NORTHERN ALBERTA.
Agriculture and Arable Land in the Eastern Section or
“Athabaska Country.”
A Section of the West Where Officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company Were Directed to Cultivate Gardens.—Some Points Where Wheat has been grown, Including the Sample which took First Prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.—Crude Indian Gardens at Cowpar lake.—Livestock Grazing out in December and January.
A glance at the latest “Railway Map of the Dominion of Canada,” published by the Department of the Interior, will show that the surveyed, and consequently fully-explored, part of the province of Alberta extends considerably farther north than do the lines which mark the northernmost limit of the surveyed territory in Saskatchewan.
The areas of arable land in Northern Alberta are admittedly so extensive and important, and there has been such a large accumulation of evidence as to the latent agricultural wealth of the actual agricultural experiments in this most promising region, that, with the object of enabling the reader the more readily to follow the text, and to assist him in locating the geographical points mentioned, it has been deemed advisable to divide the material referring to arable lands and agriculture in this territory into two separate chapters, corresponding with two divisions of the area immediately under review. The country readily lends itself to such a division; in fact, invites it.
The region west of the 114th meridian has long been known and designated as “Peace river country,” and possesses characteristics, and to some extent, a history quite its own. The remaining or eastern half of the territory, at least as far north as the lower reach of Peace river, is the main basin of the Athabaska and, as such, will be treated as a distinct area in the present chapter, the one immediately following to be devoted to the subject of the arable lands and agricultural possibilities of Peace river country.
Athabaska river, which is the most southerly of the three great tributaries of the Mackenzie, rises in Rocky mountains near Mount Brown, at an altitude of about five thousand seven hundred feet, and pursues a northeasterly and northerly course for nearly six hundred miles to Athabaska lake, falling in this distance some five thousand feet, and being interrupted by several series of rapids. In the first three hundred miles of its course it falls about four thousand feet, and receives in succession Baptiste river from the west, the Macleod and Pembina from the south, and the Lesser Slave, draining the large lake of that name, from the west. Below its confluence with the last named stream, the Athabaska turns southeastward for some fifty miles and then resumes its northerly course. In the course of the next one hundred and fifty miles it receives, in succession, La Biche river from the east; Quito or Calling river from the west; Big Mouth brook from the east; Pelican river from the west; and House river from the east. Just below the mouth of the last river the Athabaska strikes a range of low hills, and in forcing a passage through them is deflected eastward, and for a distance of about seventy-five miles contains many rapids, falling in this distance some four hundred feet. At the lower end of this stretch it receives the waters of Clearwater river, its principal tributary below Lesser Slave river. The Clearwater rises on the height of land between the Churchill and the Athabaska, and pursuing a nearly straight easterly course for some one hundred and fifty miles, mingles its limpid waters with the sediment-laden flood of the latter stream. In the lower part of its course the Clearwater occupies a deep valley and is very rapid. Thirty or forty miles above its mouth it is joined by the Pembina, a stream of about equal volume. Below the mouth of the Clearwater the Athabaska pursues a nearly direct course northward, receiving Red, Moose, and Bar rivers from the west, and enters Athabaska lake through a number of channels including alluvial islands.
Lake Athabaska was known to the pioneer fur-traders and explorers as “Lake of the Hills,” and it is so described by Mackenzie and others.
The country drained by the Athabaska is
Mainly a Rolling Plain
and with the exception of a few areas of semi-prairie land, is well wooded, with a forest composed mainly of spruce, fir, pine, tamarack, poplar, birch and willow. A large part of its surface is occupied by mossy swamps, called muskegs, and hundreds of ponds and lakes, of which Lesser Slave, seventy miles in length, is by far the largest, occupy its shallow valleys. Immense areas have been swept by fire, sometimes repeatedly, and in some places the original forest covering has been destroyed and small prairies have succeeded.
The first information we obtained as to the agricultural possibilities of Athabaska basin came from explorers and travellers passing through the most northern portion of it on their way to Peace river, Great Slave lake and the Mackenzie via the old canoe route by Methye portage and the Clearwater. In more recent years, particularly since the inauguration of steamboat communication along the long navigable stretches of the Athabaska and Mackenzie, the favourite route to the far northwest has been down the Athabaska from Athabaska, and, as is only natural, our knowledge of the resources of the country has increased greatly.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, as far back as 1787, saw at a trading station of Peter Pond, on Elk or Athabaska river, “as fine a kitchen garden as he ever saw in Canada.”
