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A 

HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY 

OF  THE 

BRITISH  COLONIES 

VOL.  V 

CANADA— PART  III 
GEOGRAPHICAL 

BY 

J.  D.  ROGERS 

BARRISTER-AT-LAW 
FORMERLY  STOWELL  FELLOW  OF  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,   OXFORD 


WITH  MAPS 


OXFORD 
AT  THE  CLARENDON  PRESS 

MDCCCCXI 


HENRY  FROWDE,  M.A. 

PUBLISHER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD 

LONDON,  EDINBURGH,  NEW  YORK 

TORONTO  AND  MELBOURNE 


HISTORU 


MAJA) 


PREFACE 


My  gratitude  is  due  chiefly  to  Sir  Charles  P.  Lucas, 
who  suggested  this  volume,  and  kindly  helped  me  by 
looking  through  my  proofs ;  and  after  him  to  the 
authorities  in  the  Libraries  of  the  Colonial  Office  and 
British  Museum,  for  their  courtesy  and  attention. 

Geography,  with  which  this  volume  deals,  has  only 
to  do  with  what  is  present,  external,  and  physical ; 
but  Canada  is  composed  of  historical  as  well  as  geo- 
logical strata,  which  do  not  merely  belong  to  the  past, 
but  still  remain  exposed,  visible,  or  even  unconform- 
able. Again,  towns,  mines,  and  wheatfields — which 
are  the  work  of  men's  hands — are  quite  as  external  as 
woods,  hills,  and  rivers  ;  so  that  humanity  inevitably 
intrudes  even  into  a  picture  of  external  objects. 
Further,  unity  in  spite  of  width  is  the  most  striking 
physical  feature  of  the  Canada  of  to-day  ;  and  this 
unity  is  due  partly  to  the  long  eastward  courses  of 
the  Saskatchewan  and  St.  Lawrence,  to  climatic 
pressure  from  the  north,  and  to  interlocking  water- 
sheds, but  partly  also  to  those  two  great  Com- 
panies, whose  servants  streamed  incessantly  between 
Labrador  and  Vancouver  Island, — to  political  pressure 
from  the  south,  and  to  the  converging  plans  of 
philanthropists  and  statesmen  for  the  development 
of  the  intermediate  land. 


IV  PREFACE 

The  very  frontiers  of  Canada  are  no  mere  seas  or 
lines  of  latitude :  but  Canada  is  bounded,  so  to  speak, 
by  Cartier  and  Champlain  on  the  east,  by  Cook  and 
Vancouver  on  the  west,  by  the  Loyalists  and  Sir 
George  French  on  the  south,  and  by  Parry  and 
Franklin  on  the  north — or  by  the  ghosts  and 
memories  of  these  men.  Saintliness  made  Quebec, 
Patriotism  made  Ontario,  and  Adventure  made 
Western  Canada  into  Provinces ;  so  that  spiritual 
forces — like  Northern  Lights — spanned  the  whole 
width  of  Canada  from  Ocean  to  Ocean.  Materials, 
too,  were  brought  from  Europe,  in  order  that  the 
long  house  might  hold  together.  Distant  quarries 
were  sought,  and  elaborate  mechanism  was  applied ; 
the  stones  from  the  quarries  consisting  mainly  of 
human  beings,  and  the  mechanism  consisting  of 
human  as  well  as  mechanical  energy.  The  very 
canals,  roads,  and  railroads  reflected  political  aspira- 
tions ;  emigration,  which  careless  people  thought 
automatic,  was  artificially  created  by  Societies  for 
alleviating  industrial  and  military  tragedies  ;  Govern- 
ments planted  Halifax,  Quebec,  and  Ontario  with 
colonists,  much  as  gardeners  plant  gardens  with 
flowers  from  other  regions  ;  war  helped  to  change  the 
haunts  of  bison  into  the  homes  of  men  ;  and  the 
sturdy  self-help  of  pioneers,  who,  though  they 
dreamed  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  were 
loath  to  break  with  their  past,  or  to  turn  their  backs 
on  the  land  of  their  fathers,  peopled  forests,  plains, 
mountains,  sea-shores,  and  river-banks. 

Men's  minds  rather  than  Nature  welded  the  Atlantic 


PREFACE  V 

with  the  Pacific  across  seventy  degrees  of  longitude, 
and  within  two  or  three  lines  of  latitude ;  and  although 
a  book  on  geography  primarily  deals  with  things, 
men,  though  something  more  than  things,  are  after  all 
things,  and  cannot  be  quite  left  out.  I  have  not 
attempted  nor  have  I  the  knowledge  even  to  refer  to 
all  the  processes  by  which,  or  to  all  the  critical  places  m 
which,  human  materials  have  been  deposited  from 
time  to  time ;  but  I  hope  that  in  attempting  to  indicate, 
by  a  few  leading  cases,  some  of  these  processes,  and 
some  of  these  critical  places,  I  shall  not  be  regarded 
as  trespassing  beyond  the  proper  sphere  of  Geography, 
which  I  admit  ought  to  limit  itself  to  things  present, 
external,  and  physical. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chap.    I.    The  Far  North-land  and  its  Heroes       i 

II.    The  Far  East:  Nova  Scotia,  the  two 

Islands  and  their  People        .       .       31 

III.  Links  between  Far  and  Middle  East: 

New  Brunswick  and  its  People        .      73 

IV.  Other  Links  between  Far  and  Middle 

East:  Peninsulas   and    Islands   of 
THE  Gulf 91 

V.  The  Core  of  Canada  and  the  Middle 

East 100 

VI.  The  Middle  East:  Quebec,  or  The 
Province  of  Two  Nations  and 
One  River 119 

VII.    Ontario:      One     Nation     on     Three 

St.  Lawrence  Valleys  and  Beyond      i  5 1 

VIII.    The  Middle  West  :  Prairie-Land    .        .     197 

IX.    The  Many  Nations  of  Prairie-Land       .    217 

X.    The  Far  West  and  North-West,  or  The 

Land  of  Mountains     ....    247 

XI.    The  Peopling  and  Civilization  of  the 

Far  West 262 


INDEX 28 


i> 


LIST  OF  MAPS 

PAGE 

Arctic  Canada 29 

Novia  Scotia 30 

New  Brunswick  .        .        . 72 

Labrador 90 

Quebec 118 

Ontario        . 150 

Prairie-Land 196 

Southern  British  Columbia 245 

British  Columbia •        .         .  246 

British  North  America at  end 


CANADA 

PART  III.-GEOGRAPHICAL 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FAB  NOBTH-LAND  AND  ITS  HEBOES 

By  an  Act  of  1867  the  provinces  of  Quebec,  Ontario,  Nova  The 

Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  were  formed  into  a  confederation  ^^f^^^\^P^ 

frontier  of 

called  the  Dominion  of  Canada ;  ^  '  Rupert's  Land  and  the  Canada 
North-Western  Territory'  (1870),  British  Columbia  (1871), 
and  Prince  Edward  Island  {1873),  joined  the  Dominion  soon 
afterwards  under  powers  contained  in  the  same  Act,  and  Orders 
in  Council  made  in  pursuance  thereof;  and  in  1880  a  further 
Order  in  Council  ^  transferred  to  the  Dominion  all  other  British 
possessions  in  North  America,  including  the  attendant  islands, 
but  excluding  Newfoundland  and  its  dependency  on  the  coasts 
of  Labrador. 

Consequently,  the  frontiers  of  Canada  are — with  this  one 
exception  of  the  colony  of  Newfoundland — the  frontiers  of 
British  North  America. 

One  glance  at  the  map  suggests  that  nature  and  nature  was  ascer- 

alone  made  the  northern  boundary  ;  that  on  the  east  but  for  ^f  ^^f^    . 

■^  during  the 

the  colony  of  Newfoundland  and  on  the  west  but  for  Alaska  search  for 

the   same  artificer  was   at  work :  but  that  the  frontiers  of  ^  ^^^f^^^- 

^  west 

Newfoundland   colony   and   Alaska,   and   all   the   ^0M\ki^xn  passage 

fronti^s,  were  the  work  of  men  s  hands.     If  the  inference  ^^^^^" 
were  drawn  that  these  natural  frontiers  were  first-created,  self- 
created,  and  created  without  human  sacrifices,  the  inference 

'  30  &  31  Vict.  c.  3. 

2  Order  in  Council,  July  31,  1880. 

VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill  B 


6      '  ''mSTOmQAl    GEOVyRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

*^'^<^  "•■  ^  /''  '  '' ":  ^ ,  :       .  .-• 

would  be  a  truism  in  one  sense  and  the  reverse  of  true  in 
another  sense.  The  coast  of  America  and  its  islands  existed 
before  white  men  existed,  but  did  not  exist  as  frontiers  until 
white  men  knew  of  their  existence ;  and  this  knowledge  was 
obtained  after  the  last  man-made  boundary  had  been  settled 
by  war,  treaty,  or  Act  of  Parliament,  and  was  obtained  by  a 
deadly  war  against  nature  which  lasted  283  years.  The 
names  of  the  men  who  waged  this  war  or  directed  it  from  afar 
still  consecrate  its  shores,  and  brave  men's  blood  proved  once 
more  the  only  possible  cement  of  the  walls  of  empire. 
Although  some  of  these  warriors  still  live,  they  belong  in 
spirit  to  the  heroic  age ;  for  they  fought  not  against  human 
foes  but,  like  Thor,  against  the  frost  giants ;  they  displayed 
*  one  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts ',  and  their  doings  and 
sufferings  were  on  an  heroic  scale.  Their  aim  was  to  dis- 
cover a  north-west  passage  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
Their  results  were  to  ascertain  the  northern  shores  of  the 
American  continent  and  northern  frontiers  of  Canada.  It  is 
now  known  that  the  north-west  passages,  for  there  are  more 
than  one,  are  too  icy  to  be  used  for  trading  with  Japan,  China, 
India,  or  any  other  country,  and  that  all  the  northern  shore  of 
America  which  lies  west  of  Hudson's  Bay  lies  within  the 
Arctic  circle,  while  Hudson  Strait,  though  situated  in  the 
latitude  of  the  Shetlands  and  Faroes,  is  closed  by  ice  for 
eight  or  nine  months  in  the  year,  and  Hudson  Bay,  though 
touching  the  latitude  of  Bristol,  touches  also  the  Arctic  circle 
and  is  chilled  all  the  year  round  by  stores  of  never-melted  ice 
which  pour  southward  and  eastward  from  Fox  Channel. 
The  north-west  passages  are  all  but  unnavigable,  the  northern 
shores  are  all  but  uninhabitable;  but  great  names  and 
memories  live  in  this  dead  or  half-dead  region,  and  here  at 
all  events  geographers  tread  on  holy  ground,  and  geography 
if  not  history  has  proved  itself  synonymous  with  the  biography 
of  great  men. 
The  first         The  first  period  of  these  discoveries  (1576-1632)  is  still 


THE   FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES         3 

commemorated  by  the  names  of  Queen  Elizabeth/  l^ing  penod  of 
James,^  Prince  Henry ,^  '  the  young  Marcellus  of  English  j^-^^g,' 
history/  King  Charles  I  ^'^  and  Queen  Henrietta  Maria;  ^  of  1632,  was 
famous  statesmen  like  Sir  Francis  Walsingham/  Ambrose  Earl  ^^^  ^^'^^  -'* 
of  Warwick/  Robert  Earl  of  Leicester/  George  Earl  of 
Cumberland/  Robert  Earl  of  Salisbury/  Charles  Earl  of 
Nottingham/  Henry  Earl  of  Southampton/  patron  of 
Shakespeare  and  Virginia,  William  Earl  of  Pembroke/ 
patron  of  the  Bermudas  and  of  Ben  Jonson,  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton/  Sir  Walter  Ralegh/  Sir  Robert  Mansell/  and  Sir 
John  Brooke  (Lord  Cobham) ;  ^  of  princely  East  Indian 
merchants  like  Sir  Thomas  Smith/^  Sir  John  Wolstenholme/*^" 
Sir  James  Lancaster/^  Alderman  Sir  Francis  Jones/^  or  their 
ambassador  Sir  Thomas  Roe/*''  or  their  advocate  Sir  Dudley 
Digges ;  ^-^^  of  great  writers  like  Richard  Hakluyt/  and 
Michael  Lok ;  ^  and  of  the  explorers  employed  by  all  these 
patrons,  namely.  Sir  Martin  Frobisher^  (1576-8),  whom 
George  Best/^  Charles  Jackman,^  and  Christopher  HalP 
accompanied;  John  Davys  *  (1585-7)  the  friend  and  neigh- 
bour of  Sir  Walter  Ralegh  and  of  John  Chidleigh  ^^  Esq.  of 
Chidleigh,  Devonshire;  Henry  Hudson ^•'^  (16 10- 11),  whose 
motto  was  to  achieve  what  he  had  undertaken  *  or  else  to  give 
reason  wherefore  it  may  not  be ' ;  Sir  Thomas  Button  "  (161 2) 
of  Glamorganshire  with  whom  By  lot  Hubbart  ^  and  Nelson  ^ 
sailed;  Robert  Bylot  ^^  (16 15-16)  with  William  Baffin ^«  as 
mate  ;  Luke  Fox  (1631)^  assistant  of  Trinity  House;  ^  and 
Thomas  James  ^  (1631-2)  a  native  of  Monmouthshire,  a  sea 
captain  of  Bristol,  and  a  barrister  of  the  Inner- Temple.  All 
these  names  and  places  are  equally  well  known  to  historians 
steeped  in  Elizabethan  lore  and  to  illiterate  whalers  of  to-day ; 

*  In  Frobisher  Bay.  '^  In  Cumberland  Sound. 

3  In  Hudson  Strait,  middle.  *  In  Hudson  Strait,  east  entrance. 

5  In  Hudson  Strait,  west  entrance.  ^  In  Hudson  Bay. 

"^  In  Hudson  Bay,  Southampton  Islands. 

®  In  Hudson  Bay,  James  Bay.  ^  In  Davis  Strait. 

^^  In  Baffin  Bay.  ^i  In  Frobisher  Bay,  east  entrance. 

B  2 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


and  Hud- 
son Strait 
and  Bay 
were  dis- 
covered by 
Frobisher, 


Davys, 


Htulson, 


Button, 


and,  if  we  except  Bylot  and  Button  Islands,  the  same  names 
denote  the  same  places,  although  here  and  there  sea-changes 
have  occurred,  capes  being  transformed  into  islands,  islands 
into  sounds  and  straits,^  straits  into  sounds,  and  sounds  into 
straits. 

The  discovery  of  the  northern  frontier  was  a  process ;  and 
its  first  period  may  be  summarized  thus :  Martin  Frobisher 
(1576-8)  in  the  Gabriel  (25  tons)  examined  not  only 
Frobisher  Bay  but  part  of  *  Mistaken  Straits ',  as  he  misnamed 
Hudson  Strait,  and  Cape  Best  or  Hatton  Headland,  which  is 
the  southern  gatepost  to  Frobisher  Bay  and  the  oiorthern 
gatepost  to  '  Mistaken  Straits  '. 

Next  John  Davys  (1585-7)  in  the  Sunshine  (50  tons) 
searched  *  Cumberland  Sound  \  which  lies  north  of  Frobisher 
Bay,  and  sailed  north  to  ^  Mount  Ralegh '  and  '  Cape 
Walsingham'  in  '  Davis  Strait ',  and  south  to '  Cape  Chidleigh  \ 
which  is  the  southern  gatepost  of  Hudson  Strait,  and  to  Davis 
and  Ivuktok  "^  inlets  in  Labrador,  lavishing  Devon  names 
wherever  he  went. 

Then  Henry  Hudson  (1610-11)  in  the  Discovery  (55  tons) 
passed  right  through  Hudson  Strait  to  '  Digges  Island ',  and 

*  Wolstenholme  Cape ',  which  stand  on  the  south  side  of  its 
western  entrance ;  and  to  '  Salisbury  Island '  which  is  opposite 
the  very  middle  of  its  western  entrance ;  whence  he  turned 
south  along  the  east  coast  of  the  Bay,  wintered  somewhere  in 
the  far  south-east,  and  was  put  into  a  boat  with  nearly  half  his 
crew,  was  cut  adrift,  and  died  an  unknown  death. 

Next  Sir  Thomas  Button  (161 2)  in  the  Resolution  and 
Discovery  (55  tons)  passed  from  '  Resolution  Island  \  as  the 
island  of  which  Cape  Best  is  the  southern  extremity  was 
afterwards  called,  through  Hudson  Strait  to  Salisbury  Island, 
whence  he  crossed  Hudson  Bay  south-west  to  what  ffe  called 

*  Port  Nelson  '  in  '  New  Wales '  and  wintered  there.     Next 

^  e.g.  Cumberland  Islands,  Sir  Thomas  Roe's  Island. 
*  Alias,  Hamilton  Inlet. 


THE  FAR    NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES        5 

summer  he  coasted  northward  by  '  Hubbart's  Hope '  (now 
called  Churchill)  to  the  west,^  south,  and  east  of  the  '  South- 
ampton '  Islands,  whence  he  returned  by  '  Mansel ',  Notting- 
ham '  and  Salisbury  Islands  through  Hudson  Strait  home. 

Baffin  and  Bylot  (161 5)  in  the  Discovery  (55  tons)  explored  Baffin, 
the  east  coast  of  Southampton  Island  a  little  further  to  the 
north  than  Button,  and  (16 16)  outdid  Davys  by  sailing  round 
the  whole  of  '  Baffin  Bay ',  discovering  '  Smith  V  '  Jones  '  and 

*  Lancaster '  Sounds,  which  for  aught  he  knew  might  be  straits. 

In  1 63 1  Fox  sailed  in  the  Charles  (70  tons)  through /^jjt, 
Hudson  Strait  and  Bay  into  '  Sir  Thomas  Roe's  Welcome ', 
as  Button's  Strait  on  the  west  of  Southampton  Island  was 
thenceforth  called.  After  following  it  northward,  but  not  so 
far  as  Button's  furthest,  he  coasted  southward  to  the  entrance 
of  the  Bay  named  after  his  rival  {55°  10'  lat.),  then  sailed  due 
north,  passed  through  the  chain  of  islands  Southampton, 
Nottingham,  Mansel,  and  Salisbury — which  stretch  from 
Hudson  Strait  to  the  western  main — until  he  reached  the 
Arctic  circle  in  Fox  Channel  ^  far  beyond  Baffin's  northernmost 
point  in  Hudson  Bay,  although  far  below  Baffin's  northernmost 
point  in  Baffin  Bay.  His  names  of  places  on  the  east  coast 
of  Fox  Channel  commemorate  Trinity  House  and  its  officials. 

James's  voyage  {163 1-2)  in  the  Maria  (70  tons)  resembled  and  James. 
that  of  Fox,  for  he  followed  all  except  the  eastern  coasts  of 
Hudson  Bay,  but  he  did  not  go  so  far  north  and  went 
further  south,  rounding  '  Cape  Henrietta  Maria  '  and  entering 
'  James  Bay ',  where  he  wintered  on  *  Charlton  Island '.  *  He 
divided  Button's  New  Wales  into  'New  North  Wales'  and 

*  New  South  Wales ',  which  names  persisted  until  the  end  of 
the  ensuing  century  "^ ;  and  named  *  New  Severn  River '  in 
'  New  South  Wales  '. 

1  Up  to  62^42' lat.  2  j.8°lat. 

•^  66°  30'  lat.  *  Charles  I's  town. 

®  See  e.  g.  C.  Middleton's  Chart,  1 743 ;    and  Arrovvsmith's  Map  in 
Sir  A.  Mackenzie's  Voyages,  i8or. 


6  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF    CANADA 

The  Hud-       After  1632  there  was  a  pause  of  186  years  during  which 

^CoviMnv    ^^  geography  of  the  northern  coast  line  remained  almost 

built  forts    stationary  while  its  history  advanced.     After  1668  Hudson 

^Bav  ^668^  Strait  became  a  highway  through  which  the  Hudson's  Bay 

et  seq,^        Company  sent  annual  ships  to  its  factories  or  forts  which 

began  to  line  James  Bay  and  the  southern  coast  of  Hudson  Bay. 

The  earliest  Governors  of  the  Company  (1670-91)  were 

Prince  Rupert,  the  Duke  of  York  and  Albany  (James  II), 

and  John  Churchill  (Duke  of  Marlborough) ;  Sir  J.  Haynes 

was   its   deputy  governor  (1675-85),  and  forts   were  built 

on    '  Rupert   River '   (Fort   Charles),    '  Moose  River ',   and 

*  Albany  River '  in  James  Bay,  and  on  New  Severn  River, 
and  between  Nelson  River  and  *  Hayes  River '  (York  Fort), 
and  on  'Churchill  River*  in  Hudson  Bay  (1668-1688). 
The  white  man's  range  was  '  the  range '  of  coast  line  and 
timber  trees ;  and  all  these  settlements  were  on  well-wooded 
coasts  where  Indians  did  not  dwell  but  whither  they  gladly 
descended  from  the  interior  for  purposes  of  trade.  North  of 
James  Bay  on  the  east  coast,  and  north  of  Churchill  on  the 
west  coast,  the  shores  of  Hudson  Bay  are  timberless  and  bare 
and  the  resort  of  black  and  white  whales;  and  where  shores 
are  bare  and  seas  have  whales,  there  Eskimos  are  always  found 

*  with  fat  flat  greasy  faces,  little  black  piercing  eyes,  good  teeth, 
lank  black  matted  hair  with  little  hands  and  feet  V  eating  raw 
meat  and  sleeping  naked  in  houses  of  stone  or  (in  the  Arctics) 
of  ice  and  snow  like  the  sugar  huts  in  Grimm's  fairy  stories. 
After  thetreaty  of  Utrecht(i  7 13)  forts  were  built  by  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  at  the  mouths  of  East  Main  River  ^  and  Big 
River  ^  on  the  east  shores  of  James  Bay,  and  for  a  time  at 
Richmond  Fort  on  Richmond  Gulf  (1749)  ^  on  the  east  coast 

^  Hakhiyt  Society  Publications,  vol.xi;  Captain  W.  Coats,  Geography 
of  Hudson  Bay^  ?•  73- 
"^  Formerly  Slude  River. 
^  Fort  George,  now  Fort  Victoria. 
*  56°  22'lat.  Coats,  op.  cit.,  p.  78. 


THE   FAR    NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES         7 

of  Hudson  Bay,  where  a  few  trees  chanced  to  grow,  the  object 
of  Richmond  Fort  being  to  attract  Eskimo  traders  who 
ah'eady  frequented  the  coast  between  Hudson  Strait  and 
Little  Whale  River';  but  in  the  west  there  were  no  trees 
north  of  the  Churchill  2,  and  the  same  object  was  attained  by 
sending  annual  tradeships  up  north  from  the  Churchill  as  far 
as  Whale  Cove,  a  distance  of  200  miles.  Englishmen  wanted 
seas  and  trees,  Eskimos  seas  without  trees,  and  Indians  trees 
without  seas.  For  more  than  a  century  after  1632  no  one 
was  a  match  for  Baffin,  Fox  or  even  Button,  in  the  extent  of 
his  knowledge,  and  geography  stood  still. 

Then  a  small  move  was  made.    Explorers  named  James  atid 
Knight,  George  Barlow,  and  D.  Vaughan  were  sent  out  by  the  g^pify^. 
Hudson  Bay  Company  to  the  north  of  Churchill  in  1 7 1 9,  and  tions  were 
were  never  heard  of  again  until  1767,  when  their  boats  and  Hudson 
bones  were  discovered  on  Brooke  Cobham  (Marble)  Island.  Bay^  17 19 
In  the  meantime  men's  hearts  were  touched  with  anxiety  for  ^  "^^^' ' 
those  who  had  gone  forth  and  had  not  come  back ;  and  men's 
intellects  were  stimulated.    A  controversy  arose,  some  men 
arguing  that  Hudson  Bay  was  like  the  Mediterranean,  a  closed 
sea  with  an  outlet  at  Hudson  Strait  but  without  an  inlet, 
and  that  Roe's  Welcome  and  Fox  Channels  were  ads-de- 
sac  where  the  ice  was  created  which  beat  against  the  east 
coasts  of  Hudson  Bay  and  drove  through  Hudson  Strait.     If 
so,  they  said,  the  frontier  of  Canada  lay  far  north  of  Roe's 
Welcome,  Fox  Channel,  and  Hudson  Bay  and  Strait.    Other 
theorists,    notably    Arthur    Dobbs,   contended    that    Roe's 
Welcome  was  not  a  cul-de-sac  but  a  Strait  which  rounded 
some  northern  Cape  a  few  miles  north  of  Button's  furthest, 
and  that  a  straight  line  drawn  from  this  northern  Cape  to  the 
Pacific  passed  through  open  sea.    Wild  as  the  theory  sounded, 
there  was  no  one  who  could  disprove  it.     So  Sir  Charles 
Wager,  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  sent  out  Christopher 

*  Coats,  op,  cit.,  pp.  66,  89.  -  59°  lat. 


8  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Middleton  and  William  Moor  in  King's  ships  to  test  it.^  They 
sailed  up  Roe's  Welcome,  examined  '  Wager  Inlet '  (which 
led  only  to  a  river),  *  Repulse  Bay '  (which  was  a  bay  and 
nothing  more),  and  noted  a  'Frozen  Strait'  leading  from 
Repulse  Bay  down  the  east  coast  of  Southampton  Islands, 
and  returned.  Middleton  had  reached  the  Arctic  circle,  and 
had  found  no  thoroughfare ;  for  his  road  merely  took  him 
round  a  corner  back  into  Hudson  Bay ;  but  when  he  told  his 
story  he  was  disbelieved.  Less  weight  was  attached  to  his 
facts  than  to  the  arguments  urged  by  controversialists  whom 
Dobbs  led. 
and  the  The  next  move  was  made  by  land,  and  the  Hudson  Bay 

IhTcopfer-  Company  was  the  moving  spirit.     In  177 1-2  Samuel  Hearne 
mine,  and  went  overland  from  Churchill  to  the  mouth  of  the  Copper- 
and  icT^^  mine.     He  passed  through  the  mountainless,  mossy,  treeless 
Cape  were  barrens  of  the  reindeer  and  musk  ox  until  he  reached  the 
^fro7nelse-    -^^^^^^  circle,  the  sea,  and  the  Eskimos,  whom  his  attendant 
where.        Indians  slew.     His  adventures  were  vividly  described,  but  his 
geographical  information  was  vague,  cloudy,  and  confused. 
Then  two  explorers  whose  geographical  capacity  was  beyond 
cavil  took  up  the  tale.     Captain  Cook  (1778)  sailed  with  the 
Discovery  and  Resolution  along  the  west  coast  of  America  and 
reported  that  it  was  continuous  from  44°  5 S''  lat.  northward 
to  Icy  Cape,  which  is  beyond  the  Strait,  whose  exploration 
brought  death  and  immortality  to  Bering  (1741),  and  some 
three-and-a-half  degrees  within  the  Arctic  circle.     Then  an 
employee  of  the  Canadian  North-West  Fur  Company  named 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  started  from  Fort  Chipewyan  on 
Lake  Athabasca, ^  followed  the  Great  Slave  River  northward 
to  Great  Slave  Lake  and  Mackenzie  River  northward  from 
Great  Slave  Lake  to  its  mouth  amid  black  whales  and  Eski- 
mos.^   The  Rockies  had  already  been  seen  from  the  Missouri 

^  Henry   Ellis,    Voyage    to  Hudson   Bay,    ly^d-y,  for    discovering 
a  North-west  Passage^  1748,  with  map. 

''  59°  lat.  ^  69°  lat. 


THE   FAR    NORTH-LAND    AND   ITS   HEROES        g 

and  perhaps  from  near  Calgary ;  the  Indians  who  visited  Fort 
Chipewyan  brought  stories  of  the  same  mountains ;  and  now 
1 60  miles  west  by  north  ^  of  Great  Slave  Lake,  Mackenzie 
began  to  catch  glimpses  of  the  self-same  snow-peaks 
'  crowding  together  like  conical  waves '  which  are  seen,  and 
are  never  forgotten  when  once  seen,  from  Calgary.  Hence- 
forth his  day-dreams  and  night-dreams  were  filled  with  visions 
of  a  great  range  separating  prairie  land,  the  Athabasca,  the 
Great  Slave,  and  the  Mackenzie  rivers  from  the  Pacific,  and 
became  what  some  people  called  mountain-mad.  But  to  return. 
Icy  Cape  and  the  mouths  of  the  Mackenzie  and  Coppermine 
rivers  formed  three  fixed  points  on  the  northern  shore  of 
America,  and  all  of  them  were  within  the  Arctic  circle. 
Possibly  Repulse  Bay,  which  was  also  within  the  Arctic  circle, 
and  the  southern  shore  of  Hudson  Strait  formed  two  more 
fixed  points;  if  so,  they  were  tied  together  by  the  familiar 
southern  shores  of  Hudson  and  James  Bay  and  formed  one 
coast  line ;  but  as  yet  no  one  knew  whether  Hudson  Strait  was 
anything  more  than  a  larger  edition  of  Cabot  or  Belleisle 
Strait  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  a  larger  edition  of  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Meanwhile,  at  all  these  five  points, 
dwelt  Eskimos  similar  to  one  another  in  habits,  manners,  looks, 
and  language.  The  Eskimos  were  the  human  and  only 
threads  which  bound  these  scattered  rags  and  tags  together. 
The  discovery  of  the  three  new  fixed  points  did  not  solve,  but 
only  restated  in  more  puzzling  language,  the  problem  of 
a  continuous  frontier,  which  was  left  where  the  stout  Eliza- 
bethan mariners  in  their  frail  cockleshells  left  it. 

The  second  period  of  discovery  (1818-39)  began  immedi-  Thesecojtd 
ately  after  the  batde  of  Waterloo  ;  and  we  seem  to  pass  from  ^search 
1632  to  1818  without  a  break.     There  is  the  same  heroic  ^ 818-39, 
atmosphere  as  that  which  surrounded  the  Elizabethan  group,  ^alimal  • 
and  we  are  once  more  face  to  face  with  Christian  patriots 
whose  devotion,  valour,  energy,  simplicity,  and  humility  lift  us 
*  c.  62°  c.  30'. 


lO  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

into  a  region  where  the  air  is  purer  and  men  are  nobler. 
These  latter-day  heroes  attacked  their  problem  by  sea  and 
land;  but  the  mariners,  unlike  their  predecessors,  sailed  in 
vessels  of  300-400  tons,  or  more  rarely  of  150-170  tons, 
while  the  overlanders  were  half  mariners  and  used  boats 
resembling  whaleboats.  The  royal  patrons  of  the  discovery 
were  the  prince  Regent,^  afterwards  George  IV ; '  his  brother, 
the  Duke  of  York,^  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,^  and  the  Duke 
of  Clarence,^  afterwards  William  IV,^-^  his  wife  Queen  Ade- 
laide,^-^  the  Duchess  of  Kent^*^,  and  her  daughter  Queen 
Victoria.^  Its  official  patrons  were  Henry  Earl  Bathurst,^*' 
Colonial  Minister  ;  Robert  Viscount  Melville,^-^  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty ;  Admiralty  officials  such  as  Sir  John  Barrow,^*^-'' 
Sir  George  Cockburn,*  Sir  Thomas  By  am  Martin/  Sir  Henry 
Hotham/  Sir  Baldwin  Walker,^  Captain  Thomas  Hurd,^-^ 
Sir  Francis  Beaufort,^  and  John  W.  Croker  ^  (Macaulay's 
Croker). 

Its  private  patrons  were  Sir  Felix  Booth,^  Sir  C.  Ogle,^ 
and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  under  Sir  John  Pelly,^*® 
Nicholas  Garry/*^  Sir  George  Simpson,^  J.  Berens,^ 
A.  Colvile,"  Edward  Ellice,«  J.  Halkett,«  G.  Keith,^ 
McLoughlin,^  S.  McGillivray,'  and  W.  McTavish.^ 

The  Duke  of  WeHington,^-^  Sir  William  Cornwallis' 
(Nelson's  friend),  and  Sir  Joseph  Banks  ^  inspired  it ;  George 
Earl  of  Dalhousie  "^  and  Matthew  Baron  Aylmer,^  Governors 
General  of  Canada,  and  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland,^  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  Upper  Canada,  assisted  it;  and  Hyde  WoUaston's*^ 
and  Henry  Kater's  ^  instruments  were  used.  The  names  of 
all  these  men  are  writ  large  upon  the  map  of  Arctic  Canada 

^  Barrow  Strait  and  north.  2  Yb\^,  and  south. 

^  Hecla  and  Fury  Strait  and  south.  *  Ibid,  and  north. 

'  Boothia  Peninsula. 

®  North  coast  of  America  and  its  straits  from  Great  Fish  Estuary  to 
Coppermine  River. 

'  Ibid,  from  (and  including)  Coppermine  River  to  Mackenzie  River, 
*  Ibid,  west  of  Mackenzie  River.  *  On  the  Continent. 


THE   FAR    NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES       II 

along  with  the  names  of  the  explorers,  amongst  whom  Sir 
William  Edward  Parry  and  Sir  John  Franklin  were  foremost. 
All  the  great  explorers  of  this  period  except  Sir  John  Ross 
derived  their  inspiration  either  from  Parry  or  from  Franklin, 
and  Sir  John  Ross  introduced  Parry  to  the  Arctics. 

In  1818  Sir  John  Ross,  with  Lieutenant  Parry,  sailed  round  and  Par^y 
Baffin  Bay  in  the  Isabella  (385  tons)  and  mistook  all  the  ^'^^^^^^'^^ 
straits  and  sounds,  especially  Lancaster  Sound,^  for  ^2i.y^.  northern 
In  1819-20  Captain  Parry  in  the  Hecla  (375  tons)  and  ^^^^^J 
Griper^  with  Captains  Matthew  Liddon  and  Edward  Sabine, 
Lieutenants  F.  W.  Beechey  and  H.  P.  Hoppner,  Midshipman 
James  Ross,  and  others  who  were  destined  to  be  famous,  entered 
Lancaster  Sound,  which  they  pursued  due  west  for  450  miles. 
The  new  Strait  was  named  Barrow  Strait,  and  they  passed  in 
succession  North  Devon  (Liddon's  County),  Wellington  Chan- 
nel, Cornwallis,  Bathurst,  Byam-Martin  and  Melville  Islands 
on  their  north,  and  Prince  Regent  Inlet,  North  Somerset 
(Parry's  County),  and  after  an  interval  Banksland  on  their  south. 
Between  Melville  Island  and  Banksland  never-melted  ice 
towered  aloft  and  blocked  further  progress.  So  Parry  wintered 
in  Hecla  and  Griper  Bay  (Melville  Island)  and  during  the 
winter  explored  the  eastern  half  of  that  island,  whereon  the 
names  of  twenty  of  these  explorers  are  commemorated.^  On 
most  of  the  islands  of  Barrow  Strait  present  traces  of  musk- 
oxen  and  reindeer  but  only  past  traces  of  Eskimos  were 
found,  a  sure  sign  that  they  were  near  but  were  not  on  the 
mainland  of  America.  Another  less  convincing  proof  was 
that  the  explorers  were  already  five  hundred  miles  due  north  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Coppermine,  and  were  gazing  westward  over 
an  ocean  of  hummocky  ice  which  had  never  thawed  since  the 

1  Between  74°  and  75°  lat. 

2  Parry  Islands  (for  the  whole  group)  and  Cape  Fisher,  Point  Nias, 
Point  Reid,  Sabine  Peninsula,  Point  Griffiths,  Point  Ross,  Beverley 
Inlet,  Skene  Bay,  Point  Palmer,  Dealey  Island,  Cape  Halse,  Point 
Wakeham,  Fife  Harbor,  Cape  Hoppner,  Hooper  Island,  Bushnan  Cove, 
Cape  Edwards,  Cape  Beechey,  Liddon  Gulf  on  Melville  Island. 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


and  Ross 

discovered 

Boothia 

and  King 

IViliiam 

Island^ 


world  began,  while  Banksland  on  their  south  trended  south-  ^ 
westward.  In  182 1-3  Sir  William  Edward  Parry  in  the 
Fury  and  Hecla,  with  Captain  George  Lyon,  Lieutenant 
H.  P.  Hoppner,  Midshipmen  James  Ross,  Francis  Crozier, 
and  others  no  less  famous,  repeated  Middleton's  expedition, 
but  continued  northward  along  the  whole  east  shore  of  what 
he  called  Melville  Peninsula  to  an  ice-choked  strait  which  he 
named  Fury  and  Hecla  Strait.  The  mystery  of  Hudson  Bay 
was  solved.  Fox  Channel,  some  two  hundred  miles  north  of 
'Fox's  furthest',  was  fitted  flute-like  with  a  mouthpiece  at 
right  angles  to  it;  and  Cockburn  Land  lay  above,  and 
Melville  Peninsula  below  the  mouthpiece  through  which  ice 
was  blown  from  Prince  Regent  Inlet  into  Fox  Channel,  and 
so  into  Hudson  Bay  and  Hudson  Strait.  The  apex  of 
Melville  Peninsula  ^  was  an  eastern  apex  of  the  American 
continent,  and  as  usual  it  swarmed  with  Eskimos.  After 
spending  two  winters  in  the  Arctics  Parry  returned  home 
and  reached  Prince  Regent  Inlet  again  next  year  from  the 
north  (1824-5)  with  many  of  his  old  companions  and  in  the 
same  ships  ;  but  the  Fury  was  lost,  and  his  lowest  points  were 
'  Cape  Garry  '  on  the  west  and  *  Cape  Kater  '  on  the  east  of 
the  Inlet.  Cape  Kater  was  only  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  north-west  of  Fury  and  Hecla  Strait,  and  the  existence 
of  an  intervening  coast  was  proved  by  Parry's  successors, 
and  more  especially  by  Sir  John  Ross. 

In  1829-33  Sir  John  Ross,  with  James  Ross  for  companion 
and  Felix  Booth  for  patron,  descended  Prince  Regent  Inlet  in 
the  Victory  (150  tons)  and  Krusenstern,  passed  Cape  Garry, 
found  and  named  '  Boothia  Felix ',  which  is  a  continental 
promontory,  though  nature  seems  to  have  intended  it  for  an 
island ;  for  the  isthmus  which  joins  it  to  the  mainland  is  only 
thirteen  feet  above  sea-level,  seventeen  to  eighteen  miles  long 
and  three  parts  lake,  while  a  similar  isthmus  shadows  this 
isthmus  a  few  miles  north  of  it.  Besides  exploring  the 
1  7o°lat. 


THE  FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES       13 

isthmus  and  its  counterpart,  and  the  eastern  mainland,  for 
fifty  or  sixty  miles,  and  the  magnetic  pole  on  the  west  coast 
of  the  peninsula,^  James  Ross  followed  what  he  thought  was 
the  western  mainland  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  as 
the  crow  flies,  named  it  King  William  Land,  and  its  western- 
most points  Point  Victory,  Cape  Jane  Franklin  and  Point 
Franklin.  Long  afterwards  this  land  proved  an  island  and 
these  names  names  of  omen.  Meanwhile  Ross  lay  icebound 
on  the  east  of  the  isthmus,  abandoned  his  ships,  took  to  his 
boats,  and  on  arriving  in  Lancaster  Sound  after  four  years' 
absence  from  the  world,  saw  a  ship.  A  ship's  boat  put  forth 
to  meet  him.  What  was  the  ship's  name .?  asked  Ross.  *  The 
Isabella  of  Hull,  once  commanded  by  Captain  Ross '  was  the 
mate's  answer :  and  who  was  the  questioner  ?  '  Captain 
Ross.'  *  Impossible,'  replied  the  mate,  for  *  Captain  Ross 
had  been  dead  two  years'.  It  was  now  assumed  (rightly) 
that  the  mainland  east  of  Boothia  curved  round  to  Fury  and 
Hecla  Strait,  and  (wrongly)  that  Boothia  and  North  Somerset 
were  parts  of  the  same  peninsula,  so  that  the  continent  touched 
Lancaster  Sound  in  the  northernmost  point  of  North  Somerset. 

While  Parry  was  engaged  on  his  second  voyage  Lieutenant  and  the 
(Sir)  John  Franklin  (i 820-1)  with  (Sir)  George  Back,  (Sir)  ^^^^f/^^'^ 
John  Richardson,  Robert  Hood  and  some  French  Canadians,  continents 
repeated  Hearne's  exploit,  but  from  Great  Slave  Lake,^  not  ^^'^^^l 
from  the  Churchill,  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Coppermine,  strait  and 
called   the   Gulf,  into  which  the  Coppermine,   Richardson,  ^^fj- 
Hood,  and   Back   rivers  opened,  George  I V's  Coronation /f/^Wze/^j;^ 
Gulf,  and  returned  by  Hood  River  and  the  barrens  to  his  'fJ^^'f!lJ^ 
*  fort '  ^  on  the  edge  of  the  barrens  and  just  south  of  the 
watershed  of  the  Coppermine.    His  provisions  were  exhausted. 
Winter  had  set  in.     The  fort  which  he  had  requested  the 

1'  96° 46'  ii"  long.  ;  70° 5'  19''  lat. 

2  Fort  Providence  c.  62°  17'  N.  lat.  114°  9'  long. 

3  Fort  Enterprise  at  the  head  of  Yellowknife  River,  which  falls  into 
Great  Slave  Lake. 


14  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Indians  to  provision  was  without  provisions  or  Indians.  Back 
crawled  on  to  search  for  Indians.  Franklin  lay  down  and 
lived  on  ofFal.  He  was  soon  joined  by  Richardson,  who 
was  in  charge  of  stragglers  and  had  shot  one  straggler  who 
had  shot  Hood  and  probably  eaten  two  others.  One  or  two 
others  staggered  into  the  fort.  While  they  were  dying  inch 
by  inch,  and  the  last  spark  was  being  extinguished,  an  Indian 
whom  Back  had  found  arrived  with  food  and  they  were  saved. 
In  1825-7  Franklin,  Richardson,  Back,  and  Kendall,  after 
building  and  provisioning  a  fort^  on  Great  Bear  Lake, 
repeated  Mackenzie's  exploit  and  descended  the  Mackenzie 
River  to  its  mouth  in  boats  built  after  the  model  of  whaleboats. 
Thence  Franklin  and  Back  coasted  westward  to  meet  Captain 
Frederick  William  Beechey,  who  was  coasting  eastward  from 
Bering  Strait.  Franklin  passed  the  boundary  between  Canada 
and  Alaska ;  Beechey's  mate,  Elson,  passed  the  northern  apex 
of  Alaska  ;  and  the  two  parties  reduced  the  unknown  part  of 
that  coastline  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles.  Meanwhile 
Richardson  and  Kendall  coasted  to  the  east  through  '  Dolphin 
and  Union  Strait ',  which  was  named  after  their  boats,  and 
lies  between  *  Wollaston  Land  '  and  the  mainland  ;  and  after 
reaching  the  Coppermine  River  they  returned  by  land  to  the 
fort  on  Great  Bear  Lake. 

Two  of  the  five  fixed  points  of  the  continental  border, 
namely,  the  mouths  of  the  Mackenzie  and  Coppermine,  were 
now  joined  to  one  another,  and  a  third,  namely,  Bering  Strait, 
was  nearly  joined  to  them. 
by  Backy  In  1833-5  Sir  George  Back  and  Dr.  Richard  King  started 
east  from  Great  Slave  Lake,  partly  to  ascertain  the  fate  of  Ross, 
but  chiefly  for  purposes  of  exploration,  crossed  the  watershed 
and  discovered  and  descended  the  Great  Fish  River,  which 
Franklin  had  heard  of  (1819),^  to  its  mouth.     The  land 

^  Fort  Franklin. 

'  As  Thloueeatessy,  Narrative  of  a  Journey  to  the  .  .  .  Folar  Sea, 
1823,  vol.  i,  p.  143.    Probably  Hearne's  Thele  aza. 


THE   FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES       1 5 

about  its  mouth  was  named  '  William  IV's  Land  ' ;  a  strange 
coincidence,  for  although  Back  had  then  heard  of  Ross's  return, 
he  had  not  heard  that  Ross  had  named  his  south-western  goal 
'  King  William  Land ' ;  and  Back's  '  William  I V's  Land ', 
and  Ross's  *  King  William  Land '  were  explored  by  their  dis- 
coverers to  within  one  hundred  miles  of  one  another.  The 
country  traversed  by  Back  was  the  abomination  of  desolation ; 
a  few  miles  east/^  of  his  fort  ^  on  Great  Slave  Lake,  trees 
ceased,  and  there  were  barrens,  barrens,  barrens  all  the  way. 
Thus  a  sixth  fixed  point  was  added  to  the  coast-line  of 
North  America,  namely,  the  Great  Fish  River. 

The  last  expedition  of  this  period  was  the  only  private  and  by 
venture  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  during  this  period.  ^^^''^^°^^' 
Thomas  Simpson  and  Peter  Warren  Dease  (1837-9),  who 
were  in  command,  explored  the  northern  coast  from  Beechey's 
furthest  to  the  Great  Fish  Estuary,  which  they  traced 
a  little  further  east  than  Back  had  traced  it.  Their  boats 
Castor  and  Pollux  gave  a  name  to  the  eastern  limit  of 
their  discoveries,  which  lay  57  miles  south  of  the  most 
southerly  point  reached  by  James  Ross,  and,  strange  to  say, 
1 20  miles  south-east  (not  south-west)  of  James  Ross's  western- 
most point.  But  the  wild  geese  were  flying  south,  stars  were 
seen  in  the  sky,  and  food  was  scarce,  so  they  too  turned  back 
with  their  task  just  unaccomplished.  They  noted  land  on 
the  north  of  Simpson  Strait,  which  they  identified  with  Ross's 
King  William  Land  and  deemed  a  promontory  of  Boothia, 
and  land  on  the  north  of  Dease  Strait,  which  was  called 
*  Victoria  Land '.  Simpson  and  Dease  proved  what  Franklin, 
Richardson,  and  Back  partly  proved  and  partly  guessed,  that 
the  seaboard  from  Bering  Strait  to  Boothia  is  fairly  straight, 
except  where  the  Mackenzie  Coppermine  and  Great  Fish 
rivers  form  estuaries,  and  is  paved  with  ice  from  end  to  end, 
except  where  running  rivers  and  land  warmer  than  the  waves 

*  At  Artillery  Lake.  ^  Fort  Reliance. 


i6 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


The  third 
period  of 
search^ 

i845-59» 
was  also 
national : 


Rae 

searched 

between 

Hudson 

Bay  and 

King 

William 

Island: 


cut  narrow  streaks  or  pathways  of  water  through  the  crystal 
sea  during  two  short  summer  months. 

The  godfathers  and  godmothers  of  the  third  period 
(1845-59)  were  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  Queen  Victoria,  her 
consort  Prince  Albert  and  her  children  the  Princess  Royal, 
the  Prince  of  Wales  and  Duke  of  Cornwall,  Prince  Alfred,  and 
Prince  Patrick  (Duke  of  Connaught) ;  Admiralty  officials  like 
Sir  F.  Baring,  First  Lord,  J.  W.  Deans  Dundas,  W.  A. 
Baillie  Hamilton  and  John  Parker;  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  to  whose  officials  no  new  names  except  those 
of  Shepherd  and  Matheson  need  be  added ;  Lieutenant 
P.  A.  Halkett,  who  invented  a  portable  boat;  and  the 
explorers,  among  whom  Sir  John  Franklin  was  the  central 
figure. 

If  we  may  for  once  anticipate  events,  John  Rae  (1846-7), 
acting  on  a  suggestion  made  by  Franklin  in  1828  and  1836,^ 
and  under  a  commission  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company, 
traced  on  foot  the  whole  coast  between  Fury  and  Hecla  Strait 
on  the  summit  of  Melville  Peninsula,  and  the  base  of  Boothia 
Peninsula,  thus  joining  Parry's  north-western  with  Ross's 
easternmost  limits.  He  passed  the  winter  at  the  base  of 
Melville  Peninsula,  which  was  a  low  isthmus,  thenceforth 
called  Rae  Isthmus,  forty  miles  across  and  seven-eighths  lake, 
like  that  which  formed  the  base  of  Boothia  Peninsula;  and  in 
both  cases  there  were  two  lines  of  lake  across  the  isthmus. 
The  land  lay  within  the  arctic  regions,  the  only  fuel  was 
Andromeda  tetragona,  and  he  fed  on  reindeer  which  he  shot 
or  on  seals  bought  from  the  Eskimos  who  lined  the  shore. 
The  whole  coast  was  now  known  from  Bering  Strait  to 
Hudson  Strait,  but  for  two  or  three  exceptions,  which  were — 
a  strip  of  coast  on  the  west  of  Boothia,  a  strip  of  coast  on  the 
west  of  North  Somerset  (if  Boothia  and  North  Somerset 
were  indeed  one),  and  fifty  or  sixty  miles  of  what  might  be 


^  Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society ^  vol.  vi,  1836,  p.  43. 


THE   FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES       1 7 

land  or  might  be  sea  on  the  east  of  King  William  Land. 
These  were  the  two  or  three  dark  places  on  the  earth,  the  two  or 
three  riddles  of  the  Sphinx  which  were  as  yet  unanswered. 

In  1845  Sir  John  Franklin,  Captains  Francis  Crozier,  James  Franklin 
Fitz James,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  doomed  men,  set  f^^^^ 
out  in  the  Erehus  and  Terror  to  sail  the  whole  way  from  1845; 
Lancaster  Sound  to  Bering  Strait  and  perchance  to  answer 
these  riddles  or  else,  in  Hudson's  words,  ^to  give  reason 
wherefore  it  might  not  be  *,  for  they  were  men  who  meant  to 
do   or   die.     They   were   provisioned   for   three   years  and 
vanished  in  their  first  year.     After  three  years  a  search  for 
them  began.     This  was  the  prologue  of  the  drama. 

In  1848-9  Captains  Sir  James  Ross  and  (Sir)  F.  Leopold  and  was 
McClintock  and  Lieutenants  Robinson  and  Brown  wintered  nought  for, 

first  in 

in  Barrow  Strait  and  sledged  along  the  east  and  west  coasts  1848-9,  by 
of  North  Somerset,  but  not  quite  so  far  south  as  Boothia,  and  J^^^^^^ 
along  part  of  the  east  coast  of  Prince  Regent  Inlet,  but  not  Fullen, 
so  far  south   as   in   North   Somerset :   from   Bering  Strait  ^^<^^<^^^- 

'  ^  son,  Kae, 

Lieutenant   W.  J.   S.  Pullen   went   in  a  whale-boat  to  the  &c,; 

Mackenzie ;  and  from  Canada  Richardson  and  Rae,  starting 

at  a  fort  ^  on  Great  Bear  Lake,  repeated  Richardson's  feat  of 

1825-7,  tried  but  failed  to  cross  to  Wollaston  Land,  although 

they  conversed  with  Eskimos  who  had  recently  been  there ; 

and  when  the  curtain  dropped  upon  the  first  Act  no  new 

light   had  been  thrown  on  the  fate  of  Franklin  or  on  the 

northern  frontier  of  the  continent. 

In  1 8  50- 1  a  flotilla  of  vessels  under  Captains  Horatio  Austin  secondly  in 

and  Erasmus Ommaney,  Lieutenants  Sherard  Osborn,  William  ^^^^7-^'^^^ 

Browne,  F.  Leopold  McClintock,  George  F.  Mecham,  R.  Vesey  Ommaney 

Hamilton, R.D.Aldrich, (Sir) Clements  Markham,  andDr.A.R.  ^^^^^^^ 

Bradford,  in  the  Resolute y  Assistance,  Pioneer,  and  Intrepid,  parties, 

renewed  the  search.     Captains  William  Penny  and  Alexander /^j^^^^f^^^^ 

Stewart,  Dr.  P.  C.  Sutherland,  R.  A.  Goodsir  and  J.  Stuart  joined 

them  with  two  other  vessels  ;  Sir  John  Ross,  then  seventy-three 

^  Dease  and  Simpson's  Fort  Confidence. 

VOL.  V.     PT.  in  Q 


l8  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

years  of  age,  brought  two  more  vessels,  Captain  C.  Forsyth 
one  more  (1850),  Captain  William  Kennedy  and  Lieuten- 
ant Bellot  (185 1-2)  one  more,  and  Lieutenant  De  Haven 
(United  States)  two  more,  the  latter  being  supplied  by  the 
generosity  of  Henry  Grinnell.  These  vessels  met  off  and 
on  in  Barrow  Strait,  and  Ommaney  found  on  Beechey  Island 
at  the  south-west  of  North  Devon  the  spot  where  Franklin 
wintered  (1846-7),  but  no  record  except  an  epitaph  on  the 
grave  of  one  of  Franklin's  crew.  Before  the  search  had  pro- 
ceeded far,  the  vessels  were  frozen  for  the  winter  into  beds 
of  ice,  some  in  Wellington  Channel  near  its  mouth  in  Barrow 
Strait,  others  in  Barrow  Strait  near  the  mouth  of  Wellington 
Channel.  Then  sledges  took  on  the  task.  McClintock  went 
west  to  Melville  Island,  which  he  searched  more  or  less  as  far 
as  Liddon  Gulf.  Aldrich  searched  both  sides  of  Byam  Martin 
Channel,  more  or  less.  Penny,  Stewart,  Sutherland,  and 
Goodsir  searched  both  sides  of  Wellington  Channel  and  of  its 
continuation  Queen's  Channel  more  or  less  to  its  northern 
entrance  between  Capes  which  were  named  Cape  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  Cape  Lady  Franklin — ominously,  as  it  proved. 
South  of  Barrow  Strait  a  new  island  was  found  between 
Somerset  and  Banks  Land,  and  was  named  Prince  of  Wales 
Island.  Ommaney  and  Osborn  searched  half  its  west  ^  and 
Browne  ^  searched  half  its  east  coast.  Lieutenant  Bellot  while 
searching  North  Somerset  discovered  that  it  was  an  island  and 
that  between  it  and  Boothia  Peninsula  was  a  strait  ^  more 
like  a  Greenland  fiord  than  a  strait,  twenty  miles  long,  one 
mile  wide,  four  hundred  feet  deep  or  more,  with  granite  walls 
fifteen  hundred  feet  high.  Bellot  Strait,  as  it  was  called,  be- 
came a  new  fixed  point  on  the  northern  coast  of  Canada. 
Everything  east  of  it  was  already  known.  On  its  west  there 
were  still  two  unjoined  points  which  lay  very  near  one  another. 
James  Ross's  most  northerly  point  on  the  west  coast  of  Boothia 
was  only  one  hundred  miles  south  of  the  western  entrance  of 
^  Down  to  72°  18'.  2  Down  to  72°  49'.  ^  ^  ^3°  lat. 


THE  FAR    NORTH-LAND    AND   ITS   HEROES       19 

the  new  strait,  and  the  coast  sloped  towards  it.  The  west 
coast  of  Boothia,  though  a  missing  link  in  the  chain,  was  no 
longer  a  mystery.  Only  one  uncertainty,  one  crucial  uncer- 
tainty, remained.  The  Achilles'  heel  of  the  problem  was  King 
William  Land  ^  along  whose  northern  shore  James  Ross  had 
been  one  hundred  miles  west  of  the  point  reached  by  Simpson 
from  the  west  on  a  line  of  latitude  ^  one  degree  lower  than 
Ross's  line.  As  yet  no  one  knew  that  King  William  Land 
had  an  east  coast  and  was  an  island,  and  no  search  party  had 
reached  within  one  hundred  miles  of  it,  although  Bellot  had 
been  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  and  Browne,  Osborn,  and 
Ommaney  had  been  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  on  its 
north  or  north-west. 

Meanwhile  Sir  Robert  McClure  in  the  Investigatory  and  by  ^^^- 
Sir  Richard  Collin  son  in  the  Enterprise,  started  from  England  colliitson 
for  Bering  Strait  (1850),  after  passing  which  McClure  {oV  from  the 
lowed  a  water  line  by  the  shore,  as  a  miner  follows  a  gold  ' 
lead,  or  Theseus  followed  Ariadne's  string,  and  it  took  him 
past  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  north-eastward  up  a  new 
strait,  which  he  called  Prince  of  Wales  Strait,  and  which  lay 
between  two  new  lands,  the  left  of  which  turned  out  to  be 
Banks  Land,  and  the  right  was  named  Prince  Albert  Land. 
He  reached  its  ice-choked  mouth  some  sixty  miles  due  south 
of  Melville  Island,  and  wintered  a  few  miles  further  south 
( 1 850-1).  Thence  sledge  parties  were  sent  out.  Lieutenant 
W.  H.  Haswell  sledged  southward,  where  he  found  Eskimos, 
Lieutenant  S.  G.  Cresswell  followed  the  north  coast  of  Banks 
Land,  and  R.  Wynniatt  the  north  coast  of  Prince  Albert  Land, 
until  the  shore  turned  to  the  south-east,  and  he  reached  a  point 
sixty  miles  due  west  of  Osborn's  furthest  point  on  the  west 
coast  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  two  hundred  miles  north- 
west of  King  William  Island.  Osborn's  and  Wynniatt's  points 
are  the  Jachin  and  Boaz  of  what  is  now  known  as  McClintock's 
Channel.  Next  year,  unable  to  escape  to  the  north,  McClure 
i  69°  31'  lat.  2  68°  29'  lat. 

C  2 


20  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 

retraced  his  steps  through  the  Strait  and  sailed  almost  all  the 
way  round  Banks  Land  until  he  stuck  fast  during  a  second 
and  a  third  winter  (185 1-2)  (1852-3)  in  the  Bay  of  Mercy 
on  the  north  coast  of  Banks  Land,  sixty  miles  south-west  of 
Melville  Island.  The  same  wall  of  perennial  ice  which  baffled 
Parry  when  sailing  from  the  east  in  1819-20  baffled  McClure 
when  sailing  from  the  west  in  185 1-3.  And  there  in  his  icy 
prison  he  must  be  left  at  present. 

Collinson  passed  through  Bering  Strait  in  1851,  pursued  the 
same  clue  up  the  same  strait  as  that  which  McClure  followed, 
found  two  of  McClure's  cairns  with  letters  from  him,  and 
wintered  with  HaswelKs  Eskimos  (i 851-2).  His  sledgers 
unwittingly  crossed  the  very  tracks  of  McClure's  northern 
sledgers.  Next  year  he  tried  to  advance,  but  was  compelled 
to  retreat,  searched  Prince  Albert  Inlet,  which  is  between 
Prince  Albert  Land  and  Wollaston  Land,  and  which  he  had 
mistaken  for  a  strait,  and  then  entered  Dolphin  and  Union 
Strait  and  sailed  east  to  Cambridge  Bay  in  Victoria  Land,  just 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  west  of  King  William  Land, 
which  was  now  the  only  unknown  place  on  the  northern  coast 
of  America.  His  further  career  will  be  traced  hereafter. 
a7td  by  Rae  Rae  was  Still  on  the  trail,  and  after  many  efforts  crossed 
'^sotdjf'^  Dolphin  and  Union  Strait  to  Wollaston  Land  and  hunted 
after  the  missing  men  along  its  whole  south  coast  from  the 
south  edge  of  Prince  Albert  Inlet  on  the  west,  where  he  almost 
met  Haswell,  though  he  knew  it  not,  to  a  point  in  east  Vic- 
toria Land  on  the  southern  threshold  of  what  is  now  called 
McClintock  Channel  (1851).  He,  McClure,  and  Collinson 
proved  that  Prince  Albert,  Wollaston,  and  Victoria  Land 
are  a  single  island,  and  when  near  his  eastern  terminus,  some 
forty  or  fifty  miles  west  of  King  William  Island,  Rae  found 
a  spar  of  English  wood  with  a  broad-arrow  mark.  He  was 
unable  to  cross  to  King  William  Land,  and  returned  with  this 
intelligence  to  England.  A  ray  of  hope  ushered  in  the  second 
Act  of  the  drama  and  a  ray  of  hope  shone  as  the  curtain  fell. 


THE   FAR    NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES      21 

Between   1852   and  1854  Captains  Sir  Edward  'BQlch^v,  thirdly  in 
Sherard  Osborn,  and  G.  H.  Richards,  with  W.  W.  May  and  ll%l\^^ 

D.  Lyall  in  the  Assistance  and  Pioneer]  Captains  Henry  Kellett  and  by 
and  McClintock,  with  Mecham,  Vesey-Hamilton,  B.  C.  Pirn,  ^^^^^ 

E.  F.  de  Bray  and  (Sir)  George  Nares  in  the  Resolute  '^wA  from  the 
Intrepid,  and  Captain  W  J.  S.  PuUen  and  Dr.  R.  McCormick,  in  ^^orth-east 
the  North  Star,  once  more  entered  Lancaster  Sound.     The 
Assistance  and  Pioneer  were  duly  frozen  into  their  winter 
quarters  near  Cape  Sir  John  Franklin  at  the  north  end  of 
Queen's  Channel,  while  the  North  Star  was  left  at  Beechey 

Island  near  the  south  end  of  Wellington  Channel,  and  the 
Resolute  and  Intrepid,  after  penetrating  Barrow  Strait  as  far  as 
Melville  Island,  wintered  there  off  Dealey  Islet.  Meanwhile 
McClure  remained  in  Mercy  Bay  and  Collinson  in  Cambridge 
Bay,  fast  bound  in  misery  and  ice.  These  seven  ships  did 
not  make,  but  their  sledges  made  geography.  Each  sledge 
had  its  name,  flag,  and  motto,  for  instance,  '  Persevere  to  the 
end  ',  '  Endeavour  to  deserve  ',  *  Be  of  good  courage  ',  *  Go 
forth  in  faith  ',  ^  Dangers  do  not  daunt  me ',  '  Success  to  the 
Brave  '  and  *  Loyal  au  mort '  (note  the  gender !)  The  sledgers 
remained  out  in  winter  for  100  days  at  a  time,  while  the 
thermometer  sometimes  registered  100  degrees  of  frost  and 
gales  blew,  and  the  longest  journeys  were  1157  sea-miles  in 
70  days  (Mecham)  and  1148  sea-miles  in  105  days  (McClin- 
tock). Belcher  and  his  men  went  east  along  the  north  coast 
of  North  Devon,  discovering  Belcher  Channel,  North  Corn- 
wall, and  North  Kent,  and  made  it  clear  that  Belcher  Channel 
led  by  Jones  Sound  to  Baffin  Bay ;  Richards,  Osborn,  Lyall, 
and  May  explored  the  northern  coasts  of  Cornwallis,  Bathurst 
and  Melville  Island,  until  they  met  McClintock  on  the  top  of 
Sabine  Peninsula  in  Melville  Island;  Mecham  went  along 
the  south  coast  of  Melville  Island,  which  he  found  to  be  twice 
as  long  as  had  been  thought,  and  discovered  and  examined 
the  southern  half  of  Eglinton  Island  and  the  south-east,  south, 
and  west  coasts  of  Prince  Patrick  Island ;  while  McClintock 


22 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


{they 

rescued 

McClure) 


{Belcher 
abandoned 
fonr  ships) 


examined  the  east  and  north  coasts  of  Melville  Island  and 
Prince  Patrick  Island  and  the  northern  half  of  Eglinton  Island, 
doing  everything  which  Richards  on  the  east  and  Beecham 
on  the  south  had  left  undone.  The  search  was  for  the  first 
time  thorough  and  complete,  but  the  islands  were  drawn 
blank  except  for  the  following  discovery.  A  cairn  built  by 
Parry  near  Hecla  and  Griper  Bay  (Melville  Island)  had  been 
used  as  a  post  office,  where  McClintock  left  a  letter  (June  6, 
1 851),  which  McClure  found,  and  left  a  second  letter  (April 
28, 1852)  which  Mechamfound  (October  12, 1852).  McClure 
was  in  sore  straits.  His  provisions  were  running  short :  his 
men's  gums  were  rotting  and  their  legs  were  swelling  with 
scurvy,  and  he  knew  that  Austin  and  Ommaney  intended  to 
return  in  1851.  Accordingly,  as  a  counsel  of  despair,  he 
arranged  to  send  one-third  of  his  men  south,  and  one-third 
east,  if  haply  they  might  find  some  one  who  would  succour 
them.  He  and  the  remaining  third  were  to  stay  at  their 
posts  for  another  winter.  On  April  15,  1853,  the  three  parties 
were  to  take  leave  of  one  another,  probably  for  ever  ;  but  on 
April  6  a  wild  lonely  figure  came  rushing  over  the  ice  gesti- 
culating and  yelling  like  a  madman.  His  face  was  black 
with  frost-bite  :  but — was  it  possible  ?  Yes,  he  was  speaking 
English,  and  was  not  one  of  their  crew.  It  was  Lieutenant 
Pim,  who  brought  a  sledge  party  from  the  Resolute,  McClure 
and  his  men  were  transferred  to  Kellett's  ships,  and  the  Inves- 
iigaior,  which  was  frozen  in  beyond  hope  of  release,  was 
abandoned. 

In  summer  Kellett's  ships  escaped  from  their  position  and 
sailed  east,  but  were  caught  by  winter  ice  before  reaching 
Wellington  Channel.  Belcher's  ships  sailed  south,  but  were 
caught  by  winter  ice  before  reaching  Barrow  Strait.  In 
spring,  1854,  Belcher  ordered  the  abandonment  of  the 
Resolute^  Assistance^  Intrepid,  and  Pioneer^  and  their  crews 
sailed  home  in  the  North  Star  and  some  storeships,  which 
were  met  further  east.     A  year  later,  the  Resolute,  as  if  in 


THE   FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES      23 

mockery  of  Belcher's  orders,  drifted  by  itself  unguided  yet 
scatheless,  like  the  boat  which  bore  Lancelot  to  the  enchanted 
towers  of  Carbonek,  out  of  Lancaster  Sound  down  Baffin 
Bay  to  the  very  verge  of  the  Arctic  circle  ^  where  an  American 
whaler  found  it  and  took  it  home.  It  was  afterwards  restored 
to  England  by  the  United  States. 

And  what  of  Collinson  ?    From  Cambridge  Bay  his  sledgers  and  by 
explored  the  Coast  of  Victoria  Land  eastward  a  little  further  J^^^^^^^^^'* 
than  Rae  explored  it,  and  found  what  Rae  found ;  like  Rae,  he  west, 
was  unable  to  cross  to  King  William  Land,  so  he  sailed  west, 
and,  after  passing  a  third  winter  in  the  Arctics,  repassed 
Bering  Strait  (1854)  on  his  way  home  by  the  way  he  came. 

And  what  of  Rae?     In  1853  Rae  was  sent  out  by  \h^  andfro}fi 
Hudson  Bay  Company  from  Hudson  Bay,  not  in  quest  Q{i^^^  south 
the  missing  men  but  solely  to  throw  light  on  the  last  unsolved  who  heard 
mystery  of  the  northern  frontier  of  America.     After  tracing  ^f^jf^^^l^' 
Chesterfield   Inlet,  which   had   been  partially  examined  in  aster  on 
1763^  and  1792,  he  wintered  as  before  on  Rae  Isthmus,  re-  ^Ifi^^^j^ 
examined  Pelly  Bay  in  the  Gulf  of  Boothia,  and  reached  island. 
Dease  and  Simpson's  furthest  point  in  the  Great  Fish  Estuary. 
He  then  struck  north  and  reached  a  point  which  Ross  had 
reached  on  the  west  of  Boothia  Isthmus,  thus  proving  that 
King  William  Land  has  an  east  coast  which  is  separated  by 
water  from  the  west  coast  of  Boothia.     Rae  and  Collinson 
had  already  seen  water  on  the  west  of  King  William  Land, 
James  Ross  had  seen  water  on  its  north,  and  Back,  Dease, 
and  Simpson  had  seen  water  on  its  south.     Five  expeditions 
of  first-rate  magnitude  and  difficulty  were  required  in  order 
to  prove  that  King  William  Land  was  an  island.     Six  search 
parties,  conducted  with  consummate   skill  by  Osborn  and 
Ommaney,  by  Browne,  by  Bellot,  by  Wynniatt,  by  Rae,  and 
by  Collinson,  had  converged  upon  it  from  every  point  of  the 
compass,  except  from  the  inhospitable  south,  had  approached 

^  67°  lat. 

^  S.  Hearne,  yb«/';^^>'  ,  ,  ,  to  the  N'orihern  Ocean^  1795?  P-  3on. 


24  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

it  and  retired.  This  Island  is  and  always  was  the  most  in- 
accessible spot  on  the  northern  frontier  of  Canada.  Nor 
was  Rae  able  on  this  occasion  to  cross  thither,  want  of  food 
and  boats  and  healthy  men  compelling  him  to  return.  He 
returned  with  thrilling  news.  Englishmen  were  mourning 
over  the  abandonment  of  five  Arctic  ships,  and  of  Collinson, 
and  over  the  unpenetrated  and  now  impenetrable  veil  which 
hid  Franklin's  fate,  when  Dr.  Rae  announced,  on  the  authority 
of  the  Eskimos  of  the  Great  Fish  River,  that  Franklin's  ships 
were  lost  on  the  north  coast  of  King  William  Island,  that 
his  crew  went  south  by  the  west  coast  to  the  Great  Fish 
Estuary,  where  the  last  man  dropped  and  died  of  famine  in 
the  month  of  May  long  ago,  and  that  the  throes  of  famine 
led  to  those  nameless  horrors  which  disfigured  Franklin's 
first  expedition.  Moreover,  he  brought  back  plate  with  the 
dead  men's  initials  and  crests,  which  he  had  bought  from  the 
Eskimos  who  had  bought  them  from  the  dying  men.  In  1 855 
James  Anderson  descended  Great  Fish  River  from  Great  Slave 
Lake  and  found  more  traces  of  the  dead  but  none  of  the 
living ;  but  he  too  could  not  cross  to  King  William  Island, 
as  his  boats  were  worn  out  and  the  great  Lone  Land  through 
which  he  had  journeyed  had  exhausted  his  supplies.  Thus 
the  last  mystery  of  the  continental  coastline  and  of  Franklin's 
fate  and  of  the  only  practicable  north-west  passage  was  rent 
asunder.  But  there  was  a  fourth  Act  to  the  drama. 
In  1857-9  In  order  to  make  certainty  doubly  certain,  Lady  Franklin 
tockreached  ^^^  Others  sent  out  McClintock  with  W.  R.  Hobson  and 
^^Y  ^^^^^  Young  in  the  Fox  (170  tons)  (1857-9).  McClintock 
Island  and  descended  Prince  Regent  Inlet  and  steamed  to  and  fro  through 

confirmed    Bellot  Strait,  which  is  the  northernmost  apex  of  north-eastern 
the  itcws 

America,  and  which  the  Eskimos  know  of  but  seldom  visit. 

Unable  to  proceed  either  on  the  east  or  west  of  Boothia,  he 

wintered  on  the  east  of  the  strait,  and  dispatched  sledge 

parties.     Allen  Young  explored  the  whole  south   coast  of 

Prince  of  Wales  Island,  between  the  points  formerly  reached 


THE  FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES      25 

by  Browne  and  Osborn  respectively,  so  that  the  whole  coasts 
of  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  and  the  east  shore  of  what  was 
thenceforth  called  McClintock  Channel,  had  now  been 
traversed  from  end  to  end ;  McClintock  and  Hobson  scoured 
the  west  coast  of  Boothia,  which  was  the  last  missing  link 
left  between  Bering  Strait  and  Hudson  Strait,  and  the 
whole  coasts  of  King  William  Island  and  part  of  Great  Fish 
Estuary.  They  saw  the  Eskimos  whom  Ross  and  Rae  had 
seen,  and  on  the  north  and  west  of  King  William  Island  and 
on  islands  in  the  estuary  found  cairns,  implements,  skeletons 
and  clothes  of  white  men,  and  brought  home  amongst  other 
relics  of  the  fallen  a  written  record  which  was  found  in  a 
cairn  on  Ross's  Point  Victory.  According  to  the  record, 
Franklin,  after  wintering  on  Beechey  Island,  sailed  up 
Wellington  and  Queen's  Channel,  passed  between  what 
Penny  prophetically  named  Capes  Sir  John  Franklin  and  Lady 
Franklin,  sailed  down  what  was  thenceforth  named  Crozier 
Channel,  between  Cornwallis  and  Bathurst  Islands,  descended 
what  was  thenceforth  named  Franklin's  Channel  between 
Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  North  Somerset,  and  was  finally 
wedged  into  the  ice  within  sight  of  what  Ross  propheti- 
cally named  Point  Franklin,  Cape  Jane  Franklin,  and  last 
but  not  least  Point  Victory.  Franklin  died  in  1847.  ^^"^ 
April,  1848,  Crozier  andFitzJames  led  one  hundred  and  five 
survivors  southward  by  the  west  coast  towards  Back's  Great 
Fish  River.  There  the  story  ends,  and  although  Eskimo 
tales  may  not  have  been  true  in  every  particular,  it  can  hardly 
be  supposed  that  any  of  the  band  were  alive  when  their  first 
would-be  saviours  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  what  I  have  called 
the  prologue  to  the  drama  was  really  a  prologue  in  Heaven. 
Everything  was  now  revealed.  Franklin  and  his  men  were 
the  first  to  connect  Ross's,  Back's,  Dease's,  and  Simpson's 
discoveries,  and  died  in  doing  so.  The  answer  to  the  last 
riddle  which  the  Sphinx  propounded  was  stern  and  terrible 
indeed.     Like  Berens  and  Hudson,  Franklin  bought  glory 


26  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

with  his  Hfe  and  joined  'the  lost  adventurers  his   peers', 
wearing  a  crown  of  victory.     The  strangely  prophetic  names, 
Capes  Sir  John  and  Lady  Franklin,  Point  Franklin,  Cape  Jane 
Franklin,  and  Point  Victory,  lend  an  almost  eerie  touch  to 
a   tale   which  even  without   it   is  written   in   *starfire   and 
immortal  tears  \ 
Franklin's      According    to    McClintock,   Franklin   might   have    been 
^l^/       successful  as  well  as  victorious  had  he  only  known  of  the  east 
William     coast  of  King  William  Island ;  and  this  criticism  was  justified 
traversed  ^  ^y  ^^^^  Amundsen,  who   sailed   along   Lancaster   Sound, 
byAmtmd-  Franklin  Channel,  and  the  east  coast  of  King  William  Island, 
1^903-6.      ^^^  ^^^^  along  the  North  American  coast,  to  Bering  Strait, 
thus  passing  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  in  one  ship  by 
the  north  for  the  first  time  {1903-6).     This  error  of  about 
ten  miles  in  a  voyage  of  twenty  thousand  miles  or  more  meant 
the  difference  between  Amundsen's  exploit  and  Franklin's 
disaster.     The  way  which  Franklin  all  but  found  was  not 
only  a  possible  way  but  was  probably  the  only  way  to  the 
west;  for  Hecla  and  Fury  Strait,  and  the  straits  between 
Melville  and  Banks  Island,  between  the  latter  and  Prince 
Albert-and- Victoria    Island,   and    between    the    latter   and 
Prince  of  Wales  Island,  are  so  far  as  is  known  always  as 
impassable  as  Parry,  McCliire,  and  Collinson  found  them. 
Tins  search      It  is  sometimes  asked  why  the  archipelago  of  islands  to  the 
^northern     ^^o^^h  of  continental  Canada  are  considered  part  of  Canada. 
archipelago  The  answer  is  that  the  differences  between  straits  and  isthmuses 
Canada.      ^^^  between  islands  like  Southampton,  King  William  and 
North  Somerset  Islands,  and  peninsulas  like  Melville  and 
Boothia  Peninsulas,  are  infinitesimally  small,  that  the  last 
crowning  discovery  which  was  made  on  the  northern  coast 
was  the  discovery  that  what  was  thought  a  promontory  was 
really  an  island,  and  that  the  discoveries  of  these  tiny  differ- 
ences cost  the  greatest   amount   of  suffering  and   deaths. 
Even  now  maps  are  not  agreed  as  to  whether  Cockurn  Land 
is  an  island  or  a  part  of  Baffin  Land.     INIen  sailed  or  walked 


THE  FAR   NORTH-LAND   AND   ITS   HEROES      27 

round  every  foot  of  every  island  coast — except  some  northern 
islands  recently  discovered  by  Otto  Sverdrup  (1898- 190 2), 
except  too  the  greater  part  of  Grant  Land,  and  except  a 
small  strip  of  Victoria  Land  on  the  west  coast  of  McClintock 
Channel,  which  was  examined  by  Amundsen — before  the  real 
continental  coast  was  ascertained,  and  in  order  that  it  might  be 
ascertained.  The  very  names  of  places  denote  that  the  island 
search  and  continental  search  were  inextricably  interwoven ; 
names  of  landsmen  like  Garry,  and  of  naval  officials  like 
Barrow,  recur  on  both  the  insular  and  continental  shores, 
and  Beechey's  name  is  found  inland  and  on  every  coast. 
History  decided  that  there  should  and  could  be  only  one 
search  and  one  discovery,  of  which  the  search  and  discovery 
of  the  archipelago  was  an  inseparable  part.  The  very  herbs 
and  animals  proclaimed  the  unity  of  the  islands  and  the 
continent.  The  moss,  iripe  de  roche,  and  ground  willow  on 
which  reindeer,  musk-ox,  lemmings  and  hares  feed ;  the 
lemmings  on  which  white  bear  cubs  feed ;  the  white  bear 
cubs,  musk-ox,  and  reindeer  on  which  the  wolves  feed ;  the 
hares  on  which  the  ermines  and  foxes  feed;  the  purple 
saxifrage  which  allures  the  ptarmigan,  which  allures  the  owls 
and  ravens;  the  seals  which  allure  the  white  bears  and 
Eskimos,  thrive,  and  the  feeders  thrive,  in  winter  as  well  as  in 
summer,  on  the  islands  as  well  as  on  the  mainland.  But  the 
principal  tie  is  the  human  interest  of  the  tragedy  associated 
with  Sir  John  Franklin,  who  explored  on  foot,  in  boats,  and  in 
ships  of  the  Royal  Navy,  the  continental  barrens  and  shores 
and  the  islands  and  their  shores,  and  perished  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  mission  which  equally  concerned  the  waterways 
amid  the  northern  islands  and  the  delineation  of  the  northern 
frontier  of  the  American  continent.  The  Dominion  Govern- 
ment sends  a  steamer  from  time  to  time  to  control  or  save 
the  whalers  of  Lancaster  Sound  and  Barrow  Strait ;  and 
Herschel  Island,  a  little  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie, 
is  a  rendezvous  of  American  whalers  from  Bering  Strait  and 


28  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

of  representatives  of  the  North- West  Mounted  Police,  who 
also  frequent  the  islands  of  Hudson  Bay ;  otherwise  these 
arctic  islands  and  this  arctic  coast  have  once  more  resumed 
their  primeval  desolation ;  nor  are  they  destined  to  become 
the  theatre  of  history  or  the  home  of  any  one  white  man,  and 
the  only  history  of  which  they  are  or  will  be  the  theatre  is 
contained  in  catalogues  of  names  of  kings,  queens,  princes, 
admirals,  officials,  men  of  commerce  and  explorers  of  a  by- 
gone age,  names  which  mark  their  dates  and  illustrate  their 
characteristic  features  in  a  way  which  resembles  the  mute 
records  of  the  past  furnished  by  geology.  But  the  re- 
semblance is  not  complete ;  for  the  names  which  are  written 
on  these  shores  are  human  names,  and  names  which  speak 
from  spirit  to  spirit  and  eloquently  perpetuate  no  mere 
succession  of  events,  but  an  heroic  tragedy  in  which  Intrepid 
and  Resolute  Investigators  pursued  Discovery  through  regions 
of  Sunshme,  but  also  of  Erebus  and  Terror  and  Fury,  until 
their  Enterprise  and  Resolution  were  rewarded  with  Victory. 


As  to  the  general  Geography  of  Canada,  S.  E.  Dawson,  Canada  ami 
Newfoundland  (1897),  in  Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography  and 
Travely  is  the  leading  authority. 

As  to  this  chapter:  besides  references  in  the  notes,  the  Hakluyt  Society's 
Publications  contain  monographs  on  the  Voyages  of  William  Baffin 
(1881),  William  Coats  (1852),  John  Davys  (1880),  Martin  Frobisher 
(1867),  Luke  Fox  and  Thomas  James  (1894),  Henry  Hudson  (i860), 
which  illustrate  the  first  period  ;  during  the  second  period  Sir  George 
Back,  Sir  John  Franklin,  Sir  William  E.  Parry,  John  Rae,  Sir  John 
Richardson,  Sir  John  Ross,  Captain  F.  W.  Beechey,  and  Thomas  Simpson 
have  been  their  own  historians ;  and  thirty-two  Parliamentary  papers 
(1847-58),  indexed  under  the  title  of  Arctic  Expeditions,  deal  with 
the  last  Franklin  expedition  and  the  Franklin  relief  expedition.  Sir 
Richard  Collinson,  Sir  Leopold  McClintock,  Sir  Robert  McClure, 
Sherard  Osborn,  Peter  C.  Sutherland,  Robert  MacCormick,  Robert 
Goodsir,  Alexander  Armstrong,  and  others,  have  also  published  their  own 
experiences.  There  are  English  translations  of  the  Voyages  of  Roald 
Amundsen  (1908)  and  Otto  Sverdrup  (1904)  to  which  reference  has 
been  made. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    FAR   EAST 

Nova  Scotia,  the  two  Islands  and  their  People 

We  must  now  leave  the  Arctic  solitudes  for  the  hum  of  the  The  four 
market-place.     Three  thousand  miles  south-east  of  Herschel  Pr^/nces 
Island  and  two  thousand  miles  south  of  Lancaster  Sound  are 
the  Maritime  Provinces. 

The  four  Maritime  Provinces,  all  or  some  of  which  the  <^>'^  Aca- 
French  called  Acadia,  are  the  eastern  vestibule  of  Canada.  ^^* 
Three  of  the  Maritime  Provinces,  Cape  Breton  Island,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  New  Brunswick,  occupy  the  curving  coast  along  the 
south  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  west  shore 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  and  the  fourth,  Prince  Edward  Island, 
is  an  island  in  the  Gulf,  shaped  like  a  new  moon  and  mimick- 
ing the  Gulf  shores  off  which  it  lies.  From  1763  to  1767  all 
four,  from  1767  to  1784  the  first  three,  from  1820  until  now 
the  first  two  provinces,  constituted  the  Province  of  Nova 
Scotia ;  but  in  the  following  pages  Nova  Scotia  will  be  used 
not  in  its  political  but  in  its  geographical  sense,  which  is 
also  the  political  sense  which  it  bore  between  1784  and  1820 
when  the  Province  was  the  Peninsula  of  that  name. 

These  four  provinces  lie  east  of  the  mountain  range  (if  it 
may  be  so  called)  which  throws  off  a  succession  of  ridges 
between  Central  Alabama  and  the  Shickshock  mountains  in 
the  Peninsula  of  Gasp^,  and  is  sometimes  called  the  Appala- 
chian range ;  and  therefore  they  resemble  New  England  and 
are  unlike  Canada  proper  in  contour  and  character. 

East  of  a  bent  line  drawn  from  Digby  (Nova  Scotia)  to  Their  Geo- 
Cape  Canso  (N.  S.)  and  thence  to  Cape  Breton  are  ^chtd^'coal 
Cambrian  or  pre-Cambrian  slates,  into  which  granite  from  strata; 


32  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

time  to  time  intrudes.  The  country  is  rough,  stony,  irregular, 
and  dull  of  hue.  It  is  unfertile,  but  has  gold.  Behind,  from 
Digby  to  Truro  (Nova  Scotia)  and  thence  to  Chignecto 
isthmus  (New  Brunswick)  on  the  left,  and  to  the  Bras  D'Or 
and  Sydney  on  the  right,  are  later  rocks  of  Silurian,  Devonian, 
Carboniferous,  Permian,  and  Triassic  age  ;  and  the  rose-red 
sandstones  of  Windsor  (Nova  Scotia),  of  the  Bras  d'Or 
(Cape  Breton  Island),  and  elsewhere,  are  usually  Triassic  like 
those  at  Dawlish,  and  the  lily-white  gypsum  hard  by  is 
usually  Carboniferous.  The  series  is  much  the  same  as  in 
Europe,  but  Triassic  is  the  last  and  latest  of  the  series  in 
Nova  Scotia,  so  that  the  newest  rocks  are  brightest. 
ami  their  From  Digby  to  Wolfville  what  seems  like  a  straight  and 
gfography  ^arrow  valley  ninety  miles  long  lies  between  two  straight 
cotnposite  ridges,  but  this  is  both  more  and  less  than  truth.  The  north 
valleys,  ii^gQ  is  a  real  ridge  and  is  longer  than  it  seems ;  for  it  begins 
west  of  Digby,  where  the  sea  cuts  through  it,  then  continues 
as  '  North  Mountain ',  which  is  sandstone  with  a  trap-cap,  to 
Cape  Blomidon  beyond  Wolfville,  where  the  sea  again  cuts 
through  it;  and  then  it  continues  as  the  Cobequid  range, 
which  is  mainly  Carboniferous,  and  extends  behind  Truro 
from  the  Permian  flats  of  Chignecto  Isthmus  on  the  west  to 
the  Gut  of  Canso  on  the  east.  The  seeming  south  ridge  is 
merely  the  fringe  of  the  Cambrian  highlands  ;  the  seeming 
valley  between  the  ridges  is  a  composite  valley  carved  out  by 
two  rivers  rising  in  a  low-lying  bog,  within  a  few  paces  of  one 
another  by  the  roadside,^  running  in  opposite  directions  and 
named  the  AnnapoHs  and  Cornwallis ;  and  the  valley  after 
passing  Wolfville  opens  out  into  the  Basin  of  Mines  and  its 
shores,  until  Truro  and  the  hills  behind  Truro  bring  it  to  an 
end  some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  beyond  Wolfville. 
red  rivers,  All  the  chief  rivers  of  the  seeming  valley,  and  of  the  Basin 
^marshes,  ^^  Mines  and  of  south  Chignecto,  are  lazy,  dirty,  and  red 
with  slime  and  ooze,  and  as  unlike  the  rivers  of  Quebec  and 
^  Lieutenant  Coke,  Subaltern's  Furlough,  p.  395. 


THE   FAR    EAST  33 

Ontario  as  it  is  possible  for  rivers  to  be;  but  the  mud  which 
they  carry  out  to  sea  is  returned  by  the  tide  with  interest  in 
the  form  of  salt,  sand,  trap,  gypsum,  lime,  and  many  other 
fertihzers.  Moreover,  the  tides  exceed  even  those  of  Ungava 
Bay,  and  are  probably  the  highest  in  the  world. 

Access  to  the  sea  from  Annapolis,  Wolfville,  and  Truro  is 
by  narrow  slits  ;  Chignecto  also  communicates  with  the  same 
sea  by  narrow  slits ;  and  the  sea  is  not  the  open  sea,  but  the 
funnel-shaped  Bay  of  Fundy.  Therefore  flowing  tides  sixty 
feet  high  wash  these  shores,  and  ebbing  tides  scoop  out 
drains  and  pile  up  dams.  The  land  which  is  washed — or 
but  for  the  dams  and  drains  would  be  washed — by  the  tide 
is  salt-marsh,  and  is  extraordinarily  fertile,  especially  when 
man  adds  his  puny  dams  and  drains  to  those  which  Nature 
has  made. 

Because  the  series  of  rocks  from  slates  to  New-Red  Sand-  and  coal, 
stones  is  much  the  same  in  the  West  of  England  and  the 
eastern  Provinces  of  Canada,  coal  may  exist  west  of  Mird 
Bay  (Cape  Breton  Island)  but  not  east  of  it;  at  Sydney 
(C.  B.  I.),  but  not  at  Louisbourg.  Again,  the  coast  north 
of  St.  Anne's  Bay  (C.  B,  I.)  is  one  of  the  few  purely 
Archaean  areas  east  of  the  Appalachians  ;  therefore  coal  may 
be  expected  at  New  Campbellton  (C.  B.  I.)  and  Broad 
Cove  (C,  B.  I.)  or  to  their  south,  but  not  in  the  Archaean 
area  to  their  north.  So,  too,  in  Nova  Scotia,  Pictou,  the 
Cobequids  and  Chignecto  are  rich  in  coal,  but  the  Atlantic 
coast  is  too  old  for  coal.  In  New  Brunswick  the  coal  area 
is  vast,  and  yet  hardly  any  coal  is  obtained. 

New  Brunswick  has  three  belts — a  Cambrian  or  older  belt  New 
from  Shepody,  where  the  salt  marshes  end,  to  Passama-  ^^^'^^^^^^ 
quoddy  Bay,  a  granite  belt  thence  to  Bay  Chaleurs,  near  Edward 
Bathurst,  and  an  Appalachian  belt  along  the  north  border  f^f/^^^^j^^^,, 
of  the  province ;  and  these  three  belts  form  a  Z,  between  whatdiffer- 
whose  upper  and  middle  lines  are  Silurian  and  granite  high-  ^'^^* 
lands  800  to  2,600  feet  high,  and  between  whose  lower  and 

VOL.   V.      FT.  Ill  D 


34  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

middle  lines  is  a  fertile  Carboniferous  plain  200  to  500  feet 
high,  cleft  by  river  valleys  and  ravines,  but  otherwise  level 
and  free  from  stone.  These  geological  divisions  are  very 
visible  even  to  a  railway  traveller.  The  change  from  stone- 
less  levels  to  rough  granite  country  at  Petit  Rocher  station 
near  Bathurst  is  almost  dramatic;  Moncton  is  obviously 
within  the  zone  of  salt  marshes;  the  ninety-mile  journey 
thence  to  St.  John— along  two  straight  valleys  lying  back 
to  back,  and  separated  by  a  watershed  160  feet  high — is 
obviously  within  the  Carboniferous  zone,  and  St.  John 
railway-station  is  in  a  cleft  between  unmistakable  Cambrian 
or  pre-Cambrian  slate  rocks  and  limestone  rocks  almost  as 
old.  The  Carboniferous  area  is  large  and  flat ;  therefore  its 
coal  is  hard  to  seek  and  far  to  find,  and  New  Brunswick 
hardly  yields  any  coal.  Nor  does  Prince  Edward  Island, 
which  is  an  extension  of  the  low-lying  Carboniferous,  Permian, 
and  Triassic  mainland,  and  is  never  500  feet  high.  But 
then  the  Island — which  Cobbett  described  as  '  a  rascally  heap 
of  sand,  rock,  and  swamp ',  and  a  *  lump  of  worthlessness ' 
which  'bears  nothing  but  potatoes' — has  loamy  stoneless 
soil,  grows  corn,  is  fertile  from  end  to  end,  and  is  known  as 
the  granary  and  garden  of  the  Gulf,  so  that  it  need  not  seek 
wealth  below  the  surface. 
The  little-  Each  of  the  four  Maritime  Provinces  is  small :  the  smallest 
These^Pro-  ^^  ^^^^"^  ^^^  ^^^  largest  is  emptiest :  and  the  size  of  the  three 
vinces,        large  provinces  increases  as  we  approach  Canada  proper. 

1 90 1  Prince  Edward  Island 

„  Cape  Breton  Island 

„  Nova  Scotia 

„  New  Brunswick 

^'S'  ^f  Prince  Edward  Island  is  a  miniature,  and  the  very  form 

^Breton  Is-  ^^  ^^P^  Breton  Island  conveys  a  sense  of  littleness.    Two 

/and,  thin  sea-arms  passing  on  the  east  and  west  of  Boularderie 

Island  (C.  B.  I.),  and  known  as  the  Little  and  Great  Bras  D'Or, 

lead  to  an  inland  sea,  as  long  as  Windermere,  then  to  a  Strait 


S^.  mites 

Population 

2,184 

103,259 

3,975 

97,605 

i7»453 

361,969 

27.985 

33iji2o 

THE   FAR   EAST  35 

spanned  by  a  railway  bridge,  then  to  a  second  inland  sea  as 
long  as  Lake  Constance,  and  lastly  to  St.  Peter*s  Isthmus, 
which  is  half  a  mile  across.  These  two  seas  though  salt  are  still 
and  small,  like  lakes,  and  are  known  as  the  Little  and  Great  Bras 
D'Or  Lakes  respectively.  The  island  is  hollow  within,  and  a 
canal  through  the  isthmus  of  St.  Peter  divides  its  attenuated 
body  into  two  halves.  Elsewhere  waterways  which  lie  back  to 
back,  and  are  separated  by  low  watersheds,  almost  cut  it  into 
long  low-ridged  slices,  resembling  Boularderie  Island  in 
shape ;  for  instance,  between  Sydney  Harbour  and  East  Bay, 
between  Mire  Bay  and  Fourche,  and  at  Lake  Ainslie.  The 
country  is  hilly  but  low,  like  Prince  Edward  Island,  except 
near  its  northern  apex,  where  the  hills  are  1,392  feet  high. 
Thence,  too,  all  down  the  peninsula  is  a  range  with  hills, 
glens,  burns,  and  lochs  as  pretty  as  in  Wales  ;  but  the  ridge 
vanishes  and  is  replaced  by  dull  tame  flats  at  a  village  a  few 
miles  north  of  Port  Hood.  This  prosy  village,  which  dispels 
every  vestige  of  romance,  is  named  Glencoe. 

The  Gut  of  Canso,  which  divides  Cape  Breton  Island  from  of  Nova 
Nova  Scotia,  is  often  only  a  mile  wide,  and  looks  like  a  river  -S*^^^^^* 
or  ice-cut  ravine  rather  than  sea,  and  trains  cross  it  on  steam 
ferries  as  though  it  did  not  exist.  The  very  sea  is  small, 
and  the  land  of  Nova  Scotia  is  low  and  narrow  for  its  length. 
Though  hilly,  its  hills  are  less  than  those  of  Cape  Breton 
Island ;  at  its  thickest  it  is  70  miles  across,  and  at  its  thinnest 
30  miles  across  between  Bay  and  Ocean  (at  St.  Margaret's) ; 
and  it  is  15  miles  across  between  Bay  and  Gulf  at  Chignecto. 
New  Brunswick  takes  us  amongst  the  mountains  in  its  far 
north,  and  it  has  one  river,  the  St.  John,  which  is  450  miles 
long,  tidal  for  90  miles,  and  navigable  by  ocean  steamers  to 
Fredericton,  84  miles  up-stream,  or  by  river  steamers  to  the 
Grand  Falls,  220  miles  up-stream:  but  for  which,  like  its 
sister  provinces,  New  Brunswick  lacks  height,  length,  and 
width.  On  the  other  hand,  the  prevailing  littleness  of  the  ^^^^^^.^^^ 
Maritime  provinces  is  veiled  by  the  vast  American  forest,  with  their 

D  2 


3^ 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


historic  im- 
portance. 


Acadians 
were  from 
France^ 


not  fr 07)1 
the  Seiney 
as  were  the 
Canadians^ 


which  clothes  them  throughout — except  in  very  stony  or  very 
marshy  places — with  a  coat  of  many  colours;  and  their 
human  geography  is  instinct  with  interest,  variety,  and  some- 
times tragic  depths,  presenting  as  it  does  a  moving  picture  of 
great  political  Powers,  and  of  still  greater  social  forces,  com- 
bining, dividing,  and  recombining,  filling,  emptying,  and  re- 
filling large  tracts,  and  of  Acadians,  New  Englanders,  Germans, 
British  Americans,  Ulstermen,  Yorkshiremen,  Highlanders, 
Lowlanders,  Irishmen,  and  Englishmen  supplanting  or  sup- 
plementing one  another,  and  the  writer  who  describes  it 
inevitably  lapses  into  narrative. 

Nova  Scotia,  which  is  the  central  object  in  the  narrative, 
was  once  possessed — and  parts  of  it  are  still  possessed — by 
the  Acadians,  who,  like  the  French  Canadians,  came  from  the 
apple-growing,  cider-drinking  districts  of  France,  but  were 
unlike,  and  were  not  of  the  same  stock  as  the  French 
Canadians,  who  came  from  a  dififerent  part  of  France,  at  a 
time  when  France  was  not  yet  one.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
the  secular  rivalries  of  Brittany  and  Normandy  were  not  dead, 
and  the  Guises  poisoned  the  Seine  from  end  to  end  with 
Roman  Catholic  intolerance,  making  Picardy,  Paris,  Perche, 
and  Rouen  strongholds  of  their  League ;  while  Tours,  on  the 
Middle  Loire,  was  Henry  IV's  capital  in  his  heretical  days, 
and  Brittany  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire,  and  La  Rochelle 
a  little  further  south,  maintained  their  hostility  to  Parisian 
centralization  and  orthodoxy  long  after  Henry  IV  had  bridged 
over  the  gulf  between  the  two  religious  parties,  and  built  his 
canal  between  the  Loire  and  the  Seine.  Old  Canada  was 
colonized  in  three  movements.  Between  1608  and  1645 
immigrants  into  Quebec  from  the  Seine  outnumbered  im- 
migrants from  the  Loire  and  its  neighbourhood  by  five  to 
one,  and  all  but  all  the  latter  came  in  the  last  decade  ^ ;  then 
things  changed,  and  a  second  tidal  wave  brought  two  im- 

*  Benj.  Suite,  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada ^  1905* 
vol.  xi,  Part  3,  p.  99. 


THE   FAR    EAST  37 

migrants  from  the  Seine  for  every  three  from  the  Loire  and  its 
neighbourhood,  but  almost  all  the  latter  came  without  women 
and  in  1662-3,  which  was  too  late  to  change  the  type  which 
was  already  set.  During  the  third  and  last  movement  (1667- 
72)  there  was  a  large  inflow  of  women,  and  all  those  who 
came  from  country  districts  and  went  into  country  districts 
were  from  Normandy.  The  Seine,  so  to  speak,  flowed  into 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  coloured  it. 

