@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Arts, Faculty of"@en, "History, Department of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Bovevy, John A."@en ; dcterms:issued "2011-08-04T17:37:18Z"@en, "1967"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Arts - MA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description """In the year 1967 the Northwest Territories extend from the 60th parallel of north latitude to the North Pole, and from the eastern boundary of the Yukon Territory to the eastern shores of Ellesmere Island, to within sight of the Danish colony of Greenland. Since 1912 the perimeters of the Territories have remained unchanged. This thesis is an attempt to ascertain the origins of the Northwest Territories as they are presently constituted. It enquires into the reasons for which and the manner by which the Dominion of Canada acquired such a vast extent of arctic and sub-arctic land. It attempts to explain the origin of Canadian concepts and practices of territorial government and how they were applied, or not applied, to the northern extremities of the country. One of the principal expectations of the Confederation of 1867 was the expansion of the new Dominion over the whole of the interior of British North America. Canada consciously aspired to become a transcontinental state; she became the second largest arctic state on the globe unwittingly. From the moment of her national birth Canada intended to extend herself to the Pacific Ocean and forestall the expansion of the United States of America north of the 49th parallel. Canadians, particularly in the Province of Ontario, wanted to secure the fertile plains between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes in order to provide space for the expansion of their own surplus population, for an increase in agricultural production and a market for eastern manufactures. In 1870 Canada took possession of Rupert's Land and the North-western Territory in the hope of attaining these objectives. However neither the people nor the government of Canada had any interest in or knowledge of those regions of the Dominion's territorial acquisition lying north of the Great Plains. Canada made no provision for its immediate control or for its future development. The Dominion took title to the northern extremities of the North American continent simply because they came to her already united with the transcontinental band of land which she did want. She was content to own them, and to ignore them. Sixty years elapsed before Canada’s title to the islands of the arctic archipelago secured international recognition from rival states. Indeed Canada only obtained ownership of those islands because she feared foreign encirclement, particularly encirclement by the United States of America, and when threatened made belated efforts to secure them for herself. Between the years 1870 and 1905 the prairie regions of the original Northwest Territories experienced rapid settlement, and evolved through a Canadian form of territorial government to become the two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. In outward form Canadian territorial government was much influenced by the example of territorial government in the United States, but in essential spirit Canadian policy towards the Northwest Territories remained close to the model of British colonial government. It was authoritarian and centralized. The federal government retained tight control over every aspect of territorial administration. Ottawa distrusted local elected representatives and reserved to herself supervision of regional law-making. The Northwest Territories long remained virtual colonies of the Government of Canada, in fact if not in name. Until the sudden eruption of the Klondike Gold Rush in the years 1897-98, Canada gave no thought to the organization of territories lying north of the Great Plains. She believed that the north could wait, at least until the prairies were settled and fully developed. The Yukon upset the schedule of national priorities. In the new Yukon Territory an arbitrary "colonial" government was established under the strict and direct supervision of Ottawa. Eventually the "safety value" of an elected council was installed, but the federal government still retained complete control of administration and the management of all natural resources. It has continued to do so until 1967. Once the problems of the Yukon had been controlled, the Territory could safely be left to languish into a derelict mining camp, for the federal government still had no interest in the development of permanent settlements north of the 60th parallel. It might only regret that the Yukon had not declined into oblivion, so that an expensive territorial government might be abolished completely. After the establishment of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905 and the northward extension of the boundaries of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in 1912, Canada was content to permit the residual Northwest Territories to remain a deserted and forgotten national attic. The government might be striving to extend that attic to the North Pole, but it had no intention of furnishing it with meaningful government if the expense could be avoided. No agent of government could be found permanently stationed anywhere in the Northwest Territories until the North West Mounted Police entered them in 1903, and no civil government was established north of the 60th parallel until 1921. In that year the Department of the Interior opened its first offices in the Mackenzie valley in expectation of an Oil Rush which might rival the Klondike Gold Rush. No Oil Rush occured. Nevertheless the foundation stones of civil government in the Northwest Territories were laid in 1921 when a territorial council modeled on the Keewatin Council of 1876 was conjured into reality after sixteen years of only theoretical existance. Laws suitable for the north could at last be made. The Northwest Territories was at last equipped to set sail on the course on which it has continued to the present day, albeit often becalmed, occasionally beset by storms, and usually uncertain of its eventual destination. In September 1967 the territorial capital moved from Ottawa, Ontario to the mining town of Yellowknife on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake. A new era seems to be dawning for the residual Territories which now have reached the constitutional position of the "old" Northwest Territories between 1882 and 1888. If greater territorial autonomy seems likely to be gained in the future, it still remains likely that the influence of 97 years of federal attitudes and policies towards the northern territories will be felt for many years yet to come."""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/36486?expand=metadata"@en ; skos:note "THE ATTITUDES AND POLICIES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOWARDS CANADA'S NORTHERN TERRITORIES: 1870 - 1930 by JOHN A. BOVEY B.A., University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1957 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1967 In presenting this thesis in p a r t i a l fu l f i lment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the Library sha l l make i t f ree ly avai lable for reference and Study. | further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholar ly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by nils representatives. It is understood that copying or publ ica t ion of th is thesis for f i n a n c i a l gain shal l not be allowed without my wri t ten permission. Department of The Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date ABSTRACT In the year 1967 the Northwest Terri tories extend from the 60th paral le l of north latitude to the North Pole, and from the eastern boundary of the Yukon Territory to the eastern shores of Ellesmere Island, to within sight of the Danish colony of Greenland. Since 1912 the perimeters of the Terri tories have remained unchanged. This thesis i s an attempt to ascertain the origins of the Northwest Terri tories as they are presently constituted. It enquires into the reasons for which and the manner by which the Dominion of Canada acquired such a vast extent of arctic and sub-arctic land. It attempts to explain the origin of Canadian concepts and practices of t e r r i t o r i a l government and how they were applied, or not applied, to the northern extremities of the country. One of the principal expectations of the Confederation of 1867 was the expansion of the new Dominion over the whole of the inter ior of Br i t ish North America. Canada consciously aspired to become a transcontinental state; she became the second largest arctic state on the globe unwittingly. From the moment of her national bir th Canada intended to extend herself to the Pacif ic Ocean and fores ta l l the expansion of the United States of America north of the 49th p a r a l l e l . Canadians, part ic-ularly i n the Province of Ontario, wanted to secure the f e r t i l e plains between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes in order i i to provide space f o r the expansion of t h e i r own surplus population, f o r an increase i n a g r i c u l t u r a l production and a market f o r eastern manufactures. In 1870 Canada took possession of Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y i n the hope of attain i n g these objectives. However neither the people nor the government of Canada had any inte r e s t i n or knowledge of those regions of the Dominion's t e r r i t o r i a l a c q u i s i t i o n l y i n g north of the Great P l a i n s . Canada made no provision f o r i t s immediate control or f o r i t s future development. The Dominion took t i t l e to the northern extremities of the North American continent simply because they came to her already united with the transcontinental band of land which she did want. She was content to own them, and to ignore them. Sixty years elapsed before Canada 1s t i t l e to the islands of the a r c t i c archipelago secured international recognition from r i v a l states. Indeed Canada only obtained ownership of those islands because she feared foreign encirclement, p a r t i c u l a r l y e n c i r c l e -ment by the United States of America, and when threatened made belated e f f o r t s to secure them fo r h e r s e l f . Between the years 1870 and 1905 the p r a i r i e regions of the o r i g i n a l Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s experienced rapid settlement, and evolved through a Canadian form of t e r r i t o r i a l government to become the two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. In outward form Canadian t e r r i t o r i a l government was much influenced by the example of t e r r i t o r i a l government i n the United States, but i n e s s e n t i a l s p i r i t Canadian p o l i c y towards the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s remained close to the model of B r i t i s h c o l o n i a l government. It was authoritarian and centralized. The federal government retained t i g h t control over every aspect of t e r -r i t o r i a l administration. Ottawa distrusted l o c a l elected representatives and reserved to herself supervision of regional law-making. The Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s long remained v i r t u a l colonies of the Government of Canada, i n f a c t i f not i n name. U n t i l the sudden eruption of the Klondike Gold Rush i n the years 1897-98, Canada gave no thought to the organization of t e r r i t o r i e s l y i n g north of the Great Plai n s . She believed that the north could wait, at l e a s t u n t i l the p r a i r i e s were set t l e d and f u l l y developed. The Yukon upset the schedule of national p r i o r i t i e s . In the new Yukon T e r r i t o r y an a r b i t r a r y \" c o l o n i a l \" government was established under the s t r i c t and d i r e c t super-v i s i o n of Ottawa* Eventually the \"safety value\" of an elected council was i n s t a l l e d , but the federal government s t i l l retained complete control of administration and the management of a l l natural resources. I t has continued to do so u n t i l 1967. Once the problems of the Yukon had been controlled, the T e r r i t o r y could safely be l e f t to languish into a d e r e l i c t mining camp, f o r the federal government s t i l l had no i n t e r e s t i n the development of permanent settlements north of the 60th p a r a l l e l . It might iv only regret that the Yukon had not declined into oblivion, so that an expensive t e r r i t o r i a l government might be abolished completely. After the establishment of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905 and the northward extension of the boundaries of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in 1912, Canada was content to permit the residual Northwest Territories to remain a deserted and forgotten national a t t i c . The government might be striving to extend that attic to the North Pole, but i t had no intention of furnishing i t with meaningful government i f the expense could be avoided. No agent of government could be found permanently stationed anywhere in the Northwest Territories u n t i l the North West Mounted Police entered them in 1903, and no c i v i l govern-ment was established north of the 60th parallel u n t i l 1921. In that year the Department of the Interior opened i t s f i r s t offices in the Mackenzie valley in expectation of an O i l Rush which might r i v a l the Klondike Gold Rush. No O i l Rush occured. Nevertheless the foundation stones of c i v i l government in the Northwest Territories were la i d in 1921 when a t e r r i t o r i a l council modeled on the Keewatin Council of 1876 was conjured into reality after sixteen years of only theoretical existance. Laws suitable for the north could at last be made. The Northwest V T e r r i t o r i e s was at l a s t equipped to set s a i l on the course on which i t has continued to the present day, a l b e i t often becalmed, occasionally beset by storms, and usually uncertain of i t s eventual destination. In September 1967 the t e r r i t o r i a l c a p i t a l moved from Ottawa, Ontario to the mining town of Yellowknife on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake. A new era seems to be dawning fo r the residual T e r r i t o r i e s which now have reached the c o n s t i t u t i o n a l position of the \" o l d \" Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s between 1882 and 1888. I f greater t e r r i t o r i a l autonomy seems l i k e l y to be gained i n the future, i t s t i l l remains l i k e l y that the influence of 97 years of federal attitudes and p o l i c i e s towards the northern t e r r i t o r i e s w i l l be f e l t f o r many years yet to come. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT i o o o o o o o o o o o o o e o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Chapter I X X O O O O Q Q O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O C O O O O O O O O o o 2 9 X X X O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O hy~l X V 00000000000000000000000000000000000 72 V 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0XJ.3 V X 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0X3^ NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY l e The G e o g r a p h i c a l Rogions o f Canada..... 2. R u p e r t ' s L a n d s 1857. So The Hudson's Bay Company's D i s t r i c t B o u n d a r i e s , 1832. 4. The M a j o r P o l i t i c a l B o u n d a r i e s o f Canada, 1867 - 1905. 5o T e r r i t o r i a l and I n t r a - T e r r i t o r i a l B o u n d a r i e s , 1870 - 1898. Go The E v o l u t i o n o f the B o u n d a r i e s o f K e e w a t i n . 7« E x p l o r a t i o n s o f Capt. Otto S v e d r u p s 1898 - 1902. MAP I MAP II M A P I I I 150° 70° 130° 110\" 90° 70° ' 50° 70\" 30° Figure 16. The Hudson's Bay Company's district boundaries according to a map by J . Arrowsraith, published in 1832. MAP 17 Figure 10. The major political boundaries of Canada, 1867-1905. MAP V Figure 19. Territorial and intra-territorial boundaries, 1870-1898. MAP 71 Figure 18. The evolution of the boundaries of Keewatin. MAP VII Figure 24. Capt. Otto Svordrup, 1898-1902. 9 6 8 0 1 — 7 CHAPTER 1. THE NORTHWESTWARD EXPANSION OF THE DOMINION On July 1 5 t h 1870 the Dominion of Canada took o f f i c i a l possession of the vast and remote areas of B r i t i s h North America hitherto known as Rupert fs Land and the Northwestern T e r r i t o r y * The o r i g i n a l small Confederation of 1367, confined to the v a l l e y of the St. Lawrence River and the A t l a n t i c coasts, and comprising Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, suddenly threw out i t s boundaries f a r to the north and west. From an area of 3#4,593 square miles Canada immed-i a t e l y increased her domain over seven-fold, to the enormous t o t a l of 2,9^8,909 square miles. (1) From the head of Lake Superior Canada stretched along the 4 9 t h P a r a l l e l to the Rocky Mountains, and around the boundaries of the Colony of B r i t i s h Columbia to the borders of Alaska; from the St. Lawrence basin she extended herself to the shores of James Bay, Hudson Bay, Hudson S t r a i t , and the vaguely defined coasts of the A r c t i c Ocean. In one step the infant Dominion became quickly and ea s i l y the largest state i n North America. She also became the second largest owner of A r c t i c land i n the world, exceeded on t h i s count only by Imperial Russia. 2 This t e r r i t o r i a l a c q u i s i t i o n , t h i s national expansion worthy of a Caesar 1s dreams, was an intended r e s u l t of Confederation. Provision f o r i t had been written into the B r i t i s h North America Act of I867. Section I46 of that statute reads i n part: I t s h a l l be lawful f o r the Queen by and with the advice of Her Majesty 1s Most Honourable Privy Council... and on address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to admit Rupert fs Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y , or either of them, into the Union, and on such Terms and Conditions i n each Case as are i n the Addresses expressed and as the Queen thinks f i t to approve, subject to the Provision of t h i s Act. (2) This paragraph, so b r i e f and bald, and so uninformative, was nevertheless one of the most s i g n i f i c a n t , or p o t e n t i a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t , clauses i n the B r i t i s h North America Act. For i f the greater part of the Act dealt with the d e t a i l s of constructing a f e d e r a l system of government by devising a way out of the p o l i t i c a l and economic deadlock or cul-de-sacs i n which the colonies of B r i t i s h North America found themselves i n the 1860*3, Section 146 contained the most ambitious hopes and opportunities f o r the new Confederation. Section 146 looked e n t i r e l y to the future while the other clauses kept at l e a s t one eye on the past. Section I46 contained the succinct promise that Canada might become, and almost c e r t a i n l y would become, a trans-continental state of major proportions, rather than a mere c o l l e c t i o n of united but small colonies on the western shore of the A t l a n t i c Ocean. This single paragraph 3 v i r t u a l l y designated that Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y were the young Dominions r i g h t f u l inheritance by law. Together Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y included almost a l l of B r i t i s h North America either not united i n Confederation or belonging to colonies remaining outside of the union. Rupert*s Land consisted of a l l the lands over which the Hudson*s Bay Company held proprietorship by ri g h t of the venerable Royal Charter of the 2nd May 1670: namely the entire watershed of a l l the r i v e r s and streams f a l l i n g into Hudson S t r a i t , Hudson Bay and James Bay. This domain stretched from Cape Chidley at the north-eastern t i p of the Labrador peninsula to the f o o t h i l l s of the Rocky Mountains. However those extremities of the drainage basin l y i n g south of the 49th P a r a l l e l , notably the Red River v a l l e y , had been acquired by the United States of America as a r e s u l t of the B r i t i s h -American convention respecting boundaries and f i s h e r i e s , signed i n 1813. (-3) \"The North-western T e r r i t o r y \" comprised the remaining portions of the i n t e r i o r of B r i t i s h North America; a l l those regions not drained by waterways f a l l i n g into Hudson Bay and Hudson S t r a i t . I t included the remotest extremities of the continent which lay quite l i t e r a l l y \"north-west\" of Rupert*s Land: the Barren Lands, the Mackenzie River basin, and the upper portions of the Yukon River system. 4 Since 1821 the Hudson*s Bay Company had exercised complete control over both Rupert's Land and the North-western Te r r i t o r y , administering both areas as parts of the one commercial monopoly. In practice there was no d i v i s i o n and no difference between the two. On maps and i n correspondence the name \"North-western T e r r i t o r y \" was r a r e l y i f ever employed. More frequently i t was designated the \"Licenced T e r r i t o r y \" or occasionally \"Indian T e r r i t o r y . \" Even an o f f i c i a l carto-grapher of the Hudson*s Bay Company, l i k e Arrowsmith, only indicated the approximate l i m i t s of Rupert*s Land, and l e f t the regions to the north and west without a general name. Only the boundaries and the names of the Company*s admin-i s t r a t i v e d i s t r i c t s were inscribed. Before the union of the Hudson*s Bay Company and the Montreal based North West Company i n 1821, the \"North West\" as a geographical description, had covered a large and imprecise t e r r i t o r y . I t could mean, i n Canadian terms, any f r o n t i e r region l y i n g north-west of the \"old\" Canada along the St. Lawrence r i v e r v a l l e y ; and somewhat more s p e c i f i c a l l y i t could mean the wilderness l y i n g beyond the Rupert*s Land over which the Hudson*s Bay Company had long held monopoly r i g h t s . In 1821 the B r i t i s h Parliament passed an \"Act f o r regulating the Fur Trade and establishing a Criminal and C i v i l J u r i s d i c t i o n within certain parts of North America\"; a statute 5 which would in effect maintain the monopoly of the new united Company over the whole northern interior of the continent. Thanks to the influence of Edward \"Bear\" E l l i c e , a Member of Parliament as well as a Director of the Hudson's Bay Company, the distinction was made between Rupert's Land, as defined in the Charter of 1670, and the regions of British North America lying beyond the original grant. The distinction was made in order to preserve the Chartered rights of the Honourable Company from any alteration or diminution. (4) It possessed only legal significance. During the years following the union of the Hudson's Bay and the North West companies the differentiation between Rupert's Land and the North Western Territory gradually faded, and the interior of British North America was most frequently referred to as \"The Hudson's Bay Company's Territory\". (5) Then in the fourth draft of the British North America Act of 1867 a distinction was suddenly made between the \"North-West\" or \"North-Western Territory\" and Rupert's Land. In previous drafts one word had been used to describe the whole area* Evidently this change of wording was a stratagem of William McDougall, the leading advocate of western expansion attending the London Conference, in order, .•.to give recognition to the Canadian contention that there was an area separate from the Hudson's Bay Company domain which, i f not already Canada's by virtue of French exploration, and occupation, was at least not legally possessed by the Company. (6) 6 The claim, both pretentious and f r a g i l e , was advanced more i n the hope of saving Canada's treasury from paying the Hudson's Bay Company a cent more than necessary than on grounds of l e g a l or h i s t o r i c a l v a l i d i t y . By 1365 the name1 \"North-Western T e r r i t o r y \" possessed only l e g a l meaning according to the convenience of eith e r the Hudson's Bay Company or the Government of Canada. The boundaries between Rupert's Land and the North-western or Licenced T e r r i t o r i e s were never defined, and i n fa c t knowledge of the remoter parts of both areas was almost non-exi stent• For a considerable number of years before the passage of the B r i t i s h North America Act of 1867, covetous Canadian eyes had been gazing at the continental i n t e r i o r ruled by the Hudson's Bay Company. Canada West, and most notably the c i t y of Toronto jealously regarded the ancient monopoly of the Honourable Company. And i n Toronto the leading apostle of westward expansion was the redoubtable George Brown, editor-proprietor of the most i n f l u e n t i a l |ournal i n the province, the Globe, as well as being a leader of the Reform Party. Brown's in t e r e s t i n the North-West, and h i s complementary h o s t i l i t y to the Hudson's Bay Company, were both fed by former residents of Rupert's Land and disgruntled former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company; men such as Alexander I s b i s t e r , Captain William Kennedy, and John McLean. (7) 7 Brown's personal i n t e r e s t i n the North-West was f i r s t aroused as early as 18A7, and thereafter was r e f l e c t e d i n the Globe on increasingly frequent occasions. As early as 1850 the Globe launched an e d i t o r i a l attack on the v a l i d i t y of the Hudson's Bay Company charter; \" I t i s unpardonable that c i v i l -i z a t i o n should be excluded from h a l f a continent on at best a doubtful r i g h t of ownership1*. (8\") A f t e r 1855 the Globe made Canadian expansion to the west of the Great Lakes a major public issue, to be advocated with compounding frequency and enthusiasm. The issue of Canadian expansion into the North-West met a s u r p r i s i n g l y swift public acceptance, at least i n the Ontario peninsula. Not only was George Brown a persuasive advocate but l o c a l conditions encouraged such ambitions, and the time was opportune i n respect to the position of the Hudson*s Bay Company. As f a r as Canada West was concerned, a Canadian North-West could o f f e r some hope to almost everybody. In 1855 the Globe i t s e l f had reported the auctioning of the l a s t block of wild land l e f t i n the Upper Canadian peninsula. The a g r i c u l t u r a l f r o n t i e r of the Province of Canada was disappearing; farmers had pushed to the outer l i m i t s of arable land. S e t t l e r s d e s i r i n g new land would i n future have to look elsewhere. Where else could they move i n B r i t i s h North America but west of the Great Lakes, onto the i n t e r i o r plains rumoured to be so f e r t i l e . The prospering business community of Toronto and other Canadian towns was i n a 8 j u s t i f i a b l y optimistic and \" b u l l i s h \" mood; i t wanted, and i t would soon need, la r g e r markets and greater sources of supply. Entrepreneurs could see the p o s s i b i l i t y of developing p r o f i t -able transportation routes to the North-West, and perhaps even onward to the P a c i f i c . There was even t a l k of re v i v i n g a Toronto-based North-West Fur Company, along the l i n e s of the famous Montreal corporation that had once clo s e l y linked the St. Lawrence Valley with the i n t e r i o r of the continent. Then the licence granted to the Hudson's Bay Company f o r a period of twenty-one years of exclusive trade i n the parts of B r i t i s h North America l y i n g beyond Rupert's Land was due to expire i n 18*59. Would the B r i t i s h Government renew that licence? In 1857 the House of Commons struck a Select Committee to investigate the conduct and the si t u a t i o n of the Hudson's Bay Company. The moment seemed propitious f o r Canada to express her in t e r e s t and advance her claims i n the region. A Canadian representative, Chief Justice Draper, was despatched to Westminster. His in s t r u c t i o n s were not of the most precise nature, f o r although the Chief Justice was t o l d to stand \"four-square\" on Canada's r i g h t s , those r i g h t s remained unspecified. (9) After questioning many expert witnesses at length the Select Committee decided that i n order to meet \"the just and reasonable wishes of Canada\" i t was e s s e n t i a l to annex the lands neighbouring Canada f o r purposes of settlement. The Committee considered that \"...the d i s t r i c t s on the Red River and the Saskatchewan are among these l i k e l y to be desired f o r early occupation\", and trusted that t h e i r t r a n s f e r from the Hudson'sBay Company might be arranged without d i f f i c u l t y . (10) From that day onward i t must have seemed to a l l interested parties that the intended destiny of the whole i n t e r i o r of B r i t i s h North America was union with the Province of Canada. I t would only be a matter of time, especially time f o r negotiation with the Hudson's Bay Company, before t h i s would come about. How d i f f i c u l t and how prolonged those negotiations might be only the future would t e l l . The Select Committee considered the p o s s i b i l i t y of establishing Crown Colonies i n the western i n t e r i o r of North America, as well as a Union of the Honourable Company's domain with Canada. But Rupert's Land was empty, remote and extremely d i f f i c u l t of access from London. New Crown colonies on the Great Plains seemed to be an awkward and an unsatisfactory proposal, although i t might have been a f e a s i b l e necessity i f Canada were not w i l l i n g to expand westward. P l a i n l y the advantage of the s i t u a t i o n l a y with Canada. Only the t e c h n i c a l i t i e s of the transfer remained to be arranged; then central B r i t i s h North America would belong to 10 the old Province, or perhaps to a new Dominion of Canada* And surely i t would not be hard to k i l l the monopoly of the Hudson?s Bay Company, then approaching i t s two-hundredth anniversary, a commercial anachronism surviving from the reign of Charles I I , and t h i s i n the year that the even more venerable, and more powerful East India Company was meeting i t s f i n a l d i s s o l u t i o n . The government of Great B r i t a i n was f a l l i n g into the hands of \" l i t t l e Englanders\", the old f a i t h i n Empire was vanishing, B r i t i s h while some parts of/North America were experiencing the f i r s t t h r i l l s of a new f a i t h c a l l e d \"Manifest Destiny\". I t was the middle of the nineteenth century, and f a i t h i n Progress and the Future seemed un i v e r s a l . Even an old Upper Canadian conservative l i k e Chief Justice Draper declared h i s f a i t h i n the continental destinies of Canada to the Select Committee. I hope you w i l l not laugh at me as very visionary, but I hope to see the time, or that my children may l i v e to see the time when there i s a railway going a l l across that country and ending at the P a c i f i c ; and so f a r as i n d i v i d u a l opinion goes, I entertain no doubt that the time w i l l a r r i v e when that w i l l be accomp-l i s h e d . (11) But once the signals had been raised to indicate a possible westward expansion of Canada, i t began to become apparent that not a l l Canadians shared the enthusiasm of Brown and h i s Canada West followers f o r such an event. French Canada, fo r example, was alarmingly cool to the proposal. Then French 11 Canadians had l i t t l e to gain but much to lose from the extension of Upper Canada to the westward of the Great Lakes. Any increase i n the numbers, the wealth and the physical dimensions of English-speaking Canada would only reduce the power and r e l a t i v e significance of French Canada within the context of the United Province of Canada. To permit an extension of Canada West might prove to be the signing of an eventual death-warrant f o r the French i n North America. They would be submerged i n a human ocean of English-speaking Canadians.(11A) Then many English-speaking Canadians, e s p e c i a l l y conservative p o l i t i c i a n s , were hesitant about taking the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of so vast and remote a wilderness. To them Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y combined, appeared to be f a r too large and awkward inheritance to be taken on the shoulders of any government backed only by the population and resources of the Province of Canada. Canada had expenses and problems enough without taking over the i n t e r i o r of B r i t i s h North America. In contrast to the aggressive optimism of George Brown and the Reformers, who had made the acq u i s i t i o n of the North West a plank i n t h e i r p o l i t i c a l platform, was John A. Macdonald, already a much experienced leader of the Conservative party. 12 I would be quite w i l l i n g , personally, to leave that whole country a wilderness f o r the next half-century, but I fear i f Englishmen do not go there, Yankees w i l l . . . . (12) A much more strenuous c r i t i c of western expansion was Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia, who was of course an even more violent opponent of the whole scheme of Confederation. Howe thought that the Imperial Government should undertake the establishment of Crown Colonies i n the Hudson 1s Bay T e r r i t o r i e s . Transfer from Hudson's Bay Company proprietorship to Canadian control would only be to change from one description of t h r a l -dom to another. \" I f i t (the North-West) i s to be ruled and governed by a distant authority, i t does not much matter whether the seat of government i s i n London or i n Ottawa.\" (13) Above a l l things, do not l e t i t be annexed to Canada, to weaken that Province by another thousand miles of f r o n t i e r , and to multiply her pe r p l e x i t i e s an hundred f o l d . Fancy a country i n Europe as large as England, France and Prussia, with only eight people to the square mile, and a debt of $25 per head, wanting to purchase another country as large as Russia, and then guage i f you can fche.rmeasure of scorn and r i d i c u l e with which the proposition would be received. (14) Fundamentally, the attitudes of John A. Macdonald and Joseph Howe were not f a r apart, only Macdonald, under the threat of the i n t r u s i o n of the United States north of the 49th p a r a l l e l , was w i l l i n g to gamble on Canada's a b i l i t i e s to hold the continental i n t e r i o r . 13 Macdonald, however, was bound by p o l i t i c a l necessity i f not by personal enthusiasm, to the Canadian a c q u i s i t i o n of Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y . In I864 George Brown and the Reformers joined the \"Great C o a l i t i o n \" ministry which devised and p i l o t e d into harbour the scheme of Confed-eration. Since 1859 the Reformers had made Canadian expansion onto the p r a i r i e s one of t h e i r p r i n c i p a l p o l i t i c a l objectives. They now brought t h i s \"North-West\" plank into the C o a l i t i o n cabinet, and successfully proceeded to dovetail i t into the framework of the proposed federal union of B r i t i s h North America. There i t remained, an example of the p o l i t i c a l bargaining that made the Great C o a l i t i o n , and Confederation i t s e l f , possible. The most convincing argument f o r a Canadian North-West, at l e a s t f o r the reluctant, l i k e Macdonald, was the influence of the United States of America. \"The Yankees\" were the remorseless spur, the deciding f a c t o r . Ever since the Oregon Boundary dispute the example of American expansion had been a latent threat to the i n t e r i o r wilderness of B r i t i s h North America. In 1857 Chief Justice Draper had t o l d the Select Committee that unless the Hudson's Bay T e r r i t o r i e s were soon placed under an e f f i c i e n t government of some sort, Canadians entertained, ...a very serious apprehension that i f something i s not done that t e r r i t o r y w i l l i n some way or another cease to be B r i t i s h T e r r i t o r y . (15) 1 4 By I865 the American menace was much greater. The population of the State of Minnesota, which l a y immediately to the south of the Red River Settlement, and on the most di r e c t overland route to i t , leapt from 6,000 i n I85O, to 172,000 i n I860, to 439,706 i n 1870. Further to the west North Dakota claimed a population of 2,405, while Montana could boast of 20,595 residents. (16) Furthermore i n St. Paul, the c a p i t o l of the State of Minnesota, a noticeably vocal and aggressive party was urging on the federal government of the United States to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Hudson's Bay T e r r i t o r i e s would soon be annexed to the Republic.