed. The firist point to be considered is the line from Thunder Bay to the Red River, which is to be the means of ingress to and egress from the fertile belt ; and the second the providing the moans of cheap and speedy transport in tlio great wheat and cattle raising portion of the territory. The pnrchahe of the country from the Hudson Bay Company was practically made in 1870, and it is certainly anything but creditable to Canada that nearly ten years should have elapsed witliout the means of communication through our own territory having been pro- vided. Winnipeg has now a population of from eight to nine thousand people, and settlement e.vtends almost uninter- ruptedly for two hundred and fifty miles went ot that city ; and yet we are dependent upon American railways tor access to the country, on which the rates for the carriag« of freight are so exorbitant as to torm a serious barrier to the growth and prosperity '"<« .^m*- 84 of thu foiintry if !« i the St PhhT^^^,?"''^'" from Unlu?h bJ L" .'^ P""""" ooLlr ''*'"*''"•«» ^^^ completes tL 1' ^""'^^ '•^"WHJ, whJrh f ;*''*''«^"»'»f'«bF?J«J?''pT:^'tt» -da. territory at Em„,'""''^*'°« ^"i' bTu L 5'J*' P^"P«'-tfon of the tK '"'.* ^«« '^o ' contiuuVlf """• ''^^n^'" the r«n^«v. J '^'"*""''« '"''"» only aL!f! **'''?''«*» "''be cnun «tate?,"s?'Bo,r"' '" » ^'^'•y in" i; r'?/''« '^«tteM .how Bi7»'r whiVf> I • °f steamers on P..-i M-''^*"'l">ol via Mow v«-i ^ the K naturally Head /ear?y al ^h'^'? I:'""'' 'hej •''' ''*'" ^" H''' u pV'^^ISI*?, • ••■■•■■■'•■•■■■■.• '** TJ"" *neanfl of this s»D ''•'"■ """ftic by Bv ^'^f- 410 miles ' o. The which was comniS^'*"'""^^'*cificR,ii„ra/ „. '^"'«' -fok on 1 ■nall-rdW^nn^f '"^ *° ^"'^""n tZT^,' ^*"t **'« not only fro«R^«"V-' ia»Mto\ throngh chie«^o"'f '' ^""»*"i ^om Tarnia' '"°?*"'»« rates ^l ch^Jj^'^tl^ **»■* . oniinar, which h^hH^^l'"'^ """i eighty mXl '' ^^'°"'W the all r.Ti Z^*" Montre they ar Wer than the, w*^*'"*^ ^'^ tl'rfj. S r"" f ' ^«"' «reV iL/Vf^"'■'' ^'"'^^ **'«^*t complXd.^rStV'r"/*'^ ^'^^^^-l^'^i'JlZ'''''^^ '^'"''^'^ '^' Northm,P«ci«,n *:,''*"'* f'«^iac and the f!'''" '"'Odred and fiftv m 'i 'll**'''''*'"''"'^ P«^ agreem.n(« 1? ,'*!'""'>'« have entero ilf K,"^^^ ^''"ts per hundreH ^w j'^'' ^^^ '«'>«» t>»lnt from S;?, th L?"^ ''"^ ^'"•»'"- i?x th^ rat s ^"^'^'P^*^' ' diHtanee if ?„1 ^T ^'- ^^"''°«*'«<1 "' as from St ^'""''^'^i^hare li's 1' r>'''fy »''e^ $15$ o/r"" ^""•^''^•^ »« *be cli '•« nndeStood tJ,^.*" '« finierson "it L""' «*« '^uoiV*^ .'•''''• ''""'an fiv^ would be ni^*i ^^° Northern Parifi. '^'''^ one-third /he rf...*'"' ""'» mTlwso flgi their oLRT''"^ *° tnaterlally mori f o '" ""^ther way l'!**"''^ '' <>' to p.i.mple8 -tdo iTtI ::x\ *'»^ t^% Ziiii'^^'^j'-^^^Aroi^^^^^^^^ monopoly on the nartT.f f.°\.,'^'«««tron8 this i fie Bailway in. Vure« wif l^'" !""' * ^'''ci. p«„, quently than words «'!. P^"'' "'"-^ «lo. Hi' , - """ "— / - -; imported direct If t.^^^^" ^om KnjrlaDrl ^ ^y. way of Sarnla and nni.,fi, ,u moment. through rates * Jh** ^'"'^'Peg are carrfed at f ' u?'^' '^^'^'^ are mad^"'"*'' *^« ««me (Ml and m the rate ha« h ''^"">^ the present sealn u"" ^^'"nip^g "ia DuluTh f^. *^!"°' Montr*«fcaen allt pounds ^TheZ- •'-^' ^^'onTCZ^h^^^^^^ as follows ^p'^'^'«'»n of this rate has C '^^^treal via Sarnia to n..t fu^'fP^'^on froWl. Wot through Ne";'?!;T ^""'^«" or Livernroi ^^'^"°^^^'^. the^ i- forty ce«»«*nment, J1.20 per one ^ ^ "^ ^^'''"^^ to S K ""' *° ^^''n'* five hnnl ^'°^ ^'*'°» Motito co.intr being ^threrth ""'*'■!? P«""dMhe distS T^' "'^'^ ^^^n^ Sarn^^^^ f."*« of ™i,rlMi will be I^iverpool to l5 ?.'^ '"^'^^'^ of water from Lv!'"'*"'^ ""iies by wat ° f "i?**' •hout ot-^llpder Ba hundred mneforr ^^'^' ""'^ about thirS "/V" '"'"'^^"d milerlffiV."*^ u* *«*«^ ^«*hnndred St. Paul, Sak,n^ «'"*-'' ^''"'n New Yo I ^^ ^^"'"'h ,o Winnipeg a^b, in ^^^ f •"""«« f'"''*^ *""««• three hHn,?r!V^-. * ^^^^^ ^f fo„r thonl! ? ''''''^ »'"i and eieE «?i.'=® ^^^ four hnthe Grand Ti Winnipg'a ii?;'"'' "^^^ f™m St Prito T^V"" "^ the It %"J«VV°^«'' ^^^^ *c.w<^i. Montr «nde4f;Vif8Tf' "•!"''""^f«"rbuX, Pr^n'^^''" ^'-H making ^^^^ monca«t:-xceed, «l-60perhnnJr!, "''''^ay, the char^e^-. *!-^°' which is th« k*^ *''® total ciWIdred pot the chSrge for S? Pfnn'is. ^^^ ordinary g*oo!,/*''«P««t rate aft«^ll Montr. ««rge for four thousand threehZj J ""^«'' Present ^rP„S ^'^^ b« taker'WSwd^r Ba three hundred I to Winnipeg * Cm Our' ^r Momre.-«|nty cent i'roin Quebw th« «tea«rttM|>re8entr ! 85 ifer In* wl *'•"'"*•• 'nclr^j from Toronto gomewhat lest, but not » than rh. 2'*'' '■ *' VC»^- anfl3 ''•, *''|»'"«« "f loSratPi as theiie, from t»i« Kn«li«h and F th« s» D *'^*^ "liidlin marketfl, from which th« North- f «xorblt f "' ■"'^ ''" "* Canada ia Bupplied, ar« in thi. hlgh- nv ft n K "^ **** """^Hwe op'^roHslva. Thty nr^ an inciihns le «i 9A^ i!* *****'^ f'i«r««t WHlj'ht upon th« trade of a now and 'anl «'hi ♦ "''^'"^ tx'niMni? community; they add larRnlv to a mflea I ♦M°' *''""'''*** ofeverythinK that had to be pnr- B or I *^ ceiit4e<| by B«ttlerfl, and in Jnc of noceHnity by th Ht 9 °°«-fl'Hi» • deterring eflect upon the influx of n «f fu ^.^ "' * Pi* Who would dcBlre to become rcsidentd Jahm!* **"**"«'» "'he country. all u 1***°*^ ™"*« to ihow how 8U< h rates of car- JVk! f'*"";? oppressive most aflfnct the country, it 'o* Wroagh rate is naMfnl to contrast the rates chargt'd _ the Northern Pucific when acting rork to Chicago, 3,900 pQ it« own judgment, aud not (iontrolied » laoinHeH '*■ aaouopnilHinu ally, the 8t. Paul k P*- eg, 410 miles.'.'.*.'.' ■.■,"■■ o. The distance from Duluth to BIh- jrck on the Missouri UlTer is about the V frnm p"i iaeMto Winnipejr, and the rate of freight 9 ch *l°'?'*Dd that f oidlnary goods bronght by water from I p**^* J '^^^ rateiloago is forty cents per hundred poumlH, inuanadaare madeupTwy little more than one fourth of the inaf from Mootre ihey are forced to charge to Winnipeg ; 10 "il*" ""* ^^^^^ **"• ''**® ^^°™ RiHmarck to Fort Benton p.P^'' "inrfred pout ilMmer on the Missouri Uiver, a distance j3°p °» $1'90. Bj twelve hundred miles, is ninety cents per . i liaaentably, is almost impossible to under- cn the proportion frnWil. Worked as that lino must be, by the iJulath, Is forty ceoUMtrnment, so as to develope the resources >ce being from Motfllf country, of which it will be the outlet, ndred miles of raifhlliwill be the result ? The distance from DolQth about oii.'h|ider Bay to Winnipeg will be between 'FiniaklDg a total (OUf hundred and fifty and four hundred and uilst the charge frop'x^ miles. Applying the r>»tes charged by •stance of four hucho Grand Trunk, on its trafti-to Duluth, bo. es, is, under the dic-weto Montreal and Sarnia, the rate should & Pacific moDoioi «^<^eed, if it reaches thirty cents per King the total cmiMlred pounds. The through rate then cheapeat rate afra^ Montreal to Winnipeg, via Sarnia and can be takerTlHSader Bay, will be from sixty-five to Qces from MontreiM'tiD^y cents per hundred pounds as against eb«c the rates an^Miii>Te8ent rate of $1.90, or a saving of sixty per cent on the present rate*. At inch reduced rates the country will thrive. The saving of outlay to merchants will at once stimulate trade, and Hottlers can either bring with them or buy at Winnipeg the fluppliesthey require at fair and reasonable priceM, which at present th)'v ctnnot do. As reflrarrls lumber, a most important siipply, the Thunder Bay line will prove of immense importance. At present the price of common lumber In Winnipeg !• from twenty to twenty two dollars per thousand f-v t, and the cost of transport- ing it from there, except along the Rt'd and .\«siniboine rivers, is pro- hibitory Ah soon as the Thunder Bay line is running to Rat Portage, where inuzhausti- bie supplies of timber exist, and where saw mills are now in course of erection, the price of lumber ouurht very materially to be re- duced. The Governm'^nt ought at once to attend to this very important matt«r and have arrangements made for the prompt and cheap transportation of lumber, the moment the railway is in a condition to transport it from Rat Portage. At present the question of the transport of the productions of Manitoba to the eastward has not become very pressing, but that mat- ter is imminent and will rapidly become most urgent. So far, the rush of new settlers has absorbed the great bulk of the products of the country both for purposes of food and seed Up to last vear flour was imported into Winniptg from th« States ; now all ar- ticles of food are provided in the country, and no one can have travelled for nearly six hundred miles through the fertile belt, as I have done during the last two weeks, and seen field after field of splendid wheat, averaging twenty -five bushels to the acre, and rapidly tailing nndor the latest pattern of Ontario manufacturers' best reaping machines, without being satisfied that the day is actually at hand when an outlet must be found for the products of that vast and most productive region. Indeed, already the question is very ur- gently demanding an answer. Wheat buyers are to-iay in Winnipeg making arrangements fir the purchase of the surplus products of the country. Stores for the handling of grain already exist in Winnipeg. I saw one a fort- night ago, at Portage I^a Prairie on the Assiniboine: one is in progress of construc- tion at the boundary, near Emerson, to hold seventy thousand bushels ; another is build- ing at West Lynn, and, in fact, all that is wanted to start a considerable export trade in cereals is cheap and easy means of transport. i ■•'I If /#'" p a c( ppily, HI 'ea beyo lerable g Hsalrend' RAILWAY FXTBNSION is -»» ^^^ «'"** QPKSTiON OR- D^ «o«THWBST~ir8 rounc «^N ^T« L 0. ''" ^^'''^^''--HK .„,The que. "TSTBif OP wgargRN HArrw. e railway OS" WA8TH OP T,u. *'"r-icr-A SYsrmBtnictio ' ^""' *ND MONBT. dies, wa On THB Saskatohbwav /"^!1; """ „ . 5^^ ««Ptember 187Q ^'"^^ "^"^ Having in niy ,a«t ,,,,:, , '''' ^^^^^ J^utaged, f 37 Government, it fg >8e. the St. Boniface to Emer^'"** t»*'i'^!-' broken up yearly. On the 'tate and is being wref,;flM8 of Munitoba, across the" Little Sas- >alla8ting should be ar^*'"*'^' *'^*' along the valleys of that 'lous future mischief iw .»r •nd the AHsinibolue, as well as south of r rolling stocJt, now qm' letter, close dowa to the boundary, sot- be supplied^ ag ^^tjjl ^jB are rapidly pouring in, so that, in fact, needed for the proper »' practically no exitggeration to say ; and it should be at ^^'^^^S f'"""' Winnipeg to the janctii ids of that unction ot a competent staft' Qo'Appele liiver with the Assiniboine, a •e controlled by speciii '•''**® '^'^ *^^ hundro(i and fifty miles west a'd liJjeto makeitan™»yo" "^' never completely out of sight settle- u mnnopoJisers who8f ^**'*' under actual cultivation or '•ngf it for the deveJopt'"*- T^'*' of course, is the country to put >uld be to divert the [hallway through to accommodate a large -American channels. ['T£R XIV Isting population, and to develop and ^et- a country capable of supporting ppily, Hn enormous extent of emigration. 