“Hay can be cut in abundance in the neighborhood of Churchill, and cattle thrive well, yet the same ignorance or obstinacy, as the above referred to, formerly prevented any attempt being made to breed stock on the spot, so that every fresh animal required had to be brought from some other place. Now, the small herd which is kept at the place is recruited by raising the animals calved at the fort itself. The open grassy land near the sea is practically of unlimited extent. Much of it is dry and undulating, affording abundance of pasture for the cattle. The butter made by Mrs. Spencer could hardly be excelled for quality and fineness in any country.”
Lake St. Joseph section.
In the report (Part G., Geol. Sur. Report, 1886) of his exploratory trip in 1886 (See p. [18]), Doctor Robert Bell, speaking of the country in Lake St. Joseph section, in the extreme southern side of the region under review, writes:—“The climate, in the immediate vicinity of the lake at all events, appears to be sufficiently good to admit of the growth of a variety of crops. At Osnaburgh House, near the east end, where the soil is of a sandy nature, the principal crop cultivated at present is potatoes, but early Indian corn, peas, beans, and a variety of roots and other vegetables, to say nothing of a profusion of flowers, were in a flourishing condition at the end of July. In former years, when cattle were kept at the post, barley was said to have been a regular crop. Hay grows very luxuriantly. I was creditably informed that pumpkins and muskmelons had frequently ripened at this establishment.”
Doctor Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, testified:—“Potatoes and all such vegetables would grow in Hudson bay district, but the immediate influence of the sea is unfavourable for gardens. Gardens close to the sea do not flourish as well as gardens inland. The frequent change from heat to cold and the fogs from the sea prejudicially affect them, and cause a sort of blight on vegetation close to the sea shore. But a few miles inland vegetation is more rank, and you can grow potatoes and the ordinary root crops. There are plenty of grasses there to keep cattle and sheep. There are many kinds of grasses there, also sedges, wild peas or vetches and lentils. They would make splendid feed for cattle.”
Mr. Fawcett (Annual Report, Dep. Interior, 1885, pt. II, p. 37), speaking of his descent of the Wenassago to Lac Seul, says:—“In a few places I noticed soil of vegetable mould and clay loam, which would be well suited for the growth of grain and vegetables should the climatic conditions be favourable. I also observed here that the best soil generally produced a growth of poplar, and wherever it appeared large and thrifty, good soil might be looked for, comparatively free from rock. On the rocky ridges, as usual, scrubby pine was the prevailing timber, while the flats and muskegs were invariably covered with spruce and tamarack. The good land noticed seemed to be in belts three or four miles wide and extending north and south for a considerable distance, as might be expected from the geological formation, the depressions and elevations succeeding each other in very regular order and much in the same direction.”
On Big Black river, which flows into the east side of Lake Winnipeg, Mr. A. S. Cochrane, of the Geological Survey, who surveyed that stream in 1882, reports the soil as “excellent, being a light-gray friable clay. . . . . The land up to Pelican portage is first class, but above this there is a low and swampy country, which extends to ‘Rapids-close-together’. A border of good land, on which some fair-sized timber grows, runs along both sides of the river.”
Favourable lake and Severn lake.
Mr. Low, in the account of his trip in 1886, reports that along the shores of Favourable lake (which is from two to five miles in width) “there are considerable areas of good land, the best being on the peninsula and along the southern part of the lake, where the underlying rocks are hornblende and chloritic schists; the northern part is more barren, the soil resting upon gneiss. The soil is a fine, rich sandy loam, quite suitable for growing good crops, and summer frosts seem to be the only drawback to successful agriculture. These are said to not occur at Trout lake, though situated further to the northeastward. At the end of the peninsula the foundations of several old houses were discovered, out of which trees twelve inches in diameter were growing. These ruins evidently mark the site of some old Hudson’s Bay Company or more probably North West Company trading post. . . . .
“There is much good land about Sandy lake. Indeed the greater part of the land around these lakes would make good farms.”
A short distance above Severn lake, according to Mr. Low, there is a considerable area of country “almost flat, with good timber and soil.”