(17) P l a i n l y , i f Canada did not act to secure her expectations she might lose them altogether, to the enterprising '•Yankees*1. And as the Globe e d i t o r i a l i z e d i n I 8 6 4 , Cooped up as Canada i s between lake, r i v e r and the frozen north, should a l l the rest of the continent f a l l into the possession of the Americans, she w i l l become of the smallest importance. (18) One of the primary intentions of the B r i t i s h North America Act, and p a r t i c u l a r l y of Section 146, was to prevent the northward extension of the United States, and to secure the 49th P a r a l l e l as the southern boundary of the new Dominion. Some Yankees saw the Statute i n the same l i g h t , and some highly placed o f f i c e r s of state quickly mounted a reply. Queen V i c t o r i a signed the B r i t i s h North America Act on March 29, 1867: i n Washington D.C, on March 30, I867, the 15 Secretary of State of the United States of America and the Russian Ambassador signed an agreement f o r the purchase of Russian America by the United States. Alaska was no longer a distant outpost of a troubled despotism, ruled remotely from the shores of the B a l t i c Sea, but a newly purchased northern f r o n t i e r of an aggressive North American republic. Before Confederation could become a r e a l i t y , or the new Dominion take the f i r s t steps to acquire the i n t e r i o r of the continent promised to her, the United States was out-flanking her inheritance. In the Senate chamber Charles Sumner declared that the Alaska purchase was, \"a v i s i b l e step i n the occupation of the whole North American continent\". (19) And the B r i t i s h Minister i n Washington regarded the step as a strategic manoeuvre i n attempting to bring into the Union a l l the t e r r i t o r i e s between Alaska and the continental United States. He was only repeating agruments advanced i n several American newspapers. According to P.B. Waite's analysis, Canadian newspapers remained i n d i f f e r e n t to the Alaska purchase, the Montreal Gazette remarking that the United States were welcome to Alaska, and, surpri s i n g l y , the Toronto Globe ignoring the transaction. Only Alexander Gait among Canadian public men, appears to have been aware of, or expressed any concern about the pot e n t i a l significance of the American move. At Lennoxville i n the 1 6 Eastern Townships Gait described the Alaska Purchase as the American answer to Confederation, an answer that could not be ignored. I f the United States desire to outflank us on the West, we must l a y our hand on B r i t i s h Columbia and the P a c i f i c Ocean. This country cannot be surrounded by the United States - we are gone i f we allow it..». We must have our back to the North. (20) The single l a s t sentence, \"We must have our back to the North\" was to prove time and again the fundamental source of Canada*s attitudes and p o l i c i e s towards her northern t e r r i t o r i e s . Gait was correct i n h i s appreciation of the long-term significance of Alaska i n r e l a t i o n to Canada. Fortunately f o r the Dominion the American government ignored Alaska almost completely once the purchase had been completed, and i t received l i t t l e more benefit of government than the adjacent Canadian t e r r i t o r i e s d i d . E x t r a o r d i n a r i l y l i t t l e consideration seems to have been given by any Canadian to a comprehensive and detailed apprec-i a t i o n of the nature and consequences of taking t i t l e to Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y . Not even the i n i t i a t o r s of westward expansion appear to have spared a thought f o r any area but the reputedly f e r t i l e regions on the p r a i r i e s , most notably the v a l l e y s of the Red and the Saskatchewan r i v e r s . The enthusiasts envisioned a narrow s t r i p of e a s i l y s e t t l e d land running not f a r north of the United States' border; they thought of peopling i t , expanding t h e i r 17 markets and t h e i r sources of supply; they thought of such a f e r t i l e b e l t as constructing a b a r r i e r against the northern expansion of the United States and providing a transportation route to the P a c i f i c , perhaps a transcontinental railway, such as Chief Justice Draper had projected i n 1357. Hardly a f l i c k e r of recognition was given to the existence of any t e r r i t o r y l y i n g north of the p l a i n s . Even to George Brown, the Globe and the Reformers, a c q u i s i t i o n of the North-West appears to have meant the complete removal of the chartered r i g h t s of the Hudson 1s Bay Company i n North America, the settlement of the p r a i r i e s , preferably by-Ontario farmers, and the establishment of a communication route to the P a c i f i c coast. The f o r e s t s north of the p r a i r i e s , the barren lands, the Labrador peninsula, the hinterland of James Bay, the Mackenzie basin and the upper reaches of the Yukon basin, were simply not noticed. When Canada bought or took t i t l e to Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y , she took the whole although she only desired a f r a c t i o n of t h e i r t o t a l extent. Furthermore she took the whole without any knowledge or i n t e r e s t i n the greater part of the vast a c q u i s i t i o n . During the Confederation Debates of 1365 the only mention of any part of the North-West, apart from the f e r t i l e regions and the strategic b e l t of land running north of the 49th P a r a l l e l , was contained i n some rather vague o r a t o r i c a l IB a l l u s i o n s made by a pai r of Members. Repeating a lecture he had delivered i n 1859, Alexander Morris declaimed about great new B r i t i s h Empire of the North; •••that new English-speaking nation which w i l l at one and no distant day people a l l t h i s northern continent - a Russia, as has been well said, i t may be, but yet an English Russia, with free i n s t i t u t i o n s . • • with i t s face to the south and i t s back to the pole, with i t s r i g h t and l e f t r esting on the A t l a n t i c and P a c i f i c , and with the telegraph and the iro n road connecting the two oceans? (21) A member from Canada East, an opponent of Confederation, Joseph E. Perrault, also remarked, The intention of the Confederation scheme, we are t o l d by the Ministry, i s the formation of a vast Empire, bounded by the P a c i f i c ocean on one side, on the other by the A t l a n t i c ocean, and on the south by the American Union, while on the north i t would extend to the Pole, leaving Russian America on the West. (22) These are the only two references to the northern extremities of the i n t e r i o r of B r i t i s h North America made i n the whole lengthy examination of the Confederation proposals, and only worth quoting because of t h e i r r a r i t y and illu m i n a t i n g casual-ness. Presumably there was a general assumption among Canadian public men, that the new Dominion would extend \"to the Pole\", to the e f f e c t i v e ends of the earth, i n such a way that Canada would be incapable of encirclement. No state could occupy land to the north of Canada, i n order to sandwich her, so to speak, i n the middle of North America. No statesman paid any more attention to the land north of the f e r t i l e plains than the average buyer of c i t y r e a l estate would pay to h i s l e g a l r i g h t s 19 to the a i r space above and the mineral r i g h t s below the surface of h i s purchase. In 1868 one Canadian authority, A.J. Russell, an o f f i c i a l i n the Crown Lands Of f i c e , did publish h i s estimate of the value to Canada of the Hudson's Bay and North-West t e r r i t o r i e s . Of greatest importance he placed the central p r a i r i e country, the Red, Peace, Saskatchewan and Athabasca r i v e r s . Second came the South Hudson's Bay Company Te r r i t o r y , up to the l i n e of l a t i t u d e 52°30*, from a l i t t l e above the mouth of the Albany River on Hudson Bay across to Lake Winnipeg, which had a considerable a g r i c u l t u r a l p o t e n t i a l , although much le s s than that of the central p r a i r i e s . Third i n r e l a t i v e value Mr. Russell placed the \" P e l l y River, or Mountain Country\", the region of the present Yukon T e r r i t o r y , f o r the upper Yukon River was s t i l l known as the P e l l y River i n 1368. This remote f r o n t i e r would be valuable f o r reasons of defence. Were i t i n the hands of a power owning the seaboard, with strong passes through i t , our central p r a i r i e country would be exposed to being, at any time, suddenly overrun. (23) The remainder of Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y he considered of l i t t l e value. But i n h i s estimate of the strategic significance of the Yukon f r o n t i e r to Canada, Russell was several generations ahead of h i s time i n fores i g h t . The f i r s t years of Confederation saw the new federal government taking steps to f u l f i l l the promise of Section 1 4 6 20 of the B r i t i s h North America Act. A f t e r protracted negotiations with the Hudson's Bay Company and the B r i t i s h Government, and delays caused by the need to r a i s e monies f o r the required payments to the Honourable Company, the way was f i n a l l y cleared f o r Canada to take possession of Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y i n December I869. In a n t i c i p a t i o n of t h i s event the Canadian Parliament passed \"An Act f o r the temporary Government of Rupert's Land and the North-Western T e r r i t o r y when united with Canada\", to which assent was given on June 22nd, I869. The Act passed through a l l stages i n both Houses of Parliament without debate. I t soon became important f o r what i t did not contain rather than f o r what i t did; f o r unfortunately i t epitomized many of the attitudes that so s w i f t l y l e d to the troubles i n the Red River Settlement; attitudes which continued to be held by Ottawa towards the northern f r o n t i e r long a f t e r the Red River settlement had been p a c i f i e d . No l e g i s l a t i o n could have been more inadequate than the Temporary Government Act of 1369 to meet the needs of so huge an area as the North West T e r r i t o r i e s . I t s provisions were minimal. In a preamble and seven b r i e f clauses i t gave the name \"North-West T e r r i t o r i e s \" to the whole area, made provision f o r the appointment of a Lieutenant Governor and a Council of not l e s s than seven members and not more than f i f t e e n , and otherwise continued temporarily the e x i s t i n g governing regime 21 of the Hudson's Bay Company. A l l o f f i c e s , and a l l o f f i c e -holders were to remain undisturbed at l e a s t \" u n t i l the next session of Parliament\". (24) As the Prime Minister explained the following year; It was passed simply f o r the purpose of having some-thing l i k e an organization ready, something l i k e the rudiments of a Government, from the time the T e r r i t o r y was admitted into the Dominion, i t being understood that the Act should continue i n force only u n t i l the end of the present session of Parliament.... The government f e l t they were not i n a p o s i t i o n from acquaintance with the circumstances of the country and wants of i t s people, to s e t t l e anything l i k e a fi x e d constitution upon the T e r r i t o r y . (25) But ignorance and uncertainty are r a r e l y adequate excuses f o r government action, or inaction, and es p e c i a l l y so i n t h i s case. A dozen years had elapsed since the Government of the Province of Canada, of which Macdonald himself had been a member, had declared i t s ambition to take over the North-West by sending Chief Justice Draper to represent i t s i n t e r e s t s before the Select Committee of 1857* Two years had passed since the B r i t i s h North America Act proclaimed Canada*s t e r r i t o r i a l pretensions. Any government of the Dominion, a Dominion ambitious to become a transcontinental state, should have made i t s e l f f a m i l i a r with the conditions, and with the desires of the population of the vast continental i n t e r i o r . The inadequacy of the Temporary Government Act, the obscurity of the federal government's intentions, the economic, r e l i g i o u s and c u l t u r a l fears of the predominantly metis 22 population centered around the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, a l l contributed the combustibles that ignited into the Riel Rebellion of 1369-70. The rebellion delayed the union of the North-West with Canada u n t i l the summer of 1370, changed the course of the development of the plains fundamentally, and provoked the most unfortunate and long-lived reactions in the eastern provinces of the Dominion. But the f i r s t Riel Rebellion did force the Canadian Government to make a rapid acquaintance with the North-West, with \"the circumstances of the country and the wants of i t s people\". This enforced study soon bore f r u i t in the form of the Manitoba Act of 1370. The Manitoba Act was a statute mothered by expediency rather than by a newly formulated policy for the comprehensive long-term development of the North-West. Concessions were made in i t to the formulated demands of the Red River insurgents, but the recipients of those concessions were hived into a small preserve radiating around Fort Garry. The centre of the rebellion was offered a measure of autonomy in the form of provincial status, and certain rights were constitutionally guaranteed. However the new province of Manitoba was given only \"postage stamp\" dimensions; 13,500 square miles. The remainder of the North-West Territories, 2,975,409 square miles in extent, was l e f t in the same constitutional situation 23 as the whole area had been the previous year, before the r e b e l l i o n broke out. Debate on the Manitoba Act opened i n the House of Commons on May 2nd 1#70, amidst heavy f i r e on the Government's past conduct and present proposals. The Leader of the Opposition, Alexander Mackenzie, asked the Prime Minister i f the B i l l provided a constitution f o r the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . S i r John A. Macdonald r e p l i e d , \"No. I t simply provides that the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba s h a l l be Governor of the remaining portion of the T e r r i t o r y under di r e c t i o n s of Orders i n Council....\" (26) Mackenzie was opposed to the establishment of any western province, par-t i c u l a r l y one of the character and size of Manitoba. He favoured a temporary form of government f o r the whole North-West, but with representative i n s t i t u t i o n s b u i l t into i t immediately, on the model of the t e r r i t o r i a l governments i n the United States. For the present Mackenzie favoured an appointed Governor, with a Council of members to be elected from regular e l e c t o r a l d i v i s i o n s \"who should indicate to Parliament what form of Government they desired\". (27) Macdonald himself, perhaps motivated by antipathy to American models, had already debunked suggestions f o r the creation of some form of t e r r i t o r i a l government i n Canada. He argued, ...such a thing as a T e r r i t o r y was not known to the B r i t i s h c o l o n i a l system, that the expression was not recognized, that we thought i t would be 24 better to adhere to the old and well known form of expression - well known to us as Colonists of the Empire - and not bring a new description into our statute book. But i t was not a matter of any importance whether i t was c a l l e d a Province or a t e r r i t o r y . (28) From t h i s s l i g h t l y Delphic analysis i t would seem that to S i r John the only difference between a province and a t e r r i t o r y was a matter of semantics, not of co n s t i t u t i o n a l development. The overwhelming bulk of Rupert's Land and the Licenced T e r r i t o r y s t i l l was c a l l e d the \"North-West T e r r i t o r i e s \" , but perhaps S i r John considered that a geographical description, not a c o n s t i t -utional status. Certainly one might conclude from h i s subsequent conduct that he regarded \" t e r r i t o r i e s \" as the Canadian equivalent of crown colonies, to be ruled d i r e c t l y from Ottawa. There i s no evidence to suggest that up to 1&70 the Conservative government gave much, or perhaps any thought to p o l i c i e s f o r the development of any part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . I t s conduct was i n accord with the views pri v a t e l y expressed by Macdonald i n I865. The dominion's action i n taking t i t l e to the whole region as f a r west as B r i t i s h Columbia, the Yankees had apparently been stopped from occupying i t ; now that i t had been secured i t could be l e f t a wilderness, i f necessary f o r the next h a l f century. Canada was under no imperative to devise a schedule of co n s t i t u t i o n a l evolution that would synchronize with settlement of the f r o n t i e r . 25 No Canadian f e l t compelled to devise a scheme of f r o n t i e r government comparable to Thomas Jefferson's Northwest Ordinance of 1784, which would s t i l l be compatible with B r i t i s h parliamentary p r a c t i c e . Perhaps Canada's physical structure as well as her p o l i t i c a l heritage was responsible f o r the Government's at t i t u d e . Even the closest of the o r i g i n a l components of the Confederation stood almost one thousand miles from the f e r t i l e p l a i n s . There was no contiguous f r o n t i e r between the Provinces of Canada and the settleable p r a i r i e ; i t was p h y s i c a l l y impossible f o r a man to transport himself westward through Canadian t e r r i t o r y without the development of roads, railways, or steamship l i n e s , across the Great Lakes and the rock, water and muskeg of the Laurentian Shield. Psychologically as well as physically, the Canadian North-West T e r r i t o r i e s seemed a very long distance from Ottawa. The most unfortunate r e s u l t of the Manitoba Act was that i t deflected l i k e l y future attentions away from the North West T e r r i t o r i e s . In 1870 i n t e r e s t b r i e f l y concentrated on the immediate problems of the new province of Manitoba, i t s size, boundaries and p o l i t i c a l character. Two b r i e f clauses of the Manitoba Act contained provisions f o r the government of a l l the remaining t e r r i t o r y extending beyond the minute province's borders. T h i r t y - s i x sections made up the Manitoba Act, of which two, Sections 35 and 36, dealt with the North 26 West T e r r i t o r i e s . These merely continued the policy, i f the word \" p o l i c y \" may be employed, which had applied to the whole of the North West i n 1869, and which had provoked the f i r s t R i e l Rebellion. The old D i s t r i c t of Assiniboia, which had mounted armed resistance to that empty policy, won by i t s deed p r o v i n c i a l status and the new name of Manitoba. The remainder of the T e r r i t o r i e s was presumably to r e j o i c e under a persistent federal p o l i c y of \"wait and see\", a policy of government so minimal that i t approached o f f i c i a l anarchy, which would continue u n t i l at an unspecified future time a federal ministry regarded i t s e l f as acquainted with \"the circumstances of the country and the wants of i t s people\". Meanwhile Section 36 of the Manitoba Act extended the l i f e of the Temporary Government Act f o r another year, while Section 35 allowed the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s at one and the same time. Thus the Manitoba Act accomplished several functions; i t solved the \"western problem\" by giving peace and adequate s a t i s -f a c t i o n to the centre of r e b e l l i o n ; i t returned the greater part of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s to the form of government that Ottawa had f i r s t intended f o r the whole; i t enabled Canada to take over a l l the i n t e r i o r of B r i t i s h North America with r e l a t i v e ease although with more trouble and expense than f i r s t a n t i c -ipated. In t o t a l e f f e c t i t allowed the Government, the Parliament and the people of Canada to turn t h e i r attention 27 away from the North West to other more f a m i l i a r and perhaps more congenial problems. I t created a l e g a l e n t i t y with the name of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s . But beyond the boundaries of the province of Manitoba e f f e c t i v e government remained almost completely unknown. Dr. Lewis Thomas aptly epitomizes the significance of the Manitoba Act and the events that l e d to i t s passage, and not l e a s t meaningfully i n respect to the subsequent history of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s throughout i t s many changes of physical shape and s i z e . The i n i t i a l venture i n applying measures conceived i n Ottawa without reference to the experience and convictions of the North-West population had ended i n dramatic defeat. The lesson, however, was never completely taken to heart, and so while the next twenty-seven years saw no such sudden change i n the p o l i t i c a l evolution of the North-West, a peaceful struggle developed which a f t e r many v i c i s s i t u d e s forced the concession of self-government within a framework of t e r r i t o r i a l status. (29) By the end of the year 1870 most of the themes and ch a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Canada's p o l i c y towards her northern t e r r i t o r i e s had appeared. The predominant philosophy was no more sophisticated than that suggested by such aphorisms as, \"Let sleeping dogs l i e \" ; and \" . . . i f you don't look i t w i l l go away\". The p r a c t i c a l watch-word of administration was economy; j o i n t appointments were made to save expense. The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, residing i n Winnipeg, also held appoint-ment as Lieutenant Governor of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s . 28 The t e r r i t o r i a l budget was pared to the bone, with funds hardly s u f f i c i e n t f o r necessary expenditure, and with no provision made f o r any s t a f f at a l l . There were too few attempts to anticipate future developments or prevent problems developing into serious c r i s e s . The sobriquet of the Prime Minister, \"Old Tomorrow\", epitomizes the attitudes and policy of the federal government. In the case of the remotest extremities of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s the attitudes and p o l i c i e s long survived the interment of Macdonald*s bones. CHAPTER II THE BEGINNINGS OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA Concerning the northern t e r r i t o r i e s of Canada, the Ungava peninsula, the hinterland of James Bay, the Barren Lands to the west of Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie and the Yukon basins, i t could be said with a considerable measure of j u s t i c e , that never has l e s s happened to so large an area of the country over so long a period of time as during the quarter century following t h e i r union with the Dominion. For the north the years between 1870 and 1895 were a period of chronic d i s -i n t e r e s t , occasional discussion, and almost no a c t i v i t y . From a national point of view the region was completely i n e r t . Such i n t e r e s t as Canada did generate i n the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s was confined to the p r a i r i e s , to the f e r t i l e b e l t , and p a r t i c u l a r l y to the s t r i p of land that could provide a communication route to the P a c i f i c coast, and thus connect a l l the members of Confederation on a transcontinental a x i s . Such a communication bel t would also secure Canada's southern border against expansionist pressure from the United States. Railway building, a g r i c u l t u r a l settlement, the c o n s t i t u t i o n a l framework of l o c a l government, the second R i e l Rebellion; these were the subjects that stimulated Canadian i n t e r e s t i n the southern s t r i p of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s during the l a t t e r decades of the nineteenth century. 30 The p r a i r i e regions of the T e r r i t o r i e s began to receive federal attentions during the 1870*s. In 1874 the North-West Mounted Police entered the T e r r i t o r i e s to bring regular law enforcement to the plains west of the boundaries of the Province of Manitoba f o r the f i r s t time, ( l ) Over two years l a t e r two Acts of the Canadian Parliament came into force on October 7th 1876, to open a new c o n s t i t u t i o n a l era f o r the North-west T e r r i t o r i e s . These statutes were the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 and the Keewatin Act passed i n 1876. (2) The North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 was the plan of the L i b e r a l Government of Alexander Mackenzie to establish an autonomous t e r r i t o r i a l government p h y s i c a l l y located i n the t e r r i t o r i e s . I t would separate the t e r r i t o r i a l government completely from the o f f i c e of the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba who i n a dual gubernatorial capacity had governed the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s from Winnipeg since 1870. Henceforth the Lieutenant Governor of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s was to be aided i n h i s executive and l e g i s l a t i v e capacities by a Council of not more than f i v e appointed members. (3) Previously the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Council s i t t i n g i n Winnipeg under the provisions of the Temporary Government Act of 1869, had numbered not l e s s than seven and not more than f i f t e e n appointed members. (4) In future three of the f i v e council seats were to be f i l l e d e x - o f f i c i o by the stipendiary magistrates of the T e r r i t o r i e s . The unending quest f o r administrative economy was 31 again apparent i n t h i s arrangement. One i n d i v i d u a l could occupy two positions at the price of one salary. The arrangement formerly applied to the Lieutenant Governorship was now applied to the reduced Council. (5) The most s i g n i f i c a n t sections of the Act of 1875 were those providing f o r the addition of elected members to the t e r r i t o r i a l Council. 13. When and so soon as the Lieutenandt-Governor i s s a t i s f i e d by such proof as he may require, that any d i s t r i c t or portion of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , not exceeding an area of one thousand square miles, contains a population of not l e s s than one thousand inhabitants of adult age, exclusive of a l i e n s or unenfranchised Indians, the Lieutenant-Governor s h a l l , by proclamation, erect such d i s t r i c t or portion into an e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t . . . . (6) When the population of a defined e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t numbered two thousand adults of sim i l a r q u a l i f i c a t i o n s , i t could elect two members to the Council. (7) When the t o t a l number of the elected members amounted to twenty-one, the Council was to become a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly, \"and a l l the powers by t h i s Act vested i n the Council s h a l l be thenceforth vested i n and exercisable by the said L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly\". (8) Elected members were to hold t h e i r seats f o r terms not exceeding two years. (9) Obviously t h i s planned evolution towards the creation of a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly was influenced by the example of the t e r r i t o r i a l p o l i c i e s of the United States of America, as 32 formulated i n the famed Northwest Ordinance o f 1787. That Ordinance, i t s e l f derived from Jefferson's more l i b e r a l Northwest Ordinance of 17#4, had o r i g i n a l l y applied only to the \" o l d \" Northwest T e r r i t o r y , the region claimed by the United States, which lay westward of the o r i g i n a l states of the Union, \"northwest\" of the Ohio River, south of the Great Lakes, and east of the M i s s i s s i p p i . I t comprised the area l a t e r divided into the states of Ohio, Indiana, I l l i n o i s , Michigan and Wisconsin. The terms of the 1787 Ordinance anticipated the creation of not l e s s than three and not more than f i v e states within the Northwest T e r r i t o r y . At f i r s t the T e r r i t o r y was to be governed by a Governor, r e s i d i n g i n the d i s t r i c t . A court consisting of three judges was to be appointed, and the Governor with the judges, was given the power to make laws best suited to the requirements of the d i s t r i c t . When f i v e thousand free male inhabitants of f u l l age should reside i n a d i s t r i c t , they were to be given authority to elect a represent-ative to a general assembly. For every f i v e hundred free male inhabitants there was to be one representative; ...and so on progressively, with the number of free male inhabitants, s h a l l the r i g h t of representation increase u n t i l the number and proportion of rep-resentatives s h a l l be regulated by the l e g i s l a t u r e . (10) Congress was to appoint the T e r r i t o r i a l Governor f o r a term of three years, and elected representatives were to enjoy two year terms. 33 When the population of a t e r r i t o r i a l d i s t r i c t reached 60,000, i t would be q u a l i f i e d to enter the Congress of the United States \"on an equal footing with the o r i g i n a l States, i n a l l respects whatever; and s h a l l be at l i b e r t y to form a permanent constitution and State Government\". (11) T e r r i t o r i a l government was d e f i n i t e l y a temporary, not a permanent con s t i t u t i o n a l status i n the United States of America. Constitutional equality i n the form of statehood became the goal of American t e r r i t o r i a l p o l i c y f o r a l l parts of the Republic. During i t s t e r r i t o r i a l stage of evolution the Northwest T e r r i t o r y was the creature of Congress, and the powers of the Governor and the general assembly of the t e r r i t o r y , although wide, were subject to Congressional veto. But a complete plan of orderly c o n s t i t u t i o n a l development was l a i d down even before the United States Constitution was r a t i f i e d ; and statehood was the promised goal at the end of every t e r r i t o r i a l road. Canada's North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 did not go as f a r as the United States 1 Northwest Ordinance of 17^7, nor did i t possess the same complete l o g i c within i t s own l i m i t s . True, when the T e r r i t o r i e s were q u a l i f i e d to elect twenty-one members to the Council, the Council was to become a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly. But what would t h i s transformation mean? Would a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly mean the granting of a greater measure of 34 responsible government to the T e r r i t o r i e s ? Would the T e r r i t o r i e s become a province, or provinces, as a r e s u l t of t h i s development? The Canadian Act made no s p e c i f i c provisions f o r the achievement of p r o v i n c i a l status by the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s as a whole, or f o r the most populous parts of them. No mention was made of T e r r i t o r i a l representation i n either House of the federal parliament, either with or without the r i g h t to vote. Indeed, the aims of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 were vague and imprecise. Future developments were only implied by comparative analogy with the American example. Provincehood was only hinted at; there was no timetable, no schedule of development into f u l l equality i n a Confederation of provinces. As the drafters of the 1875 l e g i s l a t i o n worked i n haste, and as none of the p r i n c i p a l authors had any f i r s t hand knowledge of l o c a l conditions i n the west, s i x years passed before any part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s met the conditions which allowed i t to elect one member to the Council.(12) The Dominion government retained f u l l powers of disallowance over T e r r i t o r i a l l e g i s l a t i o n . This did at lea s t give the T e r r i t o r i a l government power to act with greater speed, f o r hitherto a l l l e g i s l a t i o n could not be proclaimed u n t i l Ottawa had given i t s p e c i f i c approval. The North-West T e r r i t o r i e s of Canada were of course very d i f f e r e n t from the \"o l d \" Northwest T e r r i t o r y of the United 35 States of America. The American Territory was contiguous to the original states of the Union; i t was relatively small in area compared with the Canadian Territories; and physically i t s climate and topographical character were quite uniform. The Canadian Territories were enormous, stretching to the barely known extremities of the continent; they varied in an extreme degree with respect to climate, terrain, and estimated potential; their most suitable regions for agricultural settlement were remote from the existing concentrations of Canadian population. Moreover Canada acquired her North-West Territories immediately, and entirely, by the stroke of a pen. The United States grad-ually extended i t s e l f across the North American continent by adding frontier and wilderness areas from time to time to the original Republic of the Atlantic seaboard. America was able to develop a t e r r i t o r i a l policy for one relatively small and well defined frontier area, while Canada had to devise some form of government immediately for a vast, l i t t l e known, and much less promising northern hinterland. The North-West Territories Act of 1875 was essentially designed for the western plains, where large numbers of settlers were soon expected, not for the remoter parts of the wilderness. One of i t s deficiencies was that i t made no distinction between the various regions of the North-West Territories, but attempted to impose one form of government on disparate and far flung sections of an inland empire including prairie grasslands and sub-arctic fur trapping preserves. 36 While the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 was of the greatest importance to the p o l i t i c a l development of the western plains, the Act creating the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin was to prove of much greater significance f o r the northern t e r r i t o r i e s . This Act was drafted some months a f t e r the passage of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act but proclaimed simultaneously with i t on October 7th 1876. The Keewatin D i s t r i c t originated i n the suggestion of Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba and the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , who drew to the attention of the federal cabinet the d i f f i c u l t y of administering the vast d i s t r i c t s l y i n g to the north and east of the Province of Manitoba, from some sequestered seat of government standing f a r to the west-ward of the minute province. Morris proposed, therefore, that Manitoba be enlarged to the east, west and north, and that a new separate t e r r i t o r y be created to the north and east of the enlarged province, \"to be known as the T e r r i t o r y of *Kee-wa-tin* which means i n the Cree and Chippewa d i a l e c t s *the North Land 1.\" (13) He also proposed that the Keewatin T e r r i t o r y be governed by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba and a council of three appointed members, who would have t h e i r seat of government i n Winnipeg. The people inhabiting the country (the proposed Keewatin Ter r i t o r y ) hold no intercourse with the Western portion of the T e r r i t o r i e s , and t h e i r only communications are with Fort Garry or i n the case of Moose Factory and York Factory (on Hudson Bay) with Great B r i t a i n . (14) 37 In 1876 the Mackenzie Government responded to Morris's recommendations by passing the Act creating the District of Keewatin. The most persuasive argument in favour of this legislation was the predicament of the Icelandic community recently settled on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, but north of the Province of Manitoba, whose boundaries could not be extended u n t i l the Ontario-Manitoba boundary dispute had been settled. The Keewatin Act was intended to provide at least a temporary constitutional answer to the isolation of the Icelanders by bringing them within the scope of some effective government. (15) The Keewatin Act differed from the recommendations of Alexander Morris in a number of particulars. As the government decided that i t could not alter Manitoba*s boundaries in any particular for the meanwhile, the Icelanders would have to remain outside of the province. Although the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba was to become ex-officio Lieutenant Governor of the District of Keewatin, his council was not to have more than ten members nor less than f i v e . (16) Morris had proposed a three member council. Moreover the Keewatin was to be a temporary, not a permanent constitutional phenomenon. When speaking on the f i r s t reading of the B i l l on February 22nd 1876, Prime Minister Mackenzie specifically declared, ••The B i l l i s only temporary in i t s character\". (17) And shortly 3$ a f t e r he provided revealing evidence of the importance with which h i s Ministry regarded the l e g i s l a t i o n . The f i r s t section of the B i l l i s devoted e n t i r e l y to a description of the boundary and the T e r r i t o r y . I cannot remember the name f o r i t at present, but i t i s an Indian name. (18) Somewhat ambiguously the Keewatin was not even given the t i t l e of a \" t e r r i t o r y \" f o r on maps and i n o f f i c i a l documents i t was named the \" D i s t r i c t \" of Keewatin. In American practice \" d i s t r i c t s \" of United States T e r r i t o r i e s had been temporary geographical d e f i n i t i o n s of areas within the t e r r i t o r i e s before state boundaries had been d e f i n i t e l y decided upon. (19) Moreover under the terms of American l e g i s l a t i o n the d e f i n i t i o n of a \" d i s t r i c t \" was synchronized with a sequence of con s t i t u t i o n a l advances which would conclude with the admission of a new state into the Union. The Canadian d e f i n i t i o n of a \" d i s t r i c t \" out of part of the T e r r i t o r i e s promised no such correlated course of development. The Act of 1876 only established p o l i t i c a l boundaries, and promised no beginning to a course of co n s t i t u t -i o n a l evolution. Even the boundaries of the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin were of the most i n d e f i n i t e and f l e x i b l e kind, f o r the Act provided; ...that the Governor i n Council may, by proclamation published i n the Canada Gazette, at any time when i t may appear to the public advantage so to do, detach any portion of the said d i s t r i c t from the same, and re-annex i t to that part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s not included i n the said d i s t r i c t ; and the portion so detached s h a l l then be subject to the same government and laws as that part of the said T e r r i t o r i e s to which i t i s re-annexed. (20) 39 C o n t r a d i c t o r i l y the t i t l e of the Act announced a separate t e r r i t o r y was to be created, but the provisions of the Act established the boundaries of a d i s t r i c t . Presumably the t i t u l a r description of \" d i s t r i c t \" suggested something more ephemeral and p l a s t i c than the word \" t e r r i t o r y \" , at lea s t to the minds of l e g i s l a t i v e draftsmen. Shortly a f t e r the Keewatin D i s t r i c t was proclaimed on October 7th 1876, a smallpox epidemic broke out among the Icelanders and Indians of the Lake Winnipeg area, and the Mackenzie government was promptly spurred into appointing a council of six members to deal with the emergency. But once the epidemic had been successfully controlled, the Keewatin Council was promptly dismissed. I t had offended a primary rule of t e r r i t o r i a l government i n Canada by spending money, extravagantly i n the estimate of Ottawa, to eradicate the disease that had been the reason f o r i t s appointment. (21) No members of the Keewatin Council were ever again appointed. It continued to exis t on paper, and the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba continued to be Lieutenant Governor of the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin i n f a c t , u n t i l the Keewatin was re-incorporated into the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s i n 1905. The f a i l u r e to reappoint a Keewatin Council made i t impossible to make any laws even within the narrow scope of the Keewatin Act. During the Council's b r i e f l i f e Lieutenant 40 Governor Morris had objected to the r e s t r i c t i o n imposed by Order i n Council stopping ordinances from coming into force u n t i l Ottawa had approved them. (22) Morris's protests were ignored. However provision was made f o r the administration of j u s t i c e i n the Keewatin D i s t r i c t by the passage of a statute which extended the j u r i s d i c t i o n of the courts of Manitoba over the whole of the Keewatin. (23) But once the Council had been so quickly dismissed i t was not possible to pass l e g i s l a t i o n to provide l o c a l government f o r the Icelandic settlement whose existence had been one of the p r i n c i p a l reasons f o r the estab-lishment of the temporary Keewatin D i s t r i c t . In 1878 the Minister of the I n t e r i o r , David M i l l s , introduced a B i l l into the House of Commons to permit the organization of municipal and school d i s t r i c t s i n the Keewatin, but i t did not reach the stage of t h i r d reading before the Parliamentary Session ended. Thus i t died on the Order Paper, and the Icelanders had to organize themselves v o l u n t a r i l y and u n o f f i c i a l l y u n t i l the boundaries of Manitoba were extended northward i n 1881 (24) Presumably the Ministry did not regard the matter of s u f f i c i e n t importance to bother about i n s i s t i n g on i t s passage. The incident provideslan excellent example of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c Ottawa habit of reserving as much power as possible f o r the central government, and then having done so, ignoring the distant l o c a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i t had chosen to take upon i t s e l f . 