W. F. Bredin, Esq., member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, for the Division of Athabaska, and residing at Lesser Slave lake, was examined before the Senate committee of 1907 and stated that at the date of his examination he had resided ten years in the country north of Edmonton. He had been from Edmonton north to Fort Wrigley, and he had been on Peace river from Fort St. John, thirty miles inside the British Columbia line, to about five hundred miles down the Peace—from that point. Ten years previous to his examination he went down the Athabaska to the Mackenzie in boats. Mr. Bredin referred briefly to a trip he made east from Athabaska district during the summer of 1906, when he travelled from McMurray up Clearwater river and thence across to Prince Albert. The land on Clearwater river for one hundred miles, in the bottoms, is very good. It appeared to him, from the river, however, to be very sandy back on the high rocks. He should think there would be a good deal of rock and muskeg. From where he left Clearwater river in to Prince Albert, on the North Saskatchewan, the country was more or less of a sandy nature. There were beautiful lakes all the way, filled with good whitefish and trout. The whole northern country is that way. In his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. H. A. Conroy remarked:—“There is some good country along the Clearwater—very nice country from an agricultural point of view.” THE CREAN REPORTS. A great amount of invaluable information as to the natural resources of the region south of Churchill and Clearwater rivers is contained in the report by Frank J. P. Crean, C.E., of his explorations (See p. 25) in 1908 and 1909. It is interesting to note that this work of exploration was the first ever undertaken in a systematic way to ascertain the agricultural possibilities of Canada’s northland. The late Mr. R. E. Young, Superintendent of the Railway Lands Branch of the Department of the Interior, under whose direction, and at whose instance, these explorations were conducted, in forwarding Mr. Crean’s first report, wrote:—“Mr. Crean’s report gives a great deal of useful information about the district, and the results of his observations appear to shew that mixed farming may confidently be expected to prove successful over a large area. When the country is made accessible by roads a considerable settlement of agriculturists may, I think, be looked for. The country is also shewn by his report to be rich in natural resources.”