While  French  Canada  was  being  peopled  from  the  Seine,  but  from 
Acadia  was  being  peopled  from  the  Lower  Loire,  or  the  nlarTt^^^ 
country  of  dyked  salt  marsh  and  lagoon  (or  barachois)  which 
lies  between  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  and  La  Rochelle,  and 
which  afterwards  became  famous  in  history  as  La  Vendue. 
De  Monts,  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Acadian  race,  was  from 
Saintonge  near  La  Rochelle,  and  Pontgravd  was  Breton; 
De  Monts's,  Pontgravd's,  and  Poutrincourt's  immigrants  into 
Acadia  were  mustered  and  embarked  at  La  Rochelle;^  and  they 
were  the  first  body  of  men  and  women  who  went  to  the  west 
to  stay.  Nicolas  Denys  of  Tours  and  his  brother  De  Vitr^, 
his  Breton  partner,  and  Isaac  de  Razilly  of  Touraine,  chose 
and  led  out  to  Acadia  the  emigrants  of  1632,  who  and  whose 
issue  '  were ',  according  to  most  historians,  ^  the  Acadian  race.' 
The  lesser  lights  included  Le  Borgne,  Lord  of  Belle  Isle, 
who  financed  D'Aulnay  and  La  Tour,^  and  Guilbaut  of  La 
Rochelle,  who  defended  La  Heve  with  his  henchmen  (1658). 
True,  La  Tour  was  from  east  France,  but  he  was  Protestant, 
and  his  followers,  who  were  referred  to  as  'Swiss',  *  Pro- 
testant/ and  rebel  Rochellais,  left  no  mark  upon  this  country 
of  Roman  Catholic  devotees.  The  colonizing  Acadians  were 
essentially  from  the  middle  west  of  France,  and  were  often 
almost  at  war  with  the  immigrants  from  elsewhere,  such  as 
De  Saussaye  and  his  men,  who  sailed  from  the  Seine; 
Savalet,  who  was  Basque ;  and  Rossignol  and  Doublet,  who 
were  Normans.  The  Acadians  still  say  '  molue '  for  '  morue  ' 
^  Lescarbot,  Livre  iv,  ch.  ix.     ^  jsf^va  Scotia  A^xhives  (1900),  pp.  94-5. 


38  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

as  Denys  did.^  Although  our  historical  evidence  is  incom- 
plete and  our  philological  evidence  is  scanty,  yet,  so  far  as 
they  go,  both  point  to  the  Lower  Loire,  La  Rochelle,  and  the 
country  between  them  as  the  cradle  of  the  Acadian  race.  If  so, 
the  home  which  was  chosen,  or  which  they  chose  for  themselves, 
in  the  new  world  contained  vivid  reflections  of  their  old  homes 
across  the  sea.  This  choice  was  partly  dictated  by  conscious 
high  policy  common  to  all  France,  and  was  partly  due  to  the 
childish  memories  and  ingrained  habits  of  those  for  whom 
and  through  whom  the  choice  was  made. 
The  French  French  naval  experts  invariably  preferred  the  harbour  with 
were  La  ^^  narrowest  entrance,  across  whose  mouth  they  could  stretch 
Htoe  and  a  chain  in  time  of  war  in  order  to  save  the  ships  that  were 
whose  har-  within.  This  was  why  they  chose  as  their  Atlantic  capitals 
hours  had  Placentia  (Newfoundland)  (1663-17 1 3),  Louisbourg  (Cape 
mouths  Breton  Island)  (1713-63),  and  La  Heve  (Nova  Scotia)  (1632), 
and  nearly  chose  St.  Anne  (C.  B.  I.)  (17 13),  all  of  which 
have  mouths  less  than  half  a  mile  wide.  De  Brouillan  saw 
Halifax  Harbour  (Chebucto)  and  said  that  it  was  splendid, 
but  too  wide  for  defence  ^  In  Digby  Gut,  on  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  there  was  an  entrance  which  was  also  half  a  mile 
wide  into  the  estuary  of  the  Annapolis,  and  accordingly 
Annapolis  only  ranked  second  to  La  H6ve  in  French  eyes  as 
a  colonial  site.  Conversely,  British  experts  praised  Annapolis 
harbour,  but  blamed  its  narrow  exit  ^ ;  rejected  Louisbourg, 
though  ice-free,  after  careful  thought,  and  La  H6ve  without 
a  thought,  and  chose  wide-mouthed  Sydney  (C.  B.  L),  and 
Halifax  (N.  Sc),  and  were  almost  persuaded  to  choose  Shel- 
burne  (N.  Sc.)  as  their  Atlantic  capitals.  British  admirals 
wrote  of  exits  as  though  harbour  mouths  were  meant  to  be 
opened,  French  admirals  of  entrances  as  though  harbour 
mouths  were  meant  to  be  shut ;  for  on  sea  the  British  were 

^  Abb^  Casgrain,  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada^ 
1887,  vol.  V. 
*  B.  Murdoch,  vol.  i,  p.  247.  ^  e.g[.  Colonel  Morse. 


THE   FAR    EAST  39 

all  for  attack,  and  the  French  all  for  defence,  or  even  escape. 
And  there  were  other  advantages  in  Annapolis  and  La  Heve.  (^nd  be- 
Indians  came  down  Allen's  River  bringing  fur  to  Annapolis  ^^^^^y  %^^^ 
from  the  interior  ;  or  passed  up  Allen's  River,  over  a  portage  rotites, 
and  down  the  Mersey  to  Liverpool  on  the  Atlantic  in  four 
days  ;  ^  this  last  route  being  the  straightest  river  route  between 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  Atlantic  in  Nova  Scotia.  The  La 
H6ve  River  is  the  largest  river  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Indians  paddled  up  it  or  its  branches  either  to- 
wards the  Allen  and  Annapolis  as  already  described,  or  towards 
the  Nictaux  and  Middleton  in  the  Annapolis  Valley,  or  towards 
the  Gaspereau,  and  so  to  Mines  on  the  Basin  of  Mines. 
Therefore  the  French  Forts  at  La  Heve  and  Annapolis  be- 
came Indian  markets.  Moreover,  both  the  La  H6ve  and 
Annapolis  Rivers  were  navigable  to  sea-going  ships,  Bridge- 
town being  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Annapolis  and 
Bridge  water  of  the  La  Heve ;  although  Acadian  civilization 
barely  reached  Bridgetown  and  never  reached  Bridgewater, 
and  the  timber  of  the  La  H6ve  deterred  more  than  it  attracted 
men  who,  unlike  the  French- Canadians,  were  loath  to  wield 
the  axe  or  range  the  forest. 

On  the  other  hand.  La  H6ve  was  in  the  middle  of  2,xi  fisheries 
Adantic  cod-fishery,  which  was  carried  on  by  Frenchmen  ^""/^" 
at  Liverpool  Bay  (Rossignol),  Tusket  Island,  Yarmouth 
(Fourchde),  and  perhaps  at  Lunenburg  (Malagash)  before 
1632.  The  cod-fishery  was  spontaneous,  and  long  after  La 
H6ve  was  abandoned,  sporadic  temporary  French  fishing 
settlements  appeared  from  time  to  time  at  Cape  Negro  (1671), 
Halifax  Bay  (1699  and  before  1749),  La  H6ve,  Shelburne 
(1705),  Pubnico  (1740)^  and  Lunenburg  (before  I749)^  and 
more  permanent  settlements  at  Cape  Sable  and  Yarmouth 
(1736, 1740).  Yarmouth,  however,  possessed  more  potent  at- 
tractions for  the  Acadian  imagination  than  cod-fish  in  its  great 

*  Colonel  Morse  in  Brymner^  1884,  pf>.  xxvii,  xxxvii. 

2  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1900),  p.  244.  ^  Ibid.  (1869),  P-  5^^^* 


40  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 

Cheboggin  salt-marsh.     But  the  salt-marshes  of  the  Lower 

Annapolis  excelled  those  of  Yarmouth.     Salt-marshes,  being 

without  forest  or  stone,  easily  dyked,  and  when  dyked  very 

fertile,  like  those  of  La  Vendue  to-day,  fascinated  the  Acadian 

mind  with  hopes  of  wealth  and  memories  of  home.     The 

herring  {gaspereau)  and  mackerel  fisheries  of  Annapolis  were 

to  the  cod-fisheries  of  La  Heve  and  its  sister  ports  as  the 

Bay  of  Fundy  is  to  the  Atlantic,  but  agriculture  and  dim 

recollections  of  the  marsh-lands  from  which  they  came  lured 

the  Acadians  once  from  St.  Croix  Island  (1604-5),  ^^^  oi^ce 

from  La  H6ve  (1632-5),  and  made  them  cleave  to  Annapolis 

with  the  force  of  a  natural  instinct.     Annapolis  became  the 

capital  (i 635-1 749),  an  honour  for  which  nature  scarcely 

fitted  it.     Colonel  Mascarene  described  the  fort  (1720)  as  on 

a  promontory  flanked  by  Allen's  River  on  its  left,  and  facing 

the  Annapolis  River,  which  ran  on  its  north.     There  were  two 

towns,  one  of  docks  and  wharfs  on  the  Annapolis  underneath 

the  fort,  and  the  other  straggling  for  a  mile  and  a  half  along 

Allen's  River.     The  dykes  were  out  of  repair  and  the  banks 

overflown.^     But  for  the  dykes  the  description  reads  like  a 

'  parody  of  Quebec  :  a  parody,  for  the  fort  was  only  forty  feet  or 

so  above  river-level,  there  were  no  rocks,  and  the  Annapolis 

was  as  different  from  the  St.  Lawrence  as  a  mud-pond  from 

an  Italian  lake.     In   1755  houses  lined  each  bank  of  the 

Annapolis,   from  Goat  Island,  some   nine   miles  below,  to 

Bridgetown,  some  fifteen  miles  above  Annapolis,  as  though 

the  river  were  a  street.^    Even  so  Arthur  Young  compared 

the  banks  of  the  Loire  near  its  mouth  to  'one  continuous 

village  *  for  thirty  miles. 

The  Mines      From  Annapolis  the  Acadians  advanced  to  the  salt-marsh 

werTmade  between  the  Cornwallis  and  Gaspereau  rivers,  seventy  miles  to 

because  of   the  east,  and  dwelt  at  Grand  Pr^,  on  its  very  edge,  and  under 

marshes      — "^^   "P^^ — ^^^   foothills  which   half  surround   it.     Salt- 

^  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  pp.  43-5. 
2  Nova  Scotia  Hist.  Soc^  vol,  ii,  p.  158. 


THE   FAR    EAST  41 

marshes  also  lined  the  Cornwallis  for  a  few  miles,  up  to 
Kentville  or  thereabouts,  and  encircled  the  mouths  of  the 
little  rivers,  Habitants,  Canard,  and  Pereau,  themselves  a  few 
miles  north  of  the  Cornwallis;  and  around  each  marsh  as 
close  as  close  could  be  the  Acadians  hovered  like  fireflies. 
Fourteen  miles  south-east  of  Grand  Pr^,  Windsor  (Pisiquid) 
lay  between  the  Avon  and  St.  Croix  rivers,  along  which 
were  easy  water-routes  to  the  Atlantic  at  Chester  Bay  and 
St.  Margaret's  Bay  respectively,  and  near  whose  mouths  were 
the  usual  dyked  salt-marshes  and  the  usual  settlers.  All 
these  settlements  from  the  Pereau  to  Windsor  were  called 
the  Mines  settlements  because  they  fronted  the  Basin  of 
Mines.  They  were  separated  from  the  settlements  on  the 
Annapolis,  and  although  De  Brouillan  in  1701  ordered  the 
inhabitants  of  Mines  to  make  a  road  to  Annapolis,  and  some 
sort  of  road  was  used  by  English  soldiers  in  1746-7,  the  road 
was  deemed  'almost  impracticable'  for  the  Acadian  cattle 
and  families  in  1755.^  Clearly  the  Acadian  god  was  only 
god  of  the  marshlands.  Mines,  said  Colonel  Mascarene, 
might  easily  be  made  '  the  granary,  not  only  of  this  province 
but  of  the  neighbouring  governments'  (1720);  long  before 
1746  the  men  of  Mines  had  two  far-off  markets  for  their 
corn,  Boston  and  Quebec;  and  the  Quebec  market  and 
other  magnetic  attractions  drew  them  eastward  and  northward. 
Truro  (Cobequid),  which  is  nearly  sixty  miles  north-east  of 
Windsor,  was  made  a  seignory  in  1689,  and  was  peopled 
by  Acadians  from  Mines  during  the  first  war  between 
France  and  England  (1689-17 13);  and  in  1748  the  Acadians 
spread  from  Truro  along  a  tract  of  sea-coast  north  of 
Cobequid  Bay  as  far  as  Economy,  and  south  of  Cobequid  Bay 
as  far  as  the  Shubenacadie  River,  with  detached  posts  west 
of  the  Shubenacadie  at  Walton  and  Noel,  and  one  inland 
settlement  at  the  confluence  of  the  Stewiacke  and  Shubena- 

^  Judge  Morris,  '  Remarks  concerning  the  removal  of  the  Acadians  in 
1755,'  Nova  Scotia  Hist,  Soc,  vol.  ii,  p.  158  (1881). 


42  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

cadie  fourteen  miles  from  the  coast.  That  is  to  say,  they 
leapt  from  Windsor  to  Truro,  and  then  stretched  back  towards 
Windsor  as  far  as  64^  west  longitude.  Their  inland  settle- 
ment was  on  the  broad  easy  waterway  which  leads  over  a  one- 
hundred  foot  watershed  from  Truro  to  Dartmouth  in  Halifax 
Harbour,  some  sixty  miles  away ;  but  as  yet  no  one  except ' 
Indians  had  any  occasion  to  use  the  waterway,  because  no  one 
before  1746  wanted  to  visit  the  neighbourhood  of  Halifax. 
Before  that  date  the  mouth  of  the  Shubenacadie  was  only 
valuable  as  the  end  of  an  avenue  of  Indian  fur-trade. 
so,  iooy  the  More  than  seventy  miles  away  from  Truro,  on  the  other 
^atchi^-^^  side  of  the  Cobequid  range  of  hills,  which  are  here  600  or  700 
necto  and  feet  high,  were  the  famous  salt-marshes  of  Chignecto  Isthmus 
Shepody.  ^y];^i(^}^  Biencourt  and  Biard  admired  in  161 2.  Chignecto  was 
reached  from  Mines  as  easily  as  it  was  from  Truro  by  cross- 
ing to  what  is  now  Parrsboro  Harbour,  and  by  using  the 
Hebert  or  Maccan  Rivers,  which  rise  at  a  short  distance  from 
Parrsboro ;  consequently  a  double  stream  of  Acadians,  both 
from  Mines  and  from  Truro,  poured  into  Chignecto,  after 
Chignecto  (1676)  and  Truro  (1689)  became  seignories,  and 
even  overflowed  into  the  marsh-lands  of  Shepody  (New 
Brunswick)  at  the  mouths  of  the  Petitcodiac  and  Memramcook 
(1698).  War  turned  the  Acadian  tide  thither:  in  the  first 
great  war  the  Acadian  settlements  of  Chignecto  were  twice 
sacked  by  Colonel  Church  (1696,  1704);  and  in  the  second 
great  war  (1744-63),  Beaus^jour  (Fort  Cumberland)  con- 
fronted Fort  Lawrence  (Beaubassin),  and  the  dirty  little 
Missiguash  River,  which  ran — or  rather  crawled — between 
them,  became  the  theatre  of  one  of  the  decisive  battles 
of  North  America  (1755).  For  the  French  identified  the 
Acadia,  which  the  treaty  of  1 713  ceded  to  England,  with  Nova 
Scotia,  and  still  claimed  as  their  own  the  mainland  west  of 
the  Missiguash  which  is  now  called  New  Brunswick.  The 
modern  distinction  between  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick 
is  derived  from  this  claim  which  was  itself  derived  from  La 


THE   FAR    EAST  43 

Tour's  claims  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  geography,  for  one 
indivisible  marsh  lay  on  either  side  of  the  impalpable  frontier- 
line  of  which  the  Missiguash  was  the  outward  and  visible  sign. 

New  Brunswick,  which  now  intrudes  into  our  narrative,  St,  John 
first  figures  in  history  tis  the  transitory  scene  of  the  short-  ^^-^  chosen 
lived  settlement  on  St.  Croix  Island  in  Passamaquoddy  Bay  itsnarroiv 
(1604-5),  but  only  became  a  permanent  separate  entity  when  j^^^^^^^^^ 
La  Tour  built  Fort  Latour  (New  Brunswick),  a  few  yards  long^-iver 
north  of  the  present  railway  station  of  St.  John  (1635),  and  ^^^^^' 
quarrelled  with  the  Governor  of  Annapolis.     The  attraction 
of  the  site  was  threefold.     First,  there  were  the  usual  dykable 
salt-marshes     down     west    towards     Musquash     Harbour; 
secondly,  the  fur-trade  came  down  to  the  River  St.  John 
from  the  recesses  of  Maine  (United  States)  and  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  River  St.  Lawrence ;  and  thirdly,  between  what 
is  now  the  Upper  Town  (Indian  Town)  and  Lower  Town  the 
river  contracts  from  a  width  of  a  mile  or  more  to  a  width  of 
four   hundred   and   fifty  yards,  and  forms   reversible  falls, 
which  fall  up-stream  when  the  tide  is  high  and  down-stream 
when  the  tide  is  low,  and  are  navigable  at  middle  tide,  and 
which  are  not  unlike  those  of  the  ^  Lac  de  Grand  Lieu '  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Loire.     The  river  above  the  falls  seemed 
an  ideal  place  of  refuge,  and  was  used  as  such  by  Villebon 
when  driven  from  Annapolis  (1690),  by  the  Acadians  (1755), 
and  even  by  Latour  during  his  strife  with  Annapolis. 

It  was  in  order  to  allay  this  strife  that  the  King  of  France  New 
assigned  the  American  coast,  beginning  from  the  middle  of  J^^^l^^^t 
Chignecto  Isthmus  to  La  Tour,  and  the  rest  of  Acadia  as  far  rated  from 
as  Cape   Canso,   to   his   rival   of  Annapolis  (1638)  \     '^^  Scot%for 
modern  phrase,  one  took  New  Brunswick  and  the  other  Nova  political 
Scotia.     But   the   New  Brunswick  of  1638,  besides  being  ^^"^^^''^^ 
indefinite  towards  the  west,  contained  an  odd  omission,  and 
the   Nova   Scotia   of    1638    contained   an   odd   restriction. 
How,  it  might  be  asked,  were  the  eastern  coast-lands  of  New 
^  B.  Murdoch,  vol.  i,  p.  93. 


44         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Brunswick   to   be   disposed   of?    Why    was    the    sway    of 

Annapolis  to  go  as  far  as  and  no  further  than  Cape  Canso  ? 

and  both         In   order  to  understand  the  New  Brunswick  and  Nova 

from  the      Scotia    of    those    days    the    scenes   must   once   more    be 

andislands  shifted  and  a  new  scene  disclosed.     In  1653-4  a  third  some- 

whichwere  thing,  which  was  neither  New  Brunswick  nor  Nova  Scotia 

given  to  °' 

Denys.        but   partook  of  both,  was  bestowed  on  Nicolas  Denys  of 

Tours.  This  new  dominion  extended  along  the  Canso  Gut 
and  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  from  Cape  Canso 
to  Cape  Gasp^  (Rosiers)  ;  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton  Island, 
Prince  Edward  Island,  and  the  other  islands  of  the  Gulf 
being  thrown  in  as  make-weights  ^  In  a  certain  sense  this 
sandwiched  colony  was  well-conceived.  Cape  Canso  was 
separated  by  two  hundred  miles  of  coast  from  the  nearest 
Acadian  settlements  on  the  Atlantic,  was  inaccessible  from 
land,  and  was  a  French  fishing  resort  long  before  Denys  was 
born  and  long  after  he  died  ^.  Thus  Bergier  of  La  Rochelle 
succeeded  Denys  as  guardian  of  Canso  (1682),  and  a  French 
fort  there  was  raided  by  Englishmen  (1690),  and  an  English 
fort  there  was  raided  by  Frenchmen  (1744).  It  was  the  head- 
quarters of  a  great  cod-fishery,  which  was  French  until  17 13, 
and  then  English,  or  rather  New  English.  The  post  was 
critical  and  isolated.  Again,  the  slender  isthmus  of 
St.  Peter's  separates  the  Gut  of  Canso  from  the  Bras  D'Or 
Lakes,  over  whose  placid  waters  the  Indians  brought  their 
furs,  and  St.  Peter's  was  easily  converted  into  and  soon  became 
an  Indian  market  and  mission  centre  for  the  whole  island.  It 
was  clear  that  Canso  on  one  side  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Gut,  and  St.  Peter's  on  the  other  side,  must  belong  to 
the  same  rulers.  The  Gut  itself  is  only  as  wide  as  the 
St.  Lawrence  at  Quebec  or  Montreal,  so  that  its  two  sides 

*  Nicolas  Denys,  Description  of  .  ,  .  North  America^  1672,  ed.  by 
W.  F.  Ganong  (1908),  pp.  57-67. 

'^  e.g.  of  Savalet;  Lescarbot,  Hist,  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  ed,  1866, 
Livre  iv,  ch.  ii ;  Voyages  of  Samuel  de  Champlain  (1604-16),  ed.  by 
E.  G.  Bourne,  1906,  vol.  i,  p.  133. 


THE   FAR   EAST  45 

were  and  are  indivisible;  and  as  yet  the  Gulf  Coast  was 
a  series  of  ports  unconnected  with  one  another  except  by 
water.  Denys's  posts  were  established  from  time  to  time 
at  Guysborough  (Chedabucto,  Nova  Scotia),  where  he 
quarrelled  with  a  Sherbrook  squatter  (1667),  at  St.  Peter's 
Isthmus  (Cape  Breton  Island),  across  which  he  built  the  first 
road  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  (1650,  &c.),  at  St.  Anne's 
(C.  B.  I.),  where  his  brother  grew  wheat  (1653),  at  Miramichi 
(New  Brunswick)  (1647),  and  at  Nipisiguit  (N.  Br.)  (1669). 
At  his  death  the  long  line  was  already  torn  into  shreds,  two 
of  which,  at  Miramichi  and  the  mouth  of  the  Restigouche  in 
Bay  Chaleurs,  fell  to  the  lot  of  his  short-lived  son  Richard 
(1689).  Nicolas  Denys  and  his  son  made  something  of 
their  scattered  coast-lines  and  introduced  colonists,  and 
dreamed  dreams  of  a  new  dominion  which  should  link 
Acadia  with  Canada.  Nor  did  these  dreams  die  with  them, 
for  they  were  based  on  nature  and  fact.  But  there  were 
two  weak  points.  How  could  the  Bay  side  of  the  Isthmus 
of  Chignecto  belong  to  one  authority  and  the  Gulf  side 
fifteen  miles  away  to  another.?  When  Denys's  son-in-law 
became  first  Seigneur  of  Chignecto  (1676)  this  weak  point 
was  probed.  Secondly,  there  was  no  capital.  The  founda- 
tion of  Louisbourg  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Cape  Breton 
Island  remedied  the  latter  defect,  but  aggravated  and  accentu- 
ated the  former  defect. 

Louisbourg,  or  Havre  k  I'Anglais,   is  a  harbour  on  the  Louis- 
Adantic  coast  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  and  in  1597  French  J|^f^' 
Basques  went  there  to  fish,  and  men  of  Olonne  in  La  Vendue  capital,  re- 
wintered  there  in  order  to  fish  on  the  Grand  Banks  of  New-  ^^^^^^ 
foundland.  ^     To-day  there  are  two  conspicuous  objects  in  dominion 
Louisbourg  Harbour :  one,  the  old  ruined  fort,  coiled  like 
a  green  dragon  upon  a  low  grassy  slope ;  the  other,  a  brand- 
new   elevated   pier  for  loading  ships   with  Sydney  coal  in 
winter,   for  Louisbourg  Harbour  is  ice-free   when   Sydney 
^  Denys,  op.  cit.,  ed.  Ganong,  p.  181. 


46  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Harbour  is  ice-bound.  Beneath  both  pier  and  fort  fisher-folk 
may  be  seen  drying  cod  on  flakes  in  the  same  fashion  as 
they  still  do  at  outports  in  Newfoundland  and  did  at  Louis- 
bourg  in  1597.  The  land  near  the  French  fort  is  low,  and 
the  principal  French  village  was  placed  on  a  gradual  slope, 
down  which  marshes  trickle  lazily  into  a  salt  lagoon  which 
is  now  but  was  not  then  connected  with  the  sea.^  Doubt- 
less the  marshes  were  just  sufficient  to  keep  the  ground 
clear  of  timber,  and  the  lagoon  suggested  reminiscences 
of  a  better  lagoon  at  Placentia  which  was  not  then  but  is 
now  disconnected  from  the  sea.  For  the  colonists  came 
from  Placentia  (Newfoundland)  and  even  they  must  have 
been  struck  by  the  poverty  of  Louisbourg  when  compared 
with  their  old  colonial  home.  When  its  garrison  of  3,000  odd 
regulars  went  and  the  30,000,000  livres — which  they  cost — 
was  spent,  Louisbourg,  stripped  of  its  adventitious  pomp  and 
glamour,  became  what  it  has  been  ever  since,  a  fishing- 
village,  only  a  little  less  wretched  than  Baleine  (which  Lord 
Ochiltree  once  tried  to  colonize)^  and  its  other  neighbours 
because  of  its  proximity  to  the  Sydney  coal-mines.  But  the 
great  fort  galvanized  adjacent  French  fishing-villages,  from 
Sydney  (Spanish  Harbour)  to  St.  Esprit,  into  life  ^ ;  a  small 
fort  east  of  St.  Peter's  Isthmus  induced  small  settlements 
on  Isle  Madame*  and  by  the  Inhabitants  River;  and 
a  small  fort  at  St.  Anne's  served  as  a  base  for  summer  settlers 
at  Ingonish  Bay.  Denys's  two  sub-centres  were  revived, 
and  they  and  the  new  centre  at  Louisbourg  produced  local 
effects.  But  the  influence  of  Louisbourg  was  more  than 
local.  Three  thousand  soldiers  clamoured  for  bread  and 
meat,   yet   no   land  was  cleared   in   the   vicinity.      A   few 

^  See  plan,  p.  198  of  vol.  v,  Pt.  i,  of  this  Series. 

^  1629. 

^  (Sydney)  Spanish  Harbour,  L'Indienne  (Lingan.),  Morienne  (Cow 
Bay),  Main  k  Dieu,  Scatari,  Baleine,  Gabarus,  Fourch^,  St.  Esprit. 
See  T.  Pichon's  Letters  relating  to  Cape  Breton  Island^  &c.,  1760; 
Richard  Brown,  Hist,  of  Cape  Breton  Island  (1869),  p.  269. 

*  Arichat  (Grand  Nerica),  Petit  De  Grat,  Descous. 


THE   FAR   EAST  47 

imported  Germans  at  Mire  Bay,  twelve  miles  north,  and 
when  the  St.  Peter 's-Louisbourg  road,  which  is  still  known 
as  French  Road,  was  built,  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Peter's,  sixty 
miles  south-west,  sent  supplies ;  but  the  cry  was  still  for 
more.  It  was  heard  in  far-off  Mines,  Truro,  and  Chignecto ; 
and  a  military  road  from  Beausejour  to  Bale  Verte,  and 
cattle-tracts  from  Windsor  to  Truro,  and  from  Truro  to 
Tatamagouche  and  Wallace  Bay  (Remsheg),  were  con- 
structed ^  This  was  the  first  northward  Acadian  trek.  The 
isthmus  was  crossed,  and  the  first  ports  were  opened  on  the 
Gulf  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  in  order  to  send  meat  and  bread  to 
Louisbourg.  At  the  same  time  Port  Hood  (Just-au-Corps) 
(Cape  Breton  Island)  was  occupied  by  Acadians  in  order  to 
supply  it  with  stone. 

It  would  seem  that  the  ring  of  settlements  from  Gaspd  to  but  with 
Louisbourg  was  complete,  and  that  Denys's  dominion  had  ^W^^'^^^^^* 
come  to  life  again.  But  the  new  Gulf  State  differed  from 
the  old.  The  missing  capital  was  found  and  faced  Europe ; 
so  that  it  was  a  link  not  between  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia, 
but  between  Canada  and  France.  Moreover,  it  tapped  Nova 
Scotia,  and  ports  were  occupied  on  English  as  well  as  on 
disputed  territory,  on  the  Gulf  as  well  as  on  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  through  which  the  wealth  and  manhood  of  Nova 
Scotia  began  to  drain  away  to  a  power  at  war  with  Nova 
Scotia.  Or,  to  change  the  metaphor,  what  had  been  meant 
as  a  clasp  was  used  as  a  wedge. 

Then  Louisbourg  fell  twice  (1745,  1758)  and  Beausejour  The  Fall 
once   (1755).     When   Louisbourg  fell   first,   those   French  ^^^^^^'^" 
colonists  of  Cape  Breton  Island  who  were  caught  were  sent  caused  an 
to  France,  but  the  Acadian  trek  towards  the  Gulf  instead  of  j^,^^]l^\ji^ 
being  arrested  was  accelerated.    The  loss  of  Louisbourg  meant  Gulf^ 
the  loss  of  a  market ;    and  amongst  other  causes  economic 
distress  drove  2,200  Acadians  in   1749  from  Chignecto  to 

^  See  e.g.  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  p.  152. 


48 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


e.g.  to 
Prince 

Edward 
Island, 


Halifax 


Prince  Edward  Island  and  Cape  Breton  Island,^  but  chiefly  to 
Prince  Edward  Island,  at  which  we  must  now  glance. 

Prince  Edward  Island  had  been  occupied  in  1719  by  two 
Norman  families  and  in  1720  by  135  Frenchmen,^  and  in 
1745  there  were  some  800  persons  in  the  Island,  some  of 
them  Acadians.  In  1751,  owing  to  the  inflow  of  Acadians, 
the  population  probably  exceeded  2,000  ^ ;  and  Acadians  were 
still  swarming  in  in  1752.^  In  1752  Hillsborough  Bay  and 
River,*  Crapaud,  Tryon  and  Traverse  rivers,  and  Bedeque 
Bay  on  the  convex  side,  or  the  side  turned  towards  New 
Brunswick;  St.  Peters,  Savage  Harbour,  Tracadie,  Little 
Rustico,  and  Malpeque  (Richmond)  Bay  on  the  concave  or 
Gulf  side;  and  Souris  and  Fortune  rivers,  Lescoussier  and 
Brudnelle  (Three  Rivers  ),^  on  the  south-east  side ;  and 
a  little  later,  according  to  Lord  Rollo  (1758),  North  Point  on 
the  north-west  side  of  the  island  had  inhabitants :  that  is  to 
say,  the  chief  coves  on  every  coast  were  inhabited,  and  more 
especially  Hillsborough  Estuary,  where  Port  La  Joie  was  the 
nominal  capital.  Moreover,  the  only  road  in  the  island  ran 
from  the  head  of  Hillsborough  Estuary  to  St.  Peter's,  and 
there  were  cornfields  beside  it.  The  Acadian  trek  from 
Chignecto  made  the  coast  line  of  Prince  Edward  Island  over- 
whelmingly Acadian  between  1751  and  1755.  But  the  failure 
of  the  Louisbourg  market  was  only  temporary,  and  it  was 
compensated,  though  inadequately  compensated,  by  the 
creation  of  a  new  market  at  Halifax.  Until  the  expulsion  of 
the  Acadians  for  political  causes,  the  newly-created  capital 
produced  economic  demands  which  checked  the  Acadian  trek, 
and  kept  the  Acadians  in  their  old  homes. 

Halifax,  or  the  port  of  Chebucto,  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of 


^  Brymner,  1887,  cccxlvi,  cccxlviii,  ccclvii,  ccclviii. 

^  sic  Anderson  ;  but  see  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  p.  48. 

^  «V  Th.  Pichon,  tibi  supra, 

*  Port  La  Joie  (Charlotte  town),'Pinette  River,  Pointe  Prime,  Belfast, 
Wild  Boar  Creek,  and  Creek  Northwest. 

*  John  MacGregor,  British  America^  1832,  vol.  i,  p.  290. 


THE   FAR   EAST  49 

Nova  Scotia,  was  the  British  counterblast  to  Louisbourg.  was  made 
Halifax  was  built  in  1749 :  the  port  is  one  of  the  best  ports  f^£^^f' 
in  North  America ;  and  the  city,  like  St.  John,  is  a  city  on 
a  rock ;  indeed,  from  the  east  it  looks  like  a  rocky  island  en- 
garlanded  with  houses,  except  on  its  bare  brow,  on  which 
a  fort  rests  like  a  crown ;  but  its  rear  is  really  connected  by 
a  rocky  ridge  with  the  mainland,  nine  miles  away,  at  the  head 
of  Bedford  Basin.  It  is  distinguished  from  every  other  first- 
rate  Canadian  town  by  the  absence  of  a  river,  and  therefore 
of  mills,  cultivations,  and  trade  routes  behind  it.  It  was  mid- 
way between  useful  sea  and  useless  land,  or  would  have  been 
but  for  two  things.  In  the  first  place,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  Bedford  Basin,  one  mile  away  by  ferry  and  twenty-six  by 
rail,  a  supplementary  town  was  founded  at  Dartmouth ;  and 
the  series  of  lakes  which  all  but  connect  Dartmouth  with  the 
Shubenacadie  and  with  Truro  begin  half  a  mile  behind  Dart- 
mouth. Indeed,  the  water-trip  from  Truro  to  Dartmouth  was 
so  tempting  that  Indians  took  it  in  1756  and  all  but  wiped  out 
Dartmouth.  In  1826  a  Company  was  formed  to  convert  the 
incomplete  waterway  into  a  complete  canal,  but  the  scheme 
failed  owing  to  the  shallowness  and  shiftiness  of  the  Shubena- 
cadie. Almost  every  first-rate  Anglo-Canadian  town  has  its 
supplementary  town,  which  is  usually  a  vis-h-vis  town,  and  the 
reason  for  the  reduplication  is  sometimes  mysterious,  but  in 
this  case  was  too  obvious  for  words.  Dartmouth  was  called 
into  existence  in  order  to  correct  the  barrenness  and  isolation 
of  Halifax. 

In  the  second  place,  although  there  was  no  waterway,  there  and  was 
was  already  a  cattle  trail  to  Windsor,  which  was  used  in  '^']\^'^whidlor 
when  Due  d'Anville   sheltered  the  French  fleet  in  Halifax  by  a  road, 
Harbour,  and  in  1749  when  the  Acadians  drove  *  one  hun- 
dred cows  and  some  sheep'  to  greet  Colonel  Cornwallis's 
colonists.    Colonel  Cornwallis  immediately  proceeded  to  make 
the  trail  into  a  road,  which  was  continued  to  Annapolis.     In 
1784  this  road  from  Halifax  to  Windsor  and  Annapolis  was 


VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill 


50 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


and  imi* 
fied  Nova 
Scotia, 


The  77ew 
colonists 
comprised 
{i)  soldiers  J 
sailors^  &C, 
of  British 
origin  : 


the  only  carriage  road  in  Nova  Scotia.  The  road  to  Windsor 
is  forty-six  miles  long,  and  passes  through  a  sterile  region, 
which  only  becomes  fertile  about  nine  miles  from  Windsor. 
It  was  built,  with  the  help  of  Acadians  and  soldiers,  not  along 
any  valley,  nor  in  order  to  open  up  the  interior  to  settlers,  but 
in  order  to  save  Halifax  from  extinction.  When  Dartmouth 
failed,  this  road  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death  to  Halifax. 
Without  it  Halifax  which  grew  nothing  would  have  been  cut 
off  from  the  Acadia  where  Acadians  dwelt  and  grew  every- 
thing ;  with  it  Halifax  united  the  Acadians  of  Acadia  with 
the  English  of  England,  although  it  was  built  too  late  to  save 
Acadia  for  the  Acadians. 

And  Halifax  was  more  than  a  port,  a  rock  of  defence,  and 
a  possible  inlet  of  Acadian  wealth  into  England  and  of 
English  wealth  into  Acadia,  It  was  the  first  city  ever  built 
on  the  east  coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  it  was  built  midway 
between  Cape  Sable  and  Cape  Canso  and  their  respective 
cod-fisheries.  It  brought  these  two  places  of  resort  under 
one  control  for  the  first  time  in  history.  Before  then  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  was  dominated  from  its  two 
ends,  which  never  met ;  and  it  almost  seemed  as  though  the 
Bay  of  Fundy  represented  an  alien  civilization.  Halifax  tied 
these  three  threads  into  a  single  knot.  Louisbourg  more  than 
fulfilled,  Halifax  utterly  shattered  Denys's  dream.  Louisbourg 
disunited  Nova  Scotia  while  uniting  Canada  to  France.  The 
harmony  had  in  it  a  discordant  note.  Halifax  united  Nova 
Scotia  with  itself  and  to  England,  and  was  a  harmony  through 
and  through. 

The  new  colonists  who  arrived  in  Halifax  (1749-52)  were 
the  first  colonists  who  were  not  French,  but  it  would  be 
a  mistake  to  infer  that  they  were  all  of  them  from  the  United 
Kingdom.  In  1781  the  Lords  of  Trade  wrote  that  *it  is  not 
meant  to  encourage  emigration  from  these  kingdoms  *,  '  the 
population  being  too  much  exhausted  to  admit  of  sparing 
any  to  populate  distant  territories.'  ^  Such  was  the  settled 
*  Brymner,  1895,  pp.  28,  30. 


THE   FAR    EAST  51 

policy  of  England,  but  an  exception  was  now  made  in  the 
case  of  (i)  disbanded  seamen  and  marines,  who  were  reduced 
from  40,000  to  10,000  between  1748  and  1750  ;  (2)  of  dis- 
banded soldiers ;  (3)  and  of  artificers  and  the  like.     Some  of 
those  who  were  disbanded  had  doubtless  served,  or  even 
enlisted,  in  North  America ;  if  so,  home  fares   and   land 
grants  were  no  more  than  what  they  expected.     Artificers 
and  soldiers  were  bracketed  together  as  in  French  Canada.^ 
The  first  consignments  of  intending  settlers  consisted  of  (i) 
460  *  mariners',  ex-marines,^  privateers^  and  the  like,   73 
naval   or  military  officers^  86  old  soldiers,  505  British  or 
(rarely)  foreign  artificers  and  the  like,  419  servants,  47  non- 
descripts, 509  wives  and  444  children,  or  2,543  i^  ^'y^  (2) 
of   about    2,200    German    and   other   foreign   Protestants,  {2)German 
recruited  by  a  Mr.  Dick  of  Rotterdam,  and  his  agent  at  ^^^"^^^^ . 
Frankfort-on-the-Main ;  and  (3)  of  New   Englanders   who  /^n  ^^^ 
came  from  Louisbourg  when  Louisbourg  was  restored  to  Eng- 
France  (1749).^     The  third  batch  came  at  their  own  cost  ' 

and  risk ;  the  first  two  at  the  cost  of,  and  with  promises  of 
land  and  rations  from  the  Government.  Those  of  the  first 
batch  who  were  from  Great  Britain  had  probably  melted  away 
before  1767,  because  in  that  year  there  were  said  to  be  only 
912  English-born  and  173  Scotch-born  colonists  in  the 
whole  of  the  Maritime  Provinces.^  But  this  batch  included, 
as  we  have  said,  a  few  Norsemen,  Germans,  and  Frenchmen 
from  near  Belfort,  who  were  miscalled  Swiss,  and  may  have 
included  an  indefinite  number  of  English  Americans.  The  The  Ger- 
second  batch  of  colonists  was  all,  or  almost  all,  German.  ^^^'^^^. 
More  than  half  of  these  Germans  went  seventy  miles  west  to  Lunen- 

1  Part  I,  pp.  80,  10 1. 

2  Of  Frazer's,  Holmes's,  Jordan's,  Paulett's,  &c. 

3  Belonging  to  The  Beaufort^  Boym^  Hardwick^  Lightnings  Prosperous, 
Privateer y  Raleigh^  Royal  Family  ^  Salama^ider^  York,  armed  vessels,  &c. 

*  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  pp.  506-57. 

^  In  1752  of  the  4249  colonists  in  and  near  Halifax  3594  had  British 
names.     Ibid.,  pp.  650-670. 

6  N(yva  Scotia  Historical  Society ,  1891,  pp.  45-71. 


52         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Lunenburg,  where  they  founded  the  second  Atlantic  city  of 
Nova  Scotia,  built  ships,  and  planted  rye  and  barley,  of  which 
they  raised  13,000  bushels  at  a  time  when  no  other  Atlantic 
settlement  of  Nova  Scotia  except  Chester  raised  1,000  bushels 
of  any  cereal  (1767).  Lunenburg  is  near  the  La  H6ve;  and 
in  1765  S.  Pernette,  a  British  officer  of  German  nationality, 
took  up  land,  alongside  of  other  British  officers,  on  the  La 
Heve  below  Bridgewater,  and  he  too  introduced  '  Germans 
and  others  as  colonists  '.  All  these  Germans  struck  boldly 
inland.  The  Lunenburgers  marched  to  Mines  Basin  and 
drove  back  120  cattle,  half  of  which  arrived  (1756);  thus 
creating  what  was  then  the  second  cattle  trail  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  Long  afterwards  (c.  1805) 
the  men  of  La  Heve,  some  of  whom  were  German  in  origin, 
founded  New  Germany  on  the  La  Heve,  seventeen  miles 
north  of  Bridgewater ;  and  to-day  almost  continuous  corn- 
fields or  orchards  line  the  La  H6ve  below  New  Germany. 
and  the  Soon  after  Halifax  and  Lunenburg  were  founded  6,000 

New  Eng'  Acadians  were  wiped  clean  off  the  map  of  Nova  Scotia  (1755 
supplant-    et  seq.) ;  the  residue  hid,  fled,  or  were  absorbed ;  and  the  same 

^ngthe       besom  of  destruction  swept  Prince  Edward  Island  and  Cape 
Acadzans;  ^  ^ 

Breton  Island  only  a  litde  less  thoroughly.     Louisbourg  drew 

them  north;  in  1745  when  Louisbourg  fell  their  self-inflicted 
expatriation  began  on  a  considerable  scale;  ten  years  later 
their  expatriation  was  intended  to  be  universal  and  com- 
pulsory; and  ten  years  later  still  every  nook  and  cranny 
in  Nova  Scotia  where  they  had  ever  been  was  owned 
.  or  filled  by  New  Englanders.  Descendants  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  came  from  New  Plymouth  to  Yarmouth,  Liverpool, 
and  Barrington  (Cape  Sable),  where  one  of  them  had  423 
issue  (and  others  in  the  States)  before  she  died ;  Annapolis 
and  Granville  at  one  end  of  the  row  of  marsh-lands  on  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  and  Cumberland  and  Sackville  at  the  other 
end,  fell  chiefly  to  the  lot  of  Massachusetts;  and  so  did 
Manchester  township  between  Guysborough  and  the  Gut  of 


THE   FAR   EAST  53 

Canso  ;  men  from  Connecticut  occupied  Grand  Pr^,  Horton, 
and  Cornwallis;  Rhode  Islanders,  Falmouth  and  Newport; 
and  New  Hants-men,  Noel,  Truro,  Onslow,  and  Londonderry. 
Windsor  also  attracted  New  Englanders,  but  being  vested  in 
absentee  officials  at  Halifax  moved  slowly  ;  and  experiments 
were  played  upon  several  Atlantic  ports  which  failed. 

In  1767 — if  the  census  of  that  year  is  to  be  believed — 
there  were  6,349  British  Americans,  2,710  British  Europeans, 
1,808  Germans,  and  a  few  hundred  vanishing  Acadians  in 
Nova  Scotia.  There  was  a  complete  transformation.  A 
dainty  piece  of  old  French  porcelain  was  replaced  by  stout 
Boston  hardware,  and  the  colony  became  almost  as  British 
as  Massachusetts  itself.  Except  at  Halifax  and  Lunenburg, 
there  was  no  geographical  novelty,  but  only  a  substitution  of 
new  for  old  faces  in  old  places.  Europeans  built  new  seats 
for  themselves ;  but  Americans  simply  sat  in  the  seats  of  those 
who  had  left.  The  Americans,  however,  brought  European 
Britons  in  their  train. 

Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  the  prohibition  of  the  (4)  Ulxf^^^ 
Irish  wool-trade  drove  Scotch  Lowlanders,  whom  Cromwell  ^^'^'^ 
and  William  III  had  planted  in  Ulster,  to  Londonderry  in 
New  Hants  and  to  Pennsylvania.^  McNutt,  who  led  the 
immigrants  from  New  Hants,  was  himself  a  Scotch-Irish- 
Pennsylvanian,  and  many  of  his  immigrants  came  direct 
from  old  Londonderry  and  Belfast.  They  were  Presbyterians 
to  a  man,  and  ministers  invariably  accompanied  Presbyterian 
emigrant  bodies.  Immigration  direct  from  Ulster,  or  the 
Ulster  invasion,  as  it  is  called,  lasted  ten  years  (i 761-71), 
and  before  1767  had  added  2,165  persons  to  the  population. 
It  was  spontaneous,  collective,  and  unassisted,  and  it  was  the 
prelude  to  a  second  spontaneous  and  collective  movement 
from  the  British  Isles. 

Other  Acadian  homes  were  vacant  besides  those  by  the  (5)  High' 

^  John  Doyle,  77te  American  colonies  tindet  the  Hotise  of  Hanover y 
p.  392  et  seq. 


54         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

land  Ro-     marshlands  of  Nova  Scotia^  and  in  1767  the  whole  of  Prince 

manCatho-  Edward  Island  was  allotted  to  67  proprietors,  chiefly  Scotch,* 

soldiers,      on  condition  that  they  should  settle  foreign  European  Protest- 

&c,who     ^j^|.g  Qj.  jBritish  Americans  on  their  land ;  a  condition  which  they 
supplanted  ^  '' 

Acadians    fulfilled  by  Stocking  the  land  exclusively  with  Highlanders,  most 

in  Prince    Qf  ^hom  were  Roman  Catholic,  and  with  Dumfries  men. 

Edward 

Island;       The  island  was  divided  into  three  counties  corresponding  with 

old  French  divisions,  namely.  King's  (south-east),  Queen  s  and 
Prince's  County  (north-west),  each  with  a  coast-line  looking 
towards  Gulf  and  mainland.  The  capital  of  King's  was 
Georgetown  (Three  Rivers,  1,123),^  opposite  Port  Hood 
(Cape  Breton  Island),  and  Pictou  (Nova  Scotia) ;  the  capital 
of  Queen's  was  Charlottetown  (Port  la  Joie :  pop.  12,080),* 
opposite  Baie  Verte  (Nova  Scotia);  and  the  capital  of 
Prince's  is  now  Summerside  (Bedeque  Harbour  :  pop.  2,875),* 
opposite  Shediac  Bay  (New  Brunswick).  Nowadays  steamers 
ply  from  Port  Hood,  or  Pictou,  to  Georgetown  and  Charlotte- 
town,  and  from  Shediac  Bay  to  Summerside  and  Charlottetown ; 
or  in  winter  men  cross  the  ice  between  Baie  Verte  (Nova 
Scotia)  and  Cape  Traverse  (Prince  Edward  Island)  and  go 
overland  direct  to  Charlottetown.  The  island  is  like  some 
fair  triptych  with  three  different  but  related  designs — a  father, 
mother,  and  son,  upon  whom  three  different  groups  gaze,  but 
the  central  is  always  the  ultimate  figure  upon  whom  the  eyes 
of  all  beholders  are  directly  or  indirectly  riveted. 

The  Highland  immigrants  spread  themselves  in  all  three 
divisions  of  the  island,  but  at  first  only  along  the  Gulf  shores, 
and  before  1773  there  were  men  from  Argyle  andCantyre  at 
Richmond  Bay,  Moray  men  at  Cavendish,  Perth  men  and 
others  at  Cove  Head  and  St.  Peter's,  Dumfries  men  at  Three 
Rivers,  and  Roman  Catholic  Highland  ex-soldiers  at  Tracadie. 
Long  after  1773  the  Highlanders  followed  the  Loyalists  to 

^  Lord  Advocate  Sir  James  Montgomery ;   Judge  Stewart ;   various 
ofificers  of  Fraser*s  78th  Highland  Regiment,  &c. 
^  Population  1901. 


THE   FAR   EAST  55 

the  Other  side  of  the  island,  where  Belfast  was  settled  by  eight 
hundred  Highlanders  and  Islanders  under  the  auspices  of 
Earl  Selkirk  (1803),  and  Woodville  was  colonized  from  Colon- 
say  about  the  same  time. 

It  was  in  1773  that  the  Highland  invasion  reached  Pictou  (6)  High- 
Bay  (Nova  Scotia),  which  the  Acadians  had  never  touched,  {^^/  f^'^^- 

J    ^  ''  '  by  tenancy 

but  which  had  been  taken  up  by  some  enterprising  Philadel-  &c,,  who 
phians  in  1765  by  way  of  experiment.  Three  rivers  meet  in  ^(-^'"^^^^^ 
Pictou  Harbour — East,  Middle,  and  West  rivers,  all  of  which 
flow  through  fertile  uplands,  especially  West  River.  In  1767 
dense  forest  spread  from  the  Harbour  to  the  nearest  settle- 
ment at  Truro,  fifty  miles  away,  when  six  families  arrived 
there  in  a  ship  called  The  Hope  from  Maryland  and  Philadel- 
phia. Some  died,  others  left,  and  the  hopes  of  those  who 
remained  grew  dim.  Suddenly  in  1 773  the  Hector^  commanded 
by  Captain  Ross  and  owned  or  hired  by  a  member  of  the 
Company,  deposited  thirty  families  from  Loch  Broom, 
Sutherland,  and  Inverness,  amid  the  half- starved  remnant. 
The  situation  seemed  desperate ;  but  the  newcomers  with 
incredible  exertion  staved  off  famine  and  others  joined  them, 
chiefly  Highlanders,  but  also  some  Dumfries  men  from  Three 
Rivers  (Prince  Edward  Island)  (1775)  and  direct  from  Dum- 
friesshire (1788-9,  1 801,  18 15-17).  Pictou  soon  became 
the  Paradise  of  Highlanders  who  leave  this  hemisphere  ;  and 
bishops,  priests,  and  ministers  who  preached  in  Gaelic  urged 
them  thither.  Down  to  1 783  the  population  was  Presbyterian, 
but  without  a  minister.  In  1786  the  Rev.  James  MacGregor 
arrived  from  Scotland;  in  1790  the  first  house  in  the  first 
village  was  built  on  the  west  side  of  Pictou  Harbour  and  the 
village  was  named  Pictou;  and  in  1792  the  blazed  trail  to 
Truro  became  something  that  could  be  called  a  road.  The 
English  and  Gaelic  sermons  and  sacred  songs  of  James  Mac- 
Gregor were  the  spiritual  charm ;  European  war  (1793)  ^^^ 
the  lumber  trade,  which  it  created,  were  the  material  charm 
which  attracted  the  Highlanders,  who  at  the  dawn  of  the 


56         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 

where         next  century  had  penetrated  into  and  reclaimed  the  forests  at 
^'ohtedi^hem  ^^  ^^^^  sources  of  East,  Middle,  and  West  rivers. 
and  zuent        Meanwhile  some  Roman  Catholic  Highlanders  and  Island- 
^Br^tft^I^'  ^^^'  some  of  whom  were  ex-soldiers  of  the  82nd  Regiment, 
land;         joined  them  in  1783  and  1791,  and  in  1791  some  of  these 
Roman    Catholics    went    further    east    to    Antigonish    in 
St.  George's   Bay.     Thence,   at   the   instigation   of  Bishop 
McEachran  of  Prince  Edward  Island,  some  went  still  further 
east  and  crossed  to  the  west  coast  of  Cape  Breton  Island  : 
and   men  from  Locha^er,  Strathglass,  and  the  Isles  soon 
began  to  people  the  coast,  from  the  Inhabitants  River  in  the 
Gut  to  Judique,  Mabou,  Port  Hood,  Broad  Cove,  and  Mar- 
garee,  from  which  easy  routes  led  to  the  Bras  d'Or  Lakes. 
From  1802  to  1828  Highland  emigrants  went  direct  to  Sydney 
and  dispersed  thence  along  the  Bras  d'Or  and  the  east  coast, 
reaching  St.  Esprit  and  the  back  lands  during  the  twenties. 
This  movement  is  said  to  have  added  25,000  Highland  or 
Island  emigrants  to  the  population  of  Cape  Breton  Island ; 
and  to-day  Gaelic  is  the  second  language  of  the  island.    By  far 
the  majority  were  and  are  Roman  Catholics ;  but  St.  Anne's 
(where  Denys  once  was)  and  Wagamatcook  were  and  are 
Presbyterian,  and  at  West  Bay  and  River  Inhabitants  the 
{Scokh  im-  earliest   stratum  was  Presbyterian.     The  reader  may   well 
^hemfdue    "^^^^^^  ^^  ^^  irony  of  fate.     The  State  demanded  foreign 
to  economic  Protestants  and  vetoed  other  Europeans  as  colonists  of  Prince 
causes,)       Edward  Island,  and  by  way  of  response  not  a  single  foreigner 
came  ;  but  Prince  Edward  Island,  Cape  Breton  Island,  and 
a  large   brand-new  district  of  Nova  Scotia,  were  promptly 
covered  from  end  to  end  by  Scotch  Roman  Catholics  and 
Protestants  from  Scotland.     Nor  did  any  one  note  the  non 
sequitur.     State  laws  were  not  only  ignored,  but  reversed  amid 
applause ;  and  an  irresistible  economic  law  drove  the  High- 
landers and  a  few  Lowlanders  westward  across  the  Ocean. 
Before  1745  the  Highlands  were  the  home  of  the  Mclvors 
and  their  idle  retinue,  whose  names  scarcely  suggest  economic 


THE   FAR   EAST  57 

associations,  but  after  1745^  sons  of  the  Highland  widow 
were  drafted  into  the  army,  while  others  of  the  unemployed 
settled  down  to  sheep-farming  and  soon  found  that  five  men 
were  doing  less  than  the  work  of  one  man.'^  Accordingly 
disinterested  philanthropists  and  interested  graziers  sent  the 
superfluous  four  to  the  colonies  at  their  own  expense.  At 
the  same  time  Highland  ex-soldiers  in  colonial  wars  were 
rewarded  by  land  grants  in  accordance  with  colonial  tradition. 
The  year  when  serious  sheep-farming  began  to  penetrate  and 
deplete  the  Highlands  is  usually  quoted  as  1767  ^  the  very 
year  when  Prince  Edward  Island  was  sold  to  Scotch  pro- 
prietors and  the  first  invitation  was  issued  to  the  Highlanders 
to  emigrate. 

The  Ulster  and  Highland  Scotch  invasions  were  attended  (7)  y^rk- 
with  two  minor  invasions,  both  of  which  are  associated  with  ^^Ifhodists 
Governor  Francklin.     From  1772-4  some  Yorkshire  Metho-  <^t  Chig- 
dists  settled  in  Chignecto  Isthmus  at  Sackville  and  Amherst,  ^ 
near  the  old  forts,  and  on  the  Nappan  and  Maccan,  side  by 
side  with  the  British  Americans — many  of  whom  they  sup- 
planted during  the  War  of  Independence.     After  1765  the 
whirligig  of  time  changed  Great  Britain's  role  from  that  of 
protector  of  British  Americans  against  French  and  Canadians 
into  that  of  protector  of  French  Canadians  against  British 
Americans,  and  it  seemed  inconsistent  to  bolt  and  bar  the 
door  any  longer  against  the  Acadians,  some  of  whom  were 
accordingly  restored. 

In  Nova  Scotia  the  restored  Acadians  were  settled  (i)  on  (8)  res- 
the  Clare  coast  between  Weymouth  and  Yarmouth  {^1^^)/^[ans^'^^' 
and  on  Tusket  Bay  between  Yarmouth  and  Fort  Latour,  at 
Eel  Brook,  Abuptic,  and  Pubnico,  where  La  Tour's  descen- 
dants might  still  be  seen  in  1829  and  1908 ;  (2)  on  the  dyked 

^  One  regiment  dates  from  1 740. 

2  e.g.  in  Rum  Island;  see  Report  III  on  Emigration,  1826-7,  <!"• 
2907  ;  comp.  James  Anderson,  Account  of  the  Hebrides^  '7^5)  P*  i^^* 

^  e.  g.  by  Traill.  Comp.  Lord  Selkirk,  Obsef-vations  on  the  Highlands ^ 
1805,  pp.  113,  171. 


58         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

marshlands  of  Minudie,  close  by  the  Yorkshiremen ;  and  {3) 
at  Pomquet  Tracadie  and  Au  Bushee,  a  few  miles  east  of 
Antigonish.  Here  the  exiles  have  clung  and  thrived. 
Frenchmen  have  also  been  observed  on  the  Chezzetcook 
(Musquodoboit)  and  at  French  Village  (St.  Margaret's  Bay), 
east  and  west  of  Halifax  respectively,  and  at  John  River 
(Tatamagouche  Bay) ;  but  the  two  last,  and  probably  the 
first  of  these  settlements,  consisted  of  some  persecuted 
Huguenots  from  the  east  of  France  ^,  and  were  therefore  not 
Acadian. 
whom  As  for  Cape  Breton  Island,  in  1764,  one  hundred  and  fifty 

aUracTcT  Frenchmen,  or  Acadians  of  Canso,  sailed  away  to  St.  Pierre 
towards  and  Miquelon  (w^hich  are  the  only  North  American  islands 
Dominion-  belonging  to  France)  ^,  and  others  left  from  elsewhere  in  the 
neighbourhood  for  Miquelon,  and  the  Magdalens  about  the 
same  time.^  At  the  very  same  time  some  merchants  of  Jersey 
and  Guernsey  (which  are  the  only  French-speaking  European 
islands  belonging  to  England)  set  up  a  large  fishery  establish- 
ment in  Isle  Madame  (1764)  and  Cheticamp  (1770),  and  pro- 
ceeded to  set  up  similar  establishments  in  other  French-speak- 
ing Gulf  ports,  namely,  Belleisle  Strait  (on  its  north).  Prince 
Edward  Island  (on  its  south-east),  Miramichi  (New Brunswick), 
Caraquet  (N.  B.),  and  Paspebiac  (Gasp^)  as  though  Denys's 
mantle  had  descended  upon  them.  They  wished  to  act  as 
political  peacemakers  as  well  as  captains  of  industry  *,  and 
had  acted  similarly  forty  years  earlier  in  what  was  then  the 
French-speaking  part  of  Newfoundland.  Even  to-day  their 
establishments  at  Belleisle  Strait,  Cheticamp,  Isle  Madame, 
and  Paspebiac,  not  to  speak  of  minor  establishments  else- 
where, exercise  a  political  as  well  as  an  industrial  influence. 
Soon  afterwards  sixty  Acadian  families  were  lured  back  by 

^  From  near  Belfort;  see  George  Patterson,  Hist,  of  Pictou,  1877, 
pp.  126-133.    John  MacGregor,  Br.  America ,  vol.  ii,  p.  127. 

^  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  p.  349;  Scots  Magazine,  1765,  p.  661. 
3  R.  Brown,  Hist,  of  Cape  Breton  Island  (1869),  pp.  357,  408. 
*  B.  Murdoch,  Hist,  of  Nova  Scotia  (1867),  vol-  ii,  p.  436. 


THE   FAR    EAST  59 

the  music  of  their  native  tongue  from  St.  Pierre,  Miquelon, 
and  the  Magdalens  (i)  to  Isle  Madame  and  to  Grande 
Riviere,  Ardoise,  Tillard,  Bourgeois,  and  False  Bay  on  the 
adjacent  mainland  (1768-93),  and  (2)  to  Cheticamp  and  the 
Lower  Margaree  River,  all  of  which  are  to-day  Acadian  or 
French  settlements;  and  those  who  came  back  in  1793 
settled  too  in  (3)  the  Little  Bras  d'Or  and  at  Ball's  Creek  on 
Sydney  Harbour,  where  the  strip  of  land  between  Sydney 
Harbour  and  the  Little  Bras  d'Or  is  thinnest,  and  are  there 
still.  A  handful  of  Acadians  seem  never  to  have  left  Port 
Hood. 

As  for  Prince  Edward  Island,  in  1773  the  refluent  Acadian 
tide  reached  (i)  its  north-west  corner  near  Cape  Egmont, 
where  John  MacGregor  found  in  1832  a  centenarian  who  had 
peopled  three  neighbouring  villages  with  his  issue,  from  which 
they  soon  spread  round  North  Point  to  Tignish  and  Holland 
(Cascumpec)  Bay;  (2)  Rollo  Bay  and  its  neighbourhood  at 
the  other  end  of  the  island;  and  (3)  the  north-west  corner  of 
Rustico  Harbour,  on  the  north ;  and  the  living  burden  has 
remained  where  it  was  deposited. 

In  each  of  these  three  provinces — Nova  Scotia,  Cape 
Breton  Island,  and  Prince  Edward  Island — the  Acadians 
were  redistributed,  or  redistributed  themselves,  in  three  isolated 
districts,  some  of  which  were  very  near  their  old  homes. 

Hardly  had  the  old  exiles  returned,  when  a  new  wave  of  (9)  Loyal- 
exiles  surged  over  the  land.     The  Loyalists  were  expelled  ^^it^ter- 
from  the  United  States,  not  by  thousands  but  by  tens  of  thou-  'vals  on 
sands.     The  movement  began  in  1777  when  Boston  was         * 
evacuated,  'took  form,'  as  Sir  Guy  Carleton  wrote,  *in  1782,' 
and  reached  its  climax  in  1784,  when  28,347  were  'settling' 
— as  to  11,047,  in  New  Brunswick ;  and  as  to  the  rest,  10,995 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  5,481  on  the  Fundy  coast,  and  824  on 
the  Gulf  coast  of  Nova  Scotia.     The  population  of  Nova 
Scotia  was  more  than  doubled. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast  the  Loyalists  tried  to  create  at  Shel- 


6o         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

burne  a  new  capital  which  was  not  wanted,  and,  if  wanted, 
would  have  been  in  the  wrong  place.  Possibly  they  argued 
that  Louisbourg  and  Halifax  were  made  and  did  not  grow,  but 
forgot  that  when  Louisbourg  and  Halifax  were  made  they  were 
the  only  Atlantic  cities,  that  they  were  necessary  military  and 
naval  depots  and  had  a  political  rat'son  d'etre.  There  was  no 
room  for  a  second  Halifax  :  moreover,  Liverpool  and  Lunen- 
burg were  already  growing  into  maritime  cities ;  therefore  the 
7,923  Loyalists  who  thought  they  could  found  a  big  town  by 
building  many  houses  dwindled  to  300  in  18 18  and  are  now 
1,500.  The  city,  that  was  to  be,  shrivelled  into  a  fishing-village 
like  Louisbourg.  Between  Shelburne  and  Halifax  651  settlers 
were  dotted  here  and  there  amid  earlier  settlers ;  and  between 
Halifax  and  Guysborough  604  settlers  broke  more  or  less 
new  ground  at  Musquodoboit,  Jedore,  Ship  Harbour,  Sheet 
Harbour,  and  Country  Harbour  (Stormont) ;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  line — three  hundred  miles  long — Guysborough  was 
occupied  by  1,053  settlers.  The  extremities  of  the  line  were 
strongly  held,  and  Halifax  was  in  the  middle ;  but  land  links 
were  wanting,  and  accordingly  roads  began  to  be  built  from 
Guysborough  to  Halifax,^  and  from  Halifax  to  Chester,  and 
so  to  Shelburne.  The  continuity  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  the 
supremacy  of  Halifax,  and  the  principles  of  roads  with  a 
political  significance,  which  were  asserted  for  the  first  time 
in  1749,  were  reasserted  in  1784  with  redoubled  emphasis. 

On  the  north  of  Nova  Scotia,  Weymouth,  Digby,  and 
Clementsport  ^  (west  of  Annapolis),  and  Wilmot  and  Ayles- 
ford  (east  of  Annapolis),  were  occupied  for  the  first  time, 
making  the  line  from  Mines  to  Digby  complete,  and  extend- 
ing it,  with  the  help  of  the  Acadians  of  Clare,  to  Yarmouth, 
Barrington,  and  the  Atlantic  coast.  Similarly  Loyalist  settle- 
ments on  the  Upper  Kennetcook  and  Nine  Mile  River  joined 
on  Windsor  to  Truro ;  Parrsboro  supplied  the  missing  link 

^  Completed  shortly  after  1800.     Haliburton. 
"^  Hessians  were  put  here. 


THE   FAR    EAST  6l 

between  the  north  coast  of  Cobequid  Bay  and  the  south 
coast  of  Chignecto;  and  the  loyalists  of  Wallace  on  Wallace 
Bay,  and  of  Arisaig,  between  Antigonish  and  Merigomish, 
and  the  disbanded  84th,  who  ' cleared  immense  tracts'  be- 
tween Merigomish  and  Pictou  and  *  raised  large  families ',  and 
proved  *  the  best  body  of  settlers  we  have  eyer  had '/  performed 
similar  yeomen's  service  on  the  Gulf  shore.  In  1788  a  few 
stragglers  were  at  Baie  Verte  and  Tatamagouche,  so  that 
a  girdle  now  ran  round  the  crooked  coast  between  Windsor, 
Truro,  Parrsboro,  and  Sackville;  across  the  isthmus  of 
Chignecto  to  Baie  Verte ;  and  between  Baie  Verte,  Pictou, 
Antigonish,  Pomquet,  Manchester,  and  Guysborough.  Nova 
Scotia  was  surrounded  by  settlers,  and  the  circle  was  fairly 
complete  owing  to  the  new  lands  of  the  Loyalists. 

The  Loyalists  were  also  grafted  on  to  old  stocks,  and  even  and  re- 
here  set  their  own  original  mark.    To-day  not  only  is  the  trough  fZj^i^.^^ 
of  the  Annapolis  and  Cornwallis  valleys  one  apple-orchard,  but  77iented 
most  of  the  uplands  and  parts  of  the  two  ridges,  which  confine  f^^^^^^' 
it  on  the  north  and  south,  are  cultivated.     The  Loyalists  and 
their  kinsmen  who  were  already  there  went  from  the  river- 
banks  to  the  wooded  slopes  and  heights ;   and  at  Wilmot  ^ 
crossed  the  Northern  ridge  and  settled  by  the  sea.     At  or 
near  Grand  Prd,  some  left  the  marshes,  and  cleared  the  Gas- 
pereau  Valley  and  the  uplands  between  it  and  the  marshes ; 
and  others  clave  to  the  marshes,  where  they  built  far  better 
dykes  than  their  predecessors,  and  reclaimed  Long  Island,  and 
annexed  it  to  and  made  it  a  part  of  Grand  Pr^. 

No  inland  settlements  were  deHberately  planted  except  on  and  settled 
main  roads,  for  instance,  at  West  Chester  on  the  road  between  ^almgwith 
Londonderry  and  Sackville  (c.  1784),  at  Preston  on  the  Guys-  others. 
borough  Road,  at  Boydville  and  Mount  Uniacke  on  the 
Windsor  Road,  at  Hammond's  Plains  on  the  Chester  Road, 
and  at  Dalhousie  Settlement  (c.  1820)  on  the  straight  cross- 

1  Jos.  Howe,  in  Report  III  on  Emigration^  1826-7,  Qn.  41 13,  &c. 

2  Includes  Middleton,  Lauren cet own,  Wilmot,  &c. 


62         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

grained  road  which  Sir  John  Sherbrook  set  soldiers  to  cut 
from  Halifax  through  Hammond's  Plains  to  Annapolis. 
Mount  Uniacke  was  colonized  by  Roman  Catholic  Irishmen, 
who  came  '  by  way  of  Newfoundland '  in  order  to  evade  the 
Passenger  Acts,  and  were  probably  the  first  of  their  kind 
(c.  1 8 19).  The  Irish  Roman  Catholics  who  may  be  seen 
to-day,  especially  at  Dartmouth,  came  in  after  this  date — 
after,  that  is  to  say,  the  seals  had  been  impressed  upon  the 
wax  and  the  wax  had  hardened.  Preston,  Boydville,  and 
Hammond's  Plains  are  each  within  tw^enty  miles  of  the  capital, 
and  were  assigned  to  bodies  of  negroes,  who,  after  six  or  seven 
years'  trial,  were  sent  away  to  warmer  places ;  and  Dalhousie 
Settlement  was  composed  of  disbanded  soldiers  who  were 
rationed  from  Annapolis,  and  was  one  of  the  last  of  its  kind 
in  the  Maritime  Provinces.  The  inhabitants  of  Liverpool 
proved  bold  inland  pioneers,  like  their  neighbours  of  Lunen- 
burg, and  pushed  northward  to  Caledonia,  Pleasant  River 
(Brookfield),  Harmony,  and  Kemptville  on  the  way  to  Anna- 
polis ;  and  the  road  from  Liverpool  to  Annapolis  was  partly 
the  cause  and  partly  the  effect  of  their  enterprise  (1804). 
Settlements  between  Dartmouth  and  Truro  preceded  the  road : 
thus  in  1786,  when  the  trail  was  mostly  'an  avenue  of  felled 
trees',  there  were  wayside  cottages  along  its  whole  length 
where  the  wayfarer  might  feed  three  times  a  day  on  fish, 
bread,  and  tea. 
Inimi'  In  one  case  straggling  trail-makers   from   neighbouring 

grants  re-  settlements  were  the  cause  not  only  of  a  new  road  but  a  new 
grated  in-  town.  In  1 800  some  Truro  men  bought  the  sites  of  Sher- 
land,  brook,  on  the  lower  reaches  of  St.  Mary's  River,  of  Glencoe 

at  its  forks,  and  of  Lochaber  on  its  north  branch  above  the 
forks  and  sixteen  miles  from  Antigonish,  and  cut  their  way 
thither  through  the  forest.  At  this  date,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  Highlanders  of  Pictou  were  already  at  the  sources  of  East, 
Middle,  and  West  rivers,  and  they  now  pushed  on  to  Caledonia 
on  the  west  branch  of  St.  Mary's.     The  Highlanders  of  Anti- 


THE   FAR    EAST  63 

gonish  came  to  Lochaber ;  and  the  Highlanders  of  the  Gulf 
soon  met,  not  at  Truro  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  as  they  used  to 
do,  but  at  a  colony  from  Truro  on  the  St.  Mary's,  washed  by 
the  Atlantic  tide  and  named  Sherbrook.  Sherbrook  is  the 
only  Atlantic  settlement  created  by  overlanders  from  the  Bay 
or  the  Gulf,  and  it  was  created  by  overlanders  from  both. 
Roads  between  Antigonish,  Pictou,  Truro,  and  the  Atlantic 
followed  the  overlanders  :  the  overlanders  did  not  follow  roads. 
The  lumber-trade  spurred  them  into  the  forest  where  they  had 
the  courage  to  live  alone ;  but  they  farmed  wherever  they  went, 
and  roads  and  towns  followed  their  footsteps. 

In  1784  three  hundred  and  eighty  Loyalists  and  discharged  ^n  Prince 
soldiers  took  steps  to  settle  in  Prince  Edward  Island ;  and  jsland 
between  1784  and  1792  the  only  new  settlements  were  on  Loyalists 
the  mainland  side  of  the  island,  ten  between  Bed6que  and*^^^^^^^^ 
Murray  Bays,  and  three  near  East  Cape.     The  main  stream,  a^idwent 
which  had  hitherto  been  directed  towards  the  Gulf  side,  was  capital. 
now  diverted  to  the  side  which  faced  the  sister  colonies.    The 
fee-simple  of  the  land  was  already  sold  to  absentees,  and 
Loyalists  were  daunted  by  the  agrarian  situation,  against  which 
Yorkshiremen  alone  were  proof,  many  of  whom  came  from 
Chignecto,  turned  tenants,  introduced  scientific  farming,  and 
went  inland,  if  a  man  can  be  said  to  go  inland  in  a  country 
where  he  is  seldom  five  and  never  ten  miles  from  salt  water. 
Many  Loyalists  left  or  concentrated  themselves  in  Charlotte- 
town,  which  is  the  capital  of  the  Island,  and  which  was  after- 
wards recruited  from  every  county  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
The  miscellaneous  character  of  the  capital  was  due  to  two 
causes.    First,  every  capital  is  a  mirror  of  its  country;  and 
owing  to  the  land  being  locked  up  immigrants  came  slowly, 
and  the  later  type  was  unlike  the  earliest  type,  which  was  ex- 
clusively Highland   or   Loyalist.     After  Waterloo,  Lowland 
hand-loom  weavers,  who  formed  part  of  Cormack's  colony  of 
New   Glasgow   (181 9),  Roman   Catholic   Irishmen  (whose 
names  are  especially  frequent  among  latter  day  settlers  at 


64 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 


In  Cape 
Breton  Is- 
lands 
Loyalists 
founded 
Sydney : 


and  Syd- 
ney became 
a  coal  and 
steel  centre. 


North  Point,  at  Richmond  Bay,  and  on  the  South  coast,  and 
some  of  whom  came  from  Newfoundland),  and  the  English 
unemployed  contributed  their  quota.  Thus  in  three  years, 
1 83 1-3,  ships  from  Tobermory,  Greenock,  Dumfries,  Bide- 
ford(^w),  Plymouth,  Yarmouth,  and  Waterford  ((^/j*)  discharged 
passengers  at  Charlottetown,  and  the  archaic  Highland  element 
was  overlaid  with  strata  of  every  epoch  and  variety.  Secondly, 
every  capital — especially  if  it  is  an  immigrant's  port — is  apt  to 
become  an  amalgam  of  many  creeds  and  races.  It  is  so  in 
Halifax  and  Sydney  as  well  as  in  Charlottetown. 

In  1784-5  Sydney,  Baddeck  (on  the  Bras),  and  St.  Peter's 
Isthmus  were  colonized  for  the  first  time,  and  they  were 
colonized  by  Loyalist  refugees.  Sydney  really  consists  of 
two  low-lying  towns  five  miles  apart,  one  of  which  is  North 
Sydney  on  the  north  entrance  of  the  north-west  arm,  and  the 
other  of  which  is  Sydney  on  the  south  entrance  of  the  south- 
west arm  of  Sydney  Harbour.  Four  or  five  miles  above 
Sydney,  the  south-west  arm  contracts  into  Sydney  or  Spanish 
River,  which  leads  to  a  watershed  under  one  hundred  feet 
high,  and  so  to  East  Bay,  which  is  an  arm  of  the  Great  Bras 
d'Or  Lake.  To-day  this  route  is  dotted  with  houses  and 
gardens,  but  in  1799  there  was  not  even  a  trail  from  East 
Bay  to  Sydney,  though  the  distance  by  land  is  about 
fourteen  miles  and  by  sea  about  eighty  miles.  The  line  of 
extension  did  not  lie  in  this  direction.  But  there  was 
a  forest  road  straight  from  Sydney  to  Louisbourg,  the  elder 
brother  whom  it  had  supplanted  (1785),  and  along  this  road, 
twenty-four  miles  long,  there  were  and  are  some  scattered 
settlements,  and  above  this  road  thq  whole  coast  as  far  as 
Morienne  Bay  has  a  series  of  rich  coal-mines.  To-day 
Sydney,  though  not  a  coal  city  herself,  is  the  capital  of 
a  group  of  coal  towns  which  include  Dominion,  Caledonia, 
Bridgeport,  and  Glace.  It  is  supposed  that  Glace  has  15,000 
and  Sydney  14,000  inhabitants,  so  that  the  suburb  exceeds 
the  city,  from  which  it  is  thirteen  miles  by  train,     The  big 


THE   FAR    EAST  65 

coal  business  has  even  revived  Louisbourg  (pop.  1588)/ 
which  is  used  as  an  auxiliary  port  in  winter,  is  connected 
with  the  coal  towns  by  railway,  and  is  growing.  But  Louis- 
bourg, the  coal  port,  is  on  the  north-east  cove,^  three  miles 
from  Louisbourg,  the  French  fort.  Moreover,  the  Dominion 
Steel  Company  have  their  principal  works  a  mile  or  two 
below  Sydney,  so  that  Sydney  owes  its  position  to  its  steel  as 
well  as  to  its  coal.  As  coal  port  and  coal  centre,  Louisbourg 
and  Glace  respectively  assist  Sydney  on  the  south  side  of  the 
harbour.  Sydney  also  requires  an  assistant  port  on  the 
north  side  of  the  harbour,  for  the  coal-mines  cross  the 
harbour  mouth  and  reappear  at  Sydney  Mines  (pop.  7,000 .?)  ^ 
and  further  north.  North  Sydney  (pop.  5,000 .?)  ^  performs 
this  function  and  serves  the  larger  town  in  its  rear,  as  Sydney 
serves  Glace.  Being  near  coal  and  steel,  both  Sydneys  are 
industrial  cities.  Like  all  capitals,  they  are  not  cast  in  any 
one  mould,  but  the  visitor  is  surprised  at  the  indisputable 
'  predominance  of  the  Scotch  type  in  the  Sydneys.  The 
Acadians  of  Ball's  Creek,  and  the  Italian  and  other  cosmo- 
politan workmen  in  the  mining  towns,  are  merging  in  a  common 
type,  but  the  Scotch  type  persists.  Yet  the  founders  of  Sydney 
were  not  Scotchmen,  but  North  American  Loyalists.  The 
second  coal  centre  of  Cape  Breton  Island  is  Inverness  (pop. 
2,ooo.?y  on  the  west  coast,  which  consists  of  some  two  hundred 
red  twin  houses,  each  twin  isolated  from  its  neighbour,  and  all 
arranged,  or  about  to  be  arranged,  in  the  familiar  American 
parallelogram.  Inverness  coal  extends  to  Mabou  and  Port 
Hood  (pop.  550)',  where  similar  miners'  houses  may  be  seen  ; 
but  Port  Hood,  unlike  Inverness,  is  a  port,  and  has  traded 
with  Newfoundland  for  one  hundred  years  or  more.  The 
principal  pr»rt  of  these  coal  towns  is  Port  Hastings  in  Canso 
Gut,  with  which  Inverness  is  connected  by  railway  (fifty-six 
miles).     Three  miles  beyond  Port  Hastings  is  Hawkesbury, 

^  Population,  1901.  ^  See  plan,  Part  I,  p.  198. 

^  Population  now. 

VOL.  V.      PT.   Ill  F 


66  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

but  Hawkesbury  and  Mulgrave,  its  looking-glass  town  on 
the  Nova  Scolian  side  of  the  Gut,  owe  much  of  their 
importance  to  their  position  on  the  main  line  from  Sydney  to 
Halifax  and  Quebec.  Before  re-crossing  the  Gut  let  us  cast 
one  last  glance  back. 
Cape  With    an   account    of   the    Acadians,    Highlanders,   and 

land  was'  Loyalists  of  a  century  ago,  and  of  the  miners  and  railway 
complete,     men  of  to-day,  the  human  geography  of  Cape  Breton  Island 
'     is  all  but  complete.     During  the  last  century  pervasive  Irish- 
men mingled  with  pertinacious  Scotchmen  on  the  Bras  d'Or 
Lakes,  and  Scotchmen  reached  Aspey  Bay.     Indians  have 
increased  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  and  fifty,  and 
live   on   their  reserves  at  Escasoni   (East   Bay),  and  near 
Whycocomagh  and  Baddeck,  and  on  Chapel  Island  (close  by 
St.  Peter's  Isthmus),  whither  they  flock  annually  as  they  did 
in  Denys's  time.     These  are  small  addenda  and  tiny  finishing 
touches,  but  for  which,  and  for  the  mines,   railways,  and 
capitals,  the  crude  outline  was  a  finished  sketch  in  1820,  or' 
somewhere  between  1820  and  1830. 
when  ^  The  date  is  equally  significant  in  the.  history  of  Cape  Breton 

unification  island  and  Nova  Scotia.  While  Cape  Breton  Island  was 
being  peopled  and  was  making  sure  of  a  separate  existence 
for  itself,  it  was  polidcally  separate  from  Nova  Scotia 
(1784-1820);  when  its  separate  existence  was  secured  and 
its  character  was  formed,  it  was  re-annexed  to  Nova 
Scotia.  The  reason  for  this  paradox  was  war  and  the  eff"ects 
of  war.  After  the  Canadian  War  (181 2-14)  the  proposed 
union  of  all  the  Maritime  Provinces  with  Quebec,  by  an  inter- 
colonial road  far  from  the  American  border,  filled  the  air. 
The  road  was  a  good  carriage  road  from  Halifax  to  Moncton 
before  1828,  and  in  1842  it  was  a  post  road  as  far  as  the 
Restigouche.  The  first  and  only  thought  which  inspired 
Nova  Scotians  and  Cape  Breton  Islanders,  when  Cape  Breton 
Island  attained  man's  estate,  was  union  with  the  Western 
Powers. 


THE   FAR    EAST  67 

Again,  in  the  Twenties,  English  Committees  and  Com- and  Eng- 
missions  on  Distress  preached  Emigration  as  its  cure,  and  ^^J^ ^,*^^- 
statesmen  began  to  pour  streams  of  Irish,  Engh'sh,  Lowland,  began  seri- 
and   Highland  emigrants   into   the   colonies.     Huge   land-  ^""^^-^* 
companies    were    formed    for    the    purpose.      The    land* 
companies  of  the  Twenties  peopled  some  new  districts  in 
New  Brunswick,  many  in  Quebec,  and  more  in  Ontario,  but 
none  in  Nova  Scotia  or  Cape  Breton  Island,  for  they  were 
already  full.     On  the  other  hand,  the  land-companies  were,  or 
were  assisted  by,  agricultural  and  mining  associations,  and 
the  mining  associations  set  to  work  at  Sydney  in  1827,  and 
on  Nova  Scotian  coal  in  the  same  year,  but  they  only  brought 
prosperity  to  prosperous  districts  and  did  not  change  the  country. 

A   man   might   walk  from  end  to  end  of  Cape  Breton  Nova 
Island  and  Nova  Scotia,  using  Haliburton's  History  {^^2())%iriycom. 
as  guide-book,  and  without  finding  anything  except  what  ht  plete  in 
expected  to  find.     He  would   shake  hands   with   a   great-  ^^^°' 
grandson  of  an  82  nd  Highlander  at  Pictou  Landing,  and 
would  learn  from  Haliburton  that  that  spot  was  granted  to 
the  82nd  Highlanders  in   1784;  he  would  find  Antigonish 
Highland,  New  Glasgow  Scotch,  Clementsport  and  Lunen- 
burg   rather    German,   and   the    Annapolis    and    Windsor 
valleys  very  English.     He  would  know  exactly  where  to  find 
Acadians  and  men  from  Cape  Cod,  and  would  recognize 
them  at  a  glance.     He  would  expect  to  find   Halifax  city 
(pop.  40,832)^  apparent  Queen — with  an  Adaniic  row  of 
satellites  amongst  which    Lunenburg  (pop.   2,916),   Bridge- 
water    (pop.    I  816),    Liverpool    (pop.     1,937),     Shelburne 
(pop.   1,445),  Barrington   (pop.  784),  and  Yarmouth  (pop. 
6,430)  were  conspicuous ;  a  Fundy  group,  including  Digby 
(pop.  1,150)5  Annapolis  (pop.  1,019),  Bridgetown  (pop.  ^5^)' 
Middleton    (pop.    969),   Kentville    (pop.    1,731),    Wolfville 
(pop.  1,412),  Windsor  (pop.  2,849),  Truro  (pop.  5,993),  Parrs- 
boro    (pop.    2,705),    Amherst    (pop.    4,964),    and    Spring- 
^  Population  1901  censu?. 
F  2 


68  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

hill  (pop.  5,178);  and  a  Gulf  group,  including  Pictou  (pop. 
3.235),  Westville  (pop.  3,47 1).  Stellarton  (pop.  2,335),  New 
Glasgow  (pop.  4,147),  Trenton  (pop.  1,003),  ^"^  Anti- 
gonish  (pop.  1,526).  He  would  learn  that  the  Gulf  and 
Ocean  towns  other  than  Halifax  were  equal  to  one  another, 
and  that  both  together  equalled  three-fourths  of  Halifax,  or 
a  little  more  than  the  Bay  towns. 

The  supremacy  of  Halifax  over  other  towns  is  unchallenged, 
and  it  accounts  for  two-fifths  of  the  town  life  but  for  only  one- 
ninth  of  the  whole  life  of  Nova  Scotia,  for  Nova  Scotia  is 
rural  in  its  habits. 
but  for  its        He  might  be  puzzled  by  the  groups  of  towns  around  Pic- 
iron  ^o">  ^^^  ^^  ^^  Strange  name   Springhill,  but  would  easily 

guess  the  cause.  Both  are  coal  centres.  The  coal-mines 
near  Pictou  were  first  worked  seriously  in  1827,  and  had 
a  railroad  in  1839.  The  harbour  is  deeply  indented  by  its 
three  rivers ;  therefore  the  mines  at  Westville  and  Stellarton 
send  their  coal  to  sea  either  from  Pictou  or  from  the  lofty 
coal  pier  at  Pictou  Landing,  and  the  latter  route  is  now  pre- 
ferred. As  at  Sydney  Harbour  two  coal  routes  are  creating 
two  capitals  of  the  coal  towns,  Pictou  and  New  Glasgow,  and 
as  New  Glasgow  commands  the  preferred  route,  it  is  out- 
stripping Pictou  in  the  industrial  race.  In  order  to  complete 
the  parallel,  the  steel-works  of  the  Nova  Scotian  Steel  Com- 
pany at  Trenton,  a  mile  or  two  below  New  Glasgow,  are  to 
New  Glasgow,  what  the  works  of  the  Dominion  Steel  Company, 
a*mile  or  two  below  Sydney,  are  to  Sydney. 

Springhill,  Maccan,  and  Loggins  are  coal-mines  south  of 
Chignecto  Bay,  and  all  this  coal-mining  has  only  enriched 
districts  which  were  already  rich.  So  with  the  iron-mines  of 
Londonderry,  north  of  Cobequid  Bay,  and  at  Torbrook,  on 
the  Nictaux,  and  at  Clementsport,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Annapolis  Valley. 
its  gold,  Gold  is  widely  scattered  near  Sherbrook,t  Stormont,*  Sheet 
Harbour,  Tangier,  Musquodoboit,  and  Mahone  Bay  on  the 


THE   FAR    EAST  69 

Atlantic  coast ;  at  Montagu,  Caribou,  and  Moose  River  near 
the  Guysborough  Road  *  ;  at  Oldham  and  Renfrew  near  the 
Truro  roadf;  at  Waverly  and  Uniacke  near  the  Windsor 
road  t ;  in  the  Brookfield  district  behind  Liverpool  and 
Bridgewater  * ;  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Yarmouth.  The 
starred  names  are,  the  crossed  names  were,  yielding  rich 
returns — if  returns  can  be  called  rich  which  barely  yield 
£600,000  per  annum"  from  the  whole  of  Nova  Scotia.  Gold 
has  not  opened  up  new  districts,  but  only  added  a  crown  here 
or  a  crown  there  to  districts  which  had  already  attained 
distinct  ion.  Gold  is  accountable  for  the  small  branch-line 
between  New  Germany  and  Caledonia;  and  may,  along 
with  Torbrook  iron  and  the  agricultural  development  of  the 
La  Heve,  have  been  partly  accountable  for  that  between 
Bridgewater  and  Middleton. 

Except  local  branch-hnes  a  few  miles  in  length,  and  some  ^>id  its 
ten  miles  of  main  line  west  of  Mulgrave,  every  Nova  Scotian 
railroad  follows  the  chief  main  roads  more  or  less.  No  line 
has  been  built  between  Halifax  and  Guysborough,  and  the 
lines  to  and  through  Windsor  became  less  important  than  the 
lines  to  and  through  Truro  owing  to  the  political  decay  of 
Annapolis,  the  economic  progress  of  the  coal  districts,  and 
the  completion  of  the  through  line  to  Quebec,  which  promoted 
Halifax  from  the  position  of  Nova  Scotian  capital  to  that  of 
winter-port  of  Canada.  But  for  these  additions,  omissions, 
and  changes,  the  old  main  roads  which  make  the  Atlantic 
Gulf  and  Bay  towns  of  Nova  Scotia  one  on  Haliburton's 
map  (1828),  and  the  new  railways,  when  they  are  shown  upon 
a  small  scale,  seem  replicas.  There  has  been  a  duplication 
of  functions.  Consequently  Halifax,  which  is  the  one  head, 
has  grown  out  of  all  proportion ;  although  Yarmouth,  the 
junction,  so  to  speak,  for  Boston,  Truro,  the  junction  for 
Quebec  and  Sydney,  and  minor  ganglionic  rail-and-road 
centres  like  Kentville  and  Bridgewater,  have  also  benefited. 


70  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


Authorities. 

In  addition  to  authorities  cited  in  the  notes  see  : — 

Report  and  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society:  1881, 
Judge  Morris,  Remarks  concerning  the  removal  of  the  Acadians  in  1755  : 
1891  ;  D.  Allison,  Notes  on  a  general  return  of  the  several  townships  in 
Nova  Scotia f  Jan.  i,  1767. 

Nova  Scotia  Archives  :  Selections  from  the  public  documents  of  Nova 
Scotia^  by  T.  B.  Akins,  1869  (contains,  e.g.,  lists  of  the  immigrants  of 
l74Q,&c. :  Col.  Mascarene*s  Account  of  Nova  Scotia,  1720,  &c.,  &c.). 

Nova  Scotia  Archives:  Cofnmission  Book,  1720-41,  ed.  A.  M. 
MacMechan,  1900. 

Canada  Reports  on  Archives j  by  D.  Brymner,  1884;  contains  e.g. 
Colonel  R.  M.orse^''^  Description  of  Nova  Scotia,  1784. 

T.  Pichon,  Letters,  &c.  relating  to  the  Islands  of  Cape  Breton  and 
St.  John,  1760. 

Accounts  and  Papers,  1826-7  :  Third  Report  of  House  of  Commons 
Committee  on  Emigration,  with  Map;  Ibid.  1828  :  Colonel  Cockbum*s 
Report  on  E7?ngration  Appendix,  {a)  Nova  Scotia,  (J?)  New  Brunswick, 
(t)  Prince  Edward  Island,  &c. 

Major  Holland,  Plaft  of  the  Island  of  St.  John  (Prince  Edward  Island), 
ed.  1765,  1775,  1789,  1851. 

Of  secondary  authorities  :  — 

T.  B.  Akins,  Hist07y  of  Halifax,  in  Report  and  Collections  of  the 
Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  1895. 

Sir  John  Bourinot,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Account  of  Cape  Breton 
Island,  1892  ;  Builders  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  Transactions  of  Royal  Society 
of  Canada,  1899. 

Richard  Brown,  History  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  1869. 

W.  Calnek,  History  of  Annapolis  (1897). 

J.  B.  Desbrisays,  History  of  Lunenburg,  2nd  ed.,  1895. 

T.  C.  Haliburton,  General  Description  of  Nova  Scotia,  1823 ;  Historical, 
and  Statistical  Account  of  Nova  Scotia,  2  vols,  (with  map),  1829. 

T.  Longworth,  History  of  O^islow,  in  Report  and  Collections  of  the 
Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society ,  1896. 

John  MacGregor,  British  America,  2  vols.,  1832. 

Beamish  Murdoch,  History  of  Nova  Scotia,  3  vols.,  1865-7. 

George  Patterson,  Memoir  of  James  MacGregor^  1859;  History  of 
the  County  of  Pictou,  1877  ;  Sable  Island,  1894. 

T.  Watson  Smith,  Loyalists  at  Shelburne,  in  Report  and  Collections 
of  the  N  Sc.  Hist.  Soc,  1888. 


NEW  BRUNSWICK 


a:-  ^-^  ..x^ 


SCALE    OF    MILES 


10        O        lb       20      30      40      50 


•RVr^ouriis**/^*,  0xf8rJl^»<^l0 


CHAPTER   III 

LINKS  BETWEEN  FAB  AND  MIDDLE  EAST 
NEW  BBUNSWICK  AND  ITS  PEOPLE 

Lines  of  communication  of  river,  road,  and  railway  double  New 

and  doubly  intensify  one  another  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  triple  and  ^^««-^«^^^^ 

triply  intensify  one  another  in  New  Brunswick,  which  is  only  a  through 

little  more  than  a  double  line  of  communication  between  the  '^^y^  ^^ 

Quebec. 
Atlantic  or  Nova  Scotia  and  Quebec ;  and  the  influence  of  Quebec 

being  nearer  is  increased  in  proportion  to  its  nearness.    Even 

those  parts  of  New  Brunswick  which  adjoin  the  isthmus  of 

Chignecto,  and  are  geographically  a  part  of  Nova  Scotia, 

became  more  famous  as  resting  and  starting  places  for  the 

north  than  as  places  to  live  and  die  in. 

Sackville  (pop.  1,444^),  Dorchester  (pop.  1,246^),  M^m-  itssouih- 
ramcook\  Hillsborough  (pop.  650^),  Hopewell  (pop.  707^),  ^^^^^ ^omer 
and  Moncton  (pop.  9,026  ^)  represent  geological  and  historical  tension  of 
extensions  of  Chignecto  Isthmus  and  its  rivers  into  New  Bruns-  ^^^^^ 
wick,  and  had  a  similar  origin.     The  Methodist  College  at 
Sackville  accentuates  the  presence  of  Yorkshiremen;  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  College  at  Memramcook  is  the  educational 
Mecca  of  the  Acadians. 

Many  Acadians  swarmed  or  hid  during  the  troubled  Fifties,  its  east  and 

between  Moncton  and  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  then  fled  further  ^^o^'^fj-^^^^ 

^  •' '  coasts  were 

north.     Long  ago  there  had  been  Quebec  missions  at  Nipisi-  occupied  by 

guit  (1620)  and  Miscou  (1634);  and  w^hen  Denys's  dominion  ^.^if^^^l 
crumbled  into  dust  Recollets  missionaries  remained  at  Resti- 
gouche  and  Miramichi,  and  two  coureurs  des  hois  acquired 
seignories  and  flitted  to  and  fro  between  Nipisiguit,  Poke- 
mouche,  and  Richibucto.  After  the  first  fall  of  Louisbourg 
a  fort  was  built  at  Shediac  (1749) :  and  after  the  fall  of  Beau- 
1  Population  1901. 


74  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

s^jour  3,500  men^  were  concentrated  by  'Mr.  Bobare  from 
Quebec '  *  at  Beaubairs's  Island,  where  the  two  arms  of  the 
Miramichi  meet  (1756).  In  order  to  take  shelter  with  the 
priests  and  soldiers  of  their  race  the  Acadians  fled  from  Nova 
Scotia  to  Shediac,  Cocagne,  Buctouche,  Richibucto,  Miramichi, 
Pokemouche,  Miscou,  and  other  ports  on  the  Gulf  coast ;  and 
to  Miscou,  Caraquet,  Nipisiguit,  and  Restigouche  on  Bay 
Chaleurs,  lining  the  sea-route  to  Quebec  Province,  and  spread- 
ing along  all  the  eastern  and  part  of  the  northern  border 
of  New  Brunswick.  On  the  eastern  border  they  received 
grants  at  all  these  ports  between  1767  and  1798  :  on  the 
northern  border  they  and  some  French  sailors,  who  fought  at 
Restigouche  (1760),  and  some  Jerseymen,  who  settled  in 
Miscou,  received  similar  grants  from  1784  onwards.  Denys's 
colonists  had  probably  died  out :  if  so,  Acadians  from  Nova 
Scotia  were  the  first  fruitful  seed  sown  along  the  eastern  and 
northern  shores  of  New  Brunswick,  and  they  are  still  there. 
They  dotted  two  sides  of  New  Brunswick  with  a  succession 
of  connected  settlements  for  the  first  time  in  history.  But 
they  founded  villages  not  towns,  and  the  work  of  peopling 
these  two  sides  was  done  a  second  time  by  men,  of  a  different 
race  and  of  a  later  generation,  who  founded  towns.  Thus  Camp- 
bellton  (pop.  2,652  ^•*),  Dalhousie  (pop.  862  *),  Bathurst*^  (pop. 
2,500^),  and  Caraquet  (pop.  773*)  on  Bay  Chaleurs;  New- 
castle (pop.  2,507  *),  Douglastown  (pop.  481  *),  Nelson  (pop. 
377*),  and  Chatham  (pop.  4,868*)  on  either  side  of  the 
estuary  of  the  Miramichi ;  and  the  towns  of  Richibucto  (pop. 
760  *)  and  Shediac  (pop.  1,075  *)  are  the  fruits  of  Scotch  seed 
w^hich  was  sown  twenty  or  thirty  years  later,  and  of  which 
more  anon.  Of  these  towns  Shediac  is  the  Gulf  by-port  of 
Moncton  (pop.  9,026*),  which  is  on  the  bend  of  the  Petitcodiac; 


1  B.  Murdoch,  History,  ii.  312. 

*  Boishebert;   sic  Dr.  Witherspoon, /^wrwa/  of  1757,   Nova  Scotia 
Hist.  Soc.y  1 88 1,  vol.  ii,  p.  31. 

2  =  Restigouche.  *  Population  in  1901.  '  =  Nipisiguit. 


LINKS   BETWEEN   FAR    AND   MIDDLE   EAST      75 

therefore  it  may  be  said  that  the  only  Gulf  towns  are  the  ports 
or  port  towns  of  the  Miramichi,  Richibucto,  and  Petitcodiac, 
which  are  the  only  rivers  affording  easy  access  from  the  Gulf 
to  the  St.  John.  Similarly  Bay  Chaleurs  and  the  Restigouche 
also  point  to  the  St.  John.  The  Acadian  villages  and  Scotch 
towns  are  termini  of  crossways  leading  to  one  great  river.  Of 
all  these  crossways  the  two  valleys,  which  seem  like  one  valley 
formed  by  the  Upper  Petitcodiac  and  Kennebecasis,  constitute 
the  easiest  and  straightest  way,  and  were  first  furnished  by 
British  colonists  with  a  main  road  past  Petitcodiac,  Sussex 
(pop.  1,398^)  and  Hampton  (pop.  650^)  to  St.  John  (pop. 

