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Arctic Survey Part VI. The New North-West1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
My research interest in the settlement of the new North-West dates back to the summer of 1929 when I was asked to make a preliminary study of the Peace River Country which was one of the “Frontiers of Settlement” studies published during the first half of the nineteen-thirties. During the following summer the field study was completed and the Settlement of the Peace River Country was published in 1934. This study made familiar to the author the Alberta and British Columbia divisions of the Peace River region from Notikewin, seventy-five miles north of Grimshaw through the settlements of the Peace as far west as Fort St. John. Among many communities studied in this survey were Notikewin on the north-east fringe of settlement and Dawson Creek which forms the southern anchor of the Alaska Highway. The opening of the Alaska Highway, built between 1942 and 1944, together with the oil developments along the MacKenzie River and the mineral production of the Precambrian area just east of it, focused attention on this new North-West. The possibilities of settlement in this far north-western territory have received wide publicity. Among others, I spent the summer of 1944 in this great stretch of territory, which lies north of the Peace River and extends from a line drawn from Waterways to Coronation Gulf on the east, (approximately the western boundary of the Precambrian Shield), to the Alaska Highway on the west. The northern boundary of the territory studied is the Arctic Ocean. My own part of this survey included also that part of Alaska served by the Alaska railroad and the highway network which lies between Fairbanks and Anchorage.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , November 1945 , pp. 578 - 600
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1945
Footnotes
1
The first two papers in this Arctic Survey, by G. J. Wherrett on medical services and Andrew Moore on education, together with a foreword by H. A. Innis about the project as a whole, were published in the February number of this Journal. Part III, “A Mackenzie Domesday” by Griffith Taylor was published in the May number; part IV, “A Yukon Domesday” also by Griffith Taylor and part v on transportation by H. W. Hewetson were published in the August number.
References
2 “Frontiers of Settlement” series, vol. VII, ed. MacKintosh, W. A. and Joerg, J. L. (Toronto, 1934).Google Scholar
3 For construction details, see Ells, S. C., “The Alaska Highway” (Canadian Geographic Journal, 03, 1944, pp. 104–19).Google Scholar
4 Ibid., pp. 111-14.
5 The Haines cut-off between the Port of Haines on Lynn Canal and the Alaska Highway has been re-opened and will have a maintenance crew during the summer months.
6 By August 1, 1945, twenty acres had been made ready for seeding and a number of buildings were to be found at this sub-station.
7 See p. 579.
8 Exploratory efforts have revealed the presence also of lead, zinc, nickel, copper and coal.
9 Stewart, J. S., “Petroleum Possibilities in Mackenzie River Valley, N.W.T.” (Transactions of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. XLVII, 1944, pp. 152–8).Google Scholar
10 Wartime Information Board, “Defence Projects in North-West Canada,” mimeographed report, 1943, p. 8.Google Scholar
11 Stewart, , “Petroleum Possibilities,” pp. 163–4.Google Scholar
12 Note greater detail in a paper soon to be published by Camsell, Dr. Charles—“Mineral Development in the Northwest and Yukon Territories,” 1945.Google Scholar
13 Wartime Information Board Defence Projects in Northwest Canada, mimeographed report, 1943, p. 39.
14 Canadian Department of Mines and Resources, “The Northwest Territories,” pp. 30–1.Google Scholar
15 The Northern Transportation Company was inaugurated by the Eldorado Mines because its officials could not obtain what they deemed a satisfactory arrangement with the line operated by the Hudson's Bay Company.
16 The author spent one week enroute from Fort Norman to Port Radium by the river and lake boats. Two days were spent at the portage. This made possible first hand observation of freighting difficulties over this part of the Mackenzie route.
17 The relation of subsidiary agriculture to this and similar communities will be discussed below.
18 Dr. Charles Camsell in an article soon to be published says: “An agreement between the Dominion Government and the Province of Alberta has been negotiated for the construction of this road in 1946.”
19 Robinson, J. Lewis, “Land Use Possibilities in Mackenzie District, N.W.T.” (Canadian Geographical Journal, 07, 1945, p. 32).Google Scholar
20 On June 16, 1945, the experimental plant at Abasand was destroyed by fire.
21 Robinson, J. Lewis, “Land Use Possibilities in Mackenzie District,” p. 36.Google Scholar
22 Taylor, Griffith, “Arctic Survey,” part III (The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. XI, no. 2, 05, 1945, p. 194).Google Scholar
23 In studying the Alaskan situation information was given generously by Colonel O. F. Ohlson, Manager of the Alaska Railroad and President of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation which was the agency set up by the United States Government to finance and direct the Matanuska Colonization Project. Particular mention must be made of the frank statements of fact and the ready cooperation in this study by Dr. Herbert C. Hanson, General Manager of the Corporation just cited. Much aid was given, too, by Mr. Roland Snodgrass, Manager of the Matanuska Valley Farmers' Cooperating Association.
24 Hanson, H. C., “Agriculture in the Matanuska Valley,” United States Department of the Interior, 1943, p. 1.Google Scholar
25 It has on the average a growing season of 108 days. See Hanson, ibid., p. 3.
26 Dean Gasser of the Agricultural Section of the University of Alaska took the writer to many of the Tanama valley farms and gave freely of his time and knowledge of the local situation. His capable leadership would have achieved much more in this district if even part of the aid given Matanuska had been available.
27 Among the books which make an important contribution to an understanding of northern Russia are— Cressey, George B., Asia's Lands and Peoples (New York, 1944)Google Scholar; Faracouzio, F. A., Soviets in the Arctic (New York, 1938).Google Scholar
28 The growth of spruce in the Liard valley is in some measure an exception. For a long time this spruce will be used locally and farther north if it is used at all.
29 Eskimos deserve equal attention, but they did not come within the writer's observation.