'eu beyond the Qu' Appele there are con- lerablo settlements on the South Branch of e SiiBKa'chewan, at least two hundred fam- ~ HS already firming successfully in the Prince j„ bert si'ttleraout, and even beyond that set- 'HB N0HTHWKST-»rB round Edmonton, near the base of the ROUTB— HOW THH Ro'cky Mountiiins. AND WORKBD^THg Am The question of the general direction of "KSTBRjj pirr '® railway being settled, the vital one now ADiAN w^AYs— f,^ gg Iq jjjg ^J^,j^^ ajj,j ppeediest plan for its POMcy— 4 sysimatruction. Fortunately, one hundred B AND MONBT. iiles, ward of Winnipeg, are already B «ASKATOHKWA» '^^^ Contract to a practical experi- tb September V0I70 ^**'*^ contractor, who, if properly en- y '""wr, 1879. (juftged, ought to have the line letter dealt with t** ^ ^^"^ trains upon by the time the harvest ^ay between Red Sk' IW^ is gathered in. For the whole dis- ' propose now to (if*™* ^^ ^^^ hundred miles, the country is ' to be pursued in n^^^ involving no euKineering difficulties, M west of Red BivfrOd presenting facilities for the most cive to the speedy (it *P^ railway construction. It will ent of the country. *•■■ through the most fertile and '" upon the charact,***^ settled part of Manitoba, and 'veloped ; that hap I'^^^'P''"^''^*' railway accomodation to the ^ in previous lottiT."'"**®'"" '''"'*^'*^*b'' Province. Aft. r leav- » matter of the gr('ni°>L ^'*"'^"^* *b® country becomes more ' idea of placing t^'°^^' *"'^ '^ interspersed with numerous Manitoba has bw'*W and ponds The earthworks will in ^ough that couLtr"*'^^"'''^^'' '^® somewhat heavier, but of- ''•Jiy, thf land is al^'rl'K °° difficulties in construction. From '^ui cultivation jth^ fend of the present contract the line may maifdy a ■^,,|^.b«'|BKtended due west to the Little Saskat- 18 nearly inipogRj(,j',ohMran river, which can becros-ied with the 'iut', the wires bein^^'x*®**' ^^"^^ ^"^ ** comparatively small ■> and the transmlii'*'*'*^*' '^"^^ valley is wide, but the river not t>ro most reguiarh •*?'? °"^ *"'°'^''*'*^ *^'^* ''''^®- The river floods "»n<(, south of Lii)i(''*M*°'^^' ^^^ probably two spans of one hun- "II of settlers wiallS '*'*'* for the bridge proper will be ample. uud already und Tff*' '*'^" ^*^^ depressions leading in and otit <* land, to a Jarire °^® valley which will greatly facilitate and ^ OMipen the cost of bridging it. And the dlnbultieB of construdtioa which have been conjured up at this point are purely imagin- ary. It is an important fact that ia crossing the valley none of the piers of the bridge will require to be founded in water. They can all bo put in on dry land and in good foundations. It would be wise to approach the bridge on both sides by short pieces of trest'e work, which can be cheaply filled in afrerwards by train, when ample ex- perience has been obtained of the water ways necessary to carry oil' the freshet Hoods. After leaving the Little Saskatchewan the •"ountrv is again rolling with numerous small lakes, but very eai^v for the crmstruction of a railway. The course of line westward after leaving the Little Saskau hewan may take one or two directions. A very judicious line would be to continue westward to strike the Assiniboine, the valley of which, about three- fourths of a mile wide, can be reached hy an easy descent, neither difficult or cost- ly to construct. It would accom- modate a lartre and rapidly set- tling country both to the north and south of it, and woTild be extremely important in connection with Indian questions on the Qu'Appele, and points west and south of the fort there. The river Assiniboine is less than two hundred feet wide, and it docs not flood its banks. The valley is one of the most picturesque in the northern part of this continent. By cropsing the river, by a bridge of one snan, for which neither pier would be founded in water, below Bird Tail Creek, the line could be cirried to Fort Ellice, which ia distant about two hundred and fifty miles from Winnipeg, and which point at present is the limit of settlement, except at Prince Albert and Edmonton. On this line, from Winnipeg to Fort Ellice, there are only two rivers to cross-— the Little Saskatchewan and the Assiniboine and both by small and inexpensive struc- tures. In fact, the entire distance of two hundred and fifty miles oifers remarkable facilities for the cheap and speedy construc- tion of a railway, which can, by judicious arrangements, be in full operation within three years from this date, at a cost of about three millions of dollars. That expenditure, producing such a line of railway, would cost Canada in annual interest, less than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a yeP*«l by facilities for ".''*i'°'^ banks aflFordini-c wirs a Having now^g n*'"^««« of a"tXug &en«'-al course off ifn«f„ •*'""'''« ofj »f el^n «'d to the speedv Ll^i ° ^'^« the r^rj* has a try, the questTon of7h?f T"* «^ ^^^^ ^' »"»« •ng the line is of ?he rSn.f * •'°°'^« ^^ l'«« *« «>^ And here advantage T .!'**' '"°»Pon woik in the practical experience w^^ ^ ^' ^>^>^^ ^ « forded us by the onera« ""^ ***« bterwy crag 'n the marvellous d^eSr* ^V*'^ ^'»^^'« "»«' ern territories Thelh P°*®°*"^tbeir isdy repc ntories by rapid/y Zildl? ^"Z^^"^ ^bos^e expe t'on railways, 8ufficienl?^..'''"'*P ^«'"=^«* ^« '^ork they had to do and ^t '^"'^ ^«"»»*"^ "^ gradually strengthened °^ '?'*"«*» ^«v« r^pwed, t neressity for it becam„ T'^ ""Proved a^ltolj asc. PpwanJs of twenf^l remonstrated, oaltively over many par s of VlZ' *^° ^ *^«^^'«°" ^« 'o which railways were?h°°°«"» =«'d IJlihMl any n struction. At that ti^ !? "^ ''^"rse onad ever ] on the Mis •• JipJ^iveT *'^\^'«b««t p.»d of th. .'^ay was i.ai'rfe X 'ci?'^''^ byaWl-av. l^^^^ running "r« °- ^^'^ l*b«ord ha, built and had bJt littTe Lffi ''^''' ^*>^'"*"* ""' have been over th^m 1 ^'^ "Pon themtha* « is n have marvelled ltTheirT'i''"«« ^'^^^^ ** »«W* ^^ their physical imnro^n,^ ?"^ ejtensionflWly annc the increased work tk^^tf ^^ demandedtt™' mns' than twenty years thptY *^® *** ^^o- In operation ! ''««« the State of^^i^J^^ mossed by sev, Again, e "P the Mississippi ri!;iT°,';.°' ^''^^ reaci«»«M from stretched «»f ^u^?' "^«r to Minnean,^i!„ >,.* «nnnt,rv «tre ched out th^ "rms tn f '"'^•^«Poli«, 1). • western lin,its of thT.lVJ'' "?rth.rn a liT^l the country -"«*i.uea out their arms tX '"'""''"Pol's, In* «on western limits of thrsl«/^^. °°'**^^'^« « ^'^^ bave crossed the terrffnJ .°^ ^'"»««'>t' I* "« "*>* Misani,...- -,•_ lerritorv of n,i,_i- . oikUy so 1 bave crossed the territorJ ^t.^'^^^^'" Missouri river, and are In u^- ^'^°*'» to . . n»S^:-^"r*b^rtwohundL'l',r ^*P':^'r P«*T« *« ^ tended '•.furth;rtwoT,n^\''^"'« ^api'^lj P«*^« *» lowstoneriver asa "A'''"'^°»''««tothey works w, Pf'^'-fic Railwa; tLv h«"'V^ *^« ^ortL- ««Wdule of work to do in hniM- ''*' ^^ the same s WlU never ^before us in Ee S.o^n**^''^ ^'°«« tha Ai»F comp territory in the NorthC^* ^^ °" «' J* ^' ^""^ c«„„ . JNorth West. They ]„ «pcial ini W '^°^ Ipiergon v liree yeai gone about thfiir ."- *"«¥ m sense principles ?r u'^"'"'^ on coma, ?""ays in com;>a?X^,r'^ T''''''^ '^Zl «?. preliminary Soraf "^'^'^^^ «"&>'^''^ their cheap raiS°7'°'»« 'u*'^'^^ ^'^^^ P :!!;:^-eounCls;j^-^^-^ have oar riflrf ,1 P'cces of trpi«(L , 'en year; would h,.t» ""'^der Bav NvalL .^b earth.- Je, with gkorations Set exper ort of $: tf say thai big these 1 ^ject ha( ilbe coanf trough IbrBt cost a ifaue — th Ifenoant w< 3!) the main .^'^'^'ons it4 contrary principle of action has been ' has low ba k '^ '° ^^*^ niftttd by Canada, and what are the results ? constrn « '°'^^'"*'' J**" **'*' ^I*borate engineering Burveys given a -'-^ * tw Inaugurated in connection with the rail- fa line t * •'^"*'"^'' o'-J 9ftU)m west of Lake Superior, and their ' dereloD^^'^^ *^^ ^^ ^^ already reached between three and of the u^^y^* °^ the -ar millions of dollars, with practically very the moBt^ .Diode of lile to show for it. Large parties were set tage ou hl"^*' Jmport work in the district between Thunder Bay Brience wl h° ^^ *'*''^ ^^ River, and for the expense incurred operation f ***" ^^'^ff ""^"S ""^ every hollow ought to have develon ' ^^^ AmerlMI thoroughly examined and elabor- 'hey ij*^''*®'**"^ their Itdy reported on. Contracts based on f,„j, ..^*'P'*opIedthoae expensive information thub de- cient ftT^*!,'''*'^*^ colo-Ted were let, and it was officially do and h- **'''* foreotored ihat so carefully had the plans been ened a w • '^'^ ^*^''' '•P*"**'' *°*^ the details of work so ace u- amtt H ""P'"o^«'l 8.«*«lj ascertained, that the cost could be ity y^®'°°''«t'"ated. oiltively determined, and that the line ' Wis ^^ ^^^ ^ travtronU be finished for an outlay vastly less ^ere ♦1?"°^.'° ^^d Jlijluui any railway, in a rather difficult country, tj®^ '" course 01 »«i ever yet been constructed for. At the e the highest n«ttd oi the six years not a mile of the rail du were :tle traffi ' r^^.^*^ hy a ,jr»y is available for traffic purposes, and so ^nien. — - - The jibmiid have proved the engineering calcula- ^^^y cheittoni, arrived at after such extravagant cost, I sev ''."Pon thecikkat it is now stated the cost will be double jjjj'"*' times since, »t least what was at first supposed and offi- '^^f ®*tensioD, *I«lly announced, and that three years' mort* h^^ u *^ demandt'flttm* must elapse before the line can be in hey have to do. j^ operation ! _ nave crossed bysevt l««Jni nearly six years ago, the line of 70 'er t °M-'°' ^^^^ reacf miles from Winnipeg to Emerson, through to Minneapolis, ii! a country which is practically a dead , „^° the northern a I'V^I the whole way, was commenced. •it °^ Minnesrjts I* ?« not yet completed, and is practi- ^ ^ory of Dakota to 1 <»Uy so far useless. What its cost will ' r?"^ heing rapidlj piwe to be no one yet knows. All these Ddred miles to they w«ks were let on what is known as the rtiou of the NortL- (Miwdule of prices system, and their cost ave had the same s '•'^W never be entirely ftiown until they are •ng these lines thai WHy completed and paid for. ! P?^Dt of our 0! It i' Quite safe, however, to say, with the West. They ha (Acial information already furninhed, that ^ork on comm W '''"'« ^^ railway from Thundor Bay to It^" ''^curred no gr« Ipierson will not be in full operation for ttvee years yet, and that the coft oi that ttle, with the outlay for engineering ex- porations np to the same time, judged by Set experience, will reach a total of not far ort of $30,000,000. And it is equally safe te gay that if the American system of huild- falg these railways had been adopt* d— if the Object had been to secure an entrance into Work ' T' ^* country, and a rolonizUion railway those teu years ar *^''0"8h it, at tha cheapest possible ^v„|" ^{th earth. iwt cost and in the shortest possible space of ,ii». .