40,711'). 

St.  John  owes  its  position  as  the  commercial  capital  of  New  St,  John, 
Brunswick  to  its  fine  harbour  and  situation  at  the  mouth  of  ^^^^  ^i{ on 
the  St.  John.     The  harbour  does  not  freeze  in  winter,  and  the  St. 
the  city  proper  is  on  two  rocks  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river-  -^^  ^' 
mouth  below  the  falls,  but  its  suburbs  extend  above  the  falls 
and  to  the  right  bank,  at  West  End.'^     The  river  itself  is  one 
of  the  great  river-routes  into  the  interior  of  North  America. 

For  the  first  fifty  miles  of  its  upward  course,  the  river  whose 
St.  John  zigzags  by  Westfield,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nerepis  ^^'*'^' 
(west),  Kingston,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Belleisle  (east),  and 
Hampstead  (west),  and  Wickham  (east),  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Washademoak  (east),  to  Gagetown  (pop.  925^)  (west),  which  e.g.  Gage- 
is  the  most  important  town  between  St.  John  and  Fredericton,  ^^"' 
and  from  which  the  Salmon  River  produces  an  easy  waterway 
to  a  low  watershed,  and  so  to  the  Richibucto,  and  a  less  easy 
waterway  to  Cain's  River  and  the  Miramichi. 

After  Gagetown  the  river  bends  westward  through  flooded 
flats  and  more  continuous  settlements,  past  the  vis-a-vis  towns 
of  Maugerville  (north)  and  Oromocto  (south),  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Oromocto  (south),  to  the  low-lying,  leafy  city  of  Frederic-  Frederic- 
ton  (pop.  7,117^)  (south),  which  is  the  political  capital  and  ^^^^' 
University  city  of  New  Brunswick,  and  presents  a  striking 
^  Population,  1901.  ^  Formerly  Carleton. 


76 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 


Grand 
Falls, 


Edmund- 
ston, 


contrast  to  its  supplementary  lumber-towns  of  Marysville 
(pop.  1,892^)  and  Gibson  (pop.  764^),  on  the  opposite  or 
north  bank.  Though  eighty-four  miles  from  the  sea,  the 
river  is  still  tidal,  half  a  mile  wide,  and  thatched  with  lumber 
rafts,  like  Groby's  Pool  with  pancakes.  It  is  here  that  the 
Nashwaak  penetrates  towards  the  sources  of  the  Miramichi, 
and  presents  a  waterway  to  the  Gulf,  only  inferior  in  impor- 
tance to  the  waterway  from  St.  John  to  Moncton.  So  far 
the  importance  of  three  great  towns  on  the  St.  John  is  partly 
due  to  their  position  at  the  head  of  the  three  best  waterways 
to  the  Gulf.  Sixty-four  miles  further  on  is  the  lumber-town 
of  Woodstock  (pop.  2,984),  below  which  the  Eel  River 
joins  the  St.  John  from  the  south,  and  other  rivers  join  it 
from  Maine  (United  States).  The  river  now  runs  north  and 
south  for  112  miles  past  Perth  (east)  and  Andover  (west), 
which  are  twin  towns  near  the  mouths  of  the  Tobique  (east) 
and  the  Aroostook  (west),  past  Grand  Falls  (pop.  644),  where 
there  is  a  miniature  Niagara,  124  feet  high,  and  past  Grand 
River,  where  the  Grand  River  flows  in  from  the  east,  to 
Edmundston  (pop.  444),  where  the  river,  which  is  now  flowing 
west  and  east,  is  joined  from  the  north  bythe  Madawaska,ariver 
one-third  its  size  and  depth,  and  leading  to  Temiscouata  Lake 
and  Portage  on  the  Appalachian  Range,  and  so  to  Rivibre  du 
Loup,  81  miles  away,  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  St.  John, 
Madawaska,  and  Riviere  du  Loup  are  the  natural  high- 
way through  the  341  miles  of  impenetrable  forest  which 
separate  the  Bay  of  Fundy  from  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 
Along  this  highway  there  are  trifling  interruptions  formed  by 
falls,  rapids,  and  one  low  watershed,  and  towns  have  been 
built  as  trysting-places  wherever  and  only  where  two  or  more 
similar  highways  meet ;  for  instance,  at  St.  John,  Gagetown, 
Fredericton,  Woodstock,  and  Edmundston.  Even  Westfield 
and  Oromocto  are  at  the  ends  of  a  pair  of  waterways  which 
cut  off  a  sharp  corner  of  the  St.  John ;  and  Petitcodiac  and 
^  Population,  1901. 


LINKS    BETWEEN    FAR    AND    MIDDLE   EAST      77 

Sussex  are  and  have  been  starting-places  for  short  cuts  to  the 
Belleisle,  Washademoak,  and  Salmon  River  crossways.  But 
this  rule  has  two  exceptions.  Grand  Falls  has  its  town,  and, 
although  it  is  a  compulsory  resting-place  on  the  old  main 
river-route,  it  is  not  the  starting-point  of  a  new  crossway ; 
and  although  the  Grand  River  furnishes  the  only  practicable 
crossway  from  the  St.  John  to  the  Restigouche  and  Bay 
Chaleurs  it  has  no  town,  unless  Edmundston,  twenty  miles  away, 
serves  that  purpose.  These  exceptions,  or  possible  exceptions, 
occur  where  boundary  disputes  retarded  natural  development. 

Hardly  less  important  than  the  side-passages,  so  to  speak,  are  also 
from  the  great  river  to  the  eastern  gulf  are  its  two  back-stair  Zm^Passa- 
passages  to  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  one  from  Woodstock  up  maquoddy 
the  Eel  River  and  down  the  St.  Croix  \  and  the  other  up  the    ^■^' 
Oromocto  and  down  the  Magaguadavic  :  the  first  leading  to 
Milltown  (pop.  2,044 ''),  St.  Stephen  (pop.  2,840 '^),  and  St. 
Andrews  (pop.  1,066  ^),  and  the  second  leading  to  St.  George 
(pop.  2,892  '^),  all  of  which  are  on  Passamaquoddy  Bay.    The 
towns  on  the  west  side  of  the  St.  Croix  are  rather  larger  than 
those  on  the  east,  but  belong  to  the  United  States :  for  by 
the  sport  of  Fate  the  frontier  between  British  America  and  the 
United  States  is  the  St.  Croix,^  and  Fate  as  usual  has  been 
capricious  in  its  choice. 

England  claimed  as  heir  to  France  :  and  France  only  and  adjoin 
claimed  because  it  planted  the  first  Acadian  colony  at  St.  f^f^^f^glf^" 
Croix  Island  (1604-5).^  ^"^  ^or  this  plantation  no  one 
would  have  heard  of  the  St.  Croix  River;  yet  St.  Croix 
Island  belongs  to  the  United  States.  Secondly,  England 
claimed  as  the  heir  of  Sir  William  Alexander,  to  whom 
James  I.  granted  a  colony  (162 1)  bounded  by  the  St.  Croix 
River  to  its  source,  including  *its  furthest  source  from  the 
west ',  and  thence  by  a  line  due  north  to  the  nearest  river, 
emptying  itself  into  the  St.  Lawrence.     The  treaty  of  1783 

1  Chiputneticook  branch.  ^  Population,  1901. 

'  Douchet  Isle. 


78  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 

substituted  the  watershed  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  for  the  river  emptying  itself  into  the 
St.  Lawrence,  but  otherwise  followed  the  grant  with  a 
deference  rarely  paid  either  to  its  author  or  its  recipient. 
Yet  the  present  boundary  excludes  western  affluents  of  the 
St,  Croix;  and  the  due  north  line,  after  shadowing  the 
St.  John  River  from  below  Woodstock  to  Grand  Falls,  hits 
the  St.  John  River  above  Grand  Falls :  after  which  the  river 
and  a  western  affluent  named  the  St.  Francis  become  the 
boundary  as  far  as  a  lake^  near  the  source  of  the  St.  Francis, 
whence  a  straight  line  is  drawn  south  by  west  to  lat.  46**  25^ 
where  another  tributary  of  the  St.  John  becomes  the 
boundary  as  far  as  the  watershed  between  the  St.  Lawrence 
on  one  side  and  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  Atlantic  on  the 
other  side.  The  arguments  and  compromises  by  means  of 
which  this  singular  boundary  was  evolved  are  described  in 
the  preceding  volume  of  this  series.  Its  effects  were 
to  assimilate  and  identify  the  fortunes  of  Passamaquoddy 
Bay  with  those  of  the  St.  John  River,  to  throw  back  the 
proposed  inter-colonial  road  and  railway  from  the  St.  John  • 
and  St.  Croix  to  the  Gulf  shores,  and  to  compel  New 
Brunswick  to  associate  with  Canada  by  way  of  Quebec 
instead  of  Montreal,  and  with  Quebec  by  northern  routes 
instead  of  north-western  routes.  The  north-western  routes 
would  probably  have  been  one :  the  northern  routes  are  two, 
not  by  choice  but  by  geographical  necessity. 
Hence  New  The  consequence  of  these  artificial  arrangements  are  that 
t^aT''^  New  Brunswick  is  divided  longitudinally  into  a  Gulf-Coast- 
eastem  and  strip  held  together  by  a  State  road  and  rail :  and  a  St.  John 
1imo?life  ^iver- Strip  held  together  by  river,  and  at  a  later  date  by 
private  roads  and  railways :  the  first  strip  being  extended  to 
include  Bay  Chdleurs  and  Moncton,  and  the  second  strip 
being  extended  to  include  Passamaquoddy  Bay.  Dusty 
parchments  drawn  by  London  scriveners  at  the  behest  of 
*  Lake  Pohenagamook. 


LINKS    BETWEEN    FAR    AND    MIDDLE    EAST      79 

a  crowned  pedant  and  unique  historical  complications  pro- 
duced this  arbitrary  dichotomy.     But  was  it  arbitrary  ? 

Long   before   history  began,  Indians  adopted  these  very  The  same 
same  divisions  :  and  the  St.  John  River,  including  Passama-  ^^^^^^  ^c- 

•'  ^  curved  in 

quoddy  Bay,  was  the  domain  of  the  Maliceet,  while  the  Gulf  Indian, 
coast,  including  Bay  Chaleurs  and  the  Petitcodiac,  was  the 
domain  of  the  Micmac.  To  them  New  Brunswick  was  not 
one  but  two  :  and  the  ways  between  the  two  were  the  same 
as  those  which  have  been  described  between  St.  John  and 
Monclon,  between  Gagetown  and  Richibucto,  between 
Fredericton  and  Miramichi,  and  between  Grand  River  and 
the  Restigouche  to-day;  even  the  back  entrance  to  the 
St.  John  from  Passamaquoddy  Bay  and  the  short  cuts  were 
the  same.  The  very  trysting  and  council  places  of  the 
Indians  at  St.  John,  Fredericton,  St.  Andrews  and  Wood- 
stock— not  to  mention  lesser  or  later  posts  at  St.  George, 
Westfield,  Oromocto  and  Edmundston,  were  at  the  same 
corners  in  Indian  times  as  the  principal  places  were  under  the 
French  and  English  regimes. 

The  French  regime  was  the  Indian  regime  with  a  and  in 
European  veneer.  In  1620  a  RecoUet  missionary  oi^J'^^^J^ 
Nipisiguit  descended  the  St.  John ;  and  coureurs  des  hois  from 
Quebec  followed  him ;  but  in  political  geography  these  men 
were  mere  pupils  of  those  whom  they  went  to  teach.  Only 
one  effort  was  made  to  improve  upon  the  lesson  learned 
from  the  Indians.  In  1683  De  Meule  proposed  to  plant 
French  Canadian  '  Habitans '  along  the  St.  John  every  four 
leagues,  so  that  a  road  '  might  make  itself  naturally '  from 
Quebec  to  Acadia.^  But  in  French  Canada  Habitans  pre- 
supposed Seigneurs;  so  the  Government  created  Seigneurs 
between  Woodstock  and  St.  John  in  order  that  the  Seigneurs 
might  create  the  Habitans,  and  the  Habitans  might  create 
the  road  or  the  road  might  create  itself:  and  Seigneurs  resided 
for  a  few  years  at  Woodstock,  Nashwaak  opposite  Fredericton, 

1  Coll.  de  Manuscriis,  ed.  Blanchet,  Quebec,  1883-5,  vol.  i,  p.  301. 


8o  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Jemseg  (opposite  Gagetown),  St.  John,  Hampton,  St.  Andrews, 

and  St.  George;  but  those  on  the  coast  were  mostly  Acadians 

who  resided  elsewhere,  while  those  inland  being  wild  men  of 

the  woods,  and  wont  to  travel  like  Indians  and  with  Indians, 

resided  everywhere  or  nowhere,  and  were  the  last  people  in  the 

world  who  would  be  likely  to  introduce  Habitans.^     In  1690 

Villebon  removed   his   capital   from   Annapolis  to  Jemseg, 

Nashwaak,  and   St.   John  successively,  but  only  for  a  few 

years.     In  1696  and  1704  Colonel  Church  and  others  laid 

these  setdements  waste,  and  in   1733  there  were  only  one 

hundred  and  eleven  settlers  on  the  St.  John,  mostly  Acadian. 

In  1746  the  first  order  was  given  to  cut  a  path  three  feet 

wide  from  Lake  Temiscouata  to  the  Riviere  du  Loup  and 

was  not  obeyed.     So   far  the  French  plan  proved  a  mere 

plan  on  paper. 

Acadian  Then    voluntary    and    involuntary   flight    led    bands   of 

7hesT\ohn  Acadians  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  St.  John.     Thence 

and  Gulf    they  fled  further  and  founded  '  French  villages '  on  '  French 

differed.      midges'   by   *  French    lakes',   (i)   near    Hampton    east    of 

St.  John,  (2)  on  the  Oromocto,  (3)  at  Little   River,  near 

Grand  Lake,  and  near  (4)  Kingston,  (5)  Gagetown,^  and 

(6)  Fredericton  on  the  St.  John :  of  which  villages  two  above 

Fredericton  survive,  but  the  rest  of  the  villagers  have  been 

dispersed  and  gathered  together  again  at  Edmundston,  or  in  its 

neighbourhood  where  they  act  as  Wardens  of  the  March. 

These  Acadians  entered  New  Brunswick  by  a  different  route 

from  those  who  spread  along  the  coast  at  the  same  time,  so  that 

New  Brunswick  to  all  intents  and  purposes  was  still  two  provinces* 

New  Eng'      As   in   Nova   Scotia   so   in   New   Brunswick,   while    the 

settMin     Acadians  fled  afield  for  safety,  the  New  Englanders  rushed  in 

the  south-    to  farm  and  trade,  but  at  three  places  only :  (i )  in  the  salt- 

^and^onOie  niarshes  between  Moncton  and  Sackville,  (2)  at  St.  John  on 

1  E.g.,  the  four  brothers  Damours  at  Hampton,  Jemseg,  Fr^neuse 
(Maugerville)  and  Meductic  (Woodstock),  and  Vilieu  at  Shepody,  &c. 
"^  Grimross. 


LINKS   BETWEEN  FAR   AND   MIDDLE   EAST      8l 

both  banks  (1762),  and  (3)  on  the  flooded  banks  of  the  western 
St.  John  at  Maugerville  (1763).  All  were  of  British  descent  ^^'^^* 
except  a  very  few  of  the  settlers  near  Moncton,  who  were 
Germans  from  Pennsylvania.  The  settlers  at  Maugerville 
were  the  first  New  Englanders  to  arrive,  and  they  came  by 
the  Magaguadavic  and  Oromocto,  thus  emphasizing  from  the 
very  first  the  unity  of  the  St.  John  district  with  that  of 
Passamaquoddy  Bay.  A  few  Englishmen  came  from 
England  under  Lieutenant  William  Owen  to  Campobello 
Island  in  Passamaquoddy  Bay;  and  a  few  scattered  British 
Americans  settled  on  the  adjacent  mainland,  and  also  on  the 
St.  John  at  Kingston,  and  east  of  Maugerville  and  at 
Fredericton.  No  one  settled  on  the  Gulf.  There  was  as  yet 
no  unity  in  New  Brunswick. 

This  British- American  invasion  was  a  mere  fragmentary  The  Loyal- 
forecast  of  the  invasion  twenty  years  later  by  the  Loyalists,  ^f^-f-^^^  ^^ 
In  New  Brunswick  the  Loyalists  included  twelve  regiments  where  the 
of  disbanded  Provincial  soldiers  \  two  Highland  regiments,  f^^^^y^^' 
and  four  neighbourhood  guilds  or  associations  of  Loyalists,  settled , 
besides  officials  and  the  like.     The  soldiers  were  introduced, 
located,   and   rationed  for   a   time  by   the  British   military 
authorities,  and  similar  first  aid  was  accorded  to  the  other 
wounded  spirits.     They  came  with  their  wives  and  children. 
These  were  the  men  and  women  to  whom,  and  to  whom 
alone,   the   creation   of  St.   John,   Gagetown,    Fredericton, 
and  Woodstock,  and  of  continuous  settlements  between  them, 
of  St.  Stephen,  St.  Andrews,  and  St.  George,  on  Passama- 
quoddy Bay,  and  of  Hampton  and  Sussex,  on  the  critical  base 
line  between  St.  John  and  Moncton,  was  due.     The  Loyalists, 
who  made  Nova  Scotia  come  of  age,  made  New  Brunswick 
exist.     Their  harbingers,  the  New  Englanders,  barely  made 
it  a  prophecy  of  a  province  by  twenty  years  of  effort ;  while 
they  made  it  a  perfected  province  in  a  moment,  in  the  twink- 

1  Eighteen  others  are  mentioned  in  Brymner,  Report  on  Archives^ 
1883,  p.  II. 

VOL,  V.     PT,  III  G 


82  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

ling  of  an  eye.  There  were  now  capital  and  other  towns 
at  the  very  coigns  of  vantage  chosen  by  Frenchmen  a  century 
ago,  and  by  Indians  many  centuries  ago ;  and  there  were 
also  settlements  (followed  by  a  road)  along  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  miles  of  the  River  St.  John  and  between 
St.  John  and  the  Gulf  (near  Moncton);  and  there  was 
a  road  (followed  by  settlements)  between  Fredericton  and 
St.  Andrews.  As  in  Nova  Scotia,  roads  became  symbols 
and  instruments  by  which  a  unity  hitherto  unattainable 
was  attained.  Passamaquoddy  Bay  became  like  an  alter- 
native mouth  of  the  St.  John,  and  the  St.  John  was  tied  to 
the  Gulf  by  the  thin  thread  that  passed  through  Sussex  and 
Moncton.  No  Loyalists  went  direct  to  the  Gulf  or  far  from 
the  sea  except  on  the  St.  John  and  at  Sussex,  but  hardly  had 
they  arrived  when  re-emigration  and  extension  began. 
and  Loyal-      Some  re-emigrated  by  the  new  road  to  Moncton  and  its 

isi  re-emt-  neighbourhood,  and  so  to  the  Gulf;  others  used  it  as  a  base 

grants  met         ° 

Highland   for  extending  northwards  to  the  valleys  of  the  Washademoak 

immi-        ^j.  j^g^  Canaan,  and  of  the  Salmon  River  at  Chipman,  New 

grants  on  ^  r  j 

the  Gulf,  Canaan  (1792)  and  Chipman  (c.  1800)  having  been  reached 
already  by  extension  from  the  St.  John.  At  Fredericton 
a  Highland  capitalist  named  Davison  induced  fifty  Loyal- 
ist families  to  pass  over  the  watershed  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Miramichi  and  elsewhere  (1784-5);  and  other  Highland 
LoyaHsts  followed  from  Fredericton  and  founded  Ludlow, 
midway  between  Fredericton  and  Newcastle  (18 14),  while  a 
counter-current  of  Ayrshire  and  Highland  colonists  from 
Newcastle  founded  Doaktown  (1790),  almost  midway  between 
Newcastle  and  Fredericton.  The  Ayrshire  and  Highland 
colonists,  who  were  borne  along  on  the  counter-current,  formed 
part  of  those  who  came  to  and  overflowed  Cape  Breton  Island, 
Pictou,  and  Prince  Edward  Island ;  they  not  only  reached  the 
Gulf  Coast  of  New  Brunswick,  but  even  reached  Campbellton  * 

1  Athol  Point. 


LINKS   BETWEEN   FAR   AND   MIDDLE   EAST      83 

on  Bay  Chaleurs,  and  the  shores  of  Passamaquoddy  Bay 
(i8o4y  but  did  not  reach  the  St.  John. 

Hitherto  no  Irishmen  from  Ireland,  and  hardly  any  Eng-  English 
lishmen   from   England,^  officers  excepted,    had  arrived   as  ^'^^  ^p^^ 
colonists.     Then   after    Waterloo    a    period    of   systematic  ^^.^^/^ 
emigration   began  and  continued  until  the  Fifties.     Every  <^^"^^i 
part  of  the  United  Kingdom,  especially  Ireland,  contributed.  ^  ^  ~^°* 
There  were  hardly  any  foreigners ;    and  the  only  foreigners 
were   from   the  United   States.     In   1851    one-fifth   of  the 
population    were    returned    as    immigrants ;     and    of    the 
immigrants  71  percent,  were  Irish,  12  percent.  Scotch,  10 
per  cent.  English,  4  per  cent,  'other  British',  and  3   per 
cent,  foreign,  meaning  American.     The  movement  towards 
New  Brunswick  was  intensely  national. 

The  new  era  ushered  in  new  roads  on  which  the  newcomers  ^y^^  roads 
setded.  There  were  new  provincial  roads  from  Fredericton  ^^^^  ^^^^^^ 
(i)  to  St.  John  by  the  short  cut  between  Westfield  and  Oro- 
mocto  (1826),  (2)  to  Chatham  (1833-4),  (3)  to  St.  Andrews 
(1826-7),  and  (4)toChipman  (c.  1835),  and  so  to  Richibucto 
(c.  1855),  not  to  speak  of  minor  cross-roads  from  Moncton 
to  Canaan,  from  St.  John  to  Shepody,  and  so  on.  The 
capital  was  being  used  as  a  road  centre,  and  two  more  bonds 
were  added  between  the  River  St.  John  and  the  Gulf  by  the 
second  and  fourth  roads. 

On  the  first  road  Irishmen  peopled  Blissville.     The  second  along 
road  was  the  work  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Land  Company,  which  '^^^/^^  i»^' 
introduced  Skye  crofters  to   Old  Stanley   Road  (1837)  to  l^^lffj^^^ 
associate  with  the  Irishmen  of  Tay  and  the  Welshmen  of 
Cardigan   hard  by;    Anglo-Scotch  borderlanders  settled  at 
Harvey,  Wooler,  and  Tweedside  (1837),  on  the  third  road; 
and  on  the  last  road  which  was  built  in  order  to  promote  settle- 

^  G.  Patterson,  Life  of  James  MacGregor^  pp.  351-2.     Probably  ex- 
soldiers,  ibid.,  p.  347. 

2  Yorkshiremen  in  Sackville,  &c.,  Lieutenant  Owen  at  Campobello, 
and  W.  Hannington  at  Shediac. 

6  2 


84 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


e.g.  the  two 
inter- 
colonial 
roads  to 
Quebec, 


by  the 
St.  John 

route, 


ment  there  were  Irishmen  at  Londonderry  (c.  1825),  Nova 
Scotians  from  Cornwallis  at  Alma  (c.  18 15),  and  Scotchmen 
at  Roxburgh  (c.  1848). 

These  settlements  were  the  products  of  social  effort,  but 
were  backed  by  sturdy  individualists  like  Thomas  Boies,  who 
founded  a  one-man  town  called  Boiestown,  near  Ludlow 
(c.  1822),  and  Alexander  Gibson,  'the  lumber  king,*  who 
bought  land  from  the  Land  Company  and  gave  his  name  to 
Gibson,  and  by  many  others  whose  names  are  forgotten. 

During  this  period  two  great  intercolonial  roads  were  com- 
pleted to  Quebec,  one  from  Fredericton  and  Woodstock  and 
the  other  from  Moncton.  These  roads  overshadowed  every 
other  road,  and  the  second  which  continued  to  Halifax  over- 
shadowed the  first.  The  first  was  indirectly  due  to  war,  and 
the  second  was  directly  due  to  apprehensions  of  war. 

Before  1783  there  was  wilderness,  and  nothing  but  wilder- 
ness, between  Woodstock  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  1783 
Sir  Frederick  Haldimand  began  to  build,  between  Rivibre  du 
Loup  and  Lake  Temiscouata,  a  road  which  in  1833  was  from 
six  to  nine  feet  wide,  with  old  tree-stumps  on  its  dry  patches, 
and  rotting  timber  strewn  corduroy-fashion  on  its  wet  patches. 
In  1 79 1  Sir  Guy  Carleton  established  small  military  posts  at 
Presqu'  He  and  Grand  Falls  between  the  Loyalist  settlements 
at  Woodstock  and  the  Acadian  settlements  at  Edmundston. 
During  the  war  with  the  United  States  (18 12-14)  Sir  John 
Harvey,  Sir  George  Prevost,  the  8th  and  the  104th  Regiments, 
marched  from  Woodstock  to  Riviere  du  Loup  or  vice  versa. 
Governors  and  regiments  went  before  and  pioneer-settlers 
followed  after.  Between  181 7  and  181 9  six  disbanded  regi- 
ments were  settled  by  the  War  Office  at  Wicklow,  Kent, 
Perth,  and  Andover,  between  Woodstock  and  Grand  Falls,* 
and  a  seventh  between  Grand  Falls  and  Lake  Temiscouata,^ 
and  the  self-made  road  of  which  De  Meule  dreamed  began 

^  The  8th,  90th,  98th,  104th,  and  the  New  Brunswick  Fencibles  and 
West  Indian  Rangers.  *  The  49th. 


LINKS    BETWEEN  FAR    AND   MIDDLE  EAST      85 

to  materialize.  Daring  the  rebellion  (1837-9)  four  regiments 
used  this '  celebrated  new  route  by  the  Portage  of  Temiscouata, 
by  the  possession  of  which  the  Americans  seek  to  control  the 
navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Indeed  its  danger  was  as 
obvious  as  its  value  when  these  words  were  written  (1842), 
and  the  writer  added  that  in  case  of  war  with  the  United 
States  '  the  Kempt  road  which  is  to  open  a  communication 
between  New  Brunswick  and  Quebec '  was  the  first  necessity 
of  life  to  Canada  in  winter,  when  ice  on  the  river  and  gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence  cuts  off  Quebec  from  Europe,  unless  there  is 
a  safe  way  by  land  from  Quebec  to  some  ice-free  Atlantic 
port.^ 

The  Kempt  or  Gulf  road  from  Moncton  to  Newcastle,  ami  by  the 
Bathurst,  Lake  Matapedia,  and  M^tis  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ^^^^^* 
River  doubled  the  sea-route  to  Quebec,  and  rarely  followed 
either  river  or  any  other  natural  course.  It  was  artificial, 
and  was  built  chiefly  as  a  military  precaution,  but  partly  also 
in  order  to  induce  settlement;  and  the  chief  settlers  along 
this  line  were  Irishmen  and  Scotchmen,  among  whom  lessees 
of  the  Island  of  Arran — who,  on  the  expiry  of  their  leases, 
went  to  Campbellton,  Dalhousie  (1829),  and  the  Bay  Chaleurs 
— were  conspicuous.  Philanthropists  sometimes  disguised 
as  evicting  landlords  found  recruits  for  the  road  by  the  Gulf, 
as  the  War  Office  did  for  the  road  by  the  river. 

The  whole  history  of  this  period  was  a  history  of  roads ;  both  oj 

and  the  political  effect  of  the  two  most  important  roads  was  "^^^^f^ , 

^  ^  aitmntshed 

to  people,  enrich,  and  unify  the  province  by  diminishing  the  the  import- 
importance  of  its  capital.     The  great  gulf  road  did  not  pass  ^^^Z^l^ 
Fredericton  or  St.  John ;  and  the  great  river  road  had  two  towns. 
branches  from  Woodstock,  one  to  St.  Andrews,  which  did 
not  pass  Fredericton,  and  the  other  to  St.  John,  on  which 
Fredericton  resembled  a  beautiful  wayside  inn. 

After  the  Fifties  immigration  almost  ceased ;  roads  played  Railways 
little  part,  and  men  forgot  the  great  part  which  the  Colonial  ^^^^^ff^ 

^  Sir  R.  Bonnycastle,  The  Canadas  in  1841,  1842,  vol.  ii,  pp.  127,  146. 


86  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Hon  almost  and  War  Office  played  in  stocking  the  land  with  Loyalists 
^and  '  and  veterans.  It  was  a  period  of  railroads,  which  shadowed 
doubled  the  the  two  intercolonial  roads,  and  the  main  provincial  roads  from 
^'^^  ^'  Moncton  to  St.  John  and  from  Fredericton  to  Chatham  or 
Newcastle.  The  great  intercolonial  railroad,  being  political, 
shadowed  the  Kempt  road,  which  is  far  from  the  frontier; 
and  the  railroads  near  the  St.  John  were  left  to  private 
enterprise.  The  Gulf  settlements  and  St.  John  River  settle- 
ments, so  to  speak,  were  united  with  themselves  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  by  two  vertical  steel  jambs,  the  left  jamb 
dividing  into  two  below  Woodstock,  and  by  two  steel  cross- 
bars with  each  other.  Fredericton  sank  to  the  material  level 
of  Moncton;  and  the  extreme  points  at  Halifax,  St.  John, 
and  Passamaquoddy  Bay  were  strengthened  at  the  expense 
of  intermediate  towns.  Of  these  towns  Halifax,  being  the 
terminus  of  the  intercolonial  Railway,  profited  more  than 
St.  John,  which  is,  however,  the  terminus  of  a  branch-line 
from  Moncton,  and  of  a  concatenation  of  small  private  lines 
down  the  St.  John  valley.  Perhaps  the  completion  of  the 
National  Transcontinental  Railway,  which  is  meant  to  go 
across  country  from  Grand  Falls  by  Chipman  to  Moncton, 
with  branches  to  Fredericton  and  St.  John,  will  readjust  the 
scales ;  but  its  principal  effect  will  be  to  open  up  new  districts 
to  settlement.  At  present  the  country  away  from  the  main 
railways  and  roads  is  very  lonely.  There  has  been  extension 
by  old  setders  up  Eel  River,  Tobique  River,  and  the  like, 
and  by  old  and  new  settlers  elsewhere,  but  always,  more  or 
less,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  new  railway  lines.  Thus 
the  line  between  Woodstock  and  Edmundston  and  its  neigh- 
bourhood has  absorbed  Irish  navvies,  dispatched  by  Earl 
Wicklow  from  his  Wicklow  estates  (1848),  Shetland  navvies 
(at  Lerwick),  Baptists  conducted  by  Rev.  Charles  Knowles 
from  Yarmouth  (Nova  Scotia)  to  Knowlesville  (i860), 
Presbyterians  conducted  by  Rev.  G.  Glass  from  Aberdeen  to 
Glassville  (1865?),  and  Skedaddlers  or  Americans,  who  left 


LINKS    BETWEEN   FAR   AND    MIDDLE   EAST      87 

the  United  States  in  order  to  avoid  fighting  and  settled  on 
Skedaddler  Ridge  near  Knowlesville  (1864).  But  matters 
like  these  belong  to  parochial  rather  than  to  national 
history,  and  the  face  of  the  country  and  character  of  the 
population  have  hardly  changed  since  the  Fifties,  when  it 
attained  some  sort  of  finality. 

The  population  has  increased  50  per  cent,  during  the  last  The  popu- 
fifty  years  and  was  331,120  in  1901,  of  which  one-third  was  ^^^^^^^ 
*  English '    (including   British   American),    one-fourth   Irish,  British, 
one-fourth   Acadian,    one-seventh   Scotch,   and   the   minute 
residue  comprised   1,368  negroes  (who  settled  at  Otnabog 
(181 2)  and  Willow  Grove  (181 7),  and  1,309  native  Indians 
(for  whom  twenty-five  reserves  have  been  set  apart  at  the 
mouths  of  the  Tobique,  Richibucto,  and  elsewhere). 

Geographically,  if  unimportant  details  are  omitted,  the 
Indian,  French,  and  British  civilizations,  and  the  rivers, 
coast-lines,  roads,  and  railways,  resemble  one  another  on  the 
map.  But  the  resemblance  would  be  misleading,  because  it 
ignores  the  human  element. 

New  Brunswick  is  still  an  oblong  exhibiting  a  difi'eren.  and  united. 
type  of  civilization  on  its  two  longer  sides — Military  and 
Loyalist  on  the  west,  Scotch  and  Acadian  on  the  East ;  but 
the  nature,  causes,  and  effects  of  its  incurable  dualism  are 
not  now  what  they  were  in  old  time.  Thus  the  two  types 
still  meet  along  well-worn  routes  by  river,  road,  and  rail ; 
but  these  cross-routes,  which  once  were  mere  points  of 
casual  contact,  are  now  means  by  which  the  two  civilizations 
are  indissolubly  welded  together. 

The  reader  may  be  weary  of  seeing  rivers  and  coasts  New 
referred  to  as  lines  of  development,  and  lines  of  development  ^^  ^j^^  .^^_ 
described  by  architectural  and  mechanical  metaphors  such  as  vince  of 
passages,  props,  bands,  bonds,  and  the  like ;  but  these  meta-  ^^  ^j^^ 
phors  recur  irresistibly  to  those  who  realize  that  if  there  is  north, 
one  essential  truth  which  has  persisted  through  the  ages,  it  is 
that  New  Brunswick  is  the  province  with  two  corridors  to 


88  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Quebec  Province,  two  bands  and  bonds  between  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  Atlantic,  two  props  or  pillars  upon  which  Quebec 
Province  rests,  and  must  rest  during  half  the  year,  unless  it  is 
to  depend  upon  the  United  States.  It  was  so  when  New 
Brunswick  was  dual  and  divided ;  and  the  more  self-contained 
and  united  New  Brunswick  has  become,  the  more  irrefutably 
has  it  shown  that  its  mission  in  the  history  of  the  world  is  to 
connect  Quebec  Province  with  the  far  Eastern  provinces 
and  with  Europe. 

Authorities. 

Nicolas  Denys,  Description ^  &c.^  of  the  Coasts  of  North  America 
(Acadia),  1672,  transl.  and  ed.  by  W.  F.  Ganong,  1908,  published  by 
the  Champlain  Society. 

William  F.  Ganong,  Contributions  to  the  History  of  New  Brunswick, 
1895  et  seq.,  being  papers  reprinted  from  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Canada  ;  especially  the  papers  entitled  *  Origin  of  Settlement ', 
1904,  and  *  Historic  Sites',  1899. 

J.  W.  Lawrence,  Footprints  or  Incidents  in  the  early  history  of  New 
Brunswick,  1883. 

Captain  Mimro's  Description  of  St.  John  River,  &c,,  1784,  in  Report 
on  Archives  of  Canada,  by  D.  Brymner,  1891,  pp.  25  et  seq. 

Professor  Ganong  has  discussed  and  illustrated  the  peopling  of  New 
Brunswick  with  an  industry  and  thoroughness  which  leave  nothing  to 
be  added. 


CHAPTER  IV 

OTHEB  LINKS  BETWEEN  FAR  AND  MIDDLE  EAST 

Peninsulas  and  Islands  of  the  Gulf 

The  north  side  of  Bay  Chaleurs,  although  situated  in  the  The  north 
province  of  Quebec,  reflects  the  civilization  of  its  south  side.  ^^^^^  ^ 
No  one  lives  there  except  upon  the  coast,  behind  which  the  Chdleurs, 
wooded  tableland  of  Gaspd  Peninsula  (c.  1,500  feet),  crowned 
by  the  Shickshock  Mountains  (c.  4,000  feet),  bring  the  long 
line  of  the  Appalachian  range  of  Eastern  America  to  a  fitting 
end,  and  prohibit  settlements  inland. 

The  country  consists  of  one  county,  which  is  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  nothing  but  a  line  of  coast;  and  along  the 
coast  is  a  railway  one  hundred  miles  long,  ending  on  the 
west  in  Restigouche  and  on  the  east  in  Port  Daniel,  a  few 
miles  beyond  which  is  Point  Macquereau  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Bay.  The  easternmost  towns  lie  almost  continuously  along 
the  shore,  in  this  order :  Port  Daniel  (pop.  2,509),^  Hopetown 
(pop.  2,411),*  Paspdbiac  (pop.  1,759),*  and  New  Carlisle 
(pop.  1,027).*  New  Carlisle  was  founded  in  1784  by 
Loyalist  Englishmen  from  New  York  State  and  a  few  dis- 
banded soldiers,"  is  still  two-thirds  English,  and  is  the  county 
town ;  Port  Daniel  and  Hopetown  are  two-thirds  French  in 
origin,  and  Paspdbiac  is  six-sevenths  French  in  origin  and  is 
the  head-quarters  of  the  Jersey  fish-merchants,  who  began 
their  mission  of  industry  and  reconciliation  here  upon  the 
green-sward  below  the  purple  mountains  and  above  the  low 
red  rocks  on  the  shore  in  1767.     These  rocks  are  red  sand- 

^  Population,  1901. 

2  The  House  of  Assembly  of  Lower  Canada,  Rep.  VI  on  Crown 
Lands,  182 1-5,  p.  120. 


92  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Stone,  which,  as  they  decay,  colour  and  enrich  the  soil  some 
fifty  miles  westward  as  far  as  New  Richmond  (pop.  2,318),^ 
New  Richmond  being  the  second  town  of  the  county  and 
half  Scotch.  West  of  New  Richmond,  Carleton  (pop.  1,06 1)  ^ 
is  wholly,  Nouvelle  Bay  three-fourths,  and  Matapedia  five- 
sixths  French  in  origin;  but  elsewhere  the  British,  chiefly 
the  Scotch  element,  prevails,  except  in  the  historic  settlement 
of  Micmac  Indians  (pop.  422)^  at  Cross  Point  opposite 
Campbellton.  The  French  mission  to  these  Indians  is 
nearly  three  centuries  old;  but  the  Church  preceded  the 
state,  and  there  were  no  white  settlers  here,  until  Acadian 
refugees  and  some  thousand  sailors,  who  on  their  defeat  by 
Commodore  Byron  (1758)  fled  to  the  woods,  formed  the 
stock  from  which  the  present  French-speaking  inhabitants  of 
the  Bay  are  derived. 
The  East  of  Point  Macquereau  the  Peninsula  of  Gasp^  trends 

eastern  northward,  and  a  new  county  begins,  but  the  country  is  the 
Gasp^  same,  and  we  still  breathe  the  same  historical  atmosphere. 
Pemnsula,  jj^^j.^  ^j.^  ^^^  ^2ime  forbidding  hills,  forests,  and  mountains 
behind  the  coast,  and  the  same  red  rocks,  and  almost  the 
same  people  upon  the  coast.  Gasp^  Bay  is  the  most 
populous  place  upon  the  coast ;  it  was  here  that  Cartier  set 
up  a  cross  (1534),  and  fishermen  from  Quebec  used  to  live 
here  in  the  summer,  so  that  General  Wolfe  raided  it  (1758) 
in  order  to  deprive  Quebec  of  its  principal  fish  supply. 
But  there  was  no  permanent  settlement  here  until  the 
conquest.  An  Irishman,  F.  O'Hara  (1765),  was  the  first 
agricultural  settler;  and  its  first  town  was  Douglastown 
(pop.  1098),^  which  was  laid  out  for  the  Loyalists  in  1784, 
and  is  now  four-fifths  Irish,  while  the  other  settlements  in 
Gasp^  Bay  are  three-fourths  British,  South  of  the  Bay 
French  influences  are  in  the  ascendant  at  the  settlements^ 

1  Population  1901. 

*  Mai  Bay  (pop.   1,993),^  Bonaventure  Island,  Perc^  (pop-  1,868),^ 
L'Ance  au  Beaufils  (pop.  2,294).^ 


OTHER  LINKS  BETWEEN  FAR  AND  MIDDLE  EAST    93 

opposite  Champlain's ^  Pierced  Rock  and  elsewhere;  and 
north  of  the  Bay  the  atmosphere  is  French,  but  not  de- 
cisively French  until  the  corner  is  rounded  and  we  reach 
Magdalen  River,  St.  Anne,  and  Cape  Chat.  Here  we  are 
face  to  face  with  French  Canada  in  its  purest  form.  There 
is  no  Acadian  tinge,  and  the  British  element  is  almost 
effaced;  indeed,  it  is  only  one  per  cent,  at  Cape  Chat. 
Perhaps  the  changed  aspect  is  due  to  history,  or  perhaps  to 
geography;  for  it  was  here  that  Riveron  was  Seigneur  and 
tried,  like  Denys,  to  plant  fishermen  colonists  in  his  Seignory 
(1689  et  seq.);  and  it  is  here  that  we  pass  from  gulf  to 
river,  which,  according  to  Denys,  began  at  Cape  Rosiers,  just 
north  of  the  Bay  of  Gasp^,  but  according  to  modern 
geographers  begins  at  Cape  Chat.  In  any  case  Cape  Chat 
and  everything  west  of  it  is  Quebec  in  spirit;  while  Cape 
Rosiers  and  everything  south  of  it  is  a  replica  of  the  north 
shore,  which  is  a  replica  of  the  south  shore  of  Bay  Chaleurs. 
Indeed,  the  statistical  resemblance  of  the  north  shore  of  Bay 
Chaleurs  and  the  coast  from  Point  Macquereau  to  Cape 
Madeleine,  two-thirds  of  the  way  between  Cape  Chat  and  Cape 
Rosiers,  is  uncanny;  and  the  two  districts  are  like  twins. 


Population  x 

1000 

Percentage  1901     ' 

1831 

1851 

1 901 

French  origin 

British  origin 

North  shore  of 
Bay  Chaleurs 

Thence  to  Cape 
Madeleine 

5 
4 

10.8 
8.7 

24.5 
24.6 

69 

70 

28 
28 

But  distinctions  of  quality  underlie  these  quantities.  North  of 
Point  Macquereau  the  Frenchmen  are  less  Acadian  and  more 
Canadian,  and  the  British  are  less  Scotch  and  more  Irish  : 
thus  out  of  every  ten  British  there  are  ^m^  Englishmen,  four 
Irishmen,  and  one  Scotchman  here ;  and  the  proportion  west 

*   Voyages  of  Champlain,  ed.  E.  G.  Bourne  (1906),  vol,  ii,  p.  212. 


94  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

of  Point  Macquereau  is  four  Englishmen  and  four  Scotchmen 
to  two  Irishmen.  The  Loyalists  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
all  these  settlements  were  mostly  English,  that  is  to  say, 
English-American  ;  next  in  time  came  Scotchmen  who  over- 
flowed Bay  Chaleurs;  and  when  at  last  Irishmen  began  to 
emigrate  they  had  to  go  further  afield  to  Perce  and  Gasp^. 
Hence  both  counties  are  to  a  large  extent  English,  and  the 
county  which  was  nearest  and  grew  quickest  is  as  Scotch  as 
its  twin  sister  is  Irish. 
The  Mag-  Halfway  between  the  Pierced  Rock  and  Newfoundland 
^l^^d  ^^*  ^^°  niiles),  and  equidistant  from  Cape  Breton  Island  and 
Prince  Edward  Island  (c.  60  miles),  or  from  the  Gut  of 
Canso  and  Anticosti  (c.  90  miles),  are  the  Magdalen  Islands, 
with  ninety  square  miles  of  sandspits,  on  which  the  in- 
habitants dry  cod;  of  sandstone  rocks,  on  which  sea-birds 
breed  as  they  did  in  Cartier's  day  ^ ;  of  sandstone  hills  five 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  of  red  soil  as  in  Prince  Edward 
Island.  The  principal  island  is  composite,  consisting  of 
several  islets  known  as  Amherst,  Grindstone,  Wolf,  Grosse, 
Coffin,  and  Alright.  Wolf  Islet  has  been  compared  to 
a  '  sesamoid  bone  in  the  middle  of  a  muscle  of  sand  nearly 
twenty-four  miles  long  V  and  the  others  are  either  joined  by 
low  sand-bars  or  disjoined  by  shallow  salt-lagoons.  On  the 
south-east,  Entry  Island,  and  on  the  north-east  Brion  and 
Bird  Islets  are  wholly  detached  from  these  semi-detached 
units.  Like  Anticosti,  the  islands  lie  in  the  mid-stream  and 
are  strewn  with  wrecks.  Here  walrus  were  hunted  by 
Basques  in  the  sixteenth  and  early  seventeenth  centuries ; 
then  by  Normans  and  Basques  under  Denys's  Norman  rival 
(1663  et  seq.)%-  then  by  sailors  in  the  employ  of  French 
companies;   and  at  last  four  families  arrived  from  Prince 

^  Richard  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  vol.  viii,  p.  192. 
^  George  Patterson,  in  Nova  Scotia  Institute  of  Natural  Science, 
vol.  vlii,  pp.  35-51. 
8  Doublet. 


Other  links  betiveen  far  and  middle  east  95 

Edward  Island  (i75V)  and  several  from  the  Gut  of  Canso^ 
(1765).  They  were  the  first  settlers  and  were  Acadian. 
A  New  Englander  named  Gridley  reorganized  the  walrus- 
hunting  with  the  residents  as  helpers,  but  returned  to  the 
United  States  during  the  war  (1776-83);  after  which  other 
New  Englanders  took  on  the  task,  and  the  new  system  met 
with  so  much  success  that  the  walruses  were  practically  extinct 
in  1795.^^  Then  (1798),  to  crown  their  sorrow,  a  landlord 
was  put  over  the  residents ;  his  name,  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  was 
not  cheerful,  and  the  squatting  problem,  which  has  always 
been  a  difficulty,  where  Acadians  are  concerned,  became  acute. 
Nevertheless,  the  population  rose  from  thirteen  (1791)  to  80 
or  100  (1798),  133  (1821),  and  153  or  195  (1831)  families'^; 
swollen  as  it  was  by  French  Royalists,  expelled  from 
St.  Pierre  during  the  French  Revolution,  and  by  wrecked 
Englishmen,  and  by  a  prolific  Nova-Scotian  lady  named 
Mrs.  Dixon  (1822),  who  in  sixty  years  peopled  nine  out  of 
the  ten  villages  of  Entry  Island  with  her  issue.  Fishing  and 
sealing  are  the  principal  pursuits  of  the  inhabitants,  who  now 
number  6,000,^  live  mostly  on  the  compound  island  or  islet- 
group,  and  of  whom  five-sixths  are  Acadian  or  French, 
and  the  rest  British  in  origin.  The  type  of  civilization 
is  essentially  characteristic  of  the  south  side  of  the  Gulf. 

Anticosti  Island,  the  other  obstruction  in  the  fair  way  oi  AniicosH 
ships  sailing  from  Europe  to  Quebec,  belongs  geologically  ^^^^*^^- 
and  historically,  in  body  and  soul,  to  the  north  shore  of  the 
Gulf,  which  is  the  south  shore  of  Labrador.  It  is  seven 
hundred  feet  high  in  parts,  almost  harbourless,  and  2,600 
square  miles  in  size,  or  a  little  larger  than  Prince  Edward  Island, 
and  nearly  as  large  as  Cape  Breton  Island.  Its  rocks  are 
Lower  Silurian  limestone  or  sandstone,  like  those  of  Mingan 

'  Richard  Brown,  History  of  Cape  Breton  Island ^  pp.  356,  408; 
comp.  Nova  Scotia  Archives  (1869),  p.  349. 

2  Lower  Canada  House  of  Assembly :  Report  I  on  Crown  Lands^ 
1821,  pp.  50  et  seq.  ^  Population,  1901. 


— g6-^       HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Islands,  off  the  mainland  opposite,  to  which  it  once  belonged 
physically  and  politically. 

In  1 66 1  Fran9ois  Bissot,  son-in-law  of  Guillaume  Couil- 
lard,  who  was  son-in-law  of  Louis  Hubert,  became  Seigneur 
of  Egg  Island,  where  Admiral  Hovenden  Walker  was  wrecked 
(1711),  with  trading  and  fishing  rights  thence  to  the  River 
Goynish  or  thereabouts.  He  made  his  head-quarters  Mingan, 
on  the  mainland,  of  which  his  successors  were  acknowledged 
as  Seigneurs,  while  Bissot's  son-in-law,  Louis  Jolliet,  the 
discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  settled  in  Mingan  Isles  and 
on  Anticosti  under  a  separate  title  and  for  the  same 
purposes.^  There  William  Phipps  took  Jolliet  captive  in 
1690,  but  the  captive  returned  and  resumed  his  industry. 
Like  Denys  and  Riveron,  Jolliet  was  alive  to  the  value  of 
residence  as  a  trading  and  industrial  asset.  Thus  far 
Anticosti  prospered.  But  a  blight  seems  to  overhang 
Labrador;  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  years  later  Anti- 
costi was  a  howling  wilderness  haunted  by  wrecked  sailors, 
who  turned  cannibals,  by  lighthouse  keepers,  who  were 
there  to  save  sailors  from  wreck,  and  by  philanthropists  or 
monomaniacs  in  charge  of  food  stores  to  save  wrecked 
sailors  from  cannibalism.  Then  an  Anticosti  Company 
was  formed  and  introduced  settlers  (187 1);  and  the  island 
reached  its  zenith  in  1881,  when  it  had  676  inhabitants, 
of  whom  160  were  English  Newfoundlanders  and  the  rest 
Canadian  French,  all  the  inhabitants  living  either  in  the 
westernmost  or  in  the  easternmost  corner  of  the  island. 
Then  began  the  decline  and  fall  of  what  seemed  to  be  an 
incipient  province,  the  inhabitants  dwindling  to  253  (1891). 
Then  the  province  was  bought  at  a  pubUc  auction  by 
M.  Menier,  of  Paris,  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  chocolate 
(1895);  and  he  has  built  a  pier  1,200  yards  long  at  Ellis  Bay 
in  the  west  end,  where  there  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
a  harbour  along  the  smooth  undented  coast-lines  of  this 
^  JoUiet's  and  Bissot's  heirs  claimed  more,/>os^  p.  99* 


OTHER  LINKS  BETWEEN  FAR  AND  MIDDLE  EAST    97 

inhospitable  island.  The  east-enders  have  gone ;  the  west- 
enders  number  about  500 ;  and  a  few  wild  beasts  have  been 
introduced  in  order  to  enliven  the  unromantic  swamps  and 
forests  of  the  interior. 

Anticosti  is  an  outlier  of  Labrador,  and  Labrador  may  The  m- 
mean  one  of  three  things.  Geographers  draw  a  line  from  '^^y^  ^ 
the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay  in  the  St.  Lawrence  River  up  the 
Saguenay  to  Lake  St.  Jean,  and  thence  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Rupert  in  James  Bay,  and  describe  Labrador  as  the 
great  lone  land  between  this  line,  James  Bay,  Hudson  Bay, 
Hudson  Strait,  the  Atlantic,  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 
Historians  cut  off  all  that  part  of  geographical  Labrador 
which  abuts  on  the  river  St.  Lawrence  and  Saguenay,  and 
draw  their  line  from  Pointe  des  Monts,  close  by  Egg  Island, 
where  the  Gulf  begins,  to  Rupert  River;  because  they  say 
that  the  civilization  of  a  river  invariably  differs  from  that  of 
a  gulf.  Historical  Labrador  is  the  Peninsula  of  bays,  straits, 
seas,  and  gulfs  which  are  exposed  to  the  iciest  currents  on  the 
earth's  surface  in  those  latitudes.  Lawyers  cut  off  a  thin  slice 
of  Atlantic  coast,  beginning  with  Blanc  Sablon  in  Belle  Isle 
Strait  and  ending  in  Cape  Chidleigh  in  Hudson  Strait,  because 
the  thin  slice  belongs  to  Newfoundland  by  law,  and  the  rest 
of  geographical  Labrador  has  been  similarly  assigned  to 
Quebec  Province.  Taking  Labrador  in  its  least  sense,  its 
southern  shore  is  what  Bissot's  and  JoUiet's  heirs  and  assigns 
claimed.  In  its  largest  sense  it  exceeds  420,000  square  miles; 
yet  its  only  inland  residents  are  a  handful  of  white  men,  who 
occupy  one  Hudson  Bay  Company  trading  post  at  Lake  Nichi- 
cun  and  another  at  Lake  Mistassini;  and  perhaps  2,000 
Montagnais  or  Nascaupi  Cree-Indians  who  are  Algonquins. 
The  huge  husk  is  twice  the  size  of  Germany  and  all  but 
empty  within ;  and  its  exterior  is  hardly  more  populous. 

After  the  amalgamation  of  the  North- West  Company  of  The  ex- 
Montreal  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  of  London  (1821)  ^Labrador. 
the  latter  invaded  northern,  southern,  and  eastern  Labrador 


VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill 


98  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

from  east,  west,  and  north,  by  sea  and  by  land.  Dr.  Mendry 
went  overland  from  Richmond  Gulf  (Hudson  Bay)  to  Ungava 
Bay  (Hudson  Strait)  and  founded  Fort  Chimmo  (1827), 
whence  John  Maclean  went  overland  to  Hamilton  Inlet  on 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  (1838),  where  a  Hudson  Bay  Company 
post  had  recently  been  established  by  seafarers  (1837). 
Various  posts  and  forts  on  the  north  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  and  up  to  and  along  the  Saguenay  had  already 
been  leased  to  the  North- West  Company  and  others,  and 
were  gradually  absorbed  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 
Thus  they  ran  a  girdle  round  the  Peninsula,  which  still  holds, 
but  with  two  differences :  the  Saguenay  has  long  since  been 
rescued  from  Labradorism,  and  handed  over  to  civilization  ; 
and  the  trading  posts  are  often  doubled,  so  that  a  French- 
Canadian  faces  a  London-Scottish  post,  not  in  rival  war,  as 
in  the  wild  north-west  before  182 1,  but  in  friendly  com- 
petition. Indeed,  Franco-British  duels  of  this  mild  kind  are 
in  progress  from  end  to  end  of  the  Mackenzie,  all  round 
James  Bay,  and  at  Hamilton  Inlet,  as  well  as  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  But  the  fur  trade  requires 
only  a  few,  still,  strong  men  in  a  silent  land.  On  the  east 
coast  of  Labrador  there  are  Moravian  missionaries  who  preach 
to  and  trade  for  some  1,000  or  2,000  Eskimos  at  Makkovik, 
Hopedale,  Nain,  Okkak,  Hebron,  Rama,  and  Killinek;  and 
south  of  these  missions  some  3,000  Newfoundland  fishermen 
have  setded.  Resident  fishermen,  traders,  and  missionaries 
between  the  Saguenay  and  Blanc  Sablon  are  now  .8,000,^ 
of  whom  4,000  are  on  the  river  shore  west  of  Egg  Island, 
and  are  almost  all  French  Canadians,  and  4,000  are  on  the 
gulf  shore,  where  French  Canadians  are  to  British  as  three 
to  two,  and  most  of  the  British  are  English  Newfoundlanders 
living  east  of  Cape  Whittle.  French  Canadians  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  Gulf  include  Acadians  from  the  south  shore,  and 
the  Magdalens,  who,  between  1857  and  1861,  squatted  at 
1  8,165;  census  1901. 


OTHER  LINKS  BETWEEN  FAR  AND  MIDDLE  EAST     99 

the  mouth  of  the  Natashquan,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Cartier's  Port  Brest  (Eskimo  Point).  Settlers  have  come 
from  west,  east,  and  south.  The  Gulf  coast,  which  was  never 
thoroughly  French,  is  now  parti- coloured.  It  is  only  when 
we  enter  the  river  that  the  French  star  shines  alone,  or  almost 
alone,  on  its  north  as  well  as  on  its  south  bank. 

Authorities. 

There  is  a  good  map  of  Labrador  in  the  Journal  of  Jhe  Royal 
Geographical  Society^  vol.  v.  (1895),  No,  6. 

Add  to  authorities  in  the  Notes  : — 

S.  G.  Benjamin,  Cruise  in  the  Gulf  of  St,  Lawreme^  1885. 

Jos.  Bouchette's  works  mentioned  at  the  end  of  Chapter  VJ. 

Jos.  Schmitt,  Monographie  a^Anticosti^  1904. 

Henry  Y.  Hinde,  Labrador^  1863. 

Wilfred  Grenfell,  Labrador^  19 10. 

Sir  William  MacGregor,  Governor  of  Newfoundland,  Reports  of 
Official  Visits  to  Labrador  in  1905  and  1908,  published  in  Parliamentary 
Papers,  1909. 

Laiv  Reports^  Appeal  Cases ^  I903>  P«  104,  Labrador  Company  v. 
Queen.  This  case  exploded  the  idea,  which  Vondenvelden  (1803), 
Bouchette  (1832),  and  others  held,  that  Bissot's  seignory  reached  to 
Blanc  Sablon  or  thereabouts.  Only  one  or  two  seignories  of  small 
extent  and  comparatively  recent  origin  existed  on  the  north  shore  of  the 
Gulf,  and  they  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Mingan.  De  Courtemanche, 
a  grandson-in-law  of  Bissot,  occupied  Bradore  Bay  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  under  a  different  title,  which  only  conferred  fishing  and 
trading  rights. 


Archaean 
Canaaa 
includes 
Labrador 


and  is 
bounded  on 
one  side  by 
the  basins 
of  the 
Mackenzie, 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  COBE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST 

Labrador  is  vast  and  desolate  because  it  is  a  part  of 
Archaean  Canada;  and  Archaean  Canada,  or  the  Canada 
where  Archaean  rocks  are  the  only  rocks,  has  been  ever 
since  the  world  began,  before  life  began,  and  before  the  rest 
of  America  or  any  other  continent  rose  from  the  deep.  It 
is  the  core  of  the  American  continent  and  of  Canada.  It 
represents  the  prelude  to  the  geological  trilogy.  It  is  the 
ground  floor  of  the  earth,  on  which  upper  stories  have 
been  built  elsewhere,  but  on  which  nothing  has  been  built 
here,  for  it  is  what  and  where  and  as  it  always  has  been, 
and  its  shape  shows  no  trace  of  change.  In  Archaean  coun- 
tries distances  in  space  count  for  as  little  as  aeons  in  time, 
and  the  reader  must  now  seat  himself  on  the  magic  cloth  of 
Jonathas  and  transport  himself  a  few  thousand  miles  to  the 
north-west. 

The  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  lies  in  a  delta  of  ddbris  be- 
twixt Silurian  limestones  on  the  west  and  Archaean  gneiss 
and  granite  on  the  east.  A  few  hundred  miles  up-stream 
just  off,  but  once  doubtless  part  of,  the  river,  is  an  inland 
sea  called  Great  Bear  Lake,  with  limestone  on  the  west  of  it 
and  granite  or  some  other  Archaean  rock  on  the  east  of  it, 
and  its  eastern  is  colder  than  its  western  shore.^  Yet  a  few 
hundred  miles  further  up-stream  is  a  second  inland  sea  called 
Great  Slave  Lake,  through  the  middle  of  which,  close  by 
Stony  Island,  the  division  between  Archaean  and  Silurian, 
between   gneiss    and    limestone,  and   between   colder  and 

*  Comp.  Sir  John  Richardson,  Arctic  Searching  Expedition,  vol.  ii, 
p.  251.  Sir  George  Back,  Narrative  of  the  Arctic  Land  Expedition^ 
1833-5*  P-  563- 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE,^,ASJ.    VOX, 

warmer,  runs.     The  same  invisible  line  now  coincides   for 

a  while  with  the  visible  course  of  the  Slave  River,  which  is  the 

Mackenzie  under  another  name,  and  which  leads  up  to  a  third 

inland  sea  called  Lake  Athabasca;  after  which  the  line  of 

separation  leaves  the  far  north-west  for  the  middle  north-west 

or  west  of  Canada  at  Methye  Portage,  where  it  enters  the 

plains  watered  by  the  Churchill  and  Saskatchewan,  coincides  oftheSas- 

neither  with  valleys  nor  seas  (for  there  are  none),  but  passes  ^^^^"'^'^^^^^ 

by  Lake  He  a  la  Crosse, — where  Cree  and  Chipewyan  Indians 

taught  Lacrosse  to  Europeans, — and  Beaver  Lake,  and  at 

last  reaches  a  fourth  inland  sea  called  Lake  Winnipeg,  in  which 

the  Red  River  and  Saskatchewan  unite,  before  they  travel  of  the  Red 

together  to  Hudson  Bay  under  the  alias  of  the  Nelson.     The  ^  '^^^' 

rock-row,  which  is  the  southern  rim  of  the  Archaean  region, 

now  travels  southward  along  the  eastern  border  of  Lake 

Winnipeg  to  the  border  of  the  United  States,  dips  below  the 

border,  and  reappears  as  the  northern  edge  of  Lakes  Superior  and  of  the 

and  Huron,  which  are  the  two  inland  seas  in  which  the  upper  ^A^  ^^• 
'  ^^      Lawrence^ 

waters  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  are  gathered  together.     The 
whole  Canadian  tract  between  Lakes  Winnipeg  and  Superior 
is  Archaean.     Lake   Superior  and  its  Archaean   edge   now 
point  eastward ;  but  Lake  Huron  wheels  southward,  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  looks  away  from  its  eastern  goal,  towards  which 
it  only  turns  again  when  it  expands  into  its  third  and  fourth 
inland  seas.  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.     Meanwhile  the  mys- 
terious line  of  rock  which  we  have  been  following  passes 
through  Sault  St.  Marie  (which  is  between  Lakes  Superior 
and    Huron),    through   Grand    Manitoulin   Island,   through 
Georgian  Bay,  which  is  an  inner  fold  of  Lake  Huron,  then  ^;;^  <5y 
just  north  of  Lake  Couchiching,  which  is  an  extension  of  Lake  Georgia^i 
Simcoe,  and  then  just  north  of  Lakes  Balsam  and  Sturgeon,  ^^^^ 
and  the  dozen  other  lakes  into  which  the  Trent  expands,  and  Ttent 
so  straight  to  the  Thousand  Islands,  which  adorn  the  exit  of  ^^'^^^^ 
Lake  Ontario  into  what  is  now  called  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  /^^j^  st. 
Hitherto  the  feet  of  the  prehistoric  Archaean  Continent  have  Lawrence 


l-p:^  '  , ;  HISTORIC AI^    GEOGRAPHY  Of    CANADA 


at  the 

Thousand 

Isles, 


{avoiding 
the  penin- 
sula of 
Ontario, 
Toronto, 


by  the 

Lower 

Ottawa 

{avoiding 

Ottawa) 


been  washed  by  seven  seas  of  fresh  water — for  Lake  Erie  is  too 
far  away  to  be  reckoned — and  when  it  enters  the  seventh  sea, 
which  is  Lake  Ontario,  it  reaches  its  southernmost  Canadian 
limit  and  hesitates  before  committing  itself  to  the  north- 
easterly direction  which  it  finally  assumes.  And  here  we  too 
will  pause  for  a  moment. 

The  northernmost  limits  of  the  limestone  area  follow  the 
southernmost  limits  of  the  Archaean  area  like  shadows,  ex- 
clude Algoma  with  its  treasures  and  Muskoka  with  its 
pleasures,  and  include  Lakes  Simcoe  and  the  Trent  Lakes, 
the  chief  cities  of  Georgian  Bay,  and  the  cities  of  Peterborough 
and  Kingston.  At  or  near  the  southern  limits  of  the  lime- 
stone area,  the  limestone  tips  of  the  upper  and  lower  lips  of 
Georgian  Bay  appear;  and  limestone  reappears  in  Bruce  county 
(Ontario)  as  a  ridge  which  runs  southward,  encircles  Hamilton, 
and  is  known  in  its  later  stages  as  Burlington  Heights,  and 
Queenstown  Heights,  where  the  famous  victories  of  1 812-14 
were  won.  Then  once  more  the  ridge  reverts  into  a  single 
rock  over  which  the  River  Niagara  plunges,  emptying  Lake 
Erie  into  Lake  Ontario,  and  forming  the  famous  cataract 
whose  praises  Father  Hennepin  was  the  first  to  sound  {1678). 
Therefore  Toronto  is  in  the  very  middle  of  the  limestone 
belt.  The  peninsula  behind  the  ridge  and  between  Lakes 
Erie  and  Huron  belongs  to  a  later  stage  of  evolution  called 
Devonian. 

But  to  return  to  our  gneiss.  A  few  miles  east  of  the 
Thousand  Isles  and  west  of  Brockville  the  Archaean  border 
goes  due  north  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Ottawa,  which  it 
reaches  at  Lake  Chats,  forty  miles  west  of  Ottawa  city,  and 
follows  in  its  eastward  course,  so  that  Ottawa  city,  which  is 
the  capital  of  the  Dominion,  Smith's  Falls  and  Merrickville 
on  the  Rideau,  and  Brockville  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  only  just 
belong  to  the  later  formation.  At  Grenville  on  the  Ottawa, 
east  of  Ottawa  city,  the  Archaean  rim  takes  a  short  cut,  as 
does  the  modern  railway,  behind  Montreal  towards  Joliette, 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST      103 

and  then  wavers  and  wanders  to  and  fro  some  ten  miles  or  and  by  the 
so  from  the  left  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  until  Cap  Tour-  j^^!^^.^^//^ 
mente  is  reached  thirty  miles  below  Quebec.    Thus  Montreal,  {avoiding 
and  Cartier's  '  Mount  Royal '  behind  Montreal,  and  Quebec,  ^^."^^^^""j' 
and  the  Heights  of  Abraham  behind  it,  are  within  the  lime-  St.  Law- 
stone  area ;  but  below  Cap  Tourmente  Silurian  limestone  is  ^^^^^    ^^•^* 
hardly  found  except  on  the  right  bank,  for  instance,  at  Riviere 
du  Loup,  the   left   bank  being  thenceforth   almost  wholly 
dedicated  to  archaean  gneiss  and  the  like. 

Such  is  the  outer  margin  of  the  Archaean  region.     Its  The  north 
inner  margin  is  Hudson  Bay,  except  where  a  flat  Silurian  or  ^.^^'^  ^^^ 
Devonian  strip  lines  the  shore  between  the  Churchill  and  near  Hud- 
Rupert  rivers.     This  excepted  strip  begins  to  overspread  the  ^^^^    ^^' 
gneiss  for  the  last  60  miles  of  the  Rupert  and  Nottaway,  the 
last  150  miles  of  the  Moose,  and  the  last  250  miles  of  the 
Albany  rivers  ^ ;  and  the  principal  posts  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  have  dotted  its  hem  for  the  last  240  years.     Every- 
thing else, — if  a  few  well-known  outcrops  of  later  date  may 
be  omitted — is  Archaean ;  and  the  Archaean  zone  is  like  some 
rough  horse-shoe,  wide  at  its  extremities  but  narrow  at  ils 
arch,  with  its  convex  side  turned  toward  the  south,  and  its 
hollow  side  filled  with  a  sea  chilled  and  choked  at  its  entrances 
with  Arctic  ice. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  whole  Archaean  area  is  stone,  hill,  Some  of  the 
and  forest.     The  characteristic  Archaean  stone  is  hard,  bossy  ^I'^l^^^con- 
gneiss ;  therefore  the  hills  are  low,  rounded  knolls,  and  the  sists  of 
valleys  high  and  three  parts  lake  or  river ;  and  the  soil  is  thin 
and  sandy,  so  that  the  stones  break  through  it  like  the  rib- 
bones  of  a  starved  horse.     Archaean  Canada  is  a  land  without 
glaciers  (except  one  or  two  in  Baffin  Land),  peaks,  passes, 
ridges,  downs,  heaths,  or  plains.     Even  its  forests  disappear 
and  turn  into  boggy  or  stony  '  barrens '  north  of  a  line  drawn 
from  Churchill  (Hudson  Bay)  ^  to  the  east  of  Great  Slave 

1  Dr.  R.  Bell,  Royal  Geographical  Society,  vol.  x  (1897),  p.  8. 

2  c.  60°  lat. 


I04        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Lake,  of  Great  Bear  Lake,  and  of  the  mouth  of  the  Macken- 
zie ^ ;  and  from  near  Richmond  Gulf  (Hudson  Bay)  ^  to  near 
Fort  Chimmo  (Hudson  Strait) '  and  Okkak '  on  the  Atlantic. 
Labrador  too  has  bald  patches  elsewhere,  especially  on  its 
wind-swept,  ice-swept  Atlantic  coast.  Similar  *  barrens '  were 
noted  long  ago  in  Lapland  and  Siberia  by  Giles  Fletcher 
(1588)  and  others,  who  called  them  'Tundras',*  which  was 
then  the  Russian  and  is  now  the  European  word  for  barrens. 
and  some  In  the  Archaean  area  barrens  are  a  change  for  the  worse, 
^^}'^  ,  but  there  are  changes  for  the  better.  The  rocks  are  not  all 
rods  and  gneiss  and  granite,  but  mineral  rocks,  and  rich  clay  belts  have 
clay  belts,  }qqq^  discovered.  What  are  called  Huronian  rocks  ^  are  also 
Archaean  in  age,  but  contain  dolerite  or  diabase,  and  the 
copper  and  unique  nickel  of  Sudbury  (Ontario),  the  silver 
and  unique  cobalt  of  Cobalt  (Ontario),  the  silver  ot  Thunder 
Bay  (Lake  Superior),  the  copper  of  Michipicoten  (Lake 
Superior)  and  of  Wabigoon  and  Manitou  (between  Lakeft 
Superior  and  Winnipeg),  and  probably  all  minerals  east  of 
the  Rockies  are  found  in  Huronian  strata.  Nor  is  the  soil 
always  thin,  deep  deposits  of  clay  being  found  on  the  shores  of 
lakes  and  over  long  stretches  between  lake  and  lake  ;  and  the 
history  of  Lake  St.  Jean,  which  is  an  expansion  of  the  Sague- 
nay  one  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  Archaean  country,  may  be  taken  as  a  parable  and  a 
precedent. 
e.^,  at  Every  early  explorer  wished  to  go  west,  and  the  Saguenay — 

^f  ^7.^..  which  is  one  to  three  miles  wide,  and  lies  west  and  east,  while 
the  St.  Lawrence  lies  south-west  and  north-east — tempted 
Cartier  (1535),  Roberval,  Chauvin,  and  Champlain  (1603), 
Chauvin  building  a  stone  house  at  Tadoussac  by  the  mouth 
of  the  Saguenay  at  least  eight  years  before  the  first  log 
shanty  was  built  at  Quebec.     Yet  Tadoussac  (pop.  511^)  only 

'  c.  69°  lat.  2  c.  57°  lat.  s  c.  58°  lat. 

*  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations^  vol.  iii,  p.  403,  ed.  1903. 
'  Including  Animikie.  ^  Population,  1901. 


St.  Jean, 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST     105 

became  a  summer  fishing-station  and  fur-market,  to  which  the 
Montagnais  Cree-Indians  of  Labrador  brought  fur,  and  which 
the  Recollets  and  Jesuits  used  as  a  base  whence  they  pushed 
on  to  Chicoutimi,  seventy  miles  up  stream,  and  to  Lake  St. 
Jean  (1647);  ^^^  it  was  from  Lake  St.  Jean  that  Father 
Albanel  pushed  on  by  Lake  Mistassini  and  Rupert  River  to 
James  Bay  (1672).  Geology  supplied  the  reason.  Tadoussac 
has  much  gneiss  and  little  grass,  and  the  Saguenay  for  seventy 
miles  is  a  cleft  filled  with  deep  water  between  gneiss  and 
granite  walls.  Tadoussac  and  the  Saguenay  were  epitomes 
of  Labrador ;  therefore  civilization  shunned  them  and  clave 
to  the  St.  Lawrence,  so  that  the  Saguenay  and  its  Lake  were 
never  more  than  the  home  of  a  few  traders  and  missionaries 
until  Joseph  Bouchette  and  others  explored  the  Lake  from 
Quebec  (1827-8).  Bouchette's  route  lay  up  the  St.  Maurice 
and  La  Tuque,  not  far  from  the  present  railway  track  from 
Quebec  to  Roberval-on-the-Lake,  through  lands  which  he 
said  were  less  known  than  the  heart  of  Africa.  He  urged 
the  colonization  of  the  Lake  shores  and  of  the  river  banks 
down  to  Chicoutimi,  or  a  little  further.  In  185 1  over  5,000, 
in  1 90 1  nearly  50,000,  colonists  had  responded  to  his  call; 
and  the  St.  Jean  and  Upper  Saguenay  district,  with  its  capitals, 
Chicoutimi  (pop.  5,79^^),  H^bertville  (pop.  2,580^),  and 
Roberval  (pop.  2,593  ^)  is  a  fine  example  of  French-Canadian 
enterprise  under  the  British  regime.''  This  new  district  is 
an  oasis  redeemed  from  the  wilderness  and  connected  with 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  civilization  by  190  miles  of  lonely 
railway,  or  seventy  miles  of  the  deep  still  waters  of  the  lonely 
Saguenay. 

Some  four  hundred   miles   due   west   of  Lake    St.  Jean,  e.g.  at 
between  Lake  Abitibi  and  Lake  Timiskaming  inclusively,  ^J^^is. 
there  is  a  larger  and  richer  clay  belt  which  is  now  being  re-  kaming, 
claimed.     Lake  Timiskaming  is  an  expansion  of  the  upper 

'  Population,  1901. 

2  Canada  Dept.  of  Agriculture :  La  Contrive  du  Lac  St.  Jean,  1888. 


To6        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Ottawa,  and  lies  on  the  main  water-way  by  which  Pierre  De 
Troyes  and  Pierre  Le  Moyne  Dlberville  attacked  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  in  James  Bay  (1686),  and  along  which  fur- 
traders  still  wander  north;  and  it  was  a  mere  passage  with  a 
wayside  inn,  until  rich  cobalt  and  silver  mines  were  discovered 
at  Cobalt  (November,  1903),  and  gold  mines  at  Larder  Lake 
close  by.  De  Troyes'  and  the  fur-traders'  route  to  James 
Bay  just  missed  Larder  Lake,  and  in  1906  moose  fed  on  its 
water-lilies,  bears  swam  to  its  islets,  loons  wailed,  and  deso- 
lation reigned  over  it.  Two  years  later  machinery  crushed 
quartz,  and  there  was  a  gold  '  city  '  on  its  shores. 

For  these  reasons  Lake  Timiskaming  has  a  railroad  one 
hundred  miles  long  to  North  Bay  Junction  (on  Lake  Nipis- 
sing),  and  so  into  the  civilized  parts  of  Ontario ;    and  the 
railroad  has  now  been  continued  for  another  hundred  miles 
northward  to  Matheson  close  by  Lake  Abitibi ;  that  is  to  say, 
right  through  the  clay  belt.     At  Porcupine  Lake,  near  Mathe- 
son, important  discoveries  of  gold  were  announced  in  1909. 
and  other        The  development  of  Lake  St.  Jean  belongs  to  the  past, 
/  aces,         ^j^^j.  ^^  Lake  Abitibi  and  its  neighbourhood  to  the  present ; 
and  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  miles  west  of  Lake  Abitibi 
there  is  a  somewhat  similar  patch  on  the  Archaean  skirt, 
where  a  surveyor  in  1907  discovered  a  lake  fifty  miles  long, 
surrounded  by  rich  clay,  and  unmarked  on  any  map ' ;  and 
similar  discoveries  are  being  made  from  time  to  time  in  the 
heart  of  the  forest,  which  intervenes  between  the  outer  and 
inner  limits   of  the  Archaean  wilderness.     These  districts 
belong  to  the  future ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  all  these  oases  will 
ultimately  hang  together  like  beads  upon  a  string  by  means 
of  the  National  Transcontinental  Railway  which  is  in  course 
of  construction. 
In  Archae-      These  tracts,  where  rocks  and  lakes  produce  wealth  recall 
"llverTand  ^^^^  '  S^od  land  of  brooks,  of  waters,  of  fountains  and  depths 
lakes  sei-ve  that  spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills,  of  wheat  and  barley,  .  .  . 
'  ^  On  the  Kabinagagami  River. 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST     1 07 

whose  stones  are  iron,  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayest 
dig  brass ' ;  and  whether  the  lakes  and  rivers  do  or  do  not 
deposit  soil,  they  are  the  natural  roadways  along  which  wealth 
is  exchanged.  As  Pascal  wrote,  'Les  rivieres  sont  des 
chemins  qui  marchent,'  but  rivers  are  the  highways  of  Canada 
in  a  peculiar  sense.  Eternal  forest  makes  other  roads  im- 
possible or  difficult ;  Canadian  waters  are  as  innumerable  as 
the  stars,  and  unless  very  deep  or  swift,  freeze  in  winter. 
Archaean  Canada  is  a  labyrinth  of  waters  ;  lakes  lie  on 
almost  every  watershed,  and  full-grown  rivers  start  from  the 
lakes  on  journeys  many  hundred  miles  in  length  towards 
every  point  of  the  compass.  A  few  extreme  examples  will 
illustrate  what  is  meant. 

Nearly  three  hundred  miles  north  of  Mingan  Isles  there  is  and  water- 
_    _  .,        /-  1  ,  1    T    1     partings 

a  Lake,  seventy  miles  from  north  to  south,  named  Lake  are  often 

Michikamau,  which  discharges  into  North- West  River,  which  '^ater- 

ffieettn  '^s 
discharges  into   Hamilton  Inlet  on  the  Atlantic.     West  oi  e.g,at   ' 

this  lake  is  a  lakelet  which  '  discharges — either  into  Lake  ^^.'^^ ., 
__,,.,  ,         ,  .        ,     XX      .,       T^.  ^'      Michika- 

Michikamau  or  southward  into  the  Hamilton  River  according  ^lau^ 

to  the  direction  of  the  wind ',  and  in  spring  the  swollen  lake- 
let discharges  both  ways  simultaneously.^  Further,  a  few 
miles  north  of  Lake  Michikamau,  on  *  very  flat  country  ',  are 
two  lakelets  with  a  bog  two  hundred  yards  long  between 
them,  one  lakelet  discharging  into  Lake  Michikamau,  and 
therefore  into  Hamilton  Inlet,  and  the  other  into  George 
River,  and  therefore  into  Ungava  Bay  (Hudson  Strait),  so 
that  particles  of  the  same  slime  ooze  from  one  bog  towards 
bournes  six  hundred  miles  apart.^ 

If  we  now  travel  from  Lake  Michikamau  along  its  line  of  at  Frog 
latitude  in  the  Sun's  course  and  at  the  Sun  s  pace  for  two 
hours  and  forty  minutes,  we  shall  reach  a  lakelet  on  a  flat 
called  Frog  Portage,  from  which  an  affluent  of  the  Nelson 

1  Royal  Geogr.  Soc.  Journ.  (1895),  vol.  v,  p.  531  (map). 

2  Mrs.  L.  Hubbard,  A   Woman's  Way  through  unknown  Labrador 
(1908),  pp.  174-5  (map). 


To8         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

flows,  and  into  which  the  Churchill,  during  its  annual  flood- 
time,  pours  some  of  its  waters  ^ ;  so  that  the  same  waters 
reach  Hudson  Bay  at  points.  150  miles  apart.  It  might  be 
thought  that  these  lakelets,  ponds,  and  flats — common  to  two 
w^ater-systems — are  occasional  vagaries  like  Tuburi  Marsh  in 
Mid-Africa.  But  the  same  excuse  will  not  explain  what  follows. 
at  Summit  Returning  now  to  a  spot  seventy  miles  south  and  one 
Labrador  ^^^^^^^  ^^d  fifty  miles  west  of  Lake  Michikamau,  whence 
we  came,  we  shall  see  a  flat  and  on  it  a  lakelet  five  miles  long, 
called  Summit  Lake.  '  The  longest  branch '  of  the  Koksoak, 
which  runs  into  Ungava  Bay  in  Hudson  Strait  four  hundred 
miles  north,  *  flows  out  of  the  northern  end  of  Summit  Lake 
(53°  lat.),  while  a  branch  of  the  Manicouagan  River,'  which 
runs  three  hundred  miles  south  into  the  St.  Lawrence  River, 
*  flows  out  of  the  southern  end  of  the  same  lake,  thus  con- 
necting by  w^ater  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Ungava  Bay.'  ^ 
In  other  words,  everything  east  of  this  waterway,  or  half 
Labrador,  is  an  island,  bounded  by  fresh  water  on  its  west, 
and  salt  water  on  its  north,  east,  and  south.  It  is  strange, 
but  a  geologist  vouches  for  it  and  therefore  it  must  be  true. 
And  still  stranger  things  are  true. 
at  Summit  Once  more  let  us  accompany  the  Sun  on  its  westward  race 
Nipioon,  ^"^^'  ^^  ^0^1*  ^^^  ^  quarter,  and  then  drop  southward  one 
degree,  and  we  shall  see  another  flat  and  another  lakelet, 
called  Summit  Lake.  It  is  three  miles  long,  and  'sends 
a  stream  in  both  directions ' — one  to  Lake  Nipigon,  and  so 
to  Lake  Superior  and  to  the  river  and  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  other  '  north  to  the  Albany  river ',  and  so  to  James 
Bay  (Hudson  Bay).^  Therefore  everything  east  of  this 
double  stream,  or  nearly  all  Quebec  Province  and  Ontario,  is 
literally  and  in  very  truth  an  island  bounded  by  fresh  and 
salt  water  equally.     And  the  strangest  tale  is  to  follow. 

^  Sir  J.  Richardson,  Arctic  Searching  Expedition  (185 1),  vol.  i,  p.  90. 

2  Canada  Rep.  of  Geological  Survey  (1895),  vol.  viii,  p.  25  /. 

^  Canada  Rep.  of  Geological  Survey  (1902),  vol.  xv,  pp.  317  «,  218  «. 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST     109 

Lake  Athabasca  (690  feet  s.m.),  the  third  inland  sea  of  the  and  at 
basin  of  the  Mackenzie,  lies  one  thousand  miles  north-west  j^l^/^^ 
of  Lake  Nipigon.  Into  its  eastern  corner,  in  a  dyke  between 
Archaean  and  Cambrian  rocks,  or  between  two  species  of 
Archaean  rock,  an  affluent  descends  from  Wollaston  Lake 
{1,300  feet  s.m.),  whence  an  effluent  descends  by  Reindeer 
Lake  (1,150  feet  s.m.)  into  the  Churchill  at  Frog  Portage, 
and  so  into  Hudson  Bay  at  Churchill,  or  in  spring  floods  at 
Nelson.  If  so,  all  the  '  barrens '  of  North- Western  Canada 
and  some  of  their  adjacent  forests  are  an  island.  Recent 
explorations  have  resolved  one-half  of  Canada  into  three 
gigantic  islands  surrounded  by  sea  and  river.  The  nominal 
water-parting  between  two  opposite  river-systems  is  the  real 
meeting-place  of  both  ;  and  there  is  nothing  like  this  either  in 
Africa  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

Even  where  this  is  not  the  case,  the  watershed  is  all  but  and  are 
always  the  nearest  approach  to  a  plain  in  Archaean  Canada  ;  ^(^hvavsflat 
and  Methye  Portage  is  probably  the  only  watershed  that 
bears  the  faintest  resemblance  to  a  ridge.  Americans  call 
these  roof-flats  heights  of  land  for  fear  that  watersheds  may 
suggest  other  associations.  The  boatman,  whom  his  canoe 
bears  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  or  to  Hudson 
Bay,  invariably  finds  the  portages — or  places  where  he 
reverses  parts  and  bears  his  canoe — on  the  so-called  water- 
sheds the  easiest  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  The  portages 
by  the  rapids  give  far  more  trouble,  but  not  for  long ;  thus 
the  St.  Lawrence  from  Lake  Superior,  and  the  Mackenzie 
from  Lake  Athabasca,  only  drop  602  feet  and  690  feet 
respectively,  or  on  an  average  one  foot  in  three  miles.  Similarly 
in  Russia,  where  portages  were  first  described,  the  describers 
contrasted  the  ease  with  which  boats  were  carried  from  the 
Volga  to  the  Don,  on  the  water-route  from  Moscow  to 
Constantinople,  with  the  difficulties  of  the  ascent  of  the  Onega 
on  the  water-route  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  Novgorod.^ 
^  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigation^  vol.  ii,  p.  454  ;  vol.  iii,  pp.  73  et  seq. 


no        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 


Its  hills 
are  low. 


Branches 

of  the  St. 

Lawrence 

surround 

Archaean 

Canada 

above 

Montreal, 


Moreover  in  Canada  the  highest  heights  of  land  rarely  exceed 
2,000  feet  s.m.,  and  the  highest  mountains  are  hardly  higher. 
But  are  they  mountains? 

A  tourist  who  looks  at  Mount  St.  Anne  (2,620  feet  s.m.) 
behind  Cap  Tourmente  (1,874  feet  s.m.),  or  at  Les  fiboule- 
ments  (2,551  feet  s.m.),  from  a  steamer  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
or  at  Trembling  Mountain  (2,380  feet  s.m.)  in  the  Montreal 
District,  looks  at  some  of  the  loftiest  heights  from  the  lowest 
depths  in  Archaean  Canada  ^ ;  yet  he  is  never  conscious  of  the 
presence  of  mountains  like  Snowdon,  partly  because  forests 
invest  them  from  foot  to  blue  rounded  summit,  and  partly 
because  the  summits  are  mimicked  and  shadowed  by  number- 
less other  blue,  wavy,  fretted  summits  of  almost  equal  height. 
This  country  is  no  more  mountainous  than  the  Atlantic  in 
a  storm.  These  are  not  mountains,  but  the  buttresses  of  an 
undulating  plateau.  The  scenery  here  is  comparatively  bold, 
not  because  the  hills  are  higher,  but  because  the  valleys  are 
lower  than  usual.  An  equally  bold  descent  marks  the  end 
of  the  Archaean  system  on  the  north  shores  of  Lakes  Huron 
and  Superior.  The  plateau  resembles  some  old  fort,  with 
bastions  and  lunettes  on  its  outline,  guarded  by  abattis  of 
living  trees  and  moats  of  running  water. 

If  we  proceed  westward  from  the  Atlantic,  the  Gulf  and 
river  of  St.  Lawrence  represent  the  moat  as  far  as  Montreal. 
In  its  lower  reaches  the  river  is  about  as  wide  as  the  Strait 
between  Dover  and  Calais ;  but  it  narrows  at  Quebec  to 
a  little  less  than  a  mile,  and  retains  that  width  as  far  as 
Lake  Ontario,  except  where  it  expands  into  lakes  from  three 
to  nine  miles  wide.  There  are  no  rapids  east  of  Montreal, 
and  ships  of  15,000  tons  visit  Montreal.  Above  Cap 
Tourmente  the  river  is  fresh,  and  above  Three  Rivers 
tideless.  At  Montreal  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  meet 
and   their  breadth   is   equal.     Above  Montreal,  the   main- 

^  Probably  hills  near  Moisie  River  and  at  Cape  Mugford  almost 
attain  3,000  feet,  those  at  Nachvak  almost  4000  feet. 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST      III 

Stream  of  the  St.  Lawrence  having  apparently  abandoned 

the  task,  the  Ottawa  fills  the  dyke  or  moat  for  170  miles; 

then  fragments  of  dyke  skirt  the  north  shore  of  the  Trent 

Lakes,  Lake  Couchiching,  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  but 

the  true  moat  wavers  and  wanders  in  its  course.     The  moat 

between  Montreal  and  Georgian  Bay  seems  to  be  at  one  time 

the  Ottawa,  at  another  time  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  at  another 

time  some  more  or  less  watery  compromise  between  the  two. 

After  Georgian  Bay  it  is  clean-cut  and  sure  of  its  way. 

Even  so  men  who-  were  westward-bound  used  to  travel  which 

along  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Quebec  or  Three  Rivers,  and  ^^^^^^^^^ 

pause  at  Montreal  in  doubt  as  to  which  way  they  should  go.  been  at 

Montreal  was  Doubting  Castle.     Rapids  lay  above  it  both  ^^^  ^^^^'5 
°  r  y  /^^  main- 

on  the  St,  Lawrence  and  on  the  Ottawa.  The  usual  course  stream. 
of  early  voyagers  was  up  the  Ottawa,  past  the  capital  of  the 
Ottawas^  on  Allumette  Island,  along  the  Mattawa,  and 
thence  over  a  flat  watershed  into  the  Lake  of  the  Nipissings,^ 
and  down  French  River  into  Georgian  Bay,  where  the 
Hurons  dwelt.  Possibly  the  St.  Lawrence  once  flowed 
along  this  very  course;  and  this  course  was  taken  by  Le 
Caron  and  Champlain  (16 15-16),  and  by  the  Jesuits  who 
founded  the  doomed  mission  of  St.  Mary  on  the  limestones 
near  Midland  on  Georgian  Bay  (1640).  A  second  route  lay 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Bay  of  Quintd  on  Lake  Ontario, 
where  there  was  an  early  Sulpician  mission  (1666),  and 
thence  along  the  Trent  and  its  lakes  beneath  the  shadow  of 
the  Archaean  rim ;  then  across  a  flat  watershed  into  Lakes 
Simcoe  and  Couchiching;  and  this  route  also  ended  in 
Georgian  Bay.  Orillia  on  Lake  Couchiching  was  the  Huron 
capital,  and  two -thirds  of  this  route,  or  that  part  which  lay 
between  Georgian  Bay  and  Kingston,  was  one-third  of 
Champlain's  route  from  Montreal  to  Lake  Ontario  (1615- 
16),  fear  of  the  Iroquois  having  made  him  avoid  the  direct 
route  from  Kingston  to  Montreal,  which  was  first  followed 
^  Algpnquins. 


112         HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

by  the  Jesuit,  Le  Moyne  (1653);  but  of  which  La  Salle  was 
the  lay  pioneer  {1669).  The  second  or  middle  route  lay 
midway  between  the  possible  ancient  and  the  actual  modern 
channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  for  aught  we  know  the 
St.  Lawrence  may  have  flowed  this  very  way  in  the  middle 
ages  of  geological  history.  The  route  by  the  actual  St. 
Lawrence  and  its  seas  was  the  third  and  latest  way  to  the 
west,  and  forts  were  built  between  river  and  seas,  or  between 
seas  and  seas  at  Kingston  (1673),  Niagara  {1678-9), 
Detroit  (1686),  and  Sault  St.  Marie  (1669),  a  few  hundred 
miles  apart  from  one  another.  Beyond  these  forts  there 
were  missions,  forts,  or  both,  at  Mackinaw  and  Green  Bay 
on  Lake  Michigan  (U.  S.),  and  at  Duluth  on  Lake  Superior 
(U.  S.),  before  Lake  Ontario  was  explored  or  Lake  Erie 
known;  and  these  posts,  like  those  on  Lake  Ontario  and 
Lake  Erie,  led  to  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  Later 
forts  were  also  established  at  Grand  Portage  and  Fort 
William,  on  the  west  of  Lake  Superior,  as  gateways  to  the 
north-west  for  north-western  travellers,  and  as  goals  for 
travellers  from  east  or  west.  Sometimes  western  and  north- 
western travellers  took  a  short  cut  from  Toronto  to  Lake 
Simcoe,  and  thence  either  by  Lake  Couchiching,  or,  like 
Franklin  (1825),  by  the  Nottawasaga,  to  Georgian  Bay;  but, 
although  a  fort  was  built  at  Toronto  in  1749,  this  short  cut 
played  no  part  in  Canadian  history  during  the  French 
regime. 
Quebec  and  Quebec  and  Ontario  provinces  are  vast — both  extend  to 
areTon-  Hudson  Bay — and  the  former  includes  Labrador,  and  the  latter 
cemedwith  includes  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  between  Lakes  Superior  and 
^Lawrence  ^ij^^ip^g*  The  boundary  between  the  two  provinces  is 
audits  (i)  the  Ottawa,  of  which  the  north  and  east  banks  as  far  as 
^earlier  ^^^^  Timiskaming  belong  to  Quebec,  while  the  south  and 
courses.  west  banks,  including  Cobalt  and  the  railway  to  Abitibi, 
belongs  to  Ontario;  (2)  an  imaginary  line  due  north  from 
Lake  Timiskaming  to  James  Bay ;  and  (3)  a  line  from  the 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST     II3 

head  of  Lac  des  deux  Montagnes — which  is  the  first  expan- 
sion of  the  Ottawa  above  Montreal — to  Pointe  au  Baudet  on 
the  St.  Lawrence.     But  those  parts  of  Quebec  and  Ontario 
Provinces  in  which  history  was  made  lie  between  narrow 
confines.      All  their  historical  events  took  place  in  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.     There  their  colonies  and  towns  were 
built,  their  battles  fought,  and  their  industrial  successes  won. 
In  former  times  the  river  was  called  Canada ;  and  what  was 
once  called  Canada,  and  is  now  called  the  Middle  East  of 
Canada,  is  essentially  the  country  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence. 
What  the  Nile  is  to  Egypt  and  the  Soudan,  the  St.  Lawrence 
is  to  Quebec  and  Ontario.     But  the  St.  Lawrence  is  purer 
and  straighter  than  the  Nile.     It  has  infinite  islands  but  no 
mud  islands  or  deltas,  not  even  at  its  mouth,  and  for  its  last 
thousand  miles,   from   Detroit   to   Pointe   des   Monts,   the 
distances  by  air,  land,  or  water  differ  but  little.     As  the 
Nile  above  Khartum  is  the  White  and  Blue  Nile,  so  the 
St.  Lawrence  above  Montreal  is  the  Ottawa  and  the  St. 
Lawrence;  so  that  the  Upper  Province  is  the  Province  of 
Two  Rivers.      Quebec  Province  is  bounded  on  the  south 
partly  by  the  boundary-line  which  has  already  been  described,^ 
then  by  the  Appalachian  range,  then  by  the  45th  parallel  of 
latitude  until  it  strikes  the  St.  Lawrence  at  St.  Regis  opposite 
Cornwall.     Parts  of  the  Appalachian  range   within   Maine, 
Vermont,  and  New  York  States  may  be  seen  on  a  clear  day 
from  any  hill-top  between  Montreal  and  Quebec,  and  on  the 
north  of  the  river  the  crowded  hill-tops  of  Archaean  Canada 
loom  near  at  hand.     All  that  is  of  interest  in  old  Canadian 
history  took  place  within  these  narrow  limits.     The  figure 
described  within  these  limits  represents  from  time  to  time  en- 
closed spaces,  of  small  size  in  Quebec  Province  and  of  large 
size  in  Ontario,  but  French  civilization  might  be  typified  by 
the  straight  line  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  upon  which  miniature 
circles  and  triangles  were  sometimes  described  on  its  islands 
^  ubi  supra ^  p.  18. 

VOL,  V.      PT.  Ill  I 


114         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

or  at  the  confluence  of  its  principal  tributaries.  No  serious 
effort  was  made  to  fill  the  whole  enclosed  space  until  the 
very  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Above  Cornwall,  the 
southern  limit  of  Ontario — for  we  are  already  in  Ontario — lies 
in  the  present  bed  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  inland  seas, 
until  Pigeon  River  on  the  west  coast  of  Lake  Superior  is 
reached.  Thence  it  continues  up  the  old  river  route  from 
Grand  Portage  on  Pigeon  River  to  the  49th  parallel  of 
latitude,  which  is  the  international  boundary  of  the  middle 
and  extreme  west  of  Canada  as  far  as  the  Pacific.  Rivers 
have  never  been  boundaries  for  long,  either  in  Asia,  Africa, 
or  Europe,  and  parallels  and  meridians  have  only  been 
effective  boundaries  between  *  spheres  of  influence '  in  bar- 
baric countries  or  between  British  provinces.  The  immediate 
palpable  effect  of  these  arbitrary  lines  was  that  in  Ontario 
new  towns  sprang  up  at  Niagara,  Detroit  River,  and  Sault 
St.  Marie,  opposite  American  towns  or  vice  versa ;  and  that 
the  starting-point  on  Lake  Superior  for  the  middle  west  and 
north-west  was  shifted  from  Grand  Portage  to  Fort  William, 
forty  miles  north  (1803),  the  old  and  new  ways  meeting 
rather  more  than  one  hundred  miles  west  of  the  two  starting- 
points.  Ontario,  south  of  the  most  ancient  possible  course 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Georgian  Bay,  is  sometimes  nick- 
named old  Ontario ;  it  too  has  narrow  confines,  but  it  was 
always  thought  of  as  a  triangle  which  colonists  tried  to  fill. 
Nevertheless  nearly  all  its  principal  towns  lie  on  one  of  the 
three  ways  to  the  west,  and  on  a  Silurian  or  Devonian,  not 
on  an  Archaean,  foundation.  The  civilization  of  the  middle 
east  abhorred  granite,  and  its  line  of  life  was  thin-spun  and 
single,  except  where  the  St.  Lawrence  seemed  to  go  or  to 
have  gone  two  or  three  ways,  and  there  it  too  became  double 
or  triple,  and  tried  to  cover  the  interval  between  the  threads. 
West  of  French  River  the  line  is  once  more  frail  and 
single,  and  is  symbolized  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 
as  it  runs  along  or  near  the  north  shore  of  the  first  and 


THE  CORE  OF  CANADA  AND  THE  MIDDLE  EAST     IT5 

second  seas  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  far  as  Fort  William, 
which  shines  with  the  reflected  glory  of  the  middle  west. 
After  Fort  William  there  are  forty  miles  of  the  old  water- 
system,  350  miles  of  a  new  water-system  with  the  old 
wilderness,  and  then  a  new  country. 

