fair to say that these native people, as Canadian citizens, are
making a substantial contribution to our national economy.
It may be that, with the passage of years, the pressure
of demand may force the extension of commercial grazing
into the Arctic fringe, but such an exigency would appear
to be well in the future.

Although little specific information is as yet available,
it has been reported that there are several hundred thousand
acres of agricultural land in the Yukon, of which one block
in the Dezadeash Valley, crossed by the Alaska Highway,
may be mentioned.

So long as there are market outlets, there will be an
incentive to carry agriculture to the extreme limit of its
feasibility. Mining and lumbering operations in remote
areas have induced the occupation of lands and the pro-
duction of crops in conditions and on soils commonly
regarded as below marginal. The value of fresh agri
cultural produce in remote areas and the cost of transport
may expand substantially the limit of agricultural oppor-
tunity for which there are always seekers. Moreover,
the farmer on the fringe has the advantage of cheap land
and the practical, if doubtful, advantage of simpler living
standards to maintain.

The yardstick for marginal land must remain elastic.
The western plain lands from the semi-arid southern areas to
the Arctic fringe constitute truly a diversified area about
which generalizations are difficult to make. Until more is
known about these lands on the fringe, their climatic and
soil limitations and what other natural wealth they carry,
their agricultural potentialities cannot be accurately assessed.
It may, however, be concluded that any substantial agri-
cultural development can only be complementary to the
development of their prime resources.

Future settlement of land in the North Baciie Region
so far as it can be ordered or directed should proceed as
follows:

(a) Settlement of suitable available lands in areas now

settled and accessible to present means of irans-
portation.
Lands in this category are available to a varying
extent throughout these settled and accessible
areas. There is no possible means of grouping
settlement in these areas.

(b) Settlement of areas offering the best vacant lands
that are accessible, or relatively accessible, to
present means of transportation and not too remote
from present settlement.

Outstanding in this category is the area in the
Peace River section from Hines Creek westward to
Fort St. John lying on the north side of the Peace
River and between the river and the Clear Hills;
also the area on the south side of the Peace River
from Spirit River westward to Dawson Creek and
between the river and the Saddle Hills. These
areas contain the largest amount of desirable
unsettled agricultural land remaining in north-

146 |

western Canada. On the north side of the Peace
River, a highway extends northwestward from /
Fairview to Worsley in Alberta, and other high-
ways run for short distances east, west, and north
from Fort St. John in British Columbia. On the
south side of the Peace, a highway extends from
Rycroft to Dawson Creek. The present railhead
is at Hines Creek.

(c) Settlement of less accessible areas of suitable soils
when the demand for agricultural land may be
more urgent.

The district from Sine to Sturgeon Lake
would be included in this category. This district
is not supplied with transportation facilities of
any kind. It does, however, lie between two
well-settled areas and across the shortest route
between Edmonton and the Grande Prairie area.
It contains a good proportion of soils in localities
of favourable topography.

Another district of the same class extends from the
Battle Prairie area north of Grimshaw northward
to include the Fort Vermilion area.

Although the above may be put forward as an expression
of a broad settlement policy, new transportation projects
with more than local development aims, such as new high-
way and rail outlets from other established areas, might
open economic areas that aré outside the above categories.
Cases may occur where locational advantages, in the con-
struction of new transportation channels, may outweigh,
in the settlement program, the advantage of prime soils
and the social advantages of contiguous settlement.

In this connection, it is probable that there will be an
early necessity for highway and rail extensions aimed not
only at the provision of new and more economical access —
to developed areas handicapped by a remote situation, but
also at reaching -and serving areas of economic promise
other than agricultural.

This point is dealt with in more detail in the section
on Transportation, where a policy of so locating future
lines of transportation as to offer the maximum advantage
in the development of all classes of the natural wealth is
suggested. It may, however, be pertinent to suggest one
or two localities that might be considered in this category.

Among such localities are the Parsnip River Valley
and the upper valley of the Peace River in British Columbia.
A highway, and, ultimately, a railway from the Peace
River district through these valleys, would serve also as
an outlet for the Finlay Valley, and for the Ingenika district
which offers promise of mineral development.

Another area of the same category is that extending
north from Fort Vermilion to Hay River and Providence.
This area would become accessible should mineral develop-
ments in the Great Slave Lake area and northward warrant
rail extension.

Soil surveys with land classification, showing also
present occupancy and disposition of land, should be put