41 In I876 the Government of Canada had a very low expectation of the economic potential of any part of Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , except the f e r t i l e western p l a i n s . I t had no ideas, l e t alone a viable p o l i c y , f o r the government of the remote or wilderness areas of the T e r r i t o r i e s , the tree-belt and the tundra north of the p r a i r i e s , and the lakes and rocks of the Canadian Shield. The Keewatin D i s t r i c t was given a nominal form of l o c a l government, but even i t s form only preserved i n one l i m i t e d area the same form of government that the whole North-West T e r r i t o r i e s had been graced with up to 1876, under the terms of the Temporary Government Act of I869 and the Manitoba Act of 1870. That form of government was a r b i t r a r y i n character and s k e l e t a l i n substance. The tempor-i z i n g p o l i c y of the Macdonald Government i n I869, the p o l i c y of doing nothing u n t i l more f a c t s became known while doing nothing to ascertain more f a c t s , was perpetuated by the Mackenzie Government i n I876, and indeed would be long continued by many succeeding governments of Canada* No federal administration knew what to do about the remoter parts of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s and i n t h e i r ignorance and indecision every admin-i s t r a t i o n preferred to do nothing. Alexander Morris recommended the establishment of a Keewatin T e r r i t o r y to overcome the extreme d i f f i c u l t y of governing the regions east of Manitoba from some administrative centre on the western p l a i n s . Yet paradoxically the Keewatin 42 D i s t r i c t , when established, only separated the two halves of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s by an even greater distance. For the wilderness l y i n g to the east of Manitoba and the Keewatin D i s t r i c t was s t i l l l e f t within the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . A l l the Ungava Peninsula except the A t l a n t i c coasts claimed by Newfoundland and the hinterland of the shores of James Bay and Hudson Bay up to a point east of the mouth of the Severn River, s t i l l remained within the T e r r i t o r i e s . Why were these regions l e f t as parts of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s ? Why were they not included i n the Keewatin D i s t r i c t ? Could not the t e r r i t o r i e s immediately to the north of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario have been placed under the j u r i s d i c t i o n of the Lieutenant Governor of one of those provinces, rather than under the rule of a Lieutenant Governor s i t t i n g at Swan River, or Ba t t l e f o r d or Regina? Seemingly i t would have been a more p r a c t i c a l arrangement. However t h e i r population was sparse and composed almost e n t i r e l y of abor-igines, a minimal estimate was held of the resources of these regions, and t h e i r i n a c c e s s i b i l i t y made them easy to ignore and forget. They could safely be l e t alone. The Government knew nothing of the A r c t i c areas, and soon discovered that nobody else did either, not even the Hudson's Bay Company, from whom i t begged information. By September 1882 the Privy Council of Canada recorded i t s concurrence with the views of Minister of J u s t i c e : 43 The Minister i s not aware of any other source where such information as i s desired may be sought, and he advises that no steps be taken with the view of l e g i s l a t i n g f o r the good government of the country u n t i l some i n f l u x of population or other circumstance s h a l l occur to make such provision more imperative than i t would at present seem to be. (25) The Macdonald Ministry, and the responsible o f f i c i a l s of the Department of the I n t e r i o r had decided that the empty f r o n t i e r s , l i k e the Icelandic settlement on Lake Winnipeg, could be l e f t to regulate themselves, free from the supervision and without the l e g a l authority of the Government of Canada or the Government of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . In a c t u a l i t y the regions of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s l y i n g d i r e c t l y northward of the p r a i r i e s received as l i t t l e government as the separated eastern T e r r i t o r i e s . On a map there was an obvious v i s u a l impression of t h e i r contiguity with the p l a i n s onto which the seat of T e r r i t o r i a l Government had moved i n I876, f i r s t to Swan River and then to Battleford and f i n a l l y to Regina. In practice no agents of the Federal or the T e r r i t o r i a l Governments were located anywhere north of the p r a i r i e s , nor was so much as an annual inspection or a casual p a t r o l made into the Mackenzie or the Yukon Basins, or into the Barrens west of Hudson Bay, or a f t e r 1880 into the A r c t i c Islands. In 1882 the second ministry of S i r John A. Macdonald submitted to Parliament f o r approval a recently passed Order i n Council d i v i d i n g the southern areas of the North-West 44 T e r r i t o r i e s into four provisional d i s t r i c t s . Macdonald himself explained; Great inconvenience has been found i n the want of geographic or topographical sub-divisions of that country, e s p e c i a l l y as regards s e t t l e r s . There i t has been thought well to provide, p r o v i s i o n a l l y , that the portions of the country which most l i k e l y w i l l be supplied ere long, to which there w i l l be a considerable emigration, should be thus divided. Of course i t i s not proposed to esta b l i s h an organized Government among them. There w i l l s t i l l be portions of the North-West governed by the Lieutenant Governor i n Council of the North West. These are simply topo-graphical d i v i s i o n s . But as i t might r e s u l t i n those d i v i s i o n s becoming thereafter Provinces, i f i t was thought r i g h t and respectful to the Parliament to proceed i n the present manner, no important step i n fcegard to them to be hereafter taken without f i r s t submitting i t to Parliament. (26) The p r o v i s i o n a l d i s t r i c t s were named Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Athabasca-The pace of settlement had begun to quicken on the plains with the coming of the 1880*s. At l a s t the population achieved s u f f i c i e n t concentration to begin e l e c t i n g represent-atives to the North-West Council under the terms of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875. (27) In 1881 the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis of Lome, made a western tour of the Dominion, a f t e r which he sent some comments and advice to S i r John A. Macdonald. Though not suggesting that the time was yet ripe f o r t e r r i t o r i a l organization, or t e r r i t o r i a l sub-d i v i s i o n , the Governor General decided that the time had arrived when regional names should be given to parts of the vastness of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . \"Unless you christen 45 the North West provinces soon a l l Europe w i l l believe they l i e under the Red River floods\", he wrote. (28) Manitoba's boundaries had been enlarged i n 1881, and a few months a f t e r t h i s event occurred J.S. Dennis, Deputy Minister of the Inter i o r , prepared the \"...scheme showing the proposed sub-division of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s of Canada into Provinces\", a suggestion which formed the basic plan f o r the \"Provisional D i s t r i c t s \" presented to Parliament the next year. (29) For the north, the only significance of t h i s 1882 Order i n Council was that the northern border of the Provisional D i s t r i c t of Athabasca was made the 60th P a r a l l e l , which also formed the northern boundary of B r i t i s h Columbia, and t h i s P a r a l l e l was extended to mark the southern l i m i t of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . The return of the f i r s t elected member to the North-West Council i n 1881 s i g n i f i e d a rapid course of p o l i t i c a l development, settlement and railway building on the p r a i r i e s . In 1888 a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly replaced the Council of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , and a f t e r an involved and protracted struggle, responsible government i n f u l l measure was given the T e r r i t o r i e s i n 1897* But a l l these events had no significance f o r the northern t e r r i t o r i e s . From 1869-70 to 1897 the h i s t o r y of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s i s almost e n t i r e l y the history of 46 Canada*s western p l a i n s . The T e r r i t o r i a l Government at Regina was no more interested i n the north than the Department of the Int e r i o r , or the Federal Cabinet. Ungava, the \"bottom of the Bay\", the Mackenzie and Yukon Basins, the A r c t i c Islands and the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin were l e f t v i r t u a l l y untouched by government of any kind. What was s i g n i f i c a n t f o r these northern regions was that i n these years the federal government had acquired attitudes and approaches to the possession of remote f r o n t i e r s even i f i t had not devised systematic p o l i c i e s f o r t h e i r control or development. CHAPTER I I I . THE ARCTIC AMBITIONS OF CANADA Less than four years a f t e r taking possession of Rupert's Land and the North-western T e r r i t o r y Canada took steps to advance the boundaries of the Dominion even further north. The move appears somewhat surprising i n view of the federal cabinet's tepid i n t e r e s t i n the p r a i r i e s and apparently complete d i s i n t e r e s t i n the amount of northern r e a l estate the country already possessed. Perhaps the government's motivation originated from a general, although unformulated desire to place Canada's national back securely against a northern wall» Alexander Gait had expressed such a view i n 1867. ( l ) Certainly Canada did not want any other government to acquire defensible claims to lands l y i n g north of her own acknowledged borders. Most p a r t i c u l a r l y Canada did not want the government of the United States of America to develop i n t e r e s t s i n either the known or the unexplored regions of the a r c t i c archipelago. Canada f i r s t began to devise her own national p o l i c y towards the a r c t i c sector of the globe situated between the northern perimeter of North America and the north pole only a f t e r the B r i t i s h government received enquiries about the region i n the spring of 1874* Apparently by chance two applications reached London at approximately the same time, concerning the 48 possible development of land i n the v i c i n i t y of Cumberland Sound on the eastern coast of B a f f i n Island. This part of Baf f i n Island stood i n a region of l e g a l shadows so f a r as the subject of sovereignty was concerned, f o r i t lay beyond the outer l i m i t s of e i t h e r Rupert*s Land or the North-western T e r r i t o r y . As the Arrowsmith Map of 1857 i l l u s t r a t e s , the Hudson*s Bay Company had quite properly claimed only the southern end of B a f f i n Island as being within the d e f i n i t i o n of Rupert*s Land according to the terms of the Royal Charter of 1670. The f i r s t enquiry to reach London came from an Englishman, A.W. Harvey, who wished to erect temporary b u i l d -ings i n the \"land known as Cumberland on the West of Davis S t r a i t \" , where he had been carrying on a f i s h e r y f o r the past two years. (2) Harvey wished to know i f B a f f i n Island belonged to Great B r i t a i n or to the Dominion of Canada? The second enquiry came from Eieutenant William A. Mintzer of the United States Navy Corps of Engineers, who applied to the B r i t i s h Government f o r a t r a c t of land twenty miles square, also on Cumberland Gulf, f o r purposes of carrying on a mining industry. I t i s an unanswered question whether or not there was any connection between these two almost simultaneous applications. In a s i t u a t i o n compounded of equal parts of ignorance and uncertainty, the B r i t i s h Government was undecided what to do or to say. On A p r i l 25, 1874, a Colonial O f f i c e o f f i c i a l minuted; 49 I t would be desirable to ascertain the views of the Dominion Government, I think, before the FO give any answer. We must remember that i f t h i s Yankee adventurer i s informed by the B r i t i s h FO that the place indicated i s not a portion of H.M. dominions he would no doubt think himself e n t i t l e d to hoist the \"Stars and S t r i p e s \" which would produce no end of complications. (3) Thereafter a correspondence fl o u r i s h e d between Ottawa and London, which established that Great B r i t a i n was w i l l i n g to turn over to the Dominion Government a l l those B r i t i s h North American t e r r i t o r i e s remaining under Imperial control and not yet annexed to any other colony, and the willingness of the Canadian Government to accept a l l the t e r r i t o r i e s thus offered. I t also established that neither the B r i t i s h Government nor the Canadian Government had a very precise knowledge of where the boundaries of those t e r r i t o r i e s remaining i n the north might be. The Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon, wrote to the Governor General of Canada, Lord Dufferin, on January 6th 1875; . . . i t appears that the boundaries of the Dominion towards the North East and North West are at present e n t i r e l y undefined and that i t i s impossible to say what B r i t i s h t e r r i t o r i e s on the North American Continent are not already annexed to Canada under the Order i n Council of 23rd June 1870, which incorp-orated the whole of the t e r r i t o r i e s of the Hudson's Bay Company as well as the North Western t e r r i t o r y i n the Dominion. (4) Although the two p r i n c i p a l parties were agreed on the solution of the question, namely the unequivocal transfer of ownership and control of the half-explored archipelago from Great B r i t a i n to Canada, the o f f i c i a l wheels of negotiation 50 moved exceedingly slowly. Prolonged consideration of the t e c h n i c a l i t i e s of the t r a n s f e r on both sides of the A t l a n t i c was followed by long periods of silence and forgetfulness on the part of Canada. F i n a l l y , on May 3rd, 1878, the Canadian Government did introduce Resolutions to Parliament requesting the B r i t i s h Parliament to pass an Act defining the northerly boundaries of Canada according to mutual agreement. The seven Resolutions were introduced into the House of Commons by the Minister of the I n t e r i o r , the Honourable David M i l l s , i n a speech so b r i e f that i t did not f i l l a whole page of Hansard. He alluded to recent a c t i v i t i e s by American speculators i n the north, mentioned the Government * s i d e s i r e to remove a l l doubts with regard to Canada's exact l i m i t s to the north and the north-west, and referred to the lack of provisions i n the B r i t i s h North America Act f o r the a c q u i s i t i o n by Canada of the t e r r i t o r i e s now at issue. (5) M i l l s was immediately followed i n the debate by the Honourable Peter M i t c h e l l of Northumberland, New Brunswick, who was a severe and complete c r i t i c of the intended northern annexation; but then Maritimers seem to have been the perennial c r i t i c s of Canada's t e r r i t o r i a l expansion. In M i t c h e l l ' s opinion the annexation was unnecessary and would not be b e n e f i c i a l to the Dominion. There was no threat to the a r c t i c regions from either of Canada's northern neighbours and possible 51 r i v a l s , the United States of America and Denmark. Let not the Government, ...ask us to assume the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of governing one fourth of the whole continent of North America, without a single reason being alleged that i n i t s r e s u l t s i t would benefit the Dominion.... There would be no desire f e l t by the people of t h i s country to accept r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s from which they could derive no benefit. (6) Canada had quite enough t e r r i t o r y to manage at present; enough to keep her f u l l y occupied f o r the next century. It would be the greatest madness to submit to the House to assume the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of governing that t e r r i t o r y extending from the borders of c i v i l i z a t i o n to the A r c t i c Ocean. The matter seemed simply preposterous; the country did not want another $330,000 per year on the North-West Poli c e , $200,000 more on other useless s t u f f such as existed i n the North West today. (7) And M i t c h e l l concluded h i s speech of denunciation with dire predictions of increasing and useless expenditures yet to come. Before f i v e years were over that t e r r i t o r y would be costing us $2,000,000 a year. Municipal i n s t i t u t i o n s would be introduced f o r the Government of the Esquimaux and governors would be sent up there to interpret the laws to those ignorant people, who probably were never able to read a single l i n e of the English language. (8) Some of these remarks were doubtless the hyperbole of an Opposition member i n f u l l cry, but a great many Canadians probably shared the same suspicions about the usefulness of the a r c t i c , and the same fears concerning i t s probable cost to the tax-payers as Mr. M i t c h e l l . They would have agreed that no other government, foreign or even p r o v i n c i a l , coveted the 52 half-known a r c t i c islands, and the most sensible p o l i c y f o r Canada to follow would be to leave them alone. Leave them under the protecting arm of Great B r i t a i n ; do not t r y to shelter them under the Dominion's weak young wings. The front benches of both the Government and the Opposition however, showed a keener awareness of the possible significance of the north to Canada than did the Member f o r Northumberland. I t was the Leader of the Opposition, S i r John A. Macdonald, who rose to rebutt Mr. M i t c h e l l and defend the Government's Resolutions. Macdonald's p r i n c i p a l reason f o r voting with the Ministry was the threat to Canada of e n c i r c l e -ment by the United States. The Imperial Government had no interest i n the vast a r c t i c t e r r i t o r i e s , and i f Canada would not take over r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e i r sovereignty and develop-ment Great B r i t a i n might as well surrender or abandon the whole region. ...and when England had abandoned that country, and Canada was so f a i n t hearted as not to take possession of i t , the Americans would be only too glad of the opportunity, and would hoist the American f l a g and take possession of that t e r r i t o r y . ( 9 ) An American was said to have boasted on the natural l i m i t s of the United States, that i t was bound by Cape Horn and the Aurora Borealis; we must cut them out of that, we must extend our t e r r i t o r y to that bright luminary. (10) Macdonald was well aware of the f a i n t implications i n the Resolutions that the B r i t i s h t i t l e to these A r c t i c Islands 53 was not unchallengeable, and he complimented the Ministry on introducing Resolutions at the end of the Parliamentary Session i n a semi-confidential way. \"The l e s s p u b l i c i t y was given to them, the better, because there (were) suggestions i n them which might be used against us i f they f e l l into unfriendly hands.\" (11) As f o r the expenses of c o n t r o l l i n g the area, Macdonald hazarded on the basis of h i s own p o l i c y and experience respecting the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s that M i t c h e l l ' s worries were exaggerated on t h i s issue. The Hon. Minister of the i n t e r i o r had informed them that the great North-West, the A r c t i c portion of B r i t i s h North America, had been owned by the B r i t i s h Nation since the time of Queen Elizabeth, and he did not think i t had cost England much up to t h i s time. He did riot think i t had cost her anything, and he did not suppose there was any necessity a f t e r i t s transfer to Canada, that i t should cost Canada any more than i t had cost England, u n t i l settlements were made there. (12) Such was S i r John's shrewd estimate of the costs of t e r r i t o r i a l expansion. To him t e r r i t o r i a l expansion was n a t i o n a l l y prudent, most es p e c i a l l y as i t need not cost a cent. Macdonald 1s attitudes were supportedIby another leading member of the opposition from Quebec, Hector Langevin, who remarked that t h i s proposed A r c t i c extension was only a natural consequence of the work commenced i n 1867. I t was necessary to extend and thus complete Canada's boundaries. r 54 j I f a f t e r a l l these s a c r i f i c e s they were not to refuse to accept a t e r r i t o r y which England offered them f o r nothing they would not be true to themselves or the future of the country. The future greatness of t h i s Dominion, and i t s p o s i t i o n on the continent, required that from the boundary l i n e of the United States up to the North Pole should be Canadian T e r r i t o r y . (13) Other members of Parliament supporting the annexation of the A r c t i c Islands included the Prime Minister, Alexander MacKenzie, and Donald Smith, the member f o r Selkirk, Manitoba, l a t e r ennobled as Lord Strathcona. The Resolutions were approved by the House of Commons without d i v i s i o n , and l a t e r were approved by the Senate without debate. (14) The discussion of the Resolutions i n the House of Commons did prove that i n both the major part i e s of the day, leaders were convinced of the strategic importance of the north to Canada. I t also i l l u s t r a t e d a sense of a Canadian \"manifest destiny\" held by the country's leading men; a desire and an intention to expand the Dominion to i t s furthest \"natural f r o n t i e r s \" at least i n the north where no p o l i t i c a l boundaries stood to contain national ambitions. Canada's manifest destiny was to become the sovereign power over a l l B r i t i s h North America, and i n 187& the attainment of that destiny meant expanding northward, i f possible to the Pole i t s e l f . Physical encirclement must be avoided, e s p e c i a l l y i f the e n c i r c l i n g power might prove to be the United States of America, Canada's p r i n c i p a l r i v a l f o r control of the North 55 American continent. The American purchase of Alaska i n the year of Confederation had given Canada a f o r c i b l e example of the qua l i t y of the int e r n a t i o n a l race f o r land which she had now entered h e r s e l f . S i r John A. Macdonald*s speech also reveals a persistent federal attitude to the north; an attitude epitomized i n the words \" S t r i c t Economy\". By a l l means expand the size of Canada; acquire the a r c t i c islands and i f necessary claim a l l the t e r r i t o r y extending up to the north pole; f o r e s t a l l American encirclement; and es p e c i a l l y advance such grandiose ambitions i f they are not l i k e l y to cost Canada perhaps as much as a single d o l l a r . There w i l l be no need to spend any money i n the a r c t i c islands u n t i l settlements are made there, and such developments are extremely u n l i k e l y i n the forseeable future. Claim the north, as much as can be obtained e a s i l y , but leave i t f o r the meanwhile an untouched preserve. The words and the reasoning were Macdonald*s, but such a practice was followed by every federal government, Conservative, L i b e r a l , or C o a l i t i o n , at l e a s t u n t i l the conclusion of the F i r s t World War. Events were to prove that Peter M i t c h e l l of Northumberland had no reason to fear that the northern t e r r i t o r i e s would cost the Canadian treasury $2,000,000. per annum f o r another half-century; i n f a c t the t o t a l sum spent on that region i n that time would not add up to half that f i g u r e . 56 More than two years elapsed between the approval of the Resolutions by the Canadian Parliament and the o f f i c i a l t r ansfer of the a r c t i c islands to Canadian co n t r o l . The delay was caused by the t e c h n i c a l i t i e s and uncertainties of international law, and so are of l i t t l e relevance here. Instead of passing a statute to define the northerly boundaries of Canada as the Dominion Parliament requested i n 1878, the B r i t i s h Government decided that the correct means of accomplishing the transfer was the passage of an Order i n Council. That Order i n Council was signed on 31 July 1880, giving Canada possession of the A r c t i c Islands, t e r r i t o r i e s and archipelago on 1st September 1880, and was published the following month i n the Canada Gazette. (15) Concerning the v a l i d i t y of the transfer, there was no doubt whatsoever. But what was not certain i n 1880, or l a t e r , was the completeness of B r i t a i n * s own t i t l e at the time of the t r a n s f e r . As one scholar l a t e r stated the s i t u a t i o n , \"The Imperial Government did not know what they were trans-f e r r i n g , and on the other hand the Canadian Government had no idea what they were receiving.\" (16) A cause of worry i n future years was the fact that once the transfer was complete, the Government of Canada made no attempt to acquire a d e t a i l e d knowledge of the areas i t had accepted. No measures were taken to secure the t i t l e which had been so e a s i l y acquired. The A r c t i c Islands did not cost 57 Canada any more than they had cost the B r i t i s h nation from the time of Queen Elizabeth I to the reign of Queen V i c t o r i a : nothing. But the unfortunate parsimony of the nineteenth century was to place Canada's claim to the region i n serious jeopardy i n the twentieth. No state could acquire so much land f o r nothing, and then ignore i t f o r an i n d e f i n i t e period of time. Ignorance of the A r c t i c and of the greater portion of Canada's North-West T e r r i t o r i e s was u n i v e r s a l l y profound, and remained so u n t i l well into the twentieth century. For t h i s state of knowledge Canada was of course i n no way responsible. But the Government of Canada c e r t a i n l y was g u i l t y of the s i n of omission, or at l e a s t that of procrastination, i n not making more energetic attempts to discover even the most basic f a c t s concerning the greater part of the national domain. Individual Canadians i n t h e i r private capacities and the Canadian Government as an o f f i c i a l body, were a l i k e conspicuous i n a l l regions of the North by t h e i r absence. Englishmen, and with increasing frequency Americans, probed the North f o r s c i e n t i f i c and commercial purposes; but not Canadians, to whose country the hyperborean vastness now o f f i c i a l l y belonged. European whalers had been f i s h i n g Davis S t r a i t since 1719 (17) with B r i t i s h , and p a r t i c u l a r l y Scottish vessels dominating the industry during the nineteenth century. (18) 58 The application of the unknown W.A. Harvey, followed by that of Lieutenant W.A. Mintzer, U.S.N, f o r a l e g a l t i t l e to land on Baffin Island had triggered the chain of events that l e d to the transfer of a l l the A r c t i c Islands to Canada. (19) American whalers too, had been penetrating further and further into northern waters, frequently appearing i n Davis S t r a i t and dominating almost e n t i r e l y the whale f i s h e r i e s i n Hudson Bay a f t e r i860. (20) As early as I848 a New England whaler had passed through Bering S t r a i t and i n subsequent years increasing numbers of ships pursued t h e i r quarry eastward along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, u n t i l by I889 they were wintering regularly on Herschel Island, a Canadian Island, l y i n g immediately o f f the coast of what i s today the Yukon T e r r i t o r y . (21) But there i s no record of any Canadian enterprise i n t h i s f i e l d of maritime endeavour, or indeed i n any other. In the years a f t e r Confederation, B r i t i s h A r c t i c expeditions included the Admiralty's attempt to reach the North Pole i n the years 1875-76, under the command of Captain George Nares, and the private expedition of S i r A. Young, during the same period, to investigate the North Magnetic Pole, and to attempt to make the North-West Passage i n one season. (22) Thereafter American expeditions became much more numerous than ones made under the Union Jack. C F . H a l l made h i s second attempt to discover the fate of S i r John Franklin between the 59 years 16*64 and I869, and i n the years 1871-73 he led an expedition, backed by the United States Government, to reach the North Pole. In I878-8O Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, U.S.N., went i n search of Franklin r e l i c s and between l88U.3n.dU I884 Lieutenant A.W. Greeley of the United States Army Corps of Signals commanded an American Polar Year expedition which established meteorological stations on Ellesmere Island. Nations of continental Europe were also becoming interested i n the A r c t i c during the f i n a l decades of the nineteenth century. Germany sent an inte r n a t i o n a l Polar Year Expedition to Ba f f i n Island during the years 1882-83, l e d by Herr. W. Giese, and Dr. Franz Boas made an anthropoligical expedition to the same i s l a n d during the season of 1883-4* Captain Otto Svedrup commanded a private Norwegian exploration of the A r c t i c Archipelago aboard the \"Fram\" during the years 1898-1902, making discoveries that were to cause the Canadian Government much serious anxiety i n future years, (23) and between 1903 and 1906 Roald Amundsen, another Norwegian, completed the f i r s t North-West Passage ever made by sea. During those same years Robert Peary, the most successful of a l l American A r c t i c explorers, was attempting to reach the North Pole, making repeated attempts i n 1898-99, 1900-1901, 1902, 1905-06, and f i n a l l y i n 1908-1909, when he achieved h i s ultimate ambition. (24) 60 None of the American or European expeditions applied to Canada's Government, or the Government of Great B r i t a i n , f o r permission to enter or explore the northern regions claimed by the Dominion; the A r c t i c might be claimed by Canada, but i t was treated as much as an international No-man's Land as the oceans of the world. Nor during t h i s period did Canada make any physical attempt to establish her sovereignty over the A r c t i c sector of the globe, between her continental shores and the Pole. During the nineteenth century C a n a d a was more concerned with mapping and assessing those areas of the North-West t e r r i t o r i e s contiguous to the o r i g i n a l Dominion than i n p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n the discovery of the high A r c t i c . This tremendous, even i f more southerly endeavour, f e l l to the l o t of the Geological Survey of Canada which, small as i t was, was the only Government organization capable of such an under-taking. (25) Investigation of the northern t e r r i t o r i e s began i n the summer of 1877, when the Geological Survey sent Robert B e l l to explore the east coast of Hudson Bay, which he did from Moose Factory at the foot of James Bay, to Portland Promontory, 600 miles to the north, near the present Quebec coastal s e t t l e -ment of Port Harrison. (26) In I884 Canada despatched the f i r s t of three successive annual expeditions to investigate navigation conditions i n Hudson S t r a i t and Hudson Bay. The commencement of the building of the Canadian P a c i f i c Railway had seeded many other railway 61 construction projects i n the North-V/est, and by the beginning of 1883 three railways were seeking incorporation, \" f o r the purpose of connecting \"older\" Canada with Hudson Bay\". (27) When Parliament debated the chartering of the Canadian P a c i f i c some years e a r l i e r , some Members had mentioned the development of a communication route between Hudson Bay and England as the only means of preventing a railway monopoly i n the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . (28) To s a t i s f y public c u r i o s i t y concerning the p r a c t i c a l i t y of the sea-route into the i n t e r i o r of the continent, as well as to a s s i s t the objectives of prospective railway builders, Lieutenant A.R. Gordon, R.N., was placed i n command of the Hudson Bay Expeditions of 1884, 1885 and 1886. There would seem to be no substance to the l a t e r suggestion that the Gordon Expeditions were made i n the i n t e r e s t s of b o l s t e r i n g Canada's claims of t e r r i t o r i a l sovereignty i n the north. (29) In 1884 Robert B e l l was assigned to the \"Neptune\", which carried the f i r s t Gordon Expedition, as taxidermist, photographer, botanist, zoologist and mineralogist, as well as the geologist of the Geological Survey of Canada. (30) George M. Dawson, assisted by R.G. McConnell made the f i r s t thorough s c i e n t i f i c exploration of the Yukon region i n the year 1887, and i n 1893 the brothers J.B. and J.W. T y r e l l made t h e i r epic journey through the Barren Lands west of Hudson Bay. As J.B. T y r e l l l a t e r noted, 62 I t has been my good fortune to t r a v e l over parts of the same country through which Hearne had journeyed one hundred and twenty-three years before me, and into which no white man had ventured during the intervening time. (31) Another pioneer Canadian exploration was that which A.P. Low began into the heart of the Labrador Peninsula i n 1#92, and pursued f o r the ten following years. (32) Low's journey into t h i s wilderness was the f i r s t recorded since John McLean traversed the peninsula i n 183£. (33) This i s no attempt to make an exhaustive enumeration of Canadian investigations of the northern t e r r i t o r i e s , but i t nevertheless i l l u s t r a t e s the degree of ignorance i n which they remained, and the slowness and r e l a t i v e feebleness of the Government of Canada's attempts to acquire even a cursory knowledge of the topographical character of the whole Dominion. O f f i c i a l l y and u n o f f i c i a l l y Canada and Canadians were prepared to allow those who chose, to explore the high A r c t i c at w i l l , while the federal agencies slowly explored the more southerly, i f equally unknown, regions of continental Canada i n gradual piece-meal fashion. Apart from the strenuous professional c u r i o s i t y of the Geological Survey, Canadian in t e r e s t i n the north remained extremely l i m i t e d throughout the nineteenth century. Li e u t . A.R. Gordon, f o r example, repeatedly informed the Government of foreign maritime a c t i v i t y i n northern waters 63 and advised i t what to do about the s i t u a t i o n . In h i s Report f o r the year 1884 he drew attention to the f a c t that a l l the f i s h i n g and trading done i n the Hudson Bay region was presently i n the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company or New England whalers. (34) The following year he stated: Every U.S. whaler which goes into Hudson's Bay i s also an unlicensed trader competing with the Hudson's Bay Company f o r the trade with the Esquimaux, the Company paying f u l l duty on a l l a r t i c l e s imported f o r trade, whilst t h e i r competitors from New England take, duty free, goods from bonded stores or goods manufactured i n the U.S., as best s u i t s t h e i r business. (35) And i n h i s f i n a l Report covering the a c t i v i t i e s of the 1886 season Gordon boldly recommended that a Government vessel should annually v i s i t the waters of Hudson Bay to regulate the f i s h e r i e s as well as to survey the coast l i n e . Furthermore the f i s h e r i e s of Hudson Bay should be closed f o r the next f i v e years, and i n future a l l foreigners should be charged a heavy licence f o r f i s h i n g p r i v i l e g e s . (36) The f i r s t action the Canadian Government took was to send the \"Diana\" north to Hudson S t r a i t and Bay, under the command of William Wakeham i n 1899. Apart from o f f i c i a l expeditions, the most important display of o f f i c i a l i n t e r e s t i n the northern t e r r i t o r i e s occurred i n 1888, when the Honourable Doctor John Christian Schultz of Manitoba, moved f o r the establishment of a Select Committee of the Senate to enquire into the possible commercial and a g r i c u l t u r a l value of the Great Mackenzie Basin. (37) 64 During the previous session of Parliament, i n 1887, Senator Schultz had successfully presided over another Select Committee fo r the establishment of which he had been responsible; a Committee which had investigated the Natural Food Products of the North-West, but whose inte r e s t s had been focussed on areas l y i n g to the south of the Mackenzie Basin, the d i s t r i c t s of Alberta, Assiniboin and Southern Saskatchewan. (38) Now he would d i r e c t the attention of Parliament, or at l e a s t that of the Senate, even further north. The Great Mackenzie Basin Committee of 1888 heard the testimony of witnesses who included c i v i l servants, members of the s t a f f of the Geological Survey, f u r traders, former members of the Council of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries, and a former United States consul at Winnipeg. P a r t i c u l a r interest was displayed i n the subjects of climate, agriculture, minerals, forestry, fur, game, and f i s h e r i e s . But the f i n a l Report of the Committee stated; Your committee may explain that very early i n t h e i r investigations they became convinced that very l i t t l e more was known of the northern and eastern portion Of the area committed to them f o r investigation than was known of the i n t e r i o r of A f r i c a or A u s t r a l i a . A r c t i c explorers had indeed traversed i t s coast l i n e and descended two of the r i v e r s which, east of the Mackenzie flow into the A r c t i c sea, but the object sought by them was one which had had no r e l a t i o n to that of the present inquiry, and i t i s only i n c i d e n t a l l y that t h e i r records are now valuable. The knowledge of missionaries and o f f i c e r s of the Hudson Bay Company i s c h i e f l y con-fined to the water-courses and the great lakes, while s c i e n t i f i c exploration has not as yet extended north of Great Slave Lake. (39) 65 When moving the establishment of the 1888 Committee Schultz referred to the views widely held throughout Canada concerning the nature and value of the northern t e r r i t o r i e s . I am aware that t h i s great region has been classed among those portions of our Dominion where ice and snow hold unbounded sway, producing only the scant vegetation of a r c t i c and sub-arctic l i f e . That i t i s the natural home of the reindeer and polar bear, the hatching ground of migratory wild fowl, and the residence of a few Esquimaux and Chipewyan Indians who eke out a scant subsistence by the pursuit of fur-bearing animals and the Cariboo, which Providence seems to have designed f o r t h e i r special use. (40) And the Senator concluded h i s introductory remarks by stating that i f the discoveries of the Committee did not illuminate tremendous potential resources i n the Mackenzie Basin, \"I w i l l have occupied the time of t h i s House to no good purpose, and I s h a l l regret having done so. '» (41) Even the most ardent northern p u b l i c i s t s possessed severely u t i l i t a r i a n outlooks i n the nineteenth century. What did the 1888 Schultz Committee do? I t collected a considerable amount of scattered general knowledge concerning the Mackenzie Basin, but i t did not discover any new f a c t s that would accelerate or i n any way a l t e r the course of i t s develop-ment. The Committee's greatest service was to give p u b l i c i t y to the p r i s t i n e state of the northern t e r r i t o r i e s and t h e i r development-potential• For Schultz the chairmanship of the Select Committee was h i s f i n a l service i n the Parliament of Canada, f o r shortly 66 after i t s Report was submitted he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. (42) Throughout his long career in the North-West Schultz had been sincerely, i f controversially, and from some view-points, misguidedly, driven by an ambition for i t s development, and his labours on the Great Mackenzie Basin Committee seem to have been inspired with a fervour of vision-ary intensity. In every way i t was Schultz*s Committee; he was i t s i n i t i a t o r , director and motive power, although Senator Girard of St. Boniface was again his chief lieutenant as he had been the previous year on the Natural Food Products Committee. For practical purposes Senators Schultz and Girard were the executive of the Committee of 1888. Declared one Committee member c r i t i c a l of i t s purposes; ...and I think that \"zeal\" does not begin to describe the feelings which must have actuated the hon. gentle-man to have induced him,... to s i t there day after day, engaged in this work which he had so set his heart upon. I was a member of the Committee, but I wish here publicly (sic) to state that I did not do my duty as a member of the Committee. The chairman was present a l l the time. The hon. gentleman from St. Boniface was present nearly a l l the time...so the work which has been done, and the report which has been made are really almost entirely the work of the chairman and his colleague from St. Boniface, of course added to the work done by the witnesses. (43i Senator Power, who paid this tribute to Schultz, was the most vociferous c r i t i c of the very establishment of the Select Committee of 1888. He came from Halifax and was a Liberal, unlike another Maritimer, Peter Mitchell, M.P., of New Brunswick, who had opposed the annexation of the Arctic Islands ten years 67 previously. Senator Power reasoned; . . . i t w i l l be quite time enough when Manitoba and the present North-West have been f a i r l y well s e t t l e d to expend large sums of money to develop the country further to the North. The Mackenzie Basin i s a region which i s shut o f f from the United States by our own se t t l e d t e r r i t o r i e s ; i t i s shut o f f from the west by the Rocky Mountains, and i t i s not l i k e l y to be int e r f e r e d with by outsiders. I t w i l l keep. (44) In other words, the North should be treated as a national reserve, which presently should not be used or even investigated. Also advised Mr. Power, l e t the q u a l i f i e d and servants of the Government, whose duty i t i s to gather and report information to t h e i r superiors, do so i n a l l parts of the North-West; such tasks were t h e i r properly assigned functions, not a suitable a c t i v i t y , or a duty, f o r p o l i t i c i a n s i n either house of Parliament. Certainly there was considerable sense i n Power's suggestion; \"Let us t r y to get the country that we have already organized respectably peopled, and then l e t us go on further.