It might be explained here, that in the spring of 1778, a number of the Saskatchewan traders put their goods into a common stock, and placed Mr. Peter Pond in charge of them, directing him to proceed to the Athabaska and trade with the Indians. He took the present Hudson’s Bay Company’s route, by Cumberland House, Frog portage, Ile à la Crosse, and on to Methye portage and down Clearwater river to the forks of the Athabaska. Here he built a house, and in the spring of 1779 planted garden seeds.
As a general thing, at the early trading posts, agriculture of any kind, even the making of gardens, was neglected, and, rightly or wrongly, the officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company got the credit of discouraging such ventures. If this had ever actually been the settled policy of the company, it was officially abandoned some time previous to the year 1826, for, writing in the year mentioned at Chipewyan (north latitude 58° 40′) of improvements in the country, the
Result of Judicious Arrangements
then recently effected by the directors of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Sir John Franklin writes:—“They (the directors) have also directed, where the soil will allow, a portion of the ground to be cultivated for the growth of culinary vegetables at each of their establishments, and I witnessed the good effect of this order, even at this advanced post, where the ground is rocky; the tables of the officers being supplied daily, and those of the men frequently, with potatoes and barley. Such luxuries were very rarely found beyond Cumberland House on the route that we travelled during my former journey.”
Sir John Franklin also mentioned a phenomenon which has a considerable bearing upon the agricultural possibilities of this country, namely the quick change from winter to summer and the rapid growth of vegetation. He wrote of the advent of spring at Chipewyan in 1827:—
“There can scarcely be a higher gratification than that which is enjoyed in this country in witnessing the rapid change which takes place in the course of a few days in the spring. Scarcely does the snow disappear from the ground before the trees are clothed with thick foliage, the shrubs open their leaves, and put forth their variegated flowers, and the
Whole Prospect Becomes Animating.”
Sir John also mentioned that the first flight of swans northward was noticed at Chipewyan on April 15, the first geese on April 20, the first robins on May 7, and the first house martins on May 12. Barley was sown at Chipewyan on May 15, potatoes on May 21 and garden seeds on May 22, and it was expected that all would be ready for use by the close of the following September.
Sir George Simpson’s party were regaled with “new, but very small potatoes,” on August 11, 1828.
Sir J. Richardson, before the British parliamentary select committee of 1857, asked to state to the committee any general opinion which he had formed of the capabilities of any considerable portion of the country which he had traversed, for the purpose of settlement and colonization, replied:—“With regard to the production of cereals, wheat may be grown up to the 58th parallel of latitude (same latitude as Fort Vermilion) in favourable places, but only in parts.”
The report of the Dominion Government’s survey parties sent out in advance of the Canadian Pacific contain important references to agriculture in the country. In the report for 1877-78 (p. 332) appears the following reference to Chipewyan (latitude 58·7°):—“Professor Macoun there obtained in 1876, fine samples of wheat and barley—the former sixty-eight pounds to the bushel and the latter fifty-eight pounds. At the French mission, two miles above the fort, oats, wheat and barley were all cut by August 26.” In 1880 report it is stated (p. 102), “Reverend Gordon said in 1880 that wheat and barley raised at Chipewyan received a medal at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876.”
In the report of 1877-78 (p. 326) there is this reference to McMurray (latitude 56·7°):—“Professor Macoun on September 8, 1875, found tomatoes, cucumbers, wheat and barley, under cultivation together with all vegetables found in kitchen gardens in Ontario. He spent ten days there and obtained specimens of wheat and barley which
Have Astonished Everyone
to whom they were exhibited; many of the ears contained one hundred grains and the weight of both wheat and barley was nearly ten pounds above the ordinary weight per bushel. These grains had been raised on soil comparatively poor—very poor for the district—and lying only a few feet above the level of Lake Athabaska.”
