Ernest J. Chambers

“ As every explorer of the region from Hearne until the present date has had to depend primarily practically wholly upon fish and game for sustenance while in the interior, we know much more about the resources of the country in those respects than any of the others. The occurrence of fish and game has been a matter of life or death to the explorers, and naturally they have all dwelt upon the matter in the narratives of their trips. That so many adventurous and lengthy trips through the country have succeeded testifies to the abundance of fish and game even in the far north of this vast region. ”

“ The wide belt of territory north of the Saskatchewan as far northward as Churchill and Clearwater rivers, is pre-eminently a wooded country, its resources in the way of timber being very valuable, and its forest-clothed mounds, river valleys and lake basins imparting to it a beautiful park-like appearance in marked contrast to the more monotonous scenery of the great prairie country south of the Saskatchewan. ”

“ The splendid forests along the banks of Slave and Mackenzie rivers have been remarked by all who have ever travelled along the truly magnificent waterway of the far northwest, and the fact has been abundantly established that the growth of timber extends, along the rivers at least, far beyond the Arctic circle, and well down the delta of the Mackenzie. It is true that there are large muskeg and rocky areas in the basin of the Mackenzie which support no tree growth, but the aggregate forest wealth of the country is immense. ”

“ The line being constructed to Hudson bay, as soon as steamboat connection is established therewith, will lay the very heart of that alluring El Dorado which we call the Barren Lands, with its herds of musk-oxen and caribou and its mineral wealth, open to the prospector and the sportsman, for, via Chesterfield inlet, Baker lake and the Thelon, there is a splendid, uninterrupted waterway from Hudson bay for a distance of five hundred and fifty miles into the interior. ”

“ The natural resources of this country are very great. I remember once hearing my father say that the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri were commonly believed, when he was a young man, to be barren wastes, where agriculture was impossible, and where no white men could live, but that by the few who knew of the capabilities of that region great hopes were entertained of its future. ”

“ Professor John Macoun, before the Senate committee of 1888, said he had caught Back’s grayling in the tributaries of Peace river, in Rocky mountains. It is both an Arctic and a mountain fish, and delights in clear water. It is very gamesome and takes all kinds of bait. When it took the bait it would jump clear out of the water, many times a couple of feet or so, and of course, the beautiful colours (more beautiful than those of the mackerel even) , glistening in the sun, made the anglers thrill with excitement. They are a white fleshed fish, and not anything like as hard as the trout. ”

“ There was not much stock there, but he had stock when he lived on the mission on Churchill river, fifteen head of cattle and two horses. That is a little north of Lac la Ronge, and is practically the same country. As to the Lake Ile à la Crosse country, he considered it fairly good. It is not rocky and there is plenty of timber and plenty of hay as a rule—some prairie hay and some swamp hay, and the soil is fairly good—better than Lac la Ronge. It gets better as you go west. It is certainly better about Ile à la Crosse than at Lac la Ronge, and there is no rock country about Ile à la Crosse. ”

“ Except in the immediate valleys of the larger rivers there is very little land that would be suitable for agriculture. From one hundred and fifty miles inland down to the sea, the country is of an entirely different character again; that is to say, it is country that is originally overlain by from a very few feet at its edge to one hundred feet or more, a very tough impervious boulder clay, which holds up the water, and on which the drainage, up to the present time, is of a very imperfect character. ”

“ It is not to be imagined that the most northerly settlements in the bay should have as good a climate as the southerly settlement, there being so great a difference of latitude, as from 59° to 51° 30′. I was no farther up Churchill river than eight or nine miles but can say that the soil is very good, and that there are gooseberries and black and red currants growing near the sea upon points that appear almost barren. Those I have seen grow so low that the grass covers them. ”

“ The woods are wasted by extensive fires, kindled accidentally or intentionally, which spread with rapidity over a wide extent of country, and continue to burn until they are extinguished by heavy rains. These conflagrations consume even the soil of the drier tracts, and the bare and whitened rocks testify for centuries to the havoc that has been made. A new growth of timber, however, sooner or later springs up, and the soil, when not wholly consumed, being saturated with alkali, gives birth to a thicket of aspen instead of the aboriginal spruce. ”

“ The two will advance, like a couple of boys playing at leap-frog, each by the aid of the other—and will advance, like those youngsters, ‘by leaps and bounds.’ As the settlers become more frequent the great waterways will be rendered navigable, and their banks, like the land abutting the railways that will make a trellis-work of the country, will be dotted with noble cities and with prosperous towns. ”

“ When the great northland is opened up, it will be for Canadians to decide what is to be done with those animals, and how is that beautiful country to be opened up? Some say that the reindeer will be the medium, but I hold that it will be the yak, which roams through the north of China. This animal is strong and sturdy, can bear the heaviest burdens, and can stand any extreme of climate. ”

“ As fish has always been the staple food of the inhabitants of that part of the province of Saskatchewan north of the river of that name, and the fur trade their only industry, it goes without saying that the country abounds in fish and game. A very few quotations from travellers and explorers is all that is required to give an idea of the species of fish and animals to be found in this region, and of their occurrence. ”