\"(45) Schultz himself was i n agreement about the necessity of immed-iat e development, although not about the prudence of investigation. ...and yet I would regret any attempt to colonize any portion of t h i s vast region u n t i l the p r a i r i e region to the south and the province of Manitoba s h a l l have a very much larger population than at present. I would f e e l averse to the granting of any considerable portion of t h i s r i c h domain to aid new railways, and I deprecate the granting of new railway charters at present with that end i n view. I t i s s u f f i c i e n t , I think, i n the mean time to protect i t s present natural resources and leave the development of the country at least t i l l a f t e r s c i e n t i f i c exploration has f u l l y determined the 6a extent and value of i t s minerals and other resources, and experiment s h a l l have determined the kind of c r a f t best suited f o r the navigation of i t s sea coasts and i t s great r i v e r s and lakes. .... Parts of i t (the Mackenzie Basin) we do not now need f o r colonization, but i t i s well to know what we have i n reserve, i t may be ca l l e d i n bank parlance a \" r e s t \" to draw upon i n the future, while we need meantime s c i e n t i f i c exploration and investigation to follow t h i s b r i e f Senatorial examination. (46) Senator Girard had fears f o r continued Canadian control of the Mackenzie Valley, fears springing from memories of American expansion down the Red River i n 1370. I think the time has arrived when the Government should not only ascertain the natural resources of that country but also adopt measures by which our natural wealth i n that part of our t e r r i t o r y w i l l be protected, not from the people of the Dominion, but from the Americans. Expeditions w i l l be coming i n from the United States before long v i a the Mackenzie River, as they have done i n the past i n other new t e r r i t o r i e s , but the most valuable portions of i t w i l l be appropriated f o r i t s wealth of f i s h and f u r bearing animals and i t s mines. (47) Perhaps inevitably, comparisons were made by Senators i n 1888 between the Canadian North and Alaska* Certainly the United States had taken no more trouble than had Canada to organize i t s most northerly t e r r i t o r y ; u n t i l 1884 Alaska was given no c i v i l government at a l l , enduring a seventeen-year era of t o t a l neglect. (48) And yet Alaska did provide revenue f o r the American Government, which Schultz estimated to amount to $600,000. per annum. On an o r i g i n a l outlay of $7,200,000, \"This i s a very f a i r i n t e r e s t upon the investment\". (49) 6 9 Senator Power suggested that i t would be desirable to make the fu r trade of the Mackenzie a source of revenue. The Alaska Seal Company paid some $ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 . a year f o r t h e i r monopoly while the Hudson's Bay Company paid nothing whatsoever into the Canadian exchequer. (50) Reference to the Honourable Company immediately provoked the suspicions of another Senator, Mr. Macdonald of Midland, who remembered that copies of S i r George Simpson's Journey Around the World were bought up and destroyed a f t e r Simpson had been forced to eat h i s published words before the Select Committee of 1857i Senator Macdonald continued: Now I make t h i s reference only f o r t h i s purpose: i s i t not as much the intere s t of the Hudson's Bay Company to keep the people of Canada today i n ignorance of the great resources of the Mackenzie Basin as i t was i n t h e i r i n t e r e s t to keep them i n ignorance of the Hudson Bay Territory? I say assuredly i t i s and f o r that reason I look upon t h i s investigation as having within i t the germ of influences that w i l l lead to the development of the resources of that country. It i s supposed to be a preserve of the Hudson's Bay Company and i t i s to t h e i r i n t e r e s t that i t should be so thought and regarded. (51) Mr. Howland also desired to see the fu r s of the Hudson's Bay Company exported through Canada, not shipped out from a port on Hudson Bay, presumably without paying any tax whatever. Without examining the objectives and public r e l a t i o n s p o l i c y of the Hudson's Bay Company, i t i s certa i n that i t did not have to l i f t a f i n g e r i n order to keep the people of Canada i n ignorance of the resources of the Mackenzie Basin. It would 70 have been more plausible to argue that the Company could have spent i t s l a s t cent on attempts to excite Canadian in t e r e s t i n the northern t e r r i t o r i e s without meeting the s l i g h t e s t measure of success. In respect to p r a c t i c a l accomplishments the r e s u l t s of the Great Mackenzie Basin Committee of 1888 were p i t i f u l l y few. The very f a c t that the Committee was s i t t i n g , the evidence of the witnesses c a l l e d , and to a le s s e r extent, the f i n a l Report i t s e l f , gave p u b l i c i t y to a l l the information concerning the northern wilderness that could be gathered together. But as the Committee stated, that information was very sparse; the Canadian north was as l i t t l e known as the i n t e r i o r of A f r i c a or A u s t r a l i a . During the debate on the adoption of the Third Committee Report, Senator Girard mentioned that the Committee was a t t r a c t i n g attention i n England as well as i n Canada. Although the Report was not yet published, the Geological Survey of Canada had organized an expedition to the country to the west of Hudson Bay, (presumably because of the intere s t the Commission was arousing) and the Government of Ontario had appointed a Commission to investigate the Province's mineral resources. Girard then quoted a despatch from the London, England, o f f i c e of the Toronto Globe: The cabled summary of the evidence taken by the Schultz Committee on the Mackenzie Basin i s a t t r a c t i n g notice here, as further evidence of the great undeveloped resources of the Dominion. The Daily News today, 71 editorially comments on i t , and says the day may well come when British North America may support a population equal to more than half that of Europe. (52) When another Senate Committee was examining the Mackenzie Basin almost twenty years later, Senator Davis remarked that he was aware that the report of the Schultz Committee of 1888 had not been favourably received, \"...although i t did an enormous amount of good.\" (53) The judgement i s somewhat ambiguous, but presumably Senator Davis meant that the Schultz Committee was cri t i c i z e d for spending public monies to no obvious or immediate practical purpose. No important results followed the public-ation of i t s Report, although the evidence assembled by the Committee did have a valuable influence, in the long-term, on the permanent c i v i l service, i f not the general public or the ministry of the day. The Great Mackenzie Basin Report of 1888 at least serves some historical purposes by focussing Parliamentary and public interest on the far northern terr i t o r i e s for the f i r s t time, and by illuminating the contemporary degree of factual ignorance and public disinterest in them at that time; in retrospect i t s value i s enhanced by i t s uniqueness. CHAPTER IV. THE PROBLEMS OF THE YUKON The f i r s t significant human development to occur in Canada's northern territories was the much fabled Klondike Gold Rush of the years 1897 and I89S. From the federal government's point of view the sensational character of the Rush was particularly enhanced by the completely unexpected manner of i t s development as much as by the remoteness of i t s location. Every dimension of the Rush seemed to exceed every-one's wildest anticipations; the general and profound ignorance of the Yukon valley, i t s distance from any settled part of the Dominion, the tedious d i f f i c u l t i e s of communication and trans-portation, the complications of administration, and the astounding numbers of people attempting to reach the gold-laden river beds. Previous to the year 1897 the expectations of general public and government o f f i c i a l s alike had been that the settle-ment and development of the North-West Territories would proceed in a predictable and orderly manner. First agriculture would move westward along both sides of the trans-continental railway route from the Red River to the fo o t h i l l s of the Rockies, and then, when the southern band of agricultural land had been occupied, i t would move steadily northward over the prairies 73 u n t i l the tre e - b e l t was reached; a process which would take more years than any government would care to estimate. As f o r the enormous regions l y i n g north of the central plains, they l i k e the Ungava Peninsula, the hinterland of James Bay and the Keewatin D i s t r i c t , could be l e f t f o r consideration i n a f a r distant future. Although these d i s t r i c t s did not promise easy a g r i c u l t u r a l settlement they might contain other resources as yet undiscovered. Even a preliminary appraisal of possible resources had not been made and development of any sort was not contemplated. The Mackenzie v a l l e y , f o r example, was regarded as one of the l a s t , and perhaps the best sources of f u r s remaining i n the world; most Canadians were content to l e t i t remain so, and to permit the Hudson's Bay Company to re t a i n a v i r t u a l monopoly of trade and continue to exert almost p r o p r i e t o r i a l r i g h t s i n that whole sub-arctic wilderness. Indeed the Schultz Committee of 1888 had demonstrated a vague but growing awareness of the p o s s i b i l i t y of exploitable northern resources, but apart from the pioneering of farms, even John Schultz himself 1:thought that the north could wait. To him i t was a national \"bank rest \" , a reserve which should remain untouched u n t i l the p r a i r i e s were f u l l y settled and completely organized, ( l ) Such were the attitudes and expectations of the Government of Canada up to the time the Klondike Gold Rush 74 suddenly erupted, throwing a multitude of problems into the lap of the amazed, but responsible, federal administration. Reversing every o f f i c i a l and popular preconception, thousands of would-be miners ignored the v i r g i n p r a i r i e s , and began the struggle to enter the distant Yukon v a l l e y , one of the most ignored and inaccessible regions of the unorganized North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . In retrospect the Klondike Rush seems a l l the more amazing and perhaps incomprehensible i n the l i g h t of the reports coming from the Yukon during the ten previous years. Although news of gold discoveries and estimates of a f a n t a s t i c possible mineral wealth had been appearing i n o f f i c i a l p u b l i c -ations since 1887, they had been generally ignored even by the a u t h o r i t i e s responsible f o r t h e i r p ublication. I t was only i n July 1897, when some of the largest American newspapers made sensational headline s t o r i e s of the fabulous gold discoveries on the t r i b u t a r i e s of the Yukon River during the previous season, that the Rush to the north r e a l l y began i n earnest. Perhaps the human stampede which the flamboyant news reports provoked can only be convincingly explained i n terms of public r e l a t i o n s , of new techniques i n mass communications, and of mob psychology. That human torrent was triggered by the new t a b l o i d press, then being organized into trans-continental chains which were instantaneously connected by wire service. 75 On July 15th, 1897 the steamer \"Excelsior\" arrived i n San Francisco with a number of prospectors aboard who had \"struck i t r i c h \" on the Yukon i n the summer of I896. The Chronicle and the C a l l publicized t h e i r wealth i n the most sensational manner possible. The New York Herald received the story overnight by wire service, and the next morning made a sensational story of the r i c h e s t s t r i k e i n a l l American mining h i s t o r y . The next day the New York Journal and the San Francisco Examiner, now owned by the same young publisher, made belated amends f o r i n i t i a l l y g iving the story only passing mention. With these press-headlines, repeated around the world, the Gold Rush began; and William Randolph Hearst became almost as much responsible f o r the Klondike Stampede as he was f o r the Spanish American War. (2) Nevertheless, as early as the year 1887 reports of gold discoveries i n the Yukon v a l l e y had provoked the Canadian Government into making a preliminary investigation of that hitherto almost unknown wilderness; and since then Ottawa had frequently received estimates of the golden wealth of the northern r i v e r s . The o r i g i n a l source of o f f i c i a l c u r i o s i t y about the Yukon was a most distinguished member of the Geolog-i c a l Survey of Canada, George M. Dawson, who heard accounts of gold discoveries i n the Iffukon basin while he was working on the B r i t i s h Columbia coast i n 1886, and who consequently urged on the Minister of the I n t e r i o r , the Hon. Thomas White, the 76 importance of gaining some accurate knowledge of the area and i t s p o s s i b i l i t i e s , i n the i n t e r e s t s of Canada. (3) I t i s t y p i c a l of the whole history of Canada's administration of the north, that the i n i t i a t i v e came from a c i v i l servant and not a p o l i t i c i a n or from representatives of the general public. In 1887 White responded to Dawson's suggestion by despatching an expedition which included i n i t s complement George M. Dawson and R.G. McConnell of the Geological Survey of Canada, who were to investigate the r i v e r systems and the geology of the region, and William O g i l v i e of the Department of the Int e r i o r , who was assigned the task of determining the pos i t i o n of the 141st meridian of Longitude, which formed part of the agreed but undefined boundary between Canada and Alaska* (4) On h i s return to Ottawa i n the winter of 1887 Dawson reported that while a l l the large streams so f a r prospected i n the Yukon basin had been found to y i e l d placer gold i n greater or l e s s e r quantity, very l i t t l e examination had been made of the smaller feeder streams. (5) Thus i t might be said, \"that the information now obtained i s s u f f i c i e n t to warrant a con-fident b e l i e f i n i t s (the Yukon basin's) great value\". (6) Two years l a t e r , a f t e r a much longer sojourn i n the Yukon, William O g i l v i e wrote: I think i t may, with confidence, be asserted that r i c h f i n d s w i l l yet be made of both coarse gold and gold-bearing quartz. I t i s not l i k e l y i n the nature of things, that such a vast extent of country should have a l l i t s f i n e gold deposited as sediment,-77 brought from a distance, in past ages of the world's development. If this i s not the case, the matrix, from which a l l gold on these streams has come, must s t i l l exist, in part at least, and w i l l no doubt be discovered, and thus enrich this otherwise gloomy and desolate region. (7) From Ogilvie's preliminary reports the Deputy Minister of the Department of the Interior quickly formed a sanguine estimate of the Yukon's potential worth, and he publicly commented; His (Ogilvie's) observations have not yet been com-pletely reduced, but an approximate calculation shows that the boundary i s nearly ninety miles below the point where i t i s marked on the United States maps. This i s of great importance, as the line passes through the best gold bearing d i s t r i c t s yet discovered in the country. The Yukon d i s t r i c t appears to have a much greater value than was previously supposed. It would seem that for gold the best paying streams so far discovered are in Canadian territory. (B) During the debate in 16*88 on the Report of the Great MacKenzie Basin Committee, Senator Schultz had noted, on the evidence of the Dawson and Ogilvie reports, that miners were already attempt-ing to reach gold deposits on the headwaters of the Liard and Yukon rivers, but this Parliamentary reference appears to have been the only public notice taken of the Yukon's potentialities.(9) The one exception to the general disinterest was the Government of British Columbia, which did manifest some o f f i c i a l curiosity about the Yukon. In 1888 the Legislative Assembly ordered the printing of a Sessional Paper, Report of Captain William Moore Upon the Yukon Country. Captain Moore, a German by birth, was one of British Columbia's most persistent, enduring 73 and amazing pioneers. He had pursued every gold discovery on the P a c i f i c coast since the C a l i f o r n i a rush of 1849• Accompanied by two of h i s sons he v o l u n t a r i l y joined the federal governments Yukon expedition of 1887, explored the White Pass, perhaps being the f i r s t European to cross i t , and then explored the Yukon River, one of h i s sons journeying from i t s source to i t s mouth. (10) In h i s Report to the Government of B r i t i s h Columbia, Captain Moore t o l d of gold to the value of #150,000 being taken out of the Yukon i n a period of two and a h a l f months, and he boldly declared that, \"Every stream entering the Upper Yukon has gold i n i t \" . (11) Yet the B r i t i s h Columbian reaction, as well as the Canadian reaction, to t h i s and other reports coming from the north was almost non-existent. One well informed B.C. commentator l a t e r remarked; Yet, with t h e i r usual apathy, the B r i t i s h Columbians took not the s l i g h t e s t i n t e r e s t i n the matter. (Reports of Wealth i n the Yukon). Very few people i n the Province had ever heard of Dr. Dawson's report u n t i l s i x months ago, ( i . e . July 1897), and i t i s only now, when they have been rudely shaken out of t h e i r apathy by the s t i r r i n g report of the discovery of r i c h placer ground on some of the t r i b u t a r i e s of the Yukon, that people are beginning to ask each other where the Yukon i s and which i s the best way to get there; but even s t i l l there i s not one man i n a thousand who has any idea of the economic p o s s i b i l i t i e s of the vast unexplored area l y i n g to tfee east of the Yuk4», drained by r i v e r s i n comparison to which the already famous Klondyke i s a very small stream indeed. (12) According to William O g i l v i e * s personal r e c o l l e c t i o n s , both the Hon. Edgar Dewdney, Minister of the I n t e r i o r i n succession to the deceased Thomas White, and the Deputy Minister 79 of the Department, A.M. Burgess, were anxious to receive a l l possible information about the v i r t u a l l y unknown Yukon, and awaited O g i l v i e f s return to Ottawa i n January 1889 before taking any action respecting i t . O g i l v i e recommended that the Government take no action at that time, and Dewdney and h i s Deputy agreed. The Yukon should remain an unorganized region of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , a wilderness i n which anarchy, at least i n respect to government control and administration, would receive a sort of negative sanction from the federal c a p i t a l f o r the meanwhile. Not even a policeman would be posted there to symbolize Canadian authority. I t was decided to allow things to stand as they were f o r a while, but I was directed to keep my eye on the region, and whenever I thought i t time to take possession to n o t i f y the Department. In September 1893, I wrote to Mr. Burgess from Juneau, Alaska, where I was i n connection with the work of the International Boundary Commission, that I thought i t time we were moving i n the matter of establishing authority over the Yukon i n the g o l d - f i e l d s , or we might, i f the work were delayed, have to face annoyances, i f not complications through possession, without protest from us, by American c i t i z e n s . (13) A l l i n a l l t h i s seems to have been a rather r i s k y and cavalier attitude f o r responsible o f f i c i a l s of the Canadian Government to adopt. Presumably they agreed on such a p o l i c y as much f o r reasons of economy as f o r any others; i t was not worth sending even one agent of government into the Yukon u n t i l the expense was absolutely necessary; the miners i n the v a l l e y could regulate themselves u n t i l t h e i r presence threatened Canada's national i n t e r e s t s . When Ogil v i e at l a s t did advise 80 the Department of the Interior to take action in 1893 i t was because most of the miners were Americans, and Canada feared the consequences of effective control of any part of the Canadian domain by United States* citizens. The only influence capable of overcoming Canadian indifference to the north appears to have been external threats, particularly threats emanating from the United States. After Ogilvie l e f t the Yukon in 1888, increasing numbers of miners began to prospect up the river, and after 1892 when the Right Reverend William Carpenter Bompas, Bishop of the newly created Anglican diocese of Selkirk, took up residence in the settlement of Forty Mile, the federal govern-ment began to receive a series of letters calling attention to the i l l i c i t liquor t r a f f i c i n the region and the need for law enforcement among the polyglot throng of miners. (14) Bompas regarded the separation of a l l the regions of the \"north country\" from the prairies as \"essentially necessary\", recommended that a gun boat be sent from Victoria. B.C. to Herschel Island to regulate the American whalers, and advised that the Yukon valley was, ...entirely disconnected with Mackenzie River, not only by the barrier of the Rocky Mountains, but because a l l access i s from the Westward, so that we seem almost in another hemisphere. (15) William Ogilvie's advice, added to these sundry reports, persuaded the Federal Cabinet to send Inspector Charles 81 Constantine of the North-West Mounted Police to the Yukon country i n the summer of 1894 to investigate and report on the s i t u a t i o n there, to enforce Canadian j u r i s d i c t i o n i n a l l matters respecting government and to c o l l e c t customs duties. A l l these orders Constantine executed, being the f i r s t i n d i v i d u a l to enforce the laws of Canada i n the region. On h i s return to Regina i n the autumn of 1894 he commented that \"...although the Yukon d i s t r i c t has been up to the present time a sort of \"No-Man*s\"lland, the boundary between Alaska and the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s not having been defined or o f f i c i a l l y declared... f o r a mining camp the place i s very quiet.\" (16) Quiet or not, the Cabinet sent Constantine back to the Yukon i n 1895 with a party of twenty o f f i c e r s and men to est a b l i s h a permanent North-West Mounted Police post at Fort Cudahy on the Yukon River. (17) In October 1895 the Yukon was created a P r o v i n c i a l D i s t r i c t of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s with defined boundaries.(18) ThEee other pro v i s i o n a l d i s t r i c t s were established i n the north at the same time; Ungava, Mackenzie and Franklin. The Cabinet also announced i t s intention to add 470,000 square miles to the Keewatin D i s t r i c t , a proposal which would divide the whole of the unorganized and unnamed areas of the Dominion into provisional d i s t r i c t s . The necessity f o r the creation of a Yukon D i s t r i c t i n 1895 i s obvious, but the reason behind the d e f i n i t i o n of the three other pro v i s i o n a l d i s t r i c t s remains somewhat obscure, although t h i s l e g a l declaration marks the f i r s t display of 82 Canadian in t e r e s t i n the a r c t i c archipelago since Canada had acquired the uncertain t i t l e to i t i n 1880. Presumably the demands of the Yukon v a l l e y acted as a catalyst on Government policy towards a l l the unorganized areas of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . Reports of American maritime a c t i v i t i e s i n both the eastern and western A r c t i c waters had of course been a r r i v i n g i n Ottawa f o r many years, only to be customarily ignored. But now that developments i n the Yukon forced consideration of the northwest corner of the Dominion, the federal government might as well a v a i l i t s e l f of the opportunity to begin the organization of the T e r r i t o r i e s as a whole, commencing with the regions not yet explored. One obvious purpose of the Order i n Council establishing the four provisional d i s t r i c t s was to give notice to the world that Canada d e f i n i t e l y did regard the entire northern portion of the North American continent, including the off-shore islands, a l i k e the known and the undiscovered, as being part of her national estate. The geographical d e f i n i t i o n of the D i s t r i c t of Franklin contained considerable p o t e n t i a l international significance, f o r i t described Franklin as being of \" i n d e f i n i t e extent\". (19) The wording was t y p i c a l of Canadian action, f o r the D i s t r i c t of Franklin and consequently the northern boundary of Canada i t s e l f , thereby became an e l a s t i c geographic and l e g a l 83 formula. It could be made to include, i f desired, a l l lands up to the North Pole, lands both discovered and undiscovered. Thus Canada attempted to devise for herself a stretchable northern boundary that could include a l l possible land surfaces between the shores of the North American continent and the northern extremity of the globe, while at the same time exempting her-self from the trouble and expense of arctic discovery and exploration. While Ottawa was manoeuvering for the possible t e r r i t o r i a l expansion of Canada towards the Pole, the Yukon was coming under undisputed federal control. Throughout the years 1395 and 1396 the North-West Mounted Police detachment was successfully performing i t s assigned duties from Fort Cudahy while the number of miners in the valley rapidly increased and the value of gold discoveries multiplied. C i v i l government had been strengthened by the appointment of a Collector of Customs during 1396. (20) On August 17th 1896 George ¥. Carmack made the most famous of a l l Canadian gold-strikes in the sands of Bonanza Creek. (21) News of the Bonanza Creek discoveries reached Ottawa early in 1897, but the federal government remained skeptical of the reports coming out of the north. In the course of his Annual Report for the preceeding year the Deputy Minister of the Department of the Interior, A.M. Burgess, wrote in March 1897; 64 Reports have from time to time been received from him, (Wm. Ogilvie) which contain accounts of extraordinary f i n d s of gold i n the d i s t r i c t (the Yukon). Along the banks of the Klondak (sic) r i v e r and creeks which are t r i b u t a r y to i t , discoveries are reported of simply fabulous value•••• But i t should be mentioned by way of caution that Mr. O g i l v i e ' s statements represent not what he has seen or knows from personal observations, but what has been reported to him by others. (22) So the Canadian government made cautious preparations f o r the 1897 mining season i n the Yukon. Another detachment of North-West Mounted Police was despatched to r e l i e v e and augment the force stationed at Fort Cudahy since 1895. A c i v i l service s t a f f was sent to take charge of the growing mining admin-i s t r a t i o n ; Thomas Fawcett was appointed D i s t r i c t Gold Commissioner with a supporting s t a f f of two surveyors and four c l e r k s . (23) He arrived at the townsite of Dawson Ci t y on June 15th 1897 to inaugurate c i v i l administration i n the Yukon barely a month before the Klondike Stampede began. Even so he was overwhelmed by the amount of work awaiting him, and the complex d i f f i c u l t i e s created by the miners already i n the d i s t r i c t . (24) U n t i l 1897 the miners i n the Canadian Yukon had numbered i n the hundreds, probably never exceeding one thousand at any time, (25) and with few exceptions a l l of these were experienced prospectors, well able to take care of themselves i n the wilder-ness. They had no wives, no children, no f i x e d property and no expectation of remaining long i n one v i c i n i t y . Yet i n November 65 1896 O g i l v i e was a n t i c i p a t i n g the a r r i v a l of \"10,000 souls at l e a s t \" i n the Yukon within the next two years to a s s i s t i n the exp l o i t a t i o n of gold. (26) Apparently Ottawa discounted t h i s estimate i n the same proportion as i t did the reports of the gold p o t e n t i a l . Given the s o c i a l character of the miners, the remoteness of the Yukon v a l l e y , and the general expectations concerning the development of the T e r r i t o r i e s , Ottawa saw no need to provide such posi t i v e forms of government as municipal i n s t i t u t i o n s , or public health or schools, or even improved means of transportation or communication. Nor did i t even see the immediate need f o r a system of courts such as Og i l v i e and Constantine emphatically recommended i n t h e i r respective reports. (27) Consequently the North-West Mounted Police detachment commanded by Constantine and the six-man c i v i l mining s t a f f directed by Fawcett had to cope with every aspect of the a r r i v a l of the f i r s t wave of argonauts when they poured into the Yukon va l l e y i n the late summer of 1897. Yukon gold had caused excitement down the P a c i f i c Coast long before the riches of Bonanza Creek became international news. By the end of March 1897 rumours had caused a ferment i n Seattle and shortly a f t e r Vancouver became aware of the opportunities promised by the north. (28) When the North-West Mounted Police r e l i e f force s a i l e d from Vancouver on i t s way to 86 Fort Cudahy on A p r i l 11th, \"...a large crowd saw us o f f on the 1Charmer 1 and gave us three hearty cheers to which we r e p l i e d with a w i l l \" . (29) A number of miners from Nanaimo l a t e r boarded the same ship as the \"Mounties\", also bound f o r the Yukon. (30) At the same time the B r i t i s h Columbia Legislature was b u s i l y passing b i l l s permitting the construction of r a i l -ways into the northern hinterland of the province and the Yukon; on May 8th 1897 assent was given to four such railway acts. (31) I f the federal government heard reports of t h i s early excitement i n B r i t i s h Columbia and down the P a c i f i c coast, i t ignored them. I t had already made adequate preparations f o r the expected increase i n mining a c t i v i t y i n the Yukon D i s t r i c t by r e i n f o r c i n g the police and i n s t a l l i n g a c i v i l mining s t a f f there. No further action seemed to be required. Or so the Government of Canada continued to think u n t i l the month of July. The sensational world-wide newspaper coverage given to the a r r i v a l of the steamers 'Excelsior* at San Francisco on July 15th and the P o r t l a n d * at Seattle on July 17th, was the f i r s t alarm that registered meaningfully i n the ears of the national c a p i t a l * This excitement could not be ignored or discounted. Within a matter of days the American newspapers, followed by Canadian and B r i t i s h ones, had started the Klondike migration on i t s way to the north. (32) Within a week of the f i r s t headlines Canada's Secretary of State, R.W. Scott, was 67 informing the Prime Minister, then i n England, of the fabulous gold discoveries i n the Yukon, the tremendous rush of people into that country, and the necessity of taking prompt action to protect Canadian i n t e r e s t s . (33) Conditions now forced the Canadian government to act, and i n a state of almost panic i t began to do so. On July 26th Commissioner L.W. Herchmer of the North-West Mounted Police was summoned from Regina to Ottawa, and on July 30th he instructed Assistant Commissioner M c l l l r e e to leave f o r the Yukon as soon as possible with police reinforcements.(34) On August 24th, Before M c l l l r e e could leave Skagway, more police arrived i n port, accompanied by a party of s i x c i v i l servants from the Department of the I n t e r i o r . (35) Already a Yukon J u d i c i a l D i s t r i c t had been created by Proclamation on August 16th. (36) And on August 17th James Morrow Walsh, a r e t i r e d veteran of the North-West Mounted Police, was appointed Chief Executive O f f i c e r of the Government of Canada i n the Yfukon D i s t r i c t with the t i t l e of \"Commissioner\". (37) That Canadian m i n i s t r i e s ignored the developing problems of the Yukon during the 1690*s i s to a degree understandable i n view of the many other issues then dominating the federal scene. Frequent changes of leadership marked the f i n a l years of the Conservative Party's long reign i n Ottawa, and during the winter of 1695-96, when mining i n the Yukon v a l l e y was developing to 88 s i g n i f i c a n t importance, S i r Mackenzie Bowell's cabinet was disi n t e g r a t i n g i n a series of p o l i t i c a l convulsions. S i r Charles Tupper's government only held o f f i c e from May 1st to July 8th, I896, and during those weeks i t fought and l o s t a general e l e c t i o n . Then the Manitoba Schools Question occupied almost a l l the attention which any government could devote to western Canada during 1895 and I896, f o r no Canadian parliament had yet been able to sustain profound inter e s t i n any aspect of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s f o r more than a short period of time. When the L i b e r a l Party took o f f i c e on July 11th, I896, no Minister of the In t e r i o r was appointed f o r many months. While the gold of Bonanza Creek was being unearthed, and reports of i t s richness were slowly permeating \"outside\", the federal p o r t f o l i o responsible f o r the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s remained unoccupied. (38) Not u n t i l November 17th I896 did Laurier appoint C l i f f o r d S i f t o n Minister of the I n t e r i o r . S i f t o n was the Member of Parliament f o r Brandon, Manitoba. An Ontario-born lawyer who had set t l e d and prospered i n the West, he was naturally pre-occupied with the problems of the p r a i r i e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y with the need f o r a g r i c u l t u r a l settlement, and a massive immigration program which would bring t h i s about. He required time to f a m i l i a r i z e himself with h i s Department and to reform i t , f o r as a westerner he was i n whole-hearted agreement with those c r i t i c s who complained that 89 the Department of the Int e r i o r was, \"...a department of delay, a department of circumlocution, a department which t i r e d men to death who undertook to get any business transacted with it.\"(39) Furthermore i t was not u n t i l March 1897 that the subject of the Klondike was even drawn to h i s attention. (40) When the Laurier cabinet had to create Yukon p o l i c i e s i n the summer of 1897 during the absence of the Prime Minister i n Europe, r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e i r devising f e l l almost exclusively onto the shoulders of the Minister of the I n t e r i o r . The decisions the Government reached were la r g e l y Sifton*s decisions, although somewhat modified by the advice and pressure of h i s p o l i t i c a l colleagues both i n and out of Parliament. According to Sifton*s biographer, J.W. Dafoe. There were those who thought of the Yukon as a great permanent mining camp, which could be made an enduring source of wealth and revenue. Hence the suggestion that the miners should have only leasehold r i g h t s and that the State should p a r t i c i p a t e , through these leases and otherwise, i n the wealth that was to be produced i n u n f a i l i n g volume. To the Minister p o l i c i e s of t h i s kind seemed chimerical. To h i s mind the fate of other placer-mining f i e l d s would be the fate of the Klondike: i t would be invaded by a flood of fortune seekers, and i n the course of a short time i t would be dug out. The reasonable thing to do was to l e t things take t h i s course, getting some revenue out of the f i e l d by imposing a royalty, and securing f o r Canadian business houses the largest possible share of the r e s u l t i n g trade. (41) Thus Canada*s Yukon po l i c y came to be compounded of the following basic elements; the maintenance of Canadian sovereignty, the enforcement of c i v i l order, attempts to make the D i s t r i c t 90 y i e l d revenue s u f f i c i e n t to meet the expenses i t was causing, and schemes to benefit the Canadian economy generally. The Yukon would be made to serve \"the purposes of the Dominion\" as the resources of the entire North-West T e r r i t o r i e s had been designated to do since the year 1870. (42) So .the federal government devoted the concluding months of 1897 to attempts to keep the gold rush under e f f e c t i v e control, and to deciding what might be the future requirements of the Yukon. The Parliamentary Session of 1898 witnessed the unveiling of s p e c i f i c p o l i c i e s f o r the D i s t r i c t . Four days a f t e r the opening of Parliament the Laurier ministry introduced B i l l Number Six into the House of Commons on February 8th I898, \"...to confirm an agreement between Her Majesty the Queen and Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann and to incorporate the Canadian Yukon Railway Company. (43) I t i s a s i g n i f i c a n t i n d i c a t i o n of the Government's scale of p r i o r i t i e s that l e g i s l a t i o n respecting the p o l i t i c a l and c o n s t i t u t i o n a l status of the Yukon was not unveiled u n t i l May 18th, over three months l a t e r . The Yukon Railway B i l l immediately eclipsed a l l possible r i v a l s as the most controversial l e g i s l a t i o n of the Parliamentary session. I t was the Government's one major project f o r the Development of the Yukon, and was regarded by the Cabinet as the keystone of a l l other aspects of government i n the north. 91 As the Minister of Railways, A»G. B l a i r , explained when he introduced the B i l l ; We had to devise some means of solving the question as to how c i v i l government should be e f f e c t i v e l y established and carried on i n that region; we had to provide f o r the protection of l i f e and property and the general preservation of public order, and we f e l t that i n a great measure involving these was the question of providing proper transportation f a c i l i t i e s into and out of that country. (44) Canada's most ubiquitous railway contractors, William Mackenzie and Donald D. Mann were to b u i l d a railway approx-imately 150 miles i n length between the navigable waters of the Stikine River and T e s l i n Lake by September 1st I898. (45) They were also expected to b u i l d a sleigh-road or t r a i l which would be passable within s i x weeks of the signing of the contract. The contractors were to receive i n return a grant of 25,000 acres of land f o r every mile of railway b u i l t . Although the railway would l i e e n t i r e l y i n B r i t i s h Columbia the land would be granted i n the Yukon Provisional D i s t r i c t , or i n that region of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s l y i n g west of the Mackenzie and Liard r i v e r s . (46) As the Minister of Railways explained; \"We do not propose to give any money to the enterprise; we proposed that the Yukon t e r r i t o r y should pay f o r the railway\"• (47) Northern development should pay f o r i t s e l f ; i t should not be a charge on the national treasury. The proposed railway would create an essential l i n k i n an \"all-Canadian\" route between the Yukon and the rest of Canada. 92 From southern B r i t i s h Columbia ports coastal steamers would s a i l to Fort Wrangell, Alaska, near the mouth of the Stikine River. There passengers and cargo would be transferred to r i v e r vessels f o r the journey up-stream to Telegraph Creek, the southern terminus of the railway. Thanks to provisions of the 1871 Treaty of Washington, which guaranteed Canada the r i g h t of free navigation of the Stikine, i t was assumed i n Ottawa that both passengers and goods would be exempted from United States customs regulations when trans-shipping at Fort Wrangell f o r enforcement of the American regulations had already made use of the port of Skagway expensive and irksome f o r B r i t i s h subjects. (48) The Government's choice of the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n route suggests either a confused contradiction or a lack of f a i t h i n the f i n a l settlement of the Alaska boundary dispute i n favour of Canada's claims, which would place the head of the Lynn canal and the ports of Dyea and Skagway within the Province of B r i t i s h Columbia. (See p. 86, Note 31) From Telegraph Creek the railway would t r a v e l to a terminus on T e s l i n Lake, one of the sources of the Yukon River system, where transfer would be made to a second f l e e t of r i v e r steamers f o r an uninterrupted passage down-stream to Dawson City, or i f desired even to the r i v e r ' s mouth on the Bering Sea, and St. Michael's, Alaska. 