In a report of his then recent trip through this country written by William Oglivie, D.L.S., in 1884, he writes:—“A great deal of the soil along the bank of the Athabaska was of very fair quality. At McMurray, where there are a couple of small prairies or meadows, the soil is good, and the root crops and garden produce raised there are generally very good. The Hudson’s Bay Company have a garden at McMurray of upwards of an acre in extent, and the Episcopal mission one of smaller area, but the soil is very sandy. The Roman Catholic mission have a garden also, most of which they obtained by draining a bog into the lake. In the season of 1883 (which was a pretty favourable one in that district, being free from summer frosts) the Hudson’s Bay Company raised about four hundred bushels of potatoes, the Episcopal mission thirty bushels on a small patch, and the Roman Catholic mission about five hundred bushels. Many of the retired Hudson’s Bay Company’s servants also have small patches which they cultivate, potatoes and fish being the principal articles of food used during the winter.”
Doctor Robert Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, testified that they grew cucumbers and melons as far north as Lac la Biche. He had seen them there himself, and he was not sure but that they grew pumpkins, too. He pointed out that where cucumbers and melons grow pumpkins will grow also. It is hard, Doctor Bell pointed out in the course of his evidence upon this occasion, to induce the Indians to grow anything. Even potatoes, which they all know to be a safe crop, they will not grow unless encouraged by supplying them. If supplied with seed in the autumn they will not preserve any over the winter. They would not take the trouble to dig a pit or build a cellar in which to preserve the seed, but in the spring, when the time comes for planting, if anyone were to give them the seed they would plant it. Artichokes would be very suitable to introduce amongst the Indians, because they are very hardy and productive; the seed remains in the ground and the Indians could not destroy it all.
Mr. Alfred von Hamerstein, who has lived in Athabaska district since 1897, trading and prospecting, was examined before the select committee of the Senate of Canada in 1907.
S. S. Grahame at McMurray.
The agricultural resources of the Athabaska district, as far as this witness could understand, were indicated by the farming that was then actually being conducted
With Fairly Good Success
at Athabaska. At Baptiste lake there was, when the witness first went there, no agriculture attempted. He was the first man to introduce farming there. He kept a trading store, and the natives insisted on having different kinds of seeds. Amongst others he got some flower seeds, and some lovely flowers were raised. The people raise some crops there now. It is a very good ranching country—first-class. Several people went up there with cattle. A man named Mailloux took one hundred and twenty head of cattle, and they were in good shape. The kind of grass there is a red top, a very big grass. The country has all been burnt over and the timber has fallen, so the grass cannot be cut with a mowing machine, but in some places they have cleared away the fallen timber and can use machinery now. Vetches and wild pea vines grow all over that country, but there is no bunch grass to be found; it is mostly red top. How far north it grows witness could not say. He had traced it up in very large quantities on Slave river. About a hundred or two hundred yards from the river there is a big slough, and this grass grows all along there very luxuriantly. There is no place along the northern shores of Lake Athabaska where grass can be grown. It is mostly rock and muskeg.
At McMurray, according to Mr. von Hamerstein, the land is good, and between the junction of the Clearwater and the Athabaska there is a flat of land about three miles long, and from a quarter of a mile to a mile and a half or two miles wide, which is very fine soil; but the rest of it is all hills covered by an inch and a half of moss, under the moss being the limestone rock. They raise good garden stuff at McMurray. A party there had good crops for three years.
Where there is soil to be found it is very good, mostly old river beds or where eddies have accumulated soil; but the rest is sand and muskeg. East of McMurray there are several lakes, the centre of what is described as fine hay country. The natives there have from sixty to eighty horses, and there are reported to be
Good Grazing Patches
round the lakes. It is probably a better ranching country than an agricultural one. To the northwest of this district are some muskeg lakes, where the natives have quite a few horses and cut considerable hay.
From Fort Smith, going in a southerly direction to a place called Salt river they have a very fine large prairie, and it extends right through to Peace point. The people there are not given to farming. It is against their interests, because they could make a living much more easily by hunting. People often ask why they do not farm, but it must be remembered that in order to raise a crop of potatoes they would have to stay by it the whole season; and there is more variety in hunting. But some of them do farm and raise a few cattle. The country is difficult of access; they do not get any new stock, and it has become badly inbred. As a result he had seen cattle there having the head of a bull and the body of a calf. There are not very many cattle in there; only certain natives have them, and a man with four or five head of cattle is a very rich man. Some patches of land are very good.
