Doctor Dawson’s Striking Illustration.
To give some idea of the value of a tract of generally fertile country, such as that described, Doctor Dawson remarked: “Let us assume, as above, that the area of actually cultivable land is twenty-three thousand five hundred square miles, or fifteen million one hundred and forty thousand acres. Let us suppose for simplicity of calculation, that the whole area were sown in wheat, the yield, at the rate of twenty bushels to the acre, would be three hundred million, eight hundred thousand bushels.”
The Reverend J. Gough Brick, for many years in charge of the Church of England mission at Dunvegan on upper Peace river, submitted some interesting evidence in writing to the committee. He stated that on his mission farm he had ploughed on April 8, and sown wheat on April 12, and that wheat was cut about August 20. Wheat was generally sown from April 12 to May 1, and harvested at the end of August. The barley was sown from May 10 to May 20, and harvested at the end of August. The time for sowing and reaping oats was the same as wheat. Potatoes were planted about May 16 and dug in September. Turnips planted at same date were gathered October 10. The Hudson’s Bay Company had done a little farming, in connection with other posts, at Dunvegan, Fort St. John, Hudson Hope and Fort Vermilion, for very many years. Witness supposed that at Dunvegan they had raised wheat, barley and potatoes for seventy-five to one hundred years, and seldom had the crops turned out a total failure. In 1884, he went up on to the height of the prairie country, some thirty-six miles from Dunvegan, and broke up about three acres for an experiment. In 1885 the crop on the land, only once ploughed, was fairly good. In 1886 there was a magnificent crop of wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, turnips and all other vegetables. In 1887, he was sorry to say, the crop there was a total failure. A frost on July 26 killed out everything.
The ordinary prairie grasses, with wild vetches and pea-vine, were found in abundance, growing more or less all over the country. The soil was a black loam, a large percentage he considered fit for grain, the rest for pasturage. They had no insect pests in upper Peace country. The Indians were raising a considerable quantity of potatoes. A few were raising a little barley and wheat.
Mr. Brick informed the committee that he considered the climate of Peace river country as
The Finest in the World.
The usual snowfall in Peace river is from eighteen inches to three feet. Ice begins to run in Peace river about November 5, but some seasons remain open until December 20. It generally breaks up about April 10 to 15. The prevailing wind is from the southwest, and during the winter the Chinook winds prevail in upper Peace river country. The three growing months are very dry until about the middle of July; then some seasons they get considerable rain. There were summer frosts some seasons; but still they were not so destructive in Peace river country as farther south. These frosts were purely local, and witness thought that were the country settled they would be less likely to occur. The early part of the summer is generally dry, while the weather in September and October is very pleasant indeed.
Some interesting information was communicated to the committee by Mr. Frank Oliver, then editor of the Edmonton Bulletin and member of the old Northwest Council. Mr. Oliver explained that most of his information was acquired from Mr. Murdock McLeod formerly of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s service. Peace river country, according to this witness, was especially noted for its abundant supply of berries of excellent quality. Although berries of all kinds mentioned were plentiful in the upper Saskatchewan, Indians used formerly to travel to Peace river, some two hundred and fifty miles, to avail themselves of the supply there. Successive years of experiment had demonstrated the practicability of the growth of wheat, barley, oats and potatoes, at Dunvegan, Fort Vermilion and Chipewyan, the two latter in latitude 58½°.
There has been considerable exploitation of the agricultural possibilities of Peace country since 1888, and we now have data which tend to show that the faith of the pioneer farmers of the country was not misplaced. Much interesting information, as to more recent agricultural enterprise in the country drained by the Peace, was obtained from witnesses examined before the select committee of the Senate of Canada in 1907.
Fred Lawrence, F.R.G.S., Justice of the Peace, etc., of Fort Vermilion, gave some detailed and interesting evidence. Mr. Lawrence explained that his father went out to Peace river from Montreal in 1879, in the employ of the Church of England missions, becoming at once interested in the problem of making the missions and Indian schools in Peace river, and the whole of the northern country, self-sustaining. The settlement of Fort Vermilion is in latitude 58·30°, almost as far north as the northern part of Labrador. The place in 1907 (it has since increased considerably) consisted of about five hundred people, white people, and English-speaking half-breeds. The total production of wheat there in 1906 would be twenty-five thousand bushels, the average being