93 When introducing the Canadian Yukon Railway B i l l the Minister of Railways t o l d the House of Commons; The Stikine route was decided on by the Government la r g e l y because i t afforded the nearest approach to an all-Canadian route that was possible under the circumstances; and i t becomes possible, or w i l l become possible i f i n the future there should be found to be any d i f f i c u l t y whatever i n the way of the use of the Stikine River or the approach to i t , as suggested... f o r the Government to have a railway connected with the railway known as the Stikine and T e s l i n Lake l i n e , extending from Telegraph Creek south, and then brought to an ocean point which i s purely and exclusively i n Canadian T e r r i t o r y , and thus guarantee us f o r a l l time against any possible contingency as regards our Canadian l i n e . . . . We have, as I have said, concluded that the railway must be b u i l t ; we have concluded that the proper s i t e f o r the railway under a l l the circum-stances i s from Telegraph Creek or from Stikine River to T e s l i n Lake. (49) Recently the Yukon Railway B i l l has been considered as one of the l a s t s i g n i f i c a n t steps i n the implementation of the \"National P o l i c y \" f i r s t devised by S i r John A. Macdonald i n I876; the domestic p o l i c y of economic nationalism based on railway building, immigration, settlement and protective t a r i f f s . Nevertheless the Glenora-Teslin Railway was the key to the successful application of the National Pol i c y i n the Yukon. Had i t been completed the Canadian Yukon would have been economically t i e d to central Canada i n the same way that the Canadian P a c i f i c Railway a decade e a r l i e r had linked the St. Lawrence va l l e y with the p r a i r i e s and B r i t i s h Columbia. Trade goods manufactured i n Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal might have been shipped over the Canadian P a c i f i c to the west coast, transported by water to Glenora and thence by another Canadian Railway to market. The \"all-Canadian\" route envisaged by Sifton as a counter to the American trade monopoly 94 was not simply a Canadian railway into the Yukon, but rather the l a s t l i n k i n a Canadian trade route that originated i n central Canada and terminated i n the wilds of the gold rush d i s t r i c t . (50) This \" n a t i o n a l i s t \" i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n railway project, whether advanced by a cabinet minister i n 1898 or analysed by a scholar i n 1965, remains an attempt to push awkward f a c t s into a t h e o r e t i c a l mould into which they cannot be made to f i t . Almost seventy years a f t e r the scheme was devised i t seems increasingly certain that the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n t r a i l could never have been developed into an economically viable railway route. The t e r r a i n was p h y s i c a l l y d i f f i c u l t . Access from tidewater was always awkward and f o r many months of the year v i r t u a l l y impossible, and i t could only be obtained from a port standing i n a precarious and eventually p r o h i b i t i v e p o l i t i c a l s i t u a t i o n . An author personally f a m i l i a r with the area wrote i n 1966; ...the Glenora-Teslin Lake t r a i l proved to be h e l l almost from start to f i n i s h and i t s length was estimated at a hundred and f i f t y miles. So much fo r the short portage! (51) The Yukon F i e l d Force, which used the route i n the summer of I898 to reach Fort Selkirk and Dawson C i t y did not f i n d the t r a i l quick or easy. Major-General E.T.H. Hutton, Commanding O f f i c e r of the Canadian M i l i t i a , commented; The march of t h i s force across an hitherto but l i t t l e known and very d i f f i c u l t country was conducted with judgement and s k i l l on the part of the o f f i c e r i n command. The d i f f i c u l t i e s encountered were not unlike those experienced by the Red River Expedition i n 1870. (52) 95 The very f a c t that i t took the Yukon F i e l d Force from May to September to traverse the 200 walking miles of the t r a i l from Telegraph Creek to T e s l i n Lake speaks f o r i t s e l f . (53) And i t was over t h i s t e r r a i n that the federal government expected Mackenzie and Mann to complete a passable t r a i l within s i x weeks of the signature of a contract, and to construct a railway almost to completion by September 1st 1896. As the Minister of Railways t o l d the House of Commons, \"Yes, i t i s absolutely a gamble, nothing more and nothing l e s s \" . (54) I t was indeed, and the government bets were l a i d on a long-odds runner. In 1897 the B r i t i s h Columbia government had chartered the Ifl/hite Pass and Yukon Railway to b u i l d from tidewater at Skagway to the headwaters of the Yukon River and i t seems obvious i n retrospect (as i t did to many people actually i n the Yukon during the winter of 1897-98) that t h i s route would have every commercial advantage over the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n project. (55) Coastal steamers could reach the railway terminus at tidewater, subtracting one trans-shipment point; only 40 miles of r a i l would have to be l a i d , compared to 150 on the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n t r a i l , before a navigable portion of the Yukon River system was reached, and the railway would be producing revenue. C l i f f o r d Sifton estimated the average journey from Vancouver to Dawson over the Stikine route to be thirteen days; three days from 96 Vancouver to Wrangell; two days from Wrangell to Telegraph Creek, one day from Telegraph Creek to T e s l i n , and seven days from T e s l i n Lake to Dawson C i t y . (56) With quick connections Dawson could be reached from Vancouver v i a Skagway and the White Pass and Yukon route within a week. (57) Furthermore the S t i k i n e -T e s l i n route would be impractical f o r many months of the year; Sifton himself stated that the water portions of the route would only be open from approximately the 15th or 20th of May to the 1st of November. (58) Construction of the railway between Telegraph Creek and the shores of T e s l i n Lake would have been phy s i c a l l y d i f f i c u l t and expensive, while the r i v e r l i n k s with both termini would have ra i s e d operating costs to p r o h i b i t i v e l e v e l s , e s p e c i a l l y i f the completed l i n e had been forced to compete with an operating White Pass and Yukon route. The \" n a t i o n a l i s t \" i n s p i r e d Canadian Yukon Railway scheme never made p r a c t i c a l economic sense, and d e t a i l s of the contract doomed i t to p o l i t i c a l f a i l u r e . The Conservative opposition i n Parliament took vi o l e n t exception to the route the Government had chosen, the r e l i a b i l i t y of Fort Wrangell as a port of tr a n s f e r i n the context of Canadian-United States r e l a t i o n s , the manner i n which the contract with Mackenzie and Mann had been signed without tender or competition, and p a r t i c u l a r l y the enormous land grant of three m i l l i o n acres i n the potential gold-bearing regions of the north. (59) In addition i t entertained suspicions concerning 97 the p o l i t i c a l and f i n a n c i a l advantages which the L i b e r a l Party-hoped to reap from the Canadian Yukon Railway agreement. (60) A f t e r furious debates of considerable length the Yukon Railway B i l l did pass through the House of Commons, although the Government received a reduced majority on i t s t h i r d reading. However the Conservative majority i n the Senate emphatically defeated the B i l l on March 30, 1898, by a vote of 52 to 14. (6l) Another defeat had already been suffered by the Yukon Railway B i l l i n another l e g i s l a t u r e f a r distant from Ottawa. The United States Senate had noted a monopoly clause i n the Mackenzie and Mann contract, which i t took to be a direc t and dangerous threat to the best i n t e r e s t of America i n Alaska. (62) A Gommittee of the United States Senate was considering an Alaska Railway B i l l i n the opening months of I898. In r e t a l -i a t i o n f o r the monopoly clause i n the Canadian l e g i s l a t i o n , the Committee began to attach to the Senate B i l l various provisions which would deny Canada bonding p r i v i l e g e s at the Lynn Canal and elsewhere i n United States* t e r r i t o r y . Even the free bonding of American-caught f i s h across Canadian t e r r i t o r y on the North A t l a n t i c Coast would have been prohibited. (63) Also the United States Government was not disposed to allow Canada to use Fort Wrangell, the sea terminus of the St i k i n e -T e s l i n route, as a free port. The Treaty of Washington might have granted Canada.the ri g h t of free navigation of the Stikine 9 8 River i n 1671, (64) but that r i g h t did not include the use of Fort Wrangell as a duty-free transfer point, l e a s t of a l l f o r use as a junction on \"all-Canadian\" route to the Yukon gold f i e l d s . But i f the United States did not grant Canada free transfer r i g h t s or p r i v i l e g e s at Fort Wrangell, the S t i k i n e -T e s l i n railway would not be a viable \"all-Canadian\" route. Unfortunately the Canadian government did not check on i t s r i g h t s at Fort Wrangell before i t h a s t i l y signed the Mackenzie and Mann contract. Even had the Canadian Parliament approved the Canadian Yukon Railroad B i l l , American h o s t i l i t y would have aborted the project. Once the Yukon Railway B i l l had been k i l l e d i n the Canadian Senate, the United States Senate saw f i t to remove the r e s t r i c t i v e provisions i n i t s own l e g i s l a t i o n . When the American Alaska Railway B i l l was approved on May 14th I898, i t provided f o r r e c i p r o c a l Canadian and American mining r i g h t s by t h e i r respective c i t i z e n s , and also f o r r e c i p r o c a l bonding and trans-shipment p r i v i l e g e s . (65) The Laurier government was profoundly annoyed by the destruction of the key-stone of i t s Yukon p o l i c i e s , and f o r a few months a f t e r the defeat of the Canadian Yukon Railway B i l l S i f t o n gave consideration to alternative Yukon railway projects. However construction of the White Pass and Yukon Railway began on May 28th I898, (66) and the federal government as well as 99 Mackenzie and Mann soon l o s t enthusiasm f o r the o r i g i n a l project, or any other alternatives, once t h i s formidable r i v a l was being b u i l t . (67) The success of the p r i v a t e l y financed White Pass and Yukon Railway before the Dominion government could launch a second railway scheme removed the necessity f o r such a project, f o r the White Pass quickly achieved the objectives the Stikine T e s l i n railway was expected to a t t a i n . At the end of the 1900 mining season the Commanding O f f i c e r of the North West Mounted Police i n the Yukon reported; \" i n former years the class of goods shipped i n here were mostly of American manufacture, but of the goods shipped i n during the past season, i t i s generally estimated that between 75 and 80 per cent were Canadian\". (68) As subsequent events revealed, the supposed American trade monopoly i n the Yukon was only a temporary phenonenon, not an i n t e n t i o n a l l y planned economic agression. Thanks to the long, i f slowly developing trade between the American P a c i f i c coast ports and Alaska, the United States possessed a natural head sta r t i n the Yukon trade once the gold rush began. The Yukon r i v e r system, entered from the delta on the Bering Sea, remained the only f e a s i b l e entry f o r heavy cargoes into the Canadian Yukon as well as the i n t e r i o r of Alaska u n t i l the White Pass and Yukon Railway was completed. American traders had the 100 experience and \"know-how\"; they had the basic c a p i t a l equipment, espe c i a l l y i n respect to shipping. The economic battle f o r the Yukon trade was not so much one between Canada and the United States as between the port of Seattle and every other c i t y on the P a c i f i c coast, Canadian or American. (69) Once i t became apparent that Canadian economic int e r e s t s could hold t h e i r own i n the Yukon, Ottawa rapidly l o s t i t s sense of urgent concern fo r the new t e r r i t o r y . Seven weeks a f t e r the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n Railway scheme met defeat party tempers had cooled and Parliamentary inte r e s t i n the Yukon was already subsiding. On May 18th the Minister of Justice, the Hon. David M i l l s , introduced a \"Government of the Yukon D i s t r i c t B i l l \" into the Canadian Senate. On May 25th the B i l l received second reading, and on May 27th, a f t e r b r i e f discussion, t h i r d and f i n a l reading. (70) In the House of Commons i t was given even l e s s debate and an even more rapid passage. On May 31st the l e g i s l a t i o n was given f i r s t reading, on June 2nd, second and t h i r d reading, and on June 13 Royal Assent. (71) Obviously other aspects of the gold rush i n t e r -ested Parliament much more than the p o l i t i c a l and administrative fate of the Yukon, which was now to become a separate t e r r i t o r y . A \"Commissioner\" would become i t s chief executive o f f i c e r and he, assisted by a council of six appointed members, would govern the t e r r i t o r y under instructions from the Governor i n Council or the Minister of the I n t e r i o r . (72) C l i f f o r d S i f t o n t o l d the House 101 of Commons; The general scheme of the B i l l i s to adopt as f a r as possible the p r i n c i p l e s of the old North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act. The only r a d i c a l departure from that i s , I think, that we have not provided f o r any el e c t i v e members of the c o u n c i l . (73) However he went on to explain that the Yukon B i l l was only intended to be a temporary measure, ...to clothe the Government with power to maintain order and administer the country f o r a year or two u n t i l we s h a l l have a better opportunity of knowing what kind of a community we s h a l l have to provide laws f o r . As a matter of course, i f a permanent population establishes i t s e l f i n the d i s t r i c t , some representative system s i m i l a r i n p r i n c i p l e to what was given to the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s w i l l have to be provided f o r l a t e r on. (74) The Minister of Justice had e a r l i e r expounded a s i m i l a r l i n e of reasoning to the Senate. Very few, perhaps none, have gone into that country (the Yukon) with the exception of becoming permanently domiciled there. They go there f o r the purpose of acquiring a fortune at as early a period as possible and withdrawing from the country as soon as that fortune i s acquired, and so i t was necessary to keep i n view that f a c t i n the constitution of a government f o r the country. We have endeavoured to provide as simple a system of government as i t was possible to provide. We, of course, provide the measure not so much as one of a permanent nature but as a tentative measure necessary to meet the exigencies of the case at the present moment and u n t i l the govern-ment and parliament can acquire further information and we may be i n a better position, at no distant day, to a l t e r or amend i t , or to provide a system of government suitable to the circumstances of the country than we are at the present moment. (75) M i l l s also described the Minister of the I n t e r i o r revealingly, as standing towards the T e r r i t o r y , \" . . . i n much the same position as the Secretary of State does towards a colony that i s just struggling into existance.\" (76) 102 In the l i g h t of Sifton*s b e l i e f that the Klondike would quickly be dug out, the number of American c i t i z e n s i n the area, and v o l a t i l e character of mining f r o n t i e r s generally, the p o l i t i c a l provisions of the Yukon Act seem reasonable and appropriate. While announcing an intention to give the Yukon representative i n s t i t u t i o n s at a suitable time, the Government avoided any commitments concerning when, or under what con-d i t i o n s , such i n s t i t u t i o n s might be introduced. Nor did the Government so much as murmur a word about the establishment of a L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly. David M i l l s * explanation of the re l a t i o n s h i p between the Yukon Government and the Minister of the I n t e r i o r revealed the extent to which S i r John A. Macdonald* c o l o n i a l view of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s had been adopted by the Laurier L i b e r a l s once they were i n power, even by David M i l l an author of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875. The Yukon would have to f l o u r i s h as a colony of Ottawa, with i t s Commissioner having only as much freedom of action as distance and the d i f f i c u l t i e s of communications made necessary. (77) In fact the choice of the t i t l e \"Commissioner\" seems to have been a s i g n i f i c a n t i n d i c a t i o n of Ottawa's attitude and intentions towards the new northern t e r r i t o r y . The Keewatin \" D i s t r i c t \" s t i l l had a Lieutenant Governor, but the Yukon \" T e r r i t o r y \" was given as chief executive an o f f i c e r with the precedent-making t i t l e of \"Commissioner\". The Minister of Justice explained; 1 0 3 ...we do not wish to convey any erroneous impression by the adoption f o r the chief executive o f f i c e r of a high-sounding t i t l e that might have the ef f e c t of misleading him with regards to the nature of the duties with which he was intrusted. (78) And around the t i t l e of \"Lieutenant Governor\" floa t e d a certain c o n s t i t u t i o n a l significance, a p o t e n t i a l i t y f o r the t r a d i t i o n a l processes of parliamentary evolution. In the unknown north the federal government was not prepared to take any more chances than circumstances forced i t to do. There was to be no grain of sand, l i k e a Lieutenant Governor, around which a dubious pearl l i k e responsible government might grow. For responsible government had only been granted to the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s i n the autumn of 1897, and the Laurier administration seems to have been determined to confine the scope of that long desired p o l i t i c a l g i f t exclusively to the provisional p r a i r i e d i s t r i c t s of Athabasca, Assiniboia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The decision to cut the Yukon out of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s was reached f o r a variety of reasons. The Yukon va l l e y did form a d e f i n i t e geographical unit; the r i v e r basin was divided from the rest of the T e r r i t o r i e s by the Rocky Mountains and was most e a s i l y accessible from the P a c i f i c Coast. To i t s inhabitants i t seemed, i n Bishop Bompas's words, almost \"another hemisphere\". To o f f i c i a l s i n Ottawa i t seemed a forbidding sub-arctic waste, f i t only f o r mining, and c e r t -a i n l y not suitable f o r permanent a g r i c u l t u r a l settlement. The composition of i t s population and i t s exclusively gold-based 104 economy made i t unique. Hence i t ought to be made a separate t e r r i t o r y , f o r i t had nothing i n common with the p r a i r i e s , which now were under the control, i n most important respects, of a responsible ministry i n Regina. Since 1870 at lea s t , every federal government had been sure of the Tightness of i t s own judgement and d i s t r u s t f u l of the wisdom of a l l p r o v i n c i a l and t e r r i t o r i a l governments to whom power might be delegated. Although Sifton had played an important role i n the decision to grant responsible government to the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s i n 1897, he was determined to keep a l l t e r r i t o r i a l lands and resources i n the hands of Ottawa, and h i s determination applied as much to the Yukon as to the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . The achievement of responsible government by the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s may even have played a part i n the decision to separate the Yukon from the res t of the T e r r i t o r i e s , f o r such a concentration of population as the Yukon could boast i n 1893 would be e n t i t l e d to representation i n the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly at Regina. As S i f t o n wished to maintain complete and s t r i c t f ederal control over every aspect of the Yukon, such represent-ation might well threaten f e d e r a l authority over the northern gold f i e l d s , and perhaps even Canadian sovereignty i n that remote f r o n t i e r area. 105 The f a c t that the government of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s had been granted responsible government i n 1897, but not control over T e r r i t o r i a l lands and resources, now began to influence Regina's attitudes to the Klondike, and to complicate the administration of the Yukon. The T e r r i t o r i a l Government was i n a f i n a n c i a l vice, squeezed between the limi t e d revenues i t could rais e by taxation or borrowing, and the rapidly increasing expenditures i t was forced to make by the federal Government's successful immigration campaigns, which were beginning to bring a r i s i n g flood of farmers to s e t t l e on the western plains. (79) Ottawa continued to apportion inadequate f i n a n c i a l grants to the T e r r i t o r i a l Government even though i t had demonstrated i n 18^ 97 greater c o n s t i t u t i o n a l l i b e r a l i t y than at any previous time. Once responsible government had been secured one of the f i r s t actions taken by Premier Frederick W. Haultain's ministry was to attempt to raise funds f o r the T e r r i t o r i a l treasury i n the Yukon provisional d i s t r i c t . Through the North-West Mounted Police and the mining o f f i c i a l s of the Department of the Int e r i o r , the f ederal government was bearing almost the entire expense of Yukon administration, but the Yukon D i s t r i c t nevertheless remained as much a part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s as any of the other provisional d i s t r i c t s . On January 22nd and 29th, 1#9#, the Lieutenant Governor of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s conferred on G.H.V. Bulyea, a member of h i s new Executive Council, the 106 \"powers\" and \" r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s \" of administering the T e r r i t o r i a l laws and j u r i s d i c t i o n \" i n that portion of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s c a l l e d the Yukon Provisional D i s t r i c t \" . (80) He did so as the federal government, at Sifton's d i r e c t i o n , gave the T e r r i t o r i a l Government emphatic notice by telegram and l e t t e r that i t intended to keep l i q u o r under i t s own co n t r o l . This intention the T e r r i t o r i a l Government f e l t i t s e l f c o n s t i t u t i o n -a l l y empowered to ignore. (81) On February 14th 1898 Bulyea arrived i n Skagway. and on that day began a prolonged clash between the Canadian and the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s governments which reached i t s climax on May 21st on the streets of Dawson i n a public argument between Bulyea and Commissioner Walsh, and concluded i n the law courts of the Yukon T e r r i t o r y the following July. (82) Bulyea challenged Walsh's claims to superior and exclusive authority i n the Provisional D i s t r i c t and attempted to exert a l l the rights of the Government of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . Immed-i a t e l y a f t e r h i s a r r i v a l i n Dawson on A p r i l 11, I898, he established a three-member Board of Commissioners to regulate the sale of l i q u o r . The Board quickly collected licence fees t o t a l l i n g $24»962. (83) When Commissioner Walsh denied Bulyea*s authority, Bulyea resorted to the T e r r i t o r i a l Courts, and only a series of dubious delaying t a c t i c s by Walsh, h i s l e g a l o f f i c e r s and Judge McGuire prevented a decision being reached 107 before the news reached Dawson that the proclamation of the Yukon Act on June 13, 1&9&$ had indisputably removed the Yukon beyond the j u r i s d i c t i o n of Regina* In f a c t the belated j u d i c i a l decision upheld the authority of Bulyea and the Government of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , and so the T e r r i t o r i a l treasury could at l e a s t r e t a i n the monies i t had raised from the bars of the Klondike. The L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s reacted to the establishment of a separate Yukon T e r r i t o r y with a unanimous expression of i t s views. That while the cutting o f f of the Yukon J u d i c i a l D i s t r i c t may have been done i n the general i n t e r e s t s of the country, we cannot but view with apprehension any i n d i c a t i o n of a policy on the part of Parliament tending to the disin t e g r a t i o n of the T e r r i t o r i e s as they are at present constituted, and note with s a t i s -f a c t i o n that the Government took the necessary steps to exercise t h e i r j u r i s d i c t i o n i n the Yukon D i s t r i c t , and w i l l await with i n t e r e s t the report of the member of the Executive Council entrusted with that duty. That we admit with His Honour that one of the most important duties devolving upon the Government arose from the imperative and immediate necessity f o r regulating the importation and sale of in t o x i c a t i n g l i q u o r i n the Yukon D i s t r i c t , and are pleased to be informed that t h i s work has been done with great care and consideration and that a statement of the action taken w i l l be shortly l a i d before us. ( 8 4 ) The Yukon l i q u o r l i c e n c i n g incident i l l u s t r a t e s the in t e n s i t y of the federal government's determination to keep the Yukon exclusively under i t s own di r e c t control, even to the extent of ignoring the co n s t i t u t i o n a l d i v i s i o n of powers i t had 108 introduced i t s e l f . T e r r i t o r i e s were expected to submit to the wishes of Ottawa even i n cases i n which they were not l e g a l l y obliged to do so. Although the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s might have a nominal size of more than three m i l l i o n square miles, i t s elected government was only expected, and intended, to administer the p r a i r i e s from the boundaries of Manitoba to those of B r i t i s h Columbia, and from the 49th to the 60th p a r a l l e l s . The remainder of northern Canada only remained part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s to suit the administrative convenience, or the disinterest, of the Government of Canada. Later events f u l l y j u s t i f i e d the \"apprehension\" of the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s expressed i n August I896 concerning the federal intention to disintegrate the T e r r i t o r i e s as they were presently constituted. The creation of a Yukon T e r r i t o r y traced the handwriting on the wall f o r the creation of two provinces, not one, out of the p r a i r i e portions of the T e r r i t o r i e s , once i t s government was able to demand p r o v i n c i a l status i n 1905• I896 produced the the f i r s t appearance of the Laurier Government's p r a c t i c a l philosophy of Confederation: i t should be a federal system i n which each component province was as equal as possible i n respect to potential as well as present size, wealth, population and influence. In those areas i n which the federal government intended to rule, i t would brook no r i v a l s . (85) 109 Nothing mirrored more c l e a r l y the changing p o l i c i e s but persistent attitudes of the federal government towards the northern t e r r i t o r i e s than the mining regulations applied to the Yukon. Those developing regulations variously r e f l e c t the perennial d i s i n t e r e s t i n the northern f r o n t i e r , the alarm and concern once Americans began to intrude i n s i g n i f i c a n t numbers into the gold f i e l d s , the quick determination to make Klondike gold pay f o r the expenses i t was causing the government, and f i n a l l y the adoption of a p o l i c y which would safely permit Canada to relax back into an attitude of safe d i s i n t e r e s t once the c r i s i s of the gold rush was past. Up to 1897 very few mines of economic significance had f a l l e n under the j u r i s d i c t i o n of the Dominion Government. Coal mining i n the Alberta Provisional D i s t r i c t , so very d i f f e r e n t i n every respect from placer mining on sub-arctic r i v e r beds, furnished the only appreciable mining experience the Department of the I n t e r i o r had encountered i n any part of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . (86) When the f i r s t gold was discovered i n the Canadian Yukon during the 1880*s, the mining regulations nominally i n force there were i n an embryonic state and bore l i t t l e r e l a t i o n to actual conditions i n the north. (87) Such regulations as the Department of the I n t e r i o r had formulated were based primarily on B r i t i s h Columbia mining laws, \"...and were i l l - s u i t e d indeed to a region where eternal f r o s t could be found almost anywhere a foot or so beneath the surface\". (88) 110 The sensational p u b l i c i t y of July 1897 exaggerated accounts of the richness of the Klondike gold many f o l d , but such was the hysteria of the times that the Laurier Cabinet accepted them at face value, and s w i f t l y imposed a royalty of ten percent on a l l gold mined i n the Yukon. (89) Following B r i t i s h precedent Canada did not attempt to prevent a l i e n s from making mining claims i n her t e r r i t o r y , but as the majority of miners were Americans who would be exporting any gold they might discover, and as one of the chief objectives of the Government was to contain and reduce United States influence i n the north, i t determined to secure a share of the mineral production i n order to attempt to make the gold royalty revenue approximate administrative expenditure. Thus the ten percent royalty was imposed despite vociferous objections from Dawson Cit y . (90) In January 1898 the Department of the I n t e r i o r promul-gated additional mining regulations which provoked much more b i t t e r and long-lived h o s t i l i t y than even the gold royalty had aroused. I t formulated regulations which would encourage the development of large scale mining by hydraulic methods, and i t granted a lease to an English mining engineer, Robert Anderson, permitting him to begin hydraulic operations on an unclaimed section of Hunker Creek. (91) Then another Englishman appeared on the Yukon Mining scene, the ingenious and cantankerous former I l l schoolmaster. A.C.N. Treadgold, who became the f i r s t man to begin the consolidation of claims and mining operations on the Klondike. (92) Between 1899 and 1902 Treadgold devoted h i s energies to buying up claims of Bonanza Creek. During the same period he simultaneously persuaded the Dominion Government to grant a charter to companies he controlled, giving them the exclusive and automatic r i g h t of reversion of a l l lapsed claims on Bonanza Creek. (93) Such a concession aroused understandably the alarm and wrath of almost every independent miner i n the Yukon, whose opportunity to compete f o r such lapsed claims was completely abrogated. Nevertheless, f o r a variety of reasons, the Laurier Government stood resolutely behind the Treadgold Concession. Indeed i t had every reason f o r encouraging the development of hydraulic mining i n the Yukon, and hardly one f o r opposing i t , or sympathizing with the i n d i v i d u a l miners who denounced the scheme and i t s far-reaching consequences. Hydraulic mining would have to be undertaken by a few large corporations, not by a legion of independent miners. Most of the miners i n the Yukon were foreigners, untrained, unskilled, i n e f f i c i e n t , and l i k e l y to become charges on an unwilling and unprepared t e r r i t o r i a l government. Corporations would be easier f o r government to deal with, to control, and to extract revenue from than a 112 multitude of small claim holders who, once they had \"struck i t r i c h \" , would leave the country with at least ninety percent of t h e i r r i c h e s . Corporations would produce gold, and tax revenues, f o r longer and with fewer associated problems, than i n d i v i d u a l miners. Naturally the most s i g n i f i c a n t s o c i a l consequence of the consolidated hydraulic mining corporations would be a reduction i n the Yukon's population. Fewer miners would require fewer merchants and fewer provisioners of services. But then the Government was not interested i n the establishment of a large permanent population i n the north. (94) As so much of the p r a i r i e s s t i l l awaited settlement and development the northern t e r r i t o r i e s could best serve the Dominion's i n t e r e s t s by remaining a \"national bank rest\", a reserve of unappraised resources which should await exploitation at some unspecified time i n a f a r distant future. Hydraulic methods soon began to predominate a l l gold mining operations on the Klondike and i t s t r i b u t a r y r i v e r s a f t e r 1900, and the v i c t o r y of the new method accelerated the inevitable decline of the Yukon's population from the zenith reached i n 1899. (95) Nevertheless the federal government began to give the Yukon T e r r i t o r y an ever increasing measure of representative i n s t i t u t i o n s as the gold rush gradually subsided. In 1899 Parliament made provision f o r the election of two members to the T e r r i t o r i a l Council; (96) i n 1902 the elected 113 members were increased to f i v e ; (97) and i n 1908 the Council was made an e n t i r e l y representative body composed of ten elected members, (98) In 1902 the Yukon Representation Act made the T e r r i t o r y an e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t with one seat i n the House of Commons. (99) The fewer the number of people who remained i n the Yukon, the more p o l i t i c a l representation they were given. But power remained concentrated i n Ottawa; the Yukon Council i n Dawson remained only a public \"safety valve\", not a responsible l o c a l government. In respect to the Yukon the fundamental error of C l i f f o r d S i f t o n and h i s successor as Minister of the In t e r i o r , Frank Oliver, was one of timing. I f the gold rush had collapsed a f t e r one or two seasons, as Si f t o n r e a l i s t i c a l l y expected i n 1897. the government's p o l i c i e s would have been vindicated. However the staggering i n f l u x of people into the Yukon v a l l e y i n 1897 and I898, followed by the amazing continuation of the prosperity of the gold f i e l d s , persuaded Ottawa to change i t s f i r s t judgement of the s i t u a t i o n i n the north, and a l t e r i t s i n i t i a l p o l i c i e s . I n s t a l l a t i o n of Representative i n s t i t u t i o n s and an elaborate administrative apparatus had only just been completed when the Yukon's population declined to a number barely able to support such a superstructure of government. Thus the Dominion f e l l into a dilemma of i t s own creation, a dilemma o r i g i n a t i n g from the lack of mature and coherent plans 114 f o r either the economic or p o l i t i c a l development of any part of Canada's northern t e r r i t o r i e s . In the Yukon the federal govern-ment had to face up to the problems of dismembering or reducing the system of t e r r i t o r i a l government i t had belatedly and unnecessarily created. CHAPTER V. THE SECURING OF CANADIAN ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY For Canada the most s i g n i f i c a n t consequence of the Klondike Gold Rush, both i n t e r n a l l y and i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y , proved to be the Alaska Boundary Question. The boundary between Alaska and B r i t i s h North America had long been agreed upon according to the provisions of the Anglo-Russian Treaty signed on February 28th, 1825. That document stated that the boundary across the neck of the Alaskan peninsula from the shore of the \"frozen Ocean\" south to the P a c i f i c l i t t o r a l should be the 141st meridian of West Longitude. However the boundary running the length of the Alaskan pan-handle was defined i n much l e s s precise terms. I t was to follow \"the summit of the mountains which extend i n a d i r e c t i o n p a r a l l e l to the coast, from the 56th degree of north l a t i t u d e to the point of inter s e c t i o n of the 141st degree of west longitude\".(l) In f a c t there was no continuous range of mountains p a r a l l e l to the coast; verbal d e f i n i t i o n s bore no s i m i l a r i t y to geographical r e a l i t y . Did the boundary l i n e follow every twist i n the sinuous Alaskan coast, at a distance of ten leagues from the sea? Or did i t follow a course p a r a l l e l to the \"general trend\" of the coast? a l i n e which would place the heads of many i n l e t s within B r i t i s h North America, and not i n Alaska? The question remained unresolved a f t e r 182$, and indeed i t was seldom even proposed. Neither during the Russian or the American regimes i n 116 Alaska was the pan-handle delimited. No government saw the necessity of such a d i f f i c u l t and costly project. The Gold Rush, however, made agreement upon the location of a precise boundary a matter of urgent importance. The whole issue of control of the entry ports into the gold f i e l d s was at stake. Was the head of the Lynn Canal, including the ports of Dyea and Skagway, r i g h t f u l l y part of the B r i t i s h Columbia coast? Or was that strategic region part of Alaska? and thus as much a part of the United States as i t was p h y s i c a l l y controlled by Americans up to 1897. Since 1825 the matter of boundary delimitation had been discussed on several occasions, but l i t t l e had been done to s e t t l e the issue. During the years 1892-1895 a j o i n t United States-Canada Commission had made a survey of the boundary region, but the Commissioners submitted t h e i r report on December 31, 1895, and before any action was taken on t h e i r findings the Klondike Rush had commenced. Agreement on ah international boundary then became a matter of immediate p r a c t i c a l necessity. Thus on May 9th, 1898 the United States and Great B r i t a i n agreed to a temporary demarcation of the boundary i n the v i c i n i t y of the Lynn Canal. Such a demarcation would not be permanently binding on eit h e r party, and would only remain i n e f f e c t u n t i l both nations reached agreement on a f i n a l settlement. Negotiations as protracted as they were 117 unproductive followed from 1898 to 1903, and the temporary \"modus vivendi\" boundary remained i n e f f e c t while the gold rush waxed and waned. On January 24th 1903 the United States and Great B r i t a i n agreed to submit the ultimate d e f i n i t i o n of the Alaska boundary to a t r i b u n a l of \" s i x impartial j u r i s t s of repute\". From the moment the American members of the Tribunal were appointed the aggressive intention and bad f a i t h of the United States* government became apparent - at least to Canadians. (2) President Theodore Roosevelt's appointees might or might not be \" j u r i s t s of repute\", but they c e r t a i n l y were not impartial* (3) When the Tribunal announced i t s decision of October 20th, 1903, Canada's worst fears were f u l l y confirmed. The judgement was i n almost complete agreement with the American contention i n the question. I t decided that the heads of a l l the i n l e t s were d e f i n i t e l y i n United States* t e r r i t o r y , and that the boundary should follow a l i n e approximately t h i r t y miles inland from the serpentine coast, not a l i n e approximating the coast's general trend. Canada would have no outlet to tidewater north of the mouth of the Nass River. The Two Canadian Commissioners, A l l a n Aylesworth and S i r Louis Jette, refused to sign the majority decision and published t h e i r own dissenting opinion, which declared the award \"nothing l e s s than a grotesque travesty of j u s t i c e \" , 118 \" t o t a l l y unsupported either by argument or authority, and i t was, moreover, i l l o g i c a l * 1 1 (4) The president of the Tribunal, Lord Alverstone, voted with the American Commissioners, presumably i n order to serve the wide \"best i n t e r e s t s \" of Imperial foreign p o l i c y . But f o r Canada the service of those \"best i n t e r e s t s \" was no consolation f o r the s a c r i f i c e of t e r r i t o r y which she believed to be r i g h t l y hers. Understand-ably the Tribunal*s decision blew up i n a storm of indignation and alarm throughout the Dominion. On the same day that the Alaska Boundary Tribunal published i t s judgement, October 20th 1903, Senator Pascal P o i r i e r raised the subject i n the Canadian Senate. (5) He spoke i n order to \"wake up\" and \" d i r e c t the attention of the government to the threat of American encirclement of Canada i n the north.