^JA" J-allwa tone — that r^a expenditure of the same tne per (mount would have completed for practical 'y abortive engine, t'^ns ; th.y bave p trough their fji ; 'ap.d march of se 'thus laid out ha dred fold already Vorthwestern R., '"'"g for ten y" restle wort l.VV less until "ipleteU. use, by the end of next year at the latest, a useful line of railway from Thunder Bay to the Red River, and its continuation to a point not far distant from the base of the Rocky Mountains. Mountains of rock and valleys of morass would not have been sought out as the most available method of expend- ing the largest possible amounts of public money ; but a useful line of railway would Lave been in operation for upwards of a thousand tulles west of Lake Superior, filling in ao it went along a splendid agricultural tountry, west of the Rud River, with a thriv- ing happy population. The time has come when a system so costly and «^ di'atory in its execution must be abandonf'd. Canada cannot nft'ord so luxu- rious a method of peopling its fertile terri- tory. Practical common sense must take the place of so-called elaborate scientific theory. The American plan of fixing on certain ob- jective points and letting the work betwee-n them at so much per mile must be adopted. In the spring of this year two hundred miles of railway without rolling stock was let between the Missouri and Yellow Stone Rivers for $7,580 a mile, and will be finished in less than eighteen months from the time thk con- tract was let. The information obtained by the engineers so far, whatever it may be, must he put into a practical shape for public use. Reasonable, and proper speci- fications and contracts must be prepared and published. And then tenders should be asked for at a rate per mile to include every. thing necessary to enable trains to run. Ex- perienced contr*ictors with such information before them, bv goitig over the country, can make snfe estimates of the cost at whinh they will undertake to do the work. Then a practical engineer, who has been accustomed to such work, appointed to see to the proper execution of the work, can lay out and define the line as the work progresses, meeting diffi- culties that may arise, and producing a good useful line of railway, fit for the work it will have to do, and capable of being strengthened and improved, as the necessity taerefor be- comes apparent. On such a system the needed colonization rsiilways can be cheaply and speedily con- structed. On the old Thunder Bay fystem they cannot. It rests with the Government of tb; cou'.'ry, who have the great duty of laving the foundations of an Empire in their hands, to shape out a wise policy in these matters, to shake off the costly trammels of the past, and to strike out a railway policy m 40 ".m ' |# >^ of the country! «; J l"* '^"^^Jop the resonr.!^ ''''' «*«" «* the caSn *^r'"'*^« to ,ro«»on'8 the raiJ way Zt iT,^^^""^^ «" to avo[d1e?Hn . ^ *'««'-ty gnpper lin ''^ *'''' "«'^- °»"*"" or of peoDifi »k *" "'^ t^ands of 7nl„, /'"^ the first with w f ' P*^ * ^""^d niLrht,' poin* ar -conKil^^^f ^he' «/te-pt;Jrr "'^^^^^^^ >^ay monopoly ^*- ^*«J * Pacific fiii. *!"* *°^ » biacuit we *^', *°^ ^^er « , '- '^th ex ^' ^'"''«ail. start. We pa8fl«d^u ""^H.® ««'• second V'««8'' then came toc7e'XT * «"«" '«>'"«»»* ^'^ !'^^y° e darkness wag apnr*"* *'°'"^ ^^^ n anhed La Come, a post of won afterwards to 1^'**'*'°''' ^'^^ Company, attached to "tion of the crew. Oirlton. Th« banks of the river I *Dd a (foori nj,r|j^.|^i point are high and precipitous. This snt coverings, prenar *"'^ their general charactur from Prince Q ward, and after ^/'j ^th fxcf'ptions here unil there afford- 'e made our second '^ ''^^^'"^ ^"' ^^^' ''''"•way if it HJiould through a small ranid"^'^* *° ^^^^ direction. As a rule, the 'falls, which as tlO^^^a^^^^ s'*'*^' Pf^'seuf the appearance of liem, are 'loverlarKci"'****^' j"*''^"^^ out, with large galleys t e:nei88 and grat**^ ''^'''^' ^^ 8"™» cases po sharp as to el Teg to their oars ''^ **^® *^''^*'^ ^'' "* '^*^" This condition •mmenced. n g^^l^ > »en CHused by the combined action of I the steers man • .•**'* wind upon the sandy formation, repeated in iiercer .^^Wing character of the ground l)eing men bent to ,'***?M°i'iSl'^d, at intervals, with a light- when (■ 'y* '^^^ buildings at Fort La Come rhe • might; ^,, 1 the roughest' m^ thahill, and wo had to clamber up the the rocks. For a^'^ *'^*^ — rendered slippery by the rain ect stillness each l' '*®*°^"'^~*^" '''**^'^ *'^'^™" ^^^ • ^^'^'^• ' seeing there the ' ^"'^^ ^'*'* buen nome twenty years In inger. Then the 1, "n|?>°y'8 service.is in charge of the post, ^om the position of'*"** **'°* ^^ ^*^* ^ S""'' ''"*' ^^ informa- iat the bow was nBr.r'^'*' ^'^" ^''strict aljoining. T^a Come lover h lower Iq the 'w ®°*y °^^''^'' *^''°'" '^'"'"'^''' ^"'"^''*- There had been taken w"^ settlement of haif breeds in thu im- I ' to release it se *** '^^'''^ity of the post, who are succese- I 7 some of the men'^^*'*'*°^' ^"'^ "'^ English 8ettl«!ment is | >f the sheeting in °^ *"* *^*^ Carrot river, or as it is called 1 on, as it appeared' ™*P^' ^'^^ ^""* "ver, which is doing as making watfir '***''y ^'''"- The country between La iR ; but the insDerV'Li?'' ^'*'^"**'' ^'^^'' ^**«'"*"* ''^ *^« i I. that it showed n^*^"' *^ ^'^^'^ *"*'« '' ^'"•'y fi"^*^ ""'^' ad- ' store for us the I, ' ***''^ ^^^ farming purposes, and is i >d by the blow n'^y •'tracting considerable attention on Ipless for som n^^*** ^^ intending settlers. There is a on a fQjjjj ."-chclfl England mission here. A small hundred yards f^ '"' ^^ '^*' opposite side of the river i for minutes _/ ^''^'^oimerly as a mission church, but ' r steersman .."'bf^f removed about three miles further fise ceaspd a«^ .1'**'" Indian reserve. The mission is ■ ^^^^^' ""f' "r tto charge of the R -v linri hia oM^ "' 5® Albert, who U? '.'"!?""" P'"°'^r.iuta'nativ, 18; he wasevi'd'em'Ti^"*'"^*'"' "'" '^'''- ^^^ ^^''^^^^ ^^ ••- ^ "' )e JJbert, whc |iat of o./,!„„ j'^'^^'v^'nt a native catechist is inconstant "'m Jibert, who visits it about three times when the ch ""^^ ''* *^' ""^^ ^^^P^ np the religious ser- l«a„ ° . .r" 9u ifain on our journey. len were Mr. Goodfellow, we Presently we shore, the first we Ik-kan," "nok-ban ^ together ; we w"r''**'^ and as wo approached, espied an at thei, ^k ^.ftnoe on the and as wu ap[ lut th«,T <.„ 1 ,"■'*» ^^ Indian— but evidently' not of Vr the «Lr ^'^^ ■'' bWod-squatted beside it. Our men tfelvtw'V^'i.'^'^ ' 1^'°^ «°d 1^« replied. A fes in n?n ^^*'?''^ ^"^'^ Pl'^ce. which resulted «8m ouranfortuocr pulling ashore, and which, rnnirio u L 9 tferwards learned, was a negotiation leJa hJl !f?'"''#of P^'^'c'*" for fish. The spot ettingTenchrd.* ^tl P-"^-«' « "'^P^'^g. «^«-»y I K urencnea.hj Hith a fringe of young poplars as background. At the entrance to what, I suppose, was the old man's teepee, though it wan not visible, two or three steps had been madf', anil a couple of short poles, with a crosK bnr above thim, lormed the gateway. Pnsitutly a sqnuw emer^ied from the woods and utood in the gute, ready to complete the trade It consisted of a frying pan full of p«mican, and one ami a h ilf fall of Hour for two large sturg'^ous. From what I have seen of tht.so fish, I am bound to say that the In- dians on shore had the best of the bargain. However, if our men had the worst of it in thin bargain, thev haii decidedly the best of it the following day, when, seeing the skele- ton of a teepee, they deliberately pulled ashore and appropriated some of th*) best of the poles. The afternoon turned out a very wet one. The rain came dfwn in torrents, and wf Ktop^jed for the night, with the con- viction th it it was destined to be a miser- able one. We managed, howover, by means of tent ;inl sail and tarpauliiiH, to cover the boat over, tind had, after all, a good night's sleep. The next morning was a beautiful one, and we got ui early start. Nothing of in- terest occurr-'.1 all day. The river widened at times,beitjg at points about as wide as the St. Lawrenc , and the shores were generally from fntll professing Christians, and with ^wo exceptions are all a Iherents of the Church of Ktiglaud. The exceptions are Roman Catholics, l>ut they are married to Protestant women, and their families are being brought up as members of the Church. The church Hdilico holds between tour and five hundred, and on special occadions, aa at Christmas and Eister, is too small for th« congrega- tionis ttiat assemble. The ordinary congrega- tion each Sunday numbers from two hun- dred to two hundred and fifty souls. Mr. Cochrane informed us that last Hun- day one hundred and s<'ventj-five pt-rriona partook of holy communion. The people in fact are earnest church-goers, and are showing the fruits of their conversion by lives of improved moral- ity. There is a mission at Gr^nd Rapids, connected with that at the Pas, which is under the charge of a native catechist, wlio is licensed by the Bishop to preach, and who is doing an excellent work among the In- dians of that district. Mr. Cochrane vi'^it8 the Grand Rapids missions about once each month or six weeks, to marry those who may desire to be married, to baptise the children, and to administer on occasion the Lord's Supper. He has also a station at the ?a8 hills, which ho also visits from time to time, the distance being about seventy miles. The interior of the church is very neat. The communion table is railed off, as in most churches, and behind it is a reredoB, upon which are the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandmentj in the Cree language. At each side of the Communion railing, is a pulpit of the old- fashioned egg-stand style, which, I presume are used as iectnrns as we'l. The pews are very comfortable, without doors, a row" on each side of the aisle, which on special oc- casions is also filled with worsbippers. The congregation is regularly orf-anized, with its Church wardv'ns, and its delegates to the Diocesan Synod. The mission was esta- blished and the Church erected, by the Church Missionary Society thirty-five years ago, and the income from part auppleo] Indians, who chiefly rat sk ployment of although I however, froi reference to t missionaries i ture of thing under great t •8 it pays to I is a school-ho and formerly sustained a There is now ; but ; ■chool, ha fltty.fi ve chil of school ago I area of two i We met here j Roman Cathol Deer Lake, peg to see his C who has just r hag been for th miasioQ is to ii convents at t Missions, his o can best be rea this can best b( Christian worn Before the be the chief and h have an intervi to represent, th the Governmen ed, the Rev. Mr preter. It was treaty obligatio a humiliation Their reserve h thoagh the sn them by the a^ want the cattle but which have They want a lai plementg, espec useful in the stc The plows givei Ing plows, whicl also would like are beginning tc mill would enab flour. They are barley at the ] Mountain. The ^ 47 ago, and the clergyman Htill dorivi's bis chief income from the Hociuty, althou^,h it in in part lapplemented by contriliutions from the Indiana, who pay in liind, the ('urruncy being chiefly rat al(inH. The ad vantagu of the em- ployment of nativt) niiflflioDarit'8 Ih very great, altlaough 1 w r HurpriRud to bnirn, not, however, from Mr. Cochrane, who made no reference to the Bal)JHct, that the Socuty pays miasionaries from B^ngiand — who in the na- ture of things miint for a long time labour under great disadvantagt^s — twice as much as it paya to the native missionariea. There la a school-house on the Church property, and formerly the Church Miaaionary Society Buatained a Bcbool master at this point There ia no school master there now ; but Mr. Cochrane teaches the ■chool, having upon the rrgister fltty-five cbildrt-n out of a population of school ago of about a hundred, within an area of two miles from the school house. We met