But  we  must  return  to  the  middle  east,  which  suggests  Middle 
three  reflections.     First,  because  it  is  the  country  of  one  country  of 
great  river,  because  that  river  is  a  pre-eminent  example  of  the  St. 
'  Les  chemins  qui  marchent ',  and  because  all  its  main  rail-    ^"^^^^^^^^ 
ways  and  roadways  double  or  treble  the  course  or  courses  of 
the  great  river,  there    is  an  incessant  stream,  not  only  of 
water  but  of  men  and  things  perpetually  moving  along  the 
western  way.     Secondly,  from  end  to  end  of  the  middle  east 
there  is  not  one  rock  later  than  rocks  of  Devonian  age, 
which  rocks  precede  Carboniferous  rocks  in  the  geological 
scale;  consequently  there  is  no  coal.     Thirdly,  the  middle 
west  is  often  called  the  north-west  because  its  southern  limit 
is  49°  lat.  or  two  degrees  north  of  Quebec  City,  and  it  is 
proposed  that  the  National  Transcontinental  Railway  shall 
connect  it  with  Quebec  by  a  straight  line.     When  this  is 
complete  it  is  thought  that  the  single  thread  with  knots,  net- 
works, and  tangles  here  and  there,  which  is  the  emblem  of 
Canadian  destiny,  will  be  changed  into  an  immense  triangle 
with  a  base  1,200  miles  long;  the  middle  east  will  no  longer 
be  length  without  breadth,  and  a  new  era  will  dawn.     The 
St.  Lawrence,  which  has  hitherto  been  the  only '  Leit-Faden ' 
of  the  middle  east,  will  be  left  at  Quebec,  and  the  track  will 
plunge  at  once  into  the  primeval  forest,  catching  up  cross- 
threads   here  and  there,  like   that  at  Abitibi,  but  without 
emerging  until  its  journey  is  at  an  end.     A  more  familiar 
metaphor  is  often  used.     It  is  said  that  hitherto  the  middle 
east  has  been  like  a  row  of  one-storied  houses  in  Quebec 
Province,  and  of  two-storied  houses  in  Old  Ontario,  with 
two   or  three   scaffolds  and  ladders  erected  to  an  unbuilt 
upper  storey,  and  that  the   time  has  now  come  to  build 

I  2 


Il6  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

a  still  higher  storej  all  along  the  upper  ends  of  the  scaffolds 
and  ladders.  The  metaphor  is  not  quite  exact,  for  it  can 
hardly  be  expected  that  the  living  places  along  the  new  track 
will  be  continuous  with  themselves  and  with  the  old  track. 
Along  the  old  track  nothing  is  so  striking  as  the  continuous 
civilization  which  lines  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  up  to 
Lake  Superior ;  but  the  continuity  was  attained  by  different 
methods  and  processes  and  with  different  results  in  the 
provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE    MIDDLE   EAST 

Quebec  or  The  Province  of  Two  Nations  and  one 
River. 

Quebec  is  the  Province  of  two  nations — Old  French  and  Quebec 
New  English — the  former  underlying  the  latter,  and  having  Zl^jl^^liy 
the  first  choice  of  place,  but  both  mingling  and  alternating  in  the  French, 
centres  of  most  disturbance,  like  successive  geological  strata. 
Both  cleave  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  the  French,  who  were 
there  first,  cleave  most  closely.     The  cities  which  were  chosen 
by  the  French  were  on  critical  points  on  the  great  river,  and 
are  therefore  most  altered.     In  the  chief  cities  as  well  as  in 
the  country  districts  the  French  are  still  first. 

Under  the  French  rdgime  there  were  only  three  cities  in  Quebec, 
Canada :  Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal,  which  were  '^■^^^.^ 
founded  in  1608,  1634,  and  1641  respectively.     These  three  a^id  Mon- 
places  are  all  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  were  in  1535  ^p^^-^l^^^^ 
the  chief  places  of  the  Indians/  who  lived  on  the  St.  Lawrence  a7td 
and  spoke  Iroquois,  and  may  have  been  Hurons  or  Mohawks  ^^r^J^?^ 
for  aught  we  know,  and  were  wiped  clean  out  before  1608, 
when  their  vacant  seats  were  filled  by  Frenchmen,  who  for 
awhile  shunned  the  south  shore  as  though  it  were  plague - 
stricken.     Again,  each  of  these  places  lies  at  an  angle  formed 
by  two  rivers,  as  though  for  trade  or  defence.     At  Quebec, 
Cartier  dwelt  on  the  east  bank  of  the  St.  Charles,  in  whose 
mouth  his  ships  lay,  and  on  the  other  side  of  which  the 
friendly  Indians  occupied  Quebec  itself.     Recollets,  Jesuits, 
and  fur-traders  chose  Three  Rivers  because  it  was  on  the 
St.  Maurice,  which,  unlike  the  St.  Charles,  went  far  inland, 

*  sub.  nom.  Stadacona,  Ochelay,  Hochelaga. 


I20         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

and  at  whose  head  waters  the  Atticamegues  ^  dwelt.  More- 
over, every  year  until  Montreal  was  founded,  and  often  in 
later  years,  the  Ottawas  of  Allumette  Island  ^  used  to  travel 
north  by  the  Gatineau  and  south  by  the  St.  Maurice  in  order 
to  bring  their  peltry  to  Three  Rivers  without  passing  Montreal. 
At  Montreal  the  Ottawa  joined  the  St.  Lawrence.  Further, 
each  of  these  cities  has  or  is  an  island ;  for  early  mariners 
conceived  the  St.  Lawrence  as  a  sea-arm,  and  chose  their 
harbours  on  or  behind  islands.  And  islands  had  other  advan- 
tages. The  island  of  Orleans  which  sheltered,  fed  Quebec,  and 
when  Champlain  saw  the  St.  Maurice  he  wrote,  '  There  is 
one  island  in  the  middest  of  the  said  river  .  .  .  This  would  be 
a  very  fit  place  to  inhabit,  and  it  might  be  quickly  fortified.'  ^ 
Montreal  is  an  island  of  123  square  miles,  or  twice  as  large 
as  Manhattan  plus  Hong  Kong  plus  Bombay,  but  not  so 
large  as  Singapore,  but  with  far  greater  opportunities  for  agri- 
culture and  far  greater  exposure  to  attack  and  far  less 
opportunities  for  defence  than  its  peers. 

In  each  of  these  three  places  the  French  pioneers  occupied 

the  very  isles  and  isle-guarded  peninsulas  on  the  north  bank 

where  their  first  Indian  friends  flourished  and  vanished.     The 

three  sites  had  different  advantages. 

In  French       Quebec  is  a  city  on  a  hill — strong,  fair,  and  opportune. 

^Quebec        ^^^^   miles   above   it   is   Cap    Rouge,   where   Cartier   and 

was  the       Roberval  wintered  (1541-3)  in  order  to  be  near,  but  not  too 

^andmiy     ^^^^»  ^^^^^  friends  at  Quebec.     Opposite  Cap  Rouge  is  the 

European    Chaudi^re,  a  highway  of  the  Abenaki  Indians,^  who  dwelt  on 

^^^  '  the  Kennebec  River  in  Maine  (United  States) ;  and  who  in 

1 64 1  sent  envoys  along  this  highway  to  Quebec  in  order  to 

make  an  alliance  with  some  Ottawas,^  then  resident  at  Three 

Rivers.     While  Quebec  opened  up  the  friendly  southerners. 

Three    Rivers    opened    up   the    friendly    northerners    and 

westerners ;  and  Quebec  and  Three  Rivers,  between  them, 

^  Algonquins. 

2  Champlain,  Voyages,  ed.  E.  G.  Bourne  (1906),  vol.  ii,  p.  185. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  12I 

became  junctions  and  asylums  for  friendly  Algonquins  of  the 
distant  south  and  the  distant  north  and  west.  Quebec,  too, 
became  the  port  for  the  European  vessels  upon  whose  annual 
arrival  the  trade,  safety,  and  existence  of  Canada  depended. 
When  Kirke  (1629)  and  Wolfe  (1759)  took  Quebec,  every- 
thing west  of  it  was  doomed,  because  Quebec  was  the  only 
link  of  Canada  with  Europe.  But  they  had  to  leave  in 
November  and  could  never  come  before  Spring,  so  that 
Quebec  was  left  to  its  own  military  resources  every  winter. 
During  five  months  of  the  year  it  is  useful  only  as  a  fort,  for 
ice  makes  it  useless  as  a  port ;  then  when  the  thaw  comes  it 
proudly  raises  its  head  and  brings  Europe  into  the  heart  of 
America,  and  makes  the  uttermost  waters  of  the  basin  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  seas  which  beat  against  England  and 
France  a  single  waterway. 

Three  Rivers  never  had  direct  dealings  with  Europe,  and  Three 
Europeans  scarcely  knew  of  it  except  as  a  half-way  house  ^^^rthe 
between  Quebec  and  Montreal ;  but  it  was  the  first  base  of  starting' 
the  western  fur-trade  and  the  first  goal  of  the  western  Indians,  ^t^raders 
Nipissings  ^  and  Hurons,  as  well  as  Ottawas  ^  and  Atticame-  the  resort 
gues,^   came    hither  year  in   and  year    out  to    meet    the  %{dians  ^ 
Governor-General  and  his  suite,  who  came  in  large  boats  or  and  the 
little   brigantines  from  Quebec  to  meet  them.     It  was  the  ^'^^^  ^  ^ 
home   of  interpreters   such   as   Pierre   Boucher,  Jean   and 
Thomas  Godefroy,  Jacques  Hertel,  Jean   Nicolet,  M^dard 
Chouart  Sieur  des  Groseilliers,  and  Pierre  Esprit  Radisson, 
who  were  the  lay  pioneers  of  the  far  west.     In  1653  ^wo  of 
these  interpreters  visited  Green  Bay  (Lake  Michigan),  from 
which  the  Mississippi  was  discovered ;  in  1656  Lake  Winni- 
peg was  known  to  them  by  name^ ;  and  in  1661  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  went  from  here  to  the  River  Nipigon  on  the 
north-west  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  where  Duluth  built  a  fort 
(1684),  from  which  La  Verendrye,  a  native  of  Three  Rivers, 

^  Algonquins. 

^  B.  Suite,  Chronique  Trifluvienne  (1879),  p.  174. 


122         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 

advanced  in  order  to  build  a  chain  of  forts  between  Lake 
Superior  and  Winnipeg  (1731  et  seq.).  Three  Rivers  had 
a  long  reach  inland,  which  Quebec  never  had.  It  seemed 
too  at  one  time  that  it  might  become  a  federal  capital  for 
the  Algonquins  and  Hurons  under  French  protection.  It 
also  had  a  relentless  foe  across  the  water  who  rarely  wrought 
havoc  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Quebec,  but  incessantly 
attacked  Three  Rivers.  This  foe  was  the  Iroquois. 
and  was  The  Iroquois,  who  spread  death  along  the  south  shore  of 

^mhawks^'  ^^  ^^*  Lawrence,  and  dread  from  James  Bay  to  the  Atlantic, 
were  the  Five  Nations;  and  the  Mohawks,  who  more 
especially  menaced  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  dwelt  where  the 
Appalachian  range  would  be  if  it  were  a  ridge.  Between 
Temiscouata  and  Rivibre  du  Loup  this  range  is  a  wooded 
ridge  1,324  feet  high,  in  the  midst  of  wooded  hills  1,000  feet 
higher;  further  south-west,  between  the  sources  of  the 
Chaudifere  and  Kennebec,  it  is  still  the  same  ridge  and 
1,854  feet  high;  and  between  the  St.  Francis  and  Con- 
necticut Rivers,  where  the  watershed  is  on  Canadian  soil, 
this  selfsame  ridge  is  1,585  feet  high,  and  its  coronet  of 
wooded  hill-tops  twice  that  height.  A  little  further  on,  the 
ridge  vanishes  and  is  replaced  by  a  watershed,  120  miles 
south  of  the  Canadian  border,  and  150  feet  high,  dividing  two 
rivers,  each  running  due  north  and  south — the  Hudson  to  New 
York,  200  miles  south;  and  the  Richelieu  and  its  expansion 
Lake  Cham  plain  to  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Sorel,  180  miles 
north.  The  range  only  exists  for  the  eye  of  faith,  and  the 
watershed  is  about  the  same  height  as  that  in  the  Petitcodiac 
or  Annapolis  Valleys;  but  the  rivers  which  it  divides  are 
great  navigable  rivers,  the  only  obstruction  on  the  Richelieu 
being  at  Chambly,  where  the  river  falls  nearly  seventy  feet  in 
two  miles.  The  Mohawks  lived  west  of  this  watershed,  on 
the  Mohawk,  a  western  tributary  of  the  Upper  Hudson,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Five  Nations  lived  still  further  west.  The  four 
Western   Nations   menaced   the  St.  Lawrence  from  above 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  123 

Montreal  to  the  west  end  of  Lake  Erie;  and  the  Mohawks 
shot  down  the  Richelieu  to  Sorel  like  arrows  from  a  bow. 
When  the  Mohawks  heard  that  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins 
passed  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu  annually  on  their  way  to 
Three  Rivers,  they  felt  as  sportsmen  would  feel  on  hearing  of 
an  annual  migration  of  caribou  past  their  lodge-gate.  Pbre 
Jogues  was  their  first  prize,  and  was  the  first  to  make  the 
through  trip  from  Sorel  to  New  York  (1642).  The  Iroquois 
seized  him  as  he  started  from  Three  Rivers  for  the  west,  took 
him  to  the  Mohawk,  tortured,  burned,  maimed,  and  mutilated 
him ;  then  he  escaped  to  New  York  and  France,  returned 
twice  to  the  Iroquois  of  his  own  accord,  and  was  killed. 
The  Richelieu  was  the  road  to  Calvary,  and  every  field  near 
it  was  watered  with  the  blood  of  the  victims  of  the  Iroquois. 

Pres  de  la  borne  q\\  chaque  ^tat  commence 
Aucun  ^pi  n'est  pur  de  sang  humain. 

As  a  take-off  for  Europe  Quebec  was  alone,  but  as  a  take-off  Montreal 
for  the  west  Three  Rivers  had  a  younger  rival  in  Montreal.  ^^,,^^^  ^,^^ 
In  1656  ^  the  race  between  Three  Rivers  and  Montreal  began  base  of^ 
in  earnest :  when  La  Salle's  explorations  of  Lake  Ontario  and  aminsuhe 
the  south-west  began  (1669),  Montreal  was  his  only  base,  and  Iroquois 
after   that   date   Three   Rivers  was  more  or  less  eclipsed,  ^j^^  ^/„-^y 
Montreal   was   exposed   to   the   full   fury  not   only  of  the  ^^se  of  fur- 
Mohawks  but  of  all  the  Iroquois.     After  1643  ^^  Mohawks  ^^^/ ^y 
chastised    Three    Rivers   with    whips    but    Montreal   with  Indians, 
scorpions.     They  descended  the  Richelieu  to  Chambly,  forty- 
seven  miles  above  Sorel,  and  crossed  by  the  Litde  Montreal 
and    La   Prairie    Rivers   to   Laprairie,   opposite    Montreal. 
Sometimes,  too,  other  Iroquois  descended  the  St.  Lawrence 
from   Oswego   (United   States)   on    Ontario  Lake,  so  that 
Montreal  was  between  two  fires,  from  east  and  south-west* 
AdamDaulac's  heroism  at  the  Long  Sault  on  the  Ottawa  (1660) 
and  Madeleine's  defence  of  Vercheres  (1692)  saved  Montreal 
1  Suite's  date. 


124         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

from  attacks  from  the  west  and  north  respectively.     The 

Iroquois,  so  long  as  they  commanded  the  river,  threatened 

Montreal  from  every  side.     Montreal  was  Castle  Dangerous. 

Down  to  1665  the  Iroquois  made  the  existence  of  Montreal 

hang  in  the  balance;  after  that  date  counter  attacks  were 

organized,  and   Montreal   was   comparatively  secure.     The 

power  of  the  Iroquois  was  broken,  and  the  Iroquois  gradually 

ceased  to  be  a  political  force  of  first-rate  importance.     Then 

Montreal   asserted   its   geographical  superiority  over  Three 

Rivers,  and   fur-traders  for   the   west  and   friendly  Indians 

from  the  west  gradually  began  to  prefer  Montreal  to  Three 

Rivers,  as  base,  goal  and  meeting  place. 

Expansion      The  best  defence  of  the  French  colonists  was  expansion, 

^th^7h^^^"^  and  expansion  was  from  the  same  three  centres,  and  was 

French       both  On  the  north  and  on  the  south  side  of  the  river ;  for  in 

capitals;     ^^  history  of  civilization  the  country  which  tries  to  keep  one 

river-bank  invariably  gains  or  loses  both. 

from  At   Quebec  Louis  Hebert  of  Paris,    and  his  son-in-law 

Quebec        Guillaume    Couillard,   farmed    in    the    Twenties.     East    of 
along  the  ' 

east  shore    Quebec,  and  west  of  Montmorency  Falls,  Robert  Giffard  of 
V^^  Perche   became    seigneur   of    Beauport,   and    stocked    his 

1^20  etseq.,  seignory  with  colonists  in  the  Thirties.  In  the  Forties  other 
seigneurs  did  the  same  for  Beaupre, — which  is  east  of  Beauport 
and  extends  eastward  to  Les  Eboulements — and  for  the  lime- 
stone islands  which  began  with  the  Island  of  Orleans  and  end 
opposite  St.  Paul's  Bay  in  the  Isle  aux  Coudres.  The 
inhabitants  of  Beaupr6  dwelt  west  of  Cap  Tourmente, 
where  limestone,  fresh  water,  and  wheat-growing  end ;  or  at 
St.  Paul's  Bay,  under  the  shadow  of  Les  Eboulements,  and 
outnumbered  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  in  1667.  In  1628 
David  Kirke  raided  Cap  Tourmente,  and  in  1759  James 
Wolfe  raided  Beauprd  from  end  to  end,  and  occupied  the 
Island  of  Orleans  in  order  to  starve  Quebec.  The  island  of 
Orleans  was  also  more  populous  than  its  capital  in  1667  ;  and 
from  that  date  it  and  Beaupr^  have  changed  but  little  down 


THE  MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  125 

to  to-day.     Nor  has  Beauport  changed  much  along  the  shore 
line. 

The  Seignory  or  Lordship  or  Manor  of  Beauport  was  by  means  of 
three  miles  long  and  four  miles  deep,  and  of  Beauprd  ^^^^^^^^ 
forty-eight  miles  long  and  eighteen  miles  deep :  the  *  long '  habitants, 
side  being  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  served  as  road, 
till  roads  were  built,  and  the  Meep'  side  being  unin- 
habited and  uncultivated,  except  for  a  short  distance  from  its 
long  side.  The  building  of  roads  and  the  clearing  of  the 
forest,  of  which  the  whole  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  con- 
sisted, was  usually  the  duty  of  the  lords  of  the  manor  or 
seigneurs,  but  invariably  the  act  of  the  habitants  or  copy- 
holders whom  their  lords  imported  and  planted.  In  order  to 
build  roads  across  their  front  the  habitants  required  narrow 
and  contiguous  fronts.  The  first  holdings  of  the  habitants  in 
Beauport  were  from  ten  to  seventeen-fold,  and  of  those  in 
Beaupr^  forty-fold  deeper  than  wide.  Roads  crept  on  from 
front  to  front,  and  clearances  crept  on  from  front  to  rear; 
and  the  rearmost  depths  were  often  forfeited,  because  they 
had  not  been  reclaimed,  or  even  used,  by  their  nominal 
possessors.  Sometimes  whole  seignories  deserved  or  incurred 
the  same  fate. 

West  of  Quebec  eight  or  more  seignories  had  been  created  and  west 
before  1660  around  the  mouths  of  the  Cap  Rouge,  Jacques  ^^Jly^  ' 
Cartier,  Portneuf,  and  St.  Anne  Rivers,  and  ^\\  were  empty  means  of 
except  two.     The  first  exception  was  Portneuf,  which  is  forty  ^^^Jj^^ 
miles  above  Quebec  and  below  Three  Rivers,  and  had  colonists 
before  1645,  but  its  lord  belonged  more  to  Three  Rivers  than 
to  Quebec  ^ ;  and  the  second  exception  was  Sillery,  which  is 
four  miles  or  so  above  Quebec,  and  there  Jesuits  and  others 
began  to  fold  converted  Algonquins  and  Hurons  like  sheep 
within  a  pen  in  1 639.     In  the  Fifties  the  Huron  pen  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Island  of  Orleans,  and  afterwards  to  St.  Foy  and 
Old  and  New  Lorette  close  behind  Quebec ;  and  it  is  still  at 
^  Jacques  Le  Neuf  de  La  Potherie. 


126 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


and  on  the 
south  bank 
towards  the 
east ; 


expansion 
on  the 
Richelieu 
was  from 
Europe^ 
Three 
Rivers, 
and 
Montreal ; 


New  Lorette.  Consequently  Quebec  had  a  motley  Indian 
fringe  immediately  inland  and  on  its  west.  Its  white  men 
did  not  expand  to  the  west  until  later  than  1665.  Before 
1689  the  Abenaki  of  Sillery  had  been  sent  across  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  a  pen  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chaudi^re;  the  other 
Algonquins  of  Sillery  had  died  out,  and  it  was  then  that  the 
left  bank  became  wholly  and  solely  a  white  man's  country. 

Pbre  Druillbtes,  the  missionary  of  the  Abenaki,  was  the 
spiritual  (1646),  Fran9ois  Bissot  and  Guillaume  Couture, 
issue-in-law  of  Couillard  and  so  of  Hubert,  were  the  secular 
pioneers  of  the  right  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  Bissot  and 
Couture  settling  at  Ldvis  opposite  Quebec  (1646-7).  A  little 
later,  Montmagny  acquired  and  colonized  the  Rivibre  du  Sud 
further  east,  and  a  bridge  of  islands  thence  to  the  Island  of 
Orleans  (1646-55).  Next,  issue-in-law  of  GifFard  took  up 
the  tale  and  acquired  the  colonized  St.  Roch  des  Aulmais 
(1657)  and  St.  Anne  de  la  Pocadiere  (1672) ;  and  a  Couillard 
acquired  and  colonized  Llslet  (1671).  Then  Bissot's  sons 
acquired  and  colonized  Vincennes,  between  L^vis  and  Rivibre 
du  Sud  (1672).  Thus  members  of  the  Hubert  and  Giffard 
groups  trumped  one  another's  last  cards  and  went  step  by 
step,  islet  by  islet,  along  the  right  bank,  away  from  the 
Iroquois,  and  like  lemmings  towards  the  sea.  In  1759  Wolfe 
seized  L^vis  and  raided  St.  Roch  and  St.  Anne,  which  were 
then  the  chief  villages,  for  towns  there  were  none. 

Before  1665  no  one  dwelt  on  the  right  bank  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  anywhere  east  of  Longueuil  (if  there),  and  west  of 
the  Algonquin  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chaudi^re.  In 
that  year  forts  were  built  at  Sorel  and  Chambly,  and  a  road 
fifteen  miles  long  was  built  along  the  old  Mohawk  trail  from 
Chambly  to  Laprairie,  opposite  Montreal.  This  was  the  first 
road  in  the  province.  The  triangle  thus  formed  between 
Laprairie,  Chambly,  and  Sorel  was  both  military  and  indus- 
trial ;  and  it  bid  defiance  to  the  Mohawks,  screening  Three 
Rivers  and  Montreal  from  their  attacks.   It  was  the  first  public 


THE  MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  127 

colonial  enterprise,  since  Montreal  was  founded,  the  first  mean 
term  between  Three  Rivers  and  Montreal,  and  leading  men 
from  both  cities,  but  more  especially  from  Three  Rivers,  took 
part  in  it. 

Charles  Le  Moyne  of  Montreal  had  founded  the  seignory 
of  Longueuil  opposite  Montreal  in  1657,  ^^^  cultivation 
began  here  in  the  late  sixties;  otherwise  Montreal  took 
ittle  direct  part  in  colonizing  the  right  bank.  Nearly  all  the 
first  seigneurs  of  the  new  seignories  were  officers  of  the 
Carignan-Salieres  regiment,  who  were  fresh  from  Europe, 
and  some  of  whom,  like  Contrecoeur,  Sorel,  St.  Ours,  and 
Varennes,  proved  successes,  while  others  like  Chambly  proved 
failures.  The  inhabitants  were  either  soldiers  of  the  same 
regiment,  or  some  of  the  immigrants  whom  Pierre  Boucher  of 
Three  Rivers  attracted  to  Canada  on  his  visit  to  France 
(166 1 -2).  For  between  1663  and  1672  Canada  received 
the  largest  batch  of  immigrants  that  ever  went  from  Europe  to 
French  Canada,  and  the  population,  which  was  2,000  in  1662, 
rose  to  6,700  in  1672.  After  that  date  immigration  ceased 
during  the  French  regime.  Pierre  Boucher  and  Three  Rivers 
were  identified  with  one  another,  and  Three  Rivers  was  the  most 
important  centre  from  which  the  new  colonists  were  distributed. 

At  Three  Rivers,  as  at  Quebec,  there  was  a  family  party  Three 

whose  sons  and  sons-in-law  went  east,  west,  and  south ;  and  ^^'^^^^ 

expanded 
the  peopling  of  Grosbois  (1669)  and  Yamachiche  (1703)  on  east,  west, 

the  west,  and  about  the  same  date  of  Champlain,  Grondines,  ^^^  souths 

and  St.  Anne  de  la  Parade,  on  the  east  of  Three  Rivers,  may 

be  traced  not  merely  to  Three  Rivers  but  to  Boucher  or 

some  one  of  his  relatives.     South  of  the  St.  Lawrence  there 

are  five  rivers  between  the  Chaudiere  and  the  Richelieu,  none 

of  which  were  used  by  Indians  as  through  routes — the  Du 

Chene,  B^cancour,  Nicolet,  St.  Francis,  and  Yamaska;  and 

colonists  settled  at  Gentilly  (1676)  and  Bdcancour  (1680)  on 

the  B^cancour,  and  at  St.  Francis  {1674),  Nicolet  (1676), 

and  Yamaska  on  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  of  those  names. 


128         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

e.g.  to        Of  these  settlements  St.  Francis  was  the  most  typical  and 
^riverwhere  i^^po^'tant.     It  was  on   an  islet  at  the  river-mouth,  as  was 
Indians      Nicolet,  and  its  colonists  were  all  from  Three  Rivers  and 
also  settkiL  ^^der  the  guidance  of  a  relative  of  Boucher.     Shortly  after  its 
foundation  Abenaki  arrived  from  the  Chaudibre  and  settled  at 
St.  Francis,  even  as  they  had  settled  at  the  Chaudiere  and 
B^cancour,  so  that  an  Indian  fringe  was  apparently  being 
created  all  along  the  right  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence.     Lastly, 
this  sub-colony  on  the  St.  Francis  opened  up  a  new  through- 
route  up  the  St,  Francis  and  down  the  Connecticut  to  the 
Atlantic,  which  Indians  knew  but  neglected,  but  which  the 
descendants  of  Hertel,  the  interpreter,  used   in  their  raids 
against   Salmon   Falls  (1690)  and   Haverhill   (1708),  and 
Robert   Rogers  used  on  his  return  from  his  counter-raid 
against  St.  Francis  (1759).     This  is  the  only  river-route  in 
Canada  which  can  fairly  be  described  as  a  white  man's  route  ; 
a  route,  that  is  to  say,  whose  utility  white  men  were  the  first 
to   appreciate.     But  in  French  times  it  was  a  route  and 
nothing  more.     Settlers  never  ventured  up-stream. 
At  the  end      The  energetic  initiative  of  the  soldiery  and  of  the  little 
%rench       S^^^P  ^^  enthusiasts  at  Three  Rivers  was  contagious,  and 
period  the    soon  after  the  wars  of  the  Sixties  seignories  on  paper  lined 

settlements  ^^  ^  \izx^^   of  the  St.  Lawrence,   from   Montreal  to  Les 

on  the  left     ,  ' 

^a«/&^///^  Eboulements  on  the  north  bank  and  Cape  Chat  on  the 

^\'fe^'    ^^^^  bank.     It  was  a  thin,  narrow,  close-packed  line,  and 

became        except  in  the  triangle  of  the  Richelieu  and  St.  Lawrence  all 

continuous,  ^^  seignories  abutted  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  until  almost  the 

end  of  the  chapter.     It  became  a  real  line  on  the  north  bank 

when  the  Government  completed  a  road  for  sledges  (1721), 

and  carriages  (1734),  between  Quebec  and  Montreal  (1721), 

and  the  road  soon  began  to  resemble  the  street  of  a  straggling 

village.     In  the  last  period  of  the  French  regime  seignories 

extended  up   the   Richelieu  to  the  frontier,  but  they  were 

shams  above  Chambly.     The  Hertel  brother-raiders  from 

Three  Rivers  had  succeeded  Chambly  at  Chambly,  and  came 


THE    MIDDLE    EAST  -QUEBEC  129 

to  own  St.  Charles  and  the  volcanic  mountains  of  Beloeil  or 
Rouville  close  by;  and  they  brought  in  settlers.  Both 
Chambly  and  Sorel  were  square-shaped,  and  lay  on  both 
sides  of  the  Richelieu,  like  square-rigging  on  a  mast,  so  that 
settlers  here  doubtless  overlapped  the  river  towards  the 
Yamaska,  where  the  uppermost  seignory  was  at  St.  Hyacinthe. 
Shadowy  seignories  ascended  the  Chaudibre  to  where  its 
tributary  the  Du  Loup  joins  it,  and  the  modern  roadway  and 
railway  to  Portland  (United  States)  diverge,  and  at  that  spot 
Benedict  Arnold  found  setders  in  1775.  Some  civilization 
crept  up  these  three  southern  affluents  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
but  without  system  or  purpose. 

On  the  west  of  Montreal  a  tiny  triangle   between   the  and 
St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  was  marked  off  into  seignories,  ^^^Tjj]X!i 
and  sparsely  colonized  at  the  eleventh  hour  of  the  French  westward, 
dominies;  and  it  belongs  for  that  reason  to  the  Province  of 
Quebec,  although  geographically  it  seems  a  part  of  Ontario ; 
while  opposite  it,  on  the  north,  there  was  the  Lake  of  Two 
Mountains,  with  a  settlement  of  Algonquins  and  Iroquois, 
and  on  the  south  there  were  settlements  of  Iroquois  at  Caugh- 
nawaga  and  St.  R^gis,  but  for  which  the  south  bank  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  above  Montreal  was  all  but  empty.     At  one  having  the 
time  an  Indian  fringe  hung   along  exposed   parts  of  the  %^^^^^ 
frontier  with  a  seriousness  and  system  which  suggests  ihd,t  fringe. 
the  authors  of  the  policy  deemed  Canada  a  province  more 
like  East  India  than  what  we  usually  call  a  colony.     Indian 
reservations  may  still  be  seen  a    New  Lorette,  B^cancour, 
St.  Francis,  Caughnawaga,  St.  R^gis,  and  the  Lake  of  Two 
Mountains;  and  some  people  point  to  them  as  the  ruined 
remnants  of  a  wall  of  red  men  which  was  once  meant  to  run 
round  and  protect  what  once  was  Canada ;  others  compare 
them  to  pounds  for  deer,  decoys  for  wild  birds,  kennels  for  the 
dogs  of  war,  industrial  schools,  or  labour  colonies.  But  perhaps 
they  were  the  outcome  of  mixed  motives,  and  never  had  one 
ratson  d^elre. 

VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill  V 


130  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

In  the  Under  British  rule  none  of  the  conditions  which  have  been 

perwd  ^      described  changed  materially,  and  the  military  geography  of 
Quebec  was  Quebec  Province  proved  almost  immutable.     The  substitu- 
stoT^^       tion  of  Americans  for  Iroquois  and  British  for  French  had 
scarcely  changed  the  importance  of,  or  the  approaches  to  the 
chief  cities. 

In  the  Anglo-French  war  one  deadly  blow  was  struck  from 
the  sea  at  Quebec,  and  Wolfe  won  nothing  but  Quebec,  but 
Quebec  was  everything  (1759).  Then  what  was  won  was 
almost  lost  in  winter,  but  won  again  in  spring  by  British 
ships  ;  and  when  Amherst  swept  down  to  Montreal  along 
the  two  Iroquois  routes  from  Lake  Champlain  and  Oswego 
he  only  gave  the  coup  de  grdce.  So  far  as  river-routes  went, 
Amherst,  like  De  Courcelles  and  Frontenac,  was  only  the 
pupil  of  the  Iroquois^  but  the  sea-route  was  the  decisive  route. 
aiidMon-  In  the  next  war  Richard  Montgomery  took  Montreal  by 
trealihe  ^^  f^\^  Mohawk  route  to  Laprairie  {1775), — for  Montreal 
posed  place,  was  Still  as  vulnerable  and  exposed  as  it  had  been  a  century 
ago, — and  Quebec  was  once  more  the  only,  though  the  vital 
spot  in  British  hands.  Then  Benedict  Arnold  attacked 
Quebec  in  winter  from  the  old  Kennebec-Chaudiere  route  of 
the  Abenaki,  and  just  failed.  Spring  returned  ;  Quebec  was 
relieved  from  the  sea;  and  when  it  was  safe,  the  rest  of 
Canada  was  safe.  We  hear  of  emissaries  from  the  Upper 
Connecticut  being  checked  on  the  Upper  St.  Francis ;  other- 
wise the  same  old  story  was  repeated. 

In  the  third  war  (181 2-14)  Quebec  was  immune,  and  the 
River  Richelieu  and  Lake  Ontario  once  more  poured  hostile 
forces  against  Montreal ;  but  the  country  had  changed  some- 
what. The  civilized  triangle  on  the  south  of  Montreal  had 
grown  in  size,  and  its  base  was  no  longer  the  old  road  from 
Laprairie  to  Chambly,  but  the  international  frontier.  There 
were  roads  too  inside  the  triangle,  one  of  which  went  due  west 
from  St.  John's  on  the  Richelieu  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
another  went  due  south  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  frontier 


THE   MIDDLE    EAST QUEBEC  131 

near  Odelltown  and  Lacolle  Mills ;  while  other  roads  led  from 
Chateauguay  in  the  west  of  the  triangle  direct  to  Plattsburg* 
(New  York)  on  Lake  Champlain.  Therefore  the  war-cloud 
hovered  over  Plattsburg,  Lacolle  Mills,  Odelltown,  and 
Chateauguay,  and  although  the  old  Iroquois  duet  was  sung 
again  by  American  voices,  it  was  sung  with  variations. 

For  a  time  the  arts  of  peace  were  as  conservative  as  the  Seigmries 
ways  of  war.  The  old  seignorial  system  was  as  immutable  as  '-^'^^^  P^^' 
ever.  The  old  seignories  had  been  utilized  as,  or  divided  neiu  town- 
into  parishes  in  the  early  eighteenth  century  ;  and  had  been  "^^^^"^  r 
utilized  as,  or  grouped  into  counties  in  the  last  half  of  the 
century,  but  survived  unchanged  as  the  basis  of  agriculture. 
Two  new  seignories  had  been  created  in  Murray  Bay  east  cf 
St.  Paul's  Bay,  and  given  to  Scotch  lairds,  who  forthwith 
talked  French  and  turned  themselves  into  seigneurs,  their 
kilts  into  sashes,  and  their  crofters  into  red-  and  blue-capped 
habitants.  Many  lordships  but  few  holdings  changed  hands, 
and  hundreds  of  habitants  to-day  own  holdings  which  their 
forefathers  cleared  two  hundred  years  ago  or  more,  thus 
belonging  to  what  they  call '  la  noblesse  de  la  charrue  '.  The 
institution  made  for  permanence  and  stability,  but  it  was  far 
from  universal.  Nearly  half  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
lay  south  of  the  seignories  and  north  of  the  frontier ;  and 
here  there  was  a  new  district  congenial  to  Britons,  and  to 
which  British  energy  soon  began  to  be  applied  in  a  truly 
British  way.  Roads  were  built,  townships  were  laid  out,  and 
immigrants  were  introduced. 

The  scenery  of  the  Richelieu  is  un-English  partly  because  e.g.  town- 
there  is  no  English  river  so  straight,  wide,  and  deep  as  this  ^!f^t^^ 
river ;  and  partly  because  there  are  no  English  hills  Uke  the  Francis ; 
row  of  ex-volcanic  hills  of  Devonian  age — Mount  Royal, 
Montarville,    Beloeil,  Rougemont,   Johnson,    Shefford,   and 
Yamaska — which  adorn   its   neighbourhood.     But  the  five 
unused  rivers  between  the  Chaudi^re  and  Richelieu  are  of 
English  size,  and  their  shallow  upper  waters  wind  in  and  out 


132         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


roads  were 
built  along 
the  Chau- 
di^re,  and 
St. Francis^ 
and  he- 
tweenthem, 
and  the 
eastern 
townships 
began  to 
exist ; 


of  hills  which  stand  to  the  Appalachian  range  much  as  hill- 
tops by  the  Wye  and  Severn  stand  to  Plinlimmon.  Of  these 
rivers  the  river  which  has  the  most  English  look  and  English 
surroundings  is  the  St.  Francis,  and  the  St.  Francis  runs 
right  through  the  heart  of  this  district.  A  survey  was  ordered 
(i  791),  proclamations  and  rules  drafted  (1792),  check  lines 
run  (1793),  instructions  (1796),  and  maps  (1803)  issued,  in 
order  to  attract  settlers.  But  convenient  roads  and  intelli- 
gible tenures  were  also  required. 

In  1830  four  main  roads  were  more  or  less  complete, 
(i)  The  Kennebec,  or  Merrick  Road,  ran  up  the  Chaudiere  and 
Du  Loup,  and  down  the  Kennebec,  by  the  route  which  Mon- 
tresor  took  when  he  went  South  (i  761),  and  was  first  used  for 
carriages  in  1830.  This  route  must  not  be  confused  with  Mon- 
tresor's(i76i)and  Arnold's  (1775)  northward  route,  which  the 
recent  railway  by  Lake  Megantic  follows.  (2)  A  stage-coach 
ran  thrice  aw^eekfrom  opposite  Three  Rivers  to  the  St.  Francis, 
and  thence  up  the  St.  Francis,  past  the  villages  of  Richmond 
with  its  twelve  houses,  and  of  Sherbrooke  with  its  fifty  houses, 
to  Stanstead  on  the  frontier  129  miles  away ;  whence  the  travel- 
ler might  wander  by  road  into  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut, 
or  along  the  frontier  to  the  Richelieu.^  The  white  man's  one 
and  only  river-route  was  shadowed  by  a  British-Canadian 
road,  along  which  towns  were  growing.  The  St.  Francis 
was  still  connected  with  Three  Rivers  as  of  old.  (3)  Another 
one-hundred-mile  road  started  from  the  St.  Lawrence  up 
a  tributary  of  the  Chaudibre  called  the  Beaurivage,  by  '  Craig's 
Road  Station '  to  Leeds,  Liverness,  Craig's  Bridge,  and 
Kempt's  Bridge  (which  is  ten  miles  north-west  of  Lake  St. 
Francis),  and  so  to  Richmond,  which  is  on  the  St.  Francis. 
This  road  connected  the  St.  Francis  more  or  less  with  Quebec. 
Part  or  all  of  this  road  was  called  Craig's  Road  because 
Sir  J.  Craig  employed  Quartermaster-General  Sir  J.  Kempt 

^  British  American  Land  Co.,  Inforniation  respecting  the  Eastern 
Townships^  i833« 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST QUEBEC  133 

and  soldiers  on  its  construction ;  but  it  was  unpopular  because 
for  sixty  miles  of  its  course  there  was  no  public  house,  and 
for  twenty-seven  miles  only  one  private  house.^  (4)  An 
eighty-mile  road  continued  from  Richmond  by  Sutton  to 
Farnham  on  the  Yamaska,  and  thence  to  the  Richelieu 
between  St.  John's  and  Chambly;  whence  the  traveller 
might  reach  Montreal  by  the  roads  already  described.  There- 
fore the  St.  Francis  was  connected  more  or  less  with  Montreal. 
The  third  and  fourth  roads  followed  neither  river  nor  hill  nor 
valley,  but  ran  across  the  grain.  They  were  the  first  cross- 
grained  roads  in  the  Province.  Each  of  these  roads  had 
a  distinct  influence,  and  all  led  to  the  United  States.  The 
first  road  connected  Quebec  with  Boston  and  Portland 
(United  States),  and  the  other  roads  connected  the  St.  Francis 
with  Boston  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  Three  Rivers,  Quebec, 
and  Montreal  on  the  other  hand.  Less  than  thirty  years 
later  the  first  through  railway  was  opened.  It  ran  from  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  by  Hertel's  route  and  Rogers' 
return  route,  up  the  St.  Francis  to  Richmond,  and  then 
diverged  into  a  Y,  one  branch  of  the  Y  going  to  Quebec  and 
the  other  to  Montreal — or,  rather,  to  points  opposite  to  these 
cities.^  The  railway  went  almost  the  same  way  as  three  of 
the  roads  which  have  been  described,  and  enhanced  their 
influences.  Thus,  although  it  detached  Richmond  and 
everything  south  of  Richmond  from  Three  Rivers,  and  made 
Sherbrooke  supplant  Three  Rivers  as  the  half-way  house 
between  Quebec  and  Montreal,  it  brought  Quebec  and  Mon- 
treal into  closer  contact  with  the  eastern  States  of  America 
through  Sherbrooke.  For  by  this  time  Sherbrooke  had 
become  the  judicial,  manufacturing,  and  commercial  capital 
of  what  was  once  called  the  St.  Francis  District,  but  was  also 
known  as  the  Eastern  Townships. 

^  C.  M.  Day,  History  of  the  Eastern  Townships,  1868,  p.  220. 
2  British-American    Land   Company,    Emigration   to    Canada,    The 
Eastern  Townships,  1859. 


134         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

The  east-        Common  people  defined  the  Eastern  Townships  as  rather 

em  town-    wider   than  the  judicial  district  of  St.  Francis,   which  was 
ships  hned  •'  ' 

thefron-     created  in  1823.^     In  popular  usage  the  Eastern  Townships 
^^^^ '  meant  the  district  traversed  by  these  four  roads,  except  where 

the  first  road  shadowed  that  part  of  the  Chaudibre  which  lies 
north  of  its  affluent  the  Du  Loup,  and  except  where  the  other 
roads  reached  seignories  on  the  Richelieu,  Yamaska,  and 
St.  Lawrence.  All  the  frontier  from  close  by  the  Richelieu 
to  the  Du  Loup  belonged  to  the  Eastern  Townships ;  and  the 
northern  limits  just  included  Actonvale,  Drummondville, 
Aston,  Blandford,  Lyster,  Inverness,  Leeds,  and  Tring. 
Politicians  added  to  the  Eastern  Townships  of  common 
speech  a  thin  western  wing  along  the  frontier  between  the 
uppermost  seignory  on  the  Richelieu  and  the  point  where  the 
frontier  and  the  St.  Lawrence  intersect,  and  a  still  thinner 
eastern  wing  along  the  frontier  from  the  Du  Loup  to  the  Temis- 
couata  portage.  In  their  view  the  Eastern  Townships  meant 
the  townships  which  formed  a  buffer  between  the  seignories 
and  the  United  States.  When  Sir  George  Prevost  advocated 
*  a  barrier  of  wilderness  against  the  Americans  ',^  he  wanted 
to  substitute  bears,  beavers,  wolves,  and  moose,  for  human 
beings  in  the  Eastern  Townships,  not  merely  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  St.  Francis,  but  all  the  way  from  St.  R^gis 
to  Lake  Temiscouata.  Both  politicians  and  common  people 
illogically  confined  the  expression  to  the  townships  at  the  back 
of  the  seignories  on  the  right  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  for 
at  the  back  of  the  seignories  on  the  left  bank  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence townships  were  also  introduced,  and  with  them  the 
same  new  type  of  civilization.  In  181 4  there  were  150, 
before  1795  there  were  no  townships  in  Quebec  Province; 
and  townships  soon  covered  half  as  much  country  as  that 

^  The  judicial  district  is  defined  by  Bouchette,  Topographical  Diction- 
ary, sub.  nom.  '  Districts  *. 

*  Cited  e.  g.  Accounts  and  Papers  (1826-7),  (vol-  v),  Third  Report  on 
Emigration^  Aj3peiidix,  p.  516;  and  comp.  Kingsford,  History  oj 
Canada^  vol.  ix,  p.  41  n 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC 


135 


which  was  covered  by  seignories.  Townships  were  the  new 
note  of  British  policy ;  and  there  had  been  nothing  like  it 
hitherto  in  Quebec  Province.  But  what,  it  may  be  asked,  is 
a  township  ? 

An  Englishman  who  was  asked  this  question  in  1827  drew  townships 
a  diagram  like  that  which  is  below,  and,  modelling  his  style  ^J-ff^^^^^g 
on  Euclid,'  replied  much  as  follows  : —  seignories 


1 
lot" 

__^_, 

_3_ 

.A.. 

_A. 

_6_ 

_7-_ 

._8_. 

9   1   10       11    1  a 

LOT 
200-  -" 

ACR£5 

LOT 
lob-- 

ACRES 

.... 

-  — 

-  — 

5ECOND 

fTHIRD 

'■■"raKge"' 

— - 

--H-- 
50a{»50/\ 

1 

— -1— - 
1 

LOT 

~"c 

y- 

0 

__-J_... 

a 

_. 

fr._g_ 

-i- 

T" 

"0" 

jSi-[-- 

-r- 

...X.. 

0 

...1 ., 

0 

"^'      "3 

-i- 

"i" 

-i- 

N,--- 

IV 

III 
II 
I 


'  A  township  \  he  said,  '  is  a  parallelogram  which  some- 
times contains  20  to  36  square  miles,  like  the  above,  or 
sometimes  100  to  144  square  miles.'^  It  is  divided  horizon- 
tally and  vertically  by  thick  lines  which  are  roads.  All  con- 
tinuous lines  divide  it  into  200  acre  lots.  Each  block  of  4 
lots  is  a  section,  4  horizontal  sections  are  (sometimes)  called 
a  concession,  and  4  vertical  sections  a  range.  Each  section 
is  surrounded  by  roads,  therefore  a  fortiori  each  concession 
or  range  is  surrounded  by  roads.'  The  figure  resembles  the 
plan  of  numbered  seats  at  a  theatre  with  gangways  and  rows. 
A  model  seignory  would  be  represented  by  a  parallelogram, 
but  there  would  be  no  gangways  or  rows,  so  that  if  a  100  or 
50  acre  lot  were  carved  out  of  a  township  it  could  be  done  as 
shown  by  the  dotted  lines  in  the  diagram;  but  if  carved  out  of 
a  seignory  it  would  either  be  portentously  long  and  thin,  and 

^  Accotmis  and  Papers  (1826-7),  vol.  v,  Third  Repori  on  Eniigraiion^ 
p.  413  ;  comp.  Bouchette,  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  vol.  1, 

p.  183. 

2  Bouchette's  *  usual '  township  =  10  miles  x  10  miles  =  11  ranges  of 
28  200  acre  lots-h  xodA^,  — British  Dominions  in  Noi'th  America,  vol.  i, 
p.  183  note. 


136        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 

would  abut  on  its  old  front ;  or  it  would  be  formed  by  a  vertical 
split,  and  would  have  no  road  in  front,  and  if  the  ground  sloped 
would  drain  into  the  next  holding.  The  former  alternative  was 
usually  preferred,  and  French-Canadian  colonization  was  by 
strips,  and  British-Canadian  colonization  was  by  blocks.  Thus 
like  many  townships,  Sorel  seignory  was  almost  a  square, 
and  almost  36  square  miles,  but  its  normal  holdings  before 
the  conquest  were  loi  acres,  or  192  yards  in  front  by  2,560 
}ards  in  depth,  and  its  deeper  depths  were  uncultivated. 
These  awkward  oblongs  always  denoted  the  seignory,  and 
were  never  seen  in  townships,  where  back  seats  sold  almost 
as  well  as  front  seats.  Both  seignories  and  townships  were 
rectangles,  or  as  near  thereto  as  their  river-front,  if  any,  per- 
mitted. A  writer  once  traced  M'esprit  rectangulaire '  of 
modern  Socialism  to  the  French  Revolution;  but  the  rectangles 
of  Sorel  were  derived  from  those  at  Beauport  (1635),  ^^^ 
those  of  the  townships  were  derived  from  New  England  via 
Nova  Scotia,  Governor  G.  Lawrence  having  introduced 
them  into  Nova  Scotia  at  the  instance  of  his  agent  at  Boston, 
and  for  the  benefit  of  immigrants  from  New  England^  {i759)- 
being  used  In  Canada  the  township  was  primarily  an  agricultural  unit 
%omen  designed  for  planting  yeomen  in  200  acre  lots ;  but  if  the 
with  heal  scale  were  enlarged  a  hundredfold  the  diagram  would  be 
me'ir'^^^^  equally  applicable  to  a  building  estate  and  would  serve  as  the 
plan  of  a  town.  Towns,  therefore,  were  often  carved  out  of 
townships.  Similarly,  concessions,  ranges,  and  sections  were 
often  utilized  as  parishes  or  smaller  townships;  and  a  town- 
ship, if  it  were  bought  from  government  by  one  purchaser  or 
group,  could  regulate  its  own  roads,  drains,  and  restrictive 
covenants. 
and  to  Again,  let  townships  be  piled  on  townships,  north,  east, 

7an(l  ^^//      ^^^  ^^^^ — ^^  ^^^  ^2i^t  way  as  Euclid  piles  rectangles  on  rect- 
pletely ;       angles  in  his  second  book — and  the  whole  country  would 
become  as  densely  covered  with  townships  as  it  was  once 

^  Haliburton,  History  of  Nova  Scotia^  vol.  i,  p.  220. 


THE    MIDDLE   EAST— QUEBEC  T37 

covered  with  timber.  Seignories  hardly  ever  fronted  seig- 
nories ;  but  in  the  eastern  townships,  townships  stood  behind 
and  on  the  side  of  townships  ten  deep,  and  twenty  to  thirty 
wide,  and  fronted  nothing  but  seignories,  townships,  or  the 
frontier.  Unlike  seignories,  townships  aggregated  into 
counties  without  leaving  gaps. 

Townships,  too,  stimulated  wholesale  purchases  of  quarter,  and  being 
half,  or  whole  townships,  and  re-sales  by  the  purchaser  in  ^j].^/^7^^^ 
lots.     The  purchases  and  re-sales  were  in  fee-simple,  sub-  tors,  and 
ject  to  an  obligation  to  repair  roads  and  the  like,  because  ll^i^f^^a- 
British-Americans    eschewed    any    other    form    of    tenure,  leaders  of 
Fealty,  homage,  reliefs,  and  fines  were  until  1854  incidents  ^^  ^'"^"^' 
of  seignorial  tenure,  even  as  they  were  sometimes  incidents  of 
socage   tenure  in  England.     But  feudalism  and  everything 
that  savoured  of  it  was  alien  to  American  ideas;  and  com- 
mercialism and  everything  that  seemed  akin  to  it  was  over- 
favoured.     Throughout  America  there  was  a  brisk  market 
for  buying  and  selling  land,  and  real-estate  offices  were  as 
animated  as  a  Stock  Exchange.    Land  leases  were  disregarded 
much  as  Stock  leases  would  be  disregarded. 

Land  speculation  was  created  by  suddenly  putting  one 
hundred  odd  townships  on  the  market,  and  then  statesman- 
ship blindly  tried  to  control  what  it  had  created.  Purchases 
were  limited  in  size,  and  gifts  were  made  as  well  as  purchases. 
Gifts  introduced  some  lazy  absentees,  and  the  limitation  of 
size  was  a  dead  letter.  In  Quebec  Province  only  1,200  acres 
could  be  bought  by  one  person ;  accordingly,  if  the  township 
was  105  square  miles,  40  men  bought  1,200  acres  each 
(=75  square  miles),  and  chose  one  of  themselves  as  '  leader ' ; 
the  leader  explored  and  paid  costs  and  fees,  and  each 
'associate  '  assigned  to  him  1,000  out  of  his  1,200  acres  as 
recompense;  so  that  the  leader  acquired  63  square  miles  and 
the  associates  12  square  miles.  This  system  became  common 
form ;  and  the  one-man  Company  was  the  vogue.  It  was 
self-evident  that  its  business  was  land-jobbing  ;  and  that  this 


138        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 


colonial 
leaders  be- 
ing often 
Loyalists^ 


and  colon- 
ial follow- 
ers being 
scarce  and 
British, 


was  the  last  sort  of  business  that  the  Government  intended 
to  promote.  What  was  not  so  self-evident  was  that  some  of 
the  very  best  examples  of  internal  colonization  in  British- 
America  and  in  Nova  Scotia  had  been  furnished  by  precisely 
similar  organizations.  On  the  one  hand,  the  leader  and  his 
associates  might  only  be  speculators,  in  which  case  they 
usually  sold  out  quickly ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  leader  might 
be  a  real  leader  like  the  o-T/oar^yos  of  an  Athenian  KXrjpovxta, 
and  the  associates  might  be  heads  of  families  who  meant  to 
live  and  die  together  like  the  sociz  of  a  Roman  colony.  On 
the  one  hand,  Montreal  merchants  and  Quebec  ministers 
posed  as  leaders ;  on  the  other  hand,  G.  Hyatt  and 
W.  B.  Felton  ^  made  Sherbrooke  (c.  1 800) ;  Andrew  Ten 
Eyck  made  Dunham  (1793);  Colonel  Henry  Ruyter  made 
Potton  ;  Major  Willard's  son  made  Stukeley ;  and  Colonel 
A.  Cuyler  and  Colonel  Well's  heirs  made  Farnham  ;  and  all 
these  men  were  '  leaders '  or  associates  who  acted  as  leaders, 
Cuyler,  Ten  Eyck,  Ruyter,  Wells,  and  Willard  being  American 
Loyalists. 

But  who  followed  the  ' leader '.^^  Townships  appealed  to 
American  Loyalists,  but  most  of  them  had  settled  or  starved 
before  the  first  Eastern  township  was  designed.  Many 
Loyalists  had  entered  Canada  by  the  Richelieu,  some  of 
whom  lingered  near  the  frontier,  where  a  seigneur  ^  sold  them 
land  discharged  from  its  mediaeval  incidents;  while  others 
lingered  at  St.  John's,  Chambly,  and  Sorel,^  where  the 
Government  bought  the  seignory  and  laid  out  the  present 
town  of  Sorel  opposite  Berthier  (1785).  Berthier  was,  and 
still  is,  a  one-streeted  town,  and  Sorel  was  from  the  first 
a  square-shaped  town  like  the  towns  in  the  townships. 
Nevertheless  Sorel  and  the  Richelieu  were  in  the  seignories, 
and  for  this  reason  many  of  their  British  occupants  drifted 

^  Report  on  the  Archives  of  Canada,  by  D.  Brymner  (1898),  pp. 
xxvi,  27. 

'^  Hon.  Thomas  Dunn,  Seigneur  of  St.  Armand. 
*  757  in  1784.     Brymner,  op,  cit„  1891,  p.  17. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST— QUEBEC  139 

away  to  the  townships.'     Most  of  the  pioneers  of  the  frontier 
came,   axe   and   compass  in  hand,  from  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  and  New  York  State,  direct  to  their  new  homes  ; 
amongst  whom  many  were  sons  or  relatives  of  Loyalists,  and 
most  were  loyal  as  well  as  brave  men ;  but  a  very  few,  in 
Hereford  and  elsewhere,  were  refugees  from  justice.     After 
the  frontier  was  well  settled,  and  for  the  most  part  settled 
well,  by  British-Americans,  the  intermediate  region  began  to 
be  filled,  but  not  with  Loyalists;  for  the  Eastern  townships 
were  too  late  to  catch  the  Loyalist  flood  when  the  tide  was 
coming  in.     Land  was  often  given  to  Canadian  militiamen 
as   rewards^;    thus   at   Drummondville,  •  on   the   St.  Francis, 
Colonel  Heriot  built  mills  (18 16)  and  a  village  for  veterans 
in  the  war  (181 2-14);  but  other  similar  gifts  elsewhere  met 
with   doubtful   success   and   dotted   the   map  with   blanks.'^ 
Nor  did  the  mainstream  of  European  immigrants  fertilize  the 
townships.      From    1817    to    1822   Deputy-Quartermaster- 
General  Colonel  Cockburn  resided  at  Quebec,  and  guided 
civilian  as  well  as  military  immigrants  from  Great  Britain  and 
L'eland  by  different  channels  to  different  destinations;  but 
the  immigrants,  as  a  rule,  used  Quebec  Province  as  a  conduit- 
pipe  to  Ontario,  and  an  expert^  said  that  from  1815  to  1821 
only  100  or  150  '  British '  immigrants  (from  the  United  King- 
dom) had  settled  in  the  Province.     But  there  were  exceptions. 
Colonel  Cockburn  settled  some  British  colonists  at  Drummond- 
ville; in  1830  large  numbers  of  Irishmen  were  sent  into  the 
townships  to  make  roads  and  to  stay ;  and  it  was  by  these 
exceptions  from  the  general  rule,  by  this  residue  of  the  west- 
ward-moving multitude,  that   the    townships  were  peopled. 
There  was  never  any  British  rush  to  the  townships,  although 
a  Land  Company  was  proposed  (1823-4)*  in  order  to  organize 

^  e.  g.  Colonel  Ruyter,  and  Cuyler. 

2  Aston,  Granby,  Milton,  Nelson,  &c. 

3  Assembly  of  Lower  Canada,   Report   on    Croivn   Lands,  1821-5, 
Rep.  II, p.  iS. 

*  Brymner,  op.  cit.  (1898),  pp.  xxvi,  xxvii. 


140  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

such  a  rush.  Had  this  proposal  (1823-4)  been  effectual 
Quebec  Province  would  have  been  enriched  by  a  Land 
Company  at  the  same  time  as  Ontario,  New  Brunswick,  New 
South  Wales,  and  Tasmania;  but  it  involved  the  partial 
purchase  of  Clergy  and  Crown  Reserves,  and  was  there- 
fore rejected.  Under  the  scheme  which  took  effect  the 
British  American  Land  Company  was  incorporated  in 
London  in  1833-4,  and  bought  1,324  square  miles  of  Crown 
Reserves  and  lands  for  £120,000,  one  half  of  which  was 
applicable  to  the  land,  and  the  other  half  of  which  was  pay- 
able to  the  vendor.  Though  belated,  the  Land  Company  added 
new  elements.  The  Highland  setders  of  Compton  County  ^ 
were  first  introduced  by  the  Company  in  1841.  The  pur- 
chase of  the  Crown  Reserves  involved  also  a  new  departure. 
until  the         The  imaginary  township  which  is  described  on  page  137 

Reserves     contained    105    square   miles,   of  which    7f^    square    miles 

were  swept  ^       ~i  #  u       ~i 

away,         were   bought   by    the   imaginary   purchasers.     They   could 

not  buy  more  because  15  square  miles  were  set  apart  as 
Crown  Reserves  and  15  square  miles  as  Clergy  Reserves. 
The  perfection  of  the  township  system  was  that  town- 
ship dovetailed  into  township,  and  complete  continuity  was 
secured  in  the  matter  of  clearances  and  roads,  not  merely 
along  one  front  as  in  the  seignories,  but  along  every  front, 
and  in  and  out  of  and  between  the  holdings.  But  here  two- 
seventh  parts  of  every  township  were  cynically  left  vacant; 
two-sevenths  of  the  feast  were  wasted  in  sacrifice  to  a  distant 
Crown  and  an  alien  Church  ;  the  symmetry  of  colonizing  by 
townships  was  marred  by  two  fatal  flaws;  the  only  visible 
superiority  of  the  new  over  the  old  style  was  deliberately 
neutralized;  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  French  Canadians 
were  estranged.  No  Clergy  Reserves  were  sold  until  1827, 
and  few  before  1840,  when  the  local  Government  obtained 
some  control  over  the  Clergy  and  Crown  Reserves,  or  their 

^  Lingwick  (1841),  Winslow  (1852),  Hampden,  and  Scottstown  were 
later. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST QUEBEC  141 

proceeds ;    but  the  proceeds  of  the  Clergy  Reserves  were 
used  for  Protestant  purposes — that  is  to  say,  for  unpopular 
purposes,  until  1854,  when  they  were  secularized.     In  182 1-5 
questions    were   sent   round     to    most   of   the    parishes   in  ^nd 
Quebec  Province  asking  if  the  young  men  went  to  the  town-  JJ^^,  ' 
ships.     The  answers  were  unanimous ;  not  a  single  French-  dians,  and 
Canadian    went    near    them.     When   at    the    end    of    the  ^arrived 
Twenties   the   uncultivated  Clergy  patches,  and  during  the  ^«^  ^^^ 
Thirties   the   uncultivated    Crown  patches,    began   to   melt  tTwnships 
away,  the  French-Canadians  began   to    appear ;  and  when  became 
during     the     Forties    the    uncultivated     Crown-and-Clergy  French. 
patches  disappeared  like  snow  in  spring,  floods  of  French- 
Canadians   poured   into   the   townships.      Before    1830   or 
thereabouts  it  seemed  as  though  the  old  wine  of  old  France 
were  destined  to    be   kept  in  an  old  bottle,  and  the  new 
British  wine  in  a  new  bottle ;  but  now  the  two  wines  mixed  in 
the   new   bottle,   and   every  substantial   difference  between 
bottle   and   bottle   was   removed   by   the   legislation   which 
converted  seignories  into  the  similitude  of  modern  estates  in 
fee  simple  (1854).     The  central  block  of  the  Eastern  Town- 
ships is  now  British-French,  the  British  being  the  first  comers 
and  having  the  first  choice  of  place ;  but  it  must  begin  west, 
not  of  the  River  Du  Loup,  but  of  Beauce  County,  and  south  of 
Bagot   County;    for  these  two  counties  are  almost  wholly 
French-Canadian.      The   eastern   wing,  too,  is  as  French- 
Canadian  as  the  oldest  adjoining  seignories,  with  which  they 
should  now  be  classed.     The  western  wing,  although  it  con- 
tains some  converted  seignories,  resembles  the  central  block 
more  or  less.     It  is  significant  that  the  only  counties  which 
show  a  majority  of  British  origin  are  the  frontier  counties  of 
Stanstead,  Brome,  Missisquoi,  and  Huntingdon,  and  that  an 
English  origin  prevails  in  all  these  counties  except  Hunting- 
don, which  is  Irish.     Next  to  the  frontier,  the  townships  and 
towns  of  the  St.  Francis  are  most  British ;  and  in  this  case, 
too,  British  means  English.     No  townships  or  towns  on  the 


142         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Nicolet  show  a  British  majority,  and  here  nine  or  ten  con- 
form to   the    following  type   '  St.    Val^re    de    Bulstrode ', 
Bulstrode  being  the  original  township — *  Population  =1,192  ; 
population  of  French  origin=  1,192  '   (1901).     Where   the 
British  element  is  in  the  ascendant  in  Quebec  Province  it  is 
never   exclusive,  as  the   French  element  often  is.     Where, 
amongst  the  British  elements,  the  English  element  is  in  the 
ascendant,  the  immigration  was  probably  early  and  through 
the  United  States.     Irish  ascendancy  indicates  immigration 
from  Ireland,  not  before  18 15,  and  usually  in  or  after  1830. 
Scotch   Highlanders,  as  a  rule,  came  still  later,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Land  Company.     All,  or  practically  all,  the 
Canadians  of  French  origin  came  from  France  before  1759, 
if  not  before  1672. 
The  East'       The  Eastern  Townships  put  new  life  into  that  part  of 
7hips       '  Quebec   Province   which   lies   south   of  the    St.  Lawrence. 
stimulated  Formerly  the  south  side  was  an  insignificant  addition  to  the 
towti  life     north  side,  where  the  power  and  might  of  French  Canada 
south  of  the  was  concentrated.     Between  1825  and  the  close  of  the  cen- 
reme,         ^^^Y  ^^^  southern  half  excelled  the  northern  half  in  numbers ; 
but  the  race  was  always  close,  and  before  1901  the  phenomenal 
increase  of  Montreal  tilted  the  balance,  so  that  the  northern 
half  again  excels  the  southern  half.     In  French  times  there 
were  no  towns  in  the  southern  half,  which  is  now  honey- 
combed with   small-sized   towns,  not   only  in   the  Eastern 
Townships  but  elsewhere.     Of  the  towns  in  the  townships, 
Sherbrooke   (pop.    11,765),   Granby   (pop.    3,773),  Magog 
(pop.  3,516),  Kingsville  (pop.  3,256),  and  Farnham  (pop. 
6,280)  are  the  largest.     Kingsville  is  the  principal  centre  of 
the  recent  unique  asbestos  mines  at  Thetford,  on  the  water- 
shed between  the  Bdcancour  and   St.  Francis,  and  is  the 
only  mineral  centre  of  any  importance  in  the  Province.     The 
rest  are  industrial  country  towns,  Sherbrooke  being  financial 
centre.     The  largest  towns  elsewhere  fall  into  three  classes. 
The  first  class  consists  of  towns  adjoining  and  resembling 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  143 

the  township  towns  Hke  Valleyfield  (pop.  11,055^),  St. 
Hyacinthe  (pop.  9,210^),  and  St.  John's  (pop.  4,030,  or, 
including  Iberville,  its  vis-a-vis  town,  5,542  ^).  The  second 
class  is  Riviere  du  Loup  (pop.  4,569^)  in  the  far  east;  and 
the  third  class  of  towns  are  vis-a-vis  the  northern  capitals 
and  resemble  them.  Thus  the  two  (pop.  11,999^)  or  ^^'^ 
(pop.  17,098^)  more  or  less  confluent  towns  known  as  Levis 
are  opposite  Quebec ;  and  Longueuil,  St.  Lambert,  and 
Laprairie  (pop.  5,648  ^),  which  will  doubtless  coalesce  some 
day,  are  opposite  Montreal.  It  used  to  be  said  that  B^can- 
cour  (pop.  1,992^)  was  the  vis-a-vis  of  Three  Rivers,  and 
Sorel  (pop.  7,057^)  of  Berthier  (pop.  1,364^);  but  of  these 
towns  Becancour  and  Berthier  have  become  stars  of  inferior 
magnitude,  and  Sorel  and  Three  Rivers  alone  survive.  Yet, 
all  these  districts,  compared  with  districts  of  equal  size  and 
prosperity  elsewhere,  are  essentially  rural. 

The  state  of  the  country  as  a  whole  may  be  read  in  the  andaffected 
following  table,  where  the  reader  will  note  that  two,  and  not  ^^^^f^^- 
more  than  two,  nationalities — French -Canadian  and  British  south  of  the 
—-account  for  all  but  all  the  population;  and  that  the  eastern  ^^'  ^^^^" 
counties,  though  exclusively  French,  rival  the  mixed  counties 
of  the  Eastern  Townships  in  numbers  and  apparent  prosperity ; 
and  he  will  note  how  impossible  it  is  to  classify  the  counties  of 
the  extreme  west,  Beauharnais  and  the  two  counties  between 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  being  almost  as  French  as  the 
ten  counties  of  the  extreme  east,  Chateauguay  being  a  little 
more  mixed  than  the  Township  or  Gulf-Coast  counties,  and 
Huntingdon  being  sui generis  and  forming  a  class  by  itself; 
and  he  will  note  how  the  maelstrom  of  Montreal  is  sucking 
in  people  from  the  neighbouring  counties ;  how  steadily  and 
surely  French-Canadians  are  gaining  ground  upon  British 
Canadians,  and  how  insignificant  immigration  from  the  United 
States  and  France  has  been. 

^  Population,  1901. 


144 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 


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VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill 


146        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 


The  north- 
em  towns 
are  the  old 
towns  with 
new  in- 
habitants, 
and  signi- 
ficance^ 


Quebec^ 


Three 
Rivers  y 


and  Mon- 
treal ; 


We  must  now  cross  the  St.  Lawrence,  remenlbering, 
however,  that  rivers  are  the  bonds,  not  the  barriers  of  history, 
even  although  this  river  has  not  yet  been  bridged  and  is  still  a 
physical  barrier  below  Montreal ;  and  here  at  first  blush  the 
conditions  seem  similar.  Quebec  Province  is  still  the  arena 
of  two  national  forces  which  compete  but  do  not  conflict  with 
one  another ;  furthest  east  and  (if  we  except  the  addendum) 
furthest  west  are  most  alike  in  the  results,  and  the  French- 
Canadians  increase  more  rapidly  than  the  British.  As  a 
maelstrom  Montreal  is  more  potent  than  any  other  town  or 
centre.  A  British-French  element  exists,  but  it  exists  in 
connexion  with  the  capitals.  The  capitals,  moreover,  are 
towns  quite  unlike  any  towns  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

Quebec  (pop.  68,840  ^),  the  capital  of  the  Province,  is  not 
merely  great  in  its  memories,  but  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  it  has  been  more  populous  than  all  Canada  was  in  1 763. 
A  railway  bridge  is  now  being  constructed  from  Cap  Rouge 
(Cartier's  and  Roberval's  Cap  Rouge)  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Chaudiere,  which  will  stimulate  its  American  commerce ;  and 
the  National  Trans-continental  Railway,  for  which  the  bridge 
is  being  built,  will  bring  it  into  direct  contact  with  prairie- 
land.  Hitherto  it  has  never  had  any  intercourse  with  the  far 
west  except  through  Three  Rivers  or  Montreal ;  now,  for  the 
first  time  in  history,  it  will  be  able  to  combine  the  functions 
of  an  emporium  of  European  and  west-Canadian  trade.  The 
halo  of  its  romantic  past  will  hover  round  the  prosaic  crown 
of  a  prosperous  future.  Three  Rivers  (pop.  10,739^)  is 
squeezed  between  its  big  neighbours,  but  derives  an  impor- 
tance of  its  own  from  the  St.  Maurice  River,  which  penetrates 
a  district  with  much  lumber  and  some  bog-iron.  Montreal 
(pop.  346,927^)^  is  the  commercial  capital  of  Canada,  but 
not  even  the  capital  of  its  Province.     Politically  and  com- 

*  Population,  1901. 

2  I  include  Hochelaga,  Maisonneuve,  and  the  urban  part  of  J.  Cartier. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  147 

mercially  it  stands  to  Quebec  as  New  York  does  to  Albany. 
Albany,  the  capital  of  New  York  State,  is  a  little  larger  than 
Quebec ;  Montreal  and  Quebec  are  a  little  further  apart  than 
Albany  and  New  York.  Geographically  the  parallel  must  be 
reversed.  Albany,  which  lies  upstream  at  the  junction  of  the 
Hudson  and  Mohawk,  is  to  New  York  as  Montreal  is  to 
Quebec.  Finance  and  railways  centre  in  Montreal.  It  faces 
two  ways :  towards  New  York  and  Boston,  and  towards 
Quebec  and  England.  The  deepening  of  the  channel  between 
Quebec  and  Montreal,  and  the  invention  of  steamers,  makes 
Montreal  a  port  which  communicates  with  Europe  direct  as  well 
as  with  the  far  west;  and  it  has  a  double  function,  just  as  Quebec 
will  have  a  double  function  when  the  new  railway  is  built. 
As  a  port  for  European  goods,  Quebec  is  wicket-keep, 
Montreal  long-stop — if  the  metaphor  may  be  allowed.  Its 
British  inhabitants  are  mostly  English  and  are  one-third  of 
the  whole,  which  is  rather  more  than  the  present  ratio  in  the 
township  counties.  The  Scotchmen  of  Montreal,  though 
fewest,  are  foremost. 

In  old  times  an  Indian  fringe  was  hung  round  the  skirts  of  where  too 
Quebec  and  Montreal,  and  along  the   right   bank  of  the  ^  British 
St.  Lawrence,  to   guard   against  the  Iroquois.     It  is  now  once 
frayed  and  faded ;  nor  did  it  ever  serve  the  purpose  for  which  ^^'^^^'?^- 
it  was  meant.     Since  the  conquest  a  British  fringe  was  hung 
round  the  edge  of  the  French-Canadian  seignories  on  the 
right   bank,  partly  in  order  to  subdue  the  wilderness,  and 
partly  also  in  order  to  ward  off  American  intruders.     If  this 
last  intention  actuated  the  authors  of  the  policy,  the  intention 
has  long  since  been  outgrown ;  and  the  British  fringe,  while 
maintaining  its  British  character,  has  promoted  the  arts  of 
peace  more  than  the  arts  of  war.     It  has  brought  enhanced 
prosperity,  partly  through  its  own  independent  efforts,  partly 
owing  to  the  international  intercourse  which  it  has  fostered. 
A  British  (mostly  Irish)  fringe  was  also  hung  round  Quebec, 
by  R.  Coughtrie  at  Valcartier  (1816),  by  E.  Hale  behind 

L    2 


148        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Portneuf  (182 1),  by  A.  and  J.  Duchesnay  at  Lac  Beauport 
(1821)  and  Faussembault  (1820) — that  is  to  say,  a  few  miles 
from  the  river  in  what  was  then  wilderness ;  and  there  it  may 
still  be  seen.  The  war  which  these  British  outposts  were 
put  there  to  wage,  was  a  war  only  with  the  wilderness,  and 
they  waged  it  with  success. 

Argenteuil  County,  behind  the  Isle  de  Jesus  and  Montreal 
Island,  was  the  scene  of  a  similar  experiment,  undertaken  at 
the  same  date  with  Irishmen,  Scotchmen,  and  Englishmen 
(in  this  order).  The  fruits  of  this  experiment  may  be  seen 
in  the  curious  phenomenon  that  the  British  are  in  a  majority 
in  Argenteuil  and  nowhere  else  on  the  north  bank.  Argen- 
teuil is  the  Huntingdon  of  the  north  bank.  Further,  the 
railway,  which  now  runs  direct  from  Grenville  to  Joliette 
almost  on  the  edge  of  the  limestone  belt,  was  anticipated  by 
roads,  all  of  which  were  the  after-effects  of  this  British  colony. 
A  third  result  was  the  opening  up  of  the  left  bank  of  the 
entire  Ottawa  to  Canadian  enterprise.  When  the  British 
fringe  at  the  back  of  Montreal  had  grown,  Quebec  Province 
grew  a  tail  of  its  own  behind  the  British  fringe,  and  mixed 
the  ingredients  of  the  tail  in  the  same  proportion  as  that 
which  obtains  in  Montreal  Island  or  in  Chateauguay  to-day  ; 
but  the  whole  history  of  these  settlements  along  the  left  bank 
of  the  Ottawa  is  inextricably  intertwined  with  the  history  of  the 
settlements  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  which  settlements 
belong  to  Ontario.  It  will  accordingly  be  postponed  to  the 
succeeding  chapter. 


Authorities. 

For  statistical  authorities  see  the  note  at  the  end  of  Chapter  VII. 
In  addition  to  the  authorities  cited  in  the  notes  see : — 
Joseph  Bouchette,  Topographical  Description  of  Lower  Canada  with 
Remarks  on  Upper  Canada^  ^815;  British  Dominions  in  North 
America^  2  vols.,  1831 ;  Three  Maps  of  Quebec^  Montreal ^  and  Three 
Rivers  Districts^  1831  ;  Topographical  Map  of  Lower  Canada  ^  10  sheets, 
3832  ;  Topographical  Dictionary  of  Lower  Canada ^  1832. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — QUEBEC  149 

British  American  Land  Company,  Map  of  the  Eastern  Townships^ 
1842  ;  Pamphlets  on  the  Eastern  Townships^  1833,  ^^59,  &c. 

C.  M.  Day,  History  of  the  Eastern  Townships^  1868. 

L.  Gerin,  Seignenrie  de  Siliery,  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Canada,  1900. 

Major  H.  Holland,  Map  of  Lower  Canada  as  surveyed  by  Major  H, 
Holland,  1803. 

A.  Jodoin  and  H.  L.  Vincent,  Histoire  de  Longtieuil,  1889, 

Lower  Canada,  House  of  Assembly,  Eight  Reports  on  Waste  Lands, 
1821-5. 

J.  E.  Roy,  Fi'an^ois  Bissot,  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Canada,  1892. 

Benjamin  Suite,  Chronique  Trijluvienne,  1 879  ;  Les  premiers  Seig- 
7teurs  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada,  1883  ;  St. 
Francois  du  Lac,  1886;  one  chapter  in  History  of  Yamachiche,  1892  ; 
one  chapter  on  Seigneurial  Tenure,  in  the  third  volume  of  J.  C. 
Hopkins,  Encyclopaedia  of  Canada,  1898-1900. 

C.  Thomas,  Contributions  to  the  History  of  the  Eastern  Townships, 
1866. 

Isaac  Weld,  Travels  through  the  States  of  N.  America,  and  Upper 
and  flower  Canada,  i79S-7i  2  vols.,  1799.  Letters  xxi  to  xxix  deal  with 
Quebec  Province. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ONTAKIO.     ONE  NATION  ON  THBEE  ST.  LA  WHENCE 
VALLEYS  AND  BEYOND 

At  Montreal  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  splits  into  the  Ottawa,  Ontario  ex- 

ten  (is  bc~ 

and  the  St.  Lawrence  valleys;  at  the  Bay  of  Quints,  into  "^^ yond three 
Trent  valley  and  the  valley  of  the  inland  seas ;  but  all  three  St.  Law- 
valleys  re-unite  in  Georgian  Bay,  which  is  part  of  the  inland  ^talleys 
sea  named  Lake  Huron,     The  first  task  of  Ontarians  was  to 
fill  and  unite  these  valleys  and  river-banks  and  shore-lines. 
Afterwards  Ontario  overflowed  and   its  inhabitants  reached 
the  Upper  St.  Lawrence  and  its  sea,  and  the  Upper  Ottawa, 
and  then  passed  beyond  the  watershed  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  beyond  the  watershed  of  the 
Ottawa  to  Lake  Abitibi; — the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  Lake 
Abitibi,  and  the  hill-tops  north  of  Lake  Superior  belonging  to 
Hudson  Bay. 

Ontario  without  its  overflow — that  is  to  say,  the  great  tri-  and  the 
angle  between  the  meeting-place  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  twee7i  the 
Ottawa,  which  serves  as  apex,  the  mouth  of  Georgian  Bay,  ^^^^^ 
and  the  angle  formed  by  Lake  Erie  and  Detroit  River — is  old  On- 
sometimes  called  Old  Ontario ;  and  the  overflow  of  Ontario  ^^''^'^• 
is  sometimes  called  New  Ontario.     Old  Ontario  was  built  up 
first,  and  the  first  stone  which  the  builders  laid  was  nearest 
the  apex ;  and  it  was  literally  as  well  as  metaphorically  the 
corner-stone  of  Ontario.     It  was  only  not  in  the  innermost 
niche  of  the  apex,  because  that  niche  was  already  filled  by 
representatives,  and  formed  part,  of  Quebec  Province. 

The  successive  provinces  of  Canada  lie  in  a  line,  and  the  (0  The  east 
preface  of  one  province  is  the  appendix  to  the  last.     It  was  ^^-^  (^g^l 
so  in  Tantramar  Marsh  and  Bay  Chaleurs ;  and  it  is  so  in  eluding 
the  tiny  triangle  of  seignories  (Quebec  Province)  which  fit  ^jiich 


152         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

belongs        wedge-like   into  the  notch  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
to  Quebec)   Ottawa   and   the   St.   Lawrence,   and    which    seem   to  the 
outward  eye  a  part  of  Ontario,  but  are  in  essence  Canadian- 
French.     Conversely,  Chateauguay,  Huntingdon,  and  Argen- 
teuil,  on  the  borderland  between  Quebec  Province  and  Ontario, 
though  physically  a  part  of  Quebec  Province,  are  a  spiritual 
anticipation  of  Ontario;  and  Scotchmen,  though  rare  else- 
where in  Quebec  Province,  are  numerous  here.     As  soon  as 
we  cross  the  line  from  Quebec  Province  to  Ontario,  the  whole 
atmosphere  is  Highland  Scotch,  and  always  has  been  High- 
land Scotch  ever  since  1781,  when  the  history  of  Ontario 
began.     The  cause  must  be  sought  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic. 
was  peopled      In  the  Forties  of  the  eighteenth  century  Pitt  turned  wild 
^St'^Law-     Highlanders  into  soldiers;   and  the  Highland  soldiers  who 
rence  by      served  in  America  were,  like  the  colonial  soldiers,  rewarded 
Tmers"^    with  grants  of  land.     In  the  Sixties  New  York  State  (United 
{like  the      States)  \.  Murray  Bay,  and  Mount  Murray  (Quebec  Province), 
Provinces^  •  ^^^  ^"  ^^^  Seventies  Prince  Edward  Island  received  Roman 
Catholic  soldier-settlers  who  had  been  born  and  bred  in  Glen- 
garry, Lochaber,  Fraser,  and  other  clan-lands  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Caledonian  canal  ^,  and  had  fought  against  France 
in  the  New  World.     The  floodgates  were  unlocked,  and  in  the 
Seventies  civilian  Highlanders,  both  Presbyterian  and  Roman 
Catholic,  began  to  pour  into  Pictou  (Nova  Scotia)  and  Prince 
Edward  Island.     In  the  Eighties  the  Highland  soldier- settlers 
in  New  York  State,  after  fighting  against  the  revolted  colonists, 
were  re-transplanted  into  nine  or  ten  townships  which  were 
marked  out  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  west  of  Quebec  Province, 
1 781-4,       between  Cornwall  and  Brockville  inclusively  (i  781-4)  ^     The 

^  Thomas  Douglas,  Earl  of  Selkirk,  Observations  on  the  Highlands y 
1805,  pp.  166  et  seq. 

^  Colonel  David  Stewart,  Sketches  of  the  Highlanders^  1822,  vol.  ii, 
PP«  63-7  :  see  map  of  clans,  vol.  i. 

^  W.  Canniff,  History  of  the  Settlement  of  Upper  Canada^  1869, 
p.  157  :  Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  by  D.  Brymner,  1891,  pp.  1-18. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  153 

names  of  the  townships  are  forgotten  or  thrown  on  one  side 
like  dismantled  scaffolding  for  use  elsewhere  ;  but  the  names 
of  the  counties,  and  of  the  towns  which  were  built  by  means 
of  the  scaffolding,  tell  their  own  tale.  The  easternmost  of 
these  counties  was  called  Glengarry,  the  second  Stormont, 
and  the  third  Dundas ;  and  the  men  who  occupied  the  first  two 
were  priest-led  Highland  ex-soldiers,  organized  and  rationed 
for  three  years  by  the  English  War  Office.  As  in  the 
Maritime  Provinces,  Gaelic  priests  attracted  other  Gaels  from 
Scotland;  so  that  they  rose  in  a  few  years  from  2,000  (1784) 
to  '  10,000  rapidly  increasing'  (1804).*  These  men  were  the 
foundation-stones  of  Ontario.  Johnston's  regiment,  which 
was  largely  German  and  Protestant,  occupied  Dundas.^ 

These  new  counties  soon  possessed  three  towns,  of  which  ^^^^^ 
Cornwall  (pop.  6,704'),  and  Prescott^  (pop.  3.0198),  were  canHZ' 
founded   before   1798,  and   Brockville  (pop.  8,940  8)  before  ^^''^"^^^-^^ 
1807.     At  Prescott  the  first  rapid  below  Lake  Ontario  begins,  andBrock- 
and   at   Cornwall   a   nine-mile   rapid,  which   is   called   the  ^^'^^^  > 
Long  Sauk,  and  which  is  the  worst  rapid  after  Niagara, 
ends ;  so  that  both  towns  were  resting  and  starting  places  for 
boatmen  who  were  westward  bound.     Both  towns  were  also 
waiting-rooms   for  the  Loyalist  refugees   from   New   York 
State ;  for  men  went  from  Plattsburg  (New  York),  through 
what  was  then  called  '  the  Willsbury  Wilderness  \  straight  to 
Cornwall,   and   from  the  Mohawk   (New  York)  down  the 
Oswegatchie  straight  to  Prescott.     For  the  same  reasons  im- 
portant towns  grew  up  within  the  American  border  opposite 
Cornwall,  Prescott,  and  (a  little  later)  Brockville. 

Above  Brockville  the  Archaean  system  casts  its  shadow  ^'^^  other 
over  the  shore,  and  only  ends  a  Httle  below  the  limestone  settled  at 
city  of  Kingston.     Both  Brockville  and  Kingston  are  so  to  Kingston 
speak  in  the  sunshine  beyond  the  cloud.     There  was,  too,  ^/^^  ^^^  w- 
a  halo  of  historic  glamour  around  Kingston,  for  in  old  time  Qt^int^, 

^  Bryniner,  op.cU.^  1891,  pp.  5,  37,  1892,  p.  xxii. 

^  J.  Croil,  Dundas^  1861,  p.  129.  ^  Population  1901. 


154         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Fort  Frontenac  was  there,  and  thirty  miles  further  on  the  Bay 
of  Quintd  there  was  a  still  earlier  Sulpician  Mission.  More- 
over, Prescott  was  only  on  a  byway,  while  Kingston  was  on 
the  highway  used  by  the  Iroquois  and  Loyalists  as  they  went 
from  the  Mohawk  to  Canada.  French,  British,  Provincial, 
and  Indian  armies  have  come  and  gone  to  and  from  the 
Mohawk,  sometimes  by  Oswego,  sometimes  by  Sackett's 
Harbour,  and  sometimes  by  a  port  between  the  two ;  but 
Kingston  has  nearly  always  been  base,  goal,  or  rendezvous. 
Accordingly  a  second  series  of  townships  was  laid  out  by 
Major  Holland  or  his  deputies,  beginning  with  Kingston  and 
1 783-4*  ending  with  the  west  end  of  the  Bay  of  Quintd  (1783-4); 
and  these  townships  were  immediately  occupied  with  the  help 
of  the  English  War  Office  by  disbanded  Provincial  regiments. 
The  first  batch  sailed  from  New  York  to  Sorel  in  seven  King's 
ships  and  came  on  thence  by  boat ;  others  came  direct  from 
the  Mohawk.  Between  1787  and  1790,  when  rations  ceased 
to  be  supplied,  there  was  stress  and  famine ;  then  prosperity 
returned,  and  in  1795  for  more  than  half  the  year  a  daily 
ship  descended  to  Oswego  with  settlers  bound  for  the  new 
district.^  In  these  townships  Kingston  dwarfed  its  com- 
panions. It  was  the  chief  port  of  Lake  Ontario;  a  dockyard 
and  barracks  were  begun  there  in  1789;  it  was  naval  capital 
when  war  threatened  ;  and,  above  all,  in  early  days  it  had 
a  Government  mill,  which  ground  flour  for  all  those  who 
dwelt  between  Cornwall  or  Prescott  on  the  east  and  Trenton 
oti  the  west.^  In  those  days  power  meant  water-power  ;  and 
the  mulocrat  was  lord  paramount.  Lord  Dorchester  at 
first  wished  to  make  Kingston  the  capital  of  Ontario,  and 
in  later  days  Kingston  (pop.  17,961  ^)  was  for  a  short  time 
capital  of  both  Canadas  (1840-5).  West  of  Kingston, 
Napanee  (pop.  3,143  ^),  Belleville  (pop.  9,117  %  and  Trenton 
(pop.  4,217^)  also  began  as  mill-seats. 

'  La  Rochefoucauld,  Travels,  1795-7,  ed.  1800,  vol.  i,  p.  536. 
'^  W.  Canniff,  op.cit.^  pp.  202,  206.  '  Population  1901. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  155 

Meanwhile  there  were  the  first  symptoms  of  a  move  north-  and  move- 

ward   and  inland.     In  178^  Lieutenant  French  went  from  ^''^'^f  ^'^" 

*    ^  land  to- 

Montreal  up  the  Ottawa  to  the  Rideau,  and  from  the  Rideau  wards  the 

straight  to  Kingston,  and  thence  by  the  St.  Lawrence  back  ^^^^^^^ 
to  Montreal,  in  order  to  spy  out  the  land;  and  he  reported 
that  the  land  was  a  land  of  promise  everywhere,  except  along 
the  narrow  granite  belt  between  Kingston  and  Brockville.^ 
French's  tour  of  inspection  stimulated  the  settlers  who  came 
after  him.     In  1793  three  American  Loyalists  named  Burritt  1793, 
re-explored  the  Rideau,  and  settled  soon  afterwards  at  Bur- 
ritt's  Rapids;  and  another  American,  named  Merrick,  settled 
at  Merrickville  hard  by  in  1799.     A  rough  track  twenty  miles  1799. 
long  was  made  between  Prescott  and  Merrickville,  and  only 
forty  or  fifty  miles  of  lonely  river  separated  Merrickville  or 
Burritt's  Rapids  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rideau  close  by  what 
is  now  Ottawa.^     It  was  thus  that  the  Loyalists  went  towards 
the  Ottawa,  for  they  too  dreamed  of  the  conquest  of  all  the  . 
woods  between  Lieutenant  French's  base-line  and  the  apex 
where  the  Ottawa  and  St.  Lawrence  meet.     Unaided  they 
could  not  fulfil  their  dream.     Their  one  achievement  was  to 
stretch  a  single  continuous  or  almost  continuous  line  of  settle- 
ments along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  inland  sea  between 
the  mouth  of  the  Trent  and  the  Ottawa. 

Meanwhile,  140   miles  south-west  of  Kingston,  the  old"  {2)  Loyal- 
world  fortress  on  the  Niagara — with  its  haunting  memories  ^^^J^^ 
of  La  Salle — was  garrisoned  and  became  a  focus  to  which 
Loyalists'  families  from  the  Mohawk  gathered  for  refuge  in 
1776.     The  first-comers — \5  women  and  31   children,  and  1776, 
only  one  pair  of  shoes  among  them  all' — were  Bowmans, 
Secords,  and  others  of  the  best  blood  of  Ontario.^     In  1782  1782, 
there  were  seventeen  families  there ;  and  in  1784  a  provincial 
corps,  called  Butler's  Rangers,  was  disbanded  and  planted 

1  Brymner,  op.cit,,  1890,  p.  67. 

2  J.  L.  Gourlay,  History  of  the  Ottawa   Valley,  1896,  pp.   10,   51, 
150,  151. 

3  E.  Ryerson,  Loyalists  of  America^  1880,  vol.  ii,  pp.  265-70. 


156         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

there  and  rationed  for  awhile,  and  the  left  bank  of  the  River 
Niagara,  from  Fort  Erie  on  Lake  Erie  to  Newark  ^  on  Lake 
Ontario,  became  as  compact  and  populous  as  the  townships 
on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Newark  (pop.  1,258  ^),  was  capital  of 
Ontario,  until  the  Americans  established  themselves  in  over- 
whelming strength  on  the  opposite  bank  half-a-mile  away, 
making  it  as  indefensible  as  Belgrade  would  be  if  Austria 
were  hostile.  Queenston,  seven  miles  upstream,  was  the 
place  where  sailors  hauled  their  boats  ashore  and  trudged 
with  boats  on  heads  and  packs  on  backs,  past  the  Falls,  to 
Chippawa,  eight  miles  away,  where  boating — which  seems  as 
natural  to  Canadians  as  riding  is  to  Tartars — recommenced. 
In  1798  the  first  coach  that  ever  ran  in  Ontario  ran  from 
Chippawa  to  Queenston^;  for  the  earliest  coach- roads  in 
Canada  were  always  carrying-places  past  rapids.  Niagara 
on  the  Falls  (pop.  4,244 '^),  which  is  the  present  capital  of 
this  district,  lies  between  Queenston  and  Chippawa ;  but  it 
only  attained  pre-eminence  long  afterwards  through  its  rail- 
way, its  bridge  between  Ontario  and  the  States,  and  its 
attractions  for  tourists.  Niagara-land  was  an  early,  populous, 
detached,  and  therefore  dangerous  colony.  And  it  was  also 
and  spread  a  centre  of  expansion ;  thus  a  Loyalist  from  New  York  State 
^ B^urlinlton  ^^^  Lundy's  Farm,  west  of  the  Falls,  and  then  a  farm  in 
Bay,  1781.  Burlington  Bay  (1781);  where  in  1813  a  subsequent  settler 
named  George  Hamilton  created  a  village  by  cutting  up  his 
farm  into  building-lots  and  giving  his  surname  to  what  is  now 
one  of  the  leading  towns  of  Ontario.*  Robert  Gourlay  ( 1 8 1 8) 
mentions  Hamilton  (pop.  52,634  2);  Mrs.  Jameson  refers  to 
it  as  a  wheat  market  (1838),  but  few  other  writers  of  that 
time  even  name  it,  although  they  all  name  Dundas  (pop. 
3,173^),   which  is  now  almost  absorbed   in    Hamilton,  or 

*  Niagara  on  the  Lake  (Ontario).  2  Population  1901. 
3  Comp.  G.  Heriot,  Travels^  1807,  vol.  i,  p.  156. 

*  Sir  JohnBourinot  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal Soc.  of  Canada,  1900, 
vol.  vi,  Sect.  II,  pp.  3,  17,  &c.  ;  J.  H.  Smith,  Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Co.  of  Wentworthy  1897. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  157 

Ancaster,  three  miles  from  Dundas,  or  both,  as  coming  towns. 
Even  the  earliest  travellers  refer  to  millers  on  the  creeks 
which  fall  into  Lake  Ontario  between  Newark  and  Hamilton ; 
such  as  Twelve-Mile  Creek  or  St.  Catharine's  (pop.  9,946  ^),  and 
Forty-Mile  Creek  or  Grimsby  (pop.  1,001  ^).  Thus  De  Roche- 
foucauld (1795)  wrote  :  '  Forty-Mile  Creek . . .  before  it  empties 
itself  into  the  lake,  turns  a  grist-mill  and  two  saw-mills  which 
belong  to  a  Mr.  Green,  a  Loyalist  of  Jersey,  who  six  or  seven 
years  ago  settled  in  this  part.'^ ' 

The  sub-settlements  of  Niagara  crept  creek  by  creek  along  {l)  Long 
the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario  to  Hamilton,  but  leapt  to  Long  f^w/-^^^ 
Point  on  Lake  Erie ;  and  for  awhile  it  seemed  as  though  colony  from 
Long  Point  was  a  third  new  colony  as  separate  from  Niagara    ^^^^^^^ 
as  Niagara  was  from  Kingston  and  its  satellites.     Military 
considerations  suggested  the  origin  of  the  new  colony.     In 
1793  John   Graves  Simcoe,  the   first   Governor  of  Upper 
Canada,  selected  Turkey  Point  or  Port  Dover  (pop.  2,035  ^) 
— in  the  Bay  east  of  Long  Point — as  a  naval  arsenal  for 
Lake  Erie.     But   naval  arsenals  have  never  been  of  much 
account  on  this  lake  because  it  is  very  shallow,  and  is  the 
only  one  of  the  great  lakes  of  the  St.  Lawrence  which  freezes 
all  over  in  winter,  so  that  soldiers  can  march  over  it  as  though 
it  were  dry  land.     Nevertheless,  Colonel  Samuel  Ryerse,  a 
Loyalist  re-emigrant  from  New  Brunswick  to  Niagara,  went 
thence  to   Port  Ryerse,    between  Turkey  Point  and  Port 
Dover,  ascended  a  hill,  said,  *  Here  I  will  be  buried,'  brought 
his  family  and  relations  thither  (1795),  built  a  mill,  and  lived  1795 
and  died  there.     Other  re-emigrants  from  New  Brunswick 
and  Niagara  followed  in  his  wake,  and  the  little  group  had 
its  little  capital  in  Vittoria,  which  was  the  Court-town  of  the 
surrounding  districts  until  1828.^ 

The  garrison  of  the  military  posts  at  Amherstburg  (pop.  (4)  ^^- 
2,222^),  or  in  later  times  Windsor  (12,153^),  opposite  "Du  Jas  a^^^ 

1  Population  1901.  detached 

2  Travels^  r79.5-7>  trans,  by  Neuman,  1800,  vol.  i,  pp.  460-3.  nuhtary 
'  E.  Ryerson,  Loyalists  of  America,  1880,  vol.  ii,  pp.  232,  &c.             colony^ 


158         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Luth's  and  La  Mothe's  Detroit  (United  States),  constituted 
a  fourth  detached  centre  of  attraction  to  Loyalists  of  French 
as  well  as  of  British  extraction,  and  also  to  disloyalists  dis- 
guised as  Loyalists.  Some  of  these  colonists  concentrated 
in  Sandwich  (pop.  1,450  ^)  or  elsewhere  under  the  protection 
of  the  garrison,  while  others  scattered ;  and  amongst  the 
latter  one  went  up  the  River  Thames  and  established  a  mill 
'of  curious  construction'  at  what  Simcoe  (1793)  called 
Chatham  (pop.  9,068  ^).  In  1803  the  small  military  coterie 
was  reinforced  or  re-enfeebled  by  some  Highland  settlers 
whom  Lord  Selkirk  shipped  from  Scotland  and  planted  at 
Baldoon  on  Lake  St.  Clair.  Nearly  half  the  settlers  died  in 
the  first  year,  and  the  remnant  were  saved  from  famine  by 
the  soldiers  of  Amherstburg  and  then  went  elsewhere.^ 
These  four  Each  detached  centre  almost  formed  a  colony  by  itself  and 
colonies  ^^^^  fringed  by  friendly  Indians,  Iroquois  on  Grand  River 
fringed  by  from  source  to  mouth,  Delawares,^  at  Moraviantown  on  the 
Indians.  Thames,  Hurons  on  Lake  St.  Clair,  Mississaguas  ^  on  Credit 
and  Trent  Rivers,  and  Iroquois  again  in  a  small  reserve  on 
Quinte  Bay ;  on  each  and  all  of  whom  tight  control  was  kept  ; 
indeed,  the  Iroquois,  Hurons,  and  Delawares  were  as  much 
exiles  and  victims  of  civil  war  as  the  Loyalists  themselves. 
Nevertheless,  the  settlements  at  Niagara,  Long  Point,  and 
Sandwich  were  separate  and  remote  from  one  another,  and 
still  more  separate  and  remote  from  the  settlements  near 
Kingston  and  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  Loyalist  movement 
did  not  by  itself  create  Ontario,  but  only  created  four  living 
units  which  afterwards  grew  into  Ontario.  How  were  these 
units  unified  ?  Partly  by  far-seeing  rulers,  partly  by  isolated 
adventurers,  and  partly  by  co-operative  schemes,  which  had 
their  head  and  source  in  England. 
In  order  to  Simcoe's  Specific  for  unifying  the  units  was  fourfold : 
^^ni!ef^^  soldiers,   towns,    a   through    road,    and  a   central    capital. 

