Prior to the advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the year 1883, this district was entirely unsettled, being, in fact, a terra incognita to all except servants of the Hudson Bay Co., officials of the Geological Survey, and Provincial Government surveyors. But it had been devastated to a large extent by forest fires, which occurred at intervals during a period of some fifty or sixty years previously. These fires entirely destroyed the virgin forest (which consisted chiefly of white pine) over large tracts, by killing the trees and leaving them susceptible to the attacks of their insect enemies, and presenting at that date (1883) a desolate appearance, caused by the thickly-standing tall bare trunks and stubs of trees, among which had sprung up a thick growth of saplings of white birch, poplar, etc.