Mr. Elihu Stewart, who had travelled over the northwest while Superintendent of Forestry, stated before the Senate committee of 1907 that along the Athabaska the country is composed of a succession of rolling hills, and there is a good deal of light soil. The valleys are very good, and Mr. Stewart understood that the country through by Lake Waubascow, all the way to Lesser Slave lake, is through a good district of country. Through this district there is good land—perhaps not all the way through. Along the Athabaska the country is light, second-class land, but Mr. Stewart found at Calling river, some sixty miles below Athabaska, a man
Raising Wheat There.
He says he raises as good wheat as can be grown, but Mr. Stewart would not consider from the appearance along the banks that there were the same alluvial deposits that are found farther north.
Mr. H. A. Conroy of the Indian Department informed the Senate committee in 1907 that the Indians and half-breeds told him that the country between Great Slave river and Hay river is covered with buffalo grass, excepting a little timber that grows in a fringe around Great Slave lake. He had information from Indians living in that country that it is an open country covered with prairie grass.
Mr. J. Burr Tyrrell, in his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907, remarked as to the country immediately north of Lake Athabaska that it could not be considered as being within the arable area. The arable belt, however, as one goes west from Hudson bay to Athabaska river, widens enormously. He spoke generally of the vast country west of Athabaska river to Peace river country, and said there is certainly a large tract of agricultural land there. However, one or another may differ about the value of any particular part of that country. In the country, going west into Peace river region, there is certainly a large area of good land that Mr. Tyrrell would not attempt to confine inside of such a belt as he had been speaking of.
W. F. Bredin, M.L.A., in his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907, said that descending Athabaska river from McMurray, where Clearwater river goes into the Athabaska, the elevation of the plateau above the river is very much less than it is on the upper river. It looks like a great alluvial plain, from the river all along from McMurray to Lake Athabaska, two hundred miles. That country is more or less timbered, and the soil is excellent. Going down Slave river to Great Slave lake, for a distance of three hundred miles, on the east of Slave river, it is all rocks; while west of the river the country is all alluvial, and the soil is generally very good, right down to Great Slave lake.
At Chipewyan on Athabaska lake the Roman Catholic priests have a farm which was originally a muskeg, right amongst the Laurentian rocks, and they grow wheat there that was awarded a
Medal at the Centennial Exposition.
The muskeg between the Athabaska and the Peace can all be drained and cultivated. These muskegs are from a foot to three feet deep until you strike hardpan. The moss keeps the heat of the sun out. In fact there is ice in some of those muskegs all the year round, covered with moss.
Mr. Frank Crean, in his 1909 report, gives the following information regarding the country west of Methye and Buffalo lakes and south of Clearwater river:—“Along Pembina river there are fine hay meadows which should enable anybody who desired to keep cattle to procure ample feed for the winter. To the west of Cowpar lake there is a large prairie which would certainly afford magnificent summer range, though I am informed that in winter the snow is too deep for cattle to range out.” Northwest of Cowpar lake Mr. Crean saw some horses grazing in December. Their owner had made no arrangement to winter them, and Mr. Crean was told that the horses thrived.
Cowpar lake lies just south of latitude 56°. It is a small lake, and of itself of no great importance. The surrounding country, however, is exceptionally good farming land, and to the east and south at about ten miles distance is found the commencement of a large prairie about forty miles long and varying from twelve to fifteen miles in width. This prairie is in its present state fitted for agriculture. The Indians from Cowpar lake go there in the spring and plant gardens, leaving them until the fall when they bring the produce to their homes at Cowpar lake.
Mr. Crean continues:—“Pembina river flows through the south end of this prairie, and several small lakes touch it. The prairie is watered by small creeks draining into these lakes, and altogether it is
An Ideal Spot for the Pioneer,
as hay, water, wood and fish are to be found in abundance throughout its extent. The land adjoining Cowpar lake on the east and south is all arable, being open and rolling. To the northeast, towards Whitefish lake, the land is also good. It is easy to predict that Cowpar lake will some day be a centre of a considerable settlement, although at present the only occupants are about four families of Chipewyans.”
