11. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CA NADIAN WEST.— Without ajust apprecia tion of the attractions and possibilities of the °Canadian West° as the larger half of the Dominion situated west of Lake Superior has commonly been called, neither the Canada of to-day nor that of the future will ever be understood. One of the first acts of states manship after the consummation of confed eration (see CANADA — CONFEDERATION) was the purchase by the Canadian government from the Hudson's Bay Company (see BAY COMPANY ) of the immense ter ritory forming the basin of Hudson Bay and known as Rupert's Land, over which that com pany held proprietary rights. British Colum bia, in 1871, entered the Dominion thus brought up to her borders. Some 14 years later followed the completion of the Canadian Pa cific Railway (q.v.), an enterprise of splendid self-confidence in so young a country. A rail way was needed to fulfil the conditions upon which British Columbia had joined the Con federation, and without it the vast territory between that province and Ontario could not be developed nor preserved to Canada. The purchase of Rupert's Land created the condi tions which brought about and justified the building of the first transcontinental railway, and the prolonged discussions over the policy of the government of the day in respect to the public assistance given to that road began the process of popular education in eastern Canada in the extent and resources of the West. A seemingly limitless sphere for internal develop ment gradually was revealed, and the necessity on two occasions for the employment of armed force against half-breed rebellions, with some sacrifice of blood, sealed the sense of posses sion. Pioneers proved the fertility of the soil and the richness of the mines, and with the assurance of a rapidly increasing population the whole national life received an access of vigor and hopefulness. External policy, as well as internal, was influenced. A country that could produce and export staple foodstuffs in quan tities capable of indefinite multiplication, and had vast stores of timber, coal and metals could support great home industries and also become a prominent factor in international trade. It could work at home and bargain abroad. It could make choices. The idea of a trade union of the British empire, for ex ample, presented itself in practical form largely because of the potentialities of the Canadian West. Population only was needed to show
results, and the movement of population into this part of Canada is therefore a subject of interest and importance.
The lying west and northwest of Lake Superior in Canada is of vast extent and great variety. It includes the extreme western end of the province of Ontario, the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, while beginning again at the east and lying to the north of these districts are the Northwest territories and Yukon. Prior to 1905 the only provinces were Manitoba and British Columbia. The remainder constituted the °territories.° Now °the territoriesn signify the vast northern region stretching from Labrador to Yukon. The land area in these districts in acres is: Dissturr Area in acres Ontario (western end), approximate 20,000,000 Manitoba 41,169,098 Saskatchewan 155,092,480 Alberta 160,755,200 British Columbia 227,302,400 Northwest territories (Labrador to Yukon) 1,197,475,200 Yukon L32,113,2110 For present purposes the northern terri tories, with the exception of Yukon, may be disregarded, since they have not yet attracted population to any marked degree. The western end of the province of Ontario is rich in timber and minerals, and possesses stretches of good agricultural land. The prairie region begins at the eastern boundary of Manitoba and extends to the Rocky Mountains, embracing the prov inces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta: wooded prairie and open prairie, rolling and flat, broken by hills and some rocky ridges and drained by great rivers that flow eastward and northward into great lakes with outlets into Hudson Bay. No richer agricultural lands and no better grazing ranges exist than are here found. Of the 350,000,000 acres in this com bined district it would be idle to estimate the proportion of good grain land. It is very large, as attested by the successful farms now scat tered throughout the whole region. In 1903 only 5,073,424 acres had yet been put under crop. By the year 1917 the area under crop had grown to 24,938,700 acres. British Columbia is a land of magnificent mountains rich in minerals, and of valleys of the very highest agricultural pos sibilities, nearly the whole clothed with forests. See the articles in this series: AGRI CULTURE; MINERALS; THE FORESTS AND LUM BER INDUSTRY.