here also the Rev. Pere Gaste, the Roman Catholic Missionary at Cariboo, or Deer Lake. He is on his way to Winni- peg to see his Diocesan, MonsoignuurOrandin, who has just returned from Fraucf, whero ho has been for the last two years. Pere Gasttf's mission ia to induce the Bishop to establish convents at the Cariboo and Cumberland Missions, his opinion being that the Indiana can best be reached through the family, and this can beat be done thiough the eS'orts of Christian women. Before the bont left we wore informed that the chief and his councillors were anxious to have an interview with Mr. Brydges, in order to represent, through him, their grievances to the Government. The interview was grant- ed, the Rev, Mr. Cochrane acting as inter- preter. It was the old story of nnfufilled treaty obligations, a story to which it has been a humiliation to be compelled to listen. Their reserve had not yet been surveyed, al- thoagh the survey had been promised to them by the agent year alter year. They want the cattle which were promised to them, but which have never been given to them. They want a larger number of farming im- plements, especially of hoes, which are most useful in the stony land which prevails here. The plows given to them were prairie break- ing plows, which are of no use here. They also would like to have a hand mill, as they are beginning to grow some wheat, and the mill would enable them to convert it into flour. They are now raising some wheat and barley at the Birch River and at the Fas Ifovntain. They want the Oovernment to furnish them with seed for the first thren y. ars, and after that thay think they can got on without further aid of this kind ; and they also want some provlH'oiia to bo given them during the seed- time, as they have heard that this had been done for tlie Indians on the plains. The pro- visions which have been furnished to them th.^y say wure good, except the tlour, which ia put up in too thin bags, and baa come to them damaged, to the extent of at least ten per (i-nt. They complain that they are in arrears one year with their treaty money, They are included iu treaty No. 5, but only adhered the second year. What they say is, that their non-adhesion the first year was not their fault, as they were not asked to do ao, and as they g we in their adhesion when asked, they claim that they should be paid fiom the date of the treaty. They have heard of tlie present of $12 given to each Indian on his adhesion, on the plains. They do not ask the present, but they think the sum meutionedr. Mackay erected his tent, the ♦^ront thrown fully open, hoisted the Dominion flag, got a table and chairs, brought out his books and money, and went to work Immediate- ly on his right pat the Chief, in his red coat and wearing his medal, his councillors in their uniforms of blue frock coat and red facings being near to assist him, and the In- dians squatted in a circle round the front of the tent. The Chief was first paid, then the councillors, and then the Indians generally. When a man was called, after some little de- lay, for it Seemed hard to get them to answer to their names, the Indian would come for- ward and squat himself immediately in front of the Agent. Then came the questioning, the number of his f<»mily and of relatives de- pendent upon him, each of whom is entitled to five dollars. As the record of former years was before him, the Agent was able to put the questions very direct, and a short grunt indicated assent. The money was paid and the man retired into the ring. New comers arrived while the operation was going on, and they would go round the circle abaking hands with all, before squatting. These are occasions of great feativitjr. After the payments were made, the men went to settle their dubts at the atoie, and then one of the houses was appropriated for the fun. An Indian fiddler furnished the music, and the young men and women went vigorously to work at th« dance. The music i« jiggy, but very monotonous, the musicians apparently know- ing but one tune, and the dancing was a never varying shutlle, in which the feet were hardly lifted from the ground. The fiddler kept time with his feet in the most vigorous fashion . It was a sort of cut-aud-come-again jig. kept up until the fiddler censed bia rasp- ing from fatigue. The dancing and feasting, I was told, would go on all night. We lofc at about four o'clock in a York boat for the steamer, and started for Grand Rapids, reach- ing the Haskatchewan by a continuation of the branch by which wo left the main chan- nel. In the railway map this channel is not indicated as going further than Mouse Lake, and the lake itself is placed too far north. It is about thirty miles from the Saskatchewan, and the post is about forty miles from Cedar Lake, by the route we have taken. The country is nearly all marsh and swamp, much of it is so completely under water as to resem- ble large ' es, separated from the river by narrow strips of laud. Along the banks of Moose Creek, for a mile from the Lake, in a continuous hay field. Mr. Macdonald, the Company's agent, having just got through cutting it, it is oiled in stacks, to be drawn in when the winter sets in. The dis- trict is a famous one for muskrats, as maybe inferred from the fact that last year the Hudson Bay Company's poata, within the Cumberland district, purchased one hun- dred and thirty-four thousand skins, and the free traders probably obtained from thirty to forty thousand more. The rats have not yet commenced to build their homes for the winter. They are said to bo most skilfully constructed, having the appearance of small hay stacks, and being arranged in the inte- rior with singular regard to comfort. Wo reached this point, five miles from Cedar Lake, this morning, and have been wind-bound all day, a strong north-weat wind prevailing. The Northcote, built especially for river navigation, cannot venture upon the lake in stormy weather, and, at the time I write, it is impossible to aay when we will get away, as the wind shows no aif ns of abating. II than aorry in a lake t< coveted. WIMD-BOWND THH Dl ARB OV1 — THl TBI I THBODt On Laki To our evening, at moved off I mained all It was to altboagh tt force, it ha Five milec made the v aa poasibl la called < going, as straight aci congratula When aboi regnlar sqt ling, and t thing but ] an island, as a refug( it safely, ai the pro^pei aet and we eations, oi time. Tb been det days wa; cross to t point of a1 however, i aolved tha not permit was but or were due i and as the and has bt bolt telegi messages f we bad no cause som 40 lakiDg •bating. It than sorry ; in a iaIiH t< - coTCted. ii bettor, howHTttr, to b« lare and tlie proiipuct ot a braak-np i fathomt d««p, Ig not one to be LETTER Will. WIMD-IIOVNO AT OBDAR LAKB— THI CROtldlNO— THR DIUI0UAR8— HOW RAPIBH AND HHC LB ARIOVKRCOMH — RUNNINO TRB ORANO RAPIDB — THI BTBAMBR COLVILB — LAKB WINNIPBO — TBI ICBLAMDIO eKTTLBUBNT— THB RUN TBRODUH LAKI WINNIPBO, On Lakb WiNNiPEa, 13tli September, 1879. To our agreeable surpriae, on Thursday evening, at about five o'clock, the steamer moved off from the point where we had re- mained all day and started for C^^dar Lake. It was to some extent an experiment, for, although the wind had abated somewhat of its force, it had by no means entirely gone down. Five miles brought us to the lake, and we made the venture, hugging the shore as much as possible with a view of taking what is called the fork boat route, instead of going, as is customary with the steamer, straight across. We had leason very soon to congratulate ourselves upon this decision. When about three-quarters of an hour out, a regnlar squall broke upon us, the wind whist- ling, and the waves rising in a manner any- thing but pleasant. The captain headed for an island, which has before this served him as a refuge in similar straits. We reached it safely, and tied up under its shelter, with the prospect, so far as an angry-looking sun- set and weird clouds could be taken as indi- eations, of being detained there for some time. The steamer, we were told, had been detained there as long as three days waiting for a calm lake to cross to the other side, a distance at this point of about twelve miles. We turned in, however, in the true Mark Tapley style, re- solved that wh»tever our regrets, we should not permit them to affect our spirits. There was but one thought which troubled us. We were due in Winnipeg on the 10th or I2tb, and as there is no means of communication, and has been none since we passed the Hum- bolt telegraph station, of the success ot our messages from which point in getting through we had no assurance, delays we felt might cause some anxiety to friends at home. 4 At about throe o'<;look I was awakened by what uppearfd the prHpnratJonri for a Htart; niul at twenty minutes after three the Ht^nmnr left her mooringti cor the venture acrosM. The wind, which the morning betore had l)een from the nortb- woHt, had (ompltitely veered round, and was blowing a pretty stltf breeze from the south- east, almost directly in our teeth in crossing. The muon had Just risen, and reflected some light ; but as we proceeded the clouds thick- ened, the ni()(in dis.ippeared, and the wind increaned In force. Though not favorable to the speed of the Hlunmoi, It was the most favoralile for her safety, and in an hour and a half we came abreast of Kabbit Point ; the lake was crossed, all danger and chance of detention from wind was over, and the pros- pect of reaching Winnipeg not later than Sunday was an almost assured one. A little after reaching Habbit I\>int,we passed through a very narrow gateway, formed of islands, and then into the open water for ten miles, when we emerged from the lake, and resumed our acquaintance with river navigation. The country i^ rocky, the shores presenting a front of limestone. There is some good spruca timber on etfch side of the river ; the appear, ance of the country, ' fuct, changing very materially. The water, too, is clear, the first clear water we have seen in the Northwest, Cedar lake acting as a filtering basin for the waters of the Saskatchewan passing through it. The leading feature of the navigation b'^^cween Cedar Lake and the Grand Rapids which separate us from Lake Winnipeg, are the Demichar rapids, situated fifteen miles from the portat;e. They are the most serious obstruction to the navigation of the river, and as many as three days have been occupied in making the fifteen miles from Grand Rapids to the head of the Demichars. The steHmer has to be hauled up by a rope of nearly a mile and a half long, fastened to the trees on the bank above, and then by means of the capstanSjOr as they are called here, the niggers, the steamer is pulled through. When heavily laden it is often a most serious undertaking, and at the last trip up, the larger nigger winj broken, involving serious delay, and some injury to one of the men. The rigging of the Northcote for getting over rapids and shoals is very ingenious. On each side, in the forepart of the boat, are derricks or upright timbers of about twenty feet long, from which are sluug round heavy pieces of timber of equal length. These AO latter are dropped end ways in the water, and with ropes and pulleys attached to the sides of the steamer and the top of the timbers, the latter acting as a fulcrum, the vessel is literally lifted above and over the obstruction. It 's a kind of steamboat polo vaulting, and is said to act like a charm, li is only in going up, however, that it is used, and we had not therefore the opportunity of seeing it in operation. Approaching the Demichars, we stopped to pink up some timber which had been in preparation during the season for the erection of stables for the Company's use at the Grand Rapidn. There was a considerable quantity of it, which the Indians, who were on board, car- ried in. They proved themselves to be very strong men. The timbers were in the shape of railway ties, thicker than the ordinary tie, and more than half as long again, some of them being twice as long. But the men shouldered them, apiece '^'b, walked uncon- cernedly on to the bt , ped them into their places in the hoid, wi.