The present volume, according to the instructions the undersigned received from the Department of the Interior, is purely and simply a compilation. Care has been taken to avoid the temptation to try and produce a work of original literary merit, and in the following pages it will be found that the compiler has introduced only as much original writing as is necessary to introduce intelligibly the various quotations, or to establish the connections between them, his aim being to present all the data available in the original text, or as near to it as the exigencies of compilation and space would permit. With the object of properly introducing some of the chief authorities quoted and of placing the reader, from the beginning, au fait with the circumstances under which the principal information regarding the resources of the country was obtained, the presentation of the data has been prefaced by a brief historical chapter. At the end of the book a list of the written authorities from which quotations are made will be found. It will be observed that, to avoid confusion, the vast region under review has been divided into five distinct territorial units, and that the matter relating to each unit is in turn divided into four sections, relating respectively to the resources in the way of arable land, timber, minerals, and fish and game. The compiler found that this system of classification was satisfactory in his two previous volumes of a somewhat similar type, “Canada’s Fertile Northland,” and “The Great Mackenzie Basin,” and a continuation of the system will facilitate reference between the present volume and those which were its forerunners and its inspiration. Perhaps I might be permitted here a word of personal explanation. I have had only a slight acquaintance with any part of this great waiting Northland, having campaigned a little over its southern margin between North Saskatchewan and Beaver rivers, in Fort Pitt district, during the operations against Big Bear’s Indians in 1885; but what I saw of the country then, with its park-like groves of fine trees, its valleys covered with luxuriant grasses, its sylvan lakes teeming with fish, and every prospect a gem of nature’s own perfect landscape gardening, made such an impression on my mind that I have ever since felt a personal interest not only in that particular section but in the vast regions beyond which have not the charm of the soft and lovely scenery of Loon lake and Beaver river. Having this feeling towards the country I have followed as a hobby the literature relating to it, and it has been naturally a pleasure to contribute my mite in helping it along towards its ultimate destiny.