In a communication to the press in 1910, Mr. Ogilvie wrote:—“From Fort Vermilion to Fort Liard on Liard river, where wheat has been successfully grown for more years than many people would credit, is three hundred and ten miles; by trail, say three hundred and fifty. On this stretch just across Peace river Hay river prairies are highly spoken of, and certainly look well from the river. A railway line would probably follow down Black river valley to Liard, and extensive meadows in this valley were reported by natives when I was there in 1891.”
Evidence Before the Late Senate Committee.
The select committee of the Senate of Canada which sat in 1907 devoted considerable attention to the agricultural possibilities of Mackenzie valley. Mr. R. G. McConnell of the Geological Survey was examined before the committee and said he did not happen to be in places where there was any farming going on, but was at Fort Providence in the autumn and wintered there one winter, and ate potatoes, turnips and other vegetables like that all winter that had been grown there. That is north of Great Slave lake. Going down the Mackenzie, Mr. McConnell explained, once you get away from the river flat you get into a rolling country partly with muskeg, with hard ridges between. The only possible part of that country suitable for agriculture, he thought, would be the large flats down Mackenzie river. It is a wide valley, but there is the same thing there: you never know exactly beforehand what is going to happen. Certainly it does not look like a favourable country for agriculture once you get away from the river.
The prairie on Liard river is a little north of the 60th degree of latitude. There is a lot of marsh hay growing around Great Slave lake. It would be good for feeding stock. Along Great Slave lake itself there is a large tract of flat country which may come in some time. Most of the grass Mr. McConnell saw there was a heavy marsh grass. It is not jointed, though there is some of that kind. He remembered seeing patches of it on Hay river.
Asked as to the extent of good agricultural land in the country, Mr. McConnell said it depended on what was called good agricultural country. He knew that at Fort Good Hope, right down on the circle, they can raise good potatoes, because he saw them, and there is no reason why they cannot raise vegetables all the way down the Mackenzie as far north as that. The land on both sides of the river suitable for agriculture does not extend far. There are flats two or three miles wide—bottom flats of the Mackenzie a mile to a mile and a half wide. Once you get up out of the valley the country is rolling and partly muskeg. There is a large tract of that sort of country extending as far north as Fort Good Hope. It is about a thousand miles altogether from Great Slave lake to the sea, and that flat would be six or eight hundred miles in length.
Intense Summer Heat.
Mr. Elihu Stewart (See p. [136]), describing his trip to the far north before the Senate committee of 1907, said that after leaving Lake Athabaska there is rock along the Athabaska, but there are plains, said to be good land, extending from Slave lake down to Peace river. Below Fort Smith there is a deposit of alluvial soil very similar in appearance and in character to that of the prairie, extending as far as Rocky mountains, below Fort Simpson, and even along the valley then all the way down as far as Mr. Stewart went. It was a surprise to him. Mr. Stewart was at Fort Providence on July 15, 1906. Fort Providence is near Slave lake, on Mackenzie river, in latitude 61·25°. This is nine hundred and seventeen miles by travelled route from Athabaska, but, as near as Mr. Stewart could calculate it, about five hundred and fifty miles farther north than Edmonton. He saw there on July 15 wheat in the milk, potatoes in flower, peas fit for use, tomatoes, turnips, rhubarb, beets, cabbage, onions, and other garden vegetables. The tomatoes were not fully formed, and Mr. Stewart did not think they ripened. They grew them under glass. The strawberries ripen at any time; in fact they had ripe strawberries before that, also raspberries, currants, gooseberries and saskatoons. The wheat that Mr. Stewart saw there was just in milk. He inquired when it was sown, and was told May 20. It seemed incredible, until it was remembered that there is scarcely any darkness during summer there. There were about twenty hours’ sun each day, and the heat was greater for several days than anything Mr. Stewart had ever experienced in Ottawa. Along the lower Athabaska and at Chipewyan, Mr. Stewart and his fellow travellers had it over one hundred in the shade for several days. There was a thermometer on the steamer in the shade. Perhaps the heat was greater on the boat than it would have been ashore. Certainly it was exceedingly hot weather, and continued all night. There was very little night at that time. The hot wave extended down to the Arctic sea as Mr. Stewart ascertained from Indians who had come from Rampart House, near the Alaskan boundary, to meet the steamer, the “Wrigley.” He returned with them instead of coming back with the boat, and they lost two of their dogs from the heat, and that in the Arctic circle. From his observations along the river, that portion of the Mackenzie he travelled through presented a better appearance than Athabaska basin. He did not see much hay around Slave lake. He was not travelling through the country there.
Nine Hundred and Seventy Miles North of Edmonton.
Fort Good Hope, in latitude 66·16°, is nine hundred and seventy miles farther north than Edmonton, yet Mr. Stewart saw cabbages, onions and other garden vegetables growing in the gardens there. Beyond Fort Good Hope the frost is so near the surface of the ground that it is pretty hard to raise anything. At Fort Macpherson, and in that neighbourhood where the portage is crossed, there is frozen soil. The vegetables at Fort Good Hope looked as good as any others. The soil there was very fertile. The fort which is nearest to the mouth of the Mackenzie is “Point Separation.” It is not on the Mackenzie, and was so named because it was there that Sir John Franklin and Doctor Richardson separated on Franklin’s memorable second trip. There were no evidences of vegetation along the river that far north that would lead the witness to conclude that agriculture could be carried on there. As far as Fort Good Hope, on this side of that place, and around Providence the country is a fine one. It is a wooded country.
In Mr. Stewart’s 1906 official report (p. 13) he writes:—“On July 15, the garden at Fort Providence (latitude 61·4°) contained peas fit for use, potatoes in flower, tomatoes, rhubarb, beets, cabbages, onions. Besides vegetables, there were cultivated flowers and fruits such as red currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and saskatoons. But most surprising thing of all was a small field of wheat in the milk, the grain being fully formed.” This was stated to have been sown on May 20 and harvested before July 28, slightly over two months from sowing.