^ as ^n^T^h apparent ease as if they had been whip stalks. Further on we hiul to pick up the an- chor which was used as a hold-on, at the head of the rapids, by the steam- er in coming up. And then we ran the rapids, which are the most serious on the Saskatchewan, until the Grand Rapids are reached. A little further down we passed through another rapid, known as the Rooher Rouge, and at about eleven o'clock, came in sight of the buildings at Grand Rapids. On the banks of the rivir were the crew of Mr. Mackay's boat, which had left us the day before, when we were wind bound at the head of Cedar Lake. The wind, which prevented our proceeding, was a good assistance to them. They had come in under sail all the way, making the distance, forty-fve miles, in the wonderfully short space of four hours. The steamer Colvile was waiting for us at the foot of the rapids, the portage being made by a tram railway of four miles in length. The cargo of furs nnd other 'goods had to be transported to the Colv le, the ac- counts checked by the local manager of the company, and the steamer North - cote boomed in for the winter ; work in- volving at least six or seven hours. We availed ourselves, therefore, of the courteous ofler of Mr. Mackay to run the Grand Rapids «n his boat, which he was starting off for the Red River. It was a splendid run. The ra- pids are about three Miles long, and are very turbulent, tossing the heavy York boat about as if it was a small bark canoe. The cre^ was a fine one, and pulled into the surge in magnificent style, until, the waves being too high for rowing, under the guidance of our steersman; who kept the boat we drifted, experienced in the chan- Eicept, per- the channel nel, steering with a long oar. haps, at the one pitch, where goes round the projecting table rock, these rapids are much more formidable than those at Lachine. Having made the run down, we returned by the hand car — familiarly called the Pullman car — which is used by officers of the Company and others in making the portage, and whiled away the rest of the afternoon in watching the operation of boom- ing the Northcote. She was hauled out about fifty feet from the shore, safely anchored, and three large pieces of tim- ber chained together like a boom, were placed round her bow and sides, so as to prevent the ice from injuring her. The work was finished about 6 o'clock, the men gave three hearty cheers for Capt. Griggs, who leaves with us, for his home in Dakota, and steam navigation on the Saskat- chewan for the year 1879 was pronounced to be over. At half.past seven o'clock the last of the trucks with the goods for the Colvile started, and mounted on the packages, we mudo our way across the portage. The steamer is an exceedingly fine one for her size. She was built about five years ago, and is said to be strong enough for a gun boat. She is driven by a screw, the boiler and engine being those formerly in use in the " Commissioner", the steamer whose place she has laken. She is of one hundred and thirty-five tons net regis- ter and can stand almost any sea, a matter of gr^at importance in navigating Lake Win- nipeg. She is not fitted up for carrying pas- sengers, although on this trip, having the ere V of the Northcote .Aud a number of the Comuany's servants on board, she has a pahSv-ugcr list of fifty souls, includ- ing women .:nd children. It is pro- posed during the winter to fit up saloon accommodation on the upper deck, which will euitblo her to ailoril <;omfortablo berths tor twenty-five passengers, besides providing a dining saloon. liiike Winnipeg may fairly be classed as one of the great lakes. It is three hundred and twenty miles long, and at its broadest point, just after passing Lcng ?oint, the last of the mainland that wo set wide . It 1 been ascor water. Tl Lake, mai can hardly Bight of lai on the shi of the was our settlement this poin oar journ( settlement could hare the locatic miserable if they < ing. It if it was i possibilitj the high 1 better lo( them. S( up land and it following requires Governm but this needed ir which I 1 THH WAT — T TBA TUB AT The f largely througl can be the rai advoca Tote th proven transp" of ttidi necesB alread; reader 61 that we see for somo hours, it is eighty miles wide. It has an average depth, so far as has been ascertained of about nine fathoms of water. There are a number of islands in the Lake, many Jt which we pass, so that we can hardly be said ever to be wholly out of Bight of land. The Icelandic settlement is on the shores of the lake, and upon one of the islandd. Had time permitted, it was our intention to have visited the settlement ; but the delays in reaching this point made us anxious to finish our journey. From what I can learn the settlement has not been a success, and indeed could hardly have bt^en a Hiicfitise, seeing that the location selected for them is chitlly a miserable swamp, and that they must exist, if they exist at all, largely upon fish- ing. It certainly seems a great pity, if it was intended in good faith to test the possibility of converting these people from the high latitudes into good settlers, that a better location had not been selected for them. Some have already left, and taken up land in the territory of Dakota ; and it is said others contomplate following their example. Lake Winnipeg requires some attention on the part of the Government in the way of lighting, &c. ; but this is a subject, in connection with needed improvements on the Saskatchewan, which I must reserve for a separate letter. LETTER XIX THH WATKR COMMUNICATIONS OP THE NORTHWEST — THBIR IMPORTANCE AS HIOHWAYS FOR TRANSPORTATION — WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT — VALOABLH RESULTS AT LITTLE COST. Lake Winnipeg, 15th Sept., 1879. The settlement of the Northwest will be largely aided by the great rivers which run through it in various directions, and they can be used to most materially supplement the railway system which has already been advocated in these letters. I propose to de- vote this one to a consideration of the im- provements necessary to make the means of transportation by water available as a means of aiding settlement. In doing so, I will of necessity be compelled to repeat some facts already stated in former letters ; but the reader will overlook this in view of the im- portance of making the ^tateml"at of the case complete. The Red River, which reaches from the southern boundary of Manitoba to Lake Winnipeg, has already daily 'nes of excellent steamers running upon it. Tho Assinibolnn, which joins tho Red River at Winnipeg, has this year been navigated by steamers to F'ort Ellice, thus opening up a country forty miles south of the for. to The the the south extent of railway now contracted great Saskatchewan river north, with its tributary, branch, opens up a vast territory, and both the main river and the soutli branch will almost certainly be crossed by the Facific Colonization Railway. At whatever points those crossings are located, steamers will run, traversing vast extents of ex'tlloDt agricultural lands. Already a line of steamers exists running from the lower stone fori on the Red River through Lake Winnipeg to fh" mouth of the Saskatchewan River at Grand Ripids, and from that point as far as Edmonton, near the base of the Rocky Mountaius. Lake Win- nipeg is three hudred and twenty miles long, and at its widest part eighty miles wide. Its d'pth is from five to fifteen fathoms. The Lower Fort is thirty miles from the entrance of the Red River into Lake Winnipeg. Thence to Grand Rapids is about two hundred and eighty miles. At the mouth of the Red River is a sand bar, on which there is not more than from five and a half to six and a half feet of water, not snflicient to give the necessary draught of water for the proper class of steamers to navi- gate so large, and in the fall of the year, so stormy a sheet of water, as Lake Winnipeg. There are no lights on the lake, and as it has ne\^r been properly surveyed, there is no correct chart of it in existence. The bar at the mouth of the Red River requires dredging and proper lights placed there, and at one or two other places lights are required, when it would be quite possible to navigate the lake with ease and safety. At tilrand Rapids there are large falls, about four miles above the mouth of the river, and quite three miles in length. They are a complete barrier to navigation, and, besides, the class of steamers suitable for the Saskatchewan river, cannot be made available for the transit of Lake Winnipfg. From a point Just bi'Iow the Grand Rapids, a tram- way has been constructed by the Hudson's Bay Co., about three and a half miles in length, and along which goods are con- veyed by horse-cars. At the upper end I / 52 of this tramway a line of two Bteamers run to Edmonton, a distance of abont twelve hundred miles. These steamers can carry a large quantity of freight, and they are now being arranged so as to afford good accommo- dation for passengers. They are now run at rerv considerable cost, and at great risk, owing to the obstructions which exist at cer- tain points. Having just come down the river from Prince Albert, partly in a York-boat, and partly by steamer, and having made careful enquiries, from all who are competent to afford correct informa- tion, I am enabled t) state what is required to greatly improve the navigation There aro seven places between Grand Rapids and Prince Albert which require immediate at. tention. The first is a long and swift rapid called Sochsr Rouge, up which a steamer hns to be assisted by a rope, worked by a steam cap- stan on the boat and fastened to a tree on the shore. By placing a pier near the head of the rapid the length of rope required would be reduced from three thousand feet to less than two thousand feet, and the time and difficulty of ascent ma- terially diminished. The next obstruction is at the Demichars rapids, a very heavy piece of water, taking at present an entire day to as- cend. The rope used is one mile and a quarter in length, having to be carried across a lake at the head of the rapids, and fastened to trees on the opposite shore. The erection of a pier just above the rapids would allow of a rope of not