\" (6) While P o i r i e r could f i n d no f a u l t with the l e g a l i t y of the Tribunal's judgement, he thought; . . . i t i s time we c a l l e d a h a l t and looked forward to see how many other s l i c e s we may be c a l l e d upon to part with, and see i f we cannot avert t h i s process of dismembering our bea u t i f u l Dominion.... Shall we wait u n t i l we are e n t i r e l y e n c i r c l e d by them (U.S.A.) before opening our eyes to coming dangers. I would say imminent dangers, which are staring us i n the face? The next possible a r b i t r a t i o n may be concerning Hudson Bay. Supposing at that time Greenland should be a possession of the United States, just how the ir o n c i r c l e would inclose us and how our chances would be increased of l o s i n g another s l i c e , as occurred i n t h i s l a s t a r b i t r a t i o n here, i n any a r b i t r a t i o n concerning Hudson Bay? (7) 119 No doubt such American encirclement would lead to Canada making more s a c r i f i c e s i n the best i n t e r e s t of the Empire as a whole - unless she took precautions to secure what she claimed to be her own* Just consider what our p o s i t i o n w i l l be i f the Americans discover the North Pole and take possession of i t . Although possibly there i s no economic value attached to i t at present, what i s now just an academic and geographical point would become a p o l i t i c a l f a c t o r of great importance. (8) Apparently Senator P o i r i e r was unaware that the Canadian Government had already gone to the defense of the northern boundaries of the Dominion. The b e l l i g e r a n t stance of the United States on the Alaska Boundary Tribunal had broken the back of more than t h i r t y years' indifference to the Canadian A r c t i c . (9) In the spring of 1903 the North West Mounted Police received orders to e s t a b l i s h posts i n the Canadian A r c t i c . Commissioner A. Bowen Perry remarked i n the course of h i s Annual Report f o r the year; They stand f o r law and good order, and show that no matter what the cost, nor how remote the region, the laws of Canada w i l l be enforced, and the native population protected. (10) Such objectives would c e r t a i n l y furnish an admirable objective f o r future Canadian p o l i c y towards the north, no matter how inaccurately they r e f l e c t e d i t s past a p p l i c a t i o n . 120 Superintendent Charles Constantine, the f i r s t Canadian policeman to enter the Yukon, l e d a detachment down the Mackenzie River to the shores of the Beaufort Sea, which resulted i n Sergeant F.J. F i t z g e r a l d establishing \"a detachment the most northerly i n the world\" at Herschell Island, l y i n g 2 miles o f f the Yukon coast and 65 miles west of the mouth of the Mackenzie River. (11) However the diminishing whaling f l e e t s had almost abandoned Herschell Island by 1903. Last winter there were only two small schooners there. For three winters there were none. The rendezvous f o r those who winter i n the A r c t i c i s now B a i l l i e Island, not so f a r from Cape Bathurst, 300 miles to the east of Herschell, where there i s a large settlement of natives the policy i s now to winter i n the A r c t i c . I was t o l d I was six years too l a t e . (12) Once on Herschell Island the police could only l i s t e n to t a l e s of remembered drinking debauches when the whalers were i n harbour and witness the deaths of 70 of the 80 Eskimos on the island from the swift ravages of measles, (13) i t was now time to regret that the Dominion Government had not heeded a decade e a r l i e r Bishop Bompas*s pleas f o r an o f f i c i a l Canadian presence on A r c t i c shores. (14) However Canada now was active i n the eastern as well as the western A r c t i c . On August 23rd 1903 the chartered sealing vessel \"Neptune\" s a i l e d from Halifax bearing an expedition commanded by A.P. Low of the Geological Survey of Canada, and including a f i v e man contingent of the North West Mounted Poli c e , 121 l e d by Superintendent J.D. Moodie. (15) The \"Neptune\" received orders to pa t r o l the waters of Hudson Bay and those adjacent to the eastern A r c t i c Islands. Before she returned to Halifax, on October 12, 1904, she also assisted the North West Mounted Police i n establishing a permanent post at Cape Full e r t o n , f o r the \" c o l l e c t i o n of customs, the administration of j u s t i c e and the enforcement of the law as i n other parts of the Dominion\".(16) Cape Fu l l e r t o n , i n the north-west corner of Hudson Bay, was chosen as the s i t e of a post because American whalers were known to winter there. Before entering Hudson Bay, the \"Neptune\" also cruised about the whaling posts around B a f f i n Island. In Cumberland Sound the Scot i n charge of the station owned by Noble Brothers of Aberdeen expressed pleasure on being t o l d that annual v i s i t s might henceforth be expected from Canadian government vessels. He stated, \"...that the firm had long wished that the Canadian government would look a f t e r a f f a i r s i n that part.\" (17) The commanders of the \"Neptune\" quickly reached the same opinions about the whaling industry as the Herschell Island detachment had i n the western a r c t i c . Low had been instructed to f i n d , and i f possible pass the winter of 1903-04 i n company with, the American whalers i n Hudson Bay. He could f i n d only one. Whaling had declined further i n the eastern a r c t i c than i n the western. That one American whaler was the schooner \"Era\" 122 of New Bedford, Massachusetts, commanded by Captain George Comer, a most v e r s a t i l e mariner who spent much time going f i e l d work f o r the anthropologist Dr. Franz Boas of the American Museum of Natural History i n New York. (18) Procrastinating Canada only began the attempt to regulate whaling i n her waters when that ancient pursuit was about to vanish. (19) While the departure of foreign vessels from northern waters might be of advantage to Canada's t e r r i t o r i a l ambitions, i t would also saddle the Dominion Government with the d i r e c t r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the welfare of the Eskimos, who had long since adopted t h e i r way of l i f e to the whaling industry and were no longer capable of surviving once the whalers abandoned the a r c t i c f i s h e r i e s , (20) that as a general p r i n c i p l e the north must pay f o r i t s e l f or be ignored. The cruise of the \"Neptune\" revealed that while the Dominion was almost too l a t e to counter commercial and t e r r i t o r i a l challenges to Canadian sovereignty, i t would soon f a l l h e i r to the type of f i n a n c i a l obligations i n the north which u n t i l then had always been successfully avoided. Nevertheless the year 1903 saw Canada inaugurate p o l i c i e s and recognize r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i n her northern extremities i n which she might often hesitate, but never reverse. Foreign threats had accomplished more than domestic conscience could ever do. The American eagle had at l e a s t woken up the i n d i f f e r e n t Canadian beaver. 123 Between 1903 and 1914 Canada despatched f i v e sea-borne expeditions into the a r c t i c archipelago. In 1904 the steamer \" A r c t i c \" commanded by Captain J.E. Bernier took supplies to the police post at Cape Ful l e r t o n , established during the cruise of the \"Neptune\" i n the previous year. (21) On July 15 1906 the \" A r c t i c \" under Bernier*s mastership, s a i l e d on a f u l l - s c a l e expedition into northern waters from which she did not return u n t i l October 19, 1907. (22) Shortly before the \" A r c t i c \" s a i l e d , the Canadian Parliament passed an act which i n c i d e n t a l l y declared Hudson Bay to be \"wholly t e r r i t o r i a l water of Canada.\"(23) During debate on the amendment b i l l the Minister of Marine and F i s h e r i e s was asked, \"What i s the A r c t i c ' s object i n cru i s i n g among the islands?\" The Honourable L.P. Brodeur misleadingly r e p l i e d ; \"To ascertain i f whaling i s c a r r i e d on there. Our information i s that there i s whaling at the mouth of the Mackenzie r i v e r . \" (24) Brodeur was not able to answer a question as to whether or not the United States had accepted Canada's exclusive claim to Hudson Bay. (25) Nevertheless Bernier*s objective throughout the voyage of 1906-07 was no innocent quest f o r information about whaling, and he had no orders and no intention of approaching the Mackenzie River delta* The \" A r c t i c \" s a i l e d through the a r c t i c archipelago as f a r west as M e l v i l l e Island, r a i s i n g the Canadian f l a g (26) with appropriate ceremonies on numerous islands, and generally \"asserting Canadian soveriegnty i n the A r c t i c regions which are the 124 t e r r i t o r y of t h i s Dominion by right of cession made to Canada by the imperial government\"• (27) The maintenance and extension of Canadian sovereignty was i t s purpose, not the c o l l e c t i o n of whaling data. While the \" A r c t i c \" was at sea the question of Canadian sovereignty i n the north was again raised i n Parliament. The Hon. Pascal P o i r i e r moved i n the Senate on February 20th 1907; That i t be resolved that the Senate i s of the opinion that the time has come f o r Canada to make a formal declaration of possession of the lands and islands situated i n the north of the Dominion and extending to the north pole. (28) The l a t e r famous \"sector p r i n c i p l e \" had been p u b l i c a l l y advanced f o r the f i r s t time as a f a c t o r i n international law. (29) Senator P o i r i e r was disturbed by the reports he occasionally read i n United States newspapers about Americans hoisting the \"Stars and Str i p e s \" on c e r t a i n a r c t i c i s l a n d s . Although such incidents might at the,time be merely \"of a sportive character\" or a \"matter of amusement\" he thought they s t i l l might have serious consequences i n future, e s p e c i a l l y when he remembered the importance the United States had attached to small acts of possession i n the past, most notably i n the case of the Alaska f r o n t i e r . Thus P o i r i e r declared: I have arrived at the conclusion that a l l the lands and islands that are situated north of the Canadian northern l i m i t s and extend to the north pole do belong unquestionably to the Grown of England and ever since the B r i t i s h North America Act, to the Dominion of Canada. 125 That question of t i t l e w i l l , some day, be brought up i n one way or other, and i t i s , I believe, proper that we should precede our f r i e n d s to the south, and assert i n as public a manner as possible our dominion over those lands. (30) Ignorance and d i s b e l i e f i n any pot e n t i a l wealth i n the northern reaches of the continent had caused Canada to lose Alaska* Now Canada was i n danger of being \"e n c i r c l e d a l l around\". I would suggest that the Canadian government consider t h i s question of possession by us of our t e r r i t o r y up to the north pole, and s e t t l e once f o r a l l with the United States people a l l pending questions, so that what S i r W i l f r i d Laurier said the other day may have i t s f u l l application, and that there may be no possible ground f o r s t r i f e of any kind between Canada and the United States. (31) I t would be i n t e r e s t i n g to discover to what extent Senator P o i r i e r ' s theories influenced Captain Bernier, or vice-versa, and to assess how profoundly these gentlemen, by argument and action respectively, influenced the conduct of the Government of Canada during the following decades. Afte r h i s 1906-07 voyage Bernier wrote, It i s of the utmost importance that the Dominion takes possession of a l l northern regions as f a r north as the North Pole. Those regions abound i n valuable islands which contain vast quantities of coal and other minerals. (32) Bernier next s a i l e d north aboard the \" A r c t i c \" on July 28th 1908, with the assignment of, \" p a t r o l l i n g the waters of that part of the Dominion of Canada already annexed, and f o r the further purpose of annexing t e r r i t o r y of B r i t i s h possessions as f a r west as longitude 141 degrees\". (33) I t would seem that 126 he somewhat exceeded h i s orders according to the dictates of hi s own ambitions and along the l i n e s of P o i r i e r ' s \"sector p r i n c i p l e \" . With t y p i c a l f l a i r Bemier unveiled a monument on M e l v i l l e Island on Dominion Day. 1909« He f i x e d on Parry's Rock a t a b l e t sculpted by the \" A r c t i c ' s \" Chief Engineer, J.V. Koenig, bearing the i n s c r i p t i o n : This Memorial i s Erected today to Commemorate The taking possession f o r the \"Dominion of Canada\" of the whole \" A r c t i c Archipelago\" Lying to the north of America from long. 60 w to 141 w up to la t i t u d e 90 n. Winter Hbr. M e l v i l l e Island, C.G.S. A r c t i c - July 1st 1909. (34) The next voyage of the \" A r c t i c \" began i n 1910, but as Bernier had already raised the Canadian f l a g on most of the p r i n c i p a l known a r c t i c islands on previous expeditions, the ship was ordered to attempt the Northwest Passage as well as patr o l the waters \"where whaling i s prosecuted\". Ice prevented a successful northwest passage, and no s i g n i f i c a n t extensions of Canadian sovereignty were made. (35) Although Canada's t i t l e to the A r c t i c Islands had been powerfully reinforced i n the years following the pa i n f u l exper-iences of 1903. the threat of American encirclement remained a very l i v e l y apprehension. No doubt the Reciprocity E l e c t i o n of 1911, with i t s accompanying annexationist perorations, l i k e the notorious speech of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Champ Clark, influenced o f f i c i a l i n t e r e s t i n the north i n much 127 the same way as i t influenced the Canadian electorate as a whole* Canada stood on guard against any American entangle-ments. When S i r W i l f r i d Laurier's ministry resigned on October 6th 1911 the new Borden government continued the nation-expanding and t e r r i t o r y - s e c u r i n g p o l i c i e s of i t s L i b e r a l predecessor. When the Canadian government discovered i n 1912 that the experienced a r c t i c explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson was planning to lead another expedition, financed e n t i r e l y by American int e r e s t s , into the Canadian north, Borden took decisive steps to ensure that Stefansson only ventured f o r t h under o f f i c i a l Canadian auspices. (36) Thus the Canadian A r c t i c Expedition, the f i r s t major s c i e n t i f i c i nvestigation of the shores and islands of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s despatched by the Dominion government, s a i l e d from Esquimalt i n 1913, to remain almost forgotten i n the north u n t i l i t s leader returned to c i v i l i z a t i o n i n 1918. (37) As Stefansson reappeared i n Ottawa almost pre c i s e l y as the Armistioe of November 11th, 1913, was signed, he was able to begin immediately the task of r e v i v i f y i n g o f f i c i a l i n t e r e s t i n the a r c t i c . In 1919 a Royal Commission to investigate the commercial p o s s i b i l i t i e s of reindeer and musk-ox was appointed with Stefansson as one of the commissioners. (38) However Stefansson was also fascinated by the dawn of the age of 128 commercial airways, and p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of trans-polar \"great c i r c l e \" f l y i n g routes. Aeroplanes were now making Earth, f o r p r a c t i c a l purposes, t r u l y a globe, and not a convex cylinder around which man had to t r a v e l i n an east-west or west-east d i r e c t i o n . Vilhjalmur Stefansson must have been one of the most persuasive explorers who ever breathed, f o r he next persuaded two Canadian m i n i s t r i e s to engage i n an unprecedented scheme of a r c t i c imperialism. In the years 1920, 1921 and 1922 he succeeded i n persuading two prime ministers, the hard-headed Arthur Meighen and the super-cautious W.L. Mackenzie King, to extend Canadian sovereignty over Wrangel Island, l y i n g i n the A r c t i c Ocean approximately one hundred miles from the coast of S i b e r i a . Hitherto i t had been assumed to be a Russian Island, but Stefansson stated that no state had ever o f f i c i a l l y claimed i t . In claiming Wrangel Island would of course leap the confines of the \"sector p r i n c i p l e \" of a r c t i c sovereignty which she had been the f i r s t to advance. In l e s s than twenty years the Dominion had been transformed from a state which could hardly bother to secure the boundaries she l e g a l l y claimed, into one w i l l i n g to seize any i s l a n d that possibly might serve her national i n t e r e s t s . Wrangel Island had f i s h and f u r resources, but Stefansson argued that i t s greatest value would be found i n 129 the future, as an air-base on trans-polar f l y i n g routes. Furthermore i t would serve the i n t e r e s t s of the Empire as well as Canada, by furnishing a strategic base from which to contain the expansionist Japanese Empire. (39) He stated that the Russian claims to the Island were tenuous at best, and i n the s t r i c t e s t terms of international law, non-existent. (40) No doubt in t e r n a t i o n a l conditions favoured a Canadian exercise i n t e r r i t o r i a l expansion. Russia was then torn by c i v i l war, A l l i e d troops had been f i g h t i n g on her s o i l , a contingent of Royal Northwest Mounted Police cavalry had been despatched to Vladivostock i n 1916, and the Hudson Bay Company was a c t i v e l y trading i n eastern S i b e r i a . In such circumstances no Canadian government had any scruples about claiming i n perpetuity an a r c t i c i s l a n d contiguous to a remote Russian coast. (41) Stefansson 1s daring proposals and i r r e s i s t a b l e enthus-iasms might influence Canadian p o l i t i c i a n s , but senior permanent c i v i l servants took a very h o s t i l e view of the Wrangel Island venture. Their reaction i l l u s t r a t e s the f r a g i l i t y of Canada's own t i t l e to the a r c t i c archipelago, at least u n t i l the year 1930. On November 25th 1920 the Under Secretary of State f o r External A f f a i r s , S i r Joseph Pope, wrote a memorandum to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen, on the subject of \"Canada's Claim to certain islands within the A r c t i c C i r c l e \" . 130 Concerning Wrangel Island, S i r Joseph remarked that i t was e s s e n t i a l l y an A s i a t i c Island, f a r removed from the Dominion and not even wholly i n the western hemisphere. Obviously the Department of External A f f a i r s was taking the \"sector theory\" to heart. I t was generally considered that any pretensions we might have to t h i s i s l a n d must be of a very unsub-s t a n t i a l character, and could only r e s u l t i n weakening our legitimate claims to the A r c t i c Islands contiguous to our own t e r r i t o r y , f o r i f we can go so f a r a f i e l d as Wrangel to take possession of islands, unconnected with Canada* what i s there to prevent the United States. Denmark, or any other power, layi n g claim to islands f a r from t h e i r shores but ad.iacent toour^own. (42) In February 1921 Prime Minister Meighen withdrew the o f f i c i a l backing he had promised f o r the e f f e c t i v e occupation of Wrangel Island. But as Stefansson proceeded to launch h i s own p r i v a t e l y financed Wrangel Island Expedition, i t became apparent that both the Meighen government and the succeeding Mackenzie government, were f u l l y w i l l i n g to back Stefansson*s claims i f h i s occupation of the islan d proved to be successful. (43) They would be w i l l i n g to share the credit f o r a successful occupation of the island, but not the possible international odium of i n i t i a t i n g such a \"land grab\". September 23rd 1921 saw the Stafansson Expedition land on Wrangel Island and claim i t to be Canadian t e r r i t o r y . Stefansson himself d i d not j o i n the party, but remained i n the United States on a lecture tour which would provide funds f o r 131 the E x p e d i t i o n s success. But by 1922 he was i n urgent need of the monetary support of the Canadian government i n order to supply and r e l i e v e the five-man group on the i s l a n d . He began to besiege Prime Minister King, members of the cabinet and o f f i c i a l s of the c i v i l service f o r a i d . When Mackenzie King requested advice on the subject from the Department of External A f f a i r s , he received both a copy of S i r Joseph Pope's memorandum to Meighen of November 25 1920 and a secret memorandum from the Department's l e g a l adviser, Loring C h r i s t i e . S i r Joseph stated f o r t h r i g h t l y ; In my judegment, no more far-fetched claim could well be imagined, and any attempt to associate Canada with such f a n t a s t i c pretensions could scarcely f a i l to prejudice us i n the eyes of the world, besides weakening our legitimate claim to certain A r c t i c islands adjacent to our own t e r r i t o r y , i n respect to which we have a strong case. (44) Loring C h r i s t i e , a f t e r examining and dismissing the advantages of Canadian ownership of Wrangel Island, remarked that no expert and no authoritative opinion whatever had been advanced to support Stefansson's contentions, and that neither the A i r Board, the Naval Service Department, nor the B r i t i s h A i r Ministry nor the Admiralty, had evidenced any interest i n the i s l a n d . The Russian Government had already protested and challenged Canada's claims; the American government was looking at the incident \"with a cool eye\" and would, i n C h r i s t i e ' s estimate, \"support Russia i f the matter came to an issue.\" 132 Doubtless the Japanese, who had so f a r been non-committal, were watching, and \"would have to be reckoned with\". S t i l l more serious, i t seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that action on our part i n Wrangel would r e s u l t i n weakening our case - already none too strong - f o r completing our ownership of the A r c t i c Archipelago immediately north of our mainland, which a l l agree to be c l e a r l y i n our i n t e r e s t . (45) Despite the uniform advice tendered by a l l permanent o f f i c i a l s the King ministry persisted i n claiming Wrangel Island f o r Canada. So long as the exploit avoided costs and international complications the Government was w i l l i n g to support i t morally. On May 12, 1922 the Prime Minister t o l d the House of Commons; \"The Government c e r t a i n l y maintains the position that Wrangel Island i s part of the property of t h i s country\". (46) However when i t became known that most members of the expedition had died t r a g i c a l l y , and that the Russian government had removed the survivors from Wrangel Island, Canada s w i f t l y l o s t i n t e r e s t i n t e r r i t o r i a l expansion o f f the Siberian coast. In 1923 when asked i n the House of Commons who owned Wrangel Island, Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Marine and Fisheries, r e p l i e d , \"I should l i k e to know myself.\" (47) The Minister of the In t e r i o r , Charles Stewart, when asked the same question, hesitantly r e p l i e d , \"I don't think we own i t . \" (46) Two years l a t e r Stewart's opinions had hardened considerably, f o r he f e l t able to assure members of parliament c a t e g o r i c a l l y ; 133 \"We have no intere s t i n Wrangel Island\". (49) Thus ended the Wrangel Island incident, an incongruous, f u t i l e and t r a g i c episode which everyone involved seemed thankful to forget. At approximately the same time as Stefansson was planning the Wrangel Island expedition Canada was faced with a statement of Danish claims to t e r r i t o r y i n the a r c t i c arch-ipelago. In 1920, as a resu l t of the work of the Royal Commission on Reindeer and Musk-oxen, on which Stefansson had served, the Canadian Government requested the Danish Government to stop the Greenland eskimo from k i l l i n g musk-oxen on Ellesmere Island. The Danish Government, backed by the advice of the a r c t i c explorer Knud Rasmussen, suggested i n reply that Ellesmere Island was a \"No-man's land\", not Canadian t e r r i t o r y . (50) On July 13, 1920 the Canadian Government protested i n return that Ellesmere Island came under B r i t i s h sovereignty, and was no \"No-man's Land\". As Stefansson remarked of the Danish claims: This kindled int e r e s t , f o r i t i s human nature to want whatever someone else wants. The Government a c t u a l l y began to spend money, and plans of an expedition on a great scale took shape. (51) Plans were made f o r the venerable \" A r c t i c \" to s a i l north once again, and under the command of the septuagenarian Captain Bernier the vessel s a i l e d north on July 18th 1922, (52) to i n i t i a t e what proved to be a continuous annual sequence of Eastern A r c t i c Patrols. On August 21st 1922 construction of a 134 Royal Canadian Mounted Police commenced at Craig Harbour at the southern end of Ellesmere Island, and Denmark1s contention that the i s l a n d belonged to no state was deflected by permanent Canadian occupation. Thereafter Denmark's in t e r e s t i n any part of the a r c t i c archipelago l y i n g to the west of Greenland evaporated. In 1925 Canada obtained \"de f a c t o \" recognition of her sovereignty over the a r c t i c islands from the United States of America. Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian conqueror of the Northwest Passage, was now about to make an attempt to f l y an aeroplane over the North Pole, and at the same time the United States Navy and the National Geographic Society were planning to send the American explorer Donald Macmillan to investigate the polar ice cap from a base to be established on Axel Heiberg Island. Concern was f e l t i n Ottawa over both the p o s s i b i l i t y that Amundsen might land on the Svedrup Islands and the fact that Macmillan had not requested Canada's permission to use Axel Heiberg Island. In order to strengthen Canada's authority over those islands the Minister of the I n t e r i o r introduced an amendment to the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s Act to the House of Commons on June 1st 192$, which would give the government authority to exact}licences from explorers and traders entering northern waters. On the B i l l ' s second reading he explained; 135 Some explorers have v o l u n t a r i l y come to us and secured permits, but t h i s had not been done i n every case.... We are getting a f t e r men l i k e MacMillan and Amundsen, men who are going i n presumably f o r exploration purposes; but possibly there may arise a question as to the sovereignty over some land they may discover i n the northern portion of Canada, and we claim a l l that portion. (53) When a member of parliament asked the Minister i f Canada claimed j u r i s d i c t i o n r i g h t up to the North Pole, Stewart r e p l i e d , \"Yes, right up to the North Pole\". (54) Thus Canada became the f i r s t country to espouse o f f i c i a l l y the sector p r i n c i p l e as a basis of her claims of sovereignty. On Dominion Day 1925 the \" A r c t i c \" s a i l e d north on her l a s t Eastern A r c t i c Patrol, and on August 19th she encountered Macmillan's ships \"Peary\" and \"Bowdoin\" at the Greenland port of Etah. There Captain Bernier evidently convinced Macmillan and h i s second i n command Richard Byrd, that they had been improperly informed about the scope of Canadian sovereignty i n the north, and that they were trespassing without needed per-mission on Canadian t e r r i t o r y . (55) In any event the Americans withdrew to the south immediately afterward, reputedly to examine the nesting place of the blue goose on B a f f i n Island. The threat of a r c t i c encirclement at l e a s t by the United States had disappeared. But the Norwegian claims to the Svedrup Islands had not yet been erased. In 1926 Staff Sergeant A.H. Joy made a successful expedition under orders from Craig Harbour to Axel 136 Heiberg Island. He became the f i r s t Canadian to set foot on i t s rocks since Svedrup announced i t s discovery twenty four years previously. On the strength of Joy's expedition the Canadian Government asked the Norwegian Government on June 2nd 1926 f o r p a r t i c u l a r s of i t s claims, i f any, to the Svedrup Islands. (56) Slow negotiations followed between Svedrup and the Norwegian Government, and between the Norwegian Government and the Government of Canada. In 1930 agreement was reached that Norway would r e l i n q u i s h a l l r i g h t s to the Svedrup Islands i n return f o r Canada paying monetory compensation to Captain Svedrup personally f o r h i s former expenses and surviving charts. On November 11th 1930 the Department of the I n t e r i o r announced that Otto Svedrup had been paid $67,000 i n return f o r the withdrawal of Norwegian claims. (57) Canada's l a s t r i v a l f o r a r c t i c t e r r i t o r y had been removed. V. Kenneth Johnston remarked i n 1933; I t may be said, therefore, that by the a c t i v i t i e s of the Canadian Government i n the A r c t i c , the declaration of Bernier*s i n 1909 has now been validated. (56) At l a s t , sixty-three years a f t e r Confederation the Dominion's back' had been securely placed against the North Pole. CHAPTER VI. THE RESIDUAL NORTHWEST TERRITORIES; 1905-1921. The opening years of the twentieth century found the Government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , under the leadership of Premier Frederick W. Haultain, s t r i v i n g to a t t a i n a f u l l measure of co n s t i t u t i o n a l freedom as a province within Confederation. The formula of responsible government within the confines of t e r r i t o r i a l status, which had been implemented since 1897, f a i l e d to furnish the elected ministry at Regina with the a b i l i t y to meet i t s growing f i s c a l o bligations. Nor did i t give adequate scope to the ambitions of the people, and es p e c i a l l y the p o l i t i c i a n s of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , ( l ) In response to the mounting pressures on the western plains, S i r W i l f r i d Laurier unveiled on February 21st, 1905, l e g i s l a t i o n f o r the creation of two provinces out of the p r a i r i e s regions of the T e r r i t o r i e s . (2) The prov i s i o n a l d i s t r i c t s of Athabasca, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Assiniboia would be divided into the new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan on September 1st, 1905. This l e g i s l a t i o n would soon place the problem of pro-viding government f o r Canada's northern t e r r i t o r i e s i n i s o l a t i o n ; these now comprised the provisional d i s t r i c t s of Mackenzie, Franklin, and Ungava, and the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin which had 138 nominally possessed i t s own government since I876. A l l the d i s t r i c t s were vast and unpopulated areas of a r c t i c and sub-a r c t i c character, but t h e i r further sub-division seemed almost a certainty i n 190$. Only the precise l i n e s of d i v i s i o n remained to be agreed upon. Quebec and Ontario both wished to extend t h e i r boundaries northward to the shores of Hudson Bay and Hudson S t r a i t , and Manitoba was i n a state of o f f i c i a l fury a f t e r July 24th 1905, when i t discovered that the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin, which i t had long coveted, had been re-incorporated into the residual Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . A prominent member of Manitoba's Conservative government, the Hon. Robert Rogers, declared on September 8th; The only remaining act, I fancy, which i s l e f t within S i r W i l f r i d Laurier's power, by which any further injury could be done to us, i s to wipe the Province off the map e n t i r e l y . (3) Manitoba believed that the schools question l ay at the root of the federal government's decision to keep Manitoba, at le a s t f o r the meanwhile, the smallest, as well as the oldest of the Dominion's western provinces. (4) In the Keewatin and i n the residual Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , separate schools were guaranteed by federal statute. Their continued existence might be imperiled i f Manitoba took over parts of those t e r r i t o r i e s unconditionally« In November 1906 a f e d e r a l - p r o v i n c i a l conference did discuss p r o v i n c i a l and t e r r i t o r i a l boundary changes, but because 139 of the dispute between the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario over t h e i r mutual borders, no changes were made. (5) Two years elapsed before the subject was again discussed p u b l i c a l l y * On July 13th 1908, S i r W i l f r i d Laurier introduced Resolutions into the House of Commons providing f o r the extension of the boundaries of Manitoba to the north and northeast on l i n e s which would expand her area over most of the old Keewatin D i s t r i c t which she had wanted f o r so long. Manitoba would acquire a coast l i n e , and a planned ocean port on Hudson Bay even i f she were deprived of an outlet on Lake Superior. (6) Perhaps S i r W i l f r i d chose to introduce Resolutions forecasting such developments because of the imminence of a federal general e l e c t i o n . On October 26th 1908 the Laurier L i b e r a l s were main-tained i n power. But no boundary changes followed. No alt e r a t i o n s were made to any boundaries u n t i l 1912, when the Conservative government led by Robert Borden had come to o f f i c e . In 1908, a f t e r t h i r t y eight years 1 experience with t e r r i t o r i a l government, Canada s t i l l had no generally accepted convictions concerning how i t should be adapted to the require-ments of her northern t e r r i t o r i e s ; to those remote regions unsuitable f o r a g r i c u l t u r a l settlement and unl i k e l y to be pop* ulated f o r any other reason i n the foreseeable future. According to S i r W i l f r i d Laurier, there were i n 1908 only two courses open i n respect to the area of the old D i s t r i c t of Keewatin. 140 One i s to continue to administer t h i s t e r r i t o r y as we are doing at present; and the administration at the present time i s p r a c t i c a l l y n i l , i t simply provides f o r the administration of j u s t i c e i n case of crime committed, and some cases of a similar character, because there i s p r a c t i c a l l y no population i n that t e r r i t o r y . The other recommendation i s to hand over t h i s t e r r i t o r y to the provinces which now claim i t , and whose geographical form i s such that i t may be fee brought within the purview of t h e i r p r o v i n c i a l and municipal organizations. Of these two courses before the government the more reasonable, the more p r a c t i c a l and the more expedient i n the i n t e r e s t of a l l parties appeared to be that these respective t e r r i t o r i e s should be annexed to the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, so that there might be the usual p r o v i n c i a l and municipal admin-i s t r a t i o n as t h e i r development takes place. (7) Thus the federal government was prepared to \"admit the claim of Manitoba to have i t s boundary extended northward up to the 60th p a r a l l e l of l a t i t u d e \" . (8) Later i n the debate S i r W i l f r i d outlined the general p r i n c i p l e s on which he thought the Canadian fe d e r a l system should develop. His goals displayed the strong influence of the example of t e r r i t o r i a l government i n the United States of America. Unfortunately there appears to be a wide discrepency between the theory of S i r W i l f r i d * s c o n s t i t u t i o n a l policy and the performance of h i s government i n prac t i c e . The objectives were admirable, but the means by which to achieve them had not yet been devised. Hard physical f a c t s blocked the prospects f o r every part of Canada becoming part of a province within the o v e r a l l scheme of Confederation. The basis of our national l i f e i s a federative system. This country i s covered by provinces, that i s the idea which we have always had before us. That has 141 been the case i n the United States. The United States purchased t e r r i t o r y from France, Louisiana and from other countries. Since that time her p o l i c y has been to turn those t e r r i t o r i e s into states, forming now part of the American Union. This i s the object we aim at. For my part I regret that the climatic conditions are such i n t h i s new t e r r i t o r y that i t cannot be created into new provinces. I wish we could form a new province on the Hudson Bay, I wish we could form a new province out of the Mackenzie r i v e r t e r r i t o r y , I wish we could form a new province of Ungava. But while i t i s a wish I devoutly entertain, every man must see that such a thing i s impossible. No man I am sure, from the maritime provinces pretends that we could form new provinces out of that t e r r i t o r y . I f then that t e r r i t o r y cannot be turned into new provinces, does i t not seem to my hon f r i e n d that the best way to deal with i t i s to annex i t to the ex i s t i n g provinces? We must come to that conclusion. We cannot desire that at one end of t h i s Dominion we should be provinces and at the other end a large unorganized t e r r i t o r y . Is not that the goal to which we should aspire, that every inch of Canadian t e r r i t o r y should ultimately be under p r o v i n c i a l organization? (9) Unfortunately the maritime provinces objected to the extension of the already large central provinces, f o r they feared that such expansion of area would tend to reduce s t i l l further t h e i r own d e c l i n i n g representation i n the f e d e r a l parliament. (10) Although the Laurier government had favoured two p r a i r i e provinces rather than the one large one desired by the elected government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s before 1905, S i r W i l f r i d himself, i n an e l e c t i o n year, seemed to favour the creation of larger provinces i n the future. He would have l i k e d to create more provinces i n the Canadian north, i f only conditions might favour such a development. But they did not. Every part of the continental United States might be suitable f o r evolution to 142 statehood, but conditions did not allow every part of continental Canada to realize a similar goal* Thus Sir Wilfrid contemplated the future of the Yukon Territory: ...but I do not know that I would turn the Yukon into a province; I think I would rather annex i t to the province of British Columbia. Moreover, I do not think that the climate and s o i l in the Yukon are such that we could make i t into a province. At a l l events, that i s my opinion. You cannot hope, with the territory you now have in your hands, to make i t into new provinces; and i f that i s so, the policy should be to bring this territory under the supervision and jurisdiction of the provinces to which geographically i t belongs. That i s the view we take and the policy we are pursuing at the present time. ( I l l The government as a whole had no one co-ordinated policy towards the northern territories, for only a month before Sir Wilfrid gave his personal views, his ministry gave the Yukon Territory a completely elective council. And the surest way to promote a s p i r i t of local autonomy in the Yukon, and to erect obstacles to a union of the Territory and British Columbia, was to i n s t a l l an elected council in Dawson City. Also the federal government s t i l l held strong reservations concerning the wisdom of allowing a t e r r i t o r i a l government to assume responsibility for any aspect of i t s own administration. As the Minister of the Interior, Frank Oliver, explained to the House of Commons on June 15th, 1905, when introducing the b i l l to amend the Yukon Act: But we feel that the population i s hardly large enough nor are the resources sufficient, to warrent any scheme of representative administration that would be satis-factory, that would be adequate, without, as we should regard i t , very unduly increasing the expense. We think that under a l l the circumstances, we are meeting 143 to a f a i r degree the legitimate aspirations of the people. And yet are not thereby increasing the burdens upon the taxpayers of the country. (12) The Yukon Council had only been transformed into an elected safety valve. As one opposition c r i t i c , George Foster, commented, i t seemed a l i t t l e peculiar to have the people ele c t t h e i r own representatives to do t h e i r l e g i s l a t i o n and then have the administration e n t i r e l y vested i n a Commissioner appointed by the f e d e r a l government. (13) In 1912 the boundaries of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were at l a s t extended northward. The Prime Minister of the newly elected Conservative government, Robert L a i r d Borden, introduced three b i l l s into Parliament which gave the three provinces the boundaries they have retained unaltered u n t i l I 9 6 7 . (14) No doubt the p o l i t i c a l support the Conservative party received i n each province encouraged Borden to act on a decision so long delayed. However the residual Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s did not seem to require attention i n 1912; they s t i l l could be l e t safely alone. In May 1905, af t e r the conclusion of the tempestuous debates on the Saskatchewan and Alberta Acts, the Minister of Justice, Charles F i t z p a t r i c k , revealed the Government's p o l i c y respecting the c i v i l government of the residual Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s ; i t would be favoured with the benefits of the t r i e d constitution of the D i s t r i c t of Keewatin. 