River. The Manual wasn't available until May 1st and in
the months that remained work was frequently
interrupted by prairie fires and was further retarded by
the Fenian "raid" in the fall. By the end of 1872,
however, a large block had been subdivided in the Red
River Plain and at two points the surveyors had
advanced beyond the western boundary of the province
as it was defined at that time. In the south they worked
their way along the trail which ran parallel to the
boundary, in the well-wooded area explored by Palliser
behind Pembina Mountain; and in the north they
followed the route initially proposed for the Canadian
Pacific Railway, from the Portage Plains northwestwards
between Riding Mountain and Lake Manitoba.

In the following year (1873) the subdivision of
lands in the North West Territory was begun in earnest.
This time the surveyors followed the North Branch of
the Saskatchewan Trail and spread south from here to
cover much of the parkland belt between Shoal Lake
and the Assiniboine (FigurelO). In fact, the Lands
Branch was overly optimistic in its estimate of the
amount of land required, and uncertain as to the
direction of future settlement. Many of the townships
surveyed were occupied only many years later; others
were never settled as they were too heavily wooded:

The policy of the government in surveying

lands to the northwest [of Winnipeg] reflected the

prevailing attitude that the lands most likely to be
settled would follow the ‘willow prairie’ of Palliser
and Hind. On the other hand, the ‘true prairie',
partly on account of its light soil and because it
was timberless, would not be favorable for

colonization. 7

In 1874-75 a few more townships were surveyed,
but in distinctly marginal areas, amongst the sand hills
north of the Assiniboine and on the southern flanks of
Hiding Mountain. In both cases much of the land
surveyed, although initially opened to settlement, was
subsequently reserved for forestry purposes.

Actually, very little land was subdivided anywhere

    
   

By Section, Township and Range

    

Boundary Commission Cookhouse on Turtle Mountain, in 1873. (Manitoba Archives)

in Western Canada in 1874-78. After the major thrust of
1873 it was deemed inadvisable to incur further heaVy
expenditures of this kind "until the route of the Pacific
Railway to and across the Province of Manitoba should be
determined". 3 There was, moreover, little need to
extend the limits of the subdivided area. A general
depression in commercial affairs and plagues of
grasshoppers had curbed the enthusiasms of pioneers,
and the Surveyor General was led to observe annually
that the surplus of townships already subdivided
rendered any increase in the supply unnecessary.

In 1879 there was little to be done within the
Province of Manitoba and the attention of the surveyors
was turned once more to the North West. Lands were
laid out between Rock Lake and Turtle Mountain,
Pelican Lake and the Assiniboine, Clear Lake and Birtle.
By 1880 the Survey had developed a fair "head of
steam", and the number of townships subdivided in that
year exceeded that of 1872, in spite of the fact that
conditions were unfavourable for surveying on account
of wet weather and bad roads. 9 As a result of the poor
conditions, and because of excessive optimism on the
part of particular surveyors, there was an unusually
large number of incompleted contracts that year. In this
way certain townships which should have been
subdivided in 1879 were still closed to homesteading,
and as some of these were located in well-settled areas
the delay was most inconvenient. 1° The year 1880 is
noteworthy also in that during the course of that season
the surveyors first penetrated the Souris Plains
(Figure 10).

As the railway was advanced westwards, the
subdivision of Southwest Manitoba was more or less
cempleted by the close of 1881. Most of the surveyors
were now working beyond the new provincial boundary.
Vast areas were surveyed along the Main Line in 1882,
and again in 1883, when the railway reached the
Rockies. The middle of the decade, however, was
marked by another cut-back in subdivision everywhere
in the West. Many millions of acres had been surveyed

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75