more than two thousand feet be- ing used, and would be of very great advantage at this dangerous place. The next obstruc- tion is at the Narrows, where a large boulder in the centre of the channel, re- quires to be removed. The next place is Tobin's Rapids, a long shallow rapid. It sometimes take two days to ascend these rapids, the steamer scraping the whole way up. A few rocks require to be taken out here, and a couple of wing dams constructed for which the materials are on the spot. This done the rapid would be easily ascended. Above Tobin's rapids are those named Nepowin, where some rocks require to be taken out in two places. The next place is the Little Rapids below Cole's Fails, where some rocks require to be removed. The next and seventh point is Oole's Falls, perhaps the worst place m the river. It was here, in a York boat drawing only one foot of water, that we struck a rock in the rapide, and hung over it for about half an hour. At this place several rockg wing walls con- there are ample handred timately placing tricts of require to be removed and sttucted, for which again materials on the spot. The works named at these seren places would most materially improve the naviga- tion — would give in low water at the worst places a depth of three and a half feet instead of leas than two feet as at present — and would enable the boats to run with regularity and comfort from the Ist of June to the 1st of October. There are rocks requiring to be remored be- tween Prince Albert and Edmonton, but not having gone personally over that portion of the river I cannot speak about them definite- ly. But I think it is safe to say, from all the information I have been able to obtain, that the improvements I have mentioned be- tween Prince Albert and the mouth of the Red River, including what will be requir- ed up to Edmonton, could all be completed for about $50,000. That is a small sum for which to improve the naviga- tion for a distance of nearly sixteen miles, and which would ul- prove of great advantage in important and valuable dis- country in easy means of com- munication with the railway system. All the plant required would be a dredge, which certainly will be required for other places, and for the Saskatchewan a couple of stout barges with large lifting cranes to be worked by steam. The line of steamers already exists, and it only needs the improvementg I have named to make them of the greatest possible service in the development of the settlement and trade of the country. The south branch of the Saskatchewan will no doubt also hereafter require to be im- proved. One of the steamers already men- tioned ban been up this branch about sixty miles. The south branch runs nearly to the Cypress Hills, -nd by the junction with the Bow, Belly and Red Deer rivers, can be made to reach Fort McLeod, Fort Calgarry and other points at the base of the Rocky Moun- tains. The extent of country that would thus be brought into connection with the railway system would be enormous. As a large number of the Indian reserves are placed on the various rivers I have mention- ed, the time and economy saved to the Qov- ernment in transporting the supplies sent to the Indians will be very great, as the system of navigation becomes enlarged and im- proved. The steamers at present running between the Red River and Edmonton belong to th« I Hudson's Ba5 to accommc'df supplies to, ai posts along 1 north as the B ficient to tak< that will aris< ed as the nee port, both fo using these compared wil vile" is the from the Irw mouth of tb strongly bui does her woi about ten mi The depth o size. Whei and a half ft of her cp»rg loaded aftei dredging of by forty yar loaded, anc being const arises. Tl the steamei daylight, thirty-four Grand Rai up to Carlt of the or< wood. Sh twenty-fiv< can make fourteen di are carried date all th capacity 1 by the u From ( coroplete< also stern of steel a boat is V < rocky fal to build I engines, will carr quired . with lat| which, ' across tl the upp Whei Winnip seyenty state o 53 7 )le pee ra. rst Uf t lof e. U n, e- le Hudson's Bay Company, having been built to accommc'dato tiieir own trade in sending supplies to, and receiving fars from, their posts along the Saskatchewan and as far north as the Maciienzie River. They^re saf- ficient to take cure of all the general trade that will arise at present, and can be increas- ed as the necessity arises 'I he cost of trans- port, both for passengers and freight, by using these boats, can be largely reduced, compared with carting by land . The " Col- vile" is the name ot the steamer running from the Ir wer fort on the Red River to the month of the Saskatchewan. She is a very strongly bnilt wooden screw steamer, and does her work remarkably well. She runs about ten miles an hour in smooth water. The depth of water on the bar has fixed her size. When fully loaded she draws seven and a half feet of water, and has to have part of her cargo taken out in a schooner, and loaded after she has passed the bar. The dredging of the sand bar for about a hundred by forty yard- would enable her to cross fully loaded, and also permit of a larger vessel being constructed when the necessity for it arises. The absence of any lights prevents the steamer crostting the bar, except during daylight. She takes from thirty-one to thirty-four hours to run the distance. From Grand Rapids the steamer Northcote runs up to Carlton. She is a stern-wheul steamer of the ordinary Misoissippi style, built of wood. She will be able to accommodate twenty-five to thirty cabin passengers. She can make the round trip, up and down, in fourteen days, if the improvements suggested are carried out, and can then fully accommo- date all the trade for some time to come. Her capacity for freight can be largely increased by the use of liarges which she can tow. From Carlton to Edmonton the line is completed by the b.jamer «'Lily." She is also steri-wheeled, and was built in England of steel and was sent out. An iron or steel boat is V ot suitable for a shallow river with rocky falls and boulders, and it is proposed to build a new wooden hull for her present engines, which are good and powerful. She will carry all the freight and passengers re- quired. Both these vessels are provided with large derricks, placed in the bow, and which, worked by the engines, haul them across the sand bars which are met with in the upper portions of the river. When it is stated that, to cart freight from Winnipeg to Edmonton takes from fifty to seventy days, according to weather and the state of the roads, and coats t«n oent.'^ a pound, the necessity of improving the nsjvijjition between thf^s • poin s be- comes of enormous importance to the development of the country. The steamers, when the obstructions speoi- fiod have been removed, will do the work easily m twenty days up and ten days down, and at about one-balf the cost. The saving of time and cost to passengers will be equally important. All the improvements named will be equal- ly valuable after the railway reaches the crossing of the river. The boats will then run to and from the places where the bridges are located, and will still more rapidly and cheaply acci>mmodatP the country. The im- portance to the development and growth of the country t f putting these works of im- provement in hand without delay cannot be over-estimated. LETTER XX. THH TRir THRODQH LAKE WINNIPB9 — DBTKNTIONS By STORMS— RED RITBR — SSLKIBK ANB THB R/TLWAY BBIDQE— THB 8BTTLBUBNT BBLT ^ THB HAT PBITILB6B . WiNNiPBO, 15th September, 1879. Our unticipations of getting here at the lat- est by Sunday, have not been realized. We left Grand Ripids on Saturday morning at four o'clock, and had a delightful sail to Swampy iRlands, where the channel becomes more diflicult owing to shoals. As it had clouded over and promised to be a dark night, the steamer was anchored at about ten o'clock, for the night. Soon the wind rose, a strong southeaster, and the ship swinging round at times in the trough of the waves, rolled most vigorously, pitching things about with- out th« slightest regard to consequences. It was a miserable night and not many on board enjoyed any sleep. Yesterday morning the wind continued- Winnipeg showed us what it could do in the way of waves, and the Colvile pitched and rolled with a steadiness that would have done credit to an ocean steamer in a high sea. The wind continued all day, increasing in violence, as evening approached, and the captain resolved again to anchor, taking ad- vantage of a delightful bay, known as George's Bay, which is completely sheltered from the wind, for that purpose. On the shores were 54 two or three Icelanders boases, but it was too late to tbink of Tisiting them. Aboat mid> night the wind changed to the west, the change being accompanied by a heavy rain and hail-storm. It soon, however, cleared up, and at about five o'clock we weighed anchor, and started for the sixty mile run down to Red River. Sail was set, the wind favouring, and altbougb the rolling was somewhat in- convenient to those who cannot stand a rough sea, we mn(?e a splendid run down the sixty miles in live hours and a half. It was wonderful how much a clear tiue sky and bright sunshine affected the spirits of of all on board, from the good skipper. Captain Hackland, down even to the train of Esquimaux dogs which were being brought down for a return trip in win- ter by Mr. Matheson, the company's manager at Grand Rapids, and which the day before had followed other unfortunates in paying tri- bute to Neptune. It was rough, to be sure ; but then it was clear and bracing, and every one on board was in good spirits, excepting, perhaps, poor Pere Qaste, who is a very bad sailor. The entrance to the Red Riv.3r is very circuitous, the channel being marked by buoys placed in it by the Hudson's Bay Company. When we get fairly into it, the land on each side for the first few miles is low and swampy, resembling in appearance, with its tal), thin grass, the four miles sleugh through which we passed before reaching Palestine on our first night out. Then the country improves and settlement commences, the first settle- ment being on the Indian Reserve, upon which the Indians, as a rule, have discarded their teepees and wigwams, and taken to log houses, cultivating a portion of the land, and thus being the pioneers in the matter of Indian farming, from which so much is expected in the future. Presently, we came in sight of St. Peter's Church, a very handsome stone edifice, with a substantial stone wall surround- ing it, and enclosing the church yard. It belongs to the Church of England, and is under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr. Cook. Nearly opposite to it is the residence of Archdeacon Cowley, also of stone, a very large and comfortable looking building. The scenery at this point is very pretty, the river bending backwards and forwards, and the trees extending almost down to the water's edge. At points it has the same park-like appearance which I have remarked in other parts of the country. P. gently we catnu to Selkirk, famous as It..) bitu of the settLmonl fouudod by Ljid St 1 kirk years ago, and recently famous as the terminus of