^  Population  1901. 

2  Brymner,  op,  cit.y  1886,  pp.  xv,  xvi.  '  Algonquins. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  159 

Soldiers  would   create    towns :    for  '  towns ',  he  said,  '  will  simcoe 

spring  up  where  troops  are  stationed '  ^ ;  soldiers,  too,  would  ff^.^^^f  ^ 

build  the  road  on  which  the  towns  would  grow,  and  he  used  road, 

the  Queen's  Rangers,  of  which  he  was  colonel,  as  road-makers. 

The  road  was  to  go  from  Amherstburg  by  Chatham  (pop. 

9,068  2),  London  (pop.  37,981 2),  Woodstock  (pop.  8,833 '^), 

Dundas  (pop.  3,173  ^),  and  Toronto,  all  of  which  were  as  yet 

mere  names  but  would  some  day  be  towns,  to  Kingston  and 

Montreal;    with   branch-roads    leading    from    Dundas   (or 

Ancaster),  east  to  Niagara,  and  south  to  the  intended  arsenal 

near  Long  Point.     Simcoe' s  plan  was  realized,  but  not  by 

the  instruments  of  his  choice ;  thus  the  road  from  Kingston 

to  Dundas  was  finished  by  an  American  contractor  (1798- 

1801),  and  the  road  from  Dundas  to  the  Thames  by  the 

earliest  Loyalist  settlers.     The  roads  were  built  and  coaches 

soon  ran  between  Montreal  and  Kingston  (1808),  Kingston 

and   Toronto   (1817),   Toronto   and   Niagara    (1816),  and 

Ancaster  and  Detroit  River  (1828).^      The  new  through  road 

shadowed   and   shortened   the   waterway  from  Montreal  to 

Detroit,   leaving  the   old   capital  at  Niagara  on  one  side. 

A   new  capital  was  required.     Simcoe  fixed  on  an  inhnd  and  a  new 

capital  at  London,  and  if  this  plan  had  been  executed,  the  ^^Z^^^^- 

peninsula   between   Niagara,  Lake  Erie,  and   Lake   Huron 

might  have  solidified  earlier  than  it  did;   and  it  probably 

would  have  solidified  into  a  separate  Province  or  foreign  state. 

But  Lord  Dorchester,  who  had  at  first  chosen  Kingston,  now 

chose  Toronto  as  the  capital ;  Toronto  (pop.  208,040  ^)  being 

midway  between  his  first  choice  and  Simcoe's  first  choice,  and 

midway  between  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  new  through 

road. 

When  Bouchette  surveyed  the  new  capital  one  wigwam  Toronto 

was  the  only  sign  of  human  habitation,  and  that  was  one  ^^^^/''^,  ^^^ 

capitaly 

1  Brymner,  op.  cit.,  1891,  Part  II,  p.  39.  ^  Population  1901.         i793> 

3  W.   Cannitf,   History    of    Upper    Canada^    tfc,^    1869,    p.    595; 

H.  Scadding,   Toronto  of  Old,  ^^^73,  p.  49;    comp.  J.  C.  Hopkins, 

Canada  Encyclopaedia,  vol.  ii,  p.  224. 


l6o         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 


and  the 

starting 

point  of  a 

new  road 

towards 

Georgian 

Bay; 


more  sign  than  London  had  at  the  same  date  (1793). 
After  Toronto  had  been  the  capital  for  four  years  it  boasted 
of  twelve  houses  (1798).  Its  value  was  not  material  so 
much  as  spiritual,  and  it  served  as  a  guarantee — so  far  as 
Government  could  give  a  guarantee  that,  come  what  may, 
the  Peninsula  of  Ontario  and  the  Ontario  of  Kingston  should 
not  be  allowed  to  fall  asunder. 

Simcoe,  who  had  no  fancy  for  mere  river-and-lake-side 
capitals,  immediately  found  a  new  use  for  the  new  capital. 
Toronto  was  thirty-five  miles  by  water  north  of  Niagara 
portage,  and  thirty-five  miles  by  land  south  of  Lake  Simcoe, 
which  flows  by  Lake  Couchiching  and  Matchedash  River 
into  Matschedash— that  is  to  say,  into  Georgian  Bay.  Why 
should  not  Toronto  become  half-way  house,  not  only  between 
east  and  west,  but  between  north  and  south  ?  Why  should 
it  not  become  the  one  and  only  Canadian  city  of  the  cross- 
ways  ?  Accordingly  he  set  his  soldiers  to  build  Yonge  Street  to 
Lake  Simcoe,  laid  out  lots  on  each  side  of  it,  and  opened  it  in 
1796.  Moreover,  north  of  Lake  Simcoe  the  River  Matsche- 
dash  has  many  rapids,  to  avoid  which,  sequels  to  Yonge 
Street  were  built  from  Lake  Couchiching,  and  in  later  times 
from  Barrie  (pop.  5,949^)  to  Penetang  (pop.  2,422  ^).  The 
latter  sequel  was  the  best,  and  was  built  partly  by  Dr.  Dunlop 
during  the  war  (181 2-14),  and  partly  by  the  North-west 
Company,  which  recognized  at  an  early  date  the  utility  of  this 
new-old  route  as  a  highway  of  trade  ^.  Penetang,  the  goal 
to  which  both  sequels  led,  was  selected  as  naval  arsenal  and 
d^p6t  by  Simcoe  (1793),  and  was  used  as  such  during  the 
War  (1812-14)  and  for  many  years  after  1829.^  Simcoe's 
revival  of  these  disused  routes  was  a  stroke  of  genius  to 
which  Toronto  owed  its  subsequent  commercial  prosperity. 

^  Population  190T. 
Brymner,  op.  cit.,  1890,  pp.  53-5 ;  comp.  H.  Scadding,  Toronto  of 
Old,  p.  389. 

'  Mrs.  Jameson,  Winter  Studies^  <Sr»^.,  in  Canada,  vol.  iii,  pp.  338 
et  seq. ;  Sir  R.  Bonnycastle,  Canadas  in  1841,  vol.  i,  ch.  xvi. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  i6i 

And  it  had  other  results.     Yonge  Street  was  soon  lined  by  and  new 
farmers,   some   of    whom    were    re-emigrants    from    Nova  ^^^^ly{ 
Scotia  and  the  West  Indies,  and  in  later  times  from  Lord  were  at- 
Selkirk's  Red  River  Colony,  but  most  of  the  early  settlers  ^'^ardVthl 
belonged  to  very  different  categories.     In  1794  a  large  con-  road, 
signment  of  Germans  was  drafted  by  an  adventurer  named  ^^94-9> 
William  Berczy  into  Genesee  valley  (New  York  State),  where 
inadequate    preparations   were   made   for   their    reception.* 
Sixty   families  wandered   on   to   Niagara   in    Canada,   and 
Simcoe   re-planted   them   inland  east   of  Yonge   Street   in 
a  township  of  one  hundred  square  miles  named  Markham, 
where  they  still  remain.     A  little  further  north,  close  by  the 
watershed,  many  French  Royalists  settled  in  1799,  but  few 
remained.^    Beyond  them  again  were  Pennsylvanian  Quakers, 
then  Dutch  Mennonites,  then  an  American  sect  called  the 
Children   of  Peace.     Luck  threw  these  odds  and  ends  in 
Simcoe's  way  at  the  very  nick  of  time.     Meanwhile  there  and  to- 
were  sporadic  settlers  at  Dundas,  Ancaster,  Port  Hope  (before  ^^^^•''f^/f  ^. 
1798)  (pop.  4,188'),  and  elsewhere  on  the  great  through  Z^^?^^^ 
road;  in  18 16  there  were  three  houses  at  Cobourg*  (pop.  J^/^-^;'^^'_ 
4,239'),  and   in    1819    Whitby    (pop.    2,110')    was   hdngsembleda 
founded  by  J.  Scadding.     A  fifth  detached  colony,  between -^^'''^'^^^'''^'• 
the  Kingston  settlements  and  the  settlements  on  the  peninsula, 
was  already  in  being.     But  before  this  date  other  forces  had 
come  into  play  and  were  beginning  to  blend  the  five  colonies 
into  that  single  finished  colony,  which  Loyalist  and  Highland 
soldiers^  strong  rulers,  stray  settlers,  and  luck  were  vainly 
conspiring  to  create. 

The  first  of  these  forces  was  that  pure  spirit  of  indomitable  r^en  (i) 
enterprise  which  began  to  pervade  the  New  World,  and  to  ^"^^^/^^^^ 
drive  men  out  mto  the  lonely  wilderness,  towards  the  close  began,  and 
of  the  eighteenth  century.     Philemon  Wright,  of  Woburn  ^^^^ 

'  Brymner,  op.  cit.,  1891,  pp.  xvii ;  G.  Heriot,  Travels,  pp.  137, 141.  ^^^^  Ottawa, 
'  H.  Scadding,  Toronto  of  Old,  p.  469;    C.  P.  Lucas,  History  of  ^19^'^^ 
Canada,  1763- 181 2,  pp.  230-2. 
'  Population  1901.  *  W.  Canniff,  op,  cit.,  p.  500* 

VOL.  V.     PT.  in  M 


l62        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

near  Boston  (Massachusetts),  fought  against  England  in  the 
War  of  Independence,  then  traded  between  Boston  and 
Montreal,  then  (1796-8)  took  three  trips  up  the  Ottawa  to 
the  falls  of  the  Chaudiere,  130  miles  beyond  Montreal  and 
70  miles  beyond  the  Long  Sault  of  the  Ottawa,  where 
Daulac  and  his  heroic  twenty-one  fought  the  Canadian 
Thermopylae.  Next  year  Wright  persuaded  some  comrades 
to  join  his  prospecting  trip,  and  they  and  he  cut  little  trees 
and  leaned  them  against  larger  trees,  climbed  as  high  as  they 
could,  and  agreed  that  the  sea  of  trees  beneath  and  around 
and  found'  them  boded  well  (1799).  So  in  February  1800  he  and  they, 
1800"  '  ^^^^  families,  servants,  horses,  oxen,  and  £10,000,  sledged 
from  Boston  to  Montreal,  by  the  St.  Francis,  over  three 
hundred  miles  or  so  of  snow ;  and  thence  to  the  new  home 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  beyond  the  nearest  habitation  on 
the  Ottawa.  The  last  seventy  miles,  from  Grenville  to  Hull 
— if  modern  names  may  be  used — were  the  loneliest  but 
easiest,  for  they  were  on  smooth  river-ice,  there  being  no  rapids 
between  the  Long  Sault  and  the  falls  of  the  Chaudiere. 
Indians  met  Wright,  ate  a  white  dog  raw,  and  dubbed  him 
the  White  Chief  of  the  Ottawa.  Soon  after  his  arrival  the 
White  Chief  turned  Lumber  King,  for  Canada  was  beginning 
to  export  lumber  to  Europe.  Philemon  Wright  w^as  pioneer, 
patriarch,  and  founder,  and  whenever  he  returned  to  Hull 
(pop.  13,993^),  as  his  settlement  was  named,  bells  rang. 
His  sons  and  his  sons'  sons  peopled  the  whole  valley  of 
the  Gatineau ;  Hull  radiated  colonists  not  only  to  Chelsea, 
Wakefield,  and  Masham  on  the  Gatineau,  but  to  Buckingham 
on  the  east  and  Eardley  on  the  west;  moreover,  Papineau, 
father  and  son,  visited  Wright  in  i8o8,  and  soon  afterwards 
began  to  people  the  mouth  of  the  Petite  Nation  River  half- 
way between  Hull  and  the  Long  Sault.  All  these  places  are 
north  of  the  Ottawa  and  in  Quebec  Province.  But  what 
Wright  did,  fired  the  torch  of  energy  in  other  brave  men,  and 

*  Population  190I. 


THE  MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  163 

near  where  Ottawa  now  stands,  that  is  to  say  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  the  first  white  settlers  began  to  appear.^ 

In  1810-11  Ira  Honeywell  of  Prescott,  son  of  a  Loyalist  others 
mother  and  an  anti-Loyalist  father,  having  married  a  Loyalist -^^^^^^j^^^^ 
lady,  drove  off  with  his  bride  from  Prescott  past  Merrickville,  on  the 
where  there  was  a  house,  and  thence  through  unpeopled  y-^^  ^^  -,■ 
wastes  to  the  south  bank  of  the  Ottawa,  where  he  settled  Amprior ; 
close  by  the  left  bank  of  the  Rideau.  Lumberers,  named 
Billings,  settled  opposite  him  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rideau 
a  little  later.  Thus  Ottawa  began  to  exist,  but  not  as  a  town. 
Sundry  chances  scattered  other  germs  along  the  Ottawa. 
Seventy  miles  east  of  the  Rideau,  Mears's  famous  mills  on  an 
island  at  Hawkesbury  (Quebec  Province),  began  to  attract 
labourers  and  lumberers  (1805  et  seq.);  and  Alexander 
MacMillan,  of  Lochaber,  Scotland,  brought  Scotch  Glen- 
garries to  join  their  kith  and  kin  and  co-religionists  in 
Glengarry  (Ontario  Province)  (c.  1804),  bought  Grenville 
(Quebec  Province),  and  Lochaber  (Quebec  Province)  on  the 
Ottawa  for  himself  and  his  associates,  turned  '  Leader  \  and 
lived  and  lumbered  with  his  family  opposite  Hawkesbury  at 
Grenville  2  (iBio  et  seq.)  Some  Ottawans  went  westward 
from  the  Rideau  along  the  Ottawa;  Mr.  Charles  Sherriff, 
formerly  of  Leith,  then  of  Port  Hope,  went  further  west,  and 
lumbered  at  the  mouth  of  a  tributary  of  the  Ottawa  called 
the  Mississippi,  by  Chats  Rapids  (18 19);  the  MacNab,  fresh 
from  the  Highlands,  in  kilt,  sporran,  and  tartan,  preceded  by 
a  piper  playing  the  Hacks  o'  Cromdale,  and  followed  by 
members  of  his  clan,  went  furthest,  and  settled  west  of  the 
mouth  of  another  tributary  of  the  Ottawa  called  the  Mada- 
waska,  and  south  of  Lake  Chats,  as  the  expansion  of  the 
Ottawa  above  the  Chats  Rapids  is  called.  And  for  many 
years  to  come  the  MacNab  passed  to  and  fro  with  a  retinue 

^  John  Mactaggart,  Three  years  in  Canada^  1829;  Bertha  Harris, 
Life  of  Philemon  Wright ^  1903;  J.  L.  Gourlay,  ^2J^.  of  the  Ottawa 
Valley,  1896. 

^  C.  Thomas,  Hist,  of  the  Country  o^  Argenteuil  and  Prescott^  1896. 

M   2 


164        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

of  new  Highland  recruits;   and  the  piper  always  marched 
and  piped  in  front  of  him.     Where  he  settled,  Arnprior  (pop. 
4,152  ^)  now  flourishes. 
andColonel     Americans  sometimes  wondered  why,  when  they  were  going 
'^f^^^-ed     ^"^  alone  into  the  wilds,  cultured  Europeans  wrote  fine  prose 
Port  and  poetry  about  the  splendour  of  solitude,  and  stayed  at  home 

Talbot.  ^,j^j^  ^YiQ  madding  crowd.  Colonel  Thomas  Talbot  was  not  one 
of  these  Europeans  ;  he  was  a  man  who  did.  Born  at  Mala- 
hide,  a  descendant  of  the  Tyrconnels,  he  served  under  Simcoe 
in  Ontario,  and  then  sold  his  commission,  and  settled  in  the 
township  of  Dunwich  on  Lake  Erie,  midway  between  Long 
Point  and  Pointe  aux  Pins,  at  Port  Talbot  (1803),  where  he 
built  the  inevitable  mill.  At  first  he  was  his  own  star  and 
almost  alone  ;  then  he  was  authorized  to  receive  two  hundred 
acres  in  an  adjoining  township  for  every  family  settled  on 
fifty  acres  of  his  own.  Yet  he  claimed,  and  for  a  long  time 
obtained,  his  reward,  although  his  settlers  were  planted  in 
adjoining  townships  along  the  line  of  a  projected  road,  which 
was  to  run  parallel  to  the  coast  about  eight  miles  inland  from 
Delhi  (pop.  823  ^),  which  is  behind  Long  Point,  by  Aylmer 
(pop.  2,204^)  and  St.  Thomas  (pop.  11,485^),  to  a  point 
west  of  Aldborough.  This  road  was  called  Talbot  Street, 
and  his  settlers  were  obliged  by  the  terms  of  their  grants  to 
make  it.  But  the  road  did  not  make  the  settlers,  and  in  1809 
only  twelve  families  had  gathered  round  him,  mostly  from 
Pennsylvania  or  Long  Point ;  and  then  war  undid  everything. 
When  peace  returned  his  time  came.  Europe  for  the  first 
time  set  to  work  to  cure  pauperism  by  collective  emigration, 
and  the  self-help  of  a  few  choice  spirits  was  supplemented  by 
social  efforts  on  a  large  scale  from  beyond  the  Ocean.  Until 
then,  Simcoe  and  the  adventurers  had  been  drawing  large 
cheques  on  future  possibilities. 
{2)  System-  The  systematic  emigration  of  weavers,  Lowlanders,  Celtic 
attcemi'     ^nd  Ulster  Irishmen,  Englishmen,  and  ex-soldiers  was  the 

^  Population  1901. 


THE   MIDDLE    EAST — ONTARIO  165 

second  great  force  which  filled  Ontario.     This  force  only  began,  of 
began  to  work  when  the  Napoleonic  wars  were  over.     In  ^^^ti^^^ 
18 15  the  British  Government  issued  a  paper  proclamation  Cel/ic 
offering  free  passage,  rations,  tools,  and  land  to  intending  ^"  !"^^^' 
settlers  in  Canada  ^ ;  and  the  proclamation,  though  not  backed 
by  cash,  was  widely  circulated  in  the  Lowlands,  where  emigra- 
tion societies  were  formed.     In  1826,  4,653  Renfrewshire- 
men,  and  about  8,500  Lanarkshiremen,  asked  aid  to  emigrate  ; 
and  all,  or  almost  all,  were  handloom- weavers,  who  occupied 
their  leisure  on  farm-work.-     They  were  starving  minute  by 
minute  at  home.     '  I  remember,'  said  the  son  of  an  emigrant 
weaver,  ^  often  waking  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  seeing 
my  father  working  still  at  the  loom  as  if  he  would  never  give 
over.  ...  I  remember  I  was  always  hungry  then — always.'  ^ 
British  agony  was  Canada's  opportunity,  and  the  dying  men 
went  to  live  again  in  a  land  where  '  almost  every  farmer  .  .  . 
has  a  loom  in  his  house,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  not 
only  spin  the  yarn  but  weave  the  cloth '.^     Celtic  Rom^iu  underPeUf 
Catholic  Ireland  became  the  scene  of  two  experiments  con-  ^ohnsott, 
ducted  by  Peter  Robinson  with  funds  provided  by  the  British 
Parliament.     In  both  experiments  the  emigrants  came  from 
County  Cork.     In  tl  e  first  experiment   568   persons  were 
with   difficulty   persuaded  to   take   part   (1823).     In   1825, 
50,000  wished   to  go,  and  envied  the  good  fortune  of  the 
2,024  who  were  allowed  to  go.^     No  Celtic  Roman  Catholic 
Irishmen  ever  emigrated  to  the  New  World  except  to  New- 
foundland before  the  War  of  Independence,  and  after  the 
war  hardly  any  went  to  Canada  until  Robinson  created  in 
them  the  taste  to  go.     Some  of  the  emigration  societies  which  aitd  othersy 
now  spread  from  end  to  end  of  the  old  country  were  friendly 

*  R.  Gourlay,  Statistical  Account,  vol.  i,  p.  528. 

2  Report  II  of  House  of  Commons  Coinmittee  on  Emigration,  1826-7, 
vol.  V,  pp.  19,  51,  52. 

^  Mrs.  Jameson,  op.  cit.,  vol.  ii,  p.  163. 

*  John  Macgregor,  British  America^  vol.  ii,  p.  182. 

^  Report  I  of  House  of  Commons  Committee  on  Emigration,   1826, 
vol.  iv,  pp.  286  et  seq.,  330  ;  Report  III,  1826-7,  p.  344 • 


l66         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

self-helping  societies,  others  owed  their  existence  to  the  bene- 
volent landlord;  the  manufacturing  districts  of  Yorkshire 
were  the  principal  homes  of  the  former,  and  of  the  latter  the 
Petworth  Emigration  Committee  (1832)  may  be  ^taken  as 
a  type.  Petworth  is  a  tiny  village  in  Sussex,  on  the  borders 
of  Surrey,  and  was  owned  by  Lord  Egremont,  who  gave  his 
tenants  a  free  passage  to  Canada,  and  provided  cheap  passages 
for  any  other  intending  emigrants.  He  employed  a  Village 
Committee  to  sort  the  applicants  before  starting,  and  skilled 
agents  to  locate  them  when  they  arrived;  and  in  1832  com- 
menced operations  by  sending  out  two  ships'-full  to  Canada. 
of  ex-  Ex-soldier  emigrants  were  numerous,  but   they  were   no 

soldiers,  ^^^  feature.  Hitherto,  however,  they  had  had  Provincial 
experience  or  were  Gaels.  Now  some  of  them  came  direct 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom  into  the  primeval 
forest,  where  they  not  unnaturally  proved  less  deft  than  their 
American  brethren-in-arms ;  for  '  the  Americans  ...  are  our 
masters  in  these  matters',  and  'No  people  can  wield  the 
hatchet  as  well  as  they '}  Nevertheless,  many  of  these 
despised  ex-soldiers  were  skilled  sappers,  miners,  and  en- 
gineers, many  proved  apt  pupils,  and  even  the  most  useless 
as  a  rule  drew  pensions,  or  had  commuted  pensions,  and 
brought  useful  coin  into  districts  where  money  had  never  yet 
and  of  half-  passed.  About  this  time  hosts  of  half-pay  naval  officers 
pay  officers,  appeared  from  end  to  end  of  Ontario — and  lived  by  its  river- 
banks  and  lake-shores  as  though  they  were  seas ;  and  they 
too  brought  coin,  and  not  only  coin  but  sea-craft  and  a  sense 
of  order,  into  a  province  whose  habitable  parts  were  one- 
third  liquid  and  two-thirds  destitute  of  law.  Said  Captain 
Andrew  Wilson,  R.N. :  '  He  had  body  and  soul  to  look  after; 
he  had  the  county  of  Bathurst  to  govern ;  the  Perth  lawyers 
to  regulate ;  the  roads  to  lay  out ;  and  more  to  do  than  all 
Downing  Street';*  and  many  other  naval  officers  did  quite 

'   Basil  Hall,  Travels^  vol.  i,  p.  322  ;  J.  Mactaggart,  Three  years  in 
Canada,  vol.  ii,  p.  295. 

2  Mactaggart,  op.  cit,^  vol.  i,  p.  272. 


THE   MIDDLE  EAST — ONTARIO  167 

as  much,  although  no  others  thought  quite  so  much  of  what 
they  did,  as  Captain  Andrew  Wilson,  R.N.,  thought  of  what 
he  did. 

Individualism   was   chiefly  American,  social   energy   was  (3)  Catmls 
chiefly  British,  and  the  third  force  which  directed  the  stream  "'^^^^  ^^^^^' 
of  immigrants  hither  and  thither  was  wielded  by  the  American, 
Canadian,  and  British  Governments  alike.     It  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  one  word — Canals.     A  great  canal  was  being  made 
between  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie  by  the  Americans 
(1818-25),  who  almost  persuaded  themselves  and  their  rivals, 
that  trafiic  from  the  West  would  leave  the  St.  Lawrence  for 
the  Hudson.     The  Canadians  responded  by  canals,  not  from 
watershed  to  watershed,  but  from  smooth  water  to  smooth 
water  on  their  great  river.     The  first  small  Canadian  canals 
of  this  kind  had  been  made  in  the  early  days  of  the  English 
regime  on  the  St.  Lawrence  (1779-83),  and  at  Sault  St.  Marie 
(1797)^  but  now  a  line  of  canals  began  to  be  constructed 
past  every  rapid  between  Montreal  and  Lake  Ontario.     Oi  e.g,the 
these  canals  the  Lachine  Canal,  which  is  immediately  above  L.achine^ 
Montreal  and  holds  the  key  both  of  the  Ottawa  and  the 
St.  Lawrence,  was  made  by  the  Government  of  Lower  Canada 
(182 1-5);  canals  on  the  St.  Lawrence  above  Lachine  were 
made   by  local   effort,   and   the   Welland    Canal    between 
Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie  was  made  by  private  companies 
(1824-9).     'T^®  Welland  Canal  made  Port  Dalhousie  (pop.  the  Wel- 
1,1252),   St.  Catharine  (pop.  9,946 '^),  and   Port   Colborne  ^^«^> 
(pop.  1,253^)  into  towns;   and  as  at  Niagara,  a  few  miles 
east,  the   inland  town  derived  most  benefit.     It  was  thus 
that   Canada  was   saved  from  the   commercial  ruin  which 
Canadian  pessimists  and  American  optimists  foretold.     Canal  the  Long 
fever  infected  the  British  Government,  which  regarded  the  ^^l^j^  ^^f 
matter  from  a  military  and  naval  point  of  view,  and  built 

^  Brymner,  Report  for  1886,  pp.  xxi,  xxix  ;  1889,  P*  xxxvii ;  comp. 
J.  C.  Hopkins,  Canada  Encyclopaedia  (1898-1901),  vol.  iii,  pp.  326  et 
seq.  ^  Population  1901. 


l68        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

canals  at  the  rapids  of  Carillon  and  the  Long  Sault  on  the 
Ottawa  between  Lachine  and  Hull,  and  up  the  Rideau,  across 
the  watershed,  and  down  the  Cataraqui  between  Ottawa  and 
Kingston  (1827-31),  at  the  Imperial  cost.  Its  object  was  to 
provide  a  way  between  Montreal,  which  is  the  last  ocean  port, 
and  Kingston,  which  is  the  first  fresh-sea  port  of  Canada,  by 
which  stores  and  ships  of  light  burden  might  penetrate  inland 
out  of  range  of  American  guns  in  case  of  war.  Safety  was 
its  object,  not  trade.  The  route  followed  was  not  unlike  that 
of  Lieutenant  French  in  1783;  and  the  scheme  was  often 
mooted,  though  it  was  never  perfected  until  the  vulnerable 
canals  of  commerce  between  the  inland  seas  and  Montreal 
were  more  or  less  complete.  The  completion  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence Canals  was  the  response  by  Canada  to  the  United  States, 
and  the  Ottawa  and  Rideau  Canals  were  the  British  postscript 
to  the  Canadian  response. 
and  jjiili'        In  order  to  defend  the  Rideau  Canal  three  military  colonies 

tary  and     ^^j.^  founded  in  its  neighbourhood — one  at  Richmond,  on 

othe?*  colO'  ° 

nies  zvere    a  western  tributary  of  the  Rideau  ;  a  second  at  Lanark,  on  the 

posted  by     Upper  Mississippi;  and  the  third  at  Perth,  on  the  upper  Rideau 

atithorities  near  Lanark  (i 8 1 6-2 o).      But  in  the  events  that  happened 

citizens  assisted  soldiers,  and  the  civilian  overshadowed  the 

military  element  in  these  colonies  from  the  very  first. 

at  Pert h^         Deputy-Quartermaster-General     Colonel     Cockburn     left 

1815,  Prescott  in  1815,  and  after  'passing   through   the  woods, 

for   not   a  stick  had   been   cut',   chose   Perth^  which  was 

occupied  by  veterans  and  Scotchmen  in  1816,  and  became 

the  depot  whence  stores  were  issued  gratis  for  a  while  to 

civilian  as  well  as  to  military  colonists.     The  way  to  Perth 

lay  from  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  Perth,  though  inland,  grew 

quickly  into  a  minor  capital  (pop.  3,588  *)." 

RichfHOJid,      Richmond,  which  was  reached  from  where  Ottawa  is  now, 
1818, 

'  Population  1901. 

2  Accounts  and  Papers,  1828  (vol.  xxi^ ;  Colonel  Cockburn,  Report 
on  Emigration  J  p.  11. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  169 

was  occupied  by  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  99th  and  looth 
Regiment  in  18 18,  and  was  almost  exclusively  military  and 
European. 

At  Lanark  Colonel  Cockburn  or  Captain  Marshall  planted  Lanark, 
some  3,000  immigrants,  chiefly  from  Lanarkshire,  'under  ^^^°' 
particular  instructions  from  H.  M.  Government,'  in  1820. 
They  enjoyed  the  same  terms  and  privileges  as  ex-soldiers, 
some  of  whom  seem  to  have  settled  amongst  them.  Scotch- 
men attracted  Scotchmen,  and  other  Scotchmen  settled  at  the  and  ehe- 
same  time  at  Beckwith  (18 18)  and  Ramsay  (182 1)  on  the^^^^^' 
Mississippi,  and  Ramsay  was  the  hive  from  which  Scotchmen 
swarmed  and  flew  north  of  Lake  Chats  to  Bristol  and 
Clarendon.^  In  1831  and  1842  writers  described  the 
MacNab  colony  on  the  south  and  the  Clarendon  colony 
on  the  north  of  Lake  Chats,  much  as  Pindar  wrote  of  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  as  the  verge  of  this  solid  inhabitable 
world,  beyond  which  only  phantoms  and  shades  of  men 
flitted  fitfully.  And  it  was  at  Lake  Chats  that  limestone 
ended  and  gneiss  began.  So,  too,  the  colonies  on  the 
Mississippi,  a  few  miles  west  of  the  Rideau,  occupied  the 
debatable  land  between  gneiss  and  limestone,  and  have  now 
blossomed  into  the  prosperous  towns  of  Arnprior  (pop. 
4,152^)5  where  the  MacNab  piped,  of  Carleton  Place  (pop. 
4,059 '^),  and  Almonte  (pop.  3,023^),  while  Smith's  Falls 
(pop.  5,155^),  and  Merrickville  (pop.  1,024'^)  on  the  Rideau 
are  also  on  the  debatable  land.  Geology  went  hand  in 
hand  with  strategy,  in  determining  the  new  positions. 

The  three  primary  inland  settlements  in   this    district — for  the 
Richmond,   Lanark,    and   Perth — were    primarily   military ;  ^f^^"^.^^^ 
and  their  avowed  object  was  '  to  establish  a  communication  caiial  ; 
with    Upper    Canada    distinct    from    that    of    the    River 
St.   Lawrence  '.^      They  were  organized  and  subsidized  by 

^  J.  L.  Gourlay,  History  of  the  Ottawa  Valley ^  1896,  p.  21. 
2  Population  1901. 

^  Accounts  and  Papers,  1826  (vol.  iv),  Report  I  of  House  of  Commons 
Committee  on  E7nigration^  Question  T497. 


I70  HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

the  War  Office  until  1822,  and  the  first  crop  consisted  of 

armed   men,  planted,   nursed,    and   nurtured   by   the   War 

Office.     At  an  early  period  Scotchmen  were  admitted  side  by 

side  with  the  soldiers,  and  they  too  came  in  under  the  same 

auspices,  and  as  additions  to  and  expansions  of  the  original 

Thebean  design. 

and  Irish-       Then  four  new  elements  were  introduced,     (i)  In  1823 

men,  Peter  Robinson's  wild  Irishmen  were  sown  broadcast  along 

weavers^  ° 

Glen-  the  west  flank  of  the  Rideau,  between  Perth  and  the  mouth 

games,  ^f  ^j^^  Mississippi.  They  were  paid  for  by  the  British 
Parliament,  not  by  the  War  Off.ce.  (2)  On  the  Long  Sault 
of  the  Ottawa,  weavers,  exported  by  a  Glasgow  Emigration 
Society,  settled  at  Grenville  in  1819  (pop.  495  ^),  opposite 
Hawkesbury  (pop.  4,150  ^).  (3)  In  1827  a  Glengarry  captain 
of  militia  went  inland  from  Prescott  and  settled  on  the  east 
flank  of  the  Rideau  at  Osgoode.  Strayed  cattle  from  the 
north  led  to  the  discovery  that  there  was  a  new  town  called 
Bytown  on  the  north  of  him,  and  Bytown  thenceforth  became 
Colo7telBy,  his  market.^  (4)  Bytown — now  called  Ottawa  (pop.  59,928  '^ 
>^w^<?;'  of  — became  a  town  after  Colonel  By  made  it  the  headquarters 
of  the  Rideau  Canal  Works  which  he  directed  (1827-31). 
It  stands  on  a  bold  blufl"  fronting  the  lumber-town  of  Hull, 
and  is  itself  a  lumber-town  as  well  as  the  capital  of  the 
Dominion.  For  the  latter  purpose  it  is  well  fitted,  because 
\i  commands  the  alternative  or  war  route  from  Quebec  to 
Upper  Ontario ;  because  the  indistinguishable  timber  of  both 
Provinces  drifts  past  it ;  because  the  first  union  between  the 
two  Provinces  took  shape  here  in  the  form  of  Union  Bridge 
between  Bytown  and  Hull  (1826-7);  ^"<^  finally,  because 
Ottawa  owed  its  existence  to  the  Imperial  initiative,  recon- 
ciling and  directing  the  efforts  of  both  Provinces  to  a  common 
end.  To  Colonel  By  the  first  beginnings  of  the  city  of 
Ottawa  are  due,   and  when  the  canal  was  finished  *  there 

'  Population  1901.  2  j  l^  Gourlay,  op,  cit.j  pp.  118,  119. 

5  Population  1901,  including  New  Edinburgh. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  171 

was  an  influx  of  discharged  labourers  that  scattered  ovtx'  a  mi  Colonel 

and  settled  in  the  intermediate  country  between  the  Ottawa,  ^/^  canal- 

diggers 
St.  Lawrence,  Rideau,  and  Mississippi.^     The  War  Office,  settled  be- 

the   State,  and  the  man,  militarism,  philanthropy,  and  ad-  ^'^'^^  ^^^^ 
venture,    had   done   their   work ;    Colonel   By  ended   what  and  St. 
Lieutenant  French  began  ;  and  the  building  of  a  canal  added  Lawrence, 
a  crown  to  a  process  which,  under  many  disguises,  had  been 
essentially  a  process  of  colonization.      Lower  Ontario  was 
peopled  from  end  to  end.     The  cup  was  filling  before  the 
canal  was  built.     It  now  began  to  run  over  the  brim,  and 
helped  to  swell  the  human  tide,  which  was  already  over- 
spreading   the    region    between    Lower   Ontario    and    the 
Ontario  of  Toronto  and  of  the  sea-girt  peninsula  beyond. 

West  of  the  Bay  of  Quints  on  Lake  Ontario,  Cobourg  Peter- 
became   the    starting-point   of  a   new   departure   in  which  ^^^'V^f/^ 
individual   enterprise   and   systematic  subsidized  emigration  Trent 
played  equally  important  parts.      In  18 16  James  Buchanan,  ^^^^l.l^l!fllfl , 
the  British  Consul  at  New  York,  forwarded  at  the  cost  of  dtte  to 
Government  some  Protestant  Ulstermen  from  New  York  to  ^^^^^^  (^)  > 
Ontario,   and  they  were   settled   in  '  County  Cavan '    near 
Rice  Lake,  which  is  an  expansion  of  that  tortuous  many- 
named    river   the   Trent,   and   lies   twelve   miles    north   of 
Cobourg.2      Some   miners   and    Scotchmen   seem   to   have 
found  their  own  way  to  the  Lakes  (alias  the  Trent)  further 
north  in  or  before  1820.^     In  1822  a  lonely  EngHsh  gentle- 
man wandered  with  wife  and   children  from  Cobourg,  by 
Rice  Lake  up  the  Ottonabee  (alias  the  Trent)  to  Scott's 
Plains,  where  there  was  '  a  tumbling  down  grist  and  saw  mill'. 
He  built  a  house  three  miles  beyond,  in  Douro,  boiled  sap 
one  hundred  yards  from  his  house,  and  '  so  close  were  the 
trees  that  I  had  my  dinner  carried  to  me,  thinking  it  too  far 
off  to  return  myself.     Ague,   poverty,   and   despair   were 

^  J.  L.  Gonrlay,  op.  cit.y  p.  124. 

^  Report  I  of  House  of  Conwwns  Committee  on  Emigration ^  1826, 
p.  169.  Comp.  Mrs.  S.  Moodie  (Strickland),  Roughing  it  in  the  Bush, 
1852. 

3  Basil  Hall,  Travels,  vol.  i,  pp.  293-4,  31 1  ('vSmyth  Town  '). 


172         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 

driving  him  away,  when  Peter  Robinson  swept  down  upon 
the  district  with  2,024  wild  Irishmen  (1825),  and  a  Govern- 
ment mill  was  built  at  Scott's  Plains,  which  was  thenceforth 
re-named  Peterborough  (pop.  11,239'),  not  because  it  is 
seventy-six  miles  from  its  capital,  but  in  order  to  com- 
memorate the  founder's  Christian  name.^  State-aided  ex- 
periments saved  the  situation.  The  magic  wand  waved ; 
a  second  minor  inland  capital  arose  out  of  the  depths  of  the 
forest ;  a  new  compact  block  of  Settlements  touched  those 
behind  the  Bay  of  Quints  on  the  east,  and  almost  touched 
Lake  Simcoe  on  the  west;  and  only  on  the  north  of  the 
River  Trent  and  its  lakes  the  old  Archaean  edge  barred 
progress. 
and  the  Meanwhile   Lake    Simcoe   was    peopled   from   Toronto. 

foe  seuie-'  Highlanders  fresh  from  the  war  (181 2-14)  were  given  land 
ments  to  at  the  north  end  of  Yonge  Street,  near  where  Lord  Selkirk's 
%tin^^^^  waifs  and  strays  arrived;  and  limestone  was  quarried  by 
Toronto      Talbot  River,  which   'almost  reaches  Balsam  Lake'  (alias 

and  other  ^j^^  Trent),  Before  1841  all  the  Lake  shores  were  lined 
causes  i  ' 

with  *  half-pay  naval  and  other  officers ',  and  the  sequels  to 

Yonge  Street  with  old  soldiers  and  negroes,  who  did  not 
stay.  Barrie  (pop.  5,949^)  was  a  'flourishing  village  where 
not  ten  years  ago  there  was  not  a  single  house ' ;  Coldwater 
River  had  a  State  mill ;  Penetang  attracted  settlers,  although 
the  mouth  of  Nottawasaga  River  (near  Collingwood),  which, 
like  Penetang,  had  been  a  naval  base,  was  deserted ;  and  only 
Nottawasaga  Bay  remained  'forest  never  ending  and  im- 
penetrable ',  although   thinkers   prophesied   a   great   future 

and  these    for  Owen  Sound  and  Colpoys  Bay.* 

^mmts fused     "^^^^P^  ^^^  Nottawasaga  Bay  and  the  Archaean  district  on 

Middle  atid  the  north,  civilization  overspread  the  whole  land  between 

Lower  1  Population  1901. 

Ofttar70.  2  Basil  Hall,  Travels,  vol.  i,  pp.  307-323. 

3  Population  1901,  including  Allandale. 

*  Sir  R.  Bonnycastle,  The  Canadas  in  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  285;  vol.  ii, 
pp.  8,  9,  28,  29;  Mrs.  Jameson,  Winter  Studies  in  Canada,  vol.  iii, 
p.  350. 


THE  MIDDLE   EAST— ONTARIO  173 

Toronto  and  the  resuscitated  route  from  Toronto  to  Georgian 
Bay  on  the  west,  Lake  Ontario  on  the  south,  and  the  old 
waterway — along  the  Trent  or  the  lakes  represented  by  the 
Trent — on  the  north.  Middle  Ontario,  or  the  Ontario  be- 
tween Toronto  and  Kingston,  was  reclaimed;  the  east  of 
Middle  Ontario  touched  the  west  of  Lower  Ontario,  and 
both  Middle  and  Lower  Ontario  were  not  merely  river-banks, 
lake-shores,  or  streets,  but  solid  bodies  between  the  river- 
courses  and  lakes  which  had  suggested  the  new  streets  and 
settlements,  and  had  from  time  immemorial  controlled  the 
destiny  of  Ontario. 

South-west  of  Middle  Ontario  lies  Upper  Ontario,  or  the  ThePmiu' 
Peninsula  between  Credit  River  at  the  west  end  of  Lake  Ontario,  "^if^^  ^ 

Ontario 

Niagara  River,  Lake  Erie,  Lake  Huron,  and  the  rivers  and  was  fused 
lakes  between  the  two  last-named  lakes.     The  progress  of 
the   Peninsula  towards   unity  with  itself  and  with    Middle 
Ontario  is  associated  with  the  names  of  Brant  (the  Mohawk), 
Thomas  Talbot,  John  Gait,  and  Dr.  Dunlop. 

The    Mohawks,   who   had  hitherto  divided  Niagara  and  by  Mo- 
Hamilton  from  the  more  westerly  settlements,  began  now  to  ^^Zurazed 
sell  parts  of  their  reserves  on  Grand  River,  directly  or  in-  individual 
directly,  to  white  colonists  ;  and  in  1835  towns  already  existed  ^^^^^P^^^^^ 
at  Brantford  (pop.  16,619^),  Paris  (pop.  3,229*),  Gait  (pop. 
7,866^),  and   Berlin  (pop.  9,747^).     Gait  was  founded  by 
a  Dumfriesman  (18 16);  Paris  was  so  called  because  plaster- 
of-Paris  was  quarried  there  by  a  speculative  American  settler; 
and  Berlin  became,  and  still  is,  the  most  German  centre  in 
the  older  provinces.     It  originated,  like  Markham,  from  the 
Germans  of  New  York  State,  and  soon  became  a  rendezvous 
for  Mennonites.     In  1835  it  had  its  German  newspaper,  and 
it  is  still  thoroughly  German,  although  a  German  may  pass 
many  days  there  without  once  hearing  any  language  spoken 
-except  English.'^     These  new  settlements  united  Niagara-land 

1  Population  1901. 

2  Patrick    Shirreff,    Tour    through    North    America   (1835),   chap, 
xviii;  Mrs.  Jameson,  op»  cit.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  101  et  seq. 


174        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

and  Hamilton  with  Long  Point,  and  with  the  colony,  which 

Colonel  Thomas  Talbot  was  before  1 8 1 6  vainly  trying  to  found 

somewhere  near  Port  Talbot  on  Lake  Erie. 

by  system-       After    i8i6    settlers   came   pouring   into   Talbot's   lands 

atic  tm-      without  any  effort  on  his  part,  and  his  visionary  setdements 
migration  '  .  rr.i  •         i        i        o 

towards      and  Streets  became  livmg  realities.     The  original  Talbot  Street 

the  Talbot  ^yg^g  ^  straight  line  seventy  miles  long,  neither  on  Lake  Erie 
under      '  nor  on  the  River  Thames,  but  between  and  parallel  with 

Colonel       |3Q|;h    and  proved  a  link  in  the  colonial  chain  of  first-rate 

Talbot,  ^ 

importance.  The  road  was  (1835) — and  it  and  its  continua- 
tions between  Windsor  and  Simcoe  (160  miles)  are  still — the 
best  in  the  Province ;  and  it  was  connected  at  an  early  date 
by  cross-roads  with  Simcoe's  trunk-road  between  Dundas  and 
Sandwich.  Amongst  early  settlers  on  or  near  Talbot  Street 
and  its  cross-roads,  Highlanders — some  of  whom  were  for- 
warded by  James  Buchanan  from  New  York,  while  others 
were  flotsam  and  jetsam  from  Earl  Selkirk's  ruined  colony  in 
the  far  west  (181 7), — and  Protestant  Irishmen  brought  by 
Richard  Talbot  ^  from  Tipperary  (181 8),  may  be  noted.  The 
Colonel  preferred  English  applicants  for  land,  misliked  High- 
landers, who  thought  him  a  land-grabber,  hated  Yankees  and 
set  his  dogs  on  them,  and  abhorred  teetotallers.  His  eccen- 
tricities added  to  the  gaiety  of  nations,  and  his  services  were 
of  sterling  use  to  Ontario.  A  village  was  named  St.  Thomas 
(pop.  11,485^)  after  the  Colonel,  and  became  his  capital, 
where  anniversaries  of  this  most  unsaintly  saint  were  celebrated 
by  his  admirers  during  his  lifetime ;  and  a  document  exists 
in  which  the  '  settlement '  is  called  '  St.  Talbot '  settlement.^ 
Colonists  poured  in  to  the  number  of  70,000  (1816-51), 
reaching  from  Long  Point  to  Pointe  aux  Pins,  and  his  posses- 
sions would  have  been  large  indeed,  if  Government  had 
admitted  his  interpretation  of  his  grant,  and,  as  it  was,  his 

^  No  relation  to  Colonel  Thomas  Talbot. 

2  Population  1901. 

^  Letters  from  Sussex  Emigrants  j  1833,  p.  14. 


THE   MIDDLE  EAST — ONTARIO  175 

estate  was  valued  at  his  death  at  £50,000.  He  had  the 
credit  of  having  fixed  settlers  throughout  (what  is  now) 
Elgin  County,  the  west  end  of  Norfolk  County,  and  the  south- 
ern parts  of  Kent,  Essex,  and  Middlesex  Counties,  without 
expense  to  Government,  but  not  without  profit  to  himself; 
and  it  is  now  usual  to  call  all  this  district  the  Talbot  Settle- 
ment— an  expression  which  is  not  only  geographically  vague, 
but  misleading,  for  it  might  imply  that  the  Colonel  introduced 
the  settlers  or  owned  the  land  on  which  they  settled ;  either 
of  which  was  very  seldom  the  case.^  He  was  something  less 
than  founder  except  in  his  own  original  township,  and  some- 
thing more  than  agent  except  in  London. 

In  Middlesex  County,  Richard  Talbot's  settlers  occupied  the  and  to- 
site  then  occupied  by  wolves  ( 1 8 1 8),  but  afterwards  occupied  by  '^^J^^ 
London  (1827)-^     Then  Scotchmen,^  ex-soldiers,  Lowland  under 
weavers (1820  et  seq.),  and  Lord  Egremont's  Sussex  and  Surrey  ^^/^^J^^^^ 
settlers*  (1832-3),  came  into  the  neighbourhood,  sometimes  others, 
with  and  sometimes  without  the  assistance  of  the  State  or  of 
philanthropists.    London  City  was  laid  out  in  1 8  2  6,  and  sold  to 
settlers  by  Colonel  Talbot  as  Government  agent  in  1827,  and 
is  sometimes  included  in  and  sometimes  excluded  from  that 
elastic   expression   'The   Talbot  Settlement'.     In  1828   it 
became  the  judicial  capital  of  the  district,  and  soon  served  as 
the  common  capital  of  the  Long  Point,  Talbot,  and  surround- 
ing settlements,  and  it  is  now  the  fourth  city  in  Ontario  (pop. 
37,981  ^).     Only  one   thing  was  now  wanting  to  complete 
the  continuous  civilization   of  the  Peninsula,  and  this  was 
done  by  the  Canada   Company,  which  was  represented  in 
Canada  by  John  Gait  and  Dr.  Dunlop. 

^  C.  O.  Ermatinger,  The  Talbot  Regime,  1904;  J.  H.  Coyne,  The 
Talbot  Papers,  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Candda,  1907, 
sect.  2,  p.  15. 

2  E.  A.  Talbot,  Five  Years'  Residence  in  the  Canadas^  1823. 

^  Report  III  of  House  of  Commons  Committee  on  Emigration  (1827), 
pp.  405  et  seq, 

*  Brymner,  op.  cit.,  1900,  p.  432  ;  Letters  from  Sussex  Emigrants ^ 
1833.  s  Population  1901. 


176 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 


and  under 
the  Canada 
Company 
towards 
Guelphy 


and  Gode- 
rich  on 
Lake 
Huron. 


The  Canada  Company  was  incorporated  in  England  in 
1826,  and  was  empowered  to  buy  from  the  Crown,  and 
re-sell  to  settlers,  1,875  square  miles  of  various  Crown 
Reserves  and  1,562  square  miles  of  Crown  property  between 
the  Upper  Thames  and  Grand  River  and  Lake  Huron,  and 
one- third  of  its  purchase-money  was  to  be  spent  on  improve- 
ments instead  of  being  paid  to  the  Crown.  So  Gait  and 
Dunlop  sallied  forth  on  foot  on  April  23,  1827,  from  Gait  to 
found  a  capital,  lost  their  way  in  the  forest,  stumbled  on  an 
ex-Dutch  ex-French  ex- American  shoe-maker,  took  him  as 
guide,  and  arrived  towards  evening,  drenched  to  the  skin, 
at  a  shanty  built  by  an  Indian  murderer.  There  the  doctor 
stripped,  and  put  on  two  blankets — one  as  toga  and  the  other 
as  kilt ;  and  again  they  went  forth,  felled  a  tree,  and  christened 
the  place  with  whisky  *  Guelph  City '  (pop.  1 1,496  *).  A  high 
place  was  reserved  for  Roman  Catholic  buildings  out  of 
gratitude  to  Bishop  MacDonell  of  Glengarry,  and  the  acropolis 
of  Guelph  is  now  crowned  by  the  '  largest  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Canada ',  around  which  kindergarten  schools  and 
the  like  cling  in  clusters.  The  earliest  settlers  were  British 
victims  of  a  British  Agricultural  Association,  which  had 
exported  them  to  Caracas  in  Venezuela,  then  called  Columbia, 
whence  revolution  drove  them  to  New  York,  whence  James 
Buchanan  forwarded  them  to  Hamilton  (1829).  Capitahsts 
too  arrived,  and  before  the  year  of  the  discovery  of  a  capital 
had  elapsed,  the  capital  possessed  76  houses  and  many  mills.* 
Most  business  men  of  to-day  at  Guelph  bear  Scotch  names. 

Having  discovered  a  capital,  Gait  and  Dunlop  set  out  to 
discover  a  port  for  it  on  Lake  Huron,  which  they  did  in  the 
same  year  at  Goderich,  75  miles  away  (pop.  4,158^);  and 
a  road  was  built  between  the  capital  and  its  port,  which, 
like  Talbot  Street,  took  a  line  of  its  own  and  became  a 


^  Population  1901. 

2  John  Gait,  Autobiography y  1833,  vol.  ii,  pp.  56-63;    Mactaggart, 
Three  Years  in  Canada^  vol.  ii,  p.  272. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  177 

nucleus  for  settlement.^  At  this  date  Goderich  was  the  only 
port  on  Lake  Huron,  its  nearest  port  south  was  Windsor 
and  its  nearest  port  north  was  Penetang ;  for  Sarnia  (pop. 
8,176  2)  was  only  laid  out  in  1829,  and,  as  we  saw,  the 
history  of  Nottawasaga  Bay  began  in  the  Forties. 

In  the  early  Forties  lines  drawn  between  Goderich,  Guelph,  Ontario 
Toronto,  Barrie,  Penetang,  Orillia,  the  Lakes  of  the  Trent  ^^-^  ^^^»''^^- 
and   Mississippi,  and  the   mouths  of  the  Madawaska  and 
Ottawa,  roughly  marked  the  northern  limits  of  Ontarian  civiliza- 
tion.   Above  it  was  the  wilderness;  below  it  a  series  of  mutually 
connected  settlements.     Then  new  forces  came  into  play. 

The  Forties  were  the  decade  of  great  railway  plans,  and  Then  Rail- 
the  Fifties  were  the  decade  of  great  railway  completions.  ^^"^  ^  , 
Trains  ran  from  Montreal  to  Toronto  in  1856,  and  in  1858  the  Union, 
two  railroads  led  from  Toronto  to  Sarnia,  one  by  Stratford  ^850'?^^^^v 
(pop.  9,959^)  and  the  other  by  Hamilton.     Trains  already 
ran  from  Hamilton  to  Niagara  Falls  and  to  Sandwich  (1854), 
so  that  Ontario  was  knitted  together  from  end  to  end  in 
a  way  which  more  than  realized  Simcoe's  wish.     But  British 
colonization  was  never  content  to  run  in  one  direction  at 
a  time ;  and  Simcoe's  cross-roads  were  now  represented  by 
two  railroads,  ending  respectively  at  Goderich  (pop.  4,158^),  extending 
of  which  no  one  had  heard  before  1827,  and  at  Collingwood  ^j^^J^*^ 
(pop.  5,755^),  which  Sir  R.  Bonnycastle  described  as  ^forest  Huron  and 
in  the  midst  of  unending  impenetrable  forest'  (1842).     The  ^^^^i^^^ 
Toronio-Barrie  ^-Collingwood  cross-line  was  begun  in  1849 
and  finished  in  1854;  and  the  Goderich-Seaforth- Stratford- 
Fort   Erie  cross-line  was  opened   in   1858.     The   lines  to 
Midland  (pop.  3,174^),  Penetang  (pop.   2,422^),   Meaford 
(pop.  1,916  ^),  Owen  Sound  (pop.  8,776  ^),  Colpoys  Bay  (pop. 
2,443  ^),  Southampton  (pop.  i>636^),  and  Kincardine  (pop. 
2,077^),  were  only  later  amplifications  of  these  original  and 
historic  cross-lines. 

^  Patrick  Shirreff,  Tour,  1835,  PP-  ^5°  et  seq. 

2  Population  1901.  3  I  include  Allandale  in  Barrie. 

VOL.  V.      PT.   Ill  N 


178        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


Minerals^ 
&Cj  en- 
riched 
out-lying 
districts, 
1^60  etseq 


This  railway  development  doubled  or  trebled  the  great 
through  waterway  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  Simcoe's  great 
through  roadway  from  Montreal  to  Windsor  and  Sarnia,  and 
introduced  variants  of  old  short  cuts  between  Lakes  Erie, 
Ontario,  and  Huron,  and  Georgian  Bay,  these  lakes  being 
themselves  parts  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  St.  Lawrence 
was  still  the  presiding  genius  of  Ontarian  development. 
These  railways  also  doubled  or  trebled  the  importance  not 
only  of  Windsor  or  Sarnia,  but  of  Hamilton,  Toronto, 
Stratford,  Collingwood,  Goderich,  and  London,  all  of  which 
dominated  the  short  cuts  between  the  St.  Lawrence  under 
one  of  its  names  with  the  St.  Lawrence  under  another  of  its 
names. 

In  the  Sixties  petroleum  was  obtained  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Petrolea  (pop.  4,135^),  ten  to  twenty  miles  from 
Sarnia,^  and  salt  between  Seaforth  and  Goderich  and 
Southampton  on  Lake  Huron.  Natural  gases  were  after- 
wards discovered  in  these  neighbourhoods ;  and  Southampton 
became  fishing  capital  of  Bruce  County,  which  in  1848  w^as 
uninhabited,  but  is  now  almost  as  full  of  Scotch  Highlanders 
and  Islanders  as  Glengarry  or  Cape  Breton  Island  itself  In 
the  Sixties,  too,  a  very  little  gold  was  worked  at  Madoc  (pop. 
i»i57  %  and  a  very  little  iron  at  Marmora  (pop.  961 1),  just 
beyond  the  threshold  of  the  Archaean  region  behind  the 
Bay  of  Quintd,  where  the  blast  furnaces  at  Deseronto  (pop. 
3^527  ^),  more  than  supplied  the  humble  demands  of  the  men 
of  iron. 

The  Archaean  region  of  what  I  have  called  Old  Ontario 

<^haeandtS'.^^^  invaded  by  settlers  after  1868,  when  free  land-grants 

trtct  of  Old  ^ 

Ontario      Were  offered  to  immigrants  in  Muskoka  and  Parry  Sound 

7e/ay«'^z;^.     Districts,  which  figure  in  the  1871  census  for  the  first  time. 

loped,  1868  >  o  / 

et  seq.         The  southern  gate- way  of  this  region  is  *  the  granite  notch  , 

a  few  miles  north  of  the  limestones  of  Orillia  (pop.  4,907  \ 

^  Population  1901. 

*  Canada:  Report  of  Geological  Survey,  1901,  p.  160  A,  &c.,  Trans- 
actions of  the  Royal  Soc,  of  Canada,  1887,  Sect,  iv,  p.  loi. 


The  Ar- 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  179 

and  107  miles  north  of  Toronto  ;  and  its  northern  gateway  is 
North  Bay  on  Lake  Nipissing,  170  miles  further  north.  In 
1859  there  was  *  no  European  town  or  village  from  Orillia  to 
the  north  pole  \  In  the  Seventies  the  first  railway  passed 
north  of  the  granite  notch  to  Gravenhurst  (pop.  2,146  *) ;  but 
many  years  were  destined  to  elapse  before  it  reached  North 
Bay  and  linked  Ontario  and  its  capital  to  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway.  At  present  this  district  is  largely  dedi- 
cated to  sportsmen  and  tourists;  though  many  a  farmer 
finds  good  soil  here  and  there  on  the  shores  of  some  lake, 
and  Parry  Sound  is  a  considerable  lumber-port.  Graven- 
hurst (pop.  2,146^),  Bracebridge  (pop.  2,479^),  ^"^^  Hunts- 
ville  (pop.  2,152  ^),  on  the  avenue  between  the  two  gateways, 
are  its  tourist  capitals.  Memories  of  another  kind  linger 
round  Lake  Nipissing,  which  is  on  the  old  Indian  water- 
route  up  the  Ottawa,  and  down  French  River,  to  Georgian 
Bay.  French  River  and  the  Archaean  parts  of  Georgian  Bay 
are  the  north-w^estern  borders  of  the  Archaean  region  of  Old 
Ontario;  and  the  Ottawa  lies  near  its  north-eastern  border, 
which  is  vague.  While  settlers  came  in  by  twos  and  threes 
through  its  southern  gateway,  lumberers  were  stealing 
towards  it  up  a  tributary  of  the  Ottawa  named  the  Bonne- 
chbre,  north-west  of  the  settlement  of  the  MacNab; 
and  lonely  wayside  farmers  dotted  the  Musk  Rat  Portage  of 
the  Ottawa,  which  was  still  further  north-west,  as  early  as 
1830.  Before  the  advent  of  railways  there  were  850  settlers 
in  Ontario  near  Lake  Timiskaming  and  Lake  Nipissing 
(1871),  and  rapid  progress  came  with  the  railways,  which  led 
from  Ottawa  to  Lake  Nipissing  and  beyond  in  the  Eighties 
(Canadian  Pacific  Railway),  and  which  also  led  from  Ottawa  to 
Parry  Sound  (pop.  2,884^)  in  the  Nineties  (Grand  Trunk 
Railway),  thanks  to  which  Renfrew  (pop.  3,153^)  on  the 
Bonnechere,  Pembroke  (pop.  5,156^)  on  Musk  Rat  Portage, 
and  North  Bay  (pop.  2,530^),  on  Lake  Nipissing,  became 

'  Population  1901.  ^j  q  Kohl,  Travels,  td.,  i86i,vol.  ii,  p.  66. 

N    2 


l8o         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

important  towns.  A  railway  from  Toronto  to  Sudbury  was 
built  in  the  first  decade  of  this  century  as  a  companion  to  the 
railway  which  had  been  finished  long  ago  from  Toronto  to 
North  Bay.  The  pace  was  accelerated,  and  Muskoka, 
Parry  Sound,  and  the  railway  lines  through  and  round  these 
lakelands,  though  populous  compared  to  what  they  were,  are 
desolate  indeed,  compared  to  the  civilized  districts  of  Old 
Ontario,  around  which  we  have  been  lingering  so  dispropor- 
tionately long,  as  some  may  think. 
In  New  As  in  Quebec,  so  in  Ontario,  the  historical  geographer 

develop-  ^^^^  \y2i^Q  two  standard  measures— one  a  foot-rule  and  the 
ment  was  other  a  sextant.  Parts  of  the  country  are  crowded,  and  these 
^1/  ^^^ "  parts  were  first  entered  in  Old  Quebec  by  members  of  some 
which  were  family,  and  in  Old  Ontario  by  some  social  group,  inch  by 
^mineral  •'^  ^^^^'  district  by  district ;  so  that  their  history  is  written  on 
genealogical  trees  or  tombstones  or  parochial  registers.  The 
chief  difference  between  Old  Quebec  and  Old  Ontario  was  that 
civil  war — or  what  the  Greeks  called  orrao-tg — did  for  Ontario 
what  religious  fervour  did  for  Quebec  Province;  and  that 
while  the  founders  of  Quebec  Province  crept  along  the  banks 
of  a  single  river,  spreading  slowly  up  and  down  in  one 
dimension  from  three  points,  the  founders  of  Ontario  over- 
spread intervals  as  broad  as  long  between  two  or  three  rivers 
and  three  or  more  fresh  seas,  like  a  multitude  of  distinct 
cloudlets  which  coalesced  at  last  into  a  single  complicated 
pattern,  so  that  the  entire  earth  was  overcast.  When  that 
process  was  complete,  when  the  outline  was  apparently  filled 
in  and  intelligible,  historical  geography  stops ;  for  subsequent 
elaborations  and  permutations  belong  to  history  or  some 
other  kindred  science.  Thus  far  the  student  goes  as  with 
leaded  cowl  through  some  small  dense  country  like  a  larger 
Scotland  or  a  lesser  England.  The  comparison  is  not 
unjust;  for  Old  Ontario,  excluding  the  Parry  Sound  and 
Muskoka  District,  is  exactly  the  same  size  as  Newfoundland 
and  has  only  40,000  square  miles,  some  of  which  just  trench 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  l8l 

upon  the  Archaean  region,  and  what  is  now  called  the  Parry 
Sound  and  Muskoka  District  only  adds  another  5,000  square 
miles  or  so. 

When  we  pass  northward  through  the  granite  notch,  we  are 
in  a  country  of  big  distances  and  little  history,  and  our  progress 
should  be  at  astronomical,  or  at  any  rate  railway  speed. 
Indeed,  we  are  in  a  country  where,  as  a  rule,  railways 
preceded  roads,  and  were  the  only  events,  or  almost  the 
only  events,  of  history ;  and  the  railways  were  built,  partly,  it 
is  true,  for  the  purpose  of  colonizing  the  lean  country  through 
which  they  passed,  but  partly  too  for  the  sake  of  developing 
fat  far-off  countries,  and  partly  for  purely  political  purposes. 
The  Parry  Sound  Railway  opened  up  a  new  port  for  the  far 
west,  and  the  other  railways  to  North  Bay  and  Sudbury  were 
feeders  of  the  great  through  line  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  Company. 

North  Bay  is   the   railway  junction   for   several   mineral  e.g.  rail- 
districts;  Cobalt,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  Sudbury,  Bruce  'ctbali' 
Mines,  and  Michipicoten,  and  of  these  Cobalt  and  Sudbury 
are  already  of  world-wide  significance. 

'The  town  of  Sudbury'  (pop.  2,027  ^)  'is  a  creation  of  the  the  Sud- 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway'  (1882),^  being  on  the  main  line  '^^ 
80  miles  west  of  North  Bay,  and  the  starting-point  of  a  branch 
line  182  miles  long  to  Sault  St.  Marie  (pop.  7,169^).  In 
1883,  Sudbury  was  the  imaginary  junction  of  two  unbuilt 
railways,  but  it  had  real  workmen  and  surveyors,  and  a  real 
magistrate  named  Judge  MacNaughton.  One  day  the  judge 
went  for  a  walk,  lost  his  way  three  miles  from  home,  and 
when  night  came  perched  on  a  rocky  knoll.  A  search  party 
was  formed,  and  found  the  judge,  and  noted  that  where  he 
had  been  sitting  there  were  things  that  looked  like  shining 
stones.     These  things  were  shown  to  an  expert,  who  declared 

^  Population  1901. 

2  Canada,  Geol.  Survey,  A.  E.  Barlow,   Report  on  Stidbury,  1904, 
printed  in  vol.  xiv,  p.  46  H. 


l82        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

that  there  was  copper  in  them,  but  not  enough  to  pay,  and 
that  the  brightest  nest-egg  was  nickel,  and  therefore  valueless. 
In  1886  a  Canadian  Copper  Company  started  work  in  the 
neighbourhood;  in  1889  MacNaugh ton's  Bethel  became 
Murray  Mine,  and  Sudbury  began  to  experience  the  chances 
and  changes  to  which  copper  industry  is  invariably  exposed. 
Meanwhile  bicycles,  and  the  invention  of  nickel  steel  (1888), 
and  the  new  treatment  of  nickel  ores  (1891)  supplied  a  more 
secure  foundation  for  its  prosperity  (1891  et  seq.),  and  thanks 
to  the  railways  from  North  Bay  to  Toronto,  and  from  Sudbury 
to  Sault  St.  Marie,  help  came  from  far,  and  Power  and 
Refining  Companies  at  Sault  St.  Marie  and  Hamilton  (1899) 
assisted  the  nickel-miners  of  Sudbury,  who  now  supply  the 
world  with  most  of  the  nickel  which  it  more  and  more  greedily 
consumes. 
to^Satilt  ^         Sault  St.  Marie  (pop.  7,169*)  was,  until  recent  railways 

St  Jl'Idfi^ 

' '  were  built,  as  much  isolated  from  the  rest  of  Ontario  as  the 
Bosphorus  was  in  classical  times  from  Hellas.  It  was  the 
strait  gate  to  the  innermost  inland  sea ;  and  there  have  been 
missions,  trade  '  forts  \  or  military  forts  there  on  and  off  since 
1640,  or  long  before  similar  posts  occupied  those  other 
wicket-gates  between  its  sister  seas  at  Detroit  and  Niagara. 
In  English  times  it  gradually  grew  into  a  lumber  and  mill 
town;  some  copper-mining  was  done  at  Bruce  Mines 
(1846-76),  thirty-five  miles  to  the  east;  and  these  mines 
were  re-opened  (1901)  after  the  whole  of  the  Sault-and- 
Sudbury  branch  line  was  opened.  Sault  St.  Marie  is  now 
connected  by  a  bridge  with  its  vis-a-vis  rival  in  Michigan 
(United  States) ;  and  besides  being  a  fresh  seaport  is  one  of 
the  three  land-channels  by  which  Canadian  produce  passes  to 
Chicago  (United  States) ;  Sarnia  (with  its  tunnel)  and  Windsor 
(with  its  steam-ferry)  being  the  other  two.  Sault  St.  Marie 
has  copper  to  west  of  it  as  well  as  copper  to  east  of  it ;  and 
Michipicoten  Island,  which  is  one  hundred  miles  west  of  it, 

*  Population  1901. 


THE    MIDDLE    EAST — ONTARIO  183 

has  been  of  romantic  interest,  as  the  starting-point  of  a  canoe- 
route  up  the  Michipicoten  and  down  the  Missinaibi  and 
Moose  Rivers,  to  James  Bay;  a  route  which  De  Troyes^s 
companions  are  said  to  have  used  on  their  return  from  raiding 
Moose  Factory  (1676-7),^  but  of  late  years  its  interest  has 
been  of  a  more  material  character.  In  1901  the  Helen 
Mine,  near  Michipicoten  river-mouth,  began  to  yield  iron 
under  the  direction  of  a  Power  Company  at  Sault  St.  Marie ; 
and  immediately  the  production  of  iron  in  Ontario  leapt  up 
from  25,000  to  272,538  tons  a  year.  Blast-furnaces  have 
been,  or  are  being,  erected  at  Sault  St.  Marie  and  Colling- 
wood,  and  a  railway  has  been  pushed  on  from  Sault  St. 
Marie  to  Michipicoten  Harbour,  which  is  no  longer  a  mere 
distant  isolated  port  upon  an  uninhabited  coast.  Two  hundred 
miles  beyond  Michipicoten  the  River  Nipigon  flows  into 
Lake  Superior,  and  near  its  mouth  is  Fort  Nipigon,  which  . 
was  the  westernmost  outpost  of  the  French  fur-traders,  until 
Duluth  went  seventy  miles  further  along  the  shore  to  Fort 
Kaministiquia,  which  was  built  in  1678  and  rebuilt  in  171 7, 
and  has  since  1801  been  represented  by  Fort  William.  Here, 
however,  we  enter  upon  a  new  arena ;  and  the  west  shore  of 
Lake  Superior  owes  its  inspiration  to  a  changed  country  lying 
far  away  towards  the  west.  Not  that  the  country  has  not  been 
changing  somewhat  ever  since  we  passed  into  Lake  Superior. 

Along  the  north  coast  of  Lake  Superior,  except  at  Nipigon,  and  along 
we  are  very  close  to  the  watershed  between  James  Bay  and  ^jl^J'^^^ 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence :  and  the  rose-red  rocks  are  some-  Superior 
times  terraced  or  abrupt,  or  capped  with  flat  levels  or  truncated 
cones  in  a  way  which  is  said  to  be  rare  in  Archaean  Canada. 
Moreover,  there  is  hardly  a  tunnel  in  all  Canada  east  of  the 
Rockies  except  here,  and  the  traveller  is  prepared  for  change 
of  historic  associations  as  well  as  of  scenery  when  he  arrives 
at  Fort  William  and  Port  Arthur. 

^  Alexander  Henry  the  elder.    Travels,  ed.  by  James  Bain,   1901, 
pp.  231,  232. 


184        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

to  Fort  Fort  William  (pop.  3,997  ^)  and  Port  Arthur  (pop.  3,2 14  ^) 

^^dP^t     are  twin  towns,  three  miles  apart,  but  rapidly  growing  together 
Arthur y      into  a  joint  town  (pop,  7,211^);  and  their  gigantic  elevators  for 
storing  the  grains  of  the  far  west  are,  since  1885,  the  outward 
and  visible   reasons  of  their  being.     They  do  what  Grand 
Portage  once  did  for  Canada. 
which  also       In  former  days  Grand  Portage,  forty  miles  south,  was 
trairies  ^^  ^  great  gathering-place  of  the  western  and  eastern  servants 
of  the   North- West   Fur   Company  of  Montreal;   for   the 
servants  who  plied  east  of  Grand  Portage  were  usually  distinct 
from  those  who  plied  west,  and  what  was  the  goal  of  one  was 
the  starting-point  of  the  other.     Then  Pigeon  River,  on  which 
Grand  Portage  is  situate,  became  the  dividing  line  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  so  that  part  of  the  old  route 
lay  through  a  foreign  land.     Consequently  Fort  William  was 
substituted  for  Grand  Portage  in  1801  ;    and  it  was  there 
that  Lord  Selkirk  played  the  part  of  the  avenging  angel.     In 
1870  Lord  Wolseley's  base  was  a  little  north  of  Fort  William, 
and  he  called  it  Prince  Arthur's  Landing,  after  the  Duke  of 
,  Connaught,  and  it  is  now  called  Port  Arthur.     At  that  time 

a  Montreal  firm  was  working  silver-mines  in  its  neighbour- 
hood; and  some  years  later  Silver  Islet  on  Thunder  Bay, 
close  by,  yielded  £700,000  worth  of  silver  before  it  was  in 
imminent  danger  of  being  submerged.  Like  Sault  St.  Marie 
and  Michipicoten,  Fort  William  and  Port  Arthur  were  and 
are  to  some  extent  mining  centres.  But  they  were  and  are 
the  one  and  only  fresh- sea  port  for  the  produce  of  the  far 
west. 
e.g.  by  In  1870  there  were  two  ways  from  Fort  William  to  the 

Lord^  Wol-  ^ggj .  up-stream  by  the  River  Kaministiquia  to  Dog  Lake, 
rQute,\%iQ,  and   up-stream   by  the  Kaministiquia  and  its  affluent  the 
Matawin  to  Lake  Shebandowan.     The  first  lay  more  to  the 
north,  and  the  second  more  to  the  south.     Each  route  led 
over  the  usual  flat  boggy  watershed  to  Lac  des  Mille  Lacs, 

*  Population  1901. 


THE   MIDDLE  EAST — ONTARIO  185 

which  contains  the  headquarters  of  most  of  the  affluents 
of  Rainy  River.^  But  the  Kaministiquia  has  falls  which 
may  be  compared  to  a  small  Niagara,  and  the  sixty  miles' 
ascent  from  Lake  Superior  (602  feet  s,  m.)  to  the  water- 
shed (1,584  feet  J".  771.)  was  famous  in  Canada  for  its  steepness. 
Therefore  S.  J.  Dawson  cut,  or  tried  to  cut,  a  portage  road 
forty-eight  miles  long,  which  was  the  first  road  in  these  parts, 
and  which  went  from  Port  Arthur  direct  to  Shebandowan 
Lake.  But  this  Yonge  Street  of  the  far  west  was  incomplete 
in  1870,  and  Lord  Wolseley  used  the  second  more  than  he 
used  the  third  way.  After  Lac  des  Mille  Lacs  it  might  seem 
that  the  old  scenes  were  left  behind  and  new  scenes  were 
dawning.  But  for  the  next  three  hundred  miles  or  so  there 
is  a  reversion  to  the  old  type  of  Archaean  Canada.  The 
comparative  diversity  of  contour  and  boldness  and  brilliancy 
of  the  North  Shore  of  Lake  Superior  disappears,  and  stone, 
bog,  knoll,  and  lake  alternate  with  a  monotony  which  is  not 
excelled  elsewhere. 

As  Lord  Wolseley  drifted  down  Sturgeon  River,  to  Rainy 
Lake,  down  Rainy  Lake  to  Rainy  River,  down  Rainy  River 
to  Lake  of  the  Woods,  down  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  Winnipeg 
River,  and  down  Winnipeg  River  to  Lake  Winnipeg;  he 
passed  Fort  Frances  on  Rainy  River,  at  the  outlet  of  Rainy 
Lake — which  was  only  a  little  less  lonely  than  its  predecessor 
Fort  St.  Pierre,  which  La  Verendrye  built  close  by,  and 
Kenora  on  Winnipeg  River,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  which  had  '  three  log  houses  roofed  with  bark  and 
enclosed  by  a  high  wooden  palisading'.^ 

After  Lord  Wolseley's  expedition,  the  vulgar  error  that  Aften^io, 
Lake  Winnipeg  and  Lake  Superior  belong  to  the  same  water-  ^/^^.^J^' 
system  disappeared,  but  a  new  confusion  arose.     To  ^hich  frontier 
province — if  any — did  the  wilderness  west  of  Lake  Superior ^^j^^  ^" 

^  Or  '  Lake  of  the  Thousand  Islands',  see  Sir  John  Franklin's  Map  of 
the  Expedition  ^1825,  published  1828. 

^  Captain  G.  L.  Huyshe,  Ked  River  Expedition,  1871,  p.  170. 


r86        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

belong?     Had  Ontario  a  valid  claim  to  the  district,  whose 

natural  capitals  were  Fort  William  (pop.  7,21 1  ^),  Fort  Frances 

(pop.  466^),  and  Kenora  (pop.  6,358^).^     The  question  was 

set  to  rest  by  an  order  in  Council  (August  11,  1884)  and  an 

Act   of  the  Imperial  Parliament  (1889),  under  which  the 

western  and  northern  frontiers  of  Ontario  were  defined  (i)  by 

the  north-west  angle  of  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  (2)  by  a  line 

thence  due  north  to  English  River,  which  is  an  affluent  of 

Winnipeg  River;  (3)  and  by  English  River  and  its  watershed 

and  Albany  River  as  far  as  James  Bay.'^     Civilization  began 

in  this  district  partly  with  Lord  Wolseley's  expedition  against 

Riel,  partly  with  RieFs  second  rebellion  and  defeat  (1885), 

partly  with  the  completion  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 

(1885),  and  partly  with  this  final  settlement  of  the  provincial 

boundaries.     It    began   more   from    military   and    political 

necessity  than   by  choice.     But  such  progress  as  has  been 

attained  is  due  to  its  unexpected  wealth. 

roads,  sett-       Dominion   surveys  were  made  in  1876,  but  settlers  had 

the'c!^P.     '^l^^^^y  come  since  1874  from  the  United  States  to  fertile 

Railway     alluvial  flats  along  Rainy  River  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fort 

Jo  owe  ,     Yxzxic^'s^.     Then  when   the    boundary  question  was  settled, 

Ontario  built  an  80-mile  road  along  Rainy  River,  between 

Rainy  Lake  and  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  townships  were  marked 

off,  free  grants  of  land  were  offered,  and  settlers  came,  not 

from  the  south  but  the  east.     Then  the  Canadian  Pacific 

Railway  came  (1885),  and  its  way  from  Fort  William  lay 

first  along  the  Dawson  Road,  towards,  but  not  so  far  as  Lake 

Shebandowan  ;  then  north,  but  not  so  far  as  Dog  Lake;  then 

along  the  north  shore  of  Lac  des  Mille  Lacs  to  the  north  shore 

of  Lake  of  the  Woods.  Here  Kenora  (pop.  5,202  ^)  and  its  twin 

Keewatin  (pop.  1,156  ^),  on  the  other  side  of  the  outlet  of  the 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  became  railway  towns,  were  united  by  a 

bridge,  and  became  the  principal  mill  seats  not  only  for  that 

^  Population  1901. 

^  John   P.  Macdonell,   Ontario   Boundary  Controversy,  with  map, 
1896. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO  187 

district,  but  for  the  far  west.  East  of  Kenora  we  have  seen  twin 

town  and  vis-a-vis  towns  innumerable^  and  a  few  bridge-towns; 

but  they  have  always  cut  Canada's  line  of  life,  which  runs. 

east  and  west,  at  right  angles,  and  have  been  the  outcome  of 

emulation,  imitation,  or  opposition.     Kenora-Keewatin  are  the 

first  but  not  the  last  looking-glass  places,  both  of  which  the 

Canadian  passes  through  rather  than  abides  in ;  for  in  Canada 

movement  east  and  west,  west  and  east,  rather  than  rest,  is 

the  first  law  of  life.     In  1894  a  pioneer  farm  was  made  at 

Wabigoon  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  218  miles  from 

Fort  William  and  218  miles  from  Winnipeg.     Due  south  oi^^^^^^^^^^ 
TTT  t  .  1.1  1  .  1      mineral 

Wabigoon  there  is  the  usual   composite  waterway   up   the  discoveries 

Wabigoon  and  down  the  Manitou  to  Rainy  Lake,  near  which  ^'^^  other 

copper  and  gold  are  worked.     There  is  also  copper  and  gold 

along  the  River  Seine,  which  runs  westward  into  the  north  of 

Rainy  Lake,  and  nowadays  the  Canadian  Northern  Railway 

Line  runs  along  the  Dawson  Road  to  Lake  Shebandowan, 

and  thence  by  the  Seine  River  (instead  of  by  the  Sturgeon 

River  by  which  Lord  Wolseley  went)  to  Rainy  Lake  and 

Fort  Frances,  and  thence  by  the  southern  edge  of  the  Lake 

of  the  Woods  (United  States)  to  Winnipeg.     There  is  copper 

and  gold  too  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Whitefish  Bay,  which 

is  an  eastern  inlet  of  Lake  of  the  Woods;  so  that  uncivilized 

Ontario  preserves  some  of  its  mineral  as  well  as  its  lumbering, 

milling,  and  agricultural  reputation  to  the  last.     Thus  Kenora 

and  Fort  Frances,  like  Fort  William,  Michipicoten,  and  Sault 

St.  Marie,  owe  prosperity  to  the  bounty  of  nature  as  well  as 

to  the  art  of  engineers  ;  and  both  Nature  and  Art  are  putting 

human   rubble  into  the  interstices  between  railways,  roads, 

and  water-routes,  wherever  they  do  not  coincide. 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  special  allusions  are  made  to  Onta7'ian 

towns,  because   towns  of  a  certain  size  and   number  are  ^^^^^"^v^  ^^ 

■  more  vigor- 

characteristic  of  Ontario  as  distinguished  from  Quebec  Pro-  ous  than 
vince.     Toronto  (pop,  208,040  ^)  is  a  lesser  Montreal  (pop.  ^pf^^f^^ 
^  Approximate  population  1901. 


i88 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


and  in 
Ontario 
there  are 
three 
national- 
ities, 
British 
being  para- 
mount. 


350,000),  Ottawa  (pop.  60,000)  a  lesser  Quebec  (pop.  69,000), 
Kingston  (pop.  18,000)  a  larger  Ldvis  (pop.  17,000^),  and 
Windsor  (pop.  12,000)  a  lesser  Hull  (pop.  14,000);  but 
there  are  no  towns  like  Hamilton  (pop.  53,000)  and  London 
(pop.  38,000)  in  Quebec  Province;  towns  of  11,000  inhabi- 
tants are  only  represented  by  Sherbrooke  and  Valleyfield  in 
Quebec  Province,  but  by  Windsor,  Guelph,  Peterborough, 
and  St.  Thomas,  in  Ontario;  and  towns  of  less  than  11,000 
and  more  than  8,000  inhabitants  by  Three  Rivers  and  St. 
Hyacinthe  in  Quebec  Province,  but  by  Stratford,  Berlin, 
Chatham,  Woodstock,  Brockville,  Belleville,  and  Owen  Sound 
in  Ontario  ;  and  if  we  lower  the  standard  to  2,500  inhabitants 
the  proportionate  number  of  towns  in  Quebec  to  towns  in 
Ontario  is  five  to  twelve.  Town  life  is  more  energetic  in 
Ontario;  although,  like  the  elder  province,  Ontario  is  essen- 
tially agricultural,  and  the  people  are  and  have  been  yeomen 
from  the  beginning.  At  the  very  moment  when  English 
writers  began  to  bewail  vanished  yeomen  who  never  existed, 
Englishmen  were  deliberately  founding  colonies  of  yeomen 
for  the  first  time  in  history. 

The  towns  which  grew  up  in  Ontario  were  the  symptoms 
and  results  of  agricultural  success.  Rural  industries,  as  time 
went  on,  were  able  to  spare  more  and  more  of  their  devotees 
to  manufacturing  industries,  and  the  country  created  the 
towns.  The  same  process  has  gone  on  in  Quebec  Province, 
but  with  less  vigour.  Perhaps  Ontario  is  more  fertile,  and 
the  peach-growing  peninsula  of  Ontario  is  certainly  more 
fertile  than  any  part  of  Quebec  Province;  or  perhaps  the 
difference  is  due  to  the  different  nationalities  of  the  provinces. 
By  nationality  ultimate  European  origin  is  meant.  In  this 
sense  three  nationalities  are  universally  conspicuous  in  On- 
tario,— British,  French,  and  German  (including  Dutch), — but 
British  is  vastly  superior  to  its  rivals,  and  the  ratio  of  the 
rivals  differs  widely  in  different  census  districts. 


In  its  widest  sense. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST — ONTARIO 


189 


1 

Per 

Cent. 

1881 

1901 

siuvaSuu 
-mj  's-'-n 

M'«*-MM«M«MfON 

M 

mox 

On  tJ-00    ONt^t^OO    t>.00    •»>• 
ONONONONONOsONON  ONOO 

i^ 

UVtUAdf) 

M   On  t>.  ro  ^VO   0   «^   fO  i>« 

MM                                  M   VO 

0       0 

1(0U9A^ 

10 

ro  M                                         Tj-  M 

10     i^ 

ysptxff 

00    0  VO    f>«    C«    ONVO    10  0    fO 
to  !>.  i>.  ON  ONOO    t>.  CO  ifiVO 

eg     s 

ysui 

rCOO    rOONThONC*   X^^Q 
MMrO'>*-rOMM         «ro 

CO         ON 
CO          M 

ipfo^s' 

CN'^<M     ONONMQO    M-MVO 
rOMMMMMMMl-tHi 

ON        00 

yst^Su^ 

VO  00    M    tJ-  0\  ONVO    "^  »0  i>. 
cOrOMfOfOcOM          M 

00          c< 
«s          CO 

Pop,  1000 
in  these 
Districts 

1 

ONOO  J>.M    in-^O    rOcOPO 

M      M      '^h    iTi    T^              MM 

CO 
00 

M 

M 

00 

00 

too   ONO   toiOf*   rO'^O 
^lOM    rOtOtOThTj-OOO 

CO 

M 

OS 

'spiApiQ 

M    r«  VO  00    CO  ONOO    M    '^f-  'rf 
r«   M   M 

00 
00 

1.  Glengarry,  &c. 

2.  South-west. 

3.  Dundas,  &c. 

4.  Kingston,  &c. 

5.  Peterborough,  London,  &c. 

6.  Toronto,  &c. 

7.  Lennox,  Hamilton,  &c. 

8.  Berlin,  &c. 

9.  Ottawa  and  East,  &c. 
10.  North-west. 

w 


^'5 


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C    V    JJ    C  "^ 

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.  .  .  .Iz; 

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2  .;?;  .^  .  . 
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>H^     O     12; 


190         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 

Census  districts  usually  contain  20,000  inhabitants,  be  the 
same  more  or  less,  and  in  the  accompanying  table  census 
districts  are  grouped,  not  geographically,  but  according  to  the 
proportion  of  different  nationalities  represented  in  the  group. 
British,  German,  and  French  nationalities  virtually  occupy  the 
whole  field.  The  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  groups  are  the 
largest,  and  therefore  represent  normal  Ontario ;  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth 'may  be  regarded  as  stepping-stones  to  the 
fifth,  and  the  eighth  as  an  appendix  and  exaggeration  of  the 
seventh  group. 

The  three  big  groups  contain  two-thirds  of  the  population ; 
of  which  two -thirds,  one-third  is  partly  German  and  two- 
thirds  ultra-British.  Though  more  populous  by  one-fifth 
than  Quebec  Province,  Ontario  is  not  populous.  Old  On- 
tario equals  England  minus  Wales  in  area  and  Wales  minus 
England  in  population;  but  then  it  only  began  life  in  1786. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VII 

Let  a  =  10  years;  x  =  26,000  people;  «  =  a  negligible 
fraction ;  and  the  formula  of  the  progress  of  Ontario  since 
1 781  will  read  thus  :  3^  =  3^—;/;  6a=:i8x—n;  "ja^- 
^6x-\-n\    ioa  =  74J\;;  12^  =  84.1:. 

The  arrangement  of  these  typical  groups  may  be  inferred 
by  watching  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  British,  Irish,  French, 
and  German  figures  in  their  respective  columns ;  and  it  is  an 
undesigned  coincidence  that  the  Highlanders  of  the  first,  and 
the  British  of  the  third,  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  half  the 
seventh  group,  have  been  and  are  drifting  westward,  and 
therefore  diminishing  in  number,  except  at  great  towns,  like 
Toronto,  London,  and  Hamilton;  while  the  other  districts 
or  half-districts  and  great  towns  have  been  and  are  increasing 
all  along  the  line.  Again,  the  ethnical  order  of  progression 
reveals  as  though  by  accident  geographical  order. 

In  the  ensuing  analysis  it  will  be  noted  that,  with  the 
exception  of  the  second  item,  six  successive  types  may  be 
encountered  by  a  traveller  up  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the  order, 
or  almost  in  the  order,  in  which  they  are  given  in  the  tables. 

The  reason  of  this  rule  is  that  with  one  exception  distance 
from  Quebec  Province  diminishes  French  influences,  and 
nearness  to  Niagara  increases  German  influences,  these  two 
nationalities  being  antipathetic;  and  the  reason  of  the  ex- 
ception is  that  in  the.  far  south-west  Detroit  is,  and  always 
was,  a  minor  focus  from  which  Frenchmen  spread.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  ninth  and  tenth  types  contain  every  district 
on  the  Ottawa,  and  no  other  district  in  Old  Ontario,  except 
north  Essex,  which  is  as  closely  in  contact  with  French 
surroundings  at  Detroit  as  the  Ottawa  colonies  are  with  those 
of  Quebec  Province  on  the  Ottawa. 

We  will  now  discuss  the  ten  groups  in  detail. 

(i)  Glengarry  is  the  only  county  with  a  Scotch  majority. 
The  proximity  of  Quebec  accounts  for  its  French  population ; 
Scotch  and  French  diminishing  as  we  go  upstream.  The 
presence  of  Germans,  who  increase  as  we  go  upstream, 
reminds  us  that  we  are  no  longer  in  Quebec  Province.  The 
far   north-east   division   only  contains   two    counties,   and, 


192         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Strange  to  say,  its  nearest  analogy — if  we  substitute  English 
for  Scotch — is 

(2)  In  the  far  south-west  near  which  French  elements  were 
present  at  Detroit  before  Ontario  began  to  exist.  The  un- 
specified six  per  cent,  in  Kent  and  Essex  consist  partly  of 
runaway  American  Negro  slaves,  who  came  here  in  order  to 
be  free.  Ontario  negroes  number  8,900  ^  but  were  half  as 
much  again  in  187 1,  and  three-fourths  of  them  live  here  or 
hereabouts. 

(3)  In  Dundas  and  the  Bay  of  Quintd  a  large  proportion 
of  the  early  Loyalists  were  Germans,  who  are  already  more 
than  three  times  as  numerous  as  the  French.  The  residue 
of  the  population  chiefly  consists  of  1,100  Iroquois  Loyalists 
who  have  since  1784  {circa)  resided  at  Tyendenaga  on  the 
Bay  of  Quint^.  Their  relatives,  over  3,000  in  number,  have 
since  the  same  date  resided  on  Grand  River  near  Brantford, 
and  account  for  most  of  the  deficiency  in  the  sixth  group. 

(4)  In  the  Kingston  group  British  preponderance,  which 
has  been  steadily  growing,  reaches  its  zenith;  and  in  this 
case  British  means  Irish,  for  the  workmen  on  the  Rideau 
were  largely  Irish,  and  the  seed  which  was  scattered  broad- 
cast by  Peter  Robinson  grew  and  spread. 

(5)  The  district  typified  by  Peterborough  and  London  is 
equally  British;  considerable  Indian  reserves  south  of  the 
Trent  Lakes  (Mississaguas),  on  the  Thames  below  London 
(Delawares),  and  on  St.  Clair  River  and  Lake  (Hurons,  &c.), 
account  for  most  of  the  undefined  residue ;  and  Frenchmen 
are  at  vanishing  point  except  in  Muskoka,  where  other 
nationalities — Scandinavian,  Swiss,  and  Italian — also  appear. 

(6)  The  Toronto  type  is  only  a  little  less  British  and 
un-French  than  its  two  predecessors ;  Penetang  accounts  for 
nearly  half  the  Frenchmen  in  the  group.  There  are  Algonquin 
reserves  in  the  Peninsula  of  Bruce  County,  as  well  as  Iro- 
quois reserves  on  Grand  River,  and  a  few  American  negroes 
have  inhabited  Oro  on  Lake  Simcoe  from  almost  the  first. 

(7)  The  Germans  who  now  dispute,  and  in  two  districts 
(8)  usurp,  British  paramountcy,  came  for  the  most  part 
through  Niagara  from  the  western  frontier  of  New  York 
State,  where  they  were  pioneers. 

(9,  10)  The  ninth  and  tenth  types  represent  the  growing 
end  of  Ontario,  which  is  also  in  contact  with  the  growing  end 

*  Population  1901. 


THE   MIDDLE   EAST— ONTARIO  193 

of  Quebec  Province  almost  as  far  west  as  North  Bay.  In  the 
north-easternmost  county  Frenchmen  are  more  than  half;  in 
the  next  county  they  are  all  but  half;  in  Ottawa,  which  comes 
next,  they  are  about  one-third ;  then  they  are  a  little  more, 
and  then  a  little  less,  than  one-eighth ;  after  which  British  only 
exceed  French  by  a  few  hundred  in  Nipissing,  while  west  of 
Nipissing  British  ascendancy  is  once  more  unchallenged  as 
far  as  the  western  frontier ;  and  French  are  almost  as  rare  as 
Germans.  Germans  are  very  few  except  in  Renfrewshire 
just  east  of  Nipissing,  where  they  are  one-fifth  of  the  popula- 
tion; and  in  the  same  county  2,400  Russians,  or  more  than 
half  the  Russians  of  Ontario,  dwell.  The  Scandinavians 
of  Ontario  were  in  190 1  fewer  even  than  the  Russians,  and  like 
the  Russians  dwelt  mainly  in  the  wilder  districts  of  the  north- 
west. Indians,  of  course,  increase  as  we  move  west ;  nearly 
half  of  them  residing  in  Algoma,  where  the  principal  Algon- 
quin reserve  is  on  Manitoulin  Island  in  Georgian  Bay.  The 
Indians  of  Ontario  are  20,000,  against  15,000  in  1881. 
The  population  becomes  more  and  more  miscellaneous,  its 
type  is  less  fixed  and  definite,  the  more  we  advance  westward ; 
and  the  railway  stations  west  of  Fort  William  are  named 
Finland,  Linko,  Upsala  in  order  to  denote  the  origin  of  their 
occupants. 


Authorities. 

Census  figures  for  the  Canadas  were  published  by  the  authorities  at 
Quebec  for  1851-2,  and  1 860-1,  and  have  since  then  been  published 
decennially  by  the  authorities  of  the  Dominion  at  Ottawa  for  1870-r, 
1 880-1, 1 890-1 ,  and  1 900- 1.  The  fourth  volume  of  the  publication  which 
deals  with  1870-1  contains  also  in  a  summary  form  the  census  figures 
for  the  different  provinces  before  1870-1,  including  the  figures  for  1 860-1, 
and  1 85 1 -2,  and  of  eleven  previous  Ontarian  censuses  between  1851  and 
1824.  For  dates  prior  to  1824  see  Robert  Gourlay,  Statistical  Account 
of  Upper  Canada^  2  vols.,  1822;  Sir  Charles  Lucas,  History  of 
Canada,  1763-1812,  1909,  Chapter  IV;  Report  for  1891  on  the 
Archives  of  Canada,  by  David  Brymner ;  and  the  Introduction  of  the 
1 870-1  Census  Report,  vol.  iv. 

James  White,  Atlas  of  Canada,  1906,  contains  Statistical  details  from 
the  Census  of  1901,  presenting  differences  of  nationality,  &c.,  in  different 
colours,  and  giving  lists  of  towns,  &c. 

Data  for  the  previous  physical  condition  of  the  Province  are  obtain- 
able in — 

(i)  General    Descriptions    of   which    Joseph   Bouchette*s    books 

VOL,    V.       PT.    Ill  O 


194        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANADA 

mentioned  at  the  end  of  Chapter  VI,  and  Robert  Gonrlay,  Statistical 
Account  of  Upper  Canada,  2  vols.,  1822,  and  G.  M.  Grant,  Picturesque 
Canada,  1881,  are  examples. 

(2)  General  Histories  such  as  William  Kingsford,  History  of 
Canada,  10  vols.,  1887  et  seq.  ;  Francis  Parkman,  Works,  12  vols.,  1899  ; 
Sir  Charles  P.  Lucas,  History  of  Canada,  1763  to  181 2  (1909);  The 
Canadian  War  of  1812,  1906. 

(3)  Local  Histories. 

William  CannifF,  History  of  the  Settlement  of  Upper  Canada  with 
special  reference  to  the  Bay  of  Quints,  1869. 

James  Croil,  Dundas,  1861. 

Charles  O.  Ermatinger,  The  Talbot  Regime,  1904. 

J.  L.  Gourlay,  History  of  the  Ottawa  Valley,  1896. 

Egerton  Ryerson,  The  Loyalists  of  America,  2  vols.,  1880. 

Henry  Scadding,  Toronto  of  Old,  1873. 

J.  H.  Smith,  Historical  Sketch  of  the  County  of  Wentworth,  1897. 

Edward  A.  Talbot,  Five  Years'  Residence  i7t  the  Canadas,  2  vols., 
1824. 

C.  Thomas,  History  of  the  County  of  Argent ettil  and  Prescott,  1896. 

(4)  Travels. 

Captain  Basil  Hall,  Travels  in  North  A??ierica  in  1827  and  1828, 
3  vols.,  1829. 

Sir  Richard  Bonnycastle,  The  Canadas  in  1841,  2  vols.,  1842. 

John  Gait,  Autobiography,  2  vols.,  1833. 

Bertha  Harris,  Life  of  Philemon  Wright,  1903. 

George  Heriot,  Travels  through  the  Canadas,  1807. 

Captain  George  L.  Huyshe,  The  Red  River  Expedition,  1871. 

(Mrs.)  Anna  B.  Jameson,  Winter  Studies  a?td  Summer  Rambles  in 
Canada,  3  vols.,  1838. 

John  MacGregor,  British  Afnerica,  2  vols.,  1832. 

John  Mactaggart,  Three   Years  in  Canada,  1826-8,  2  vols.,  1829. 

F.  A.  F.  de  la  Rochefoucauld  Liancourt,  Voyage  dans  les  Etats  Unis 
d'Amirique  fait  en  1795-7,  8  toms.,  1799;  English  translation, 
2  vols.,  1799,  4  vols.,  1800. 

Patrick  Shirreff,  A  Tour  through  North  America,  1835. 

James  Strachan,  A  Visit  to  the  Province  of  Upper  Canada  in  1819, 
1820. 

Eliot  Warburton,  Hochelaga  or  Englaftd  in  the  New  World,  2  vols., 
ed.  2,  1846. 

(5)  Emigration  Reports  and  Pamphlets. 

Three  Reports  of  the  Select  Co?nmittee  of  the  House  of  Commons  on 
E??tigration,  1826  (vol.  iv),  1826-7  (vol.  v). 

Report  of  Colonel  Cockburn,  Commissio7ier  on  Emigration,  1828 
(vol.  xxi  of  collected  edition  of  Reports). 

Thomas  Douglas,  Earl  of  Selkirk,  Observations  on  the  Highlands,  1805. 

Colonel  David  ^t&vf2ixi,  Sketches  of  the  Highlanders,  2  vols.,  1882, 
new  ed.  1885. 

Robert  Gourlay,  General  Introduction  to  his  Statistical  Account  of 
Upper  Canada  compiled  with  a  view  to  a  grand  system  of  Efnigration^ 
1822. 

Letters  from  Sussex  Emigrants  who  sailed  ...  in  April,  1833, 
2nd  ed.,  1833.     British  Museum  Library,  10470  c.  32. 


0    2 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

Prairie-land. 

