Mr. McConnell concluded that a farmer might succeed there even if he could not grow wheat, if he could get a market. That was the only thing that would prevent him from succeeding, he thought.
Much evidence as to the agricultural possibilities and climate of the Peace country was taken by the Senate committee of 1888 (See p. [28]).
Hon. William Christie, formerly Inspecting Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in his examination before the committee, expressed himself sanguine about the agricultural possibilities of Peace river country, which he considered “is one of the finest countries that you would wish to see. Upper Peace river country is as fine a country as I ever saw.” He did not think Peace river country subject to droughts at all, but the winter snow disappeared much more rapidly than it did in Manitoba. The vegetation in Peace river country is very luxuriant; the grass is more like that of Manitoba than that of Saskatchewan. He thought the wheat crop would be as certain in upper Peace river district as in the Saskatchewan district. Farther down, at Lac la Biche, they never have wheat frozen; that may be affected by the temperature of the lake water. On upper Peace river they are less subject to frost. He had always understood that wheat grew well at Dunvegan.
At Fort Vermilion there was a splendid country. He once rode with Governor Dallas sixty miles through a most magnificent country. The soil was a beautiful dark loam, as they could see by the mole hills, and they were struck with the charming appearance of the country. There were more bluffs than were found on the Saskatchewan, and it was a beautiful country all the way up to Dunvegan. Where the country was open, the grass was higher than on the Saskatchewan. It was not very long—about the same as in Manitoba. As to the testing of the capacity of the country for agriculture, he explained that a good deal had depended upon the characters of the officers in charge of the various forts whether the capacity of the country in the vicinity for agriculture was tested. In the journals of long ago he found that they used to raise splendid wheat crops at Dunvegan, and cattle. Another officer, without any taste for agriculture, going in there might find it very difficult to live. If he had no taste for gardening or agriculture, nothing would be raised. A great deal depended on the officer of the post whether he lived well or not. If he was active and energetic he would always live very well.
Witness agreed with the remark that there is enough good land in Peace river country
To Make a New Province.
G. M. Dawson, M.D., LL.D., at the time Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, was examined by the committee and explained that he had personal acquaintance with the Athabaska from Athabaska to Baptiste river; with Peace river valley from Smoky river to the headwaters; and with the country between the above designated portions of rivers.
Quoting from a report he had prepared in 1879-80, on the extent of arable and pastoral lands in the region of Peace and Athabaska rivers, Doctor Dawson showed that Peace river basin comprised an area of about thirty-one thousand five hundred and fifty square miles. Its average elevation may be stated as a little over two thousand feet, and this is maintained with considerable uniformity, for though the general surface slopes slightly from the north and south towards Peace river, the region as a whole may be considered as a plateau, through which the great gorge-like valley of the Peace has been excavated. This valley has in general a depth of six hundred to eight hundred feet below that part of the plateau bordering it, with a width of two or three miles from rim to rim. Its tributary streams, at first nearly on the plateau level, flow in valleys of continually increasing depth as they approach that of Peace river. Those from the southeastern portion of the region rise either in Rocky mountains or near the Athabaska, the tributaries received by the latter stream, in this part of its course, from the north and northwest being—with the exception of the Baptiste—quite inconsiderable.
The ridges and hills by which this region is occasionally diversified, appear in all cases to be composed either of the generally soft rocks of the cretaceous, or of arenaceous clays containing erratics and representing the boulder clays of the glacial period. These elevations are generally slight, and with exceedingly slight, and gradual slopes, the scarped banks of the streams constituting much more important irregularities. These ridges, however, often resemble detached portions of a higher plateau, and spread widely enough to occupy in the aggregate a considerable area, of which the soil is not so uniform in character as elsewhere. With these exceptions, the soil of the district may be described as a fine silt, resembling the
White Silts of the Nechacco Basin,