the Thunder Bay section of the Pacific Railway It is a small place, built on a narrow ridge of land, flanked on the one side by the river and on the other by swamp. The steamer stopped for a mo- ment to enable us to have a look at the site ( f the proposed railway bridge, the wood oeing cleared on the right of way down to the river's edge. Among the many blunders which have character] :ied the lo''ation of the Pacific Railway, this is certainly not among the least. The river at this point is eight hun- dred and fifty feet wide, the water in the cen- tre about twenty feet deep, and the bottom, of mud, to an almost limitless depth. The bridge, if built here, therefore, would involve piers in the water, which could only be con- structed at great cost. On the east side, back from the river for two thousmd four hundred feet, is a swamp which would involve either that extent of additional bridging, or most expensive earth em- bankments, and on the west side, there is a narrow ridge of land, and then, as Captain Hackland expressed it, all swamp for half a mile back. It is impossible to un- derstand the utter fatuity which prompted the selection of such a position for the bridge; but it is, after all, simply of a piece with the general results which have followed, as far as the Northwest is concerned, from the enormous outlay in engineering on the route of the Pacific Railway. Further down, at the Stone Fort, as it is called, there is an admirable site for a bridge, banks high and solid, and the river narrow enough to enable it to be spanned without placing piers in the water. If it is intended to bridge tbe Red river below Winnipeg at all, that is un- doubtedly the proper place for the bridge. My own view, however, is that since the route has been changed to south of Lake Manitoba, it would be bettwr not to con- struct any bridge there ; but to use the road now built to St. Boniface, and connect by a bridge at that point with the western exten- sion. Starting from a point a few miles from the river, on the Thunder Bay section, the line could be inclined towards Winnipng, at very much less cost than would be necessary fur the construction of the bridge above at tbe most favorable point. Of course such a course would be a disappointment to the people of Selkirk, and possibly to others who have bought land, in the belief that the railway would cross there. But which should of a sensible From Selk miles. The son's Bay C looking plac< surrounded t feet high, an nse of a defo originally as warlike tend never been i dently prefei with the wh consider it t tion of the e: Wolseley, vi Colvile doe the river, ex very high, to river stea There was i and we &cc( and drove i one in dry hear, voucl season. It that on ou! on our rigl settlement being half-' The wheat we SJ^w t work. En showed th the cattle cattle all the provif These f the settb dare say f if they 1 Manitoba deal C( understai bone of CI the coun Governn Red Rivi for the r consiste ten chc tended breeds these r patents the ri^ of tw 55 7 lag |id las of there. But these are not considerations which should for a moment stand in the way of a sensible policy being now pursued. From Selkirk to the Stone Fort is five miles. The lower or stone fort of the Hud- son's Bay Company is a very formidable looking place ; the buildings are of stone, surrounded by a solid stone wail about six feet high, and pierced with port boles for the use of a defending army. It was thus built originally as a defence against the supposed warlike tendencies of the Indians ; but it has never been used as a fortress, the Indians evi- dently preferring to trade rather than to fight with the white men ; unless indeed we can consider it to have been so used when a por- tion of the expeditionary force, under Qeneral Wolseley, visited the Red River in 1870. The Colvile does not go any further up the river, except in spring when the water is very high. Her freight is transferred here to river steamers, which take it to Winnipeg. There was no steamer going up this evening and we accordingly took a horse and buggy, and drove into tho city. The road is a good one in dry weather ; I cannot, from what I hear, vouch for its excellence during the wet season. It skirts the river all the way, so that on our left we had houses and trees, and on our right the prairie. It is a continuous settlement all the way, many of the settlers being half-breeds.who appear to be doing well. The wheat was nearly all in, in some casos we saw the threshing machines hard at work. Enormous stacks of the prairie hay showed the provision that had been made for the cattle in winter, and the number of fine cattle all along the road was evidence that the provision was none too lavish. These settlements are in what is called the settlement belt of the Red River. I dare say some of the readers of the Gazbttb, if they have concerned themselves about Manitoba politics at all, have been a good deal confused in the effort to understand what was meant by that bone of contention the "hay privilege." When the country was taken over by the Canadian Government, the settlement belts of the Red River and the Assiniboine wore reserved for the resident half-breed population. They consisted of lots of from three to ten chains on the river front, and ex- tended two miles back. But the half- breeds claimed that in addition to these reservations, for which they received patents from the Crown, they should have the right to cut hay on a further area of two miles behind the leserva- tions, and this, after some controversy, was given to them, foolishly, I believe, but under the influence of the panic in which unfortunately the Province was incorporated with the Domiuion. This belt of four miles s not included in the township areas that have been surveyed, but forms a special set tlement by itself. As we neared the city, the houses and farms improve in appearance. Wo passed three missions of the Church of England, and within about two miles of Winnipeg came upon St. John's ColU-ge, erected by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and which is doing an excellent work. Near it is a viry tine brick building, a new school for girls, just erected in connection with the dlege. We reached the city at six o'clock, gUd of the termina- tion of a journey which, although it has in- volved some fatigue and some hardships, has been one of great pleasure as well, and of great profit in the information it has brought with it. 1 have done my bist to enable my very good friends, the readers of the CrAZBTTB, to sliare with me the knowledge that the last four weeks have brought with them. Another letter, of a general charac- ter, and my "Chronicles by the way" will have been ended. LETTER XXI. THE LAND QUBSTION— THB AMBBIOAN BT8TBM— / THB AMBRIOAN RAILWAY IMMIQBATIOM / AQBNTS AND THBIB WOBK — BND OF THB " OHRONICLBS BY THB WAY.'' WiNNiPBG, 16th September, 1879. I have said that there are two burning questions which are interesting intensely the people of Manitoba and the Northwest. With one of these, the railway question, I have iilready dealt at some length in two letters. The other, the land question, I propose to deal with in this. The recent regulations issued by the Government for the disposal of lands in this Province and the Northwest ter- ritories, are the subject of general discussion, and a determined effort is being made by opponents of thu Government to discredit them. This perpetual agitation, accom- panied by statements of the greater advan- tages offered by the American land laws, have been a trump card in the hands of American immigration agents, and as a re- 56 suit, it is certainly true that sonie families who had intended comiug into the Province, have been diverted to Dakota, and have set- tled in that territory. Those who defended the regulations of the late Government hav« certainly little ground for their present atti- tude of hostility to the policy of the present Administration. The recent regulations hare in them that which the former ones lacked, namely the element of certainty. If a man takes up land he knows what he will have to pay for it. For- merly this was not the case. His pre- emption lot was fixed in the meantime at a dollar an acre ; but he was bound hereafter to pay for it any price the Govern- ment chose to place upon it. This ele- ment of uncertainty as to price had, as one may readily imagine, a most injurious in- fluence upon the settlement of the country. That, as I have said, is removed by the re- gulations which have recently been issued. There are certain considerations which, as I gathered in conversations with all kinds of people on this subject, ought to be borne in mind in the framing of land laws for the great North-west, and these, rather than any opinions of my own, I propose to give you in this letter. It may be as well, in the first instance, to explain to my readers in the East what is meant by the terms ■' homestead" and '- pre-emption." The snme principle of survey which obtains in the Western States, has been adopted by the Canadian Government. The country is divided into what are called sections of six hundred and forty acres each. In the States, the " homestead" consists of a quarter sec- tion, or one hundred and sixty acres. This is a free grant to the actual settler. Then he is permitted to purchase at a fixed price an additional quarter section, and this is called a " pre-emption." Very many of the settlers who go into the country take up a homestead and pre-emption, making to- gether a fttrm of three hundred and twenty acres; and the recent regulations have, it is un- derstood, been founded upon the opinion that that is too large a farm for a man without capital to properly cultivate. The regula- tions evidently do not contemplate f^rms of eighty acres, for that in this country would bo too small. They seek to restrict the farms to the quarter section, and they offer the easiest possible terms for the obtainment of the eighty acres pre-emption. Whether this system of selling the lands and giving ten years for the payment, is a prudent one, is another question. If the object is to pre- vent settlers without sufficient means at. tempting to farm a half section, that object would seem to be as easily obtained by re- quiring the full payment of the price of the pre-empted lot, at the time of purchase ; while it would enormously lessen the work of the department, and prevent, what the experience in old Canada proves to be any- thing but desirable, possible difiiculty here- after in making collections from individual settlers. In speaking of the railway question, I re- ferred to the experience of the Americans in csirrying railways through every part of the Western States, as one by which we might well profit. The feeling here is that the same thing may be said of their Und laws, and of thuir success, by means of them, in settling the great West. The common remark ia that what Yankees don't know on this subject is hardly worth learn- ing. They have used the lands largely to aid in the building of railways. It is true that in their case the railways have been built by private companies, aided by land grants ; but if the Canadian Govern- ment