| CHAPTER I. | |
| historical. | |
| “The Fertile Belt.”—Influence of a Catchy Expression.—Northern Canada Still a Terra Incognita.—The Hudson’s Bay Company.—Early Explorations.—Kelsey, Hearne, Mackenzie, Franklin, Back, Simpson and Dease.—The More Recent Explorers, Official and Unofficial.—Parliamentary Investigations. | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| the keewatin area.—Agriculture and Arable Land. | |
| Early Agricultural Experiments and Their Success.—Evidence Before the Parliamentary Committee of 1749.—Testimony of Official Explorers and Residents.—Many Areas Fit for Agriculture Described.—Wild Fruits Grow in Profusion.—Successful Gardens.—Much Country Capable of Improvement by Drainage.—Climate Inland Warmer Than Farther East.—Natural Hay Meadows.—The Clay Belt. | [30] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| the keewatin area.—Tree Growth and Timber Resources. | |
| Considerable Areas of Good Timber.—The Range of the More Important Trees.—The Banskian Pine.—Forests of Trees in Many Places that Would Make Good Logs, and Much Pulp Wood.—Occasional Beautiful Forests of Aspen Poplar.—Magnificent Coniferous Forest Northwest of Lake Winnipeg.—Water Power on the Nelson.—Destruction Wrought by Forest Fires.—Ample Supply of Timber For Fuel. | [64] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| the keewatin area.—Economic Minerals. | |
| The Rocks in Many Cases Highly Magnetic.—Norite Rock Similar to That at Sudbury About Trout Lake.—Peat in the District North of Lake Winnipeg.—A Large District Underlain By Keewatin and Huronian Rocks “Has Large Possibilities.”—Gypsum.—Building Granites.—Quartz Veins on Grassy River Below Reed Lake.—A Possibility of Nickel Occurring. | [81] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| the keewatin area.—Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish. | |
| Flocks of Wild Fowl That Obscure the Sky.—Six Species of Seal in Hudson Bay.—Stocked with Animals of Various Kinds.—White Fish Abound in Most of the Lakes and Streams.—Saw Eleven Moose in One Day.—The Commercial Value of the Sturgeon Fisheries.—Future Summer Playgrounds.—Barren Lands Caribou at Churchill. | [88] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| northern saskatchewan.—Agriculture and Arable Land. | |
| An Early Scientific Explorer’s Enthusiastic Description of Part of the Country.—“Capable of Any Extent of Cultivation.”—An Old Hudson’s Bay Company Official Who Considered it “A Splendid Country to Settle in.”—Mr. Crean Reports That “It is No Experiment” to Raise Wheat in North Saskatchewan.—Missionary Farmers and Their Accomplishments.—Capable of Supporting “A Dense, Thriving Population.”—“A Splendid Ranching Country.”—Heaviest Rains Just When They Are Needed. | [95] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| northern saskatchewan.—Tree Growth and Timber Resources. | |
| A Rare Bit of Sylvan Beauty.—Ash-Leaved Maples Successfully Grown From Seed.—Notes By the Way on Available Water Powers.—Much Country Covered with Small Timber Not Generally of Commercial Value.—Some Areas of Good Timber Which Will be Invaluable To the Settlers. | [117] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| northern saskatchewan.—Economic Minerals. | |
| Large Amount of Iron Ore In the Northeastern Corner of The Region, On The North Eastern Side of Lake Athabaska.—Indications Favourable For the Discovery of Coal.—Nickel and Traces of Cobalt on Reindeer Lake.—Medicinal Waters.—Bituminous Springs and Pit Coal on Cree River.—Tar Sands Near Buffalo Lake. | [124] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| northern saskatchewan.—Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish. | |
| “So Fine a Country For The Chase That It May Be Regarded As An Extensive Preserve.”—The Wood Buffalo Used To Roam Over It, But Do Not Now.—Moose and Caribou Plentiful.—The Indians Kill The Moose For Their Hides.—Fish of Various Kinds in Abundance.—Sturgeon That Weigh A Hundred Pounds.—One Indian Killed Eighteen Moose During One Season. | [127] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| northern alberta.—Agriculture and Arable Land in the Eastern Section of “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. | [131] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| northern alberta.—Agriculture and Arable Land in the Western Section or “Peace River Region.” | |
| Where Wheat Has Been Grown with Remarkable Success for Many Years.—Scientific Explorers Early Recognized This as a Wheat Growing Country.—A Head of Cabbage Fifty-three and a Half Inches in Circumference.—Livestock Live Out of Doors in Winter.—According to a Church of England Missionary, Peace River Enjoys the Finest Climate in the World. | [143] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| northern alberta.—Tree Growth and Timber Resources. | |
| An Abundance of Timber in the Vicinity of Chipewyan.—Much of the Country Has Been Swept By Fires.—Most of the Timber is Along the Rivers.—Millions of Cords of Pulp Wood.—Spruce and Black Bark Poplar the Principal Varieties.—The Water Power Possibilities Described as Tremendous. | [175] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| northern alberta.—Economic Minerals. | |
