of the Hudson Bay Company. Thus it seems to me that force without
distinct civil government would be useless, and that civil government
would be powerless without a material force. Again, as to the purchase of
Indian rights upon certain localities and the formation of settlements,
it must be borne in mind that no settlement is possible in the
Saskatchewan until some such plan is adopted.

People will not build houses, rear stock, or cultivate land in places
where their cattle are liable to be killed and their crops stolen. It
must also be remembered that the Saskatchewan offers at present not only
a magnificent soil and a fine climate, but also a market for all farming
produce at rates which are exorbitantly high. For instance, flour sells
from 2 pounds 10 shillings to 5 pounds per 100 lbs.; potatoes from 5
shillings to 7 shillings a bushel; and other commodities in proportion.
No apprehension need be entertained that such settlements would remain
isolated establishments. There are at the present time many persons
scattered through the Saskatchewan who wish to become farmers and
settlers, but hesitate to do so in the absence of protection and
security. These persons are old servants of the Hudson Bay Company who
have made money, or hunters whose lives have been passed in the great
West, and who now desire to settle down. Nor would another class of
settler be absent. Several of the missionaries in the Saskatchewan have
been in correspondence with persons in Canada who desire to seek a home
in this western land, but who have been advised to remain in their
present country until matters have become more settled along the
Saskatchewan. The advantages of the localities which I have specified,
the junction of the branches of the Saskatchewan River and the
neighbourhood of Edmonton, may be stated as follows:--Junction of north
and south branch--a place of great future military and commercial
importance, commanding navigation of both rivers; enjoys a climate
suitable to the production of all cereals and roots, and a soil of
unsurpassed fertility; is situated about midway between Red River and the
Rocky Mountains, and possesses abundant and excellent supplies of timber
for building and fuel; is below the presumed interruption to steam
navigation on Saskatchewan River known as "Coal Falls," and is situated
on direct cart-road from Manitoba to Carlton.

Edmonton, the centre of the Upper Saskatchewan, also the centre of a
large po