will assume itself to be, for the purpose of building the railway, a private company, the conditions are practically the same. The railway reservations of land in the States consist of belts of twenty miles on each side of the railway proposed to be built. Alter- nate sections ot this belt are granted to the railway company and retained by the gov- ernment respectively. The Government lands outside of this belt are disposed of as homestead and pre-emption lands, each a quarter section, or one hundred and sixty acres, the pre-emption lot being sotd at a uniform price of a dollar and a quarter an acre, payment of the full amount in cash be- ing required. The reserved alternate sec- tions were, up to this year, disposed of as homestead and pre-emption ; the homestead being only eighty acres, and the pre-empted lot being sold at two dollars and fifty cents an acre. It was held in fact that lands with- in the reservation were worth double as much as those without it, and on that ground the homestead grant was reduced one-half in size and the pre-emption doubled in price. At the last session of Congress, however, a change was made in the law relating to the railway reservations, by which the home- steads were increased to one hundred and sixty acres, the price of the pre-empted lots remaining the same, double that of the land outside of the belt. It is un- derstood that the change was made at the In- I 4 stance of the rest Ic is 1 should be oc( have a doubl place, every i tional trafiic ond place, ui disposed of, 1 ling their 1 thev hold at acre. Undei fore, the hon States, both reservations, acres. People ai dian Gov( principle ? ten that tl ween the 1 Great West The Americ advantage have a num ly interest* ohrde of inr with in evi instances, panies, wh( a per capi they induc< may be di without fe civil servi not to b< their worl on every i west. Th^ to detect a pounce upi long frienc If it is n( accoRipan) to riBsist b will even help him I describe sent yon j ly five wei that he w ally swar every m grants set we have agents, w as ofBcers per mann the task ^ pelled by 67 ^ y It. ct e- Btance of the railway compaoieB, whose inte- rest Ic is that the OovernmeDt regervea Bh&nld be occnpied as soon as possible They have a double interest in this. In the first place, every additional settler means addi- tional traffic for the railway ; and in the sec- ond place, until the Qovernment reserves are disposed of, they make slow progress in sel- ling their lands, which, as a general rule, they bold at a minimum of five dollars an acre. Under this charge in the law. there- fore, the homesteads throughout the Western States, both within and without the railway reservations, are one hundred and sixty acres. People ask why may not the Cana- dian Government adopt the same principle ? It must not be forgot- ten that the competition for settlers be- ween the United States and the Canadian Oreat West is very intense and very active, The Americans in this race have one great advantage over us, from the fact that they have a number of private corporations deep- ly interested in settling the lands. The obrde of immigration agents that one meets with in every quarter are, in the majority of instances, employees of the railway com- panies, who are paid, in addition to salaries, a per capita commission upon the people they induce to settle in the country, and who may be dismissed at a moment's notice, without fear of any cry about the British civil service system, if they are found not to be up to the requirements of their work. You will find these agents on every train and every steamer coming west. They have an eye that enables them to detect an immigrant at a glance, and they pounce upon him with the manner of a life- long friend concerned only for his interests. If it is necessary, they will even ofier to accompany the immigrant to the land office, to assist him in making his selection, and will even go with him on to the lot itself to help him in the initial steps of settlement. I described one of these men in my letter sent you just after I reached Winnipeg, near- ly five weeks ago, and I have since learned that he was but a type of a class who liter- ally swarm in the West, and who invade every means of transport of immi- grants seeking new homes. Against them we have to pit two or three immigration agents, who, I dare say , perform their duties as officers of the government in a very pro- per manner, but who are utterly unequal to the task of coping with such an army, im- pelled by such motives. That is the condition of things that ob- tains here, and It is naturally felt that ths Qovernment agents, already so heavily han- dicapped, labour under an additional disad- vftntftp;e, when there are differences in the land laws which may -be made to appear to the prejiidine of Canada. In the case of the American agent on the train to Winnipeg, to whom I have already referred, I found his trump card was the fact that the homestead in the United States was a hundred and sixty acres, and in Canada only eighty. At that time my knowledge of the subject was not suf xcient to enable me to form an opinion as to the relative merits of the two systems But everything I havs heard since has convinced me that in the Canadian Northwest territory itself, and among the men who have settled there, and who are working out a future of wealth and prosperity fr themselves and for the country, the influence of this argument is felt to be very strong. There is very much to be said in favor of the Government plan ; in favor of discouraging the taking up of too large farms by persons with limited means ; and in favor of making the settler feel that in his farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres, which he can get at a wonderfully reasonable price, he has got something for which he has paid, however little. In the best part of the country, within the fifteen mile belt outside of the reservation of five miles on each side of the railway, the actual cost of a farm of a hundred and sixty acres to the farmer is as follows : — He gets eighty acres for nothing, and if he pre-empts other eighty acres, at the end of three years he pays four-tenths of the purchase money, $200 $80 00 With interest 36 00 $116 00 Fourth year, $20, with inte- rest $7 20 27 20 Fifth year, $20, with inte- rest 6 00 26 00 Sixth year, $20, with inte- rest 4 80 24 80 Seventh year, $20, with in- terest 3 60 23 60 Eighth vear, $20, with inte- rest 2 40 22 40 Ninth year, $20, with inte- rest 1 20 21 20 The whole 160 acres costing him in ten years $261 20 Except, therefore, as the question is effected by the element of competition with the United States, that certainly seems a guffi- li m ciently favorable arrangement. This ele- ment, however, ie one which cannot be ignored, and there is a very strong feelinit that it wonid be wise to so change the regu- lationB as to malie the homesteads the same area as iu the United States If the Government yields to this opinion, I hope at the same time that they will exact full payment in cash for the pre-empted quarter sections. That, as I have said, will prevent persons without any capital from attempting to secure a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, and will thus meet what seems to have been the view in the adoption of the eighty acre system. There is, in some quarters, an opinion, al- though it is not a very general one, against the large and somewhat complicated system of reservation that has been made. People ask, as I have said, why not adopt the Ameri- can system ? In view of the competition in the matter of immigiatinn, there would be an advantage if the two systi'ms were preciselythe same. In that cuee, the ajntiment of loyalty which prompts so many to seek their homes under the British flag, would not be interfered with by fine drawn arguments in favor of the American land system, as distinguished from the Canadian. There does not seem to be much difficulty in the way. If the Govern- ment would make a reservation of twenty miles on each side of the railway ; reserve alternate twenty mile sections as railway lands, say at five dollars an acre, and open the other alternate sections to quarter section homestead and pre-emption — the pre-emption price being two dollars and a half an acre ; and then chrow open all the rest to homestead and pre-emption at a dollar and a quarter, the thing could be done. The reserved rail- way sections might not sell rapidly in the meantime ; but as the others became settled they would sell, and would bring a handsome return to the Government. That plan would have the element of simplicity about it, which is of all things important when we consider that it is not the educated or culti- vated class we are appealing to. It would be the American system, and would, there- fore, take from the railway and imm? deration agents in the States what has, during recent years, been their trump card, viz : the chance of drawing long bows on the subject of the differences between the two systems. And it would yield, I am confi- dent, a greater direct, and an immea- Bureably greater indirect, return to the Government. I have dealt with this question, as with others upon which I have written in these letters, with the most perfect freedom. In the presence of the great interests which are involved in the settlement of these territo- ries, all mere party or personal considerations sink into utter insigniSnance. The record of the Government's denling with Northwest matters during the last five years, has been a record of stupendous and expeiisive blunders. No one can have travelled as I have done during the last four weeks over this country, without realizing how im- portant to its future development and prosperity it is that wise measures should be taken in connection with its railway and land policy. I have travelled, in a direct line westward from Winnipeg, a distance greater than that between Montreal and Sarnia, and it is certainly no exaggeration to say over a country, in its average, infinitely superior for agricultural purposes ; and I have after all but skirted the borders of this magnificent region. How shall we convert it into a prosperous settlement of happy and contented Canadians, makes a problem worthy of the best etl'orts of c-tatesmanship, and far transcending any questions of mere party politics. It is in this conviction and in this spirit that these letters have been written ; and if I have been so fortunate through them as to create a greater interest in the Northwest, upon whose development the future of the Dominion depends, I will feel that my " Chronicles by the Way" have not been written in vain. T] DA] WE ill V,'» A VV JAMES K PUBLISI RICHAI^ i ESTABLISHED 1778 THE GAZETTE DAILY, WEEKLY, $6.00 A YEAR 1.00 *' A Weekly Journal — giving; a resume of current events and matters of special interest to the profession. JAMES KIRBY, LL.D., D.C.L., SURSCRlP'i"I()N $4.00 A \KAR. ELITOE. THE CANADA I . hI The oldest Medical Journal in Canada. PUBLISHED MONTHLV. $3.00 A VKAR A LARGE AND WELL Al'l'OLN TED @@E ami mm @11I©1 THE GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY, Montreal. RICHARD WHITE, Managing Director. 7