144 . . . i t i s proposed to erect into a d i s t r i c t , with a constitution based upon that of the d i s t r i c t of Keewatin, the T e r r i t o r y to the north of the new provinces and extending to the A r c t i c Ocean. (15) The Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s would be governed henceforth by a Commissioner who would be as s i s t e d by a council consisting of four appointed members. Their l e g i s l a t i v e powers were to remain the same as those vested i n the Lieutenant Governor and the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s p r i o r to September 1 s t , 1 9 0 5 . (16) Parliament had l i t t l e i nterest to spare f o r the unpopulated north a f t e r the controversy over the schools clauses i n the Alberta and Saskatchewan b i l l s , and the new Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s constitution passed through both the House of Commons and the Senate with only the necessary f o r m a l i t i e s of debate. In any event i t was expected to be only a temporary expedient u n t i l the boundaries of the T e r r i t o r i e s were altered soon again. Such was the co n s t i t u t i o n a l skeleton of the residual Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . Unfortunately the Laurier cabinet f a i l e d to clothe the l e g a l bones with the f l e s h of meaningful government. As S i r W i l f r i d l a t e r admitted, the administration remained \" p r a c t i c a l l y n i l \" . (17) Ottawa was to become the seat of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s government, and a f t e r some consider-ation of making the Minister of the I n t e r i o r e x - o f f i c i o Commissioner, i t was decided to appoint the Ottawa based 145 Comptroller of the Royal North West Mounted Police to that o f f i c e . (18) As the police were the only o f f i c e r s or agents of government to be found anywhere i n the northern t e r r i t o r i e s , and as the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the Government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s seemed l i k e l y to be very few, the system appeared to o f f e r convenience, e f f i c i e n c y and minimum expense. The federal government desired to keep control of the t e r r i t o r i e s exclusively i n i t s own hands, and as the Comptroller of the R.N.W.M.P. reported d i r e c t l y to the Prime Minister*s o f f i c e , the device of a dual appointment as Commissioner-Comptroller seemed to o f f e r every possible advantage i n r e a l i z i n g o f f i c i a l objectives. The only regular government expenditure north of the 60th P a r a l l e l and east of the Yukon boundary was on grants to mission schools, and these did not exceed $4000. per annum u n t i l a f t e r the conclusion of the f i r s t World War. (19) The Dominion government might be increasingly concerned about Canadian sovereignty over the A r c t i c islands during the f i r s t decade of the twentieth century, but i t remained content to leave the continental regions of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s as an unaudited \"national bank r e s t \" . The f i r s t Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s was L t . Colonel Fred White, long S i r John A. Macdonald*s private secretary, and Comptroller of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police since 1880. The slender surviving volumes of h i s correspondence as Commissioner bear a stark negative testimony to the qu a l i t y 146 of government i n the north a f t e r , as well as before, the boundary changes of 1905 • (20) Less than a year af t e r being appointed Commissioner, White wrote; The North West T e r r i t o r i e s , of which I am Commissioner, although covering an enormous area, represent merely the unorganized, and, to a great extent, the unexplored portions of Canada, i n which there i s very l i t t l e commercial business at present. (21) And not even the Commissioner had more than the vaguest idea of those parts of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s which l a y beyond the t r e e - l i n e . Such information as was r e a d i l y available was somewhat obsolete. With regard to the Western D i s t r i c t from Herschel Island, eastward to the Gulf of Boothia, I do not think there i s any information i n the possession of any Department of the Public Service r e l a t i n g to Eskimos beyond that contained i n books and such records of S i r John Franklin, and other explorers. I have l a i d my plans to get s t a t i s t i c s , but i t w i l l be f u l l y a year before they w i l l be ava i l a b l e . My own impression i s that numbers have been greatly exaggerated. (22) White presumed that the re s u l t s of sending missionaries to the Eskimos i n 1907 would not j u s t i f y the expense to the home churches. Also he feared any developments which would draw natives from hunting and encourage them to l i v e by begging around european settlements, or l i v i n g o f f the p r o s t i t u t i o n of t h e i r women. (23) Natives were to be encouraged to maintain t h e i r t r a d i t i o n a l way of l i f e , which would r e l i e v e government from r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e i r welfare. Before the Commissioner could devise p o l i c i e s suitable f o r the residual T e r r i t o r i e s he 147 would f i r s t have t o d i s c o v e r b a s i c f a c t u a l i n f o r m a t i o n about t h e i r needs and c o n d i t i o n . R a t h e r s a d l y he remarked; I am d o i n g a l l t h a t i s p o s s i b l e , w i t h a Government a p p r o p r i a t i o n a t my back, t o g e t a t a c t u a l c o n d i t i o n s , o f w h i c h so l i t t l e i s known a t p r e s e n t . (24) Meanwhile a t t e m p t s were made t o persuade f r e e e n t e r p r i s e t o e x t e n d i t s e l f i n t o t h e a r c t i c . I f t h e w i t h d r a w a l o f w h a l i n g v e s s e l s from a r c t i c w a t e r s might l e a v e t h e eskimos d e s t i t u t e , as t h e r e p o r t s o f t h e government e x p e d i t i o n s aboard t h e \"Neptune\" and t h e \" A r c t i c \" a d v i s e d , t h e n perhaps an h i s t o r i c t r a d i n g company might assume r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s w h i c h would o t h e r w i s e f a l l on t h e T e r r i t o r i a l government. White a s s u r e d a Toronto c o r r e s p o n d e n t ; \" I have done my b e s t t o i n d u c e t h e Hudson's Bay Company t o push t h e i r t r a d e r s f u r t h e r N o r t h \" . (25) A p p a r e n t l y the Commissioner's concerns c e n t e r e d on t h e c o a s t s and i s l a n d s o f t h e A r c t i c Ocean, f o r no c o n s i d e r a t i o n appears t o have been g i v e n t o t h e s i t u a t i o n o f a b o r i g i n e s i n t h e Ungava d i s t r i c t , o r t h o s e l i v i n g on t h e west s h o r e s o f Hudson Bay« Unconcern f o r t h e s o u t h e r l y r e g i o n s o f t h e Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s no doubt stemmed from t h e e x p e c t a t i o n o f t h e i r d i s a p p e a r a n c e , and t h e n o r t h w a r d e x t e n s i o n o f t h e b o u n d a r i e s of some n e i g h b o u r i n g p r o v i n c e s . U n c e r t a i n t y about t h e p h y s i c a l i n t e g r i t y o f t h e T e r r i t o r i e s encouraged t h e Commissioner i n m a i n t a i n i n g t o t h e g r e a t e s t p o s s i b l e e x t e n t a g e n e r a l p o l i c y o f \"marking t i m e . \" White e x p l a i n e d t o a c o l l e a g u e i n t h e s p r i n g o f 1908; 148 I have purposely f e l t myself i n check i n connection with the administration of the new North West T e r r i t o r i e s beyond ordinary routine. • • • • Personally I f e e l that slow progress on our part, pending action by Parliament f o r the d i v i d i n g up of the T e r r i t o r i e s w i l l be best i n the public in t e r e s t , but complication may arise i n connection with estates and lapse of l e g a l time i f we do not take some action. (26) And almost simultaneously he wrote to a resident of the T e r r i t o r i e s : We expect during the present session Parliament w i l l enact laws respecting the d i s t r i b u t i o n of portions of what i s known as the North West T e r r i t o r i e s , but i t would be quite impossible f o r me to anticipate what Parliament i n i t s wisdom may decide to do. (27) Meanwhile the unamended ordinances of the \" o l d \" Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , l e g i s l a t i o n passed since 1877 f o r the r u r a l and urban society of the western plains, remained theoret-i c a l l y i n force i n the r e s i d u a l T e r r i t o r i e s , no matter how inapplicable they might be f o r conditions in. the sub-arctic. Neither could those ordinances be amended or repealed f o r the T e r r i t o r i a l Council resembled the Keewatin Council on which i t was modeled i n f a c t as well as theory. For sixteen years no appointments were made to i t ; i t existed on paper only u n t i l 1921. (28) In the absence of a t e r r i t o r i a l council, and with no t e r r i t o r i a l public servants actually resident i n the T e r r i t o r i e s , Commissioner White had to ponder i n Ottawa such questions as a b o i l e r inspection at The Pas, N.W.T. No longer was there a 149 T e r r i t o r i a l b o i l e r inspector. Could the inspection wait u n t i l Parliament divided the T e r r i t o r i e s ? Or should a b o i l e r inspector be hired to deal with each l e g a l l y required inspection as i t came due? (29) Fortunately an inspector was hired. This was the type of problem regularly facing the Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , f o r such was the scope of government i n the north, a f t e r as well as before 1905* Education was a subject which regularly troubled the Commissioner. The T e r r i t o r i a l government at Regina had paid grants to both Roman Catholic and Anglican mission schools i n the Mackenzie v a l l e y since 1893* (30) Should these grants be continued now that the Dominion government had taken over r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the northern provisional d i s t r i c t s ? White continued the grants on the same basis as Regina had made them; I have been very careful not to do more i n connection with school matters as Commissioner of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s , beyond continuing the allowances to sundry schools, some Protestant, some Roman Catholic, which had been made by Mr. Forget as Lieutenant Governor of the T e r r i t o r i e s . (31) Although the incumbent Minister of the I n t e r i o r had a strong personal d i s l i k e of mission schools no steps were taken to introduce public education into the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . The Minister of the I n t e r i o r objects to Mission Schools, but i s disposed to consider any reasonable plan f o r payment by the Government of 50% to 75% of the teachers* salary, - provided the School i s a public one, under proper l o c a l control, with trustees and others who w i l l give f u l l information respecting attendence, subjects taught, etc. etc. (32) 150 Such requirements were completely ir r e l e v a n t to s o c i a l conditions i n the north, and i n the absence of any al t e r n a t i v e policy the grants to mission schools continued. Fred White r e t i r e d as Comptroller of the Royal North West Mounted Police i n 1912, but he remained Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s u n t i l h i s death on September 28th 1918, without once entering the T e r r i t o r i e s he governed. As the Auditor General commented, the duties of the Commissioner were not onerous. (33) The o f f i c e provided a pleasant sinecure f o r an experienced public servant who well deserved a salary of $1000 a year i n addition to h i s pension. As White explained to a correspondent; I owe you apologies f o r delay i n replying to your l e t t e r . After 45 years of hard work I have been taking i t easy f o r more than a year, and have been i n Ottawa only occasionally. (34) Even responsible o f f i c i a l s of the Government of Canada remained unsure which agency of the public service was respons-i b l e f o r what aspects of administration of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s a f t e r 1905* Fortunately lack of business allowed a confused organizational structure to endure without causing any major problems. Commissioner White, supported by a part-time three man c l e r i c a l s t a f f , dealt with the routine matters of c i v i l government, which was i n t e n t i o n a l l y kept to a minimal l e v e l . The issue of li q u o r permits made up the largest single 151 item of business, and a changing handful of Royal North West Mounted Police detachments, never exceeding s i x i n number, continued to be the only agents of government i n the T e r r i t o r i e s . The Department of the I n t e r i o r was c h i e f l y responsible f o r the setting of pol i c y , such as i t was f o r the northern t e r r i t o r i e s ; Commissioner White was not consulted on any question related to the preparation or despatch of Stefansson*s Canadian A r c t i c Expedition of 1913-18. The Department of the I n t e r i o r and the Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s only consulted each other when confusion arose over over-lapping a u t h o r i t i e s . (35) During World War I the volume of T e r r i t o r i a l business began to increase. Traders and trappers, perhaps motivated by the explorations of the Canadian A r c t i c Expedition, began to move ever further eastward along the a r c t i c coasts towards the Coronation Gult. (36) Fred White anticipated expansion of h i s government as early as 1915, when he consented to move h i s o f f i c e to smaller accommodations only f o r the duration of h o s t i l i t i e s . ...when the War i s over,, and the Engineers vacate t h i s f l a t , I may be allowed to re-occupy the large room which I am giving over to them. By that time North West T e r r i t o r i e s matters w i l l , I expect have so devel-oped as to necessitate my requiring more o f f i c e space than at present. (37) However he did not l i v e to see the changes he confidently expected. 152 After White's death the organization of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s government was changed completely. The federal government expressed by example i t s intention to maintain and even strengthen i t s authority over the northern regions of the Dominion, and the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s government l o s t what l i t t l e semblance of autonomy i t had possessed since 1905. In 1919 the Deputy Minister of the Department of the Interior, W.W. Cory, was appointed Commissioner i n succession to White, but without salary, f o r as Arthur Meighen remarked when presenting h i s Department's estimates to the House of Commons, \"The duties are very l i g h t indeed\". (38) The T e r r i t o r i a l estimates f o r that year amounted to $8,000. Meighen explained; As the T e r r i t o r i e s are administered by the Department ;. of the I n t e r i o r , i t would appear to me inconvenient to have an o f f i c e r of another department as administrator. I think when the administration i s under my department the Commissioner ought to be an o f f i c e r of that Department. (39) Following the signing of the Armistice i n 1918 events soon forced Ottawa to give more substance to the Government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . When pleading f o r the addition of more s t a f f to the Commissioner's O f f i c e , the T e r r i t o r i a l Accountant stated; Now that the war i s over s e t t l e r s , miners, hunters, trappers and speculators are a l l turning to the f a r north and applications from Mining Companies, Fox Companies, trappers and others are being received, and i n order to deal with the same one has to f a m i l i a r i z e themselves with a l l the Ordinances passed by the North 153 West T e r r i t o r i e s Council before the formation of the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, as they contain the laws now i n force i n the present Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . We have to deal with the work of a Municipality i n connection with t h i s o f f i c e , issue l i q u o r permits, marriage licenses, b u r i a l c e r t i f i c a t e s , look a f t e r roads and a l l kinds of things. (40) In 1920 o i l was discovered at Normal Wells, on the east bank of the Mackenzie River, close to the a r c t i c c i r c l e . To o f f i c i a l s of the Department of the I n t e r i o r i t seemed that the Klondike Stampede was about to repeat i t s e l f , with petroleum, instead of gold, the quest of a legion of prospectors who would pour \"down north\" through the Mackenzie v a l l e y . Many of the Department's o f f i c i a l s had themselves served i n the Yukon, and they had a l i v e l y awareness of the \"lessons of history\", and of the unheeded warnings which had come out of the Yukon va l l e y during the decade preceeding the Gold Rush. In 1921 they were determined that the Government of Canada would \"be prepared\". I l i k e n t h i s year and next year to the years 1897 and I898, i n the Klondyke. You remember i n 1897, while a considerable number of people went i n yet the big rush did not occur u n t i l 189#. I t was demonstrated, i n the meantime, that there was an undoubted gold deposit so that i n 1#98 W a s the big rush. In t h i s case, i f the coming season demonstrates an undoubted deposit of o i l , we can anticipate a b i g i n f l u x of people next year. (41) Obviously new l e g i s l a t i o n would be required f o r the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , and so the council which had been provided f o r i n the Act of 1905 was f i n a l l y appointed. Four appointments were made i n A p r i l 1921, and i n June the number of 154 c o u n c i l l o r s was r a i s e d to s i x ; a l l were c i v i l servants re p r e s e n t i n g the Department of the I n t e r i o r , the Department of Indian A f f a i r s , or the Royal Canadian Mounted P o l i c e . (42) A twenty-one man party was sent t o the Mackenzie v a l l e y i n May 1921 by the Department of the I n t e r i o r , to open admin-i s t r a t i o n and mining r e c o r d i n g o f f i c e s at F o r t Smith and Norman Wells . The i n t e r n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n of the Department of the I n t e r i o r was reformed t o e s t a b l i s h a new Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s and Yukon Branch. The Government of Canada was ready t o cope wit h any human stampede i n t o the northern t e r r i t o r i e s . - But none m a t e r i a l i z e d . In 1922 the plans f o r the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of the Mackenzie v a l l e y underwent a red u c t i o n and s i m p l i f i c a t i o n . The o f f i c e of Mining Recorder of the Mackenzie D i s t r i c t was a b o l i s h e d , the r e c o r d i n g o f f i c e at Norman We l l s was closed a f t e r one season, and the new o f f i c e of D i s t r i c t Agent, \" a d m i t t i n g wider scope\" was created. (43) The C o u n c i l of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s only saw the need to pass eleven ordinances i n the years between 1921 and 1930, and i n some years i t d i d not meet even once. The d i s t i n g u i s h e d e t h n o l o g i s t , Dr. Diamond Jenness has c h a r a c t e r i z e d the years between the F i r s t and Second World Wars; 1921-31, \"A Shackled A d m i n i s t r a t i o n \" ; 1931-40, \"Bureaucracy i n I n a c t i o n . \" (44) Yet 1921 d i d mark the beginnings of c i v i l government i n the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , from which there was no 155 turning back. Anticipation of an \"Oil Rush\" persuaded the federal government to lay foundations which proved to be permanent, even i f no significant superstructure was built on them for more than twenty years. Administration of the north had ceased to be \"practically n i l \" . Canada s t i l l did not have a clear vision of what the future of the northern territories in Confederation should be, nor had she formulated any precise or detailed policies for their present management and future development. But she had unconsciously begun to organize the hyperborean regions of the globe which she had struggled, and was s t i l l struggling, to make sure were her own, even i f she remained uncertain why she wanted them. For the Northwest Territories the year 1921 marked the small and hesitant beginnings of an era long over-due. 156 FOOTNOTES CHAPTER 1. (1) M.C. Urquhart, K.A.H. Buckley, eds., H i s t o r i c a l S t a t i s t i c s of Canada. Toronto, Macmillan, 1965, p. 314, Series K. 1-2. (2) The B r i t i s h North America Act, 1867, B r i t i s h Statutes. 30 V i c t o r i a , Cap. 3. (3) N.L. Nicholson, The Boundaries of Canada, i t s Provinces and T e r r i t o r i e s . Ottawa, Queen's Prin t e r , 1954, p» 26. (4) E.E. Rich, The Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870. Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1959, Vol. 2, 1763-1870, p. 403. (5) Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to 1870-71. London, New York, Toronto, Thos. Nelson & Sons, 1939, p. 623. (6) L.H. Thomas, The Struggle f o r Responsible Government i n the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s 1870-97. University of Toronto Press. 1956, p. 6. (7) W.L. Morton, ed., Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative to the Red River Resistance of 1869-1870, Toronto, The Champlain Society, 1956, Editor's Introduction, (8) J»M.S. Careless, Brown of the Globe. Toronto, Macmillan, 1959, V o l . 1, p. 230. (9) A.S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to 1870-71. p. 713. (10) Report of the Select Committee, pp. i i i - l v , Section 7* (11) Report of the Select Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company. 29 Mav 1857. Question 4102. p. 218. (12) Macdonald Papers, Macdonald to Watkin, March 27, I865 (private) quoted i n P.B. Waite, The L i f e and Times of Confed- eration 1864-67. University of Toronto Press, 1962, p. 307. 157 (13) Joseph Howe, Confederation Considered i n Relation to the Interests of the Empire* London. Edward Stanford. 1866. p. 16. (14) Ibid . , p. 16. (15) Select Committee Report. 1857. Question 4062, pp. 212-213. (16) United States, Bureau of the Census. A S t a t i s t i c a l Abstract Supplement to H i s t o r i c a l S t a t i s t i c s of the United States From Colonial Times to 1957. Washington. D.C. 1960. Series A, 123-180 p. 13. (17) A l v i n C. Gluek, J r . , Minnesota and the Manifest Destiny of the Canadian Northwest. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1965, pp. 204-219. (18) Globe. 27, January 1864, quoted i n J.M*S. Careless, George Brown, v o l . 2, p. 108. (19) Archie W. Shie l s , The Purchase of Alaska. Fairbanks, University of Alaska Press, 1967, p. 47. (20) P.B. Waite, The L i f e and Times of Confederation, p. 306, quoting the Montreal Gazette, May 24 1867. Quebec Daily Mercury. May 25, 1S67. (21) Parliamentary Debates on the Sub.iect of the Confederation of the B r i t i s h North American Provinces. Quebec, Hunter Rose, I865 p. 445* (Photographic Reproduction, King's P r i n t e r , 1951) (22) Confederation Debates. I865, p. 596. (23) A»J» Russell, The Red River Country, Hudson's Bay and North West T e r r i t o r i e s Considered i n Relation to Canada. Ottawa, Desbarats, 1869, p. 155-(24) E.H. Oliver, The Canadian North-West; I t s E a r l y Develop- ment and L e g i s l a t i v e Records. Ottawa, Government Pr i n t i n g Bureau, 1915, v o l . 2, pp. 972-73. (25) Debates. House of Commons, 2 May 1870, p. 1289. These remarks were delivered at the opening of the debate on the Manitoba b i l l * A more appropriate day to discuss the future government of the North-West could not have been chosen; i t was the two-hundredth anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter to the Hudson's Bay Company. (26) Debates. House of Commons, 2 May 1870, Col. 1288. 158 (27) Debates. House of Commons, 7 May 1870, Col. 1415. (28) Debates. House of Commons, 2 May 1870, Col. 1287. (29) L.H. Thomas, The Struggle f o r Responsible Government i n the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s 1870-1897. University of Toronto Press, 195&, p. 44. (11 A) J.M.S. Careless, Brown of the Globe, v o l . 1, p. 308. 159 CHAPTER I I . (1) During the debate on the Manitoba Act, S i r John A. Macdonald announced that a body of mounted r i f l e s was presently being recruited f o r service i n the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . I t was intended to protect people \"from the chance of Indian war\", and was planned to be a b i - l i n g u a l force, raised i n Upper and Lower Canada, and i n the T e r r i t o r i e s themselves. See, Debates. House of Commons, 2 May 1870, p. 1300. Unfortunately these admirable plans came to naught. The o r i g i n a l North-West Mounted Police force was not raised u n t i l 1873. (2) An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting the North West T e r r i t o r i e s . 38 V i c t . , c. 49. An Act respecting the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s and to create a separate T e r r i t o r y out of part thereof. 39 V i c t . , c. 21. (3) North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act. 1875. Section 3 . (4) Temporary Government Act, 1869. Section 4. (5) North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act. 1875. Section 5. Salary of the Lieutenant Governor: not to exceed $7,000. Salary of the Stipendary Magistrates, each: \" \" \" ;>3,000. Salaries of two Members of the Council: each:\" \" » |l,000. (6) N.W.T. Act. 1875. Section 13. (7) N.W.T. Act. 1875. Section 13, sub-section 1. (8) N.W.T. Act. 1875. Section 13, sub-section 6. (9) N.W.T. Act. 1875. Section 13, sub-section 7. (10) An Ordinance f o r the Government of the T e r r i t o r y of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio, July 13, 1787. Section 9* Documents I l l u s t r a t i v e of the Formation of the Union of the American States. Charles C. T a n s i l l , editor, Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , Washington, D.C., 1927, 69th Congress, 1st Session, House Document No. 398, p. 49* (11) Ordinance of 1787. A r t i c l e V. (12) L.H. Thomas, The Struggle f o r Responsible Government i n the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . 1870-97. Toronto. University of Toronto Press, 1956, p. 74. 160 (13) Morris to the Secretary of State, October 13, 1675, Lieutenant Governor's Papers, Public Archives of Manitoba, quoted i n L.H. Thomas, The Struggle f o r Responsible Government i n the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , p. 83. (14) Ib i d . , p. 84. (15) Debates. House of Commons, 22 February I876, p. 194« (Hon. Alexander Mackenzie) (16) An Act respecting; the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , and to create a separate T e r r i t o r y out of part thereof. 39 V i c t , c. 21, Sections 3 and 4* (17) Debates. House of Commons, 22 February I 8 7 6 , p. 195. (18) Debates. House of Commons, 22 February I876, p. 194« (19) An Ordinance f o r the Government of the T e r r i t o r y of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio, July 13, 1767, A r t i c l e s IV and V. (20) An Act respecting the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , and to create a separate T e r r i t o r y out of part thereof, 39 V i c t o r i a , c. 21. (21) Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year Ended 30th June 1877. Sessional Papers (No. 10.) Ul V i c t o r i a A. 1878, p. i x . \"A much larger expenditure was incurred by the Council than Ministers had expected would be necessary, and on the 31st March l a s t a c i r c u l a r was addressed by the Department of the Secretary of State to the gentlemen composing the Council of Keewatin, intimating the emergency which had necessitated t h e i r appointment as Councillors having ceased to exis t , the Government would be prepared to accept t h e i r resignation of th e i r o f f i c e s , and on the 16th A p r i l l a s t His Honor Lieutenant Governor Morris i n h i s despatch of that date, n o t i f i e d the Secretary of State that the members of the Council had formally resigned. \"Although the accounts f o r the greater part of the expenditure made by the Council of Keewatin were approved by the Council and transmitted to the Department f o r payment, i t was found necessary, i n order to guard the Department against improper or extravagant demands, to make some investigation i n conjunction with the Manitoba Government into the accounts so presented.\" 161 (22) Morris to Secretary of State, December 6, 16*76, Morris papers, Public Archives of Manitoba, quoted i n L.H. Thomas, Struggle f o r Responsible Government, p. 85• Minutes of the Council of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , Thursday, March 12th, 1874, E.H. Oliver, ed., The Canadian North-West. I t s Early Development and L e g i s l a t i v e Records/. V o l . I I , p. 1015, Appendix B. (23) An Act to extend the J u r i s d i c t i o n of the Courts of Manitoba. 40 V i c t . , c. 7. (24) Debates. House of Commons, 22 February I 6 7 8 , 22 March, 1876, p. 427. (25) Order i n Council, 25 September 1882, quoted i n CO. 42, Vol. 772, pp. 182 -3 , Dispatch No. 28, S i r W.J. Ritchie (Administrator) to E a r l of Kimberley, Colonial Secretary. G.W. Smith, Transfer of A r c t i c T e r r i t o r i e s , i860, A r c t i c 1961, Vol. 14, No. 1. p. 68. (26) Debates. House of Commons, 16 May 1882, S i r John A. Macdonald, p. 1567. (27) The Lieutenant Governor proclaimed the creation of the f i r s t t e r r i t o r i a l e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t on November 13, i860, the d i s t r i c t of Lome. The f i r s t e l e c t i o n was held on March 23, 1881. L.H. Thomas, Struggle f o r Responsible Government, p. 115• (28) W.S. MacNutt, Days of Lome. Brunswick Press, Fredricton, New Brunswick, 1955, p. 97. (29) L.H. Thomas, The Struggle f o r Responsible Government, pp. 96-97. Footnote No. 9 9 - \" I n t e r i o r f i l e no. 37906, memorandum Oct. 15, 1881. Dennis stated that he had submitted a scheme i n I876 at the request of the Minister, based on the o r i g i n a l P a c i f i c railway route; now that the route was changed a d i f f e r e n t subdivision was required.\" 162 CHAPTER III. (1) Cf. p. 16, Ch. I, Note 20. (2) Gordon W. Smith, \"The Transfer of Arctic Territories from Great Britain to Canada in 1880 and Some Related Matters As Seen in O f f i c i a l Correspondence\", Arctic. Vol. 14, No. 1, March 1961, pp. 53-54* (3) CO. 42, Vol. 731, P* 52; quoted in Smith, \"Transfer of Arctic Territories to Canada, p« 54* (4) CO. 42, Vol .731, PP* 196-199, Carnarvon to Dufferin, Jan. 6, 1875, Draft Copy; quoted in Smith, \"Transfer of Arctic Territories to Canada\", p. 55• (5) As the northern territories i n question had not been part of either Rupert's Land or the North-western Territory, and as the British North America Act of I867 provided specifically only for the admission of those areas into the Canadian union, therefore i t was considered necessary for the enactment of imperial legislation to make the proposed annexation legally valid. Debates. House of Commons, 3 May 1878, p. 2385. (6) Debates. House of Commons, 3 May 1878, p. 2388. (7) Ibid., p. 2389. (8) Ibid., p. 2393. (9) Debates. House of Commons, 3 May 1878, p. 2390. (10) Loc. c i t . (11) Loc. c i t . (12) Loc. c i t . (13) Ibid., p. 2391. (14) Ibid., p. 2394. Debates. Senate, 3 May I878, p. 903. (15) The Canada Gazette. Vol. XIV, No. 15, (9 Oct. 1880) p. 389. (16) H.R. Holmden, Memo Re - The Arctic Islands. 1921, Manuscript, Public Archives of Canada. 163 (17) William Scoresby, Jun., An Account of the A r c t i c Regions with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fisherv, Edinburgh, Archibald Constable, 1820, V o l . I I , p. 64. (18) B a s i l Lubbock, The A r c t i c Whalers. London, Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1935, p. 276. (19) G.W. Smith, \"Transfer of the A r c t i c T e r r i t o r i e s . . . . \" , A r c t i c . Vol. 14, No. 1, March 196I. pp. 53-54. (20) Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery from I t s E a r l i e s t Inception\"to the Year 1876. r e - p r i n t . Argosv-Antiquarian Ltd., New York, 1964, F i r s t Edition, Waltham Mass., 1878, Appendix A, p. 58I (21) V. Stefansson, Mv L i f e with the Eskimos. Macmillan, New York, 1913, p. 39. (22) The Nares Expedition was the l a s t o f f i c i a l l y - s p o n s o r e d B r i t i s h polar expedition i n the 19th Century. In 1875 A.H. Markham wrote i n second edition of h i s A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay p. v. Second Ed i t i o n , London, Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle, 1875. Those who have always had the i n t e r e s t s of A r c t i c research at heart must indeed be gladdened at the recent decision of Mr. D i s r a e l i ' s Government, (to despatch the Nares Expedition) ... The f l a g of England, the glorious Union Jack, w i l l i n a few short months be again unfurled with the A r c t i c zone, and displayed, i t i s confidently hoped and anticipated, i n high northern l a t i t u d e , i f not at the North Pole i t s e l f . Is i t of significance that h i s A r c t i c Expedition was despatched not long a f t e r an Imperialist Ministry was elected to o f f i c e ? In 1880 the A r c t i c Islands were transferred to Canadian control, and thereafter the B r i t i s h Government displayed no active interest i n further investigation of them. The change of owner-ship made i t imperative that Canada f i l l the void l e f t by the transfer of B r i t i s h i n t e r e s t elsewhere. (23) T.C. F a i r l e y , Svedrup's A r c t i c Adventures, London, Longmans, 1959, \"Epilogue\", pp. 262-296. Adapted, and edited, from New Land: Four Years i n the A r c t i c Regions, by Otto Svedrup, 2 vols. 1904. (24) P.O. Baird, Expeditions to the Canadian A r c t i c . Reprinted from The Beaver, f o r March, June, September, 1949, Hudson's Bay Company, n.d., 16 pp. 164 (25) F.J. Alcock, A Century of the Geological Survey of Canada. Ottawa, King's Pr i n t e r , 1948, p. 29. Established i n 1842, the Geological Survey had i n 1370, a s t a f f of s ix geologists, including the Director. (26) Robert B e l l , Report of an Exploration of the East Coast of Hudson's Bay. 1877. Geological Survey of Canada, Dawson Brothers, Montreal, 1879. (27) Debates. House of Commons, 21 February, 1883, p. 64. (28) Debates. House of Commons, 21 February, I883, S.J. Dawson, MPP. Algoma, p. 63. Simon James Dawson had been employed i n 1868 to open up commun-ica t i o n s with Red River by what was l a t e r known as \"the Dawson Route\"; he had superintended the transport of troops on the Red River expedition of 1870, and had published Report on the l i n e of route between Lake Superior and Red River Settlement, i n 1868. He was M.P. f o r Algoma from 1878 to 1891. His informed i n t e r e s t i n the Hudson Bay navigation route, and i n railways was to be expected. (29) A.E. Millward, Southern B a f f i n Island. King's Printer, 1930, p. 13! \"At a r e l a t i v e l y early date a f t e r the passing of the Order i n Council of 1880 the Canadian Government took active steps to shoulder t h e i r new r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i n the North. In I884 the Neptune...was sent out by the Department of Marine and F i s h e r i e s under the command of L i e u t . A.R. Gordon, R.N. ...\" I f by the phrase, \"the shouldering of new r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s \" , Millward meant that Canada was attempting to exert some measure of control over the A r c t i c Islands, he seems to have been quite mistaken. Lie u t . Gordon never entered the region affected by the Order i n Council of 1880, either i n I884, I885, or 1886. His objective was solely the investigation of navigation conditions. On no occasion did Gordon p a r t i c i p a t e i n the type of a c t i v i t y that occurred on the next expedition to investigate navigation conditions i n Hudson S t r a i t and Bay, that of 1897, commanded by William Wakeham. For example, Wakeham records i n h i s journal when cr u i s i n g the shores of B a f f i n Island, at Kekerton Harbour, Cumberland Sound (a Scottish whaling sta t i o n ) , Tuesday 17th August, 1897* \"Landed and hoisted the Union Jack i n the presence of the agent, a number of our own o f f i c e r s and crew, and the Esquimaux, formally declaring i n t h e i r presence that the f l a g was hoisted as an evidence that Baffin's Land with a l l the t e r r i t o r i e s , islands and dependencies adjacent to i t were, now, as they always had been since t h e i r f i r s t discovery and occupation, under the exclusive sovereignty of Great B r i t a i n . \" 165 Report of the Expedition to Hudson Bay and Cumberland Gulf i n the Steamship \"Diana\" Under the Command of William Wakeham, Marine and Fi s h e r i e s . Canada,* i n the Year 1897* Ottawa, Queen's Pri n t e r , 1898, p. 24. The Gordon expeditions might have been investigating northern waters, but they were doing so f o r p r a i r i e purposes. For example, i n 1885, the \" A l e r t \" , the vessel used i n that and the following year, ca r r i e d D.G. Beaton, ed i t o r of the Winnipeg Times.\"as the representative of the company who are interested i n the construction of the r a i l road from Winnipeg to Hudson's Bay.\" The Hudson Bay Expedition - 1885. Sessional Papers, (No. 11) Annual Report. Department of Marine, Appendix No. 29, 49 V i c t o r i a , A. 1886. p. 195. (30) Robert B e l l , Observations on the Geology. Minerology. Zoology, and Botany of the Labrador Coast, Hudson's S t r a i t and Bav. Geological Survey of Canada, Dawson Brothers, Montreal, 1884, p. 5. (31) Editor's Introduction, pp. 4-5, i n J.B. T y r e l l , editor, Samuel Hearne's, A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort i n Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean i n the Years 17697 1770. 1771. and \"~ 1772. Toronto, Champlain Society, 1911. (32) F.J. Alcock, A Century of the Geological Survey of Canada p. 58. (33) John McLean, Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service In the Hudson's Bay T e r r i t o r y . Toronto, The Champlain Society, 1932, Chap. I l l , pp. 202-219. F i r s t e d i t i o n , 1849. Glyndwr Williams, Introduction, p. l x x v i , Northern Quebec and Labrador Journals and Correspondence 18^.9-35. K.G. Davies, Editor, London, The Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1963. (34) L i e u t . A.R. Gordon, The Hudson Bay Expedition - I884, Sessional Papers. 