Winefred lake, according to Mr. Crean, is a large body of water amply stocked with fine whitefish, and Indians both from the south and north come to Winefred lake to catch fish in the fall. The country surrounding the lake is mostly swampy hay land, but might, he thought, be easily drained. A good deal of muskeg is found in this vicinity, indeed, more than anywhere else that Mr. Crean travelled on the watershed of the Athabaska.
About Heart lake the land is all good though somewhat rolling and inclined to be broken. There is no more obstacle to farming around this lake than there is anywhere else between it and Edmonton. The country is identical with that passed through en route to Edmonton. In fact the country is almost prairie, some bluffs of poplar being the only pretence of woods.
With reference to the northern portion of the area explored by him in 1909, Mr. Crean states:—“In the matter of attempts at agriculture the fact that there is no demand for agricultural produce in the north prevents people who live there from carrying on even experimental work. Wheat has been grown successfully at McMurray, which was about the most northerly point touched by me. Here, too, all the ordinary vegetables grown in the more southerly portions of the province are grown with the greatest success.” Mixed farming would appear to be an industry which most readily adapts itself to northern conditions. Wheat can be grown in almost any part of the north which I have explored. It is undeniable that northern latitudes increase the likelihood of summer frosts. If, however, live stock is kept, the larger yield of grain to the acre, even if slightly frosted, will pay quite as well converted into beef or pork as a smaller yield of the better quality grain in more southern latitudes.”
The officers of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police have contributed considerable valuable information regarding the northern section of the country under review in this chapter.
In his 1909 report, Inspector D. M. Howard, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, referring to the northern section, wrote:—“In the northern part of the district, Chipewyan and Smith Landing, very little grain is grown. The Roman Catholic mission at Fort Smith have put in a small crop of about fifteen acres under oats and barley this year as an experiment. There are about thirty-five head of cattle all told in Chipewyan sub-district, but the stock is not very good, being too much inbred. The Hudson’s Bay Company brought in ten head of horses this year from Edmonton and the Roman Catholic mission brought four from Vermilion; this, with the three police horses, makes a total of about forty head.”
During the winter of 1909 Sergt. R. W. Macleod, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, made a patrol across country from Fort Vermilion to the mouth of Hay river on Great Slave lake. In his report (p. 178, Annual Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police for 1909), he states that from Fort Vermilion for about sixty miles the country is prairie with small poplar bluffs scattered over it, and the next twenty-five miles is mostly pine bush with here and there a small prairie, then on into Hay river at Horse track is prairie with poplar bluffs and willow scrub, a total distance of one hundred and ten miles from Fort Vermilion. In 1905 the government had a road cut out, corduroyed, and graded the entire distance suitable for a wagon road. Previous to that time an Indian pack trail was the only way to travel. The Hudson’s Bay Company and Revillon Brothers each built a sales shop and residence at the end of the wagon road on the south bank of Hay river, and have been doing business there in the winter only, for fur. There are no white people in the country closer than Fort Vermilion. The country between Hay river and Fort Vermilion is nearly
All Apparently Suitable for Farming,
with a splendid supply of wood and water. Hay river is about one hundred yards wide at the Horse trace (local name) and is fed by numerous muskegs to the north of Dunvegan on Peace river, and the southeast slope of the divide between Peace and Liard rivers.
When Sergeant Macleod and his patrol were at Alexandra falls on January 29, they found that three small bands of Indian horses were wintering out on the portage, which is a prairie with poplar bluffs.
Corporal Mellor (of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police) in September of the same year, made a patrol with horses into the buffalo country southwest of Smith Landing. In his report the Corporal states that from Salt river “we proceeded northwest through about eight miles of small poplar, and then across a large stretch of prairie country. This is not prairie country in the generally accepted term, but simply ground of a marshy nature, perfectly flat, and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. This would doubtless afford splendid land were it not that the water thereon is intensely salty and quite unfit for use. These prairies are of large extent stretching from Peace river, in the south, I am told, to Buffalo river, in the north, a distance of over one hundred miles. They are dotted all over with thick clumps of willows, the only trees growing thereon.”