Somewhere  on  the  threshold  of  Manitoba  woods  vanish,  East  of 
rouerh  places  are  made  smooth,  the  earth  is  a  level  lawn,  ^^^^^^P^S 

,  .  .         prairie- 

lakes  and  rivers  are  not  what  they  were,  and  the  horizon  land 

widens.  To  the  east  an  infinite  series  of  wooded  hills,  ^^.^'^•^» 
watery  hollows,  lakes,  swamps,  and  rocks^  cramps  while  it 
diversifies  the  scenery,  and  perplexes  while  it  enchants  the 
imagination;  and  as  we  move  westward  the  maze  becomes 
more  intricate  and  stone-strewn  or  wet  up  to  a  point,  beyond 
which  there  is  an  utter  change ;  but  the  point  is  not  definite 
nor  is  the  change  sudden.  The  lovely,  well-named,  many- 
islanded  Lake  of  the  Woods  is  the  last  west  lake  which  is  a 
true  lake,  so  that  the  point  of  change  is  west  of  this  lake. 
The  east  frontier  of  Manitoba  is  a  mere  line  of  longitude 
drawn  due  north  from  the  north-west  angle  of  the  lake ;  and 
henceforth  provinces,  like  parallelograms  enclosed  by  four 
straight  lines  of  longitude  and  latitude,  and  sub-divided  into 
square  townships  six  miles  by  six,  begin  to  disfigure  the  map 
as  though  we  had  reached  a  region  destitute  of  geographical 
outline.  But  the  dividing  line  between  woodland  and  plain 
is  west  of  the  provincial  frontier,  and  is  the  first  of  several 
real  lines  which  now  begin  to  straggle  and  stray  across  the 
map  from  south-east  to  north-west.  It  may  be  discerned  by 
the  traveller  from  the  east  somewhere  near  Whitemouth, 
forty  miles  or  so  north-east  of  Winnipeg ;  or,  if  he  travels  to 
Winnipeg  by  the  Dawson  road  from  the  north-west  angle  of 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  somewhere  near  St.  Anne  des  Chenes, 
forty  miles  or  so  south-east  of  Winnipeg.  There  he  sees  his 
first  plain.  For  1,700  miles  east  of  him,  right  to  the  Atlantic, 
there  is  nothing  like  this,  except  perhaps  in  miniature  on  the 


198        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

Acadian  salt-marshes ;  and  for  900  miles  west  of  him,  right 
to  the  Rockies,  there  is  hardly  anything  but  this.  Here,  well 
to  the  east  of  Winnipeg  (pop.  95,300^),  which  is  the 
provincial  capital  of  Manitoba  and  the  commercial  capital  of 
prairie  land,  prairie-land  begins,  and  there  in  the  Rockies 
prairie-land  ends.  But  prairie-land  is  not  all  prairie,  and  the 
prairies  are  of  several  sorts.  What,  then,  are  the  Canadian 
prairies  ?  It  is  easier  to  say  what  they  are  not,  than  what 
they  are. 
which  an-  A  Canadian,  when  asked  before  a  Royal  Commission, 
^three  * -^^^  \^.^xQ  no  tracts  of  land  such  as  the  Americans  call 

steppes ;  prairies  in  Canada.?'  replied,  'None  in  the  Canadas'  (1826),^ 
for  the  Canadas  meant  nothing  to  him  but  the  old  forest 
provinces  where  water  is  the  only  level  surface.  The  old 
provinces  were  the  very  antithesis  of  prairie,  which  is  dry, 
level,  and  bare.  Again,  the  mossy,  treeless  marsh-lands  and 
stone-lands  of  Arctic  Canada  between  Great  Bear  Lake,  Great 
Slave  Lake,  Fort  Churchill,  and  the  northern  seas,  are  called 
in  Canada  '  barrens ',  and  in  Lapland  and  Northern  Siberia 
'  tundras ',  and  are  sometimes  flat ;  and  early  travellers  mis- 
took 'prairies'  for  'barrens';  but  'barrens'  are  the  parodies 
of  prairies,  which  are  smooth,  grassy,  and  dry,  like  our 
English  Downs.  Prairies  are  barer  than  barrens,  flatter  than 
downs,  and  better  than  the  best  parts  of  the  forest  provinces. 
But  prairies  do  not  monopolise  prairie-land,  and  the  parts  of 
prairie-land  which  are  not  prairie  are  the  most  characteristic 
parts  of  prairie-land,  and  differ  widely  in  three  tracts,  which 
lie  side  by  side  between  Eastern  Manitoba  and  the  Rockies. 
As  these  tracts  are  at  diff'erent  levels — 700  to  950  feet  s.m. 
in  the  east,  1,250  feet  to  1,950  feet  s.m.  in  the  middle,  and 
2,200  to  4,000  or  5,000  feet  s.m.  in  the  west — they  are 
called  steppes,  like  the  steppes  of  Western  Asia  and  Southern 
Russia,  which  also  lie  on  almost  the  same  parallel  of  latitude. 

^  Population  1906  includes  St.  Boniface;  c.  150,000  now. 
'^  Second  Report  on  Emigration,  1826-7  •  Felton's  evidence. 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST  199 

A  steppe  is  a  table-land;  but  the  first,  that  is  to  say  the  {i)  the  Red 

easternmost,  of  the  Canadian  steppes,  though  it  looks  like  a  ^^'^^^ 

flat  table,  is  really  a  concave  basin  between  two  rims.     The  which  is 

eastern  rim  is  the  impalpable  watershed  betwen  the  Red  bounded 

^     ^  on  the  east 

River  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  which  watershed  is  i,\oo  by  a  hill- 

to  1,200  feet  s.m.  The  western  rim  is  a  very  palpable  scarp,  ^^^^P^ 
360  to  400  feet  high,  which  runs  300  to  400  miles  north- 
north-west,  from  Pembina  Mountain  on  the  frontier  (49° 
N.  lat.)  to  the  River  Saskatchewan  at  a  point  somewhere 
nearer  Fort  La  Corne  than  Cumberland  House.  The  wooded 
heights  of  Pembina,  Riding,  Duck,  and  Thunder  '  Mountains ', 
and  Porcupine  and  Pasquia  *  Hills ',  serve  as  successive 
towers,  and  countless  hillocks  serve  as  turrets  to  the  scarp; 
but,  as  in  the  Great  Wall  of  China,  its  towers  and  turrets  are 
not  much  higher  than  its  top.  From  the  foot  of  the  scarp 
the  basin  slopes  insensibly  some  200  feet  down  to  Red  River 
and  Lake  Winnipeg,  which  are  mere  dents  in  its  middle,  and 
so  up  again  to  the  eastern  rim. 

The  basin  is  now  divided  into  three  tracts — lake,  marsh,  and  con- 
and  dry  land — which  were   once  one ;  for  the   lakes   and  ^^^HJ^i'akes 
marshes  are  relics  of  the  past,  and  the  dry  land  of  to-day  is  with 
the  marsh  of  yesterday  and   the  lake  of  the  day  before,  l^^^/^^f^ 
Long  before  history  began,  somewhere  in  the  Post-Tertiary  them, 
Age,  one  lake — to  which  geologists  have  given  the  fancy 
name  of  Lake  Agassiz — is  said  to  have  filled  the  whole  basin 
between  rim  and  rim.     The  lake  bottom  planed  itself  into 
curves  so  gradual  as  to  resemble  flats,  and  the  black  lake- 
silt  left  by  the  receding  waters  is  the  most  fertile  soil  in  the 
world.     While  the  surfaces  of  Eastern  Canada  were  rough- 
hewn  during  the  Primary  Age,  the  Post-Tertiary  Age  moulded 
the  first  steppe  of  prairie-land,  so  that  it  might  be  thought 
that  the  contrast  between  the  old  Canada  and  the  Canadian 
prairies  is  as  striking  geologically  as  it  is  geographically. 
But  the  geological  contrast  is  only  superficial ;  for  the  lake- 
mud  is  only  a  carpet,  immediately  beneath  which  there  is  a 


200       HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

rock  floor  of  Silurian  or  Devonian  limestone,  like  that  of  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  that  of  south-westernmost 
Ontario.  Sometimes  the  rock  protrudes ;  thus  the  thin,  low 
rock-rib — rarely  more  than  fourteen  feet  high — which  runs 
off  and  on  for  two  hundred  miles  along  the  west  side  of  Lake 
Winnipeg,  from  Grassy  Narrows  in  the  south  to  Limestone 
Bay  in  the  north,  is  like  an  attenuated  reminiscence  of 
Niagara  and  Quebec,  and  sometimes  a  rock-bone  sticks  in  a 
channel  and  forms  rapids;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  rocks  are 
invisible  and  do  not  disturb  the  surface.  The  lakes  them- 
selves— Lake  Winnipeg,  Lakes  Manitoba  and  Winnipegosis, 
which  resemble  a  split  shadow  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  their 
satellites.  Lakes  Red  Deer,  Swan,  Dauphin,  Waterhen,  and 
St.  Martin,  are  mutually  connected,  like  the  great  inland  seas 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  are  mere  puddles  in  comparison, 
Lake  Winnipeg  being  until  recently  put  down  as  twenty-nine 
feet  deep  at  most,^  and  Lakes  Manitoba  and  Swan  being 
only  a  little  deeper  than  the  so-called  lakes  in  Hyde  Park  and 
St.  James's  Park  respectively.  Nevertheless,  Lakes  Winne- 
pegosis,  Manitoba,  and  Winnipeg  are  828  feet,  810  feet,  and 
710  feet  above  the  sea  respectively,  so  that  if,  as  is  supposed, 
they  were  once  one  vast  lake  filling  the  whole  of  the  first 
steppe,  they  must  then  have  been  almost  as  deep  as  Lake 
Erie,  which  is  by  far  the  shallowest  of  the  inland  seas  of  the 
St.  Lawrence ;  but  nowadays  they  are  mere  lagune  vtve,  and 
the  marsh-lands  between  them  are  a  little  more  than  lagune 
morie.  As  a  rule,  however,  these  lakes  have  firm,  tree-clad 
shore-lines;  sometimes  natural  raised  causeways  of  pebbles 
'  like  pigeons'-eggs  \  and  forty  miles  long,  cross  the  marshes ; 
and  Inter-Lake-Land  varies  from  time  to  time.  In  1868  a 
writer  declared  that  '  the  land '  between  the  western  rim  and 
Lake  Winnipeg  might  'almost  be  said  to  be  water '.^     In 

^  Description  of  the  Province  of  Manitoba  (ofificial),  1893,  p.  30; 
but  there  is  a  cut  96  feet  deep,  Geological  Survey ,  1898,  p.  13  F. 

*  M.  T^z\\€,  Sketch  of  the  North-West  of  America^  1868  (translated 
by  Captain  D.  Cameron),  p.  81. 


THE  MIDDLE    WEST  20I 

1874  the  surveyors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  thought 
this  very  land  so  dry,  that  they  decided  that  their  railway 
should  go  north-west  from  Selkirk,  cross  the  Narrows  of 
Lake  Manitoba  by  a  bridge,  and  so  reach  Edmonton ;  but  in 
J  879  wider  experiences  caused  this  decision  to  be  revoked. 
The  revocation  was  fortunate;  for  in  1881  John  Macoun 
found  ^  the  whole  country  afloat '  west  of  the  Narrows ;  and 
to  this  day  Inter- Lake-Land,  though  one  of  the  earliest  to  be 
reached  by  settlers,  is  thinly  peopled  and  all  but  destitute  of 
railways.  Natural  accidental  variations  of  solidity  suggested 
drainage,  and  efforts  at  reclamation  have  been  made  here  or 
hereabouts  during  this  century  on  a  scale  and  with  a  success 
greater  than  elsewhere  in  Eastern  Canada.  Possibly,  then, 
some  parts  of  Inter-Lake-Land  will  be  converted  in  the  future 
by  the  operations  of  nature  or  the  efforts  of  man  into  prairies 
or  the  semblance  of  prairies. 

The  area  of  possible  future  prairie-land  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  region  of  Archaean  Gneiss,  w^hich  extends  from 
a  little  north  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  of  the  north  bank  of  the 
Saskatchewan,  towards  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Arctics.  So  far 
as  is  known  the  uselessness  of  this  Archaean  tract  is  irre- 
mediable. Its  very  rivers  are  unfit  for  navigation.  Thus 
Nelson  River,  which  conducts  the  waters  of  Lake  Winnipeg 
into  Hudson  Bay,  is  so  shallow  and  rocky,  that  it  is  avoided 
even  by  canoes.  The  most  primitive  forces  of  the  earth  and 
of  history  still  fashion  the  hinterland  of  Inter-Lake-Land, 
which  is  and  remains,  what  God  made  it,  and  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  made  of  it. 

South  of  Lakes  Winnipeg  and  Manitoba  prairies  stretch  as  well  as 
from  the  eastern  border  of  prairie-land  to  the  western  rim  of  ^^^^.  . 
the  first  steppe,  and  right  down  to  the  frontier,  more  or  less. 
The  qualification  '  more  or  less '  is  necessary  because,  as  a 
rule,  the  banks  of  rivers  are  clothed  with  trees,  and  tree 
clumps  may  be  seen  on  the  level  land  like  sails  on  a  still  sea ; 
so  that  on  a  clear  day  isolated  trees  of  sorts  are  said  to  be 


202        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 


and  whose 
chief  rivers 
run  at 
right 
angles  to 
one  an- 
other, 
making 
develop' 
ment 
oblong  ; 


(2)  the 
second 


always  discernible  from  the  highest  Manitoban  house-tops  or 
elevators.  This  narrow  strip  is  thickly  peopled,  for  it  contains 
all  the  prairies,  which  contain  all  the  famous  wheat  fields, 
which  Manitoba  ever  had,  or  was  ever  thought  likely  to  have. 
There  are  only  two  principal  rivers  of  the  Manitoban 
prairies,  the  Red  River  and  its  affluent  the  Assiniboine. 
The  Red  River  flows  north  from  its  source — close  by  the 
source  of  the  Mississippi,  far  within  the  border  of  the  United 
States ;  and  the  Assiniboine  flows  east  in  so  far  as  its  course 
threads  the  first  steppe  for  it  comes  from  far,  and  belongs 
more  to  the  second  than  to  the  first  steppe.  Both  wind,  for 
they  are  characteristic  prairie  rivers,  and  the  rich  soil  makes 
Red  River  tawnier  than  the  Tiber,  or  than  any  river  between 
Red  River  and  the  marshlands  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  Simi- 
larly, Lake  Winnipeg,  which  means  '^muddy  water ' — because, 
as  the  Crees  say,  a  bad  god  was  once  so  pelted  with  filth  by 
womenfolk  that  in  trying  to  clean  himself  in  the  lake  he  only 
muddied  it^ — is  a  characteristic  prairie  lake,  if  it  may  be 
called  lake,  and  points  north  more  or  less;  while  the  Sas- 
katchewan, turbid  amongst  other  things  with  prairie  mud, 
meets  it  at  its  north  corner  after  coming  from  furthest 
west;  but  the  Saskatchewan  belongs  more  to  the  second 
than  to  the  first,  and  more  to  the  third  than  to  the 
second  steppe.  Widely  sundered  river-lines  run  eastward, 
and  widely  sundered  lines  of  river,  lake,  and  hill  run  north- 
ward or  north-north-westward.  If,  then,  geography  deter- 
mines development,  it  might  be  expected  that  the  first  steppe 
would  develop,  not  like  Quebec  Province  along  a  single  line, 
nor  like  Old  Ontario  within  triangles  bounded  by  water,  but 
as  an  oblong.  And  this  is  what  happened ;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  development  in  Inter-Lake-Land  presented 
a  very  diff^erent  problem  to  the  problem  of  development  on 
the  compact  continuous  prairies  to  the  south. 

The  second  steppe  begins  with  the  scarp  with  which  the 
^  Sir  J.  Franklin,  Narrative  of  a  Journey  to  the  Polar  Sea^  1823,  p.  43. 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST  203 

first  steppe  ends,  and  may  be  described  as  an  extension  o{  steppe 
the  scarp-top  three  hundred  miles  to  the  west.  The  scarp  is  ^CreLceous 
innocent  of  rocks,  and  consists  of  shale,  sand,  clay,  and  marl 
of  Cretaceous,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  uppermost  Secondary 
Age.  There  is  no  Canadian  tract  which  represents  the 
Secondary  Age  east  of  the  second  steppe,  if  we  except 
*  recognizable  fragments'  of  this  formation  embedded  here 
and  there  in  the  first  steppe;  therefore  the  second  steppe, 
being  almost  wholly  Cretaceous,  is  a  novelty  in  Canada. 
Its  fertility  and  populousness  equals  that  of  the  Manitoban 
prairie,  its  '  deep  blue  clays '  of  Cretaceous  Age  either  enrich- 
ing its  surface,  or  intercepting  rain  a  little  below  the  surface, 
so  as  to  provide  well-water  within  easy  reach.  Where 
Cretaceous  formations  are  not  uppermost,  this  steppe  dis- 
plays anticipations  of  the  next  steppe  on  its  west,  which 
steppe  is  a  still  greater  novelty  in  Canada. 

The  middle  steppe  slopes  gradually  upward  towards  its  is  inter- 
western  boundary,  which  is  a  scarp,  sometimes  woody  and  %g]\^jfck 
sometimes  not,  known  as  the  Coteau  du  Missouri,  and  of  Cdteau  and 
about  the  same  apparent  height  as  the  scarp  between  the  first  fjH^^J^st  % 
and  second  steppes.     Geographically  this  scarp  is  the  eastern  the  Cdteau 
edge  of  the  third  steppe ;  geologically  it  is  a  moraine,  formed  of  xertiary 
boulder-drift  and  earthy  materials  belonging  to  the  lowest 
Tertiary  Age  ;  and  it  is  the  easternmost  tract  of  Canada 
where  tertiary  formations  prevail,  if  we  except  fragments  of 
itself  which  are  scattered  along  the  middle  steppe.     This 
scarp  runs   north-west    350  miles  or  so  just  west  of  the 
Estevan-Moose  Creek  Railroad,  or  of  Moose  Jaw  Creek  and 
Long  Creek,  reaching  the  South  Saskatchewan  near  Swift 
Current,  resuming  further  north  as  Bad  Hills  and  Eagle  Hills, 
and  perhaps  (north  of  the  North  Saskatchewan)  as  Thick- 
wood  Hills.     In  the  middle  of  the  middle  steppe  there  is  a 
disconnected  series  of  tree-crowned  flat-topped  hills,  a  few 
hundred  feet  high,  but  sometimes  with  declivities  fourteen  miles 
long,  known  successively  as  Turlle  and  Moose  Mountains, 


204       HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

and  Wolfe,  Brandon,  File,  Pheasant,  Little  Touchwood, 
Touchwood,  and  perhaps  Lumpy  and  Birch  Hills,  which  lie 
parallel  with  and  seem  to  mock  the  Coteau.  These  ten  mild 
*  mountains'  and  'hills'  are  also  composed  of  boulder-drift, 
and  also  point  north-west.  Between  the  mock  and  the  real 
Coteau  the  second  steppe  exhibits  its  longest  stretches  of 
pure  prairie,  and  vivid  descriptions  of  some  of  these  stretches, 
which  figured  in  books  of  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  used  to 
pass  as  typical  of  all  prairie  land.  A  thin  belt  of  salt-plain 
connects  Long  Lake  and  Quill  Lake  north-west  of  Touch- 
wood Hill;  from  Birch  Hill  Thomas  Simpson  saw,  as  he 
gazed  along  (not  across)  this  stretch  of  prairie,  ^  barren  hills 
and  hollows  like  a  petrified  sea — said  to  extend  to  the 
Missouri'.  John  Macoun,  too,  crossed  forty-five  miles  of 
fissured,  shrubless  plain,  between  Moose  Mountain  and  the 
Coteau.^  Observers  noticed  the  vices  and  exceptions  before 
the  virtues.  What  seemed  limitless  prairie  is  common  enough 
on  the  second  steppe,  but  it  is  rarely  hummocky  or  saline  or 
fissured  (except  by  the  plough) ;  and  trees  or  hills  are  almost 
always  near  at  hand.  Thus  between  Winnipeg,  Fort  Pelly, 
and  Carlton  (on  the  bend  of  the  North  Saskatchewan), 
Simpson  steered  by  woods  in  the  day  and  slept  in  woods  by 
night ;  for  the  large  Lakes  were  fringed  with  oak,  elm,  poplar, 
and  pine ;  and  countless  bluffs,  crowned  with  aspens,  and 
ponds,  girt  with  willows,  dotted  the  plain  between  the  white 
poplars  and  birch  trees  of  Duck  Mountain  and  of  the  South 
Saskatchewan.  His  course  was  west  by  north.  Further  west, 
the  road  to  the  north  presents  a  similar  interchange  of  plain, 
pond,  and  tree,  and  during  Kiel's  Rebellion  (1885)  Colonel 
Mason's  company  marched  243  miles  from  Qu'Appelle  Fort 
northward  to  Batoche,  finding  *  firewood  and  water  in  abund- 
ance '  all  the  way ;  and  further  south  the  road  to  the  west  lies 

^  e.g.  John  Macoun,  Manitoba  and  the  great  Northwest^  1882,  pp.  56 
et  seq.,  p.  86;  Thomas  Simpson*,  Narrative  of  Discoveries^  1845,  ch.  2  ; 
Professor  H.  Y.  Hind,  Canadian,  &c,,  Expedition,  i860,  vol.  i,  p.  339. 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST  205 

within  sight  of  the  valley-walls  and  trees  lining  the  rivers  of 
the  second  steppe. 

These  rivers  are  shallow,  sinuous,  devious  shadows  of  what  is  threaded 
they   once  were.     Absence  of  rock  makes  them  meander  ^^-^^^^  ^^ 
aimlessly ;  the  high,  dry  air  of  the  plateau  has  shrivelled 
them,  and  accident  has  turned  them  awry.     If  the  Assini- 
boine  is   followed   up   past   its    affluents,    the    Souris   and 
Qu'Appelle,  to  its  source,  the  differences  between  the  rivers 
of  the  plain  and  the  rivers  of  Eastern  Canada  are  apparent. 
The  Souris  seems  to  come  from,  and  to  beckon  wanderers  ^.  ^. //^^ 
towards  the  regions  of  the  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  in  the    ^"^'"^' 
far  south-west ;  but  the  Coteau  in  Canada  is  its  real  source, 
and  between  Melita  and  Alameda   it  takes    180  miles  to 
accomplish  what  the  modern  train  accomplishes  in  60  miles. 
The  Jordan  is  not  more  tortuous.     The  Qu'Appelle  looks  on  Qu'Appelle, 
a  small-scale  map  as  though  it  pointed  220  miles  due  westward 
from  Fort  Ellice  to  its  source  ;  but  its  valley,  which  is  no  to 
320  feet  deep  and  a  mile  or  more  wide,  is  far  longer;  and 
the  river  in  the  valley  exceeds  500  miles  in  length,  is  on  an 
average  8  or  12  feet  deep,  and  80  feet  wide  or  so,  winding 
like  thin  yarn  in  a  winding  skein,  or  if  perchance  it  fills  its 
valley  it  is  called  a  lake.     The  Assiniboine,  after  luring  wan-  Assini- 
derers  westward,  north-westward,  and  northward,  turns  back  ^^^^^' 
upon  itself  at  Fort  Pelly,  where  it  approaches  Swan  River, 
which,  with  its  northerly  companion  Red  Deer  River,  belongs 
to  those  large  lakes  of  the  first  steppe  to  which  there  are  no 
analogies  on  the   second  steppe.      The  guiding  rivers  are 
crooked  instead  of  straight,  and  are  probably  more  crooked 
than  they  once  were.     One  valley  encloses  the  Qu'Appelle 
right  to  its  source,  and  also  encloses  Aiktow  Creek,  which 
rises  from  the  same  source,  and  flows  westward  into  the  South 
Saskatchewan  twelve  miles  away.     Probably  at  one  time  the 
South  Saskatchewan  ran  eastward  through  this  valley,  right 
from  the  Rockies  to  Winnipeg,  keeping — like  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  of  to-day — between  the  50th  and  51st  degree 


2o6       HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

of  latitude  all  the  way;  if  so,  an  85-foot  cutting  or  dam 
would  restore  the  ancient  course.  Similarly  the  Qu'Appelle 
might  be,  and  possibly  was  once,  diverted  down  Elbow  Bone 
Creek  into  the  Souris. 
and  North  The  livers  are  the  playthings  of  chance;  although  the 
ivan  •  '  presence  of  definite  river-valleys  and  banks,  like  those  of  the 
Qu'Appelle,  suggests  that  they  were  once  comparatively 
straight  and  deep.  The  North  and  Main  Saskatchewan  is 
the  only  river  which  has  held  its  course  consistently  and  per- 
sistently through  the  ages.  It  is  by  far  the  straightest  river 
in  prairie-land.  Nevertheless  below  where  the  Sipanok 
Channel  leaves  it,  its  banks  are  low  and  its  course  capricious ; 
thus  it  can  hardly  be  mere  coincidence  that  its  expansion 
called  Cedar  Lake  is  on  the  same  level  as  Lake  Winnepegosis, 
which  is  separated  from  it  by  four  miles  of  flat,  ten  feet  high. 
Even  above  the  Sipanok  paddles  are  exchanged  for  poles  for 
the  next  nine  hundred  miles;  and  it  has  one  great  bend, 
which  doubles  the  distance  between  Carlton  House  and 
Battleford,  or  Prince  Albert  and  Fort  Pitt.  It  is  a  great  river 
and  has  played  a  great  part  in  history ;  but  it  is  quite  unlike 
the  St.  Lawrence  or  Ottawa.  The  lucid  waters  of  the  old 
provinces  were  always  the  only,  and  often  the  nearest  way 
between  point  and  point;  but  the  discoloured  waters  of 
prairie-land  were  never  the  only,  and  were  always  the  longest, 
way  between  point  and  point.  In  prairie-land  landways  were 
direct  and  unobstructed,  and  waterways  circuitous  and  some- 
times obstructed,  the  converse  being  the  case  down  east.  On 
the  second  steppe  it  was  possible  to  move  in  any  direction, 
and  to  settle  anywhere  between  five  degrees  of  latitude,  and 
in  some  places  seven  degrees  of  longitude,  so  that  not  triangles 
but  oblongs  once  more  symbolized  progress.  But  the  civil- 
ized oblongs  on  the  first  and  second  steppes  differed  in  size 
as   well  as  in  character.     Manitoba  resembles  a  long  low 

1  H.  Y.  Hind,  Narrative  of  Canadian  Exploring  Expeditions,  i860, 
vol.  i,  pp.  355,  428. 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST 


207 


building — every  inch  of  it  alive  with  men,  busy,  and  rich, 
with  towers  and  spires  shooting  upward  here  and  there, — the 
highest  and  most  solid  on  its  west  where  it  touches  the  second 
steppe ;  the  civilized  parts  of  Saskatchewan  resemble  a  square 
— like  the  great  square  of  Pegasus — not  quite  so  full  as  the 
living-rooms,  but  far  higher  than  the  highest  pinnacles  of  its 
eastern  neighbour,  and  with  the  same  inevitable  wastes 
above  it. 

The  third  steppe  consists  of  those  drifts  and  earths  of  the  (3)  and  the 
Coteau,  which  are  superimposed  upon  those  earths  and  shales  ^^j^f^l^f/^ 
of  the  second  steppe,  which  are  superimposed  upon  those  tertiary, 
limestones,  which  lurk   underneath  the  first  steppe.     It    '"^^^te  Rockies 
higher,  drier,  barer,  and  hillier  than  its  fellows.     The  highest 
altitude  on  its  west  is  more  than  2,000  feet  higher  than  the 
highest  altitude  on  its  east,  and  seems,  when  looked  at  from 
above,  the  uptilted  end  of  a  rolling  plain,  and,  when  looked  at 
from  below,  a  platform  upon  which  mountains   stand.     It 
is  really  both  ;    for  the  Rocky  Mountains   are  rocks  and 
glaciers  piled  up  abruptly  and  confusedly  upon  the  western 
extremity  of  prairie-land. 

When  Sir  George  French  led  the  newly  formed  North-West  has  arid 
Mounted  Police  on  their  historic  ride  along  the  frontier  from^^^^"^' 
the  Red  River  to  *  Fort  Hamilton '  ^  and  Macleod,  wood, 
grass,  and  water  began  to  fail  on  and  after  the  C6teau ;  then 
Wood  Mountain  and  Cypress  Hills  yielded  both  for  more 
than  one  hundred  miles ;  afterwards  he  reached  Milk  River 
(which  belongs  to  the  Missouri),  Belly  River  (which  is  the 
second  greatest  branch  of  the  South  Saskatchewan),  and  the 
plain  changed  imperceptibly  into  foot-hills,  much  as  a  calm 
sea  changes  into  a  stormy  sea  when  the  breeze  stiffens,  and 
he  was  safe  (1874).  When  the  Marquis  of  Lome  rode  260 
miles  south-west  from  Battleford  to  Blackfoot  Crossing  '^  on 
Bow  River  (which  is  the  chief  branch  of  the  South  Saskat- 

1  Near  Lethbridge  on  the  Mary-Belly  Junction. 

2  Near  Gleichen. 


2o8        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

chewan),  he  found  no  wood  north-east  of  Red  Deer  River 
(which  is  the  third  greatest  branch  of  the  South  Saskatchewan) 
except  at  Sounding  Lake,  and  neither  wood  nor  water  between 
Red  Deer  River  and  Bow  River  (1881);  and  Sir  John 
Palliser  had  a  similar  experience  between  Red  Deer  River,  at 
Hand  Hills,  and  Bow  River  in  1858.  When  Bow  River  was 
reached,  wood  and  water  were  abundant,  and  the  undulations 
of  the  plain  were  already  swelling  into  the  foot-hills  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  The  railway  traveller  of  to-day  enters 
the  same  arid  zone  at  Moose  Jaw  and  leaves  it  at  Gleichen, 
between  which  he  sometimes  sees  *  hard,  white,  sun-cracked 
clay',  with  scarce,  tufty  buffalo-grass,  or  even  sage-brush,^ 
and  sometimes  a  sand-dune  or  two,  and  sometimes  an  old  dry 
river-bed  littered  with  quartzite  stones,  smooth  as  pebbles  on 
a  sea-beach  ;  and  the  ponds  by  the  wayside  are  rarely  fresh, 
as  their  white  crystals  and  crimson  salicornea  show.  The 
extent  of  this  arid  zone  was  once  wildly  exaggerated.  Pro- 
fessor Hind,  who  was  an  optimist  in  his  day  (i860),  described 
it  as  beginning  at  Pembina  Mountain  on  the  frontier  and 
curving  upward  along  the  Assiniboine  to  Touchwood  Hills  on 
the  mock  C6teau  (50°  N.  lat.),  running  straight  thence  to 
where  Red  Deer  is  now,  and  redescending  abruptly  from  Red 
Deer  to  the  frontier  near  the  sources  of  the  Belly ;  within 
which  rude  arch  lay  what  he  called  desert,  and  above  which 
lay  what  he  called  the  Rainbow  of  the  West.  Modern  author- 
ities trace  the  upward  curve  along  the  real  C6teau,  and 
describe  the  land  inside  the  curve  as  pastoral  land,  with 
patches  of  agricultural  and  patches  of  barren  land,  much  of 
the  latter  being  easily  reclaimable.  Indeed,  on  its  borders 
the  Alberta  Railway  and  Irrigation  Company  drew  water 
from  the  St.  Mary  River,  and  made  the  Lethbridge  district 
into  a  beet-garden ;  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  Irrigation  and 
Colonization  Company  drew  water  from  the  Bow,  and 
reclaimed  large  tracts  east  of  Calgary.     These  efforts  began 

1  Artemisia. 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST  209 

in  the  Nineties,  and  similar  efforts  are  in  process  of  being 
made  near  the  junction  of  the  Bow  with  the  Belly  and  else- 
where. What  drainage  is  doing  for  the  northern  parts  of  the 
first  steppe,  irrigation  is  doing  for  that  southern  fraction  of 
the  third  steppe,  which  reflects  on  a  small  scale  and  in  a  mild 
degree  the  characteristics  of  the  so-called  Central  American 
deserts  of  the  United  States.  Clearly  the  civilized  oblong  of 
Alberta  has  disadvantages  from  which  its  eastern  neighbours 
are  free,  and  which  suggest  that  it  will  never  be  quite  so  full 
and  busy  as  they  are.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the  picture, 
and  Alberta  enjoys  advantages  which  they  do  not  enjoy. 

A  strip  between  the  dry  tract  and  the  Rockies  is  influenced  and  parts 
by  warm  winds  from  the  Pacific.^     In  mid-winter,  thaws  dis-  ^'{/^^'^f^^ 
perse  the  snow  from  time  to  time,  and  cattle  fatten  out  oi  winds,  e.g. 
doors,  but  the  re-freezing  of  the  exposed  earth  injures  its  crops.  y^^^^%\. 
A  little  north-west  of  the  northernmost  latitude  of  the  dry  trict^ 
tract,  alternate  ridged  and  swampy  forests  encompass  the 
head-waters  of  the  Athabasca  beyond  Lake  St.  Anne  (near 
Edmonton),  and  all  traces  of  prairie-land  are  effaced ;  but 
prairie-land  recurs  further  north  in  the  Peace  River  District, 
or  that  district  through  which  the  Peace  River  and  its  south- 
ern affluents  flow,  and  which  includes  Lesser  Slave  Lake  on 
the  east,  but  excludes  the  mountain  gorges  of  the  west  and 
the  Arctic  lands  north  of  Fort  Vermilion,^  or  thereabouts. 
Here  valley-walls  reveal  the  same  stones  and  earth  as  the 
constituents  of  the  second  and  third  steppes ;  rolling  prairies 
alternate  with  pine  and  poplar  thickets ;  and  west  of  Smoky 
River,  which  joins  the  Peace  River  at  what  is  now  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company's  Fort  of  Peace  River  Landing,^  there   are 
3,000  square  miles  of  true  prairie.     Near  Fort  Vermilion  Mac- 
kenzie first  noted  the  effects  of  the  Pacific  winds  in  winter 
(1792-3);  at  Peace  River  Landing  he  built  a  fort  on  what  is 
now  a  potato  patch,  and  near  where  pumpkins  are  growing  ; 
and  in  1907  there  was  a  saw-mill,  a  flour-mill,  and  *  quite  a 

1  Chinook  winds.  2  c.  58°  25'  N.  lat.  ^  <,.  56°  10'  N.  lat. 

VOL,  V.     PT,  in  p 


2IO        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Settlement  at  Fort  Vermilion  \  wheat  being  the  '  staple  crop'. ^ 
Beet,  tomatoes,  and  apples  ripened  on  an  experimental  farm 
which  was  carried  on  by  the  Dominion  Government,  and 
the  Hudson  Bay  factors  led  the  new  departure.  These  open 
tracts  to  the  north  of  the  shut  tracts  of  the  Upper  Athabasca 
are  to  prairie-land  what  real  is  to  Indian  summer,  or  after- 
math is  to  harvest.  The  Peace  and  Athabasca  flow  north 
into  the  Mackenzie,  and  the  North  and  South  Saskatchewan 
east  into  Lake  Winnipeg ;  yet  here,  at  all  events,  prairie-land 
ignores  watersheds.  This  strip  of  prairie-land  has  no  natural 
boundaries  on  its  north  and  shoots  up  indefinitely  towards 
the  Arctics,  or  merges  in  the  valley  of  the  Mackenzie. 
or  e.g  the  The  whole  valley  of  the  Mackenzie  from  Athabasca  Land- 
Basin  -  '^^S  ^^  ^^^  Arctics  is  also  a  land  of  hope.  Edmonton  is  now 
the  one  and  only  gateway  to  the  Mackenzie.  A  portage,  one 
hundred  miles  long,  which  is  now  a  coach-road  and  will  soon 
be  a  rail-road,  leads  from  Edmonton  to  Athabasca  Landing  on 
the  Athabasca  River,  which  having  risen  in  the  south-west 
henceforth  flows  north  and  north-west,  merging  successively 
in  Lake  Athabasca,  Great  Slave  River  and  Lake,  and  Mac- 
kenzie River,  and  reaching  the  Arctic  Ocean  nearly  two 
thousand  miles  from  the  Landing.  Athabasca  Landing  has 
two  or  more  competing  stores — the  principal  competitors 
being  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  R^villons  Fr^res — a 
French  Roman  Catholic  and  an  English  Protestant  mission ; 
and  these  two  trading  and  proselytising  establishments  face  or 
alternate  with  one  another  from  end  to  end  of  the  Great  River, 
reproducing  in  the  oddest  and  friendliest  way  the  piebald 
uncivilization  of  the  Red  River  Colony  of  nearly  a  century 
ago,  or  the  piebald  civilization  of  the  Quebec  Province  of  to- 
day. The  line  of  life  is  very  frail,  and  keeps  strictly  to  the 
river  banks.  The  trade  and  mission  stations  on  the  river  are 
always  more  than  a  house  and  less  than  a  village,  are  on  the 
average  one  hundred  miles  apart,  and,  usually  command,  as 

^  Official  Handbook^  Alberta^  i907>  P«  54? 


THE   MIDDLE    WEST  211 

the  old  forts  on  the  St.  Lawrence  once  commanded  some 
rapid,  some  affluent,  or  some  inland  sea.  There  are  only 
two  important  rapids,  Fort  Macmurray  is  just  below  the  first, 
and  Fort  Smith  ^  is  just  below  the  second.  There  are  two 
inland  seas,  and  Fort  Chipewyan  is  to  Lake  Athabasca  what 
Fort  Resolution  is  to  Great  Slave  Lake,  or  what  Kingston 
or  Fort  Frontenac  once  was  to  Lake  Ontario.  Three  great 
affluents  join  it  on  the  west,  the  Peace,  Liard,  and  Peel,  and 
Forts  Chipewyan,  Simpson,  and  Macpherson  control  their 
respective  points  of  junction.  The  mouths  of  three  important 
eastern  affluents  are  commanded  by  Forts  Macmurray,  Nor- 
man, and  Good  Hope ;  there  is  one  outlying  fort  on  the  east 
of  Lake  Athabasca,  and  another  on  the  north  of  Great  Slave 
Lake,  and  Fort  Macpherson  and  its  dependency,  Arctic  Red 
River  Post,  although  situate  on  the  spot  where  the  Delta  of  the 
Mackenzie  begins,  send  out  feeders  to  the  far  north-west  and 
north-east.  On  the  north-west  Herschel  Island,  where  there 
are  American  whalers,  an  Anglican  mission,  and  a  post  of  the 
Royal  North- West  Mounted  Police,  trades  with  Fort  Macpher- 
son ;  and  from  time  to  time  there  is  an  outpost  of  the  Fort  on 
the  north-east  near  Cape  Bathurst.  Steamers  ply  regularly 
between  the  rapids  at  Macmurray  and  Fort  Smith,  and  between 
Fort  Smith  and  Macpherson.  Timber  lines  the  valley  up  to 
68°  55  '  N.  lat. ;  and  potatoes,  turnips,  carrots,  and  cabbages 
are  habitually  grown  at  Fort  Good  Hope,'^  The  barest 
minimum  of  white-man's  civilization  penetrates  along  this 
favoured  channel  withotit  one  break  from  the  crowded  centres 
of  the  western  steppe  into  that  desolate  uninhabitable  region, 
with  which  the  first  chapter  of  this  book  dealt.  It  would 
almost  seem  as  though  we  had  wheeled  round  again  to  the 
solitudes  of  the  starting-place.  But  there  is  nothing  cyclical 
about  the  shape  or  destiny  of  Canada;  and  if,  as  is  probable, 
the  Mackenzie  basin  and  Peace  River  District,  instead  of 
having  only  a  few  hundred  white  men — as  is  the  case  now— 

1  c.  6o°  N.  lat.  2  c.  66^  20'  N.  lat. 

P   2 


212        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

becomes  as  populous  as  the  analogous  Russian  Province 
upon  the  Lower  Ob  and  Irtish — where  there  are  already 
a  million  and  a  half  free  Russians — that  result  will  be  due 
partly  to  the  fertility  of  the  strip  between  Athabasca  Landing 
and  the  Arctic  region,  but  partly  too  to  the  fact  that  the  courses 
of  the  Athabasca,  Peace,  Liard,  and  Peel  lure  men  across  the 
western  mountains ;  for  Canada  has  always  been  and  still 
is  racing  westward.^ 
and  Uadi  The  Strip  between  the  dry  lands  and  Rockies  is  of  peculiar 
to  \ipasses  interest  as  the  approach  to  the  mountain  passes,  of  which 
Rockies,  thirteen  are  well-known  and  six  are  famous  in  Canadian 
history.  These  passes  are  given  on  the  opposite  page  in 
their  geographical  order  from  north  to  south,  and  the  order 
of  their  discovery  so  far  as  it  is  known  is  not  very  different 
from  their  geographical  order. 
The  third  The  Steppes  have  their  special  minerals  and  coal.  The 
^coal^  ^^  lowest  tertiary,  and  possibly  the  highest  secondary  beds  of 
the  third  steppe  yield  coal  at  Estevan  on  the  frontier;  at 
Frank  and  Fernie  on  Crow's  Nest  Pass ;  at  Canmore,  near 
Kicking  Horse  Pass,  and  Pembina  River  west  of  Edmonton ; 
and  lignite  or  coal  are  visible  at  Red  Deer  River  (52^  19'  N. 
lat.),  Edmonton,  Dunvegan  on  the  Upper  Peace,  and  else- 
where on  the  third  steppe,  and  even  in  the  far  north,  a  little 
below  Fort  Macmurray  and  a  little  above  Fort  Norman.^  East 
of  the  third  steppe  or  its  outliers,  there  is  an  interval  of  1,600 
or  1,700  miles  without  actual  or  possible  coal,  for  the  earth 
here  is  too  old  for  coal.  As  in  south-westernmost  Ontario, 
so  along  the  railway  lines  between  Medicine  Hat  and  Calgary, 
natural  gases  well  up  from  Devonian  depths ;  there  is  near 
Pincher  Creek  in  the  south,  and  Fort  Macmurray  in  the  north, 

^  Geological  Survey  of  Canaday  Reports  on  Peace  River  District  by 
William  Ogilvie,  1892;  and  by  James  Macoun,  1903;  Alfred  H. 
Harrison,  In  search  of  a  Polar  Continent ^  1908  ;  A.  Deans  Cameron, 
The  New  Norths  1910. 

*  Sir  A.  Mackenzie,  Voyages^  1801,  ed.  by  R.  Waite  (1903),  vol.  ii, 
p.  347  ;  Journals  of  Alexander  Henry  the  Younger ^  1799-1 8 14,  cd.  by 
E.  Cowcs,  pp.  679,  703. 


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THE   MIDDLE    WEST 


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214        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


the  second 
has  brick, 

all  had 
bisoHj  ami 
grizzlies. 


Jhe  chief 

hidians 

were 

Chippe- 

ways, 


oil  as  well  as  gas ;  and  the  bitumen  of  Athabasca  River,  and 
the  salt-springs  worked  since  1819  on  the  south-west  shore 
of  Lake  Winnipegosis  and  at  Swan  Lake,  are  also  Devonian. 

The  second  steppe  is  without  minerals,  but  bricks  are  made 
at  Moose  Jaw,  Regina,  and  Sidney, 

Bison,  miscalled  buffaloes,  are  the  characteristic  animals  of 
prairie-land.  They  were  seen  by  Kellsey  (169 1-2),  La  Ver- 
endrye  (1732  et  seq.),  and  Hendry  (1754-5),  madly  careering 
over  the  three  steppes.  Hearne  saw  them  on  the  south  shore 
of  Great  Slave  Lake  (1772)/  and  Mackenzie  heard  of  them 
there,  and  on  the  Liard,^  north-west  of  that  lake.  They  still 
existed  on  the  Liard  in  a  wild  state  in  1872.  Millions 
roamed  over  the  prairies,  and  in  one  day  in  1769  a  fur-trader 
counted  7,360  drowned  bisons  in  the  Lower  Assiniboine  ^ ; 
in  1 858-1 875  their  tracks  rutted  the  neighbourhood  of  Turtle 
Mountain,  but  their  selves  had  long  since  passed  westward ; 
and  now  the  bison  of  the  plain  survive  only  in  '  parks  *,  as  in 
Lithuania,  and  the  woodland  bison  are  being  preserved  with 
difficulty  from  total  extinction  by  the  efforts  of  the  Royal 
North- West  Mounted  Police  at  Fort  Smith.  Elk  ^  and  red- 
deer  ^  had  nearly  the  same  range  as  the  "bison,  except  that 
the  bison  shunned  marsh-lands,  and  the  red-deer  were  often 
replaced  by  reindeer  ^  in  the  north.  In  the  time  of  Alexander 
Henry  the  Younger  (17 99-1 8 14),  grizzly  bears  were  'abun- 
dant *  on  Pembina  Mountain,  and  though  *  not  numerous 
along  Red  River',  frequented  the  three  steppes,  but  with  the 
passing  of  the  bison  the  grizzlies  slunk  back  to  their  moun- 
tain lairs  west  of  prairie-land. 

When  bison  waned  the  Indians  of  the  prairie  dwindled; 
and  now  the  former  are  in  preserves  and  the  latter  in  reserves. 

East  of  the  Rockies,  south  of  the  Saskatchewan,  or  of  54° 


1  S.  Hearne, /oiij'ftej^,  p.  250.  2  1789-93. 

3  John  Macdonnell,  in  L.  R.  Masson,  Les  Bourgeois  de  la  Compagnie 
du  Nord-Ouest ,  1889,  Series  I,  p.  294. 

*  Moose.  '  Wapiti.  ^  Caribou. 


THE  MIDDLE    WEST  21 5 

N.  lat.,  and  north  of  the  frontier,  Chippeways  ^  dwelt  near  the  Crees, 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  Crees  on  the  first,  Assiniboines  on  the  ^{^<^^/^^^' 
'  '  who  were 

second,  and  the  Blackfoot  Confederacy  on  the  third  steppe.  Algonquin, 
All,  with  two  exceptions,  were  Algonquins  and  akin  to  all  the 
Indians  of  Eastern  Canada,  except  to  the  Hurons.     The  two 
exceptions  were  the  Assiniboines  and  Sarsis.     The  Assini-  Assini- 
boines  w^ere  offshoots  of  the  Sioux,  who  dwelt  in  Dakota  \^l^!^^ 
(United  States)  and  were  not  Algonquin ;  and  the  Assini- 
boines allied  themselves  to  the  Crees,  and  were  to  the  Sioux 
what  the  Hurons  of  Quebec  Province  were  in  old  times  to 
the  Iroquois  of  New  York  State.     The  Sioux,  too,  were 
waging  war  in  1680,  1731,  and  1854,  and  probably  in  all 
the  intermediate  years,  against  the  Chippeways,  who  for  a 
similar  reason  became  the  allies  of  the  Crees.     The  Sarsis  Sarsis 
were  offshoots  of  the  Chipewyan  '^  stock,  which  frequented  the  ^^yX)' 
River  Churchhill,  and  every  river  lying  north  of  54°  N.  lat. 
and  leading  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  but  the  Sarsis  seceded  from 
their  kith  and  kin  of  the  River  Peace  in  order  to  join  the 
Blackfoot  Confederacy.     Horses  and  guns  changed  Indian  whose 
boundaries,  but  did  not  change  Indian  alliances.     In  1738-9  f^an/ed^^ 
the  horse  seems  to  have  been  unknown  in  prairie-land ;  in  ivhen 
1742-3,  *Gens  des  Chevaux'  are  mentioned  in  the  far  west,  fS^t^^^Z^ 
somewhere  south  of  the  frontier;  Anthony  Hendry  (1754-5)  introdticed 
called  the  Blackfoot  Confederacy  of  the  third  steppe  '  Eques-  ^^^^^  '^^ 
trian  Indians  \  because  they  were  the  only  mounted  Indians; 
finally  in  Henry  the  Younger's  time  (1799  et  seq.)  all  prairie 
Indians  were  mounted,  and  the  Assiniboines  used  to  steal 
horses  from  their  western  neighbours  and  sell  them  to  their 
eastern  neighbours  for  guns.  ^     The  Blackfeet  were  the  first 
to  get  horses,  and  the  Crees  were  the  first  to  get  guns.     As 
the  horse  stole,  or  was  stolen,  into  prairie-land  from  south- 
west and  west,  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen  brought  their 

1   =  Ojibbeways.  ^   =  Athapascan. 

^  Sic  A.  Henry.     Comp.  Sir  J.  Palliser,  Report  on  Exploration,  p.  13, 
in  Accounts  and  Papers,  1859,  vol.  xxii,  p.  653. 


2l6        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

more  deadly  gifts  from  east  and  north-east.  The  Assini- 
boines  got  both  swiftness  and  strength  at  second-hand,  and 
were  squeezed  between  friends  and  foes ;  and  the  Crees,  with 
the  Chippeways  at  their  heels,  enlarged  their  range  at  the 
expense  of  the  Assiniboines,  Blackfeet,  and  Chipewyans, 
but  especially  the  defenceless  Chipewyans.  Thus  in  the 
eighteenth  century  they  invaded  the  Peace  River  District, 
enslaved  and  made  peace  with  the  Chipewyan  natives, — hence 
the  words  Slave  River  and  Peace  River — and  now  reach 
along  the  valley  of  the  Mackenzie  to  Lake  Athabasca.  Horses 
and  guns  accelerated  the  doom  of  the  bison,  nor  did  the 
self-dependence  of  the  Indians  survive  the  bison,  which  had 
hitherto  been  their  clothes,  houses,  bridles,  saddles,  bags, 
boats,  weapons,  fuel,  meat,  and  very  life. 


Authorities. 

The  following  are  indispensable  books  for  students  of  exploration  in 
prairie- land  : — 

L.  Burpee,  Search  for  the  Western  Sea,  T908  (an  excellent  history  of 
exploration,  with  bibliography,  &c.). 

Sir  W.  F.  Butler,  Great  Lone  Land,  1872  ;  Wild  North  Land,  1873, 
new  ed.  1904  (popular  classics). 

G.  M.  Dawson,  Report  07i  the  Geology  and  Resources  of , ,  .  the  \^th 
parallel  J  1875. 

Sir  S.  Fleming,  Report  on  .  ,  ,  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  1880. 

G.  M.  Grant,  Ocean  to  Ocean,  1873,  new  ed.  1877  (a  popular  classic). 

IT.  Y.  Hind,  Narrative  of  the  Canadian  Red  River,  &c,,  exploring 
Expedition,  2  vols.,  i860. 

Alexander  Henry  the  Younger  and  D.  lL\iom^?,on,  Journals  of  edited 
with  notes,  by  E.  Coues,  3  vols  ,  1897  (a  mine  of  information). 

J.  Macoun,  Manitoba  and  the  Great  North-West,  1882. 

Lord  Milton  and  W.  B.  Cheadle,  North-west  Passage  by  Land,  1865; 
new  ed.,  1901  (a  popular  classic). 

Sir  J.  Palliser's  Expeditio7is,  including  those  of  Sir  James  Hector  (the 
New  Zealand  geologist)  and  T.  W.  Blakiston  (the  explorer  of  China) 
are  contained  in  Parliameiitary  Reports,  printed  in  Accounts  and  Papers, 
1859,  Sess.  2  (vol.  xxii)  and  i860  (vol.  xliv). 

Important  Historical  Maps  are  contained  in  D.  Brymner,  Report  on 
Cancidian  Archives,  1887,  p.  ex.  (C.  F.  Hanington)  :  1890,  p.  53 
(Peter  Pond)  ;  in  Eliot  Coues*s  edition  of  A,  Henry  (u.  s.),  vol.  iii 
(David  Thompson)  ;  and  in  Palliser's  Reports  (u.  s.),  passim. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  MANY  NATIONS  OF  PRAIRIE-LAND 

Down  to  1870,  Europeans  invaded  prairie-land  from  two  British 
sides — Hudson  Bay,  Nelson  River,  and  Hayes  River  on  the  l%^^y^^_ 
north-east ;  and  Canada,  Lake   Superior,  and  Lake  of  the  land  from 
Woods  on  the  east — and  they  reached  its  threshold  in  canoes.  ^ay^^i6Qi 
In  1 69 1-2  Henry  Kellsey  explored  the  second  steppe,  and  in  1754,  &c.y 
1754-5  Anthony  Hendry  explored  the  third  steppe;  both 
came  from  Hudson  Bay,  both  journeys  were  on  foot,  and 
both  were  isolated;  for  in  those  days  the  Company,  which 
they  served,  received  but  never  returned  Indians'  visits. 

Meanwhile  La  Verendrye  and  his  sons  came  from  Canada  Canadians 
and  explored  Lake  Winnipeg  (1732),^  Winnipeg  {i  1 34),  cZada, 
and  Portage  La  Prairie  on  the  Assiniboine  (1737),'  where  1732,  ^'t-., 
they  planted  forts  at  confluences  and  portages  in  the  usual 
Canadian  style.     From  Portage  a  flying  visit  was  paid  to  the 
Missouri  (1738-9)  and  the  spurs  of  the  Rockies  (1742-3)  in 
the  United  States.     Except  at  the  start,  where  they  followed 
the  apparent  direction  of  the  Souris,  the  travellers  who  went 
on  foot  paid  no  heed  to  waterways.     These  were  the  first 
dashes  across  dry  land  in  Canadian  history.     From  Lake  and  the 
Winnipeg,  other  expeditions  were  made  up  the  Saskatchewan  ^^f^^^J^^^f 

fZt/CfS  Of 

to  its  forks ;  and  forts  were  founded  at  Cedar  Lake,*  Le  Pas  Manitoba 
Crossing,^  and  near  La  Corne^  on  the  way  (1740-9).     Two  ^^/^fif^^L 
long  lakes  and  three  short  straits  lay  between  the  two  forts  at  Cafiadian 
Cedar  Lake   and   Portage;  accordingly   a   third   fort*^  was-^^^^"^* 
founded  on  the  strait  between  Lakes  Manitoba  and  Winni- 
pegosis  in  order  to  connect  these  two  forts.     These  men 
clung  to  waterways,  and  threw  a  necklace  of  permanent  forts 

1  Fort  Maurepas.  2  jrQj.j-  Rouge.  ^  Fort  La  Reine. 

*  Fort  Bourbon.  ^  P'ort  Poskoia. 

*  Fort  Nipawi  and  St.  Louis.  ^  Fort  Dauphin. 


2l8        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

round  the  wet  parts  of  the  first  steppe,  including  however  the 
Assiniboine,  and  some  parts  of  the  Saskatchewan,  which  just 
lay  within  the  second  steppe.  La  Corne,  for  instance,  was 
within  the  second  steppe ;  and  one  flying  expedition  up  the 
South  Saskatchewan  is  said  to  have  reached  the  third  steppe. 
The  Indians  who  dealt  with  the  French-Canadian  forts  were 
Chippeways,  Crees,  and  Assiniboines ;  but  the  British  of 
Hudson  Bay  still  monopolized  the  Chipewyans,  who  came 
thither  by  the  Churchill.  Long  walks  on  foot  and  away 
from  rivers  were  new  in  Canada  and  left  little  mark  on  its 
history ;  but  the  chain  of  posts  on  the  lake-shores  and  river- 
banks  endured,  and  meant  that  the  history  of  prairie-land 
had  at  last  begun. 
Rivalry  Shortly  before  and  after  the  conquest  of  1759  prairie-land 

fhe^Saskat'^'''^^  left  alone.     In  1767  James  Finlay  and  Thomas  Curry 
chewan,      retraced  the  old  French  waterways  from  Montreal  as  far  as 
^whlnce       ^ip^wi  on  the  Saskatchewan;  in  1772  the  Frobishers  fol- 
Canadians  lowed,  and  built  a  house  at  Cumberland  on  a  backwater  of 
^Rockies  via  ^^  Saskatchewan  within  easy  reach  of  Frog  Portage,  where 
Cumber-     they   intercepted   the    Chipewyans    on  the   way   down   the 
^AthabaTca   Churchill  to  Hudson  Bay.     The  Hudson  Bay  Company  took 
Lakeland   up  the  challenge,  sent  Matthew  Cocking  by  Hendry's  route 
River         ^^  Nipawi  in  order  to  spy  out  the  land  (1772),  and  estab- 
1793;         lished  their   first  inland   settlement  at   Cumberland  House 
(1773).     But  the  Frobishers,  Peter  Pond,  Alexander  Henry 
the  elder,  and  other   Canadians  were   already  flitting  still 
further  into  the  heart  of  the  Chipewyan  country,  where  they 
built  'houses'  and  forts  at  Frog  Portage  (1774),  La  Crosse 
Lake   (1776),  and  Athabasca  River   (1778-84)   and  Lake 
(1788);  whence    Sir    Alexander    Mackenzie    ascended    the 
Peace  River,  building  forts  as  he  went,  and  crossing  the 
Rockies  (1793).     Commercial  rivalry  diverted  the  way  to  the 
far  west  from  the  Saskatchewan  at  Cumberland  House ;  and 
the  first  through-way  lay  north  of  what  is  usually  called 
prairie-land,  through  a  labyrinth  of  rivers  and  lakes,  like 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      219 

those  in  the  Archaean  regions  of  Quebec  Province.  This 
through-route  persisted  until  the  close  of  the  century.  Cum- 
berland was  always  on  the  main  through-route  so  long  as 
men  went  to  the  west  solely  by  water,  and  it  is  still  sometimes 
used  as  a  junction  for  Arctic  Canada. 

Indian  politics  obstructed  for  awhile  the  natural  through-  and,  later, 
way  to  the  west  along  the  North  Saskatchewan.     Eagle  Hills,  ^^4/ 
near  Battleford,  was  reached,  built  on  (1779),  and  abandoned  Saskat- 
(1780)  owing  to  native  attacks;  a  lonely  adventurer  named '^  ^^^'^" 
Peter  Pangman  arrived  near  the  head-waters  of  the  North 
Saskatchewan,  saw  the  Rockies,  carved  his  name  upon  a  tree 
and  returned  (1790) ;  and  a  chain  of  forts  was  erected  along 
the  river  at  Prince  Albert,^  Carlton  House,^  Forts  George 
(1792),'  Saskatchewan  (1798),^  Edmonton  (1797,)"  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  (1802)^     Then  the  way  by  the  North 
Saskatchewan  superseded  the  older  and  more  circuitous  way. 
The  multiple  northern   chain  was  woven   first;  the  single 
chain  which  supplanted  it  came  second,  and  both  chains 
depended  partly  or  wholly  on  the  Saskatchewan  and  North 
Saskatchewan. 

A  third  chain  might  have   been,  but  was  not  stretched  but  not  via 
across  prairie-land  along  the  course  of  the  Saskatchewan  and  ^saska^-^ 
South  Saskatchewan,  where  there  were  forts  near  Batoche  cheivan ; 
(1790),  and  at  the  junction  of  Red  Deer  River  (1791,  1805, 
182 ly  the  latter  being  abandoned  from  time  to  time  because 
of  the  hostility  of  the  Blackfeet.     Beyond  this  point  no  one 
penetrated  from  the  east ;  but  Peter  Fiddler,  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  darted  down  from  Fort  George  on  the  north 
of  the  third  steppe  to  Bow  River  and  back  (1792-3);  and 
David  Thompson  or  his  men  traced  Red  Deer  River  and 
Bow  River  down-stream  from  the  west  (1800),  so  that  the 

1  Fort  Providence. 

2  Fort  Hudson  Hope  before  1794,  Carlton  House  1797. 

3  Tio°  41'  W.  long.  ■*  Old  Fort  Augustus. 

5  New  Fort  Augustus.  '^  Rocky  Mountain  House. 

'  Chesterfield  House. 


220         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 


the  Assini- 
boine  being 
used  to  go 
north  not 
west  and 
the  South 
Saskat- 
chewan 
being 
avoided. 


last  links  in  this  chain  were  put  on  late  in  the  day,  and 
sideways  or  backwards.  But  these  last  links  were  never  used 
as  one  chain. 

Alternative  first  links  in  the  same  chain  were,  or  might 
have  been  added  along  the  Assiniboine,  and  its  principal 
tributary  the  Qu'Appelle ;  but  these  too  were  never  used  as 
such.  The  Assiniboine  was  chiefly  used  for  circulating 
round  and  through  the  lakes*  of  the  first  steppe.  From 
Portage  La  Prairie  (1794)  men  went  by  White  Mud  River 
(1799),  Birtle  Creek  (1801),  the  junctions  of  the  Assiniboine 
with  the  Souris  (1797V  and  with  the  Qu  Appelle  (1790)/ 
Fort  Pelly  (1797),  Swan  River,  Red  Deer  Lake  (1800),  and 
then  either  by  Le  Pas  and  the  Lower  Saskatchewan,  or  by 
Lakes  Dauphin  (1775?),  and  St.  Martin  (1797),  back  to 
Lake  Winnipeg,  and  their  starting  place ;  and  at  all  of  these 
points  there  were  forts  at  or  before  the  dates  mentioned. 
All,  or  nearly  all  the  adventurers  revolved  in  a  circle,  only  a 
little  larger  and  better  held  than  under  the  French  regime. 
There  was  no  systematic  advance  along  the  Souris  or  the 
Qu'Appelle,  although  isolated  visitors  reached  the  Missouri 
from  the  Souris  on  horseback  and  returned ;  and  an  advanced 
post  was  stationed  near  Qu'Appelle  on  the  Qu  Appelle  and 
withdrawn  (1804).  Through-ways  were  waterways;  yet  the 
through-way  along  the  Qu'Appelle  and  South  Saskatchewan, 
which  seems  so  obvious  to  students  of  Professor  Hind  (i860), 
was  shunned,  and  Sir  John  Palliser  wrote  that  west  of 
Qu'Appelle  Fort  ^the  whole  country  in  this  latitude  is  un- 
t ravelled  by  the  white  man '  and  therefore  '  unknown. '  (1857).^ 
Only  one  route  was  used  across  the  whole  of  prairie-land 
from  east  to  west,  and  that  was  the  water-route  by  the 
Saskatchewan  and  North  Saskatchewan.  Canadian  instincts, 
which  clave  to  one  long  water-way,  with  many  short  cuts, 

1  Stone  Indian  River  House. 

2  Fort  Esperance,  near  Fort  Ellice. 

^  Accounts  and  Papers,  1859,  Sees.  2,  vol,  xxii,  p.  653  ;  Palliser*s 
Report  on  Explorations ^  See,  p.  14. 


THE  MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      221 

preferred  this  route  and  made  it  supreme,  at  all  events  until 
1870.  Before  that  date  men  thought  exclusively  in  water; 
thus  the  east  of  prairie-land  seemed  spacious  to  them  because 
it  presented  an  uninterrupted  water-base  300  miles  long  from 
north  to  south  ;  and,  west  of  the  large  lakes,  lines  of  movement 
seemed  narrowing  and  tapering  towards  the  North  Saskat- 
chewan. Capitals  w^ere  water-capitals.  At  the  lower  end  of  the 
base,  Winnipeg,  being  a  ganglion  of  waterways  and  portages 
to  the  north,  east,  south,  and  west,  was  important ;  and  at  the 
apex,  Edmonton,  being  a  similar  ganglion  for  Athabasca 
Landing,  Peace  River  (via  Lesser  Slave  Lake,  1799),  and  the 
sources  of  the  Athabasca  and  of  both  Saskatchewans,  rivalled 
Cumberland  as  a  water-junction.  Le  Pas,  Prince  Albert,  and 
Battleford  were  not  only  water-junctions,  but  fords  for  horses ; 
and  horses  supplemented  boats  in  a  way  unknown  in  Eastern 
Canada.  Posts,  where  men  exchanged  boats  for  horses, 
became  even  more  important  than  fords ;  and  Prince  Albert, 
Carlton  House,  and  Battleford  became  starting-points  and 
goals  for  short  cuts — or,  rather,  long  rides — either  across  the 
bed  of  the  North  Saskatchewan,  or  in  later  times  from  the 
Saskatchewan,  to  the  Swan  River,  Assiniboine,  and  Qu'- 
Appelle,  at  Forts  Pelly,  EUice,  and  Qu'Appelle.  These  long 
rides  over  treeless  levels  often  exceeded  two  hundred  miles, 
and  must  not  be  confused  with  the  portage  roads  of  Eastern 
Canada,  which  seldom  exceeded  ten  miles,  and  were  always 
artificially  cleared,  although  the  effects  produced  on  history 
were  similar. 

The  belief  that  the  development  of  prairie-land  must  pro-  Settlers 

ceed  along  rivers  and  lakes  and  their  banks  affected  history . /^^^^.^'^^ 
°  ^    similar 

The  permanent  settlement  of  prairie-land  by  men  who  were  water 
not  hunters  began  in  187 1,  but  for  twelve  years  or  more  dawn  ^o^^^^i 
had  been  visible,  and  sixty  years  ago  there  had  been  a  false 
dawn.     The  settlements  of  the  real  settlers,  like  those  of  the 
hunters,  concentrated  on  the  river-banks  near  Winnipeg ;  but 
there  were  also  the  germs  of  settlements  on  the  Saskatchewan 


222        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

and  North  Saskatchewan.     The  first  real  settlers  were  Lord 
Selkirk's  colonists,  isolated  '  freemen  ',  and  the  immigrants  of 
the  Seventies. 
e,  g.  Lord        Of  Lord  Selkirk's  colonists,  some  came  from  Sutherland- 
settlers  ^     ^^^^^  ^^^  Sligo  to  Hudson  Bay,  and  then  southward  by  Hayes 
1 812,  &C.J  River  and  Lake  Winnipeg  to  Winnipeg  (18 12  et  seq.),  and 
others  were  Swiss  mercenaries  who  fought  for  Canada,  and 
came  thence  westward  by  Lake  Superior,  Rainy  Lake,  and 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  to  German  Creek  ^  above  Winnipeg.     In 
winter  these  settlers  usually  flitted  for  food  to  Pembina  across 
the  border,  and  most  of  them  soon  fled  for  good,  the  British 
flying  by  the  usual  waterways  to  Eastern  Canada,  and  the 
Swiss  flying  up  the  Red  River  to  Dakota  (United  States) 
(1825).     Thus  two  human  currents  met  in  Winnipeg  from 
afar,  and  retired  diff"erent  ways,  leaving  deposits  behind. 
and  French      Then  two  Other  currents  set   in   from  the  eastern   and 
freemen^at  ^^^^^ern   waterways,    and    bore    'freemen'    to   Winnipeg. 
^or  near       French-Canadians,  after  serving  in  prairie-land  with  Canadian 
Wtnmpegy  j^^sters  (1732  et  seq.),  used  to  marry  Indian  wives  and  beget 
half-breeds,  and  settle  where  there  was  fish,  fowl,  fun,  and 
salt,  and  not  further  than  could  be  helped  from  bison.     As 
in   the   seventeenth   and   eighteenth    centuries,   Newfound- 
landers touched  at  Waterford,  and  hired  cheap  indentured 
Irish  servants,  of  whom  they  had  a  monopoly  ;  even  so,  after 
1 71 1,  Hudson  Bay  factors  touched  at  the  Orkneys  and  in- 
dentured and  monopolized  cheap  Scotch  servants,  and  when 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  invaded  prairie-land,  the  Orkney- 
men  did  what  the  French-Canadian  servants  did,  when  their 
indentures  expired,  after  Lord  Selkirk  had  shown  the  way.  All 
these  freemen  farmed  or  pretended  to  farm  along  the  banks  of 
the  Red  River  for  a  few  miles — Scotchmen  west  and  French- 
Canadians  east,  and  the  banks  of  the  lower  Assiniboine — 
Scotchmen  north  and  French-Canadians  south.'    The  farms 
were  wretched,  were  twenty  times  as  deep  as  broad,  and  after 
1   =  River  Seine.  ^  Milton  and  Cheadle,  oj).  cit.^  1862,  p.  44. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      2.2^^ 

1870  were  replaced,  even  as  the  farms  of  the  early  Dungharee 
settlers  around  Sydney  (New  South  Wales)  were  replaced  by 
the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Houses  straggled  with 
long  gaps  as  far  as  Portage  la  Prairie,  fifty-six  miles  west  of 
Winnipeg  (c.  1850);  Portage  was  regarded  in  i860  as  the 
most  westerly  limit  of  civilization,  and  *  the  last  house  '  lay 
ten  miles  west  of  it  in  1872.  For  the  sake  of  these  settlers 
of  a  bygone  age,  Winnipeg  became  a  cathedral  city  for  Roman 
Catholics  (1822)  and  Anglicans  (1849).  After  1859,  ^  ^^w 
traders  settled  at  Winnipeg  from  the  United  States. 

From  1859  to  1871  newspapers  (1859)^  mails  (1864),  the  {which 
first  Governor  (186 9),  steamers  {1870),  Commissioners (1870),  J^C^^J'' 
Sir  William  Butler  (though  a  member  of  the   Red  River  wholly  on 
Expedition)  (1870),   Fenians,   food,   travellers,    telegraphs,  ^^^^^-^^^^^ 
(1871),    Hudson   Bay  Company's   stores,  everything  came 
from  the  United  States  to  Winnipeg.^  Commercially  Winnipeg 
was  an  appanage  of  the  United  States  and  owed  its  growth 
in  the  Seventies  to  this  fact. 

In  these  longitudes  the  Americans  of  the  United  States 
were  a  quarter  of  a  century  ahead  of  the  Canadians,  and  the 
latter  sometimes  shone  with  the  reflected  prosperity  of  the 
former.  Almost  continuous  prairie  stretched  westward  from 
near  Chicago,  and  Germans  and  Scandinavians  were  pouring 
in  solid  masses  into  Wisconsin  in  the  Forties  and  into 
Minnesota  in  the  Sixties.*  St.  Paul's,  Minnesota,  was  also  a 
Mississippi  port,  and  a  steamer  bore  Lawrence  Oliphant  thence 
southward  in  1854.  In  1870,  and  even  afterwards,  St.  Paul's 
was  the  rich  uncle  and  patron,  Winnipeg  the  lonely  orphan. 
Civilization  at  Winnipeg  was  composed  of  many  opposing 
types,  which  met  there  beneath  the  shadow  of  many  churches, 
and  looked  for  material  help  exclusively  to  the  United  States. 

Freemen  had  not  only  cathedrals  and  churches  at  Winnipeer,  and  near  or 
^  ^  ^    at  Prince 

^  Alex.  Begg,  The  Creation  of  Manitoba,  1871  ;   7'he  Great  Canadian  Albert  and 
North-west,  1881.  Edmonton, 

2  L.  01iphant,Af«««<?j^/a(i855),  p.  158,  &c.;  J.  G.Kohl,  Travels,  1861, 
vol.  i,  pp.  321-2  ;  Sir  W.  Butler,  Great  Lone  Land,  1873,  pp.  53,  89,  &c. 


224 


HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 


{Edmon 
ton  be- 
coming 
dependent 
on  Mon- 
tana). 


All  writers 
believed  in 
water- 
routes  and 
some  in 
U.S.  routes 
only. 


but  mission  churches  at  Lac  la  Biche,  Lac  St.  Anne,  and 
Victoria,  which  are  over  fifty  miles  north,  west,  and  east  of 
Edmonton  respectively ;  afterwards  at  St.  Albert,  nine  miles 
north  of  Edmonton  (1859),  and  lastly  at  Edmonton  (1872), 
which  became  their  chief  resort.  There  were  also  freemen 
at  Prince  Albert,  whither  Scotch  and  English  missions 
attracted  them  in  the  Sixties.  Nor  were  missions  mere  con- 
centration camps ;  but  the  missioners  did  for  prairie-land 
what  the  monks  did  for  mediaeval  Europe  by  teaching  culti- 
vation of  the  soil.  As  in  the  south-east  corner,  so  in  the 
north-west  corner  of  the  great  oblong  of  prairie-land,  economic 
dependence  upon  the  United  States  began  and  grew.  Fort 
Benton  on  the  Missouri  (United  States)  had  a  steam-service 
to  the  Mississippi  in  1857.  In  1863  miners  reached  Bow 
River  from  the  w^est,  and  while  prospecting  were  refreshed 
from  Fort  Benton.  In  1870  Edmonton  sent  fur  thither;  and 
whisky  sellers  came  thence  to  the  Belly,  where  they  built  '  Fort 
Hamilton'  near  Lethbridge.^  Before  1875  a  Fort  Benton 
firm  began  to  trade  at  what  was  afterwards  Calgary,  midway 
between  Edmonton  and  Lethbridge.  Thus  Americans  began 
to  trace  the  third  line  of  the  oblong  and  to  open  a  new  trade 
route  along  it;  and  Fort  Benton  became  the  back  door,  just 
as  St.  Paul's  was  the  front  door  of  the  Canadian  prairie-land < 
Shortly  before  1870  predictions  were  rife  as  to  the  channels 
along  which  population  would  flow  to  and  between  these 
fixed  points.  Palliser  (and  Hind)  held  that  there  were  '  no 
means  of  access '  to  the  Red  River,  *  save  those  via  the  United 
States  '—that  is  to  say,  via  the  Red  River ;  ^  George  Dawson, 
who,  ever  since  1859,  had  been  prospecting  and  trying  to 
perfect  roads  over  portages  between  Winnipeg  and  Lake 
Superior,  championed  this  route,  and  held  that  civilization 
would  after  reaching  Winnipeg  flow  down  the  Red  River 

^  Sir  \V.  Butler,  Great  Lone  Land^  ed.  1873,  pp.  375  et  seq. 
Accounts  and  Papers y  1864  (40^)>  Correspondence  respecting  Sioux, 
vol.  xli,  p.  597. 

*  Accounts  and  Papers :  Further  Papers  (2732),  i860,  vol.  xliv,  p.  5. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      225 

Valley  and  up  the  Saskatchewan  and  North  Saskatchewan  to 
its  sources  beyond  Edmonton,  to  which  there  would  also  be 
access  by  the  American  trade-route  from  the  south  ;^  and  Hind 
and  Blakiston  urged  the  superior  attractions  of  an  alternative 
route  from  Winnipeg  up  the  Assiniboine,  down  the  Swan,  up 
the  Red  Deer,  and  down  the  Carrot  Rivers  to  the  Saskat- 
chewan. All  believed  in  water,  few  in  the  Qu'Appelle,  fewer 
in  the  South  Saskatchewan,  and  no  one  in  the  open  prairie, 
as  the  line  of  progress.  They  accounted  for  three  external 
sides  of  the  oblong,  but  not  for  the  fourth  side,  which  is  dry 
land  and  follows  the  frontier.  Their  gods  were  gods  of 
river  and  woodland,  and  they  were  sure  that  the  prairie 
would  be  skirted  on  the  north,  east,  and  west,  and  scouted 
except  for  pastoral  purposes. 

Then  four  events  occurred  which  turned  these  predictions  Then  Wol- 
awry,  or  fulfilled  them  with  a  difference.     These  four  events  ^L^IJ^' 
were  the  Red  River  Expedition  (1870),  the  establishment  oi destroyed 
the  Royal  North- West  MountedPolice  (1874),  the  arrival  of  the  ff/^f'''' 
colonists  of  the  Seventies,  and  the  Railways  of  the  Eighties.    U.S., 

In  1870  Lord  Wolseley  proved  that  the  route  between  ^  ^°' 
Lake  Superior  and  Winnipeg  which  Dawson  championed 
was  feasible  for  an  army;  and  after  him.  Governors  (1870) 
and  bodies  of  immigrants  from  Eastern  Canada  (1872)  came 
that  way.  Prairie-land  was  weaned  from  the  United  States 
and  restored  to  its  natural  mother.  In  the  Seventies  Winni- 
peg once  more  turned  its  face  eastward,  and  faced  two  ways, 
eastward  and  southward  equally. 

Military  intervention  was  temporary,  but  the  Royal  North-  the  Police 

West  Mounted  Police,  which  was  largely  recruited  from  Lord  ^^^^^^  ^^^ 

Wolseley's  officers  and  soldiers,  was  a  permanent  influence.  MacUod, 

The  first  feat  of  the  new  military  police  was  to  ride  eight  ^^o^ndon- 

^    ^  .  °      tng  water 

hundred  miles  from  Emerson  on  the  Red  River,  along  the  routes, 

frontier,  to  Forts  Hamilton  and  Macleod  near  the  Rockies.  ^^^"4; 

They  went  boldly  across  the  prairie,  without  regard  to  water- 

>  G.  M.  Dawson,  Geology  and  Resources ^  1875,  p.  301. 

VOL,  V.      PT.  Ill  Q 


226        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

courses  and  with  compass  as  guide.  To  some  extent  the 
International  Frontier  Commission  anticipated  them ;  but  it 
did  not  keep  to  Canada  as  the  police  did/  The  police  were 
the  true  white  pioneers  of  the  fourth  side  of  the  oblong,  and 
they  were  urged  by  four  political  motives  to  do  as  they  did. 
First,  the  War  of  the  Sioux  against  whites  raged  in  the 
American  prairies  1862-82,  and  refugees  and  their  pursuers 
frequently  crossed  the  border.  Secondly,  the  Americans 
between  Fort  Benton  and  Edmonton  lived  without  law,  and 
must  be  reached  at  all  costs.  Thirdly,  bison  were  scarce, 
and  half-breeds  and  Indians  were  moving  uneasily  westward 
towards  the  international  frontier  at  Wood  Mountain  and 
Cypress  Hills,  where  they  had  no  right.  Fourthly,  it  was 
a  characteristic  Canadian  maxim  that  soldiers  should  be  or 
should  precede  immigrants.  They  were  meant  to  be,  and  were, 
the  advanced  guard  of  civilization.  They  proved  that  on  the 
prairies  there  were  no  definite  lines  by  which  bodies  of  men 
must  go,  and  that  Geography  imposed  no  limits.  They  too 
asserted  Canadian  supremacy  and  self-reliance;  though  it 
sounds  odd  that  the  expedition  of  the  new  Police  force  came 
to  Emerson  through  Chicago,  and  on  reaching  Fort  Macleod, 
which  they  created,  drew  supplies  from  Fort  Benton.  But  the 
police  became  self-sufficient ;  they  took  ploughs  and  cows  to 
Macleod,  bought  American  cattle  (1876)  and  ranched  at 
Pincher  Creek  hard  by  (1878-9),  and  occupied  Calgary 
(1875),  near  which  the  Cochrane  Company  introduced  the  first 
large  ranches  in  188 1.  Except  in  Inter-Lake-Land  they  went 
from  end  to  end  of  prairie-land  on  horses  with  carts ;  cross- 
country routes  between  Estevan  and  Fort  Ellice,  and  between 
their  older  posts  at  Macleod,  Edmonton,  and  Swan  River 
(1874),  and  their  newer  posts  at  Calgary  (1875),  Carlton 
(1875),  Cypress  Hills  (1876),  Qu'Appelle  (1876),  and 
Wood  Mountain  (1877),  were  patrolled.  The  prairies  were 
at  last  conquered  through  and  through ;  and  old  trails  along 
^  Accounts  and  Papers^  1875,  c.  1131,  vol.  Ixxxii,  p.  53. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      227 

river-banks,  or  cutting  off  the  corners  of  rivers,  were,  if 
boggy  or  wooded,  improved  into  roads.  Theirs  were  the 
first  farms  on  Cypress  Hills  (Maple  Creek)  and  at  Battleford; 
their  head-quarters  at  Livingstone  (Swan  River),  Battleford, 
and  Regina  became  capitals  of  the  North- West  Provinces  in 
1875,  1877,  and  1882;  and  Regina  is  still  the  capital  of 
Saskatchewan.^ 

Meanwhile  new  colonists  came  in  flocks  and  crept  from  «^^  colon- 
point  to  point.  First  came  the  Mennonites,  or  disciples  of  a  ^-^  ^  o-. 
Frisian  named  Menno  or  Menno  Simons  (c.  1536),  \>iho -^^mtO' 
preached  doctrines  similar  to  those  of  the  Baptists  and  ^"  ^^^ 
Quakers  of  to-day.  War  against  war  made  them  flit  from 
country  to  country;  some  wandering  to  America  (1661-2) 
and  others  to  Prussia  (1670),  thence  to  the  Lower  Dnieper, 
the  Molotchna,  and  the  Lower  Volga  (1786),  and  thence  to 
Manitoba  (1874),  where  they  settled  in  compact  masses 
between  the  Red  River  and  Pembina  Mountain  in  the  foot- 
prints of  the  Royal  North-West  Mounted  Police ;  but  some 
loitered  by  the  way  and  settled  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
(United  States).^  They  preserved  their  native  language, 
which  was  Frisian,  German,  or  Flemish,  but  never  Russian, 
and  reproduced  the  old  German  village,  with  its  rundale 
agriculture  and  pastoral  communism ;  but  these  survivals 
of  the  past  are  dying  out^  as  they  have  already  died  out 
among  the  Mennonites  of  Ontario.^  Recently  they  numbered 
upwards  of  1 5,000  *  in  Manitoba ;  and  they  still  crowd  the 
frontier,  chiefly  on  the  west,  but  also  on  the  east  of  the  Red 
River.  Religion  made  them  fly  from  conscription  like  the 
plague,  and  they  became  collective  emigrants,  almost  by 
profession. 

In  1876  a  similar  large  body  of  Icelanders  arrived,  2S\tr  and  Ice- 
shedding  some  of  their  members  in  North  Dakota  (United  ^^  ^^^* 

^  E.  J.  Chambers,  Royal  North-West  Mounted  Police^  1906. 

2  A.  Brons,  Ur sprung  der  Taufgesinnten  oder  Mennoniteny  1884. 

3  Ante^  pp.  161,  173.  *  In  1901. 

Q  2 


228        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

States),  but  they  came  for  different  reasons  and  went  different 
ways.  They  came  because,  until  1894,  boys  and  girls  of 
sixteen  years  of  age  were  compelled  by  law  to  work  for 
wages  in  Iceland,  and  girls  who  earned  32^*.  per  annum  in 
Iceland  earned  £41  per  annum  in  Manitoba.  As  with  the 
Orkneymen,  the  wage-rate  w^as  their  goad  and  bait.  From 
Winnipeg  they  went  down  stream  by  boat  to  Gimli — which 
in  Icelandic  means  heaven — on  the  west  coast  of  Lake 
Winnipeg.  There  they  cut  down  trees — though  most  of 
them  now  saw  trees  for  the  first  time — minded  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  fished,  and  there  are  still  3,000  Icelanders  near 
Gimli,  all  or  nearly  all  of  whom  are  bilingual  and  speak 
better  English  than  any  other  foreigners  in  Canada;  but 
most  of  the  Icelanders  have  scattered  throughout  Manitoba, 
some  northward  to  the  Grassy  Narrows  of  Lake  Winnipeg, 
and  others  westward  to  the  west  shore  and  Narrows  (1888) 
of  Manitoba  Lake;  some  near  the  frontier  at  Grunde  (1881 
et  seq.)  learned  and  taught  agriculture  to  their  fellow  country- 
men at  Gimli  (before  1895);  and  the  intellectuals  leavened 
the  cosmopolitan  city  of  Winnipeg. 
on  the  National  colonies,  composed  of  Scandinavians  or  Germans, 

^Red  River  ^^^'^  already  common  on  the  American  prairies,^  and  there 
V alley, and y^^xQ  massed  Mennonites  in  Ontario;  but  an  exclusive  Ice- 
'^nthe  ^     landic  settlement  was  a  complete  novelty.     The  Icelanders 
frontier;     are  Still  in  the  van  of  real  settlers  on  the  west  coast  of  Lake 
Winnipeg,  and  they  who  flew  first  flew  furthest  down  the 
Red   River   Valley.      The   Mennonite    settlements    on   the 
frontier  were,  on  the  other  hand,  but  a  beginning  of  westward 
expansion,  which  left  Pembina  Mountain  behind  it  in  1876, 
and  lined  Rock  Lake  and  the  edge  of  the  Souris  Plain  in 
1878-9,  French-Canadians  from  the  United  States  (1878)  '^ 
and  Icelanders  (i88i)'  carrying  on  where  German  Men- 
nonites left  off. 

^  Ante^  p.  223,  note  2.  •  At  St.  Alphonse,  St.  L6on,  &c. 

8  At  Grunde  Baldur,  &c. 


THE  MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      229 

The  main  stream  of  development  lay  north  of  the  colonists  and  other 
of  the  frontier  and  south  of  the  colonists  of  the  large  lakes-  ^fjill^l^^ 
West  of  Portage  La  Prairie,  Rapid  City  (1877),  which  '<^2.%  the  Assini- 
colonized  direct  from  England,  Birtle  (1879),  Odanah,  Min-  ^^in/' 
nedosa  (1879-80),  Shell  River  (1879-80), — half-way  \i^\.-^^tvi predicted. 
Forts  Ellice  and  Pelly— and  Red  Deer  River  (1879-80) ^ 
near  Carrot  River,  marked  the  direction;  and  it  was  the 
same  direction  which  Hind  and  Blakiston  foretold. 

Then  three  towns  were  built  which  proved  that  a  new  Railways 
force  had  appeared  whose  workings  had  not  been  foretold.  Jj^/^^Jf^^^ 
Emerson  (1875) '^  on  the  frontier  was  the  first  pure  railway /<?w;/j,  5.^. 
town,  attaining  its  zenith  in  1879,  when  the  first  Manitoban  ^J^^^^y^^^^ 
railway  was  completed   between  Winnipeg   and  St.  Paul's  Brandon ^ 
(United  States).    It  was  the  gateway  from  the  South.    Selkirk  Z'ay7we7e' 
(1875)^  was  the  second  pure  railway  town,  and  would  \i2LVQ  compara- 
been  the  gateway  from  the  east,  had  not  Winnipeg,  fearing  ^aaomu^'^ 
eclipse,  offered  to  build  a  railway  bridge  over  the  Red  River 
(1879),   and    so    lured    the    Canadian   Pacific   Railway   to 
Winnipeg,  although  Winnipeg  is  out  of  the  direct  way  to  its 
far  western  goal.     By  means  of  this  bridge  Winnipeg  sup- 
planted  Selkirk   as   the    gateway   between    east   and   west. 
Then  a  third  railway  town  sprang  into  life.     In  1879  i^  was 
decided  that  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  should  pass  south 
of  Lake  Manitoba  (instead  of  across  its  Narrows),  and  so  to 
Edmonton.     Two  years  later  plans  were  re-shuffled ;  and  its 
present  course,  which  is  a  long  way  south  of  Edmonton,  was 
resolved  upon.     Immediately  Brandon  was  transformed  from 
an  empty  meadow  to  a  town  (1881).*    Brandon  was  the 
crucial  example.    But  for  the  railway  there  was  no  reason  for 
the  existence   of  Brandon;  and  men   knew  now  that   the 
railway  could  go  wherever  it  would  in  prairie-land,  and  that 
men  and  towns  would  follow,  in  the  same  way  as  effect 
follows  cause,  or  noon  sunrise. 

1  Macoun,  Manitoba  and  the  Great  North-  West,  pp.  94^6, 467  et  seq. 

2  Population  in  1906  =  900.  ^  Population  in  1906  =  2,700. 
^  Population  in  1906  =  10,400. 


230        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 
the  C.P.R.      From  Brandon  westward  to  Calgary  the  Canadian  Pacific 

afierBran-  ^    ..  ,    r^r^        \  -,  ..1  , 

don  follow-  -K-ailway   (188 1-2)    pursued   a   course   as   original   as   that 

ingnoriver  pursued  by  Sir  George  French  and  his  police,  and  equally 

but  only       ^  ^       _         ,   °  .  ,       a.m.,  ,.   , 

the  general  momentous.     Brandon  is  on  the  Assinibome,  but  a  little  west 

direction     of  Brandon  the  railway  takes  to  the  open  prairie  until  it 

oftheQtl'-  .  ^r     ^'    •  TT  ,  r^  1       ^     ,  , 

Appelle       reaches  Medicine  Hat,  on  the  South  Saskatchewan,  more 

and  South  tj^^n  four  hundred   miles  away,  and   almost  on   the  same 

Saskat-  .  r   1    .      -I         T 

chewan,      mmute   of  latitude.     Its   course   is   not   an  air-line,  for  it 

wanders  north  as  though  it  would  shadow  the  Qu' Appelle, 
and  then  south  as  though  it  would  shadow  the  South 
Saskatchewan ;  and  it  seems  to  strike  a  compromise  between 
the  route  by  these  two  rivers  and  the  plain  prairie  route  on 
its  south.  As  it  swept  westward,  Moosomin,  Indian  Head, 
and  Regina  (1882)  rose  from  the  dust  and  became  markets 
for  settlers  on  the  Qu'Appelle ;  and  Regina,  Moosejaw,  Swift 
Current,  Maple  Creek  Town,  and  Medicine  Hat,^  when  they 
were  founded  (1882-3),  drew  the  Police  northward  from  their 
hill-stations  on  the  frontier,  and  became  centres.  Between 
Medicine  Hat  and  Calgary  the  railway  followed  from  afar  or 
abbreviated  the  long-neglected  course  of  the  South  Saskatche- 
wan. The  new  power  was  creative,  conjuring  up  towns  from 
nothing,  and  scattering  men  from  nowhere  in  its  wake. 
Although  Meanwhile  water  exercised  its  old  magnetic  power  to  guide 
'^sUlUn-^^  civilization.  Steamers  ascended  the  main  and  North  Saskat- 
duced  chewan  to  Edmonton  (1875),  a^d  the  Assiniboine  to  Fort 
'andZerl  ^^^^^^  (1879);  Pnnce  Albert  boasted  of  a  steam  saw-mill 
more  used;  {1875)  and  attracted  the  half-breeds,  who  sold  their  so-called 
farms  near  Winnipeg,  and  settled  on  what  they  called  farms, 
sixteen  times  as  long  as  wide,  between  where  the  prongs  of 
the  South  and  North  Saskatchewan  diverge  (1875).  Settlers 
too  settled  on  Carrot  River,  near  Red  Deer  River,  and  between 
Swan  River  and  the  Saskatchewan,  before  1885;  on  many 
prairie  lakelets — Foam  Lake,  Quill  Lake,  and  Nut  Lake — 

^  Population  in  i9o6of  these  seven  towns  c.  1,200,  1,500,6,200,6,200, 
600,  700,  and  3,000  respectively. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      231 

one  or  two  men  lived  like  hermits  in  a  desert  minding  cattle ; 
and  at  Humboldt  two  women  minded  a  telegraph  station 
(1880),  so  that  the  historic  circle  of  settlements  round  the 
large  lakes  and  their  immediate  feeders  was  now  widening 
westward  across  the  second  steppe  and  becoming  fuller  from 
day  to  day.  Prince  Albert^  became  a  nucleus  for  these 
settlers  on  its  east  as  well  as  on  its  west. 

Then  Riel's  rebellion  broke  out,  and  war  cast  its  search-  thtisin 
light  over  the  problems  of  prairie-land.    The  puzzle  was  how  Hinon^' 
to  get  to  the  Mesopotamia  of  the  half-breeds,  and  what  1885, 
should  be  base,  rest-camp,  or  goal,  and  whether  to  go  there 
by  steamer,  railway,  or  horse ;  and  this  was  how  the  puzzle 
was  solved. 

First  Carlton  was  evacuated,  and  large  bodies  of  the  police  Prince 
galloped  across  the  prairie  from  Regina  by  Qu'Appelle  and  ^^^^  ^^^ 
Batoche  to  Prince  Albert,  which  became  the  rallying-point  in  soldiers 
the  war  and  has  ever  since  supplanted  Carlton.     Then  came  ^ays^^ 
the  soldiers,  all  of  whom  used  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway — prairie- 
which  was  then  complete  from  Ottawa  to  Calgary,  except  for  ^j^^  'saskat- 
short  gaps  near  Lake  Superior — some  leaving  the  train  at  chewan 
Qu'Appelle,  others  at  Swift  Current,  and  others  at  Calgary,  ^^^^  ^* 
whence  they  marched  straight  across  lonely  prairies  to  Batoche, 
Battleford,  and  Edmonton  respectively.    Prisoners  were  taken 
straight  from  Batoche  and  Battleford  to  Regina.     The  un- 
conventional railway  was  supplemented   by  the  traditional 
two-hundred  mile  short  cuts  or  long  rides.     Nor  was  the 
river  neglected.     The  Edmonton  detachment  descended  the 
North  Saskatchewan  or  its  banks  to  Mesopotamia,  and  some 
of  them  returned  thence  by  steamer  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and 
Winnipeg,  having  completed  half  of  their  circuit  of  prairie- 
land  by  water  or  river  banks.    A  steamer  which  was  prepared 
at  Medicine  Hat  descended  the  South  and  main  Saskatchewan 
with  supplies;  and  a  place  called  Saskatoon  on  the  South 
Saskatchewan,  where  there  chanced  to  be  one  or  two  houses, 
1  Population  in  1906  =  3,000. 


232        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

received  the  wounded.  Reliance  was  placed  on  the  new 
railway,  the  older  rides  across  the  plains,  and  the  oldest 
waterways ;  but  amongst  the  latter,  thanks  to  the  new  railway, 
the  South  Saskatchewan  for  the  first  time  took  its  rightful 
place.  All  three  methods  were  used  in  harmony  with  one 
another,  and  each  made  for  Canadian  unity,  the  railway  on  a 
large,  the  river  on  a  medium,  and  the  open  prairie  on  a  small 
scale — if  the  scale  of  a  hundred  miles  to  an  inch  may  be 
applied.  This  war  was  the  third  national  movement  which 
knit  prairie-land  to  itself  and  to  Canada;  and  it  was  even 
more  national  than  the  war  of  1870,  and  the  police  move- 
ments of  1874.  Nevertheless,  the  Canadian  general  in  com- 
mand reached  Winnipeg  by  way  of  Chicago.  The  foster- 
mother  was  still  just  visible  in  the  background  behind  the 
real  mother.  ^ 
yet  main  Since  1 885  lines  of  development,  except  in  Inter-Lake- 
develop'  Land,  follow,  unless  they  are  followed  by,  a  railway.  The 
ment  began  line  is  always  from  east  to  west  except  in  the  far  west  and 
^foUowrail'  ^^^^^^  where  cross  lines  run  north  and  south.  Lines  of 
way^  lines y  development  may  therefore  be  learned  from  railway  lines  : 
'^eizht  •  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^  following  numbering  indicates  the  geographical  order 
from  north  to  south  of  the  six  railway  lines  which  run  west. 
(i)  The  Canadian  Northern  Company  took  on  the  task  of 
connecting  Portage  ^  with  Edmonton.  Between  Portage  and 
Dauphin,^  and  between  the  North  Saskatchewan  and  Edmon- 
ton, it  followed,  or  but  slightly  varied,  the  historic  waterways ; 
but  between  Fort  Pelly  and  the  North  Saskatchewan'^  it  went 
by  the  usual  two-hundred-mile  short  cut  across  the  prairie,  to 
which,  however,  there  is  a  circuitous  variant  (i  a),  by  Red  Deer 
River,  Prince  Albert,  and  the  south  Saskatchewan,  which 
shadows  waterways  more  or  less,  and  is  the  work  of  more 
than  one  Company.     (3)  South  of  this  first  through>route  the 

^  Rev.  R.  G.  Macbeth,  The  Making-  of  the  Canadian  West,  2nd  ed., 
1905  ;  J.  Mason,  The  Northwest  Rebellion  of  1885,  in  Can,  Encyclo- 
paedia^ by  J.  C.  Hopkins,  vol.  iv,  p.  519. 

2  Population  in  1906  =  5,000.  3  Population  in  1906  =  1,700. 


THE  MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      233 

Grand  Trunk  Pacific  defies  natural  ways  and  makes  straight 
for  Edmonton  (1909),  and  below  it  branch -lines  from  Saska- 
toon or  thereabouts  to  Calgary  and  Wetaskiwin  are  being 
built  by  other  Companies,  with  equal  disregard  for  natural 
features.  The  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Railway  is  flanked  on 
either  side  by  incipient  railways  through  (2)  the  Yorkton  ^ 
and  (4)  Pheasant  Hill  districts,  which  mimic  or  vary  the 
respective  courses  of  the  Assiniboine  and  Qu'  Appelle ;  and  the 
Pheasant  Hill  branch  now  reaches  Saskatoon.  (5)  Further 
south  is  the  pioneer  railway  from  east  to  west,  namely,  the  Cana- 
dian Pacific,  which  now  forks  near  Medicine  Hat,  and  leads  not 
only  to  Calgary  (5  ^),  but  to  Lethbridge,  Macleod,  and 
Crow's  Nest  (5  d).  (6)  Along  or  near  the  frontier  railways 
go  from  the  Red  River  to  Estevan  and  Alma,  and  thence, 
hugging  or  parallel  with  the  Coteau,  branch  off  to  Moose 
Jaw  and  Regina.  Probably  the  more  southerly  of  these 
railways  will  soon  be  continued  from  the  Coteau  to  Lethbridge 
in  the  very  footprints  of  Sir  George  French.  {7)  Lethbridge"^ 
has  two  railways  to  the  border,  and  a  third  railway  joins  it, 
or  rather  Macleod,^  with  Calgary*  and  Edmonton.^  This 
railway  from  Macleod  to  Edmonton  is  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant railway  running  south  and  north,  and  it  follows  more  or 
less  the  old  American  trade-route  of  1870.  (8)  The  Regina- 
Saskatoon  railway,  which  also  goes  from  south  to  north, 
represents  a  '  short  cut '  often  used  in  the  war  of  1885.  As 
lines  of  development  the  six  railway  lines  which  run  west- 
ward are  of  primary  importance,  and  the  cross  lines  are 
only  of  secondary  importance. 

Of  these  routes  i,  i  a,  2,  and  4  represent  water-routes,  and  only  the ^ 
7  represents  a  trade-route,  which  men  foresaw  ;  5  ^,  5  <^  and  ^      ^^  ^j^^ 
perhaps  the  idea  of  5,  represent  water-routes  w^hich  men  did  west  being 
not  foresee  as  the  destined  line  of  progress ;  i  3,  8,  and  parts  ^  ^^^^  ' 
of  6  were  well-known  short  cuts  which  men  thought  of  as 

*  Population  in  1906  =  1,400.  ^  Population  in  1906  =  2,300. 