| Travellers, Explorers and Prospectors Describe the Country as a Veritable Store House of Mineral Wealth.—Gold Found in the Bars in Peace River.—Indications of Plentiful Supply of Iron.—Lignite Found in Abundance.—Historic Deposits of Salt.—The Famous Athabaska Tar Sands.—Their Commercial Value.—Indications of Petroleum.—Boring Experiments.—Natural Gas Under a Wide Area.—Travellers Use Natural Gas Jets to Boil their Camp Kettles. | [180] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| northern alberta.—Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish. | |
| The Land of the Wood Buffalo.—Where the Last Remnants of American Bison Living in a Wild State Roam.—A Splendid Moose Country.—The Home of Numerous Fur-bearing Animals.—The Prolific Fisheries of Lake Athabaska and Other Waters. | [195] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| mackenzie river region.—Topography, Agriculture and Arable Land. | |
| Mackenzie River a King of Northern Waters.—Over Three Thousand Miles of Water Way.—Domestic Cattle Have Succeeded.—Barley Always Ripens at Fort Simpson.—Potatoes and Other Vegetables have for Many Years Been Grown at Fort Good Hope, a few Miles from the Arctic Circle.—Wheat and Barley Grown at Liard for Many Years.—Interesting Comparison With the Russian Province of Tobolsk.—A Large Town as Far North as Fort Wrigley.—Why Better Results in Grain Growing May Be Expected in the Future. | [208] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| mackenzie river region.—Tree Growth and Timber Resources. | |
| Forests About Great Slave Lake and Slave River.—Remarkable Extension of Forest Growth Northward Down the Mackenzie.—Wide Distribution of the Economically Important Canoe Birch.—Magnificent Forests of Spruce and Big Cottonwood Trees in Liard Valley.—Useful Birch and Large Spruce Grow Within the Arctic Circle.—Trees that are Centuries Old.—Northern Tree Growth May Be Hastened by Drainage. | [261] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| mackenzie river region.—Economic Minerals. | |
| The Territory Has Never Been Thoroughly Examined for Minerals.—Tar Springs on the North Shore of Great Slave Lake.—The Devonian Rocks Throughout Mackenzie Valley are Nearly Everywhere More or Less Petroliferous.—Lignite Discovered in Many Places, Also Gypsum.—Large Deposits of Excellent Salt.—Indications of Gold and Copper.—Indians Report Finding Mica. | [281] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| mackenzie river region.—Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish. | |
| Over Forty Moose Killed in One Season Near Fort Simpson.—Caribou of Both Woodland and Barren Lands Varieties Plentiful.—Pass Great Slave lake in Countless Numbers.—Mountain Sheep Plentiful in the Mountainous Districts.—Incredible Numbers of Geese, Swan and Ducks in Season.—Inexhaustible Supplies of Fish.—The Speckled Trout, Lake Trout, Grayling, Herring, Inconnu, etc. | [288] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| barren lands or “arctic prairie.”—Topography, Soil, Climate and Flora. | |
| Explorers Declare The Term Barren Lands a Misnomer.—Some Notes about the Chief Rivers and Known Lakes.—An Inland Waterway for Steamers Via Chesterfield Inlet a Distance of Five Hundred and Fifty Miles Into the Interior.—The Progression of The Seasons.—The Country Similar to the Tundra of Siberia.—A Limited Amount of Agriculture May Be Possible in Places.—Natural Prairies in the Valley of the Thelon. | [303] |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| barren lands or “arctic prairie.”—Tree Growth and Timber Resources. | |
| Phenomenal Extensions of Tree Growth Within Barren Lands Along the Valley of Thelon River.—Black Spruce, Larch, White Spruce, Banksian Pine and Birch.—Valuable Timber Along the Thelon, About the East End of Great Slave Lake and Between Great Bear Lake and Coppermine River. | [317] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| barren lands or “arctic prairie.”—Economic Minerals. | |
| Deposits of Native Copper in the Far North.—Several Areas West of Hudson Bay Contain Rocks Similar to Those at Sudbury.—Belts of Huronian Rocks that are Expected by Geologists to be Eventually of Great Economic Importance.—Vast Probable Mineral Bearing Country in the Interior Which Can Now be Reached Via Chesterfield Inlet.—Iron, Gold and Silver in Small Quantities North of Lake Athabaska.—Free Gold in Melville Peninsula.—Lignite and Soft Coal Along the Arctic Coast. | [324] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| barren lands or “arctic prairie.”—Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish. | |
| Where Millions of Caribou Roam at Large.—Actual Value of These Immense Herds Very Great.—Can They Become Domesticated or Replaced by the Lapland Reindeer?—The Home of the Musk-Ox and Many Fur-bearing Animals.—The Polar Bear.—Where the Wild Geese Nest.—Lakes, Rivers and Sea Coasts Teeming With Fish.—The Arctic Salmon, Trout, White Fish and Grayling. | [342] |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY | [362] |
| INDEX | [370] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
[“Wheat field at Stanley, Churchill river”]
[“Oat field at Ile à la Crosse”]
[“Portage near Long Spruce rapids, Nelson river”]
[“Farm at Mount Nebo on Green lake trail, 65 miles from Prince Albert”]