Indian Camp near Fort Smith.
In the last annual report of Superintendent G. E. Sanders, D.S.O., commanding “N” Division at Athabaska, and dated October 1, 1911, that officer describes the area from Athabaska river to Great Slave lake and west to the Rockies as an agricultural country. He states:—“The general state of the district from an agricultural and business point of view is one of great development and progress. The stream of settlement into the country round about Athabaska and to upper Peace river and Grande prairie has continued to a much larger extent during the year. With the influx of settlement traders have followed and a general
Air of Prosperity Prevails,
with very optimistic hopes for the future. The homestead entries at Athabaska for the first three months of this year exceeded the entire number for 1909, and for the past months the entries are upwards of one hundred and seventy-five in excess of those received during the whole of 1910. The homestead entries at Lesser Slave lake and Grande prairie have increased at an even greater rate. At the latter place, the first day the Land Office opened there, seventy-five entries were received.”
“It was generally expected that the railway would reach Athabaska in November, but the contractors have met with so many set-backs, due to the weather, shortage of labour and, lately, sickness amongst their horses, that it is extremely doubtful when the work will be completed.
“As a consequence of the coming of the railway the town of Athabaska has experienced quite a boom in real estate, and the prices for lots in the townsite and for land adjoining have become very high, lots that sold for three hundred dollars last year are now exchanging hands at three thousand dollars, and land within a mile has been sold for one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre. A great deal of building is going on and every one predicts an important future for the place on account of its many natural advantages, and its situation making it the distribution point for the vast country to the north.”
In an interview, Hon. F. Oliver, ex-Minister of the Interior, stated, after his long trip in 1910 (See p. [27]) that along the rivers passed through proceeding from Edmonton to the delta of the Mackenzie where the banks are high the soil and climate conditions are perfectly good for agriculture. So far as McMurray, conditions are entirely good for agriculture, judging from what he saw himself and from what people told him.
The minister explained this statement by pointing out that the difference in latitude is neutralized by the great drop in altitude and the
Influence of the Warm Chinook Wind.
Indian Family arriving at McMurray for Treaty.
McMurray, while two hundred miles farther north than Edmonton, is but eight hundred and fifty feet above sea level, while Edmonton had an altitude of two thousand two hundred feet.
Mr. Oliver here made reference to conditions which are to-day recognized by men of science.
According to Mr. E. A. Preble, of the U.S. Biological Survey (See p. [22]), “The climatic conditions of the various parts of Athabaska valley vary considerably, according to location. The more open portions of the upper part of the valley, though lying at a considerable altitude, enjoy the ‘Chinook’ winds, which so temper the climate that it compares favourably with more easterly regions lying much farther south. Lack of detailed data precludes the possibility of comparing absolutely the climatic conditions of the upper and the lower Athabaska; but the effects of the ‘Chinook’ winds are felt to some extent throughout the course of the river.”
According to the same authority—“The climate of Athabaska lake is not radically different from that of other parts of the Mackenzie region which are practically removed from the influence of the warm Pacific winds. Though it lies at a low altitude, the proximity of the lake to the “Barren Ground,” from which winds are frequent, keeps its average temperature rather low. An occasional warm west wind slightly tempers the winter climate. The Peace and the Athabaska break up at their mouths about May 1, but the neighbouring part of the lake usually does not open until about the middle of May, and the eastern part probably not before June. The lake usually closes at Chipewyan some time in November.”
Mr. H. A. Conroy informed the Senate committee of 1907 that he had travelled through Athabaska-Peace river country once when for twenty-one days in January he did not need his coat in the middle of the day. The cattle were all out in the pasture fields. He had been going in there every year for eight years, and had been there for five winters. Mr. Conroy stated that he never saw a very deep snowfall in that country. He felt pretty sure that the ‘Chinook’ winds go through to Athabaska lake. He remarked that in that country in the winter he did not suffer as much from cold as he had suffered in Ottawa, and he slept out every night, sometimes under a tent and sometimes in the open. He travelled once with a dog train and afterwards with ponies, and got along very well with them.
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY