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Preface
The objects for which
the Explorations described in these volumes were undertaken, necessarily
involved a more minute topographical examination than would be thought
necessary in a general survey of a comparatively unknown country.
It was desirable to ascertain the practicability of establishing an
emigrant route between Lake Superior and Selkirk Settlement, and to
acquire some knowledge of the natural capabilities and resources of the
Valley of Red River and the Saskatchewan.
The country between
Lake Superior and Red River is therefore minutely delineated with
reference to the object of the exploration of 1857, and the first four
chapters are mainly devoted to topographical details of less interest to
the general reader than the subsequent narrative.
The same remark applies, though in a less degree, to the description of
the country west of Red River, the object being to show its fitness, or
the contrary, for settlement. The establishment of a new Colony in the
Basin of Lake Winnipeg, and the discovery of a Fertile Belt of country
extending from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, give to
this part of British America a more than passing interest. The idea of a
route across the Continent of America lying wholly within British
Territory, is daily becoming more settled and defined. The trade of
China and Japan, now on the point of being opened to British enterprise,
the gold wealth of British Columbia, and the Fertile Belt forming the
northern boundary of the great American desert, all give importance to
the Basin of Lake Winnipeg, which increases with our contemplation of
its possible and indeed probable future.
The inimitable wastes of Siberia, extending over eighty degrees of
longitude, are traversed by Russian couriers in far less time than with
all our appliances of steam and telegraph, we can receive "news" from
China. The same postal system which there prevails can be far more
easily maintained in British America, and with this vast advantage, that
from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains the route would lie
through a tract of country not only remarkably fertile, but possessing
rich stores of timber for fuel, lignite coal, iron, and salt—the most
important elements of industry and wealth.
The chief difficulty in the way of rapid transit across the continent
lies between Lake Superior and Rainy Lake. The liberality which has
already been manifested by the Parliament of Canada, in voting supplies
to explore and open this hue of communication, will doubtless be
persevered in until the route is well established. The Governor of
British Columbia sees in "means of communication" the most expeditious
way of calling the inert gold wealth of that distant colony into
activity, and it remains for the Imperial Government to determine how
soon a postal communication shall be established across the Basin of
Lake Winnipeg, and the first step taken in establishing a permanent
route through British Territory, between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
London, October 1860.
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Volume 2 |