3  Population  in  1906  =  1,100.  *  Population  in  1906=12,000. 

^  Population  in  1906  =  14,100. 


234        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

roads  only,  but  which  have  proved  lines  of  progress ;  much 
of  6,  and  perhaps  the  idea  of  5,  came  from  the  frontier  ride  ; 
and  much  of  5,  and  nearly  all  of  3,  were  so  simple  and 
straight  that  they  were  unexpected  and  came  last. 
Theprocess  The  one  obvious  characteristic  feature  of  prairie-land, 
setT/emmt  ^^^^ty^  i^s  capacity  to  develop  in  any  direction  whatever,  was 
followed  unexpected ;  and  its  less  obvious  capacity  to  attract  and 
^sTlf^emdent  accommodate  settlers  from  everywhere  was  equally  unexpected. 
and  groups  Nowadays  the  former  characteristic  seems  self-evident,  but 
d^samed^^  the  latter  still  seems  a  paradox.  Instead,  then,  of  tracing  the 
progress  of  population  along  the  railroads,  where  people  grew 
like  primroses  by  a  pathway  in  spring,  or  of  tabulating  results 
which  would  be  out  of  date  while  these  pages  are  passing 
through  the  press,  I  will  note  a  few  of  the  motley  national 
groups  which  are  scattered  along  the  various  lines  of  advance, 
and  which  distinguish  prairie-land  from  the  rest  of  Canada. 
Associated  families,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and  Roman  Catholic 
congregations,  Regiments,  and  other  social  groups  in  eastern 
Canada  were  usually  British  or  American,  and  there  were  two 
or  three  instances  of  American- German  groups  in  Ontario ; 
but  there  is  nothing  like  the  large  quantity  and  diversity  of 
*  colonies  composed  almost  exclusively  of  persons  speaking  the 
same  language  and  following  the  same  social  and  religious 
customs'^  which  permeates  prairie-land  throughout.  The  dates 
in  brackets  indicate  the  year  at  or  before  which  these  groups 
made  their  earliest  appearance.  The  lists,  too,  are  as  arbi- 
trary and  eclectic  as  the  lists  of  a  vagrant  collector  of  insects 
or  butterflies.  In  omitting  the  British  element,  which 
advanced  silently  and  seldom  in  groups,  the  hero  and  more 
than  half  the  story  is  omitted,  and  the  reader  should  always 
keep  before  his  imagination  the  following  figures,  which  speak 
for  themselves,  and  which  it  would  be  idle  to  encumber  with 
commentary. 

^   Canada  :  Rep.  of  the  Commissioner  for  Immigration^  1892. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF   PRAIRIE-LAND      235 
The  Population  of  British  Origin  preponderates  : — 


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236        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

The  Population  doubled  formerly  every  ten,  latterly  every 
five,  years : — 

Population  x  1,000  includes  Half-Breeds^  Indians,  &c. 


1871 

1881 

1 901 

1906 

Manitoba 

25? 

66 

255 

366 

Saskatchewan 

I  24? 

33  1 

91 

258 

Alberta 

73 

185 

Total 

49 

99 

419 

809 

Men  born  in  the  British  Empire  are  diminishing  relatively 
to  those  born  elsewhere : — 

Manitoba  and  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta 


Born  in 
Canada 

Elsewhere 
in  Br,  E. 

Total 
Br,E. 

Born 
in  U.  S. 

Other  foreign 
places 

Total 
foreign 

22  p.c. 
30  p.  c. 

I90I 
1906 

66  p.c. 
55P-C. 

12  p.  c. 
15  pc. 

78  p.c. 
70  p.c. 

5PC 
II  p.c. 

17  p.c. 
19  p.c. 

In  the  following  sketches  of  samples  of  the  composite  minor- 
ity of  foreigners  it  should  be  remembered  too  that  *  at '  means 
*  near  \  and  *  near  '  means  '  fairly  far  off ' ;  for  the  only  settle- 
ments of  any  interest  were  rural,  and  were  in  townships, 
or  groups  of  townships,  and  not  in  towns  or  villages, 
(i)  Groups      (i)  Passing  from  south-east  to  north-west  along  the  rail- 
on^the^ first  ^^^^   from   Portage,  the  Germans   of  Tupper   (1893)   are 
railway      succeeded  by  the  French  Canadians  of  Makinak  (1907)  and 

z  nclude 

St.  Rose  (1893),  and  the  Galicians  of  Dauphin  Lake  {1897); 
on  the  direct  route  thence  to  the  west  {1  b)  by  Doukhobor 
Russians  at  Kamsack  and  Good  Spirit  Lake  (1899),  by 
American  Icelanders  at  Foam  Lake  (1904)  and  Quill  Lake 
(1906),  and  by  Mennonites  at  Humboldt  (1903);  on  the 
northern   detour  (i  a)  by  Doukhobors  near   Thunder  Hill 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND       237 

(1899),  Scandinavians  near  Duck  Mountain  (1903),  English- 
men and  Austrians  towards  Prince  Albert,  German  Roman 
Catholics  from  Minnesota  at  Hoodoo  Plains  (1903),  and 
South  Russian  Germans  (189 1),  Mennonites  {1893),  Galicians 
(1893),  Frenchmen  (1894),  Doukhobors  (1899),  Hungarians 
and  Roumanians  (1902)  side  by  side  with  the  half-breeds  of 
Mesopotamia.  Between  Prince  Albert  and  Fort  Pitt,  and 
between  Carlton,  and  Battleford  human  bridges  are  almost 
finished  along  the  old  short  cuts  across  the  Great  Bend  of  the 
North  Saskatchewan ;  and  between  Battleford  and  Edmonton 
the  architects  of  history  set  to  work  at  either  end  and  met 
midway  in  1904,  the  Rev.  I.  M.  Barr's  EngHshmen  creating 
Lloydminster  from  the  east  (1903-4)  ;  and  Moravians  (1892), 
Galicians  (1892),  and  Scandinavians  (1896)  starting  the  work 
from  the  west  at  Brudersheim,  Wostock,  and  Edna  respec- 
tively. Of  these  experiments  in  wholesale  national  colonizing 
the  Galician  and  Doukhobor  experiments  were  the  most 
striking  and  original. 

The  Galicians  are  Ruthene  or  Little  Russian  peasant-  Galicians, 
farmers,  of  the  Greek  Church,  from  Galicia  in  Austria,  where 
for  many  centuries  Roman  Catholic  Polish  nobles  and 
townsmen  outnumbered  and  oppressed  them.  Thus  they 
were  compelled  to  acknowledge  Papal  supremacy,  and  to  call 
themselves  '  Uniats  \  so  that  they  might  be  severed  from 
communion  with  their  '  orthodox  '  Russian  relations.  But 
religion  only  aggravated  a  feud  which  was  essentially  racial 
and  social,  and  the  trek  to  the  Canadian  prairie-land  which 
only  began  in  1892  sometimes  brings  more  than  5,000  immi- 
grants in  a  year.^  The  immigrants  were  nearly  all  farmers 
of  small  farms,  which  they  sold  in  order  that  they  might 
emigrate  ;  they  are  especially  valuable  where  woods  have  to 
be  cleared  or  labourers  are  wanted,  and  their  adaptability  to 
British  ways  and  speech  equals  that  of  the  better  Mennonites, 

^  See  Law  Reports,  1908,  Appeal  Cases,  p.  65,  Zacklynski  versus 
Polushie. 


238         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

is  only  excelled  by  that  of  the  Icelanders,  and  far  excels 
that  of  the  Doukhobors.     Moreover,  unlike  the  Mennonites 
and  Doukhobors,  they  are  individualistic ;  nor  is  their  religion 
peculiar,  like  the  religion  of  the  Doukhobors. 
and  Douk'      The  Doukhobors  are   pure  Russian  heretics,  who  lived 
^  ^^'^'        before  1841  on  the  Molochnia  River,  near  the  Mennonites, 
whose  pacific  tenets  they  exaggerate.   They  are  ultra- Quaker 
and  ultra-anarchist;  but  anarchism   generally  implies  des- 
potism, and  since  1775  or  thereabouts  they  have  been  led  by 
a  hereditary  Messiah,  the  present  Messiah  basing  his  claim 
on  the  alleged  adultery  of  his  mother  with  the  last  Messiah 
but  one.     His  name  is  Peter  Verigin ;  he  is  a  cultured  dis- 
ciple of  Count  Tolstoi,  whose  writings  he  often  repeats  as  his 
own,  and  his  influence  is  beneficent  and  almost  supernatural. 
In  1 84 1  these  sectarians  were  removed  from  South  Russia  to 
the  Caucasus ;  whence  conscription,  disputes  about  the  Messiah^ 
and  Count  Tolstoi's  influence  caused  the  removal  of  over 
7,000  in  one  year  to  prairie-land,  which  they  occasionally 
enliven  with  pilgrimages  as  nude  and  unintelligible  as  the 
pilgrimages  of  lemmings.     But  they  are   high-minded  en- 
thusiasts for  a  purer  religion ;  and  they  repudiate,  because,  as 
a  rule,  they  are  too  good  for  political  constraint.    They  began 
by  being   communists;  but  their   communism   is   breaking 
down  on  Thunder  Hill  and  in  the  Mesopotamia  of  the  Saskat- 
chewan, as  was  once  the  case  on  the  Molochnia ;  and  near 
Kamsack  their  arrangements  for  buying  from  and  selling  to 
the  outside  world  are  indistinguishable  from  those  of  co- 
operative producers  elsewhere.    The  position  of  Kamsack  is 
between  Fort  Pelly  and  the  Yorkton  settlements,  which  were 
already  populous,  before  they  arrived  in  prairie-land.^ 
(2)  Groups      (2)  Roman  Catholics  from  Hungary  came  to  Hun's  Valley 
on  the         (1885,   1892),   Scandinavians   to   new   Scandinavia   (1885), 
second        Galicians  to  Ranchevale  (1005)  on  or  near  Riding  Mountain ; 

railway  \   ^    u,  o 

^  A.yi2i\xAQf  A  Peculiar  People:  The  Doukhobors  ^\^ot^\  J.  Elkinton, 
The  Doukhohorsy  1903  ;  Robert  Pinkerton,  Russia^  1833,  pp.  165-187. 


THE   MANY   NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      239 

Austrian  (1885)  and  South  Russian  Germans  (1891)  came  to 
Beresina,  Icelanders  to  Logberg  (1886),  Bavarians  to  Land- 
shut  (1889),  Hungarians  to  Otthon  (before  1895);  Crofters 
(1890)  and  Patagonian  Welshmen  (1902-3)  settled  near 
Saltcoats;  South  Russian  Germans  (1888),  Galicians  (1897), 
American  Poles  (1898),  and  Hungarians  (1898)  settled  near 
Yorkton ;  Danes  settled  at  New  Denmark  (1890)  and  German 
Americans  at  Sheho  (1891),  further  west  along  the  second 
railway-line.  As  to  these  colonists,  the  Hungarians  were  the  Hunga- 
first  of  their  kind  in  prairie-land,  but  their  chief  centre  now  is  ^'^^^^^ 
among  the  hills  at  Esterhazy.  Religion,  and  what  a  writer 
calls  '  Magyar  Ethnophagy ',  were  potent  causes  of  Hungarian 
emigrations,  of  which  there  were  many  earlier  instances  in 
Pittsburg,  Cleveland,  and  elsewhere  in  the  United  States. 
The  Welshmen  were  re-emigrants.  After  living  for  over  and  Welsh- 
thirty  years  in  Patagonia,^  which  they  irrigated,  Spanish  ^^^^'^' 
economic  and  political  pressure  induced  J.  Dyke  to  lead 
a  colony  from  this  colony  to  prairie-land.  The  easternmost 
of  these  multifarious  colonies  have,  as  time  went  on,  leaned 
more  on  corn  than  on  cattle;  and  in  1903  the  Commissioner 
for  Immigration  wrote  that  'at  Yorkton  ranching  will  soon 
be  a  thing  of  the  past '. 

(3)  As  to  the  third  line,  in  1906  pastoral  was  changing  to  (3)  TJwse 
agricultural  occupation  on  the  Touchwood  Hills;  Saskatoon  ^^/^^ 
began  steam-ploughing  in  1904,  its  population  rose  from  113 
to  3,011  between  1901  and  1906,  and  it  is  rapidly  becoming 
a  secondary  capital  like  Calgary;  there  were  American- 
Germans  (before  1905)  and  French-Canadians  (1907)  on 
Tramping  Lake;  in  1910  German  farmers  came  to  Goose 
Lake ;  Manitou  Lake  became  a  spa ;  Rivers,  Melville,  Scott, 
Wainwright,  Kindersley,  Delisle,  and  other  towns  sprang  up 
Hke  mushrooms  on  waste  land  in  1909;  and  motorists  were 
scouring  the  prairie  around  Tramping  Lake  for  vast  distances 
without  let  or  hindrance  in  the  same  year. 

1  Introduction  to  this  Series,  ch.  iv,  p.  29. 


240        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

(4)  and  (4)  The  fourth  line  passes  American  Finns  at  New  Fin- 

waysTn-'^^"^^  (1889),  Hungarians  at  Esterhazy  and  Kaposvar  (1888, 

dude  1892),  Swedes  at  Stockholm  {1886),  Austrians  at  Neudorf 

(1890),   Hungarians   (1903)    and   Roumanian    (1905)   and 

Moldavian   Jews   at  Pheasant   and  File  Hills  (1905),  and 

Germans  at  Strassburg  (1885),  of  whom  the  first  and  the  last 

American    are  most  remarkable;  the  first  because  they  were  the  first 

Ft7tn5,       Finnish  settlers  in  prairie-land  and  were  re-emigrants  from 

Dakota  (United  States) ;  and  the  last  because  they  were  not 

and  Ger-     re-emigrants.     Before  1899  almost  all  Germans  who  came  to 

^^^•^/^^^'f,  prairie-land  were  from  the  United  States,  Austria,  or  South 
Russia  and  ^  ^  -r,       •  i. 

even  Ger-  Russia.  Many  of  the  American-Germans  were  Baptists,  who 
viany ;  jgf|.  ^-j^q  Palatinate  for  America  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
were  akin  to  the  German  colonists  of  Halifax  (1749  et  seq.); 
the  Austrians  were  often  Moravians  in  race  and  religion ;  and 
the  South  Russian  Germans  were  farmers  on  the  only 
European  lands  which  in  any  way  resemble  prairie-land,  and 
being  mostly  Molokani,  Stundists,  or  Baptists,  were,  like  the 
Mennonites,  driven  from  Russia  by  conscription  and  by  the 
policy  of  Russifying  Russia.  Of  them  it  may  be  said,  as  of 
the  Spaniards  and  Anglo-Irish  of  the  sixteenth  and  early 
seventeenth  centuries,  that  the  internal  colonization  of  the 
Old  World  gave  rise  to  and  supplied  a  pattern  for  the  coloni- 
zation of  the  New  World.  In  1895  there  were  fifty- two 
colonies  of  Germans  in  prairie-land,  and  now  there  are  far 
more  ;  yet  even  now  Germans  from  Germany  are  very  rare, 
rarer  even  than  such  Russians  as  are  neither  Jews,  Germans, 
nor  Doukhobors. 
{t;)  those  on  (5)  On  the  Canadian  Pacific  main-line  near  Moosomin 
the  fifth  tijgi-g  ^gi-e  Welshmen  at  Kirkella  (1903),  Swedes  at  Fleming 
(1883),  and  Lady  Cathcart's  crofters  at  Wapella  (1883-4)  S* 
near  Indian  Head,  German -Austrians  at  Josephsburg  (1887) 
and  Lord  Brassey's  tenants  (before  1895);  near  Regina, 
South  Russian  and  Roumanian  Germans  at  Edenwold  (1886), 
*  A.  Begg,  History  of  the  North-West  (1895),  vol.  iii,  p.  159. 


THE   MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      241 

Balgonie,  Davin,  Josephsthal  (1890),  and  Kronau  (1892), 
Hungarians  (of  Zichy-falva)  (before  1899),  ^^^^  Roumanians 
(1903);  near  Moose  Jaw,  American- Swedes  (1903)  and 
French-Canadians  ( 1 907) ;  and  near  Medicine  Hat,  American- 
Germans  (1889,  1903).  Swift  Current  and  Medicine  Hat 
were,  with  the  aid  of  the  steam-plough,  passing  from  the 
pastoral  to  the  agricultural  stage  in  1905. 

(6)  On    the    frontier    east    of   the   Red   River,    French-  (6)  and 
Canadians  (1887)  and  Galicians  (1897)  almost  surrounded  ^^^,j  ^V^.  ' 
the  Mennonites  of  the  Seventies ;  and  beyond  the  Western  ^^«^^  ^'^f^'- 
Mennonites  of  1874  Frenchmen  introduced  lace-making  ^^  alitles  ;^^^' 
Lourdes  (1897),  State-sent  crofters  occupied  Pelican  Lake 
(1888),  and  Germans  Alcester  (1889)  ^^^^i'  Turtle  Mountain. 
Beyond  them,   again,  Belgians   occupied   Clairiere   (1888), 
Frenchmen    Deloraine    (1891),   Icelanders    Melita    (1892), 
Canadian-Frenchmen  and  American- Germans  Alameda  (1897) 

and  agricultural  Jews  sent  from  Eastern  Europe  by  the  Anglo- 
Jewish  Association,  Hirsch  (1894),  all  of  which  places  are 
somewhere  near  Moose  Mountain ;  while  Scandinavian  and 
other  settlements  at  Estevan  (1891),  Yellowgrass,  Weyburn, 
and  Milestone  (1902),  all  of  which  places  are  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Coteau,  joined  the  frontier  to  Moose  Jaw. 
West  of  the  C6teau  there  is  an  interval ;  after  which  Wood 
Mountain  and  Cypress  Hills,  which  are  now  served  by  the  ' 
Canadian  Pacific  main-line,  and  are  already  or  will  soon  be 
served  by  a  more  direct  branch -line  from  Weyburn,  retain 
their  half-breed  settlers,  and  there  were  large  ranches  here  in 
1903. 

(7)  The  seventh  line,  which  leads  from  south  to  north,  {f)thoseon 
and  was  once  an  American  trade-route,  witnessed  a  singular  ^^ii!^^ 
social  experiment  in  its  southern  quarter.     In  1889  Mormons  include 
from  Utah,  having  undertaken  to  abjure  polygamy  (December,  ^fj^ratd- 
1888),  settled  at  Cardston^  under  C.  O.  Card  ;  and  after  the  stony 
introduction  of  irrigation  by  C.  A.  Magrath,  new  Mormon 

^  Population  in  1906  =  1,000. 

VOL.  V.      PT.    HI  R 


242        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 


others  at 
ranching 
and  other 
centres^ 


settlements  *  sprang  into  existence  as  if  by  magic  '  at  Stirling 
and  Magrath  (1899),  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  Raymond  (1902),^  whose 
speciality  is  beet.  Americans  not  from  Utah  have  recently 
been  farming  at  Spring  Coulee,  between  Raymond  and 
Cardston,  near  Lethbridge,  and  in  the  coal-district,  where 
Hungarians  (1896)  and  others  assist.  At  Pincher  Creek — 
the  earliest  ranching  centre  in  Alberta — '  the  sound  of  the 
hammer  and  ring  of  the  anvil  resounded  all  the  year  (1900) 
through  the  streets' — and  agriculture  superseded  ranching 
between  1901  and  1905.  Near  Calgary  ^  Cochrane,  the 
second  ranch-capital  of  Alberta  (1881),  underwent  the  same 
transformation  in  1907,  when  one  hundred  square  miles  were 
converted  from  pastoral  to  agricultural  uses.  Further  north, 
Scandinavians  occupied  Olds  and  Svea  (1893);  American 
Icelanders  (i888)  and  American  Finns  (1904)  occupied  Red 
Deer  ^ ;  European  Germans  or  Swiss,  and  French-Canadians 
occupied  Stettler  (1907);  American  (?)  Germans  occupied 
Lacombe'*  (1894)  ;  Welshmen  Ponoka  (before  1907),  Swedes 
New  Sweden  (1892),  American  and  South  Russian  Germans 
Wetaskiwin  (1892),'''  Germans  and  Scandinavians  (1896) 
Stoney  Plains,  South  Russian  German  Baptists  (1893)  and 
Galicians  (before  1905)  Leduc  and  Rabbit  Hills — which  bring 
us  close  to  the  twin  capitals  of  Alberta,  Strathcona  cum  Ed- 
Edmonton.  rnonton,  which  face  one  another  from  either  side  of  the  North 
Saskatchewan  in  the  same  way  as  St.  Boniface  and  Winnipeg 
face  one  another  on  either  side  of  the  Red  River.  The 
North  Saskatchewan  is  finer,  and  its  banks  nobler,  than  those 
of  the  Red  River ;  but  Edmonton  *  is  more  distant  than 
Winnipeg  '^  and  its  history  is  more  recent — for  Winnipeg  was 
at  least  a  village  in  1879,  which  Edmonton  was  not,  and 
Winnipeg  is  as  much  more  opportune  as  it  is  less  picturesque 
than  Edmonton ;  so  that  perhaps  it  is  premature  to  compare 

^  Population  in  1906  =  400,  900,  and  1,600  respectively. 
^  Population  in  1906  =  12,000.  ^  Population  in  1906  =  1,400. 

*  Population  in  1906=1,000.  ^  Population  in  1906  =  1,650. 

^  Population  in  1906  « 14,100.  "^  Population  in  1906  =  95,000. 


up  to 


THE  MANY  NATIONS    OF  PRAIRIE-LAND      243 

them.  Water  and  railways  conduced  to  their  pre-eminence  ; 
Edmonton,  in  consequence  of  its  railway,  diverting  the 
northern  fur-trade  from  Cumberland  to  itself.  Father  Morin 
has  of  late  years  been  indefatigable  in  bringing  back  French- 
Canadians  from  the  United  States  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Edmonton. 

(8)  This  railway  line  is  peopled  largely  by  British-Ameri-  The  eighth 
cans,  many  of  whom  are  Canadian  by  origin  or  descent.  ^^^  ^^. 

The    colonization   of  prairie-land    differs    from    that   of  Coloniza- 
Eastern  Canada  in  the  absence  of  soldier  and  sailor  settlers,  tionof 
and  of  a  war  or  of  an  industrial  revolution  at  home  ;  in  the  land^differs 
presence  of  returned  emigrants  from  the  United  States,  ^xAfrom  that 
in  the  wider  area  from  which  groups  of  associated  families  are  Canada!^ 
drawn.      In  prairie-land,  Icelanders  and  Scandinavians,  as 
well    as    Highlanders   and   Islanders,   represent   the   clan ; 
Americans  from  the  Western  as  well  as  the  Eastern  States 
represent  the  neighbourhood  guild ;  Germans,  who  lived  in 
the  Palatinate  two  centuries  ago.  South  Russian  Germans, 
Doukhobors,  Galicians,  Finns,  Jews,  and  others  from  Eastern 
Europe  represent  foreign  victims  of  political  and   religious 
intolerance.      Persecution   enriched    the  New   World   with 
those  denizens  of  the  Old  World,  who  did  not  agree  with  their 
environment,  and  North  America  proved  the  safety  valve  of 
European   discontents.     Prairie-land   is  an  epitome   of  the 
modern  history  of  all  Europe,  except  the  centre  and  the  south ; 
and  is  the  result  of  a  free  trade  in  men,  of  which  no  European 
nation  or  thinker  has  ever  dreamed,  since  the  days  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  Cosmopolitanism  originated  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  is  now  the  characteristic  creed  of  the  United  States.     But 
American  cosmopolitanism  has  an  English  bias,  and  it  is  this 
kind  of  cosmopolitanism  which  is  moulding  the  destinies  of 
prairie-land. 

In  applying  cosmopolitanism  to  prairie-land  three  maxims  Its  cosmo- 
have  been  observed.  First,  extreme  types  of  one  kind  are  /^^^^^^^-^^'^ 
planted  near  extreme  types  of  different  kinds,  in  order  that/«jw«. 

R    2 


244         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

alkalis  may  neutralize  acids,  and  something  which  is  neither 
may  result,  and  become  the  salt  of  the  earth.  Secondly, 
colonists,  though  introduced  in  groups,  are  planted  as  indi- 
vidual yeomen — each  on  his  free  i6o-acre  homestead — so 
that  before  treatment  the  compound  is  resolved,  as  far  as  may 
be,  into  colourless,  self-subsisting  atoms.  Thirdly,  Britons 
are  superior  in  numbers,  all-pervasive,  and  hold  the  keys  of 
the  commercial  situation  ;  so  that  foreigners  are  compelled  to 
be  bilingual,  the  second  language  being  always  English.  It 
is  believed  that  numerical,  commercial,  and  linguistic  pre- 
dominance will  create  a  new  British  type,  like  and  yet  unlike 
the  Cymric,  Gael,  Erse,  Huguenot  and  Danish  types  of  the 
old  United  Kingdom ;  and  that  the  thousand  and  one 
nationalities  will  fuse  themselves  in  a  single  crucible,  and  will 
emerge  British,  not  exactly  in  the  sense  which  we  know,  but 
in  a  sense  very  like  the  sense  which  we  know. 


Authorities. 

For  descriptive  works  see  last  chapter.  For  the  movements  of 
population  see  the  Annual  Reports  on  Emigration  presented  before 
1892  by  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  since  1892  by  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  Other  authorities  are  cited  in  the 
notes. 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


<^Y.<Baxi»ieU<«;  ete|«ni^mo 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  FAB  WEST  AND  NOBTH-WEST,  OB 
THE  LAND  OP  MOUNTAINS 

East  of  the  Rockies  and  west  of  the  Appalachians  there  The  Range 
are  no  mountains  in  Canada,  and  even  the  wooded  Appa-  ^V^l- 
lachians  are  only  tamer  Apennines,  so  that  the  first  glimpse  separates 
of  the  wild  white  crowded  summits  of  the  Rockies  from  the  ^^^^^^i 
east  is  like  the  revelation  of  a  new  world.     They  are  a  range,  rivers,  but 
but  are  not  like  other  ranges.     They  lie  parallel  with  the  ^JJ^47<?^' 
coast.     Their   eastern  side  is   gradual,   and   part  of  their 
gradual  side  consists,  as  we  have  seen,  of  three  inclined  plains 
800  miles  long,  descending  from  west  to  east,  from  dais  to 
dais,  upon  the  topmost  of  which  rude  rocks,  sharp  ice  peaks, 
and  smooth  snow  domes,  high  as  the  Rothhorn  and  of  every 
shape  and  hue,  tower  like  a  row  of  ruins.     On  this  side  the 
range  has  two  great  rivers ;  the  Athabasca- Slave-Mackenzie, 
which  follows  in  bold  wide  curves  along  the  feet  of  the  moun- 
tains from  100  miles  above  Edmonton  for  1,500  miles  or  so 
right  into  the  Arctic  Ocean ;  and  the  Saskatchewan,  which 
writhes  and  wriggles  away  from  the  range  for  800  miles  or 
so  to  the  east   and   then  makes   for   Hudson   Bay.     The 
western  slope  is  steep,  and   western    rivers,   whether  they 
belong,  like  the  Columbia  and  Eraser,  wholly,  or  like  the 
upper  Peace  and  Liard,  partly,  to  the  west,  cling  close  to  the 
skirts  of  the  mountain  for  many  hundreds  of  miles  before 
they  double  back  and  make  for  the  Ocean,  whither  they  are 
bound.      The   eastern  are  unlike  the   western   slopes   and 
rivers ;  yet  the  Rockies  do  not  form  a  true  watershed  like  the 
Caucasus  Pyrenees  or  Alps. 

As  we  follow  the  Rockies  to  the  north,  rivers  which  are  thus^ 
eastward-bound  rise  more  and  more  to  the  west  of  the  ideal  ^^fJ,Z!^,,,„, 

ilTJciS  C0771C 

line  which  geographers  identify  with  the  true  range ;    xYitfrom  be- 


248        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

kind  it,  in  South  Saskatchewan  rising  before,  the  North  Saskatchewan 
t  e  north ;  ^j|.]^jj^^  ^j^^  Athabasca  further  within,  and  the  Peace  behind 
the  range,  and  the  Liard  behind  a  range  behind  the  range. 
Strangely  enough,  the  rim  which  bounds  the  plains  and  big 
lakes  of  Manitoba  on  their  west,  and  which  lies  parallel  with 
the  great  range  as  though  it  were  some  distant  shadow  or 
projection  of  the  range,  has  the  same  characteristic,  its  more 
northerly    streams    rising  further   and    further    behind    it. 
it  was  first  Northerly  waterways  went  furthest  west ;  therefore  adventurers 
7he^m>Hh    ^^^^  ^^^^  westward  from  the  Peace  which  feeds  the  Mackenzie, 
then  from  the  North  Saskatchewan,  and  lastly  from  the  South 
Saskatchewan.      Therefore,   too;   those   east-bound    rivers, 
whose  heads  are  hidden  most  within  the  folds  of  the  moun- 
tains, yield  most  gold;    the  North  Saskatchewan  yielding 
a  little,  the  Peace  more,  and  the  Liard  most,  British  Columbia 
and  on  the  being  the  only  source  of  this  gold.   Again,  it  was  partly  because 

north  It  IS   gQ  many  of  the  affluents  of  the  Mackenzie  play  fast  and  loose 

neither  .11,.,, 

watershed   With  natural  barriers,  that  the  north  and  north-eastern  boundary 

nor  bound'  Qf  British  Columbia  has  been  changed  from  time  to  time. 
Under  an  Act  of  1858,  the  Rockies  bounded  British  Columbia 
on  its  east,  the  beds  of  the  Skeena  and  Findlay  or  Upper 
Peace  River  on  its  north,  and  the  Pacific  on  its  west.^  Its 
boundaries  seemed  for  a  while  wholly  natural.  Then  it  was 
shown  that  nature  defied  natural  boundaries ;  an  illogical 
compromise  was  struck,  and  the  eastern  boundaries  of 
British  Columbia  were  defined  as  the  range  of  the  Rockies 
up  to  lat.  54° — that  is  to  say,  up  to  and  including  the  sources 
of  the  Athabasca ;  and  north  of  lat.  54°  as  the  meridian  of 
120°,  which  lies  east  of  the  range  and  a  long  way  east  of  the 
watershed ;  while  its  northern  boundary  was  defined  as  the 
parallel  of  60°,  apparently  because  that  parallel  is  also 
the  northern  boundary  of  Alberta  and  Saskatchewan.  The 
effect  of  this  northern  boundary  is  that  it  includes  in  British 
Columbia  not  only  the  whole  of  the  Skeena,  the  Upper 
^  21  &  22  Vict.,  c.  58. 


THE  FAR    WEST  AND   NORTH-WEST  249 

Peace,  and  the  Canadian  Stikine,  but  also  fragments  of  the 

river-systems  of  the  Liard  and  Yukon,  thereby  producing 

irreparable  confusion  as  between  British  Columbia  and  the 

Yukon  district,  especially  at  the  junction  of  the  Frances  River 

with  the  Upper  Liard,  at  Teslin  and  Atlin  Lakes,  and  at 

Rainy  Hollow  and  Bennett.     Not  that  the  confusion  does 

harm ;  for  these  regions  are  very  thinly  populated,  and  the 

Governments  of  British  Columbia  and  Yukon  district  are 

often    only   represented    there    by   the   Royal  North- West 

Mounted  Police,  who  act  as  their  common  agent.     North  of 

the  60th  parallel,  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Yukon  district 

includes  the  Liard  and  its  affluents  west  of  124°  16^  W.  long., 

and  the  Peel  and  its  affluents  up  to  67°  N.  lat.,  and  then 

follows  the  Rockies  for  awhile ;  and  it,  too,  is  a  mere  artificial 

amalgam  of  natural  and  mathematical  lines.^ 

West  of  the  Rockies  there  are  nothing  but  high  mountains  7^he  Range 

in   whose  shadows  mountain  valleys  hide.     The  mountains  ^^P^^'^^^^ 

different 
rise   in  echelon,  like   the  Himalayas  and  Trans-Himalayas,  kmds  of 

and   are   parallel   with   one   another   and   with   their   deep  ^f>^untry ; 

dividmg  valleys.     They  may  be  classed  as  five  ranges   or  west  there 

ideal   lines,   although  the  actual  lines  often  exceed  five  in  ^^'^  ^uY^  ' 

number : — The  Rockies  ;  an  intermittent  range  of  which  the  ranges 

Selkirk,  Babine,  and  Cassiar  mountains  are  the  most  con- "^^^"^^'f^^^-^ 

'  or  coal ; 

spicuous  examples;  'a  sea  of  mountains*,  composed  of  waves, 
so  to  speak,  from  the  ranges  immediately  on  its  east  and  west, 
and  which  narrows  at  one  place  to  the  Gold  Range,  and  to 
the  familiar  Eagle  Pass  between  Revelstoke  and  Sicamous ;  the 
Coast  Range,  which  defends  the  coast  between  New  West- 
minster and  the  mountains  of  St.  Elias ;  and  the  fragmentary 
ridges  which  penetrate  Vancouver,  Queen  Charlotte,  Texada, 
and  other  islands  along  their  longer  axis,  making  them  fish- 
shaped.  Each  of  these  ranges  is  associated  with  a  special 
type  of  country,  and  each  yields  minerals ;  the  gold  mountains 
of  Cariboo,  and  the  copper  and  gold  of  Rossland,  Grand 

^  Canada,  Revised  Statutes,  1906,  cap.  63,  Schedule. 


250         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

Forks,  Boundary  and  Trail  Creeks  belonging  to  the  third 
class ;  the  silver-lead  of  Moyie,  Kimberley,  and  the  Slocan, 
and  the  silver  and  gold  of  Nelson  and  the  Lardeau  belonging 
to  the  second  class  ;  the  gold  of  Hedley  to  the  fourth  class, 
the  iron  of  Texada  to  the  fifth  class,  and  the  copper  of  the 
inlets  and  the  islands  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  class  respectively. 
Coal  of  Cretaceous  Age  and  excellent  quality  makes  Crow's 
Nest  Pass  in  the  Rockies,  and  Nanaimo,  Wellington,  and 
Comox,  on  the  east  of  Vancouver  Island,  rival  Cape  Breton 
Island  ;  while  Tertiary  coal  is  found  on  uplands  of  the  fourth 
type  near  Nicola.  Geologically,  the  first  and  fifth  types  are 
similar,  ranging  chiefly  from  primary  to  lower  secondary 
formations ;  the  second  type  has  Archaean  elements,  and  the 
fourth  is  largely  intrusive  granite.  Tertiary  volcanic  elements 
lie  over  many  uplands  of  the  third  class  ;  but  there  are  no 
modern  volcanoes,  unless,  as  has  been  surmised,  the  traces  of 
lava  in  the  valley  of  the  Nass  ^  point  to  an  eruption  a  few 
hundred  years  ago.  The  Rockies  attain  13,700  feet,  the 
Selkirks  10,800  feet,  and  the  island  mountains  7,000  feet ; 
on  the  coast  St.  Elias  exceeds  18,000  feet,  and  its  companion 
Mount  Logan  19,000  feet,  but  they  are  exceptions,  and  the 
rest  of  the  coast  mountains  do  not  often  exceed  9,000  feet. 
and  valleys  ^^  ^^^^  western  land  the  scenery  is  always  bold,  and 
are  deep,  mountains  are  visible  everywhere  barring  the  way ;  there- 
an7fofie-  ^ore  valleys  are,  or  should  be,  to  British  Columbia  what  they 
are  to  Switzerland,  Tirol,  and  Scotland. 

The  valleys  are  threaded  by  rivers  which  expand  into 
lakes,  and  the  lakes  are  real  deep  lochs,  and  as  unlike  Lake 
Winnipeg  as  unlike  can  be  ;  thus  Shuswap  Lake  is  almost 
as  deep  as  Lake  Ontario,  and  its  sister  lake.  Lake  Adam,  is 
deeper  than  Lake  Superior  ;  and  the  great  rivers  are  navi- 
gable from  source  to  mouth,  except  where  they  rush  through 
e.g,  the  gorges,  often  many  miles  in  length.  The  sources  of  the  Colum- 
^th^^C  f    ^^^  ^^^  Fraser,  which  are  the  two  greatest  rivers  of  British 

bia-Fraser-  1  North  of  the  Skeena. 

Peace^ 


THE   FAR    WEST  AND   NORTH-WEST  251 

Columbia,  lie  in  the  longest  and  most  characteristic  valley  of 
British  Columbia.  It  is  about  2,500  feet  above  the  sea, 
extends  at  least  800  miles  north-west  and  south-east,  and  has 
at  least  six  rivers,  three  of  which  start  north-west  and  three 
south-east.  The  Kootenay  runs  south-east,  the  Columbia 
north-west,  and  they  rise  back  to  back ;  for  the  watershed 
between  the  two  is  *  a  large  morass  \  and  '  it  is  impossible  to 
cross  even  on  foot  between  the  two  without  going  in  water '  ^; 
but  low,  wet  watersheds  between  two  rivers  flowing  opposite 
ways  are  not  rare  in  Canada,  and  may  be  seen  in  a  mild 
version  as  far  east  as  the  Petitcodiac  and  Annapolis.  The 
Columbia,  as  it  flows  north-west,  meets  the  Canoe  River 
front  to  front ;  and  they  two  become  one  and  pass  westward, 
forming  one  of  those  T-shaped  rivers  which  are  common  in 
mountainous  countries,  and  are  therefore  wanting  east  of  the 
Rockies.  The  uppermost  Fraser,  between  which  and  the 
Canoe  there  is  a  second  low  short  watershed,  prolongs  the  line, 
flowing  north-west  until  it  reaches  a  third  similar  watershed, 
2,160  feet  high,  on  the  other  side  of  which  are  the  Parsnip 
(Crooked  Branch)  and  Finlay  (Tochieca  Branch),  which 
together  constitute  the  cross-bar  of  the  T-shaped  east-flowing 
Peace,  and  prolong  the  line  of  the  Kootenay-Colombia-Canoe- 
and-Fraser  valley,  which  has  now  reached  its  eight  hundredth 
mile.  Even  here  the  valley  does  not  wholly  end,  but  is  con- 
tinued in  a  manner  by  the  Kachika  and  Frances,  which  are 
the  outstretched  right  and  left  arms  of  the  Liard,  for  another 
two  hundred  miles.  Frances  Lake,  at  the  extreme  end  of 
the  series,  is  a  characteristic  British  Columbian  Lake — very 
deep,  very  narrow,  hemmed  in  by  mountains  4,000  feet 
above  it,  and  splitting  into  parallel  arms  which  repeat  these 
characteristics.  This  immense  valley,  or  succession  of  con- 
fluent valleys,  lies  parallel  with  the  coast,  and  invites  travellers 
to  wander,  and  colonists  to  settle,  not,  as  elsewhere  in  Canada, 

^  Sir  James  Hector  in  Accounts  and  Papers^  1859,  ^ess.  2  (vol.  xxii, 
P-  653},  P-  37- 


252        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

east  and  west,  one  nearer  to  and  another  further  from  the 

Atlantic  or  Pacific  Ocean,  but  up  and  down  nine  or  more 

degrees  of  latitude,  north-west  and  south-east,  without  coming 

nearer  at  any  moment  of  the  journey  to  or  further  from  the 

Pacific  Ocean.     In  this  respect  it  differs  from  other  main 

or 'bend'    valleys  in  habitable  Canada.     Those  valleys  lead  westward 

ran^fs  attd  ^^^"^  ^^^  Atlantic  to  the  Rockies,  after  crossing  which  this  valley 

ovei'  other   diverts  wanderers  from  their  quest,  and  sends  them  aimlessly 

river-  tnes.  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^p  ^^^  down  the  map,  or  would  do  so  but  for 

three  or  four  great  bends  in  the  rivers  and  river  valleys. 
The  First,  the  Kootenay  dips  below  the  frontier,  bends  west- 

river-  ^^^  ward,  and  emerges  in  Kootenay  Lake,  where  it  meets  the 
system         River  Duncan  from  the  north — forming  a  second  long  line 
lines  and    "P  ^^^  down  the  map,  more  or  less  parallel  with  the  great 
one  great     composite  valley  where  it  rose.     Here,  too,  it  resembles  a 
Kootmay    ^^isshapen  T,  whose  tiny  stalk  goes  down  by  Nelson  into 
Lake,  &c,   the  Middle  Columbia  at  Robson.     For  the  Columbia,  in  the 
meantime,  has  made  its  great  bend,  two  hundred  miles  north 
of  Robson,  towards  which  it  then  flows  south-west  by  Revel- 
stoke  and  the  Arrow  Lakes,  driving  a  third  great  straight 
furrow,  about  1,500  feet  above  the  sea,  down  the  map.    Soon 
after  passing  Robson,  the  Columbia  passes  the  frontier,  and 
the  principal  river  of  Western  America,  and  its  chief  satellite, 
which  is  the  Kootenay,  vanish  from  Canadian  history.     Not 
so  its  lesser  tributaries.    Li  addition  to  the  three  long  Hues 
drawn    lengthwise    by   the    Columbia    or   Kootenay,   other 
tributaries,  or  tributaries  of  tributaries,  contribute  five  or  six 
similar,  but  smaller,  streaks  to  the  map  of  British  Columbia ; 
Slocan  valley  between  Arrow  and  Kootenay  Lakes  ;    then 
North  Fork,  Boundary  Creek,   and  Kettle  valleys  between 
Arrow  and  Okanagan  Lakes;  and  then  the  Okanagan  and 
Upper  Similkameen  valleys,  whose  rivers  join  the  Columbia 
within  the  United  States.     In   each  of  these   nine  valleys 
history  is  being  made. 

The  Fraser     The  bend  of  the  Columbia  is  of  wider  span  than  that  of  the 

'bends' 


THE   FAR    WEST  AND   NORTH-WEST  253 

Kootenay,  but  the  bend  of  the  Fraser  is  still  wider  and  over  the 

overarches  the  bend  of  the  Columbia.     The  Columbia  en-  ,^S!^^tl^ 

sons,  ana 

compasses  the  Selkirk  Mountains,  but  the  Fraser  encompasses  through 
the  Cariboo  Mountains,  which  have  been  described  as  ' a  sea  j^an^e^to 
of  mountains,  7,000  or  8,000  feet  (high),  and  pine-clad  hills,'  the  Coast. 
with  'hardly  a  foot  of  level  ground,  except  at  the  bottom  of  the 
narrow  gullies  between  the  hills  V  and  in  which  the  Selkirks 
and  other  mountains  are  merged.  Then  the  Fraser  travels 
southward  for  350  miles,  gradually  nearing,  then  shaving,  and 
finally  cleaving  the  Coast  Range  slantwise,  for  the  Coast 
Range  runs  not  southward  but  south-eastward.  Meanwhile, 
between  the  pillars  of  this  stately  arch,  the  North  Thompson, 
which  plays  towards  the  Fraser  a  part  like  that  played  by 
Duncan  River  plus  Kootenay  Lake  towards  the  Columbia, 
traces  down  the  map  an  intermediate  slit  from  north  to  south, 
and  joins  the  South  Thompson  at  Kamloops,  whence  the 
South  Thompson,  imitating  the  Kootenay  at  Nelson,  runs  for 
once  in  a  way  due  west  to  meet  the  Fraser  Valley  at  Ashcroft, 
and  the  Fraser  River  at  Lytton.  Between  Lytton  and  Hope 
the  Fraser,  reinforced  by  the  Thompsons,  bursts  its  way 
through  the  Coast  Range  by  a  mighty  gorge,  after  which  it 
bends  once  more  westward  and  crawls  lazily  through  fertile, 
flooded  flats  to  the  Ocean  a  little  beyond  New  Westminster. 

In  British  Columbia  the  Skeena,  as  well  as  the  Fraser,  Between 
makes  a  breach  in  the  Coast  Range.     In  the  interval  of  five  ^^^^^kema 
hundred  miles  between  these  breaches,  there  are  many  passes  the  Coast 
of  historic  moment  to  which  affluents  of  the  Fraser  ^"^^f^^fg/L 
oceanic  fiords,  sounds,  or  inlets  point  from  either  side.    Thus  means  of 
the  Nechaco  affluent  leads  from  the  top  of  the  great  bend  of-^^^^^{^^^ 
the  Fraser  towards  Gardner  Inlet ;  the  Nechaco,  Blackwater,  not  by 
and  Chilcotin  affluents  towards  Bella  Coola,  Dean  Inlet,  *^^^^^' 
Burke  Channel,  and  Fitzhugh  Sound ;  the  Chilcotin  towards 
Homathco  River  and  Bute  Inlet ;  Seton  and  Anderson  Lakes, 

^  Milton  and  Cheadle,  The  North-west  Passage  by  Land^  ed.  1875, 
P-  369« 


254        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

which  just  belong  to  the  Middle  Fraser,  by  a  difficult  route 
towards  Howe  Sound,  or  by  an  easy  route  down  Lillooet  and 
Harrison  Lakes  and  Rivers  to  the  Lower  Fraser,  to  which 
they  belong,  and  so  to  the  sea.  The  inlets  are  high-walled, 
narrow,  straight,  and  deep ;  some,  like  Fitzhugh  Sound  and 
Bute  Inlet,  running  due  north;  others  north-west,  like  the 
coast;  and  a  few,  like  Bella  Coola  and  Gardner  Canal, 
running  at  right  angles  to  the  predominant  direction. 
TheSkeena  The  Skeena — about  whose  mouth  are  Port  Simpson,  Prince 
^Coast  ^^^  Rupert,  and  Port  Essington — is  navigable  by  steamers  up  to 
Range  and  Hazelton,  i8o  miles  away ;  beyond  which  three  affluents  join 
^thTupplr  ^^  ^"^  ^^^  ^^^^'  ^^  Bulkley,  Babine,  and  uppermost  Skeena, 
Fraser  and  each  of  which  forms,  or  helps  to  form,  long  valleys,  stretching 
far'lineTtr  south-east  and  north-west.  The  Bulkley,  if  followed  upward, 
bends.  is  prolonged  by  the  valley  of  the  Endako  River,  which  flows 
in  the  opposite  direction  into  the  Nechaco  River,  near  Fort 
Fraser.  Close  by  the  sources  of  the  uppermost  Skeena,  the 
valley  of  the  Stuart  Rivers  and  Lakes  begins,  and  this  valley 
runs  parallel  to  the  Bulkley-Endako  Valley,  and  it  too  ends 
in  the  Nechaco  River,  fifty  miles  below  the  Endako,  and  fifty 
miles  above  the  confluence  of  the  Nechaco  with  the  Fraser, 
near  Fort  George.  Lake  Stuart  is  engarlanded  by  mountains 
more  than  2,000  feet  above  its  level,  and  suggested  to  its  first 
visitor  the  name  of  New  Caledonia,  by  which  British  Columbia 
was  known  until  1858 ;  and  on  its  shores  Fort  St.  James  was 
built.  Between  the  Stuart  and  Bulkley-Endako  Valleys  the 
Babine  Valley  intervenes,  and  it,  too,  is  parallel  with  its  sister 
valleys  and  with  the  coast.  On.  the  east  of,  and  parallel  with, 
the  Stuart  Valley  is  the  valley  of  the  Parsnip  and  Findlay, 
which  is  a  part  or  continuation  of  the  great  composite  valley 
with  which  we  began,  and  into  which  all  ways  seem  to  lead 
back.  On  the  Parsnip  (Crooked  River  Branch)  Fort  Macleod 
was  built,  and  forthwith  Forts  St.  James,  Macleod,  Fraser,  and 
George  wielded  joint  dominion  over  British  Columbia  on 
behalf,  first,  of  the  North- West  Company,  then  (182 1)  of  the 


THE   FAR    WEST  AND    NORTH-WEST  255 

Hudson  Bay  Company.  If  the  Findlay  River  is  followed 
further  to  the  north-west,  some  of  its  tributaries  curl  round 
towards  the  uppermost  Skeena,  which  also  curls  round 
towards  them;  so  that  on  ill-drawn  maps  the  two  curves 
almost  meet  like  some  broken,  far-off  reflection  of  the  perfect 
arches  formed  further  south  by  the  Fraser  and  Columbia. 
This  false  curve  used  to  round  off"  British  Columbia  on  old 
maps;  and  the  Skeena  and  Findlay,  or  their  basins,  were 
the  northern  boundaries  of  British  Columbia  in  the  Act  of 
1858.^  But  the  boundary  w^as  impossible,  because  amongst 
other  things  it  ignored  the  Nass,  which  enters  the  sea  north 
of  the  Skeena  and  is  wholly  British.  Indeed,  the  Nass  is  the 
last  of  the  wholly  British  rivers. 

A  little  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Skeena  is  a  north-  TheStikine 
pointing  fiord,  called  Portland  Canal,  which  divides  the  British  ^^f^J^^f'^-^ 
and  Alaskan  or  American  possessions.    Beyond  the  canal  there  Liard 
are  many  rivers  which  are  of  vital  importance  to  Canada, '^'^^^/'^  ^'^^^'^ 
such  as  the  Stikine  (near  Cross  Sound),  which  is  navigable  Yukon, 
by  steamer  up  to  Glenora  and  Telegraph  Creek  (138  miles).  ^j^^^S^  ^^' 
Telegraph  Creek  lies  behind  the  Coastal  Range,  and  a  62^  the  Mac- 
mile  pack-trail  leads  thence  along  the  river-banks  and  over  a  ^^^^^^  y 
watershed,  2,730  feet  high,  to  Dease  Lake  and  Dease  River, 
which  is  a  tributary  of  the  Liard,  which  is  a  tributary  of  the 
Mackenzie ;  and  on  Dease  Lake  is  Laketon,  the  centre  of  the 
so-called  Cassiar  mining  district.   The  Liard  is  easily  reached 
from  Laketon  by  the  placid  waters  of  the  river  Dease,  and  the 
spot  where  the  Dease  and  Liard  meet  is  a  junction,  if  so 
lonely  a  spot  can  be  called  a  junction,  not  only  for  the 
Mackenzie  on  the  east,  but  for  the  great  long  valley  of  the 
Peace,  Fraser,  and  Columbia  on  the  south,  and  for  Lake 
Frances  and  the  Pelly  on  the  north  and  west,  the  Pelly  being 
a  tributary  of  the  Yukon.     North  of  the  Stikine,  the  Taku  and  the 
enters  the  Pacific  offering  difficult  access  to  Lakes  Adin  and  Taku  and 
Teslin,  which  belong  to  the  Yukon  river-system,  and  which  canal  lead 

'    ^«/^,  p.  248.  y,,^^^^ 


256        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

can  also  be  reached  from  Glenora.    After  the  Taku  a  straight 
north-pointing  fiord,  called  Lynn's  Canal,  offers  the  shortest 
way  either  over  the  Chilcat,  or  the  Chilcoot,  or  the  White  Pass, 
to  the  Yukon  District.     Here,  too,  or  hereabouts,  there  are 
minglings  of  glacier  and  sea  which  are  wilder  than  on  the 
Jokul  Fjeld  in  Norway.     But  north-west  of  Portland  Canal, 
Canada  is  as  clean  cut  off  from  the  sea  as  coastless  Abyssinia. 
The  coast-strip  beyond  Portland  Canal  is  part  of  Alaska,  and 
therefore  the  Lower  Stikine,  the  Lower  Taku,  Lynn's  Canal, 
and  the  southern  slopes  of  the  White,  Chilcoot,  and  Chilcat 
Passes,  are  American;  while  the  Upper  Stikine,  the  Upper 
Taku,  the  northern  slopes  of  these  passes,  and  all  the  sources 
of  the  Yukon  River  are  Canadian. 
Then  are        The  one  way  which  has  superseded  every  other  way  to  the 
^wav7^o7he  ^^^^^^^  region  of  Yukon  District  lies  by  Lynn's  Canal  and  the 
Yukon  by    White  Pass,  for  the  White  Pass  soon  eclipsed  the  Chilcat  and 
^anal  ^       Chilcoot  Passes.    The  front  door  of  the  treasure-stores  of  the 
north  is  owned  and  guarded  by  foreigners ;  or,  let  us  rather 
and  the       say,  Canada's  big  brother  keeps  the  key.     The  mouth  of  the 
The^  Yukon  Yukon  in  Bering  Sea  is  the  back  door  to  Yukon  District,  and 
is  wholly  American.     The  following  side-doors  are  wholly 
and  five      Canadian.      One   side-door  is  at  Telegraph  Creek  on   the 
overland     ^^^^ine,  from  which  there  is  a  trail  to  Lake  Atlin,  along  the 
telegraph-wires,  or  to  Lake  Teslin — along  what  was  once 
a  projected  railroad — both  lakes  being  part  of  the  Yukon 
water-system.     Telegraph  Creek  itself  is  reached  by  the  wires 
direct  from  Fort  Fraser  near  the  bend  of  the  Fraser,  via 
Hazelton  on  the  Skeena.     A  second  side-passage  is  from 
Telegraph  Creek  by  Laketon,  the  Liard,  Frances,  and  Pelly ; 
and  a  third  uses  the  same  three  rivers,  but  starts  from  Edmon- 
ton and  the  Mackenzie.     A  fourth  ascends  Peel  River  (Wind 
River  Branch),  and  crosses  either  Bonnet  Plume  or  Braine  Pass 
to  the  Stewart,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon  a  little  above  the 
Klondike;  and  a  fifth  comes  from  Peel  River  (Rat  Branch)  to 
the  Porcupine,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon  in  Alaska.     As  to 


THE  FAR    WEST  AND   NORTH-WEST  257 

these  two  first  by-routes,  the  first  route  was  made  an  eight-foot 
trail  by  the  Royal  North- West  Mounted  Police  in  1907,  and 
three  hundred  cattle  once  came  overland  from  the  Fraser  to 
Laketon,  but  travellers  almost  invariably  sail  to  Telegraph 
Creek  up  the  Stikine,  that  is  to  say  through  the  territory  of 
the  United  States.  The  tortuous  and  arduous  Middle  and 
Lower  Liard  makes  the  third  route  difficult.  The  other  routes 
start  from  the  Arctic  Circle,  one  encroaching  on  Alaska. 
Therefore  the  front  door  is  the  only  door  which  Canadians  use. 

After  passing  Lynn's  Canal,  Skagway,  and  White  Pass,  The  White 
the  traveller  reaches  Bennett,  which  belongs  to  British  ^^iy^^^fl 
Columbia.  The  tangle  of  Lakes  near  Bennett — Lakes  is  along  the 
Bennett,  Tagish,  and  Atlin — are  reservoirs  of  one  arm  of  the  ^^^^^o^h 
Lewes,  as  the  Upper  Yukon  is  called;  and  Teslin  Lake, 
which  is  further  east,  is  the  reservoir  of  Teslin  River,  which  is 
the  other  arm  of  the  Lewes.  Except  for  three  miles  near 
Whitehorse,  the  whole  Yukon  is  navigated  by  steamers  from 
Bennett  to  its  mouth,  2,000  miles  away,  during  the  three  ice- 
free  months.  It  is  a  shallow  river,  although  it  has  great 
tributaries,  especially  from  the  east.  At  Selkirk  the  Pelly 
joins  it,  and  it  ceases  to  be  called  the  Lewes  and  is  thence- 
forth called  the  Yukon.  If  the  Teslin  may  be  regarded  as  the 
main  stream,  the  Yukon  flows  straight  north-westward  from 
Teslin  Lake  to  Selkirk.  Between  Selkirk  and  the  mouths  of 
the  White  River,  which  comes  from  the  St.  Ellas  Glaciers,  and 
of  the  Stewart  River,  which  comes  from  the  Rockies,  and  of 
the  little  river  called  Klondike,  which  joins  it  at  Dawson,  the 
Yukon  is  crooked,  but  its  general  direction  is  the  same. 
Between  Dawson  and  what  was  once  Fort  Yukon,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Porcupine,  it  again  flows  straight  north-west. 
Here,  having  touched  the  Arctic  Circle,  it  wheels  round 
towards  a  more  genial  sea  than  that  towards  which  it  was 
moving  hitherto.  In  its  course  through  Canada  it  preserves 
the  characteristic  British  Columbian  trend,  which  is  the  trend 
of  the  Rockies  and  the  Mackenzie.     But  it  is  the  last  to  do 

VOL.  V.     PT,  HI  S 


258        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


which  is 
the  last  of 
the  great 
Canadian 
Rivers, 


The  valleys 
of  British 
Columbia 
are  char- 
acteristic^ 


so  are  its 
trees, 


SO  and  has  no  imitators;  and  on  leaving  Canada  it  desists, 
swerves  round,  and  makes  towards  Asia.  If  rivers  of  one 
country  may  be  compared  with  those  of  another,  the  St. 
Lawrence  recalls  the  Nile,  the  Mackenzie  recalls  the  Ob,  or 
Yenisei ;  and  the  rivers  of  British  Columbia  combine  the  longi- 
tudinal parallelism  of  the  Salween,  Mekhong,  and  Dichu,  with 
the  bendingness  of  the  Yellow,  Congo,  or  Niger ;  but  perhaps 
there  are  no  true  parallels  in  geographical  contours  any  more 
than  there  are  in  historical  events. 

Terraced  valleys  are  also  characteristic  of  the  Kootenay, 
Columbia,  Fraser,  and  every  other  main  river-valley  of  British 
Columbia.  Thus  near  Ashcroft  the  Fraser  has  three  visible 
tiers  about  80  feet,  no  feet,  and  400  feet  above,  and  each  on 
both  sides  of  the  present  bed ;  and  Lake  Frances,  900  miles 
away,  has  two  clear  terraces  each  on  both  sides,  90  feet  and 
300  feet  high  respectively.  One  supposed  explanation  is  that 
the  present  valleys  were  scooped  out  to  their  present  depths  in 
the  Tertiary  Age;  then  the  Glacial  Age  filled  them  with 
rubble ;  then  the  rubble  was  swept  away  at  different  periods 
in  two  or  three  successive  stages.  Pre-glacial  river-beds  are 
still  found  choked  with  rubble,  which  is  the  chief  source  of 
placer  gold  in  the  Cariboo  Mountains. 

British  Columbia  possesses  not  only  mountains,  rivers,  and 
valleys,  but  also  trees  different  from  those  of  the  rest  of 
Canada.  The  Douglas  Fir^  is  sometimes  as  high  as  the 
North  Tower  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  its  lowest  branches  are 
higher  than  the  Crystal  Palace  roof;  within  the  trunk  of  a  red 
cedar  '^  a  whole  family  might  live  in  comfort ;  and  the  hem- 
lock'— which  is  the  particular  glory  of  Queen  Charlotte 
Islands — and  the  white  spruce  *  are  akin  to  the  Douglas  Fir, 
and  the  yellow  cedar  ^  is  akin  to  the  red  cedar.  The  Douglas 
Fir,  like  the  black  pine,*  overlaps  the  Rockies  from  the  Yellow- 


^  Pseudotsuga  Douglasii, 
^   Tsuga  mertensiana. 
^  Thuya  excel sa. 


2  Thuya  gigantea. 

*  Picea  (a  hies)  Sitchensis. 

*  Pinus  Murrayana. 


THE  FAR    WEST  AND   NORTH-WEST  259 

head  Pass  to  the  south,  but  none  of  these  trees  exists  far  north, 
except  the  black  pine,  which  flourishes  beside  Frances  Lake, 
and  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Yukon  at  Selkirk.  The  forests  are 
as  dense  as  splendid.  A  writer  describes  Alberni  in  Vancouver 
Island  thus :  '  The  density  of  the  forest  is  marvellous :  .  .  . 
one  mile  in  four  hours  was  very  quick  work.'  Elsewhere, 
'  The  forest  was  composed  of  enormous  cedar,  and  spruce, 
300  feet  high  at  least ;  .  .  their  lowest  branches  had  died  or 
were  lifeless  and  covered  with  long  matted  moss.  Overhead 
the  thickness  of  black  branches  met  far  away  and  seemed 
gently  to  sway  with  some  distant  breeze.  There  w^as  nothing 
green  or  young  in  this  forest.  The  colouring  was  that  of 
old,  tarnished  silver-gilt. '  ^  The  British  Columbian  trees, 
mountains,  valleys,  and  rivers,  are  on  a  grand  scale.  Prairie- 
land  is  the  world's  greatest  corn-land,  British  Columbia  is  one 
of  its  two  or  three  greatest  tree-lands. 

Climate,  of  course,  affects  plants.  In  Yukon,  Fort  Cudahy  plants, 
barracks  were  built  by  the  North- West  Police  on  tw^o  feet  of  ^  ^^^^^^' 
moss ;  Dawson  was  a  marsh,  and  miners  find  the  earth  frozen 
at  four  foot  deep.  Nevertheless  the  wild  rose  blooms  at 
Dawson,  and  early  pioneers  found  grass  and  pasture  for  their 
horses  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  river-banks.  The  climate  is 
dry,  and  glacial  traces  are  few.  In  the  far  south  of  British 
Columbia  there  is  a  strange  alternation  from  wet  to  dry  land. 
The  coast  is  wet.  In  one  year  there  were  64  inches  of  rain  on 
the  Lower  Fraser,  and  7 1  inches  at  Port  Simpson ;  behind 
the  Coast  Range  there  were  8  inches  at  Kamloops,  and  8  at 
Barkerville ;  the  Selkirks  were  very  wet  indeed,  and  behind 
them  again  there  were  i  o  inches  only  on  the  Upper  Kootenay. 
These  dry  strips  surprise  the  traveller  with  the  spectacle  so 
common  in  Europe,  and  so  strange  in  Canada,  of  hills  which 
are  thinly  dotted  with  hardy  trees,^  or  are  wholly  bare,  not 
because  they  are  too  high,  but  because  they  are  too   dry. 

'  F.   MacNab,   British   Columbia,   1898,   pp.    190-1    (abbreviated 
quotation).  '^  Pinus  ponderosa. 

S    2 


26o        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF   CANADA 

On  the  westernmost  dry  strip,  which  extends  from  Kamloops 
up  to  Stuart  Lake  more  or  less,  and  down  by  Okanagan  to 
the  frontier,  the  hopes  of  graziers,  farmers,  and  fruiterers  are 
-  fixed ;  or  rather  on  those  parts  of  the  strip  where  there  are 
valleys  or  where  the  sea  of  mountains  is  comparatively  calm. 
Farms  flourish  up  to  2,500  feet  and  cattle  up  to  3,500  feet 
s.  m.,  but  irrigation  is  as  necessary  here  as  dykes  and  dams 
are  in  the  Lower  Eraser. 
fauna,  Mountain-sheep^  and  reindeer  or  caribou  roam  over  the 

whole  country,  and  grizzly  bears  over  the  whole  mainland. 
The  coyote  ^  is  a  bond  between  prairie-land  and  parts  of 
British  Columbia ;  so  are  the  elk  or  moose,^  and  red  deer  or 
wapiti,''  which  survive  on  the  Arctic  slope  and  in  Vancouver 
Island  respectively.  There  are  no  bison  west  of  the  Rockies, 
although  Sir  A.  Mackenzie  and  David  Thompson  saw  bison 
just  west  of  the  Passes  which  they  crossed.  There  were,  or 
are,  fur-seals  ^  on  the  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  and  sea-otters* 
in  every  inlet ;  while  innumerable  salmon  still  frequent  every 
river  from  the  Naas  to  the  Fraser. 
and  There  are  far  more  Indians  of  different  stock  in  British 

Indians.  Columbia  than  elsewhere  in  the  whole  of  Canada.  Every- 
thing north  of  Nelson  River  in  Hudson  Bay,  the  Yellowhead 
Pass,  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Chilcotin  affluent  of  the 
Fraser,  belongs  to  the  Chipewyan  Athapascan  or  V>ixi€  race,'' 
if  recent  Cree  invaders  between  Edmonton  and  the  Peace, 
still  more  recent  Iroquois  colonists  at  the  Yellowhead,  and  the 
occupants  of  the  coast  are  excepted.  Eskimos  occupy  the 
coast  from  Churchill  (Hudson  Bay),  by  the  Arctic  and  North 
Pacific  Oceans,  to  St.  Elias  (Yukon).  On  the  coast  line  south 
or  east  of  St.  Elias,  Eskimos  are  succeeded  by  Tlinkits  near 
Bennett,  by  Haidas  on  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  by  Tsimp- 

*  Ovis  Canadensis.  2  Canis  latrans. 

^  A  Ices  Ainericamis,  *  Cervus  Canadensis. 

^  Latax  Lutris,  ^  Otaria  nrsina, 

■^  e.  jj.  Sikanni,  Carrier,  Chilcotin,  Babincs,  &c.,  in  British  Columbia. 


THE   FAR    WEST  AND    NORTH-WEST  261 

seans  near  Port  Simpson  and  the  Skeena,  by  Kwakiutl-Noot- 
kas  from  Gardner  Canal  to  Bute  Inlet  (except  at  Bella  Coola  and 
Dean  inlets)  and  on  Vancouver  Island  (except  near  Victoria), 
and  by  Salish  ^  near  Victoria,  and  on  Bella  Coola  and  Dean 
inlets.  Salish  also  occupy  the  Lower  Ffaser,  the  Middle 
Fraser,  the  North  Thompson,  the  South  Thompson  and  the 
Middle  Columbia,  and  Kootenays  occupy  the  Upper  Colum- 
bia and  Kootenay.  Probably  these  six  nations  are  as  different 
from  one  another  as  Algonquins  are  from  Chipewyans ;  yet 
these  two  nations  cover  vast  masses  of  land  over  two-sevenths 
of  the  earth's  circumference;  and  those  six  nations  are 
crammed  into  the  western  coast,  and  along  the  southern 
frontier  of  a  single  British  province. 

Mountains  and  fiords  split  the  Indians  into  isolated  frag- 
ments. Not  that  the  fragments  were  ever  sedentary.  Thus 
the  Haidas  periodically  visited  the  mainlands,  and  the 
Shuswaps  the  Yellowhead.  But  their  area  and  their  ideas  of 
movement  were  '  cabin'd,  cribbed,  confined '  by  the  grandeur 
of  their  mountains  and  the  intricacy  of  their  shore  line. 

1  Shuswap,  Okinakan,  Kawitchin,  &c. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PEOPLING  AND  CIVIIiIZATlON  OF 
THE  FAB  LATEST 

Russians,        'Y'&E   white   men  who   first  landed  in   British  Columbia 
Spaniards^  .  i         .  i     i  i  .  r  r>..i      .       r>.      .       -r^ 

English-     brought  With  them  the  memories  of  Siberia,  Spam,  France, 

men,  j^^  Pacific  Islands,  India,  China,  and  every  country  except 

Canadians,  Canada.     Vitus  Bering,  a  Dane  in  Russian   service,  sailed 

and  {xox£i  Okhotsk,  and  saw  and   named   Cape    (and    Mount) 

x^fenc/itjicn  x         \  / 

discovered    St.  Elias  (1741),  which  separates  Yukon  from  Alaska,  and 

B.  C,  from  Russian  traders  followed  him  to  the  Aleutian  bridge  of  islands 

Asia,  east 

and  west     between  Asia  and  America.     When  Captain  Cook  reached 

cT'''h'     Nootka  and  Cross  Sounds  (1778)  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
the  South-  ^^V^  and  Australia,  Don  Juan  de   Ayala  and  J.  F.  de  la 
West  Pad-  Bodega,  who  were  Spaniards,  had   already  reached   Cross 
Europe,      Sound  from  Mexico  (1775),^  and  the  Russians  had  already 
1 741-95)     reached  Kadiak,  w^hich  is  this  side  of  the  Aleutian  bridge 
(1776).     After    Cook,    Russian   traders   occupied    Kadiak 
(c.  1784)  and  Alaska  (c.  1792);  La  P6'ouse,  after  doubling 
Cape  Horn,  visited  Cross  Sound  on  behalf  of  France  (1786); 
Captain  J.  Hannah  (1785),  Captain  Barclay  (1787),  Com- 
mander John  Meares  (1788),  and  other  Englishmen  traded 
between  London,  India,  Nootka  Sound,  and  China ;  and  there 
was  a  London  merchant  named  Brown  in  Portland  Canal 
before  1793.     Meanwhile,  New  England  traders  sailed  round 
Cape   Horn,    discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,   and 
helped  Englishmen  and  Spaniards  to  discover  or  re-discover 
the  Strait,  of  which  a  Greek  pilot,  known  as  Juan  de  Fuca, 
spoke  in  1592,  saying  that  it  led  straight  across  the  continent 
to  the  Atlantic  ^ ;  so  that  old-world  fables  and  old-world  inter- 
national rivalries  were  revived,  and  hovered  over  the  British 

1  Daines  Barrington,  Miscellanies,  1781,  p.  504. 

2  Between  47°  N.  lat.  and  48°  N.  lat.,  Purchas,  Pilgrims,  ed.  1907, 
vol.  xiv,  p.  415. 


THE   CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    FAR    WEST      26;^ 

Columbian  coast.  Then  Captain  Vancouver  was  sent  out  from  e.g-.  Van- 
England,  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Australia,  to  dispel  'Macken^f 
these  ghosts  of  a  dead  past ;  sailed  between  Vancouver  Island  in  1793. 
and  the  mainland  (1792) ;  explored  and  named  the  creeks  and 
islands  of  the  coast,  and  amongst  others  Burke  Channel  and 
Bentinck  Arm  (May  and  June,  1793).     Exactly  one  month 
later   Canada    flashed    upon   the   scene   in    the    person   of 
Sir  A.  Mackenzie.     His  route  was  up  the  Peace  River,  over 
the  Peace  River  Pass,  up  the  Parsnip,  down  the  Eraser  to 
Alexandria,  back  to  the  Blackwater  affluent  of  the  Phraser,  up 
the  banks  of  the  Blackwater,  over  the  Coast  Range,  and  down 
the  Bella  Coola  to  Bentinck  Arm  and  Burke  Channel.^ 

The  Scotchman  travelling  westward  across  one-third  of 
the  world,  and  the  Englishman,  sailing  eastward  over  the 
other  two-thirds,  all  but  met  in  this  lonely  fiord.  Both  men 
were  idealists,  but  there  was  no  common  plan ;  each  went 
about  his  own  business,  and  between  them  they  ran  a  girdle 
round  the  earth.  The  so-called  all-red  route  of  to-day  is  an 
echo  of  the  Vancouver-Mackenzie  route  of  120  years  ago. 

Forts  or  trading-posts  followed  in  Mackenzie's  footsteps  Forts  Mc- 
but  slowly.     Simon  Eraser,  while  discovering  and  exploring  /^^J^  ^* 
the  Nechaco  affluent  of  the  Eraser,  built  McLeod's  fort  for  Fraser.and 
the  Sikanni,  St.  James,  Eraser  (1806),  and  George  Eort  (1807)  ^^g^flu-n^ 
for  the  Carriers ;   and  thence  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  (i7id  rtded 
Eraser  from  inland  (1808),  even  as  the  mouths  of  the  Niger  %J^Jff^^ 
and  Murray  were  discovered.     These  four  fur-forts  ruled  the  1806-13, 
country  of  the  Eraser  from  inland  and  from  the  north.     Then  ike  Upper 
D.  W.  Harmon  went  thence  to  the  Babine  country  on  the  ^keena, 
north,  the  Babine  being  tributary  to  the  Skeena,  and  John 
Stuart  went  thence  to  the  Upper  Columbia  on  the  south ;  so 
that  the  four  forts  now  connected  critical  parts  of  the  three 
principal    water-systems    of  British    Columbia   (18 10-13).  ^^^^  Upper 
Meanwhile,  David  Thompson  explored,  and  almost  exhausted,  anJ^co- 

^  Captain  George  Vancouver,  Voyages^  1790-5,  ed.  by  J.  Vancouver,   ^^  ^^» 
3  vols,  1798 ;  Sir  A.  Mackenzie's  Voyages ^  ed.  by  R.  Waite,  2  vols.,  1903. 


264        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

the  Columbian  water-system,  from  the  Canoe  River  on  the 
north  to  Fort  Astoria  (United  States),  which  was  founded  near 
its  mouth  in  1810-11 ;  and  amongst  other  things  he  founded 
Fort  Kootenay  (1807-8),  at  the  head  of  the  Columbia,  and 
completed   a  circle  of  travel  and  commerce   between   the 
Kootenay  Fort,  the  Kootenay  River  (British  Columbia  and 
United  States),  the  Kootenay  Lake,  the  Arrow  Lakes  of  the 
Middle  Columbia,  and  Fort  Kootenay  (181 1). 
the  N.  and     Then  David  Stuart  reached  Okanagan  Lake  from  Astoria, 
sonmid"^'  ^^^^^^^^  i^>  crossed  to  the  junction  of  the  Thompsons,  which 
Okanagan.  had  already  been  reached  from  Fort  George,  and  founded 
Fort   Kamloops   (1811-13)   at   the    junction^      A   second 
circular  travel-and-trade  way  was  now  complete  between  the 
great  bend  of  the  Fraser,  the  Columbia-Kootenay  source,  the 
Columbia  (British  Columbia  and  United  States),  the  Oka- 
nagan, the  South  Thompson,  and  the  great  bend  of  the  Fraser. 
Like  the  other  irregular  circle,  it  dipped  below  the  border, 
and  its  long  axis  lay  north  and  south,  not  east  and  west. 
Six  Pacific      The  coast  and  the  coast-tribes  seem  to  have  been  forgotten 
founZ7^    since  Mackenzie   and  Frazer;    for   the  valleys  drove  men 
frofnCol'    north   and   south,    and   the   Coast  Range   and  coast-tribes 
^ea,  1827'-  checked   the   white   inlanders.      Ultimately   the   coast   was 
42.  reached  by  fur-forts,  but  not  from  the  interior.     Fort  Alex- 

andria (1821), — which  eclipsed  Fort  George, — and  the  short- 
lived Fort  Chilcotin  (after  1826),  were  founded  lower  down 
on  or  near  the  Fraser  ;  but  the  Lower  Fraser  was  not  reached 
from  this  side.  Then  settling  traders  sailed  north  from  the 
Columbia  and  founded  Forts  Langley  (1827)  on  the  Lower 
Fraser,  Forts  Simpson  (1831,  1833)  ^^^  Essington  (1835) 
on  the  mouth  of  the  Skeena,  Fort  McLaughlin  (1833),  just 
north  of  Fitzhugh  Sound,  and  Forts  Rupert  (1835)  and 
Victoria  (1842),^  on  the  north-east  and  south-west  respec- 
tively of  Vancouver  Island. 

*  Alexander  Ross,  Adventures ^  P-*T5i  ;  Washington  Irving,  Astoi-ia, 
ed.  1 86 1,  p.  285.  2  Aij^g  Port  Camosun. 


THE    CIVILIZATION    OF    THE   FAR    WEST      265 

Meanwhile  exploring  traders  pushed  north  from  the  four  The  four 

forts  to    Forts   Babine  on  Lake  Babine  (1822),  and  YoxX.^'^V^^ 

\  f^  forts  were 

Connolly  (1829)  on  the  uppermost  Skeena  ;  but  these  inland  discon- 
forts  were  as  unconnected  with  the  forts  on  the  mouth  of  the  ^iTcoastal 
Skeena  as  the  four  forts  were  with  Fort  Langley.     It  was/^^^^, 
easier  apparently  to  get  from  the  inland  forts  to  the  Atlantic 
or  Hudson  Bay,  than  to  the  Pacific  coast  of  Canada. 

Next,  John  Macleod  (1834  et  seq.)  and  Robert  or  Roderick  although 
Campbell  (1838  et  seq.)  explored  the  southern  tributaries  ^f^;^,^7iS^ 
of  the  Liard,  and  crossed  from  the  Dease   to   the   Upper  with  forts 
Stikine,  and  others  crossed  from  the  Dease  to  Fort  Connolly  Tenzie^nd 
on   the   uppermost  Skeena.     Campbell    then   followed   the  Yukon, 
northern  tributary  of  the  Liard  into  Frances  Lake,  which  is  ^  ^"^'"^  ' 
its  origin,  and  crossed  to  the  Pelly,  which  he  descended  to 
the  Yukon  (1840-3).     Forts  were  founded  on  Dease  Lake 
(1838)  and  the  Upper  Pelly  (1842),  and  Fort  Selkirk  was 
built  at  the  junction  of  the  Yukon  and  Pelly  (1848).     The 
Peel-Porcupine-Yukon  route  was  explored  between  1842  and 
1846,  when  Fort  Yukon  was  built  at  the  junction  of  the 
Porcupine  and  Yukon  in  Alaska,  and  the  Yukon  was  navi- 
gated between  Forts  Selkirk  and  Yukon.     The  earliest  news 
of  these  remote  forts  on  what  was  then  a  new  unknown 
water-system  reached  England  from  searchers  engaged  in  the 
Franklin  Relief  Expedition/   so  that  the  last  chapter  leads 
back  to  the  first  chapter  of  this  book,  as  though  the  narrative 
ran  in  a  circle.     The  four  forts  of  the  Eraser  were  now  con- 
nected with  the  Liard,  the  Stikine,  the  Mackenzie,  and  the 
Yukon,  but  not  with  the  Pacific  on  Canadian  soil. 

The   impulse    communicated  by  the   fur-traders   of  one  The  settle- 

great  company  to  historical  geography  had  now  reached  its  ^^^^^^^/^^^^ 

grand  climacteric,  and  a  new  force  came  into  play  which  was  began  to 

single,  world-wide,  and  purely  political  in  its  character.  ^''"jf  "f" 

^  Sir  John  Richardson,  Arctic  Searching  Expedition,  1851,  vol.  ii,  coastal 
pp.    204-7;   Papers  relating  to  the  Arctic  Relief  Expedition,   \^zp,fofts ; 
No.  107,  p.  4  (vol.  XXXV,  p.  184)  ;  Further  correspondence  cojinected  with 
the  Arctic  Expedition^  1852,  No.  1449,  pp.  204-5  (vol.  1,  pp.  878-9). 


266        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

In  1846  the  Anglo-American  frontier  was  fixed  at  49°  N. 
lat.,  but  gave  Vancouver  Island  to  England,  although  part  of  it 
is  south  of  49°  N.  lat.  Immediately  the  scattered  posts  upon 
the  coast,  and  the  long-drawn  lines  in  the  interior,  drew  together, 
and  one  capital  for  both  was  selected  upon  the  Pacific. 
the  history  The  Hudson  Bay  Company,  which  now  governed  Vancouver 
^and^Van-^  Island,  made  Victoria  the  seat  of  government.  Esquimault, 
couver  which  is  the  twin  city  of  Victoria,  became  until  1905  the 
l^emn-  principal  British  naval  station  on  the  Pacific,  being  as  it  is 
the  only  first-rate  Pacific  port  south  of  49°  N.  lat.,  except  San 
Francisco  (United  States)  and  Acapulco  (Mexico).  Con- 
sequently, whalers  and  sealers  bound  for  Alaska  used  Victoria 
as  a  d^p6t  from  the  first,  and  fish  and  lumber  began  to  be 
exported  thence  even  to  the  Hawaii  Islands.  Salmon  was 
exported  in  barrels  from  Victoria  as  early  as  1853;  and 
eight  British  settlers  arrived  from  England  at  Sooke  Harbour 
twenty  miles  west  of  Victoria,  in  1849.  Coal  was  worked 
temporarily  at  Fort  Rupert  (1849),  then  permanently  at 
Nanaimo  (1851),  which  is  seventy-three  miles  north  of 
Victoria,  and  Victoria  soon  became  to  the  East  Pacific  what 
one  Sydney  is  to  the  North-west  Atlantic,  and  another  Sydney 
is  to  the  South-west  Pacific.  These  crude  facts  almost  con- 
tain a  complete  epitome  of  the  industrial  geography  of  the 
island.  The  canned-salmon  trade  began  to  prosper  in  1876  ; 
the  Wellington  coal-mines,  five  miles  beyond  Nanaimo,  in 
187 1  ;  the  Comox  coal-mines,  sixty  miles  beyond  Nanaimo, 
in  1888;  and  Malcolm  Islet,  opposite  old  Fort  Rupert,  yielded 
coal  in  1908.  A  line  of  settlements  connect  Victoria  with 
Wellington,  and  the  sixteen-mile  Saanich  peninsula  north-east 
of  Victoria  is  fertile  and  inhabited  throughout.  Agriculture 
flourishes  round  the  coal-mines.  Otherwise  settlements  are 
discontinuous,  and  consist  largely  of  fishermen  and  lumberers, 
who  are  scattered  on  many  streams,  and  in  many  islets.  The 
condition  of  the  island  in  1853  ^^d  19 10  differs  only  in 
degree  and  most  of  these  differences  are  due  to  discoveries  of 


THE    CIVILIZATION   OF    THE   FAR    WEST      267 

precious  metals.  Precious  metals  have  had  three  effects 
upon  the  island  history.  First,  they  scattered  miners  about 
the  mouths  of  many  inlets.  Secondly,  the  connected  districts 
of  the  island  now  reach  beyond  Nanaimo  to  the  opposite 
side  of  the  island,  through  the  copper-mines  of  Alberni  and 
Central  Lake,  where  there  is  cultivable  land.  A  railway  is 
now  being  built  from  sea  to  sea  between  Nanaimo  and 
Alberni.  Not  that  we  know  much  of  the  interior  even  now, 
and  officials  wrote  in  1908  that  'its  Geology  and  Topography 
is  practically  unknown '.  Thirdly,  Victoria  grew  with,  and 
became  knit  to  the  mainland. 

On  the  mainland  the  concentration  produced  by  political  routes  were 

events   feebly   united   the   Middle   and   Lower   Fraser.     In-^^^^^^^f' 

•'  tween  the 

1846  A.  C.  Anderson  discovered  what  are  now  known  2,^^  Middle  and 
the    Seton-Anderson-Lillooet   route   and   the  Hope-Nicola-  4^^^^^ 

^  rraser ; 

Kamloops  route   between   Alexandria   on   the  Middle   and 

Langley  on  the  Lower  Fraser,^  and  the  first  loose  links  were 

forged  between  the  coast  and  the  interior.     Fraser  {1808) 

and  Simpson  (1828)  had  shot  through  the  gorge;  but  the 

gorge  was  impracticable  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  until 

1846  white  traders  did  not  cross  the  Coast  Range  anywhere. 

Forts  Hope  and  Yale  were  then  built  at  or  near  the  lower 

end  of  the  gorge  (1848),  in  order  to  bind  the  uplands  with 

the  sea-shore.     Nor  were  they  the  only  bonds  between  west 

and  east. 

On  the  Middle  Columbia,  below  Arrow  Lake,  P'ort  Shep-  between  the 

Upper 
hard,  which  had  hitherto  been  beyond  the  border,  was  shifted  Columbia 

on  to  Canadian  soil.     The  east  was  accessible  from  the  new  Middle 

Fort  Shephard  without  trespassing  on  the  United  States — by  ^^^  Loiver 

going  up  the  Lower  Kootenay,  across  Kootenay  Lake,  then  Fraser, 

by  a  short  cut  which  John  Sullivan,  an  assistant  of  Sir  John*^^^ 

Palliser,  discovered  (1859),  to  the  Moyie,  and  up  the  Moyie  and  Frontier; 

over  a  Pass  often  used  by  Thompson  (1807-11),  and  so  to 

^  A.    G.    Morice,   History  of  the   North-west  Interior  of  British 
Columbia,  1906,  p.  253. 


268         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF  CANADA 

the  Upper  Kootenay  at  or  near  Fort  Steele,  and  to  the 
Rockies.     But  was  Fort  Shephard  accessible  from  the  west  ? 
Sir  John  Palliser  reported  that  with  the  utmost  difficulty  he 
had  penetrated   in   1859  from   Fort  Shephard  to  119°  W. 
longitude,  keeping  just  within  the  border ;  and  that  a  trail 
made  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  ran   from  the  point 
reached  by  him  to  Langley.     Thus  the  Lower  Fraser  was 
just  connected  with  the  Middle  Columbia,  which  was  con- 
nected with  the  Upper  Columbia,  which  was  connected  with 
the   Canadian  prairies,  and  the  through  route  was  all-red, 
direct,  and  near  the  frontier.     It  was  deemed,  however,  too 
difficult  for  use.     But  strange  things  were  happening  in  1859, 
because  gold,  which  can  remove  mountains,  was  already  in 
the  air. 
and  men         The  Upper  and  Lower  Skeena,  and  the  Upper  and  Lower 
7heUpp7r  Stikine  were  still  more  inaccessible  one  from  the  other,  than 
to  the  lower  the  Middle  and  Lower  Fraser,  the  cause  being  that  jealousy 
Stikine,       ^^  coastlanders  and  mountaineers  which  is  universal  among 
savages  of  different  origin.     Indeed,  Major  William  Downie 
was  the  first  white  man  to  pass  between  the  coast-forts  and 
the  forts  on  the  Upper  Skeena ;  and  this  too  happened   in 
1859. 
The  dis-         Gold  not   only   found  out   new   ways,   but   transformed 

cffvery  of     gntish   Columbia   from   a    network   of    trade-centres    into 

gold  in  the 

Fraser  and  2^  living  colony ;    and  its  advent  was   the   signal   for   new 

^n^f^'^t      developments.     It  swept  like  a  storm  up  the  American  banks 

united  the  of  the  Columbia  from  the  south,  and  there  were  rumours  of 

^lw!r^^^  its  coming  down  the  Thompson  from  the  north  in  April,  1856. 

Fraser and\xi  1 857  gold  gleaned  from  the  Thompson  was  minted  at 

iS^e^f^^^*  San  Francisco.     In  1858  one  red-shirted,  armed  Californian 

seg.y  crowd  struggled  up  overland  by  the  Okanagan  to  Kamloops, 

and  another  sailed  into  Victoria,  where  quiet  people  took 

them  for  pirates,  and  up  the  Fraser  to  Hope,  near  which  they 

winnowed  gold-dust  from  the  river  in  the  forbidding  gorges 

of  the  Fraser.     One  miner  strayed  upstream  to  the  Chilcotin 


THE    CIVILIZATION   OF    THE   FAR    WEST      269 

far  beyond  the  gorge,  heard  from  Indians  of  Horsefly  Lake, 
somewhere  out  east  under  the  arch  of  the  Great  Bend  of  the 
Fraser,  and  found  gold  there  (1858).  In  1859  Quesnel 
River,  to  the  north  of  Horsefly  Lake,  and  in  i860  Antler 
Creek,  still  further  north,  were  found  to  be  auriferous  ;  and 
Lightning  Creek  and  William  (Dietz's)  Creek,  which  are 
near  Antler  Creek,  and  on  which  Barkerville  stands,  came  as 
a  climax  in  1861.  Antler  on  Antler's  Creek,  and  Keighley 
near  the  forks  of  the  Quesnel,  became  towns  in  1861,  and 
Barkerville  was  in  1865,  and  still  is  capital  of  the  Cariboo 
District,  as  these  three  new  far-off  gold-fields  were  called. 
Placer  gold  is  still  strained  there,  but  since  1893  (c)  by 
hydraulic  machinery,  which  has  superseded  individual  sieves, 
and  sometimes  fails  owing  to  the  scanty  rainfall. 

In  1859  there  were  less  sensational  discoveries  near  Lillooet 
on  the  Middle  Fraser,  on  the  Similkameen,  sixty  miles  east 
by  south  of  Hope,  and  at  Rock  Creek — 119°  W,  longitude — 
150  miles  east  by  south  of  Hope,  and  just  within  the  frontier. 
Sir  John  Palliser,  who  reached  Rock  Creek  from  the  east  in 
September  of  the  same  year,  had  heard  of  the  discoveries  on 
the  Similkameen,  but  not  of  those  at  Rock  Creek.  The 
madding  crowd  rushed  from  Hope  to  Rock  Creek  through 
the  valley  of  the  Similkameen  in  i860. 

These   events  riveted  the  Middle  to  the  Lower   Yx2.'^tx,  and  caused 
The  way  between  Harrison  River  and  Lillooet  was  perfected,  ^^^^-^"^/^/^ 
a  good  coach-road  being  built  over  thirty  miles  of  portage  tween  coast 
before  1862.     Simcoe's  Yonge  Street  was  also  a  good  coach-  ^^^^  J^/^^^ 
road  over  thirty  miles  of  portage,  but  that  portage  was  very  tween 

different  to  this.     Then  a  coach-road  was  built  from  Hope  ^^^^{^i  ^^^^ 

^    south, 

through  the  great  gorge  between  the  Lower  and  Middle 
Fraser,  past  Lytton  and  Clinton — where  another  coach-road 
from  Lillooet  met  it — to  Quesnel,  Alexandria  (1863),  and 
Barkerville  (1865),  which  is  370  miles  from  Hope.  Once 
more  we  recall  Dundas  Street,  but  there  is  no  analogy  east 
of  the  Rockies  to  the  country  which  this  great  new  road 


270        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

subdued.     Parts  of  it  were  built  by  the  Royal  Engineers,  parts 

by  miners,  but  most  by  Chinese  labourers.     Fate  strewed  its 

potent  gold- bait  in  the  most  impossible  and  important  spot, 

and  the  greatest  obstacle  was  converted  into  the  greatest  aid 

and  immi-  to  development  from  the  coast,  whence  all  immigrants  now 

grants  to     Q.2cmQ  except  casual  Americans,  who  from  time  to  time  drifted 
arrive.  ^  ' 

in  from  the  south — except,  too,  those  193  Ontarians  whom 

the  fame  of  the  Cariboo  mines  drew  from  their  homes  3,000 

miles  away,  overland  by  the  Yellowhead  Pass,  and  down  the 

Upper  Fraser  or  the  North  Thompson  to  Quesnel  and  Kam- 

loops  (1862).     These  Ontarians  were  the   first  overlanders 

from  Canada,  and  they  came  to  stay.^     Indeed,  most  who 

came  to  mine  stayed  as  farmers  in  the  country  or  traders  in 

the   towns.     Barkerville,   Lillooet,   and   Kamloops   became 

farming  centres  and  general  markets;  and  the  Lower  Fraser 

became  what  it  is  to-day — a  series  of  farms,  orchards,  and 

ruit-gardens.     Langley,    Hope,     Yale,     Lytton,     Douglas, 

Lillooet,  and  CUnton  were  described  as  towns  in  1862,  all 

of  which  lay  along  the  great  road ;  and  New  Westminster  had 

been  built  in  1858-9  at  the  lodge-gate  of  this  long  avenue  to 

the  gold-fields.     Nor  was  the  Hope-Similkameen-Rock  Creek 

trail  neglected,  over  which  in  1861  the  Governor  rode  from 

end  to  end.     Trails  as  well  as  roads  converged  on  the  Lower 

Fraser,  and  the  Lower  Fraser  led  to  New  Westminster,  which 

was  provincial  capital  during  the  short  time  that  the  mainland 

was   detached  from   Vancouver   Island.     These  trails  and 

roads,  for  which  the  gold  rush  was  responsible,  are  the  A.B.C. 

of  British  Columbian  history,  as  well  as  of  its  geography. 

They  made  the  dwellers  on  and  beyond  the  Middle  Fraser 

and  its  affluents  live,  and  lead  one  life,  and  draw  breath,  so  to 

speak,  through  one  tube  from  one  source,  the  tube  being  the 

Lower  Fraser  and  the  source  being  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  dis'  The  trail  to  the  Similkameen  and  Rock  Creek  also  united 

coveries  of 

gold  at  1  See  Milton  and  Cheadle,  North-west  Passage  by  Land,  1863  ;  Mrs. 

M.  McNaughton,  Overland  to  Cariboo^  1896. 


THE   CIVILIZATION   OF   THE   FAR    WEST      27 1 

the  Lower  Fraser  to  outliers  of  the   water-system   of  the  Rock 
Columbia  on  or  near  the  American  frontier.     And  that  was  <^f^^^>  «^^ 
only  the  first  link  in  a  long  chain.  kameen 

Part  of  the  Similkameen  where  gold  was  found  in  1859  ^^^^' 
constitutes  what  I  have  called  the  ninth  longitudinal  valley  of 
the  Columbia,  reckoning  from  the  east.     Graziers  followed 
miners  into  the  open  uplands  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Rock  Creek,  where  gold  was  found  in  1859,  is  an  offshoot 
of  Kettle  River,  which  forms  the  seventh  valley. 

In  1863  Wild  Horse  Creek  (near  Fort  Steele)  was  dx^- near  Fort 
covered  in  the  first  valley;  and  in  1864  there  was  a  rush  ^g^^^^' 
thither,  but  from  the  south.  Said  the  Governor  :  '  It  was 
from  the  American  newspapers  that  I  became  aware  of  a  rich 
and  prosperous  mining  town  existing  within  our  limits  about 
500  miles  east  of  New  Westminster.'  Fort  Steele  had 
become  a  town. 

In  1875  and  1876  a  creek  near  Kelowna  in  the  eighth  near  Oka- 
valley,  where  there  had  been  a  Roman  Catholic  mission  for  ^^^^ 
nearly  twenty  years,  showed  signs  of  gold,  and  settlement  1875-6, 
began   on   Okanagan   Lake.      Miners   were   succeeded   by 
graziers  and  farmers,  and  the  Lake-lands   blossomed   into 
Summer-lands   and  Peach-lands,  which   now  vie   with  the 
Lower  Fraser  as  the  fruit-garden  of  the  west. 

In  1886  Toad  Mountain,  south  of  Nelson,  began  to  pro-  near  Nel- 
duce  silver  and  copper  near  the  second  valley;  and  in  1889-91  ■^^^»  '^^^' 
the  Sandon-and-Slocan  District,  which  is  north  of  Nelson, 
and  occupies  the  third  valley,  began  to  produce  silver-lead, 
which  was  also  produced  to  the  east  of  Nelson  at  Hot  Springs, 
and  Hendryx,  near  Balfour,  at  Ainsworth,  at  Kaslo,  and  on 
either  side  of  the  second  valley. 

The  gold-quartz  of  Rossland  and  Trail  in  the  fourth  valley  near  Ross- 
belongs  to  the  years  1888-92,  soon  after  which  Greenwood  j'^gg',*^'^** 
(Boundary  Creek),  in   the  sixth  valley,   became   a   copper 
capital;  and  Grand  Forks  in  the  fifth  valley  yielded  gold.        near  Sio- 

In  1 890-1  Rossland  and  Nelson,  and  before  1893  Sandon,  can,  &c., 

1890-T, 


272        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

Slocan,  Kaslo,  Ainsworth,  and  Balfour,  and  between  1895- 
1897  Greenwood  and  Grand  Forks,  sprang  into  existence; 
and  Nelson  soon  afterwards  became  an  agricultural  and 
business  centre,  and  began  to  outstrip  Rossland  as  the  inland 
capital  of  British  Columbia. 
near  Gran-  Then  a  wonderful  thing  happened  out  east.  In  the  first 
brook,  1^2  valley,  Fort  Steele  was  the  only  town  south  of  Golden,  180 

et  seq.y 

miles  away.     It  was  the  market  of  a  few  scattered  farms, 

mostly  pastoral.     Wild  Horse  Creek  was  still  running ;   so 

were  the  wild  horses  after  which  it  was  named.     The  post 

came  once  a  month,  or  (1897)  week,  from  Golden.     There 

was  a  Roman  Catholic  mission  for  Indians  near.     In  1892 

miners  discovered  silver-lead  near  Kimberley,  on  St.  Mary's 

River,  to  the  west  of  it.     Then  the  mission-priest  wrote  that 

'  a  larger  church  was  needed '  for  the  miners,  *  but  where  to 

get  the  money  was  a  hard  question.     Divine  Providence  came 

to  the  rescue.'     In  other  words,  the  priest  sent  out  an  Indian 

to  the  south-west,  to  St.  Eugene  on  Moyie  Lake  ;  and  Divine 

Providence,  prompted  by  the  canny  priest  and  clever  Indian, 

brought  to  light  what  proved  the  greatest  silver-lead  mine  in 

Canada,   until   Cobalt    was    discovered.     After    1893,  and 

before  the  discovery  of  Cobalt,  British  Columbia  produced 

all  but  all  Canadian  silver,  which  often  exceeded  £500.000 

per  annum  in  value.     Cranbrook,  which  was  in  1887  'a  large 

farm '  ^  on  Thompson  s  trail  to  the  Moyie,  was  built  a  few 

years  later,  and  supplanted  Fort  Steele  as  local  capital. 

near  Hed-       And  a  wonderful  thing  happened  out  west.     In  or  near  the 

ley,  &c.,     ninth  valley,  Hedley  was  discovered  in  1896,  and  became  in 

^^°  '  1908  the  largest  gold-producing  camp  in  British  Columbia. 

Princeton  is  the  chief  town  here,  although  Osoyoos,  in  the 

fertile  Okanagan  valley,  is  the  official  local  capital. 

and  of  coal      Meanwhile  the  coal  of  Fernie — near  Crow's  Nest  Pass  and 

at  Crow's    fifty  miles  east  of  Fort  Steele — which  geologists  described 

eUeq^,  ^'  3,s  Mittle  known'  in  1889,  ^^^  ^^  'phenomenal'  in  1891, 

^  J.  A.  Lees  and  W,  J.  Clutterbuck,  British  Columbia,  p.  210. 