“ One of the first records we have of successful agriculture in Peace river country is in the famous diary of Daniel Williams Harmon of the Northwest Company’s service, who spent several years there. He speaks favourably of the situation of Dunvegan (north latitude 56°, west longtitude 119°) , where he found himself located in October, 1808. He goes on to say in his diary:—“Our principal food will be the flesh of the buffalo, moose, red deer, and bear. We have a tolerably good kitchen garden, and we are in no fear that we shall want the means of a comfortable subsistence.” ”

“ On the slopes of the valley, which are from two hundred to six hundred feet long and rather steep, the timber still continues, poplar and some spruce, but once the bench land is reached there are some large openings, and hay meadows to be found. When the railway reaches McMurray, there is no doubt that a large agricultural settlement will take possession of this beautiful valley.”
Mr. Crean writes in his report:—“The valley of Clearwater river would, in my opinion, be a magnificent cattle range, and should be a farming country. There are large open prairies, and the grass is splendid. ”

“ It seems to be agreed that the wood buffalo is exactly the same species as the buffalo of the plains, being descended from herds or individuals which drifted into the wooded country to the north for pasturage or protection, and finding conditions congenial remained there. Within the memory of living men the wood buffalo of northern Alberta and beyond were immeasurably more numerous than they are to-day, and they would probably have suffered extermination before this had the Dominion government not stepped in and enacted laws to protect closely the remaining herds. ”

“ It would surprise you, wouldn’t it, if I should tell you that there are at least half a dozen different species of wild fruit which flourish in great abundance in the rocks and among the mosses throughout the country round the bay. Wild black and red currants, gooseberries, cranberries, crowfoot berries, and baked apple berries may be gathered by the bushel in season, and make the very best of preserves, so that we don’t really have to depend on dried apples up there as many of you imagine. As for vegetables, I have seen radishes, lettuce, and turnips raised right at Churchill. ”

“ Though a wooded country throughout, there are but limited areas where the forest growth is of a size to be commercially of much value. There are no hard woods, the only deciduous trees that attain merchantable measurements being the canoe birch, the aspen and balsam poplars and the tamarack. Black spruce is the most abundant coniferous tree and grows to a size sufficient at least for pulpwood. Associated with tamarack, it covers all the more marshy tracts, giving way where the land becomes drier to white spruce, which is the timber tree of the region, and on the driest ridges to Banksian pine. ”

“ For a distance of six or seven miles back from Peace river valley there is much prairie and meadowland, with some woods and swamps scattered over it. The soil is an excellent black clay loam as rich as any I ever saw, and the growth of hay and grass bears testimony to this fact. The dip of the valley from this plain is very sharp and the banks very steep, falling about eight hundred feet in a mile. ”

“ Gooseberries and red and black currants are found in the woods, growing upon such bushes as in England. Up the river are very good patches of grounds, and bottoms under banks, so defended from the north and northwest winds that there is a fine thaw below when the top is freezing; here whole families might secure a comfortable subsistence, if they were as industrious as they are in their own country. ”

“ The absence of anything like a market has hitherto kept this country from being reported of, but if a railway becomes an actual fact, Manitoba will add very much to her available resources, when extension comes, and settlers will find that in soil, in wood, in grasses, and in waters, this unknown land will afford comfortable homes for thousands. It will be seen by the map that about one hundred miles down the Nelson all the branches of that noble river unite in one. ”

“ It is generally a light loam rather inclined to be sandy, with a sandy subsoil. In some places the soil is much heavier and is very fertile. Methye river flows through an immense swamp, which extends for miles on each side, no ridges being even in sight. At Methye lake the soil is very much better, being a heavy loam varying from eighteen inches to almost any depth. Once the height of land at Methye portage is crossed on the portage, the whole country towards the west takes on a far better aspect, and the soil appears to be as good as could be desired. ”

“ The boulder-clay underlying the plains is deposited on a floor of soft Cretaceous shales and sandstones, and even where the soft rocks crop out at the surface they rarely form conspicuous hills; the boulder-clay underlying the Barren Lands is deposited largely on a floor of igneous, or hard, highly altered rocks, which, wherever they appear at the surface, form rocky knolls that stand up distinctly above the surrounding clay, while the boulder-clay itself, being formed out of material derived from the hard granitoid rocks, is much more stony than the clay of the more southern plains. ”

“ During the whole summer, in the eddies between the islands of this part of the lake, multitudes of fish may be taken with hooks, and by nets, such as trout, white fish, pike, sucking carp, and inconnu. In spring and autumn wild-fowl may be procured in abundance at several places in the neighbourhood which are their accustomed passes, and the fishery on the north side of Big island seems to be inexhaustible in the winter. With good fishermen, and a proper supply of nets, a large body of men may be wintered here in safety and plenty. ”

“ The Hudson’s Bay Company for many years have raised barley and vegetables at that point. In some years they might raise wheat, but not every year. At all those Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts they always raise vegetables. They do not pretend to raise any other grain regularly but barley, because
They Use Barley for Soups.
They pound the hull of it in a hollow piece of wood and use the grain for soups. At Fort Simpson he saw cauliflowers, cabbages and cucumbers growing under exactly the same conditions as they would grow them in northern Alberta. ”