“The splendid native grasses,” observes Mr. E. S. Bayard (editor of _The National Stockman and Farmer_), “the good grain, the apparently favourable conditions for the growth of alfalfa and other clovers, peas, vetches and barley, and the abundance of water, all look good to a man who is interested in live-stock.” “The country pierced by the Grand Trunk Pacific in the Canadian West,” we learn from Professor E. E. Faville (editor of _Successful Farming_), “presents opportunities not to be excelled in any part of Canada.” And this is the testimony of yet another agricultural editor: “Conditions along the Grand Trunk Pacific are generally suitable for grain-growing, including a rich soil, reinforced with a vast quantity of vegetable mould, a sufficiency of rain during the planting and growing season, bright sunshiny days during the ripening season (hastening maturity), an absence of rust (due to the dry period at time of harvest), and an apparently total absence of all insect pests.” In May, 1906, Professor J. Macoun, of the Government Geological Survey, received instructions to make an inspection of the country, on both sides of the line, between Portage la Prairie and Edmonton. From his report I take the following facts: All the land from the Assiniboine westward to Touchwood, and over twenty miles beyond, is more or less covered with timber, although there are often great stretches of prairie interspersed with it. Ponds, marshes, rich bottoms and numerous lakes are scattered without order throughout the country. Everywhere the soil is rich—chiefly black loam. At the Indian mission near Touchwood, Mr. Macoun found excellent wheat, and in the garden at the post all the vegetables were of the highest quality. There is practically no bad land. On these extensive prairies, the settler’s first work is the erection of a turf house and the digging of a well; then he is established. South of Tramping Lake, many houses could be seen. The settlers met with were invariably from the United States, and all seemed pleased with their prospects. I may mention that the company, who have no agricultural land for sale, published last June a list indicating the situation of 8,000 free homesteads available along the line. As to the mountain section (which is now being rapidly pushed forward from both the east and the west), the country it traverses is said to be unequalled in North America for natural resources. Where the conditions do not lend themselves to agriculture, there is mining or lumbering to be developed, and in the rare districts in which those possibilities fail, there is at least trapping and hunting.