Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1905 — TWO NEW CANADIAN PROVINCES [ARTICLE]

TWO NEW CANADIAN PROVINCES

With Saskatchewan and Alberta the Dominion Will Have Nine “States.” The word province in* Canada has the same significance as tlje word State in our country. When we say, therefore, that the Dominion has organized and is about to take In two new provinces it means that the seven States are about to be increased to nine. The seven provinces are Quebes, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Manitoba and British Columbia. The two new' provinces are Alberta and Saskatchewan. ‘ The interior department at Ottawa has issued a map showing the boundaries of these two enormous new provinces, and the map printed here has been made from it. It Is thirty-eight years since the Dominion of Canada was formed by the

confederation of the provinces then existing. That was the birth of Canada as a nation. Two years later the British Parliament passed the Rupert's land act, which provided for the acquisition by the Dominion of the vast prairies of the West, which were called the Northwest Territories. It had already been discovered that wheat was a wonderful crop In the southeast part of this region, and so many settlers flocked into the little corner called Manitoba that in 1870 this territory was admitted into the confederation us a province. As a Stale of the Dominion, Manitoba is Just one year older than British Columbia. But none of the other four big territories has ever had a government of its own, Assinibola. Alberta, Saskatchean, and Athabasca were simply lumpwan, and Athabasca were simply lumped together as the Northwest Territories. They had a common capital fit Regina, Assinibola, and have always been ruled, under the Dominion Parliament, by a Lieutenant Governor and an Executive Council. Out of these four territories the two new States 4rttVe been formed and the Northwest Territories will now disappear from the maps. The fact is that territorial government for them is no longer suitable, because their Interests are becoming large and complex. In 1901 their population was 158.940. No census has been taken since, but the Candian government estimates their population today at about 500.000. Over three-fifths of the large immigration that began to pour Into Canada In 1901 has settled In three of these territories. The tide of pioneers Is pouring over these wheat and cattle lands of Canada. It has not yet renched Athabasca, but farmhouses and hamlets have been spreading over ttas three southern ter-

ritories, and the country will keep filling with people for years to come, for the lands still unoccupied are almost boundless. As yet, the newcomers have hardly more than touched ths outskirts of the wheat lands. Manitoba is only one-fourth as large as the old territories of Asslnlbola, Saskatchewan and Alberta, but she had over 2,000,000 acres in wheat last year, while the territories gathered a w’heat crop from only 575,697 acres This acreage in the territories was a mere bagatelle compared with their enormous area of fine farm lands. The government, after careful Investigations, has reached the conclusion that the amount of desirable farm lands still unappropriated In Assinibola is 19,000,000 acres; in Saskatchewan, 17,000,000, and In Alberta, 16,000,000 acres. It will take hundreds of thousands

of farmers tq.cut up all this land into' homesteads, but the process is going on, and when these lands are all parceled out'settlers will begin to move Into Athabasca, whose agricultural capabilities have just been Investigated in a comparatively thorough manner, and, It Is said, with astonishingly favorable results. The government of Canada is to pay to each province the sum* of $50,000 a year for the support of Its government and legislature. The Dominion lands will continue to be vested In the crown, but the Canadian government will compensate the provinces for them by a series of annual payments. The present estimated value of tho public lands Is $1.50 an acre. The map shows that the two provinces take In all the territory of the four territories excepting a little of the eastern parts of Athabasca and Saskatchewan. The time will probably come when It wlil be deemed best to divide theso provinces again into smaller ones. Each of them Is about four times as large as New York State, and their total territory Is about as large as Central Europe. This is a great region, which, with Manitoba, Is estimated by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture to be destined within ten years to produce annually 850,000,000 bushels of wheat, 200,000,000 bushels of oats, and 50,000,000 bushels of barley, and this without cropping more than about one-third of the tillable area. The two province* divide the vast area nearly equally. Regina will be the capital of Saskatchewan; the capital of Alberta will bo temporarily at Edmonton until the Legislature of that province decides upon Its permanent situation.—Washington Post. When s man keeps his own counset he hasn't much use for a lawyer.