THE    CIVILIZATION   OF    THE   FAR    WEST      273 

attracted  its  railway  from  the  east.  Passing  west  from  Fernie  caused 
(pop.  1,540^)  there  were  already  nine  stepping-stones  of-^^^^/^^^ 
solid  rock-hewn  gold,  silver,  and  copper  at  Cranbrook  railways 
(pop.  1,196  0,  Moyie  (pop.  582^),  Nelson  (pop.  5,273'),  ^898^!^'^^'. 
Trail  (pop.  1,350^),  Rossland  (pop.  6,159^),  Grand  Forks 
(pop.  1,012^),  Greenwood  (pop.  1,359^),  Osoyoos,  and 
Princeton  (pop.  316  ^);  and  Princeton  was  on  the  way  to  the 
coal-district  of  Nicola.  The  fact  that  each  of  these  towns  is 
near  the  frontier  would  suggest  to  a  European  a  strategic 
road  or  railway.  A  road  has  been,  and  a  railway  is  being 
built,  but  it  is  as  little  strategic  as  natural ;  and  it  is  certainly 
not  natural,  for  it  cuts  straight  across  the  grain,  hitting  more 
than  nine  rivers  and  many  more  mountains  at  right  angles. 
The  roads  and  railways — for  both  were  built  piecemeal — were 
purely  mineral.  The  section  of  railway,  which  was  available  in 
1898  between  Crow's  Nest  Pass  and  Kootenay  Lake,  followed 
more  or  less  a  trail,  most  of  which  was  used  by  miners  in  the 
Sixties,  and  by  Sullivan  and  David  Thompson  long  ago.  The 
Nelson-Greenwood-Midway  section  is  complete;  and  a  further 
section  to  Osoyoos,  Princeton,  and  Yale,  or  to  Spence  Bridge 
via  Nicola,  or  to  some  other  point  on  the  Lower  Fraser,  will  be 
probably  ready  before  this  book.  If  so,  a  second  through- 
railway  will  zigzag  from  the  tidal  waters  of  the  west, 
certainly  to  Alberta,  possibly  to  Red  River,  always  within 
fifty  miles  of  the  frontier,  attesting  the  triumph  not  of  political 
idealism,  nor  of  strategy,  but  solely  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  and 
coal  over  Nature. 

The  first  through-railway  was  built  long  before ;  but  its 
origin  was  political,  and  the  mineral-thread  must  be  followed 
further  afield  before  politics  are  broached. 

The  gold-thread  led  north  beyond  Quesnel  and  the  four  Golddis- 

fur-forts.     The  Parsnip  was  reached  in  1861,2  the  Findlay  ^^^f^'^^ 

^  '  •'  took  men 

in  1862,^  the  Omineca,  which  is  a  western  affluent  of  ihQ  north  from 

the  four 
^  Population  1 90 1.  forts  to  the 

2  By  '  Bill  Cust  \  ^  By  Pete  Toy. 

VOL.   V.      PT.    Ill  X 


274        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY   OF    CANADA 

Upper         Findlay,  in   1864,  Germanson,  Vital,  and  Manson  Creeks, 

Skeena,       which  belong  to  the  Omineca  and  Findlay,  in  1867  ^;  after 

and  Liardy  which  miners  rushed  to  the  Omineca,  sometimes  from  the 

^  ^*  south,   but  usually  up  the  Skeena,    by  Hazelton   and  the 

Babine,   from   the   western  Ocean.     The   Omineca  is   still 

haunted  by  gold-seekers,  and  the  Findlay  drew  fresh  crowds 

in  1908.     In  1861  the  Stikinewas  searched  for  gold  between 

Glenora  and  Telegraph  Creek — so  called  because  of  a  pro* 

jected   telegraph-wire   between   America    and   Asia,  which 

reached  it  from  Bulkley  Valley  and  Hazelton  in  1866-7 ;  and 

miners  went  further  upstream  and  crossed  to  Dease  Lake, 

where  miners  from  the  east  found  gold  among  the  Cassiar 

Mountains  in  1872.     Here  a  little  alluvial  and  a  very  little 

quartz  mining  still  continues.   We  are  now  near  60°  N.  latitude, 

where  British  Columbia  ends  ;  and  in  these  northern  latitudes 

Fate  spun  its  threads  more  and  more  from  the  east  and  the 

west,  and  less  and  less  from  the  south,  and  every  thread  was 

thin.     After  this  point  it  snapped,  and  made  a  new  beginning 

more  than  four  degrees  further  north  in  Yukon. 

Golddis'         The  mineral  history,  of  Yukon  began  in  1880.     Stewart 

coverus  on  River,  sixty  miles  above  Dawson,  on  the  east  of  the  Yukon, 

the  Yukon  ,     ,   .  x-  n^.i     ^^      1         ,        -r^ 

had  a         was  worked  m  1885;  Forty  Mile  Creek,  below  Dawson,  on 

separate      the  west  of  the  Yukon,  in   1886;  and  Sixty-Mile  Creek, 

near  the      between  the  Stewart  and  Dawson,  on  the  west  of  the  Yukon, 

Arctic        in  1893.     The  Klondike,  whose  river-mouth  is  at  Dawson, 

1880,  '&c,y  was  being  gradually  approached ;  and  its  gold  was  discovered 

late  in  1896.     Immediately  Canadian  gold  rose  to  equality 

with  that  of  South  Africa  and  Australia.     During  seven  years 

the  output  of  gold  from  the  Yukon  was  nearly  worth  three 

millions  a  year ;  while  the  annual  output  of  British  Columbia, 

then  at  its  zenith,  exceeded  one  million  for  the  first  time  in 

1 90 1,   and   was   £1,126,108   in    1906.      British   Columbia 

nowadays  just  surpasses  Yukon  in  its  annual  production  of 

gold,   Yukon   producing    £1,120,000    in    1906;  moreover, 

^  Compare  Sir  W.  Butler,  Wild  North  Land,  pp.  300  et  seq. 


THE    CIVILIZATION    OF    THE  FAR    WEST      275 

British  Columbian  gold  is  more  than  three-fourths  rock-gold, 
and  is  therefore  permanent,  while  Yukon  gold  is  wholly  gravel 
or  placer  gold,  and  is  therefore  of  doubtful  permanence.  The 
usual  mob  flowed  and  ebbed  from  creek  to  creek  of  the 
Klondike,  and  plied  the  usual  tools,  with  simple  devices  for 
thawing  buried  river-beds;  and,  as  might  be  expected, 
hydraulic  machinery  superseded  the  work  of  men  s  hands 
before  1908.  Meanwhile,  Yukon  began  to  resemble  a 
province.  Dawson  was  founded  in  1897,  and  in  1901  had 
over  9,000  inhabitants.  The  Royal  North- West  Mounted 
Police  arrived  there  among  the  first ;  in  consequence  of  which, 
pistols,  locks,  and  keys  are  scarce,  because  useless,  although 
the  riff-raff  of  the  wild  west  often  drifts  thither  from  Alaska. 
Horses  were  plentiful  there  in  1899,  and  motors  in  1908,  for 
the  roads  are  good.  In  1897  the  first  Canadian  overlander 
arrived  via  the  Mackenzie,  Peel,  and  Porcupine  ^ ;  and  in 
1898  via  the  Liard  and  Pelly.  In  1900  the  Governor- 
General  paid  his  first  visit,  coming  by  Lynn  s  Canal,  the 
new  White  Pass  Railway,  and  the  river  steamers  of  i\iQ  progressing 
Yukon.  Minerals  and  coal  soon  stimulated  expansion  up  "^^^  toToiuhat 
down  stream.  Tertiary  coal  was  worked  on  the  right  bank  or  near  60"* 
of  the  Yukon,  between  Dawson  and  the  north-east  frontier  '  ^  * 
(1899),  and  at  Tantalus  between  Selkirk  and  Bennett  (1906). 
Selkirk  at  the  Pelly-Lewes  junction  had  a  few  cabins  in  1899, 
and  is  now  a  centre  for  hay-and-potato  farms.  The  Upper 
Stewart  (north-east  of  Selkirk)  and  Livingstone  Creek  (near 
Tantalus)  yielded  gold  (1898);  Whitehorse,  the  railway 
terminus,  yielded  copper  (c.  1908);  and  Kluane,  on  the 
northern  slopes  of  the  St.  Elias,  143  miles  by  wagon-road 
from  Whitehorse,  also  yielded  copper  (1903).  Bennett  Lake, 
still  further  upstream,  is  connected  with  two  parallel  north- 
pointing  lakes  on  the  east — Lakes  Tagish  and  Atlin — which, 
like  Lake  Bennett,  are  wholly  or  mainly  in  British  Columbia. 
On  Lake  Atlin  and  Lake  Tagish  (Windy  Arm)  there  were 

1  Mr.  William  Langworthy  of  Edmonton. 
T  2 


276         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF   CANADA 

gold  discoveries  of  some  importance  in  1898  and  1907 
respectively ;  and  west  of  Bennett,  but  reached  usually  by  the 
Chilcat  Pass  from  Lynn's  Canal,  copper  was  worked  at  Rainy 
Hollow  in  1898.  The  mineral  thread  has  now  been  retraced 
from  the  extreme  north — not  indeed  to  the  very  spot,  but 
to  the  very  parallel  where  its  progress  to  the  north  was 
interrupted.  In  its  progress  east  and  west  along  the  southern 
frontier  of  British  Columbia  agricultural  invariably  accom- 
panied mineral  development.  This  has  hardly  been  the  case, 
except  on  a  very  humble  scale,  north  of  Barkerville. 
Eniku-  The  final  impulse  towards  development  came  from  idealists, 

^l^lYci     whose  idealism,  mad  as  it  once  seemed,  proved  to  be  sober 
unity         sense,  and  their  faith  to  be  wisdom  in  disguise.     When  its 
^d!«j^^  the  godmother  named  British  Columbia,  and  gave  her  name  to  its 
the  Cana-   capital,  she  expressed  her  *  hopes  that  this  new  colony  might 
^fic^aU-^'  be    but   one    step  ...  by   which  ...  her    dominions   might 
way^         ultimately  be  peopled  in  an  unbroken  chain  from  the  Atlantic 
to   the   Pacific   by   a    loyal   and    industrious    population.'* 
Echoes  of  the  Psalms  '^  and  a  sense  of  British  greatness  brooded 
over  its  birth,  and  a  spirit  of  national  rivalry  stimulated  its 
growth.     Alfred  Waddington  complained  in  1868  that  the 
new  colony  was  *  entirely  indebted  to  the  United  States '  for 
the  carriage  of  its  letters  and  immigrants,  and  even  its  food  ; 
others  too  wrote  in  the  same  strain.     In  187 1  the  new  colony 
joined  the  Dominion,  in  order  that  it  might  lean  on  the  east 
rather  than  on  the  south,  and  stipulated  for  a  through-railway 
to  the  Atlantic,  like  that  which  San  Francisco  had  already. 
The  railway  was  to  be  a  symbol  and  instrument  of  union  with 
Eastern  Canada,  and  for  this  purpose  was  to  pass  through 
two  thousand  miles  or  more  of  solitude.   A  passionate  desire  for 
the  union  of  Canada  with  itself  made  Canadians  run  risks  of 
what  seemed  certain  material  ruin. 
for  which        Two   of   the   proposed   routes   for  this   railroad,   which 

two  routes 

were  pro-  1  Queen's  Speech,  1858  :  Hansard,  Ser.  iii,  vol.  cli,  p.  2372. 

posedf  2  «  fjg  shall  have  dominion  also  from  sea  to  sea.' 


THE   CIVILIZATION   OF   THE  FAR    WEST      277 

visionaries  set  to  work  to  build  through  vacancy,  may  be  re- 
called. Its  first  proposed  course  lay  through  the  Yellowhead 
Pass,  by  the  Upper  Fraser,  Forts  George  and  Fraser,  the 
Bulkley  Valley,  and  Hazelton  to  Port  Simpson;  with  variants 
or  tentacles  from  the  Upper  to  the  Middle  Fraser,  and  so 
either  to  Gardner  Canal,  Dean  Channel,  or  Bute  Inlet,  up 
which  last  Waddington  built  a  road  at  his  own  expense  in  1 864 . 
All  these  routes  are  natural  routes  and  have  been  described  ^ ; 
but  were  rejected  on  the  ground  that  they  led  no  whither.  The 
inlets  to  which  they  led  were  as  vacant  as  the  great  spaces  which 
were  traversed.  A  further  proposal  to  build  a  bridge  across  the 
archipelago  from  Bute  Inlet  to  Vancouver  Island,  and  so  reach 
the  capital,  was  too  expensive  to  be  adopted.  The  second, 
which  is  the  actual  route  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  one  to 
crosses  the  Kicking  Horse  Pass  over  the  Rockies,  and  Rogers'  creating  ^' 
Pass  over  the  Selkirks,  which  passes  resemble  two  Brenner  settlement 
Passes  in  quick  succession;  and  a  third  easy  pass  over  the  Gold  ^^J^  '^^^ 
Range  called  the  Eagle  Pass ;  after  which  it  passes  through 
the  broad  lovely  Thompson  Valley,  which  is  comparatively 
civilized,  through  the  narrow  gloomy  Fraser  Gorge,  which 
a  road  already  traversed,  and  through  the  fertile  levels  of  the 
Lower  Fraser  to  the  neighbourhood  of  New  Westminster, 
where  Burrard's  Inlet  was  the  terminus.  At  Burrard's  Inlet 
there  was  nothing  but  high  thick  trees  and  deep  still  water, 
when  the  railway  reached  it.  Immediately  after  it  was  reached, 
Vancouver  City  sprang  up  like  the  prophet's  gourd,  and  in  190 1 
was  more  populous  (26,133  ^),  ^^^  is  now  far  more  populous, 
than  Victoria  (20,816  2),  although  Victoria  is  the  prettiest  and 
oldest  town  in  western  Canada,  and  has  gained  by  whatever 
has  happened  in  the  province  during  sixty  years  or  more. 

On  the  railway-track  Golden  (pop.  705  ^),  Revelstoke  (pop. 
1,600^),  Kamloops  (pop.  1,594^),  and  Ashcroft  (pop.  475^); 
and  south  of  it,  Vernon  (pop.  802^)  on  Lake  Okanagan, 
Arrowhead,  on  Lake  Arrow,  Kaslo  (pop.  1,680  2)  on  Lake 

^  Ante^  pp.  253-4.  2  Population  1901. 


278        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 


the  other  by 
the  route 
now  adop- 
ted by  the 
G.  T.  P, 
Railway, 
which  is 
also  creat- 
ing settle- 
ment. 


Bella  Coola 
settlement 
is  detached 
and  was 
created 
otherwise 
than  by 
raihvay, 
1894. 


Kootenay,  and  Gerrard,  on  Trout  Lake,  owed  their  growth 
to  the  railway  or  its  branches,  but  Vancouver  City  owed  its 
very  existence  to  the  railway.  The  biggest  town  in  the 
colony  was  created  by  a  railway  out  of  nothing  in  a  moment. 

Why,  it  was  asked,  could  not  this  miracle  be  repeated? 
The  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Railway,  which  is  now  being  built 
over  what  I  have  described  as  the  first  projected  course  for 
the  first  main  railway,  is  the  answer  to  the  question.  Prince 
Rupert,  its  proposed  terminus  near  Port  Simpson,  was  vacant 
in  1907,  and  had  4,000  inhabitants  in  1909.  There  are 
farmers  already  in  the  Bulkley  Valley,  and  some  copper  and 
coal.  Opposite  Prince  Rupert  are  the  Queen  Charlotte  Islands, 
Graham  Island  in  the  north,  Moresby  Island  in  the  south, 
like  Corsica  and  Sardinia  halved  in  size.  Cretaceous  coal 
has  been  known  (1859),  and  worked  a  little  from  time  to 
time  (1871,  1890),  in  the  south  of  Graham  Island;  and 
copper  was  worked  by  Francis  Poole  (1862-4),^  and  is  now 
being  worked,  amongst  others,  by  the  Japanese  of  Ikeda  Bay 
in  the  south  of  Moresby  Island.  Coal  extends  into  the  heart 
of  the  northern  island,  right  amongst  its  mountains,  5,000 
feet  high,  and  its  all-pervading  forests,  where  cattle  run  wild. 
The  climate  is  mild,  and  everything  except  mankind  abundant. 
The  new  through- rail  way  is  already  beginning  to  galvanize 
these  islands,  and  many  an  inlet  on  the  mainland  into  life. 

One  inlet  began  to  be  civilized  long  after  it  was  known 
that  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  would  send  no  branches 
that  way,  and  long  before  the  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Railway 
existed.  This  was  Bella  Coola  Inlet.  A  group  of  Nor- 
wegians, who  had  formerly  setded  in  Minnesota  (United 
States),  began  to  hanker  after  mountains  and  seas,  like  those 
in  the  home  of  their  fathers.  Accordingly,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  their  pastor,  seventy-five  went  north  in  October,  1894, 
furnished  themselves  with  supplies  in  Winnipeg,  which  became 
their  base  of  operations,  and  took  the  train  for  Vancouver. 

^  Francis  Poole,  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  1872. 


THE   CIVILIZATION    OF    THE  FAR    WEST       279 

Thence  they  sailed  to  Bella  Coola  Inlet,  where  Vancouver  and 
Mackenzie  just  failed  to  meet  a  century  ago,  and  formed 
a  nucleus  around  which  their  kith  and  kin  from  afar  clustered. 
In  1906  wagon-roads  penetrated  twenty-two  miles,  and  settlers 
occupied  seventy-five  miles  of  the  valley,  and  were  still  pushing 
towards  the  Middle  Fraser.  If,  as  is  probable,  a  third  railway 
is  built  along  the  Middle  Fraser  between  the  Upper  and 
Lower  Fraser,  it  will  be  partly  a  junction-line  between  the 
two  great  political  lines,  partly  a  mineral  line  for  the  Cariboo 
and  Lillooet  Districts ;  and  if,  as  is  also  probable,  it  should 
some  day  send  out  a  spur  to  Bella  Coola,  this  spur  will  be 
wholly  due  to  the  agricultural  enterprize  of  these  pioneers, 
and  will  be  unique  in  British  Columbia,  where  railways  have 
usually  been  the  cause,  not  the  effect,  of  agriculture,  and  where 
colonizing  communities  are  as  rare  as  lumber-camps, 
canneries,  and  Indian  villages — served  by  a  trader  and 
a  missionary  in  true  Pacific  fashion — are  common  on  its 
coastal  indentations.  The  story  of  the  peopling  of  Bella 
Coola  recalls  the  Icelanders  of  Gimli,  and  reads  like  a  distant 
recollection  of  Prairie-land. 

The   following  statistics   explain   themselves ;    they    are  statistical 
somewhat  belated ;  but  more  recent  statistics  are  not  avail-  ^^-^w'''^- 
able  for  comparative  purposes  : — 


Total 

Population  x  1000  in  1901 

British 
Origin  ^ 

Chinese  and 
Japanese 

Americait 
Indians 

Half- 
breeds 

Others 

British  Columbia 
Yukon 

178.6 

27 

106.4 
i0'6 

19*5 
.1 

25-5' 
3-3 

3-5 » 
.02 

13  = 

*  Includes  Americans ; 
to  Scotch  or  Irish  origin.  "  =  T 

3   =  ^1^  of  all  the  half-breeds  in  all  Canada, 

*  French  (Canadians)  =  4-6  ;  Germans  =  5'8 
^  Fr.  Can.  =  1.8;  Germans  ^2.1;  Scand.= 


half  (53,000)   are   of  English  as    opposed 
2  =  f  of  all  the  Indians  in  all  Canada. 


;  Scandinavians  =  4-8,  &c. 
•6;  Unknown  =  6.6,  &c. 


The  pro- 
spects of 
B,C, 


280        HISTORICAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF  CANADA 

The  population  nearly  doubles  in  ten  years,  but  Indians 
were  25,000  in  1881,  as  well  as  in  1901  : — 


Population  of 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

British  Columbia 

36 

49-5 

98 

178.6 

Population  x  1,000  includes  Indians,  &c. 
Men  born  in  Canada  form  the  vast  majority ;  and  men 
born  elsewhere  in  the  British  Empire  are  twice  as  many  as 
those  born  in  the  United  States : — 


Year 

Born  in 
Canada 

Elsewhere 
in  Br. 
Empire 

Total 
Br,  Empire 

Born 
in  U,  S. 

Born 
elsewhere 

Total 
foreign 

1881 
1901 

68 
56 

II 

18 

79 

74 

5 
9 

16 
17 

21 
26 

Birthplaces  of  the  population  by  percentages. 

Emigration  from  Eastern  Canada  is  the  chief  feature  in  the 
situation,  although  Emigration  from  Great  Britain  has  also 
left  traces  more  deep  than  numerous.  Chinese  and  Japanese 
immigrants  are  conspicuous  here,  as  they  are,  or  have  been, 
in  every  Pacific  Dominion  and  colony.  The  Far  East  of  Asia 
casts  its  shadow  over  the  Far  West  of  Canada  ;  but  not,  to  an 
appreciable  extent,  over  Central  or  Eastern  Canada.  Although 
Chinamen  wash  linen  from  Louisbourg  to  Victoria,  nearly 
thirteen  out  of  every  fourteen  Chinese  residents  in  Canada 
resided  in  British  Columbia  in  1901,  and  the  disproportion 
has  increased  since  then. 

British  Columbia  and  the  provinces  of  Prairie-land  are 
the  newest  provinces  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  All  of 
them  are  totally  unlike  the  rest  of  the  Dominion ;  and  British 
Columbia  is  the  very  antithesis  of  Prairie-land.  British 
Columbia  is  all  mountain  and  the  prairie  is  dead  level.     The 


THE   CIVILIZATION   OF   THE   FAR    WEST      281 

dead  levels  are  being  peopled  at  lightning  speed ;  the  mountain 
province,  though  covering  an  area  equal  to  Austria  and  the 
United  Kingdom,  has  far  less  inhabitants  than  square  miles. 
In  discussing  its  population  we  are  discussing  its  future ;  and 
its  future  depends  on  two  unknown  factors. 

First,  what  will  happen  in  China,  Japan,  and  the  Pacific? 
Will  China  awaken }  Will  Japan  trade  more  and  more  with 
Europeans  ?  Will  the  Panama  Canal  and  Western  America 
make  the  Pacific  as  busy,  or  anything  like  as  busy,  as  the 
Atlantic?  After  all,  the  Atlantic  was  as  lifeless  a  few 
centuries  ago  as  the  Pacific  was  a  few  decades  ago ;  and  in 
human  history  centuries  count  for  little. 

Secondly,  will  British  enterprise  be  as  successful  among 
the  mountains,  as  it  has  been  among  the  bare  plains  and  inter- 
minable forests  of  Eastern  and  Central  Canada,  and  among 
the  park-lands  of  Australia  ?  British  colonists  have  rarely, 
if  they  have  ever,  grappled  with  mountains.  Mountains  are 
a  comparatively  new  factor  in  British  history,  and  in  European 
history  symbolize  slow  progress  and  secluded  lives.  Statistics 
of  size  and  pace  must  not  dazzle  us ;  small  numbers  multiply 
with  delusive  rapidity,  especially  under  the  stimulus  of  mineral 
wealth,  and  colonists  must  not  be  expected  on  mountain-tops. 

On  the  other  hand,  British  Columbia  is  in  many  respects 
the  greatest,  as  it  is  the  grandest,  of  the  provinces ;  and  into 
it  its  eastern  neighbours  are  still  draining  their  superfluous 
numbers  and  riches,  a  process  which  is  likely  to  grow  more 
and  more  common.  Their  future  is  assured,  and  it  is  their 
residuary  legatee. 

What  was  said  in  every  chapter  of  this  book  holds  of  Is  B,  C. 
British  Columbia.  Nova  Scotia  Province  is  the  link  with  It^^^p^o. 
Europe,  New  Brunswick  with  Quebec //«,r  Ontario  ;  Ontario,  vince  of 
at  all  events  out  west,  is  a  mere  link  with  the  provinces  of  ii^^be-  ^ 
Prairie-land ;  and  British  Columbia  is  also  a  link  between  what  tween  east 
is  east  and  west  of  it,  between  continent,  and  ocean,  and  ^^  '^^^  ' 
what  is  beyond  the  ocean,  and  its  future  depends  wholly 


282        HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

upon  the  next  links  on  its  east  and  west.  Looked  at  by  itself, 
its  development  ran  along  its  valleys  or  coasts,  v^hich  lie  north, 
and  south,  or  north-west  and  south-east,  contrasting  in  this 
respect  with  that  of  every  other  province  of  Canada.  Looked 
at  as  a  part  of  Canada,  it  is  the  end  of  a  series  and  depends 
solely  on  its  eastern  sister-provinces.  But  Canada  itself 
resembles  a  link  in  a  larger  chain,  a  word  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence,  or  a  hyphen  between  two  half-words.  The 
whole,  of  which  it  is  an  essential  part,  is  the  British  Empire, 
which  seems  working  towards  unity  in  a  way  which  our 
ancestors  never  contemplated.  The  unity  is  due  to  geo- 
graphical facts,  the  most  important  of  which  are  that  the 
provinces  of  Canada  lie  in  this  order,  east  and  west,  and  that 
Great  Britain  is  the  only  European  Power,  except  Russia, 
which  holds  continents  or  half-continents  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Pacific.  Purely  political  ideals  welded  these 
provinces  together ;  and  it  is  possible  that  purely  political 
ideals  will  weld  these  continents  and  half-continents  together. 
Vast  economic  results  have  ensued  from  what  political  idealism 
has  already  achieved ;  but  economics  have  not  supplied  the 
motives  of  the  process.  The  series  of  provinces  points  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  and  the  continuation  of  the  series 
across  the  Atlantic  points  to  England,  and  the  continuation  of 
the  series  across  the  Pacific  points  to  Australia  and  India,  and 
thence  by  South  Africa  and  an  island  chain  respectively  to 
England.  The  chain  which  is  being  run  round  the  earth  is 
not  exclusive ;  indeed,  in  all  its  links  it  touches  some  other 
European  power ;  and  in  North  America,  which  contains  its 
most  important  series  of  continuous  links,  every  part  of  every 
link  is  continuous  with  the  United  States  of  America  for 
many  thousands  of  miles. 

Nor  has  it  any  prospect  of  proving  to  be  an  exclusive 
chain  even  in  the  least  of  its  links ;  but  it  has  a  far  better 
prospect  of  proving  to  be  a  complete  chain  than  any  which 
any  other  Power  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  possesses. 


THE   CIVILIZATION  OF    THE  FAR    WEST      283 

The  dumb  consciousness  of  this  paramount  mission  has  been 
the  mainspring,  economic  and  material  factors  have  only 
been  wheels  within  wheels,  carrying  on  the  British  race 
irresistibly  towards  their  common  destiny. 

The  processes  are  very  complex,  and  work  sometimes  in 
obedience  to,  and  sometimes  in  spite  of  design,  sometimes 
like  automata  and  sometimes  like  an  unspoken  instinct,  but 
work  in  harmony ;  and  the  harmonious  working  of  diiferent 
tendencies  is  the  greatest  driving  force,  just  as  sane  idealism 
is  the  greatest  ruling  force  in  history. 


Authorities. 

Alexander  Begg,  History  of  British  Colu/nbia,  1894-5.  [This  author 
is  not  the  same  as  the  historian  of  Manitoba.] 

Ernest  J.  Chambers,  History  of  the  Royal  North-West  Mounted 
Police,  1906. 

British  Cohimbia,  Gold  Fields  of,  1862  (a  pamphlet  in  the  British 
Museum  Library,  10470  d  27);  Handbook  of,  1858,  1862,  &c. ; 
Information  for  intending  settlers  in,  1884,  &c. ;  Maps  of,  by  Philips, 
1858,  Stanford,  1859,  Wyld,  1865?,  Trutch,  1870,  Martin,  1905,  and  in 
Handbooks,  Yearbooks,  and  Geological  Survey,  nbi  infra  ;  Guide  Map 
of,  1891  ;  Mining  Record  of,  edited  by  A.  Begg,  1895,  in  progress; 
Reports  of  Minister  of  Mines  of'.   Year-book  of,  1897. 

Lawrence  J.  Burpee,  The  Search  for  the  Westertt  Sea,  1908. 

Sir  William  Butler,  The  Wild  North  Land,  1873. 

Canada,  Annual  Reports  of  the  Geological  Survey  of. 

George  M.  Dawson,  Mineral  Wealth  of  British  Colwnbia,  1889; 
British  Columbia,  its  present  Resources,  1893. 

R.  E.  Gosnell,  History  of  British  Colunibia,  1901. 

George  Monro  Grant,  Ocean  to  Ocean,  1873. 

Alexander  Henry  and  David  Thompson,  Journals  of,  ed.  by  Elliott 
Coues,  3  vols.,  1897. 

James  Lynch,  Three  Years  in  the  Klondike,  1904.  [This  is  a  fair 
description  by  an  American  resident;  and  there  are  several  other 
similar  books.] 

Archibald  MacDonald,  Peace  River,  a  Canoe  Voyage  from  Hudson 
Bay  to  Pacific  by  Sir  G,  Simpson,  ed.  by  M.  MacLeod,  1872. 

Frances  Macnab,  British  Columbia,  1898.  [This  is  probably  the 
best  book  by  a  traveller  on  the  south  of  British  Columbia.] 

L.  R.  Masson,  Bourgeois  de  la  Compagnie  du  Nord-Ouest,  2®  ser., 
1889-90. 

Lord  Milton  and  W.  B.  Cheadle,  The  North-West  Passage  by  Land, 
1865. 


284         HISTORICAL    GEOGRAPHY  OF  CANADA 

A.  G.  Morice,  History  of  the  Northern  Interior  of  British  Columbia^ 
1906.  [Father  Morice  corrects  several  current  minor  errors,  and  adds 
original  information  of  importance  about  Indians,  roads,  &c.] 

Sir  John  Palliser,  Reports  by.     See  reference  at  the  end  of  Chapter  IX. 

Francis  Poole,  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  1872. 

Alexander  Ross,  Adventures  of  the  first  Settlers  on  the  Oregon  or 
Columbia  River,  1849  J  ^^^  Hunters  of  the  Far  West,  2  vols.,  1855. 

Sir  George  Simpson,  Narrative  of  a  Journey  round  the  World,  1847. 

F.  Mortimer  Trimmer,  The  Yukori  Territory,  1898,  contains  at 
length  Reports  on  the  Yukon,  by  W.  H.  Dall,  1866-8,  G.  M.  Dawson, 
1887,  William  Ogilvie,  1896-7.  [This  is  the  chief  authority  on  the 
Yukon.] 

Alfred  Waddington,  Overland  Route  through  British  North  America, 
1868.  [This  is  a  pamphlet  in  the  British  Museum  Library,  10470, 
bbb  38.] 

Beckles  Willson,  The  Great  Company^  1899. 


INDEX 


Abitibi  Lake,  105,  106,  112. 

Abuptic,  57. 

Acadians,  36,  37  etseq.,  52  et  seq., 

67-9.  73»  77-80,  92,  95,  98-9. 
Adam  Lake,  250. 
Aiktow  Creek,  205. 
Ainslie  Lake,  35. 
Ainsworth,  271,  272. 
Alameda,  205,  241. 
Alaska,  i,  14,  255,  256,  257,  262, 

265,  266. 
Albanel,  Father,  105. 
Albany  River,  6,  103,  108,  186. 
Alberni,  259,  267. 
Alberta  Province,  209,  248. 
Alberta    Railway   and    Irrigation 

Company,  208,  209. 
Aldrich,  Lieutenant  R.  D.,  17-18. 
Alexander,  Sir  William,  77. 
Alexandria  (Fort),  263,  264,  267, 

269. 
Algoma,  102, 193,  j^^  New  Ontario. 
Allen's  River,  39,  40. 
AUumette  Island,  iii,  120. 
Alma  (N.  Br.),  84. 
Alma  (Sask.),  233. 
Almonte,  169. 
Alright  Island,  94. 
Amherst,  Baron,  130. 
Amherst,  57,  67. 
Amherstburg,  157,  158,  159. 
Amherst  Island,  94. 
Amundsen,  Captain  Roald,  26. 
Ancaster,  157,  159,  161. 
Anderson,  A.  C,  267. 
Anderson,  James,  24. 
Anderson  Lake,  253,  267. 
Andover,  76,  84. 
Annapolis,  33,  38-40,  43,  49>  52, 

67. 
Annapolis  River,  32,  38,  40,  41, 

61,  67,  122,  251. 
Anticosti  Island,  95-7. 

VOL.  V.      PT.  Ill 


Antigonish,  56,  58,  63,  6^,  68. 
Antler  (Creek),  269. 
Appalachian   Mountains,   31,   91, 

113,  122,  132,  247. 
Arctic  Red  River  Post,  211. 
Ardoise,  59. 

Argenteuil  County,  148,  152. 
Arisaig,  61. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  129,  130,  132. 
Amprior,  164,  169. 
Aroostook  River,  76. 
Arrowhead,  277. 
Arrow  Lakes,  252,  277, 
Artillery  Lake,  15. 
Ashcroft,  253,  258,  277. 
Aspey  Bay,  66. 
Assiniboine  River,  202,  205,  214, 

217,  220,  221,  222,  225. 
Assistance,  The,  17-18,  21-3. 
Astoria,  Fort,  264. 
Athabasca  Lake,  8,  loi,  109,  310, 

211,  218. 
Athabasca  Landing,  210. 
Athabasca  Pass,  213. 
Athabasca  River,  9,  210,  212,  213, 

214,  218,  247-8. 
Atlin  Lake,   249,    255,  256,  257, 

275. 
Au  Bushee,  58. 
Avon  River,  41. 
Aylesford,  60. 
Aylmer,  164. 

Babine  Fort  and  Lake,  265. 
Babine  Mountains,  249. 
Babine  River,  254,  263,  274. 
Back,  Sir  George,  13-15. 
Baddeck,  64,  66. 
Bad  Hills,  203. 
Baffin,  William,  3,  5. 
Baffin  Bay,  5,  1 1  et  seq. 
Baffin  Land,  26,  103. 
Bagot  County,  141. 


286 


INDEX 


Baldoon,  158. 

Baleine,  46. 

Balfour,  271,  272. 

Ball's  Creek,  59,  65. 

Balsam  Lake,  loi,  172. 

Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  10. 

Banks  Island  or  Land,  11  et  seq., 

19  et  seq. 
Baptists,  86,  234,  240,  242. 
Barclay,  Captain,  262. 
Barkerville,  259,  269,  270,  276. 
Barlow,  George,  7. 
Barrens,  104,  198. 
Barrie,  160,  172,  177. 
Barrington,  52,  67. 
Barrow,  Sir  John,  10. 
Barrow  Strait,  1 1  et  seq. 
Bathurst,  Henry  Earl,  10. 
Bathurst,  33,  74,  85. 
Bathurst  Cape,  211. 
Bathurst  Island,  11  et  seq. 
Batoche,  204,  219,  231. 
Battleford,    206,    219,    221,    227, 

231,  237. 
Beaubairs  Island,  74. 
Beaubassin,  42. 
Beauce  County,  141. 
Beauharnais,  143. 
Beauport,  124-5. 
Beauport  Lake,  148. 
Beaupre,  124-5. 
Beaurivage  River,  132. 
Beausejour,  42,  47. 
Beaver  Lake,  10 1. 
B^cancour,  129,  143. 
Becancour  River,  127-8,  142. 
Beckwith,  169. 
Bedeque   Bay  and   Harbour,    48, 

54»  63. 
Beechey,  F.  W.,  11,  14. 
Beechey  Island,  18  et  seq. 
Belcher,  Sir  Edward,  21-3. 
Belcher  Channel,  21. 
Belfast  (P.  E.  I.),  55. 
Bella  Coola  Canal  or  Inlet,  253, 

254,  261,  263,  278,  279. 
Belleisle  River  (N.  Br.),  75,  77. 
Belleville,  154. 
Bellot,  Lieutenant,  18. 
Bellot  Strait,  18,  24. 
Belly  River,  207-9,  213,  224. 
Beloeil  Mountain,  129,  131. 


Bennett,  249,  257,  275,  276. 
Bennett  Lake,  257,  275. 
Bentinck  Arm,  263. 
Berczy,  William,  161. 
Bering,  Vitus,  8,  25,  262. 
Bering  Strait  and  Sea,  8  et  seq., 

256. 
Berlin,  173. 
Berthier,  138,  143. 
Best,  George,  3. 
Best  Cape,  4. 
Big  River,  6. 
Birch  Hills,  204. 
Bird  Islands,  94. 
Birtle  (Creek),  220,  229. 
Bissot,  Fran9oiSj  96,  126. 
Blackwater  River,  253,  263. 
Blakiston,  T.  W.,  213,  225,  229. 
Blanc  Sablon,  97,  98. 
Blissville,  83. 
Boies,  Thomas,  84. 
Boiestown,  84. 
Bonnechere  River,  179. 
Booth,  Sir  Felix,  10. 
Boothia  Felix  Peninsula,  1 2  et  seq. 
Boucher,  Pierre,  121,  127,  128. 
Bouchette,  Joseph,  105,  159. 
Boularderie  Island,  34. 
Boundary  Creek,  250,  252,  271. 
Bourgeois  (C.  B.  I.),  59. 
Bow    River,     207-9,     213,    219, 

224. 
Boydville,  62. 
Bracebridge,  179. 
Bradford,  Dr.  A.  R.,  17,  18. 
Brandon,  229,  230. 
Brandon  Hills,  204. 
Brant,  173. 
Brantford,  173,  192. 
Bras  d'Or  Lakes,  32,  34,  35,  44, 

Brest,  Port,  99. 
Breton  Cape,  31. 
Bridgetown,  39,  40,  67. 
Bridgewater,  39,  52,  67,  69. 
British  Agricultural   Association, 

176. 
British- American  Land  Company, 

140. 
British  Columbia,  247  et  seq. 
British  Columbia,  Boundaries  of, 

114,  247-8,  255,  256. 


INDEX 


287 


Broad  Cove,  33,  56. 
Brockville,  102,  152,  153. 
Brome  County,  14T. 
Brooke,  Sir  John,  Lord  Cobham, 

3. 
Brooke  Cobham  Island,  7. 
Brookfield,  62,  69. 
Browne,  Lieutenant  William,  17, 

19.  25. 
Bruce  County   (Ont.),   102,    178, 

192. 
Bruce  Mines,  181-2. 
Brudersheim,  237. 
Buchanan,  James,  171,  174,  176. 
Buctouche,  74. 

Bulkley  River,  254,  274,  277,  278. 
Bulstrode,  St.  Valere  de,  142. 
Burke  Channel,  253,  263. 
Burlington  Bay,  156. 
Burlington  Heights,  102. 
Burritt,  Mr.,  155. 
Burritt*s  Rapids,  155. 
Bute  Inlet,  253,  254,  277. 
Butler,  Sir  William,  223. 
Button,  Sir  Thomas,  3,  4,  5. 
Button  Islands,  4. 
By,  Colonel,  170-1. 
Byam  Martin,  Sir  Thomas,  10. 
B)'am  Martin  Channel,  18  et  seq. 
Byam  Martin  Island,  11. 
Bylot,  Robert,  3,  5. 
Bylot  Island,  4. 
Bytown,  171. 

Cain's  River,  75. 

Caledonia,  62,  69. 

Calgary,  9,   224,    226,    230,    231, 

233,  242. 
Cambridge  Bay,  20. 
Campbell,  R.,  265. 
Campbellton  (N.  Br.),  74,  82,  85, 

92. 
Campobello  Island,  81. 
Canada  Company,  175,  176. 
Canadian  Copper  Company,  182. 
Canadian  Northern  Railway,  187. 
Canadian  Pacific  Irrigation,  &c., 

Company,  208. 
Canadian     Pacific    Railway,    86, 

114,  179,  181,  186-7, 213,  229- 

33,  276-8. 
Canals,  167-8. 


Canard  River,  41. 

Canmore,  212. 

Canoe  River,  251,  264. 

Canso  Cape,  31,  43,  44,  50,  58. 

Canso  Gut,  32,  35,  44,  95. 

Cape  Breton  Island,  31,  34-5,  44, 

45»  56,  64-6. 
Cap  Rouge,  120,  146. 
Cap  Rouge  River,  125. 
Caraquet,  58,  74. 
Card,  C.  O.,  241. 
Cardston,  241,  242. 
Cariboo  District,  269,  279. 
Cariboo  Mountains,  249,  253,  258. 
Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  84,  159. 
Carleton,  92. 
Carleton   House,    204,   206,   219, 

221,  226,  231,  237. 
Carleton  Place,  169. 
Carrot  River,  225,  229,  230. 
Cartier,  Jacques,  92,  94,  99,  103, 

104,  119,  1 20-1,  146. 
Cassiar  District,  255,  274. 
Cassiar  Mountains,  249,  274. 
The  Castor,  15. 
Caughnawaga,i29, 
Cavan,  171. 
Cavendish  (P.E.I.),  54. 
Cedar  Lake,  206,  217. 
Chaleurs  Bay,  45,  74,  75,  78,  79, 

85,  9i-4>  151- 
Chambly,  122,  123,  126,  127,  128, 

129,  130,  133,  138. 
Champlain,  Samuel,  104, 11 1,  120. 
Champlain,  127. 
Champlain  Lake,  122,  130-1. 
The  Charles  J  5. 
Charles  Fort,  6. 
Charlottetown,  54,  63,  64. 
Charlton  Island,  5. 
Chat,  Cape,  93,  128. 
Chateauguay,  131,  143,  152. 
Chats  Lake,  102,  163,  169. 
Chats  Rapids,  163. 
Chatham  (N.  Br.),  74,  83. 
Chatham  (Ont.),  158,  159. 
Chaudiere  Falls  (Ottawa),  162. 
Chaudiere   River,  120,  122,   127, 

128,  129,  130,  131,  132,  134. 
Chauvin,  Captain,  104. 
Cheboggin,  40. 
Chebucto,  see  Halifax  Harbour. 


288 


INDEX 


Chedabucto,  see  Guysborough. 
Chester,  52,  60. 
Chester  Bay,  41. 
Chesterfield  Inlet,  23. 
Cheticamp,  58,  59. 
Chezzetcook,  58. 
Chicoutimi,  105. 
Chidleigh,  John,  3. 
Chidleigh  Cape,  4,  97. 
Chignecto  Isthmus,  32,  33,  35,  42, 

43,  45,  57,  73. 
Chilcat  Pass,  256,  276. 
Chilcoot  Pass,  256. 
Chilcotin  Fort,  264. 
Chilcotin  River,  253,  260,  268. 
Chimmo  Fort,  98,  104. 
Chinese  immigrants,  270,  280. 
Chipewyan  Fort,  8,  9,  211. 
Chipman,  82,  83,  86. 
Chippawa,  156. 
Churchill,  Colonel,  42,  80. 
Churchill  Fort,  &c.,  5,  8,  109. 
Churchill  River,  6,  7,   loi,    103, 

108,  109,  215,  218,  260. 
Clare,  57,  60. 
Clarendon,  169. 
Clemensport,  60,  67. 
Clinton,  269,  270. 
Coast   Range,  249,  253,  259,  264, 

267,  &c. 
Cobalt,  104,  106,  112,  181,  272. 
Cobequid  Bay,  41. 
Cobequid  Mountains,  32,  33,  42. 
Cobourg,  161,  171. 
Cocagne,  74. 
Cochrane,  242. 
Cochrane  Company,  226. 
Cockburn,  Colonel,  139,  168,  169. 
Cockbum,  Sir  George,  10. 
Cockburn  Land,  12,  26. 
Cocking,  Matthew,  218. 
Coffin,  Sir  Isaac,  95. 
Coffin  Island,  94. 
Col  bourne.  Port,  167. 
Cold  water  River,  172. 
Collingwood,  172,  177,  178,  183. 
CoUinson,  Sir  Richard,  19-23, 
Colpoys  Bay,  172,  177. 
Columbia  River,  247,  250  et  seq., 

253  etseq.,  271  et  seq. 
Comox,  250,  266. 
Compton  County,  140. 


Confidence  Fort,  17. 

Connolly,  or  Connelly,  Fort,  265. 

Contrecoeur,  127. 

Cook,  Captain  James,  8,  262. 

Coppermine  River,  8,  9,  11,   13, 

15. 
Cormack,  W.  E.,  63. 
Cornwall,  114,  152,  153. 
Cornwallis,  Colonel  Edward,  49. 
Cornwallis,  Sir  William,  10. 
Cornwallis,  53. 
Cornwallis  Island,  1 1  et  seq. 
Cornwallis  River,  32,  40,  41,  61. 
Coteau  du  Missouri,  203,  204,  208, 

241. 
Couchiching  Lake,  loi,  iii,  112, 

160. 
Coughtrie,  R.,  147. 
Couillard,  Guillaume,  124,  126. 
Couture,  Guillaume,  126. 
Cove  Head  (P.  E.  L),  54. 
Craig,  Sir  James,  132. 
Craig's  Bridge,  132. 
Craig's  Road,  132-3. 
Cranbrook,  272,  273. 
Credit  River,  158. 
Cresswell,  Lieutenant  S.  G.,  19. 
Cross  Point,  92. 
Cross  Sound,  255,  262. 
Crow's  Nest  Pass,  212,  213,  233, 

250,  272,  273. 
Crozier,  Captain  Francis,  12,  17 

et  seq. 
Crozier  Channel,  25. 
Cudahy,  Fort,  259. 
Cumberland,  George,  Earl  of,  3. 
Cumberland  Fort  and  Town  (N. 

Sc),  42,  52. 
Cumberland  House  (Sask.),  218, 

221. 
Cumberland  Sound,  4. 
Curry,  Thomas,  218. 
Cypress  Hills,  207,  226,  227,  241. 

Dalhousie  (N.  Br.),  74,  85. 
Dalhousie,  Port,  167. 
Dalhousie  Settlement,  61,  62. 
Daniel,  Port,  91. 
D*Anville,  Due,  49. 
Dartmouth,  42,  49,  62. 
Daulac,  Adam,  123,  162. 
Dauphin,  217,  232. 


INDEX 


289 


Dauphin  Lake,  200,  220,  236. 

Davis  Inlet,  4. 

Davis  Strait,  4. 

Davison,  Mr.,  82. 

Davys  (or  Davis),  Captain  Jolin, 

3-5- 
Dawson,  George,  224. 
Dawson,  S.  J.,  185. 
Dawson  Road,  185-7,  197. 
Dawson  City,  257,  259,  274,  275. 
Dealey  Islet,  21. 

Dean  Channel  or  Inlet,  253,  277. 
Dease,  Peter  Warren,  15. 
Dease  Lake,  255,  265,  274. 
Dease  River,  255,  265. 
Dease  Strait,  15. 
De  Brouillan,  41. 
De  Haven,  Lieutenant,  18. 
Delhi,  164. 

De  Meule  or  Meules,  79,  84. 
De  Monts,  Pierre  du  Guast,  37. 
Denys,  Nicolas,  37,  38,  44,  45,  66, 

74,  93. 
De  Razilly,  Isaac,  37. 
De  Saussaye,  37. 
Deseronto,  178. 
Detroit,  112,  114,  158,  159. 
De  Troyes,  Pierre,  106. 
Deux  Montagnes,   Lac  des,   113, 

129. 
De  Vitre,  37. 

D'Iberville,  Pierre  Le  Moyne,  106. 
Dick,  Mr.,  51. 
I^igby,  31-2,  60,  67. 
Digby  Gut,  38. 
Digges,  Sir  Dudley,  3. 
Digges  Island,  4. 
The  Discovery  (of  Baffin,  &c.),  4,  5. 
The  Discovery  (of  Cook),  8. 
Doaktown,  82. 
Dobbs,  Arthur,  7,  8. 
Dog  Lake,  184,  186. 
Dolphin  and  Union  Strait,  14,  20. 
Dominion  (C.  B.  I.),  64. 
Dominion  of  Canada,  i,  77-8, 102, 

1 1 3-4,  170,  270  et  seq. 
Dorchester,  73. 
Doublet,  37,  94. 
Douglas,  270. 

Douglastown  (N.  Br.),  74,  92. 
Doukhobors,  ^36,  237,  238  et  seq. 
Douro,  1 7 1-2. 


Dover,  Port,  157. 

Downie,  Major  William,  268. 

Druilletes,  Pere,  126. 

Drummondville,  134,  139. 

Duchesnay,  A.  and  J.,  148. 

Duck  Mountain,  199,  204,  237. 

Du  Loup  River,  129,  132,  134. 

Duncan  River,  252,  253. 

Dundas,  156,  157,  159,  161. 

Dundas  County,  153. 

Dundas  Street,  158-9. 

Dunham,  138. 

Dunlop,  Dr.,  160,  173,  175,  176. 

Dunvegan,  212. 

Dunwich,  164. 

Eagle  Hills,  203,  219. 

Eagle  Pass,  249,  277. 

East  Bay,  35,  64,  66. 

East  Cape  (P.  E.  I.),  63. 

East  River,  55-6,  62. 

East  Main  River,  6. 

Eastern  Townships,  134  et  seq. 

(Les)  ]£boulemenls,  no,  124,  128. 

Economy,  41. 

Edmonton,    210,    212,    219,    221, 

224,  226,  230,  231,  242-3. 
Edmunston,  76,  77,  79,  80,  84. 
Eel  Brook,  57. 

Eel  River  (N.  Br.),  76,  77,  86. 
Egg  Island,  96,  97. 
Eglinton  Island,  21. 
Egmont  Cape,  59. 
Egremont,  Lord,  166,  175. 
Ellice,  Fort,  205,  221,  226,  229, 

230. 
Ellis  Bay,  96. 
Elson,  Mr.,  14. 
Emerson,  225,  226,  229. 
Endako,  254. 
English  River,  186. 
The  Enterprise i  19-23. 
Entry  Island,  94,  95. 
The  Erebus,  17  et  seq. 
Erie,  Fort,  156,  177. 
Erie,  Lake,  101-2,  112,  157. 
Escasoni,  66. 
Eskimos,  6,  8,  9,  11, 12,  16  et  seq., 

260. 
Esquimault,  266. 
Essington,  Fort,  264. 
Essington,  Port,  254. 


VOL.  V.     PT.  in 


290 


INDEX 


Esterhazy,  240. 

Estevan,  203,  212,  226,  241, 

Falmouth,  53. 

False  Bay  (C.  B.  I.),  59. 

Farnham,  133,  138,  142. 

Faussembault,  148. 

Fernie,  212,  272,  273. 

Fiddler,  Peter,  219. 

File  Hills,  204,  240. 

Finlay,  James,  218. 

Finlay  or  Findlay  River,  248,  251, 

254,  255,  273,  274. 
Finns,  240  et  seq. 

Fitzhugh  Sound,  253,  254,  264. 
Fitzjames,  Captain  James,  17  et 

seq. 
Foam  Lake,  230,  236. 
Forsyth,  Captain  C,  18. 
Fort  William,  112,  114,  183,  184, 

186, 187. 
Fourch^,  35. 
Fourch^e,  39. 
Fox,  Captain  Luke,  3,  5. 
The  Fox,  24-5. 
Fox  Channel,  2,  5,  7,  12. 
Frances,  Fort  (Ont.),  185,  186,187. 
Frances  Lake   (B.C.),    251,    255, 

258,  259,  265. 
Frances   River  (B.C.),  249,    251, 

255,  256. 
Frank,  212. 

Franklin,  Sir  John,  11,  13,  14,  16, 

17-26,  112,  265. 
Franklin,  Lady,  24. 
Franklin,  Fort,  14. 
Franklin,  Cape  Jane,  13,  25. 
Franklin,  Cape  Sir  John,  18,  21, 

25- 
Franklin,  Cape  Lady,  18,  25. 
Franklin  Point,  13. 
Franklin's  Channel,  25. 
Eraser,  Simon,  263,  267. 
Eraser,  Fort,  254,  256,  263  et  seq., 

277. 
Eraser  River,  247,  250-1,  253  et 

seq.,  258,  263  et  seq. 
Eredericton,  35,  75-6,  79,  80,  81, 

82,  83. 
French,  Lieutenant,  155,  168, 171. 
French,  Sir  George,  207,  233. 
French  River,  iii,  114,  179, 


French  Village  (N.  Br.),  80. 
French  Village  (N.  Sc),  58. 
Erobisher,  J.  and  T.,  218. 
Erobisher,  Sir  Martin,  3,  4. 
Erobisher  Bay,  4. 
Frog  Portage,  107,  109,  218. 
Eundy  Bay,  33  et  passim. 
The  Ftiry^  1 2. 

Fury  and  Hecla  Strait,  12,  13,  16, 
26. 

Gagetown,  75,  80,  81. 
Galicians,  236,  237  etseq. 
Gait,  John,  173,  175,  176. 
Gait,  173. 
Gardner  Canal  or  Inlet,  253,  254, 

261,  277. 
Garry,  Nicholas,  10. 
Garry,  Cape,  12. 
Gasp6  Bay,  92,  94. 
Gasp^  Cape,  44. 
Gaspd  Peninsula,  91  et  seq. 
Gaspereau  River,  39,  61. 
Gatineau  River,  120,  162. 
Gentilly,  127. 
George,  Fort,  (Alta.)  219. 
George,  Fort  (B.C.),  254,  263,  264, 

277. 
George  River,  107. 
George  IV*s  Coronation  Gulf,  13. 
Georgetown,  54. 
Georgian  Bay,  101-2,   iii,    112, 

178,  179. 
German  Creek,  222. 
German   Settlers,    47,    51-3,    81, 

i53>   161,  173,  191-3,  223,  236 

et  seq. 
Germanson  Creek,  274. 
Gerrard,  278. 
Gibson,  Alexander,  84. 
Gibson,  76,  84. 
GifFard,  Robert,  124,  126. 
Gimli,  228. 
Glace,  64-5. 
Glass,  Rev.  G.,  86. 
Glassville,  86. 
Gleichen,  208. 
Glencoe  (N.  Sc),  62. 
Glencoe(C.  B.L),  35. 
Glengarry  County,  153,  163. 
Glenora,  255,  256,  274. 
Godefroy,  Jean  and  Thomas,  121. 


INDEX 


291 


Goderich,  176,  177,  178. 

Gold  Range,  249,  277. 

Golden,  272,  277. 

Good  Hope,  Fort,  211. 

Goodsir,  R.  A.,  17-18. 

Goynish  River,  96. 

Granby,  142. 

Grande  Riviere  (C.  B.  I.),  59. 

Grand  Falls,  35,  76,  77,  78,  84,  86. 

Grand   Forks  (B.  C),    250,    271, 

272,  273. 
Grand  Lake  (N.  Br.),  80. 
Grand  Portage,  112,  114,  184. 
Grand  Pre,  40,  53,  61. 
Grand  River  (N.  Br.),  I6. 
Grand  River  (Ont.),  173,  192. 
Grand  Trunk  Railway,  179. 
Grand  Trunk  Pacific,  see  National 

Trans-Continental  Railway. 
Grant  Land,  27. 
Granville  (N.  Sc),  52. 
Gravenhurst,  179. 
Great  Bear  Lake,  14,  17,  100, 104. 
Great  Fish  River,  14,  15,  24-5. 
Great  Slave  Lake,  8,  9,  13,  15,  24, 

100,101,103,104,  210,211,  214. 
Great  Slave  River,  8,  9,  loi,  210, 

247. 
Greenwood,  271,  272,  273. 
Grenville,  102,  148,  162,163,  170. 
Gridley,  Mr.,  95. 
Grimsby,  157. 
Grindstone  Island,  94. 
Grinnell,  Henry,  18. 
Grinnell  Land,  see  Grant  Land. 
The  Griper  J  11. 
Grosbois,  127. 

Groseillers,  M^dard  Chouart,  121. 
Grosse  Island,  94. 
Grunde,  228. 
Guelph,  176. 
Guysborough,  45,  52,  60. 

Habitants  River,  41. 
Haldimand,  Sir  Frederick,  84. 
Hale,  E.,  147. 
Halifax,  48-52,  67,  68. 
Halifax  Harbour,  38,  39,  48. 
Hall,  Christopher,  3. 
Hamilton,  George,  156. 
Hamilton  City  (Ont.),   102,  156, 
177,  178,  182,  188. 


Hamilton,  Fort  (Alta.),  207,  224, 

225. 
Hamilton  Inlet,  4,  98, 107. 
Hamilton  River,  107. 
Hammond's  Plains,  61,  62. 
Hampstead  (N.  Br.),  75. 
Hampton  (N.  Br.),  75,  80,  81. 
Hand  Hills,  208. 
Harmon,  D.  W.,  263. 
Harmony,  62. 

Harrison  Lake  and  River,  254,  269. 
Harvey,  Sir  John,  84. 
Harvey,  83. 
Hastings,  Port,  65. 
Has  well.  Lieutenant  W.  H.,  19. 
Hatton,  Sir  Christopher,  3. 
Hatton  Headland,  4. 
Hawkesbury  (N.  Sc),  65,  66. 
Hawkesbury  (Ont.),  163,  170. 
Hayes  River,  6,  317,  222. 
Hazelton,  254,  256,  274,  277 
Heame,  Samuel,  8,  214. 
Hebert,  Louis,  96,  124,  126. 
Hebert  River,  42. 
Hebertville,  105. 
Hebron,  98. 
The  HeclUj  11,  12. 
Hecla  and  Griper  Bay,  11,  22. 
Hector,  Sir  James,  213. 
The  Hector y  55. 
Hedley,  250,  270. 
Hendry,  Anthony,  214,  217,  218. 
Henrietta  Maria  Cape,  3,  5. 
Henry,  Alexander,  The  Elder,  218. 
Henry,  Alexander,  The  Younger, 

214,  215. 
Hereford,  139. 
Heriot,  Colonel,  139. 
Herschel  Island,  27,  31,  211. 
Hertel,  Jacques,  121,  128,  133. 
Hillsborough,  73. 
Hind,  H.  Y.,  208,  220,  224,  225, 

229. 
Hirsch,  241. 
Hobson,  W.  R.,  24. 
Homathco  River,  253. 
Honeywell,  Ira,  163. 
Hood,  Robert,  13,  14. 
Hood  River,  13. 

Hood,  Port,  35,  47,  54,  56,  59,  65. 
Hope,  253,  267,  268,  269,  270. 
The  Hope,  55. 


U    2 


292 


INDEX 


Hope,  Port,  161,  163. 

Hopedale,  98. 

Hopetown,  91. 

Hopewell,  73. 

Hoppner,  H.  P.,  11,  12. 

Horsefly  Lake,  269. 

Horton,  53. 

Howe  Sound,  254. 

Howse  Pass,  213. 

Hubbart,  Mr.,  3. 

Hubbart's  Hope,  5. 

Hudson,  Henry,  3,  4. 

Hudson  Bay,  2  etseq.,  97-8,  103, 

108. 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  6  etseq., 

97-8,    103,    106,    209-12,   218, 

222,  223,  255,  266,  268. 
Hudson   Strait,    2    et  seq.,    97-8, 

107-8. 
Huguenots,  37,  58. 
Hull,  162. 
Humboldt,  231. 
Hungarian  Settlers,  237  et  seq. 
Huntingdon  County,  141, 143, 152. 
Huntsville,  179. 
Huron  Lake,  loi,  177,  178. 

Icelanders,  227-8,  236  et  seq. 
Icy  Cape,  8,  9. 
Indian  Head,  230. 
Indians  : 
Algonquins — 

generally,  125,  129,  192,  193. 
Abenaki,  120,  126,  128,  130. 
Atticamegues,  120,  121. 
Blackfeet,  215,  216. 
Crees,  97,  loi,  105,  202,  215, 

216,  218,  260. 
Chippeways,  215,  216,  218. 
Delawares,  158,  192. 
Maliceet,  79,  87. 
Micmacs,  39,  42,  44,  49,  66, 

79,  87,  92. 
Mississaguas,  158,  192. 
Montagnais,  97,  105. 
Nascaupi,  97. 
Nipissings,  121. 
Ottawas,  III,  120,  121. 
Athapascan     alias     Chipewyan 
alias  'Dini — 
Chipewyans,    loi,    215,    216 
218,  260. 


Babine,     Carrier,     Chilcotin, 

and  Sikanni,  260,  263. 
Sarsi,  215. 
Haidas,  260,  261. 
Iroquois — 
generally,  122,  129,  147,  158, 

192,  260. 
Hurons,  iii,  119,  121,  125-6, 

158,  192. 
Mohawks,  119,  122-4,  173. 
Kootenays,  261. 
Kwakiutl-Nootkas,  261. 
Salish  (Kawitchin,  Okinakan,  and 
Shuswap),  261. 
Sioux  generally,  215,  226. 

Assiniboines,  215,  216,  218. 
Tsimpseans,  260. 
Tlinkits,  260. 
Ingonish  Bay,  46. 
Inhabitants  River,  46,  56. 
Intercolonial  Railway,  86. 
The  Intrepid y  17-18,  21-3. 
Inverness  (C.  B.  I.),  65. 
Inverness  (Q.  P.),  132,  134. 
The  Investigator.,  19-23. 
The  Isabella,  11,  13. 
Ivuktok  Inlet,  see  Hamilton  Inlet. 

Jackman,  Charles,  3. 
Jacques-Cartier  River,  125. 
James,  Captain  Thomas,  3,  5. 
James  Bay,  5  et  seq.,   97-8,  105, 

106,  186. 
Jemseg,  80. 
Jerseymen,  58,  59,  91. 
Jews,  240  et  seq. 
Jogues,  Pere,  123. 
John  River  (N.  Sc),  58. 
Johnson  Mountain,  131. 
Joliette,  102,  148. 
Jolliet  or  Joliet,  Louis,  96. 
Jones,  Sir  Francis,  3. 
Jones  Sound,  5,  21. 
Juan  de  Fuca,  262. 
Juan  de  Fuca  Straits,  260. 
Judique,  56. 

Kachika  River,  251. 
Kaministiquia    Fort    aiid    River, 

183-5. 
Kamloops,    253,    259,    260,    264, 

267,  268,  270,  277. 
Kamsack,  236,  238. 


INDEX 


293 


Kaslo,  271,  272,  277. 

Kater,  Henry,  10. 

Kater  Cape,  12. 

Keewatin,  186,  187. 

Keighley,  269. 

Kellet,  Captain  Henry,  21  et  seq. 

Kellsey,  Henry,  214,  217. 

Kelowna,  271. 

Kempt,  Sir  James,  85,  132. 

Kempt  Road,  85,  86. 

Kempt's  Bridge,  132. 

Kemptville,  62. 

Kendall,  Mr.,  14. 

Kennebecasis  River,  75. 

Kennedy,  Captain  William,  18. 

Kennetcook  River,  60. 

Kenora,  185,  186,  187. 

Kent  (N.  Br.),  84. 

Kentville,  67,  69. 

Kettle  Creek  or  River,  252,  271. 

Kicking  Horse  Pass,  212,  213,  277. 

Killinek,  98. 

Kimberley,  250,  272. 

Kincardine,  177. 

King,  Dr.  Richard,  14,  15. 

King  William  Land,  13,  15,  17  et 

seq. 
Kingston  (N.  Br.),  75,  80,  81. 
Kingston  (Ont.),   102,   iii,   112, 

153-5. 
Kingsville,  142. 
Kirkella,  240. 

KlondikeRiver,  256, 257,274,  275. 
Kluane,  275. 
Knight,  James,  7. 
Knowles,  Rev.  Charles,  86. 
Knowlesville,  86. 
Koksoak  River,  108. 
Kootenay  Fort,  264. 
Kootenay  Lake,    252,    253,    267, 

273,  278. 
Kootenay   River,   251,    252,    253, 

259,  267.- 
The  Krusentern^  12. 

La  Biche,  Lac,  224. 
Labrador,  i,  95,  97-9,  104. 
Lacolle  Mills,  131. 
Lacombe,  242. 

La  Come,  Fort,  199,  217,  218. 
La  Crosse,  He  a,  Lac,  loi,  218. 
La  Heve,  37-40. 


La  Heve  River,  39,  52. 

Laketon,  255,  256. 

Lanark,  168,  169. 

Lancaster,  Sir  James,  3, 

Lancaster  Sound,  5  et  seq. 

Langley,  Fort,  264,  267,  268,  270. 

La  P^ronse,  262. 

La  Prairie,  123,  126,  130,  143. 

La  Prairie  River,  123. 

Lardeau  River,  250. 

Larder  Lake,  106. 

La  Salle,  Rene  Robert  de,   112, 

123,  155. 
La  Tour,  Charles  de,  37,  42-3. 
Latour  Fort,  43,  57. 
La  Tuque  River,  105. 
La  V6rendrye,  121,  185,  214,  2x7. 
Lawrence,  Fort,  42. 
Le  Borgne,  37. 
Le  Caron,  iii. 
Leeds,  132,  134. 
Le  Moyne,  Pere,  112. 
Le  Moyne,  Charles,  127. 
Le  Pas,  217,  220. 
Lesser  Slave  Lake,  209. 
Lethbridge,  208,  224,  233,  242. 
Levis,  126,  143. 
Lewes  River,  257,  275. 
Liard  River,  211,  212,  214,  247-9, 

251.  255,  257,  265,  275. 
Liddon,  Captain  Matthew,  11. 
Liddon  Gulf,  18. 
Lillooet,  269,  270. 
Lillooet  Lake,  254,  267. 
LTslet,  126. 

Little  River  (N.  Br.),  80. 
Little  Whale  River,  7. 
Liverpool,  39,  52,  62. 
Livingstone,  227. 
Livingstone  Creek,  275. 
Lloydminster,  237. 
Lochaber  (N.  Sc),  62,  63. 
Lochaber  (Quebec),  163. 
Loggins,  68. 

London,  159,  160,  175,  178. 
Londonderry  (N.  Br.),  84. 
Londonderry  (N.  Sc),  53,  68. 
Long  Lake,  204. 
Long  Point,  157,  158,  159. 
Longueuil,  126-7,  ^43' 
Louisbourg,  38,  45-8,  65. 
Ludlow,  82. 


294 


INDEX 


Lumpy  Hills,  204. 
Lundy's  Farm,  156. 
Lunenburg,  39,  52,  67. 
Lyall,  D.,  21-3. 
Lynn's  Canal,  256,  257,  275. 
Lyon,  Captain  George,  12. 
Lytton,  253,  269,  270. 

Mabou,  56,  65. 

Maccan,  68. 

Maccan  River,  42,  57. 

MacDonell,  Bishop,  176. 

MacGregor,  Rev.  James,  55. 

Mackenzie,   Sir   Alexander,   8,  9, 

209,  214,  218,  260,  263. 
Mackenzie  River,  8,  9,  14,  15,  17, 

19,  27,  98,  100,   loi,   210-12, 

247,  248. 
Mackenzie  Valley,  210-12. 
Maclean,  John,  98. 
Macleod,  John,  265. 
Macleod(Alta.),2o7, 225, 226,  233. 
Macleod,  Fort  (B.  C),  254,  263 

et  seq. 
Macmurray,  Fort,  211,  212. 
The  MacNab,  163,  164,  169,  179. 
MacNaughton,  Judge,  18 1-2. 
Macoun,  John,  201,  204. 
Macpherson,  Fort,  211. 
Macquereau  Point,  91,  92,  93. 
Madame,  Isle,  46,  58,  59. 
Madawaska  River  (N.  Br.),  76. 
Madawaska  River  (Ont.),  163, 177. 
Madeleine,  Cape,  93. 
Madoc,  178. 

Magaguadavic  River,  77,  81. 
Magdalen  Islands,  58,  59,94-5,98. 
Magdalen  River,  93. 
Magrath,  C.  A.,  242. 
Magrath,  242. 
Makkovik,  98. 
Malagash,  39. 
Malcolm  Island,  266. 
Manchester  (N.  Sc),  61. 
Manicouagan  River,  108. 
Manitoba,  197  et  seq. 
Manitoba,  frontier  of,  114,  185-6. 

197. 
Manitoba  Lake,  200,  201,  229. 
Manitou  District  and  River  (Ont.), 

104,  187. 
Manitou,  Lake,  239. 


Manitoulin  Island  (Grand),  loi, 

193- 

Mansel,  Sir  Robert,  3. 

Mansel  Islands,  5. 

Manson  Creek,  274. 

Maple  Creek,  227,  230. 

Marble  Island,  see  Brooke  Cob- 
ham  I. 

Margaree,  56,  59. 

The  Maria,  5, 

Markham,  Sir  Clements,  17. 

Markham,  161. 

Marmora,  178. 

Marshall,  Captain,  169. 

Marysville,  76. 

Mascarene,  Colonel,  40,  41. 

Matapedia  Lake,  85,  92. 

Matawin  River,  184. 

Matchedash  River,  160. 

Matheson,  106. 

Mattawa  River,  1 1 1 . 

Maugerville,  75,  81. 

May,  W.  W.,  21-3. 

McClintock,  Sir  F.Leopold,  17-26. 

McClintock's  Channel,  19  et  seq. 

McChire,  Sir  Robert,  19-23. 

McCormick,  Dr.  R.,  21-3. 

McEachran,  Bishop,  56. 

McLoughlin,  Mr.,  10. 

McLoughlin,  or  McLaughlin,  Fort, 
264. 

McNutt,  Colonel  Alexander,  53. 

Meares,  Commander  John,  262. 

Mecham,  Captain  George,  17-18, 
21-3. 

Medicine  Hat,  230,  231,  233,  241. 

Megantic  Lake,  132. 

Melita,  205,  241. 

Melville,  Robert  Viscount,  10. 

Melville  Island,  11  etseq. 

Melville  Peninsula,  12  etseq. 

Memramcook,  73. 

Memramcook  River,  42. 

Mendry,  Dr.,  98. 

Menier,  M.,  96. 

Mennonites,  161,  173,  227,  228, 
236  et  seq. 

Merigomish,  61. 

Merrick  Road,  132. 

Merrickville,  102,  155,  169. 

Mersey  River,  39. 

Methodist  Settlers,  57,  73. 


INDEX 


295 


Methye  Portage,  loi,  109. 

M^is,  85. 

Michikamau  Lake,  107,  108. 

Michipicoten,  104,  18 1-3. 

Middle  River,  55-6,  62. 

Middleton,  Christopher,  7,  8. 

Middleton  (N.  Sc),  39,67. 

Midland,  (Ont.)  iii,  177. 

Midway,  273. 

Milk  River,  207. 

Mille  Lacs,  Lake,  184-6. 

Milltown,  77. 

Mines  Basin,  32,  39,  41,  52,  &c. 

Mingan,  96. 

Mingan  Islands,  95-6. 

Minnedosa,  229. 

Minudie,  58. 

Miquelon  Island,  58,  59. 

Miramichi,  45,  58,  73-6,  82. 

Mire  Bay,  33,35,47. 

Miscou,  73,  74. 

Missiquash  River,  42. 

Missisquoi  County,  141. 

Mississippi  River,  163,  168,  169, 

177- 
Mistassini  Lake,  97,  105. 
Moncton,  66,  73,  80,  81,  82. 
Montarville  Mountain,  131. 
Montgomery,  Richard,  130. 
Montreal,  102-3,  iio>   ii9>    120, 

123-4,   127,  128,    129   et  seq., 

143,  145  etseq.,  et  passim. 
Moor,  "William,  8. 
Moose  Fort  and  River,  6, 103, 183. 
Moose  Jaw,   203,  208,  214,  230, 

233,  241. 
Moose  Mountain,  203,  241. 
Moosomin,  230,  240. 
Moravian  Missions,  98. 
Moravian  Settlers,  237  et  seq. 
Moraviantown,  158. 
Mormons,  241  et  seq. 
Mount  Royal,  103,  131. 
Moyie,  Lake,  &c.,  250,  267,  272, 

273. 
Mulgrave,  66 y  69. 
Murray  Bay,  131,  152. 
Murray,  Mount,  152. 
Muskoka,  102,  178-181,  192. 
Muskrat  Portage,  1 79. 
Musquash  Harbour,  43. 
Musquodoboit,  58,  60,  6^, 


Naas  or  Naase  River,  250,  255. 

Nain,  98. 

Nanaimo,  250,  266,  267. 

Napanee,  154. 

Nappan  River,  57. 

Nares,  Sir  George,  21. 

Nashwaak,  79,  80. 

Nashwaak  River,  76. 

Natashquan,  99. 

National  Trans-continental  Rail- 
way, 86,  106,  115,  146,  213, 
233,  278. 

Nechaco  River,  253,  254,  263. 

Negro  Cape,  39. 

Negroes,  62,  87,  172,  192. 

Nelson,  Mr.,  3. 

Nelson  (N.  Br.),  74. 

Nelson  (B.C.),  250,  252,  271,  272, 

273. 
Nelson,  Port,  4,  109. 
Nelson  River,  6,  loi,    107,   108, 

201,  217. 
Nerepis  River,  75. 
Newark,  156. 
New   Brunswick   Province,    33-4, 

73  et  seq. ;  Boundaries  of,  43-4, 

77-9. 
New  Caledonia,  254. 
New  Campbellton,  33. 
New  Canaan,  82,  83. 
New  Carlisle,  91. 
Newcastle,  74,  82,  85. 
Newfoundland,  i,  44,  46,  62,  64, 

65>  96,  97,  98. 
New  Germany,  52,  69. 
New  Glasgow  (N.  Sc),  67,  68. 
New  Glasgow  (P.  E.  I.),  63. 
New  Lorette,  125-6,  129. 
Newport,  53. 
New  Richmond,  92. 
New  Severn  River,  5. 
New  Wales,  or  New  South  Wales, 

4,  5- 
New  Westminster,  253,  370. 
Niagara  District,  155-7,  ^5^,  ^59? 

161. 
Niagara  Fort  and  Town,  112,  114, 

155,  159- 
Niagara  River,  102,  112. 
Niagara  Town  and  Falls,  1 56,  177. 
Niagara-on-the-Lake,  see  Newark. 
Nichicun  Lake,  97. 


296 


INDEX 


Nicola,  250,  267,  273. 

Nicolet  River,  T27,  128,  142. 

Nictaux  River,  39,  68. 

Nine  Mile  River,  60. 

Nipawi,  217,  21 8. 

Nipigon   Fort,   Lake,  and  River, 

108,  109,  121,  183. 
Nipisiguit,  45,  73,  74,  79. 
Nipissing  Lake,  106,  in,  179. 
Noel,  41,  53. 
Nootka  Sound,  261. 
Norman,  Fort,  211. 
North     Bay    (Town),    106,    179, 

180,  181,  182. 
North  Cornwall,  21. 
North  Devon,  1 1  et  seq. 
North  Fork,  252,  271. 
North  Kent,  21. 

North  Point  (P.  E.  I.),  48,  59,  64. 
North  Somerset,  11  et  seq. 
ThQ  Noiih  Star,  21-3. 
North- West  Company,  97-8,  160, 

218  et  seq.,  254. 
North-West  River,  107. 
Nottawasaga  River  and  Bay,  112, 

172,  177. 
Nottaway  River,  103. 
Nottingham,  Charles  Earl  of,  3. 
Nottingham  Island,  5. 
Nova  Scotia,  31,  et  seq.,  43-4,  &c. 
Nova  Scotia  Land  Company,  83, 

84. 
Nut  Lake,  230. 

Ochiltree,  Lord,  46. 

Odelltown,  131. 

O'Hara,  F.,  92. 

Okanagan  Lake,   252,    260,   264, 

268,  271,  272,  277. 
Okkak,  98,  104. 
Omineca  River,  273,  274. 
Ommaney,  Captain   Horatio    E., 

17-18. 
Onslow,  53. 

Ontario  Lake,  101-2,  in,  112. 
Ontario  Province,  151  etseq. 

boundaries  of,  112-4,  185-6, 197. 

population  and  towns  of,  187-93. 
Ontario,  New,  151,  180,  et  seq. 
Ontario,  Old,  114,  151,  172,  180. 
Ontario,  Upper,  Middle,  &  Lower, 
173. 


Orillia,  in,  177,  178,  179. 
Orleans  Island,  120, 124, 125,  126. 
Oromocto,  75,  76,  79,  83. 
Oromocto  River,  75,  80,  81. 
Osborn,     Captain    Sherard,     17, 

21-3- 
Osgoode,  170. 
Osoyoos,  272,  273. 
Otnabog,  87. 
Ottawa  Canals,  168. 
Ottawa  City,  170-1. 
Ottawa  River,  102,  no,  in,  112, 

120,  123,  151,  161-4, 177. 
Ottonabee,  171. 

Owen,  Lieutenant  William,  81. 
Owen  Sound,  172,  177. 

Palliser,  Sir  John,  208,  213,  220, 

224,  267,  268,  269. 
Pangman,  Peter,  219. 
Papineau,  Louis,  162. 
Paris,  173. 

Parrsboro,  42,  60,  61,  67. 
Parry,  Sir  William  Edward,  11-13, 

22. 
Parry  Sound  District,  178-81. 
Parry  Sound  Railway,  181. 
Parsnip  River,  251,  254,  263,  273. 
Paspebiac,  58,  91. 
Pasquia  Hills,  199. 
Passamaquoddy  Bay,  33,  77,  81-3. 
Peace  River,  209,  210,  211,  212, 

213,  218,  247,  248,  249,  251. 
Peace  River  District,  209-10,  216. 
Peace  River  Landing,  209. 
Peace  River  Pass,  213,  218,  263. 
Peel  River,   211,  212,   249,   256, 

265,  275. 
Pelly,  Sir  John,  10. 
Pelly  Bay,  23. 
Pelly,  Fort,  204,  205,  220,  221, 

229,  232,  238. 
Pelly  River,  255,  256,  257,  265, 

275- 
Pembina  Mountain,  199,  208,  214, 

227,  228. 
Pembina  River,  212. 
Pembroke,  179. 
Penetang,  160,  172,  177. 
Penny,  Captain  William,  17,  18. 
Pereau  River,  41. 
Perce,  93,  94. 


INDEX 


297 


Perth  (N.  Br.),  76,  84. 
Perth  (Ont.),  168,  169. 
Peterborough,  102,  171-2. 
Petitcodiac,  76,  77. 
Petitcodiac  River,  42,   74-5,   79, 

122,251. 
Petite  Nation  River,  162. 
Petit  Rocher,  34. 
Petrolea,  178. 
Petworth  Emigration  Committee, 

166. 
Pheasant  Hills,  204,  233,  240. 
Pictou,  33,  54,  55-6,  61,  62,  68. 
Pictoii  Landing,  6"]^  68. 
Pigeon  River,  114,  184. 
Pincher  (Creek),  212,  226,  242. 
The  Pioneer^  17-18,  21-3. 
Pitt,  Fort,  206,  237. 
Placentia,  38,  46. 
Pleasant  River,  62. 
Pointe  au  Baudet,  113. 
Pointe  des  Monts,  97,  113. 
Pokemouche,  73,  74. 
The  Pollux,  15. 
Pomquet,  58,  61. 
Pond,  Peter,  218. 
Ponoka,  242. 
Pontgrave,  37. 
Poole,  Francis,  278. 
Porcupine  Hills,  199. 
Porcupine  Lake,  106. 
Porcupine  River,  256, 257, 265,275. 
Portage  la  Prairie,  217,  220,  223, 

232. 
Port  Arthur,  183-6. 
Portland  Canal,  255,  256,  262. 
Portneuf,  148. 
Portneuf  River,  125. 
Potton,  138. 
Poutrincourt,  37. 
Presbyterian  Settlers,  53,  55,  56, 

86,  234. 
Prescott,  153,  154,  155. 
Presqu'  He  (N.  Br.),  84. 
Preston,  61,  62. 
Prevost,  Sir  George,  84,  134. 
Prince  Albert,  206,  219,  221,  224, 

230-1,  232,  237. 
Prince  Albert  and  Victoria  Land, 

14,  15,  17,  19,  20,  26. 
Prince  Edward  Island,  34,  48,  53- 

5,  59»  63-4. 


Prince  Patrick  Island,  21. 

Prince  Regent  Inlet,  1 1  et  seq. 

Prince  Rupert,  254,  278. 

Princeton,  272,  273. 

Prince  of  Wales  Island,  18  et  seq. 

Prince  of  Wales  Strait,  19,  20. 

Pubnico,  39,  57. 

Pullen,  Captain  W.  J.  S.,  17,  21-3. 


Quakers,  161. 

Qu'Appelle  Fort,   204,  220,  221, 

226. 
Qu'Appelle  River,  205,  206,  220, 

221,  230. 
Qu'Appelle  on  the  Railway,  231. 
Quebec  City,  103,  no,  iii,  115, 

1 19-12 1,  143  et  seq.,  et  passim. 
Quebec  Province,  119  et  seq. . 
boundaries  of,  97,  11 2-1 3. 
population  and  towns  of,  T42-8. 
Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  249,  258, 

260,  278. 
Queen's  Channel,  1 8  et  seq. 
Queenstown  (Ont.),  102,  156. 
Quesnel,  269,  270,  273. 
Quesnel  River,  269. 
Quill  Lake,  204,  230,  236. 
Quints  Bay,   in,  151,  it;4,  158, 

178. 


Radisson,  Pierre  Esprit,  121. 

Rae,  John,  16. 

Rae  Isthmus,  16,  23. 

Rainy  Hollow,  249,  276. 

Rainy  Lake  and  River,  185-7. 

Ralegh,  Sir  W.,  3. 

Ralegh  Mountain,  4. 

Rama,  98. 

Ramsay,  169. 

Rapid  City,  229. 

Raymond,  242. 

RecoUets'  Missions,  73,  79,  119. 

Red  Deer,  208,  242. 

Red  Deer  Lake,  200,  220,  229. 

Red  Deer  River  (Alta.),  208,  212, 

219. 
Red' Deer  River  (Man.),  205,  225, 

230,  232. 
Red  River,  loi,  199,  202,  222-3, 

229. 


298 


INDEX 


Regina,  214, 227, 230,  231, 233,240. 
Reindeer  Lake,  109. 
Reliance,  Fort,  15. 
Remsheg,  47. 
Renfrew,  179. 
Repulse  Bay,  8,  9. 
The  Resolute,  17-18,  21-3. 
The  Resolution  (of  Button),  4. 
The  Resohitio7i  (of  Cook),  8. 
Resolution,  Fort,  211. 
Resolution  Island,  4. 
Restigouche  River,  45,  66,  74,  75, 

77. 
Revelstoke,  249,  252,  277. 
Rice  Lake,  171. 

Richards,  Captain  G.  H.,  21-3. 
Richardson,  Sir  John,  13,  14. 
Richelieu   River,    122-3,    127-9, 

132,  133,  134. 
Richibucto,  73-5,  83,  87. 
Richmond  (Ont.),  168,  169. 
Richmond  (Q.  P.),  132,  133. 
Richmond  Bay,  48,  54,  64. 
Richmond,  Fort,  6,  7. 
Richmond  Gulf,  6,  98,  104. 
Rideau  Canal,  168,  170-1. 
Rideau  River,  102,  155,  163, 168- 

71. 
Riding  Mountain,  199,  238. 
RieFs  Rebellions,  186,  204,  231-2. 
Riveron,  Sieur,  93. 
Riviere  du  Loup,  76,  80,  84,  103, 

143. 
Riviere  du  Sud,  126. 
Roberval,  Sieur  de,  104,  119,  120. 
Roberval  (place),  105. 
Robinson,  Lieutenant,  17. 
Robinson,  Peter,  165,  170,  172. 
Robson,  252. 

Rock  Creek,  269,  270,  271. 
Rocky   Mountains,    8,    207,    211, 

219,  247-9. 
Rocky  Mountains  House,  219. 
Rocky  Mountains,  Passes,  212,  213. 
Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  3. 
Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  Welcome,  5,  7,  8. 
Rogers,  Robert,  128,  133. 
Rogers  Pass,  277. 
Rosiers  Cape,  44,  93. 
Ross,  Sir  James,  11- 13,  17. 
Ross,  Sir  John,  11-13,  17,  18. 
Rossignol,  37,  39. 


Rossland,  249,  271,  272,  273. 
Rougemont  Mountain,  131. 
Rouville  Mountain,  129. 
Roxburgh,  84. 
Royal  North-West  Mounted  Police, 

211,  214,  225-7,  249»  257,  259, 

275. 
Rupert,  Fort  (B.  C),  264,  266. 
Rupert  River,  6,  97,  103,  105. 
Rupert's  Land,  i. 
Rustico  Harbour,  48,  59. 
Ryerse,  Colonel  Samuel,  157. 
Ryerse,  Port,  157. 

Saanich  Peninsula,  266. 
Sabine,  Sir  Edward,  11. 
Sabine  Peninsula,  21. 
Sable  Cape,  39,  50,  52. 
Sackville,  52,  57,  73,  80. 
Saguenay  River,  97,  98,  104-5. 
St.  Albert,  224. 
St.  Andrews,  77,  79,  80,  81,  82, 

83,  85. 
St.  Anne  (Q.),  93. 
St.  Anne  (C.  B.  I.),  38,  45,  46,  56. 
St.  Anne  des  Chenes,  197. 
St.  Anne  de  la  Perade,  127. 
St.  Anne  de  la  Pocadiere,  126. 
St.  Anne  Bay,  33. 
St.  Anne,  Lake,  209,  224. 
St.  Anne  Mountain,  no. 
St.  Anne  River,  125. 
St.  Catharine's,  157,  167, 
St.  Charles,  129. 
St.  Charles  River,  119. 
St.  Croix  or  Dochet  Island,  40,  43. 
St.  Croix  River,  41,  77,  78. 
St.   Elias    Cape    and    Mountain, 

249,  250,  257,  262,  275. 
St.  Esprit,  46,  56. 
St.  Francis,  128,  129,  132. 
St.  Francis  District,  133-4. 
St.  Francis  River  (N.  Br.),  78. 
St.  Francis  River  (Q.),  122, 127-8, 

130,  132,  133,  162. 
St.  George,  77,  79,  80,  81. 
St.  Hyacinthe,  129,  143. 
St.  James,  Fort,  254,  263  et  seq. 
St.  Jean,  Lake,  97,  104-5. 
St.  John,  43,  75,  79,  80,  81,  83. 
St.  John  River,  35,  75-7,  &c. 
St.  John's  (Q.),  130, 133. 138, 143- 


INDEX 


299 


St.  Lambert,  143. 

St.  Lawrence  River,   loi  et  seq., 

no  et  seq.,  178  et passwi, 
St.   Lawrence   River,   Canals   of, 

167. 
St.  Margaret's  Bay,  35,  41,  58. 
St.  Martin  Lake,  200,  220. 
St.  Mary  Mission  (Ont.),  in. 
St.  Mary  River  (Alta.),  208. 
St.  Mary  River  (B.  C),  272. 
St.  Mary  River  (N.  Sc),  62. 
St.  Maurice  River,  105,  119,  120, 

146. 
St.  Ours,  127. 
St.  Paul  Bay,  124,  131. 
St.  Peter's  (P.  E.  I.),  48,  54. 
St.  Peter's  Isthmus,  35,  44-7,  64, 

St.  Pierre  Island,  58,  95. 

St.  Regis,  113,  129,  134. 

St.  Roch,  126. 

St.  Stephen,  77,  81. 

St.  Thomas,  164,  174. 

Salisbury,  Robert  Earl  of,  3. 

Salisbury  Island,  4,  5. 

Salmon  River  (N.  Br.),  75,  77,  82. 

Saltcoats,  239. 

Sandon,  271. 

Sandwich,  158,  177. 

Samia,  177,  178,  182. 

Saskatchewan,  Fort,  219. 

Saskatchewan  Province,  207,  248. 

Saskatchewan    River,    loi,    199, 

201,  206,  219  et  seq.,  247,  248. 
Saskatchewan  River,  North,  203, 

206,  219-22,  225,  248. 
Saskatchewan  River,  South,  203, 

204,  205,   207,   208,  218,   219, 

220,  225,  230-2,  248. 
Saskatoon,  231,  233,  239. 
Sault  St.   Marie,  loi,  112,    114, 

167,  181-3. 
Savalet,  37. 
Scadding,  J,,  161. 
Scandinavian  Settlers,  51, 192, 193, 

223,  237  et  seq,  278,  279. 
Seaforth,  177,  178. 
Seine  River  (France),  36,  37. 
Seine  River  (Man.),  222. 
Seine  River  (Ont.),  187. 
Selkirk,  Thomas  Earl  of,  55,  158, 

161,  172,  174,  184,  222. 


Selkirk  (Man.),  201,  229. 
Selkirk  (Yukon),  257,  259,  265, 

275. 
Selkirk  Mountains,  249,  250,  253, 

259. 
Selkirk  Mountains  Pass,  277. 
Seton  Lake,  253,  267. 
Shebandowan    Lake,     184,    iS?, 

186. 
Shediac  Fort,  Bay,  &c.,  54,  73,  74. 
Shefford,  131. 
Shefford  Mountain,  131. 
Sheho,  239. 
Shelburne,  39,  60,  67. 
Shell  River,  229. 
Shephard  (Fort),  267,  268. 
Shepody,  33,  42,  83. 
Sherbrook,  Sir  John,  62. 
Sherbrook,  63,  68. 
Sherbrooke,  132,  133,  138,  142. 
Sherriff,  Charles,  163. 
Shickshock  Mountain,  31,  91. 
Shubenacadie  Canal,  49. 
Shubenacadie  River,  41,  42,  49. 
Shuswap  Lake,  250. 
Sicamous,  249. 
Sillery,  125-6. 
Silver  Isle,  184. 
Simcoe,  John  Graves,  157-61. 
Simcoe,  174. 

Simcoe  Lake,  101-2,112, 160, 172. 
Similkameen  River,  252,  269,  270, 

271. 
Simpson,  Sir  George,  267. 
Simpson,  Thomas,  15,  19,  204. 
Simpson,  Fort  (B.  C),  264. 
Simpson,  Fort  (Mackenzie),  211. 
Simpson  Pass,  213. 
Simpson,  Port  (B.  C),  254,  259, 

261,  277,  278. 
Simpson  Strait,  15. 
Skedaddler  Ridge,  87. 
Skeena  River,   248,    253-5,    264, 

265,  268,  274. 
Slave  River,  see  Great  Slave  River. 
Slocan,  250,  252,  271,  272. 
Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  3. 
Smith,  Fort,  211,  214. 
Smith  Sound,  5. 
Smith's  Falls,  102,  169. 
Smoky  River  Pass,  213. 
Sooke  Harbour,  266. 


300 


INDEX 


Sorel,  122-3,  126-7,  129, 138, 143. 

Sounding  Lake,  208. 

Souris  River,  205,  217,  220,  228. 

Southampton,  Henry  Earl  of,  3. 

Southampton  (Ont.),  177. 

Southampton  Islands,  5. 

Spring  Coulee,  242. 

Springhill,  68. 

Stanstead,  132. 

Standstead  County,  141. 

Steele,  Fort,  268,  271,  272. 

Stellarton,  68. 

Stettler,  242. 

Stewart,  Captain  Alexander,  17,18. 

Stewart  River  (Yukon),  256,  274, 

275- 
Stewiacke  River.  41. 
Stikine  River,  249,  255,  256,  257, 

265,  268,  274. 
Stirling,  242. 
Stormont,  153. 
Stratford,  177,  178. 
Strathcona,  242. 
Stuart,  David,  264. 
Stuart,  J.,  17,  18.  , 

Stuart,  John,  263. 
Stuart  Lake,  254,  260. 
Stuart  River,  254. 
Stukeley,  138. 
Sturgeon  Lake,  loi. 
Sturgeon  River,  185,  187. 
Sudbury,  104,  180,  18 1-2. 
Summerside,  54. 
Summit  Lake  (Labrador),  108. 
Summit  Lake  (Ont.),  108. 
The  SmtshinCf  4. 
Superior,  Lake,  loi,  112,  121,  183 

-4  et passim. 
Sussex  (N.  Br.),  75,  76,  77,  8 1,  82. 
Sutherland,  Dr.  P.  C,  17,  18. 
Sutton,  133. 

Sverdrup,  Captain  Otto,.  27. 
Swan  Lake,  200,  214. 
Swan  River,  205,  220,  221,   225, 

226,  227,  230. 
Swift  Current,  203,  230,  231,  241. 
Sydney,  38,  46, 56, 64-5,  et passim. 

Tadoussac,  104,  105. 
Tagish,  Lake,  257,  275. 
Taku  River,  255,  256. 
Talbot,  Richard,  174,  175. 


Talbot,    Colonel    Thomas,    164, 

173-5. 
Talbot,  Port,  164. 
Talbot  Settlement,  175. 
Talbot,  Street,  164,  174. 
Tantalus,  275. 
Tatamagouche,  47,  58,  61. 
Telegraph  Creek,  255,  256,   257, 

274. 
Temiscouata  Lake,  76,  80,  84-5, 

134- 

The  Terror,  1 7  et  seq. 

Teslin  Lake  and  River,  249,  255, 

256,  257. 
Texada  Island,  249,  250. 
Thames  River,  158. 
Thetford,  142. 
Thickwood  Hills,  203. 
Thompson,  David,  219,  260,  263, 

264,  267,  272,  273. 
Thompson  River,  North  and  South, 

253,  261,  264,  268,  270,  277. 
Thousand  Isles,  10 1,  102. 
Three  Rivers,  (Q.)  no,  in,  119, 

121-2,  127-8,  146-7. 
Three  Rivers  (P.E.I.),  48,  54,  55. 
Thunder  Bay,  184. 
Thunder  Moimtain  or  Hill,   199, 

236, 238. 
Tillard(C.B.I.),  59. 
Timiskaming,  Lake,   105-6,   112, 

179. 
Tobique  River,  "jS,  86,  87. 
Toronto,  102,  112,  159,  160,  177, 

178,  187. 
Touchwood  Hills,  204,  208,  239. 
Touchwood  Hills,  Little,  204. 
Tourmente,  Cap,  103,  no,  124. 
Tracadie(N.Sc.),  58. 
Tracadie  (P.  E.L),  48,  54. 
Trail  Creek,  250,  271,  273. 
Tramping  Lake,  239. 
Traverse,  Cape,  54. 
Traverse  River,  48. 
Trembling  Mountain,  no. 
Trent  River,  101-2,  in,  151,  158, 

i7i»  173,  177. 
Trenton  (N.  Sc),  68. 
Trenton  (Ont.),  154. 
Trout,  Lake,  278. 
Truro,  32,  33,  41,  47,  53,  60,  62-3, 

67. 


INDEX 


301 


Turkey  Point,  157. 
Turtle  Mountain,  203,  214,  241. 
Tusket  Bay  and  Island,  39,  57. 
Tweedside,  83. 

Two  Mountains,  Lake  of,  see  Deux 
Montagnes. 

Ungava  Bay,  33,  98,  107,  108. 
Uniacke  (Mount),  61,  69. 
Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  6. 

Valcartier,  147. 
Valleyfield,  143,  188. 
Vancouver,  Captain  George,  263. 
Vancouver  City,  277. 
Vancouver  Island,  249,  250,  264, 

266,  267,  277. 
Varennes,  127. 
Vaughan,  D.,  7. 
Vercheres,  123. 
Vermilion,  Fort,  209. 
Vernon,  277. 
Verte,  Bale,  47,  54,  61. 
Vesey-Hamilton,    Sir   R.,   17-18, 

21-3. 
Victoria  (B.  C),  264,  266-7,  268, 

277. 
Victoria,  Fort  i  Alta.),  224. 
Victoria  Land,  see  Prince  Albert 

and  Victoria  Land. 
The  Victory y  12. 
Victory  Point,  13,  25. 
Vital  Creek,  274. 
Vittoria,  157. 

Wabigoon  (Ont.),  104,  187. 
Waddington,  Alfred,  276,  277. 
Wagamatcook,  56. 
Wager,  Sir  Charles,  7. 
Wager  Inlet,  8. 
Wallace  Bay,  47,  61. 
Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  3. 
Walsingham,  Cape,  4. 
Walton,  41. 
Wapella,  240. 
Washademoak,  75,  77,  82. 
Waterhen,  Lake,  200. 
Welland  Canal,  167. 
Wellington  (B.C.),  250,  266. 
Wellington  Channel,  11,  i8etseq. 


Welsh  Settlers,  83,  239  et  seq. 

West  Bay,  56. 

West  Chester,  61. 

Westfield,  75,  76,  79,  83. 

West  River,  55-6,  62. 

Westville,  68. 

Wetaskiwin,  233,  242. 

Weyburn,  241. 

Weymouth,  57,  60. 

Whale  Cove,  7. 

Whitby,  161. 

Whitehorse,  257,  275. 

Whitemouth,  197. 

White  Pass,  256,  257,  275. 

White  River,  257. 

Whittle,  Cape,  98. 

Whycogomagh,  66. 

Wickham,  75. 

Wicklow,  84,  86. 

Wild  Horse  Creek,  271,  272. 

William  IV's  Land,  15. 

Willow  Grove,  87.  » 

Wilmot,  60,  61. 

Wilson,  Captain  Andrew,  166. 

Windsor  (N.Sc),  32,  41,  47,  50. 

53,  60,  67. 
Windsor  (Ont.),  157-8,  174,  178, 

182. 
Winnipeg,  185,  187, 198,  217,  221 , 

222,  223,  229,  242. 
Winnipeg,    Lake,   loi,   185,   199, 

200,  201,  202,  217. 
Winnipeg  River,  185,  186. 
Winnipegosis,  Lake,  200,  206,  214. 
Wolf  Island,  94. 
Wolfville,  32,  33,  67. 
WoUaston,  Lake,  109. 
WoUaston  Land,  see  Prince  Albert 

and  Victoria  Land. 
Wolseley,  Lord,  184-7,  225. 
Wolstenholme,  Sir  John,  3. 
Wolstenholme,  Cape,  4. 
Wood  Mountain,  207,  226,  241. 
Woods,  Lake  of  the,  185-7,  197, 

199,  217. 
Woodstock  (Ont.)»  159- 
Woodstock  (N.  Br.),  76,   77,  78, 

79,  81,  84,  85,  86. 
Wooler,  83. 
Wostock,  237. 

Wright,  Philemon,  161,  162. 
Wynniatt,  R.,  19. 


302 


INDEX 


Yale,  Fort,  267,  270,  273. 

Yamachiche,  127. 

Yamaska  Mountain,  131. 

Yamaska  River,  127,  129,  134. 

Yarmouth,  39,  52,  57,  67,  69. 

Yellowgrass,  241. 

Yellowhead  Pass,  213,  260,   261, 

270,  277,  278. 
Yonge  Street,  160,  161,  172. 


York,  Fort,  6. 

Yorkton,  233,  238,  239. 

Young,  Allen,  24. 

Yukon   District   and   River,    349, 

255-8,  265,  274-6. 
Yukon    District,    Boundaries    of, 

249,  262. 
Yukon,  Fort,  265. 


Oxford  :  Printed  at  the  Clarendon  Press  by  Horace  Hart,  M.  A. 


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