48 V i c t o r i a , A. 1885, Annual Report, Department of Marine. Appendix No. 30, p. 202. (35) L i e u t . A.R. Gordon, Report of the Second Hudson's Bay Expedition. I885, pp. 54-55. (36) Report of the Hudson's Bay Expedition of 1886 under the Command of Lieutenant A.R. Gordon. R.N., Sessional Paper No. 15, Sessional Papers. Vol. 14, 50 V i c t o r i a , A. 1887, p. 67. (37) Debates. Senate, 27 March 1888, Hon. Mr. Schultz, p. 213. 166 (38) Report and Minutes of evidence of the Select Committee of the Senate on e x i s t i n g natural Food Products of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , and the Best Means of Conserving and Increasing Them. Journals of the Senate of Canada* 1st Session, 6th Parliament, Vol. XXI, 50 V i c t o r i a A. 1887, Appendix No. 1, p. 6. Ottawa, Maclean and Roger & Co. 1887. (39) Report of the Select Committee of the Senate Appointed to Enquire Into the Resources of the Great Mackenzie Basin. Ottawa, Brown Chamberlain, Queen's Pr i n t e r , 1888, p. 11. (40) Debates. Senate, 27 March 1888, Hon. Mr. Schultz, p. 214* (41) Loc. e i t . (42) John C h r i s t i a n Schultz took the oath of o f f i c e as Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba on 2nd July 1888. Canada and I t s Provinces. V o l . 23, H i s t o r i c a l Tables, p. 339* (43) Debates. Senate, 11 May 1888, Hon. Mr. Power, p. 701. (44) Debates. Senate, 27 March 1888, Hon. Mr. Power, p. 237. (45) Debates. Senate, 7 A p r i l 1888, Hon. Mr. Power, p. 271. (46) Debates. Senate, 7 May 1888, p. 567. (47) Debates. Senate, 11 May 1888, p. 693. (48) Ernest Gruening, The State of Alaska. New York, Random House, 1954, pp. 33-43* (49) Debates. Senate, 7 May 1888, p. 567. (50) Debates. Senate, 11 May 1888, Hon. Mr. Power, p. 701. (51) Debates. Senate, 11 May 1888, Hon. Mr. Macdonald, p. 697. (52) Debates. Senate, 11 May 1838, quoted by the Hon. Mr. Girard, p. 692. (53) Debates. Senate, 24 January 1907, Hon. Mr. Davis, p. 144* 167 CHAPTER IV. (1) Senate Debates. 7 May 1888, Hon. J.C. Schultz, p. 567. (2) Tappan Adney, The Klondike Stampede» Harpers Brothers, New York, 1900, p. 1. Pierre Berton, Klondike. W.H. Allen, London i960, pp. 105-06. W.A. Swanberg, C i t i z e n Hearst. Scribners, New York, 1961, Book 3, Chapter 2, \" I ' l l Furnish the War.\" (3) George M. Dawson, H i s t o r i c a l Notes on the Yukon D i s t r i c t . r eprint, Review of H i s t o r i c a l Publications Relating to Canada^. Vol. I I , Publications of the Year 1897, p. 12. There had been no addition to geographical knowledge of the Yukon since John B e l l ' s expedition of I842, and the records of B e l l ' s work were meagre. See L.J. Burpee, ed. Journal of the Yukon I847-48, by Alexander Hunter Murray, Ottawa, Canadian Archives, Publication No. 4, Ottawa 1910, Editor's introduction, p. 9. (4) George M. Dawson, Report On An Exploration i n the Yukon D i s t r i c t N.W.T.. And Adjacent Northern Portion of B r i t i s h Columbia - 1887. Geological Survey and Natural History Survey of Canada: Part B. Annual Report, 1887, Montreal, Dawson Brothers, 1888, p. 6. (5) Ibid., p. 27 (6) Ibid., p. 29 (7) William O g i l v i e , Exploratory Survey of the Lewes, Tat-On- Duc, Porcupine. B e l l . Trout, Peel, and Mackenzie Rivers. 1887-88. Ottawa, Brown Chamberlain, Queen's Printer, 1890, p. 41. (8) Report of the Deputy Minister, Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1888. Sessional Papers. (No 7 15.) A. 1889, pp. xxix-xxx. (9) Senate Debates. 27 March 1888, Hon. J.C. Schultz, p. 236. (10) C L . Andrews, \"Biographical Sketch of Captain William Moore\", Washington H i s t o r i c a l Quarterly. V o l . 21, No. 3, July 1930, pp. 195-203, No. 4. Oct. 1930, pp. 271-280; Vol. 22, No.l, Jan. 1931, pp. 32 -41. When Moore reported h i s exploration of the pass to O g i l v i e , Ogilvie named the pass the \"White Pass\" a f t e r Thomas White, Minister of the I n t e r i o r . I t was then regarded as being i n Canada t e r r i t o r y . 168 (11) Report of Captain William Moore Upon the Yukon Country, B r i t i s h Columbia, Sessional Papers, 2nd Session, 5th Parliament, A. 1888, p. 497. (12) R.E. Gosnell, The Year Book of B r i t i s h Columbia and Manual of P r o v i n c i a l Information, To Which Is Added a Chapter Containing much special information respecting the Canadian Yukon, and Northern T e r r i t o r y generally. V i c t o r i a . 1897. P . 475• (13) William O g i l v i e , Early Davs On the Yukon, p. 144. (14) H.A. Cody, An Apostle of the North. Memoirs of the Rt. Rev. William Carpenter Bompas. P.P.. Toronto, Musson Book Company, 1908, p . 204. (15) Rt. Rev. Bishop Bompas to Hon. John Schultz, dated Rampart House, Porcupine River, Corus, N.W. Canada, 3 June 1892. Keewatin L e t t e r Book A. Manitoba Archives. Bompas had met Schultz i n the 1870*s, and continued to correspond with him thereafter. On receiving t h i s l e t t e r Schultz, as L i e u t . Governor of the Keewatin P i s t r i c t , forwarded a copy to the Minister of the I n t e r i o r i n Ottawa. (16) Report of Inspector C. Constantine re Yukon P i s t r i c t , Annual Report of the North-west Mounted Po l i c e ; 1894. Sessional Papers (No. 15.), A. 1895, p. 80. (17) Report of Inspector C. Constantine, Upper Yukon P i s t r i c t . 20 January 1896, Sessional Papers (No. 15A.) A. 1896, p. 7. Annual Report of the Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1895. Sessional Papers (No. 15.J A. 1896. p. 21. When Constantine consulted with Ogilvie about the size of the force to be despatched to the Yukon, O g i l v i e i n s i s t e d that a detachment of twenty men was s u f f i c i e n t , while Constantine wished to have a much larger number. Og i l v i e ' s counsel prevailed. Og i l v i e ' s advice i n t h i s case seems to be i n harmony with the policy of \"no immediate action\" he had advanced since 1889, and the super-economical caution of the federal administration, Parliament and the c i v i l service together respecting the entire North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . See William O g i l v i e , E a r l y Pays on the Yukon, p. 152. (18) Order i n Council No. 264O, 2nd October 1895, Canada Gazette. V o l . XXIX, No. 16, 19 Oct. 1895, pp. 283-85. (19) Order i n Council No. 264O, 2nd Oct. I895, Canada Gazette. V o l . XXIX, No. 16, 19 Oct. 1895, p. 684. 169 (20) Annual Report of the Secretary of State f o r the Year 1896. Sessional Papers, (No. 16A.) A. 1897, C i v i l Service L i s t , Department of Customs, Outside Service, B r i t i s h Columbia, p. 86. William O g i l v i e wrote of Davis's appointment; \"He i s credited with t e l l i n g that while h i s position and salary were being discussed by the Premier of Canada, S i r Mackenzie Bowell, and himself, that the Premier suggested h i s taking a l l duties he collec t e d f o r h i s salary. I f t h i s i s a f a c t , and he had accepted what a salary he would have had i n 1897, I898, 1899, 1900 and 19011\" Early Days on the Yukon, p. 266 Such a proposal, i f indeed made, again shows the low expectations of the northland's value held by the federal government. (21) Report, Fort Cudahy, 6 September I896, Extracts from the Reports of William O g i l v i e , D.L.S., Annual Report of the Depart- ment of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1896, Part I I . Dominion Land Surveys, Report No. 2, p. 48, Sessional Papers, (No. 13•) A. 1897, p. 48. (22) Report of the Deputy Minister, Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1896, Sessional Papers (No. 13.) A. 1897, p. xxiv. (23) Report of the Deputy Minister, Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1897. Sessional Papers (No7 13) A. 1898, p. 8. (24) Extracts from Reports of Thos. Fawcett, D.L.S., Gold Commissioner f o r the Yukon D i s t r i c t , Annual Report of the Department of the Interior. Part I I , Dominion Land Surveys, Report No. 17, Sessional Papers (No. 13.) A. I898, Report, dated Dawson, 16 June 1897, pp. 74-75, Report dated Dawson, 11 July 1897, pp. 75-76. (25) Extracts from the Report of William O g i l v i e , D.L.S., Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1896. Sessional Papers (No. 13.) A. 1897. P P . 40-54. (26) Extracts from the Reports of William O g i l v i e , D.L.S., Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1896. Sessional Papers. (No. 13.J A. 1897. Report dated Fort Cudahy, 6 November I896, p. 51» (27) Extracts from the Reports of William O g i l v i e , D.L.S., Sessional Papers, (No. 13.) A. 1897, 10 June I896, p. 45; 6 September I896, p. 49. Report on the Yukon Detachment, Appendix DD, Annual Report of the North-West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1896, Sessional Papers (No. 15.) A. 1897, p. 235. 170 (28) Vancouver News Advertiser. 26 March 1897; quoted i n Norman Hacking, Early Maritime History of B r i t i s h Columbia, B.A. Honours Essay, 1934, p. 136. (29) Annual Report of Assistant Commissioner J.H. M c l l l r e e , Annual Report of the North-West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1897. Appendix A. P . 21. Sessional Papers. (No. 15.) A. 1898. (30) Report of T r i p to the Yukon by Inspector W.H. Scarth, Annual Report of the North-West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1897. Appendix K. p. 144. Sessional Papers. (No. 15.) A. 189.8. The police changed ships at V i c t o r i a , s a i l i n g north on the American owned S.S. \" C i t y of Topeka\"• At t h i s date no Canadian vessels ventured into Alaskan waters. (31) On May 8th 1897 the Lieutenant Governor of B r i t i s h Columbia gave royal assent to: 1 . Stikeen and T e s l i n Railway, Navigation and Colonization Company, 60 V i c , Cap. 38; B r i t i s h Columbia Yukon Railway Company, 60 V i c , Cap. 49; Cassiar Central Railway Company, 60 V i c , Cap. 52; and the Yukon Mining Trading, and Transportation Company, 60 V i c . Cap. 77. At t h i s time the Canadian-American boundary i n the Alaska pan-handle remained undefined, and a matter of dispute. I t was Canada's contention that the heads of many i n l e t s , including the head of the Lynn Canal and the ports of Skagway and Dyea, r i g h t -f u l l y belonged i n Canadian t e r r i t o r y , although they had been under intermittant American control f o r considerable time. Obviously the B r i t i s h Columbia government supported Canada's claims; when an Alaska boundary might be agreed upon the province could expect Skagway and Dyea to become B r i t i s h Columbia ports. Pending the boundary decision, American j u r i s -d i c t i o n over the head of the Lynn Canal should be given temporary 'de facto' recognition. The B r i t i s h Syndicate sponsoring the White Pass and Yukon Railway Company prudently made provision f o r any l i k e l y settlement of the boundary i n the pan-handle. In I898 they chartered the P a c i f i c and A r c t i c Railway and Navigation Company i n the State of V i r g i n i a . From Skagway to the Canadian boundary at the summit of the White Pass, the Company has continued to operate under the V i r g i n i a charter u n t i l 19&7. (32) See Tappan Adney, The Klondike Stampede of 1897-98, p. 9, f o r an i l l u s t r a t i o n of the speed with which some Canadian commercial concerns took advantage of the Yukon's p o s s i b i l i t i e s . \"On the 30th July I purchased, at the o f f i c e of the Canadian P a c i f i c Railway i n New York a through printed t i c k e t reading, 'New York to Dyea' including passage i n the steamer Islander. scheduled to leave V i c t o r i a on the 15th August on her second t r i p . \" (Underlining the author's.) 171 (33) Scott to Laurier, 20 July 1897, Laurier Papers; Scott to Laurier 23 July 1897, Scott Papers; quoted i n R. Craig Brown, Canada's National Policy, p. 299. (34) Annual Report of Assistant Commissioner J.H. M c l l l r e e , North-West Mounted Police Annual Report f o r the Year 1897. Appendix A., p. 24, Sessional Papers (No. 15) A. I898. (35) Loc. C i t . (36) Canada Gazette. Vol. XXXI, No. 9, 28 August 1897, p. 392. (37) Commission of Ma.ior Walsh as Executive O f f i c e r of the Yukon D i s t r i c t . Sessional Papers (No. 38.) A. 1898. Indicative of the haste with which the government was acting i n the summer of 1897 i s the fac t that i n the o r i g i n a l commission, signed on August 17th, Walsh was wrongly named \"John M.\" Walsh, an error which the Privy Council remedied on August 23rd, by issuing a second and corrected commission. See Sessional Papers (No. 38A.) A. 189$. (38) Guide to Canadian M i n i s t r i e s Since Confederation. Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, 1957, p. 29. (39) Debates. House of Commons, 31 May 1906, p. 4270, Hon. C l i f f o r d S i f t o n . (40) Debates, House of Commons, 29 June 1899, p. 6138, Hon. C l i f f o r d S i f t o n . (41) J«W. Dafoe, C l i f f o r d S i f t o n i n Relation To His Times, p.153. (42) Manitoba Act. 1870, Section 30. 33 V i c t . , Cap. 3. (43) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February I898, p. 186. (44) Debates, House of Commons, 8 February I898. B l a i r , although Minister of Railways, had had nothing to do with the negotiation of the contract signed with Mackenzie and Mann on January 25th I898. Sifton had devised that agreement. B l a i r was presented with a \" f a i t accompli\" and given the consolation of introducing the Canadian Yukon Railway B i l l . He was badly briefed, and of course had no personal f a m i l i a r i t y with the back-ground of the contract or i t s ramifications. He was unable to answer opposition questions, and the Conservative party immed-i a t e l y stole the i n i t i a t i v e which they kept u n t i l the B i l l was defeated i n the Senate. 172 (45) Contract between Her Majesty the Queen and William Mackenzie and Donald D. Mann, signed on 25th January, A.D. 189$, Clause 1* Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons* No. 4, Ottawa, Tuesday 8th February 1898, p. 37. (46) Mackenzie and Mann Contract, 25 January 1898, Section 11. (47) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February I898, 195• (48) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February I898, p. 193* Of a l l the possible routes into the Yukon va l l e y from P a c i f i c tidewater, that v i a the Chilkat Pass appeared to be the most economically p r a c t i c a l . O r i g i n a l l y Mackenzie & Mann wished to construct a r a i l r o a d over t h i s route, but the Canadian Govern-ment persuaded them to b u i l d over the S t i k i n e - T e s l i n route i n return f o r the enormous land grant. The Government was seeking the p o l i t i c a l l y desirable \"all-Canadian\" route, not the most ea s i l y constructed or most e f f i c i e n t l y operable route. (49) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February I898, pp. 193-194. (50) R. Craig Brown, Canada's National Po l i c y . 1883-1900, p. 313. (51) R.M. Patterson, T r a i l to the Inter i o r , p. 29. (52) Report of the Department of M i l i t i a and Defence f o r the Year ended 31 December 1898. \"Yukon F i e l d Force\", p. 25. Sessional Papers (No. 19.) A. 1899. (53) See The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen. J.T. Saywell, ed., p. 458. Lady Aberdeen was much interested i n the Yukon experiences of the two members of the V i c t o r i a Order of Nurses who accompanied the F i e l d Force, \"...then a weary tramp on foot f o r 150 miles, or rather 200 miles i f the actual distance i s counted across a t e r r i b l e country - boulders & huge f a l l e n trees were the le a s t part of the d i f f i c u l t i e s f o r the worst part was the horrible swamps through which they had to wade up to t h e i r waists.... The only solace...is the glorious scenery & the profusion of flowers.... The Nurses say that t h e i r clothes & t h e i r boots which were intended to l a s t them f o r three years are completely worn out - except the heavy winter things of course.\" (54) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February I898, p. 195. (55) Senate Debates. 23 March I898, p. 312. Hon. Senator M i l l e r quoting the testimony of Mr. Livernash, a delegate of the Yukon miners to Ottawa, who had spoken to some senators the previous day. (See also p. 31) 173 (56) Debates, House of Commons, 16 February 189#, p. 633. (57) K a r l Baedeker, The Dominion of Canada with Newfoundland and an Excursion to Alaska. Handbook f o r T r a v e l l e r s . L e i p z i g and New York, 1 9 0 7 , pp. 3 0 1 - 3 0 4 . (58) Debates. House of Commons, 16 February 1898, p. 631. (59) Debates. House of Commons, 8 February - 16 March, I898; Debates. Senate, 18 March - 30 March I898. (60) Joseph Pope, then Under Secretary of State f o r Canada, recorded i n h i s diary that some Conservatives t o l d him that \" . . . i f the b i l l passed the contractors would have given the L i b e r a l machine such a huge rake-off as to have assured them power f o r 20 years. That may be so.\" Pope Papers, 1 16 , Diary, March 3 0 , I 8 9 8 , quoted i n R. Craig Brown, Canada's National Policy, 1 8 8 3 0 1 9 0 0 , p. 310. (61) Debates. Senate, 30 March I 8 9 8 , p. 5 4 2 . (62) Clause 4 of the Mackenzie & Mann contract of 25 January I 8 9 8 read; \"4« For f i v e years from the f i r s t of September, I 8 9 8 , no l i n e of railway s h a l l be authorized by Parliament to be constructed from Lynn Canal or thereabouts or from any point at or near the international boundary between Canada and Alaska into the Yukon D i s t r i c t , and f o r f i v e years from said date no aid i n land or money s h a l l be granted to any person or company other than the contractors and the contractors' company to as s i s t i n building any such railway.\" Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons. No. 4, 8th February, 1898, p. 3 8 . The B r i t i s h Columbia Legislature had of course chartered the White Pass and Yukon railway i n 1 8 9 7 , but i t could, and did, reach the navigable waters of the Yukon River system within the boundaries of B r i t i s h Columbia. Any American railway which b u i l t from the head of the Lynn Canal would be forced by gl a c i e r s and mountain ranges to b u i l d through both B.C. and Yukon t e r r i t o r y before i t could penetrate into the i n t e r i o r of Alaska. Therefore the contentious clause was taken as an exclusive attack on the United States, and not a r e s t r i c t i o n on other r a i l r o a d s chartered by p r o v i n c i a l governments of Canada. (63) R. Craig Brown, Canada's National Policy, p. 304* (64) Treaty of Washington, A r t i c l e XXVI, Statutes of Canada. 1 8 7 2 , p. c x v i i . (65) R. Craig Brown, Canada's National Policy, p. 3 0 4 . 174 (66) Norman Thompson, J.H. Edgar, Canadian Railway Development From the E a r l i e s t Times, Toronto, Macmillan 1933, p. 322. (67) Mackenzie & Mann had bought the charter of the Stikine and T e s l i n Railway ( B r i t i s h Columbia, 60 V i c , Cap. 71, 1897) which would have traversed the same route as the f e d e r a l l y chartered Canadian Yukon Railway, which had met Parliamentary defeat. Land grants i n B r i t i s h Columbia accompanied the p r o v i n c i a l charter, but a f t e r 30 March 1898, the enormous federal acreage i n the northern t e r r i t o r i e s was beyond grasp. Mackenzie & Mann decided not to b u i l d over the Stikine T e s l i n route, although they were e n t i t l e d to do so under p r o v i n c i a l authority. Presumably they were more interested i n the 3 m i l l i o n acres of pote n t i a l gold-bearing land they might claim than i n the construction of a r a i l r o a d over a route which they had never favoured. In any event the Exchequer Court of Canada awarded more than one h a l f m i l l i o n d o l l a r s as a r e s u l t of the collapse of the Canadian Yukon Railway contract; $328,508 as damages, and the return of a $250,000 deposit. See G.R. Stevens, Canadian National Railways. Volume 2, p. 86. (68) Annual Report of the Commissioner of the North West Mounted Police f o r the year ending 30 November 1900. Part I I I , Yukon T e r r i t o r y , Supt. Z.T. Wood, p. 5« Sessional Papers (No. 28 a.) A. 1901. (69) Norbert Macdonald, Seattle, Vancouver, and the Klondike, unpublished a r t i c l e , 1967. (70) Senate Journals, I898, pp. 230, 234, 245. Senate Debates, pp. 798, 835, 868. The House of Commons returned the Yukon B i l l to the Senate with amendments i n d e t a i l , which were accepted without debate on June 2nd, 1898. Senate Journals, p. 272; Senate Debates, p. (71) Debates. House of Commons, pp. 6439, 6730 & f f . , 6747. On the suggestion of Nicholas Flood Davin, the j o u r n a l i s t -tribune of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , who thought that generally the B i l l \"meets the needs of the Yukon pretty well\", the l e g i s -l a t i o n was amended to make judges e x - o f f i c i o members of the Yukon Council. Debates. House of Commons, 2 June I898, c o l . 6730. In 1899 the Yukon Act was amended to remove the judges from the council, e x - o f f i c i o , because the pressure of t h e i r l e g a l duties and the c o n f l i c t of inter e s t between t h e i r l e g i s l a t i v e and j u d i c i a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Senate Debates. 7 July 1899, p. 645, Hon. David M i l l s , Minister of J u s t i c e . Yukon Amendment Act. 175 (72) Yukon Act, 16*98, 61 V i c t . , esp. 6, Sections 2, 3, 4. \"There i s t h i s difference between the T e r r i t o r i e s and the Provinces, that i n a province they are exercising powers which must be defined and lim i t e d , so as not to come i n contact with the powers of the Dominion. This i s a body subordinate to the Dominion and deriving i t s powers from the Dominion, and i t s powers would not a v a i l i f i t l e g i s l a t e d i n contravention of them, and i f i t did impose d i r e c t taxation no injury could flow from i t . \" Hon. David M i l l s , Minister of Justice, 28 July, 1 8 9 9 , Senate Debates, p. 9 8 3 . (73) Debates. House of Commons, 2 June I898, p. 6729. Apart from the fac t that the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s Act of 1875 created a separate T e r r i t o r i a l government located i n the T e r r i t o r i e s , and not i n Manitoba, the most s i g n i f i c a n t of i t s clauses were those devising ways of returning elected members to the T e r r i t o r i a l Council. (74) Debates. House of Commons, 2 June I898, p. 6729. (75) Senate Debates. 25 May I896, p. 836. (76) Senate Debates. 25 May I 8 9 8 , p. 8 3 5 . (77) When the Conservative M.P. George Foster asked Sift o n what was the objection to having a l l Yukon ordinances reserved before coming into force, S i f t o n r e p l i e d , \"The delay\". Debates, House of Commons, 2 June I 8 9 8 , c o l . 6 7 2 8 . (78) Senate Debates. 25 May I 8 9 8 , p. 8 3 5 . (79) J«W. Dafoe, C l i f f o r d Sifton, pp. 1 2 8 - 3 0 . C C . Lingard, T e r r i t o r i a l Government i n Canada, p. 7. (80) Report of G.H.V. Bulyea on h i s Expedition to the Yukon. L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , Sessional Papers (No. 24.) (Not printed.) p. 1. Copy i n the Saskatchewan P r o v i n c i a l Archives. (81) Liquor Permits f o r the Yukon, Canada, Sessional Papers, (No. 51a.) A. 1898. (82) Report of G.H.V. Bulyea on h i s Expedition to the Yukon, N.W.T. Sessional Papers (No. 24) A. I 8 9 8 , 4th Session, 3 r d L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly. (83) Bulvea Report, p. 8. 176 (84) Humble Address to His Honour the Lieutenant Governor, moved 19th August I898, Journals of the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , 1898, 4th Session. 3rd L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly, p. 16. ($5) Debates. House of Commons, 21 Feb. 1905, c o l s . 1426-28, S i r W i l f r i d Laurier. (86) For an i l l u s t r a t i o n of the i n s i g n i f i c a n t extent of mining i n the North West T e r r i t o r i e s up to the 1890's, see \"Report of the Superintendent of Mines\", Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r f o r the Year 1$95~ Sessional Papers (No. 13•) A. 1896, pp. 18-23* I t deals mostly with settlement and agr i c u l t u r e . (87) Order i n Council, 9 Nov. 1889. (88) W. Og i l v i e , Early Days on the Yukon, p. 13$. \"Up to the year 1$$7, a l l mining done i n the t e r r i t o r y was on the bars and banks of the streams, and most of t h i s was known as skim diggings, that i s , only the two to four feet of the surface was worked. .... In view of these natural handicaps the regulation size of claim was unanimously considered too small.\" (It was one hundred feet square.) ($9) W. Ogi l v i e , Early Davs on the Yukon, p. 221. O g i l v i e states c a t e g o r i c a l l y that the mining tax was imposed more because of the exaggerated reports of the richness of gold i n western newspapers than f o r any other reason. He personally estimated the 1897 Yukon production to be approximately 2s m i l l i o n , but reports reaching eastern Canada magnified t h i s to 20 m i l l i o n . (90) Canada Gazette. P.C. 2326, 29 July 1$97. (91) D. Morrison, P o l i t i c s of the Yukon T e r r i t o r y ; 1$9$-190$. p. 132. \"Annual Report of the Deputy Minister\", Annual Report of the Department of the In t e r i o r . Sessional Papers (No. 13.) A. 1$9$, p. 12. (92) Francis Cunynghame, The Lost T r a i l . The Story of Klondike Gold and the Man Who Fought f o r Control, Faber & Faber, London, 1953, p. 52. (93) D. Morrison, P o l i t i c s of the Yukon T e r r i t o r y ; 1$9$-190$. pp. 133-135. 177 (94) A.C.N. Treadgold to C l i f f o r d S i f t o n , July 17 1900, S i f t o n Papers, v o l . 9 0 , p. 70030; quoted i n Morrison, P o l i t i c s of the Yukon T e r r i t o r y ; I89S-19O8, pp. 1 3 4 - 3 5 . \"The output i s sure to be more than maintained t h i s year and maintained next, but I think that by the end of 1901 you may reduce your royalty (& your expenses too, eh?) f o r the Klondike, because by then the Yankees on Eldorado & Upper Bonanza w i l l have cleared out and the lowgrade gravels can begin to be treated, i f we get the water going a l l r i g h t . \" (95) Urquhart, Buckley, eds., H i s t o r i c a l S t a t i s t i c s of Canada. Table A 2 - 14, p. 14. The census of 1901 gave the Yukon a population of 2 7 , 2 1 9 ; the census of 1911 showed a decline to 8 , 5 1 2 . In 1899 the population was estimated to exceed 4 0 , 0 0 0 . (96) Yukon Amendment Act, 1899, Section 4 , 62-63 V i c t . , c. 11. (97) Yukon Amendment Act, 1902, Section 3 , 2 Edw. VII, C. 3 4 . (98) Yukon Amendment Act, 1908, 7-8 Edw. VII, c. 76. (99) Yukon Representation Act, 2 Edw. VII, c. 3 7 . CHAPTER V 178 ;(1) Treaty of February 28th 1825, A r t i c l e IV, quoted i n tr a n s l a t i o n by James White i n \"The Alaska Boundary\", Canada and I t s Provinces, V o l . 8, Section IV, Part I I I , p. 928% Toronto, Glasgow Brook, 1914. (2) O.D. Skelton, L i f e and Letters of S i r W i l f r i d Laurier. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1921, pp. 144-47. (3) The three American Commissioners were, Hon. E l i h u Root, Secretary of War i n Roosevelt's Cabinet; 2. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, who was reported to have declared that Canada*s con-tentions were \"baseless claims\"; and 3. Senator George Turner of Washington, whose s e l f i n t e r e s t i n the Alaska Boundary question was obvious. The B r i t i s h Commissioners were; 1. Lord Chief Justice Alverstone; 2. S i r Louis Jette, Chief Justice of Quebec; 3. Hon. J.D. Armour of the Supreme Court of Canada, and following h i s death a noted b a r r i s t e r , Mr. A.B. Aylesworth of Toronto. See; Canada and I t s Provinces. V o l . 8, pp. 156-57* (4) Skelton, Laurier. Vol. 2, p. 153* (5) Pascal P o i r i e r , 1852-1933, born i n Shediac, Mew Brunswick, of French-Acadian descent. Appointed to the Senate i n I885, and elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada i n 1899* He was an author of several books on the Acadians. W.S. Wallace, ed., The Macmillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Third E d i t i o n ^ Toronto, Macmillan, 1963, p. 598. (6) Debates. Senate, 20 October 1903, pp. I662-63. (7) Senate Debates. 20 October. 1903, p* 1662. (8) Senate Debates. 20 October 1903, p. I663. (9) According to T.C. F a i r l e y , the spur to Canadian action came from the revelations of the discoveries and the t e r r i t o r i a l claims i n the name of Norway, of Captain Otto Svedrup during the years 1893-1902. See, T.C. F a i r l e y , Svedrup's A r c t i c Adventures. London, Longmans, 1959, pp. 275 - 277. Svedrup spoke to the Royal Geographical Society i n London on 27 A p r i l 1903 about h i s recent e x p l o i t s . The veteran B r i t i s h explorer, S i r Leopold M'Clintock expressed h i s regrets on t h i s occasion that the \"Norwegians had stopped the advance of the B r i t i s h Empire i n the islands north of Canada.\" (p. 274) When Ottawa received word of Svedrup's accomplishments and M'Clintock's inter p r e t a t i o n i t immediately took steps to f o r e s t a l l Norway's claims. 179 F a i r l e y states that S i r W i l f r i d Laurier and C l i f f o r d S i f t o n approached the Leader of the Opposition, Robert L. Borden, showed him a memorandum which outlined the threats to Canadian sovereignty i n the north, and secured h i s agreement to a Parliamentary silence on the subject \" f o r reasons of State\". Among the Borden Papers i n the Public Archives of Canada l i e s an undated typed memorandum e n t i t l e d \" A r c t i c Islands\". (Borden Papers M.G. 26, H. 2, 2(f) Vo l . 301.) Presumably t h i s i s the memorandum to which F a i r l e y r e f e r s . I t contains no reference to Svedrup, or to any threat from any other government but that of the United States of America. The American traders and whalers on HerShell Island, i n Hudson Bay, \"and upon the islands North of the Hudson Bay i n the A r c t i c C i r c l e \" and the \"unfounded and troublesome claims they might make\", are the only reasons c i t e d f o r the proposed Canadian counter-action. As F a i r l e y does not c i t e references, i t i s impossible to deduce the source of h i s a t t r i b u t i o n of the source of the Canadian northern i n i t i a t i v e to Svedrup and Norway. (10) \"Report of the Commissioner\", Annual Report of the North West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1903. Sessional Paper No. 28. A. 1904, p. 2. (11) \"Report of Superintendent C. Constantine; t r i p to Mackenzie River, with Report of Sergeant F i t z g e r a l d , Herchell Island Detachment,\" p. 49; Annual Report of the North West Mounted Police 1903. Appendix D., Sessional Paper No. 28, A. 1904. (12) \"Report of Sergeant Fi t z g e r a l d , Herchell Island Detach-ment Appendix D., Annual Report of the North West Mounted Poli c e . 1903. Sessional Paper No. 28, A. I9O4. (13) \"Report of Sergeant F i t z g e r a l d , Herchell Island Detach-ment\", N.W.M.P. Annual Report f o r 1903. Appendix D. Sessional Paper No. 28, A. 1904, p. 46. (14) Cf. Chapter IV. p. 80. (15) A.P. Low, Cruise of the \"Neptune\". Ottawa. (16) A.P. Low, Cruise of the \"Neptune\", p. 3. (17) \"Report of Superintendent J.D. Moodie on Service i n Hudson Bay per S.S. Neptune, 1903-04\", p. 3, Annual Report of the Roval North West Mounted Police f o r the Year 1904. Sessional Paper No. 28, A. 1904. : (18) The log-books of the \"Era\" and many of the papers of Captain George Comer are to be seen i n the l i b r a r y of the Marine H i s t o r i c a l Association, Mystic, Connecticut. 180 (19) A.P. Low reported that no new Scottish whaling vessels had been b u i l t f o r 25 years; that the Dundee f l e e t was reduced to 5 ships i n 1903; and that i t was u n l i k e l y these would be replaced. Any future whaling ships would probably be Norwegian b u i l t . The art of constructing wooden ships f o r A r c t i c waters was being l o s t . American whalers, because of t h e i r d i f f e r e n t methods as well as t h e i r foreign registery, mounted a greater threat to Canadian sovereignty than those of any other country. European whalers came only f o r the duration of one season. They appeared when the ice-pack broke up, and they disappeared as i t re-froze. The Americans were provisioned f o r two years and would remain one or two winters i n the north on each voyage. The Americans were the f i r s t to ;erect permanent stations i n the eastern A r c t i c , and from them they were well situated to trade with the aborigines. A.P. Low, Cruise of the Neptune, pp. 250-51. (20) A .P. Low reported of the Scottish and American owned whaling stations on the Davis S t r a i t shores of Ba f f i n Island: \"None of these stations are making great p r o f i t s and some of them are being maintained at a l o s s . They are of great assistance to the natives, and i t i s to be hoped that nothing w i l l be done to discourage the owners who according to present returns, should be helped rather than hindered i n t h e i r wish. \"Withdrawal of whalers would lead to great hardship and many deaths i f the Government did not take t h e i r place and supply Eskimos with the necessary guns and ammunition.\" Also Low thought that the whalers 1 influence was not as bad i n the eastern as i n the western a r c t i c . Excessive use of alcohol was never practised, and now, (1903) had completely stopped. But the outlook of the whaling industry was gloomy. Cruise of the \"Neptune\" p. 27. (21) Captain J.E. Bernier, Master Mariner and A r c t i c Explorer -A Narrative of 60 Years at Sea. Ottawa. Le Droit. 1939. p. 306. (22) Captain J.E. Bernier, Report of the Dominion Government Expedition to the A r c t i c Islands and the Hudson S t r a i t on Board the C.G.S. \" A r c t i c \" . 1906-07. Ottawa. King's Printer. 1909. pp. 10 and 69. (23) F i s h e r i e s Amendment Act. 1906, Statutes of Canada, 6 Edw VII c. 13,.(July 13, 1906) (24) Debates. House of Commons, 3 July 1906, c o l . 6855. (25) Debates. House of Commons, 3 July 1906, Col. 6855. 181 (26) The Canadian f l a g used on t h i s and following voyages was the Red Ensign, bearing a crowned s h i e l d i n the r i g h t hand corner, emblazoned with a l l the p r o v i n c i a l i n s i g n i a , and surrounded by wreaths of maple leaves. Cruise of the \" A r c t i c \" . 1906-07. Plate f a c i n g p. 195. (27) Captain J.E. Bernier, Cruise of the \" A r c t i c \" . 1906-07. p. 3 . (28) Senate Debates. February 20, 1907, p. 266. (29) Gordon W. Smith, T e r r i t o r i a l Sovereignty i n the Canadian North; A H i s t o r i c a l Outline of the Problem. Ottawa, Northern Co-ordination And Research Centre, 1963, p. 8. (30) Senate Debates. February 20, 1907, p. 267. (31) Senate Debates. February 20, 1907, p. 267. (32) Captain J.E. Bernier, Cruise of the \" A r c t i c \" ; 1906-07. Ottawa, King's Pri n t e r , 1909, p. 127. (33) Captain J.E. Bernier, Report of the Dominion of Canada Government Expedition to the A r c t i c Islands and Hudson S t r a i t on Board the D.G.S. \" A r c t i c \" . 1908-09. Ottawa. Government Pr i n t i n g Bureau, 1910, p. x i x . (34) Bernier, Cruise of the \" A r c t i c \" ; 1908-09, pp. 192-194. (35) Captain J.E. Bernier, Report on the Dominion Government Expedition 0 to the Northern Waters and A r c t i c Archipelago on the D.G.S. \" A r c t i c \" i n 1910. Ottawa, Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , P« (36) V. Stefansson, The Friendly A r c t i c . New York, Macmillan, 1922, Introduction by the Rt. Hon. S i r Robert L a i r d Borden, p. x x i . (37) I t i s somewhat i r o n i c that when Ottawa i n s i s t e d on financing Stefansson's expedition completely, G i l b e r t Grovesnor, Director of the National Geographic Society, feared that \"some p o l i t i c i a n or other at Ottawa\", might t r y to influence the course of the expedition, thus i n t e r f e r i n g with i t s s c i e n t i f i c value. See, Stefansson, The Friendly A r c t i c , p. i x . (38) Report of the Royal Commission to investigate the possib- i l i t i e s of the Reindeer and Musk-ox industries i n the A r c t i c and Sub-arctic regions of Canada. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1922. Stefansson resigned i n 1920 from the Commission before i t had completed i t s work, i n order to prosecute h i s personal interests i n reindeer industries on B a f f i n Island. 182 (39) Vilhjalmur Stefansson, The Adventure of Wrangel Island, New York, Macmillan, 1925, p. 76~. (40) Some Canadian o f f i c i a l s at f i r s t agreed with Stefansson on t h i s point. \"Their (the Russians*) only claim seems to be because of the Geographical position of the Island and the fact that maps of that country frequently show i t i n the same colour as S i b e r i a * \" Memorandum: O.S. Finnie to W.W. Cory, Commissioner, Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , 9 June 1922, F i l e 930, N.W.T. Wrangel Island. Now i n the custody of the Northern Administration Branch, Department of Indian A f f a i r s and Northern Development. Canada's t i t l e to much of the a r c t i c archipelago would also seem to have rested on l i t t l e more than the colour of the map. (41) Commissioner's Report, Annual Report R.N.W.M.P. f o r the year Ended 30 September 1919. \"Overseas Contingent, \"B\" Squadron\", Sessional Paper No. 28. A1920. pp. 19-20. ,(42) S i r Joseph Pope, Memorandum f o r the Rt. Hon. Mr. Meighen on Canada's Claim to certain islands within the A r c t i c C i r c l e , 25th November 1920. Department of the Inte r i o r , F i l e 930, N.W.T. Wrangel Island. Underlining i s S i r Joseph Pope's. (43) V. Stefansson, Adventure of Wrangel Island, p. 80. (44) S i r Joseph Pope, Confidential Memorandum f o r the Prime Minister respecting Wrangel Island, 21 March 1922. F i l e 930, N.W.T. Wrangel Island. (45) Loring C h r i s t i e , Department of External A f f a i r s , August 9, 1922, SECRET, Memorandum Submitted to the Prime Minister - 9 -VIII - 22. Copy, F i l e 930, Wrangel Island, Department of the I n t e r i o r . (46) Debates. House of Commons, 12 May 1922, p. 1751. (47) I b i d . . 31 May 1923, p. 3360. (48) Ibid.. 14 June 1923, p. 3948. (49) Ibid.. 1 June 1925, p. 3773. (50) V. Kenneth Johnston, \"Canada's T i t l e to the A r c t i c Islands\", Canadian H i s t o r i c a l Review. March 1933, Vol. XIV, No. 1, p. 37. (51) V. Stefansson, The Adventure of Wrangel Island, p. 71. 183 (52) Department of the In t e r i o r , Canada's A r c t i c Islands. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1927, p. 5. (53) Debates. House of Commons, 10 June 1925, p. 4069. (54) Loc. c i t . (55) T.C. F a i r l e y , Svedrup*s A r c t i c Adventures, p. 284. Canada's A r c t i c Islands, pp. 44-45. (56) T.C. F a i r l e y , Svedrup's A r c t i c Adventures, p. 285. (57) Department of the In t e r i o r , Natural Resources, 11 November 1930. (58) V. Kenneth Johnston, \"Canada's T i t l e to the A r c t i c Islands\", The Canadian H i s t o r i c a l Review, XIV, No. 1, p. 41. 184 CHAPTER VI. (1) C. C e c i l Lingar, T e r r i t o r i a l Government i n Canada; The Autonomy Question i n the old North-West T e r r i t o r i e s , pp. 21-35. (2) Debates. House of Commons, 21 February 1905, Cols. 1421-59. (3) J . C a s t e l l Hopkins, ed., Canadian Annual Review. 1905. Toronto, Annual Review Publishing Company, 1906, p. 365. (4) Loc. c i t . (5) Canada, Dominion P r o v i n c i a l and Int e r p r o v i n c i a l Conferences from 1887 to 1926. King's Pr i n t e r . Ottawa. 1951. Debates. House of Commons, 13 July 1908, c o l . 12779. (6) Debates. House of Commons, 13 July 1908, c o l s . 12776-77. (7) Ibid., c o l s . 12777-78. (8) Ibid., c o l . 12779. (9) Ibid., c o l s . 12822-23. (10) Ibid., c o l s . 12818-19, R.L. Borden. (11) Ibid., c o l . 12823. (12) Ibid.. 15 June 1908, c o l . 10530. (13) Ibid., c o l . 10530. (14) The Manitoba Boundaries Extension Act. 1912, 2 Geo.V., c . 3 2 . The Ontario Boundaries Extension Act, 2 Geo. V., c. 46. The Quebec Boundaries Extension Act, 1912, 2 Geo.V., c.45. In each of the three acts the r i g h t s of the Hudson's Bay Company were reserved, f o r the areas annexed by the acts had been part of Rupert's Land. In the case of Manitoba alone the Government of Canada retained control over the lands and natural resources of the areas to be annexed to the Province, \" f o r the purposes of Canada.\" (15) Debates. House of Commons, 17 May 1905, c o l . 6IO3. (16) The Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s Act, 1905, 4-5 Edw. VII, c. 27. (17) Debates. House of Commons, 13 July 1908, c o l . 12777. (18) Ibid.. 4 July 1905, c o l . 8766. 185 (19) In the f i s c a l year 1908-09, f o r example, the salary of the Commissioner was $1000.; school grants t o t a l l e d $3,500; and the t o t a l budget f o r the c i v i l government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s amounted to $9,800; the highest fig u r e i t reached before 1920-21. See, Estimates. 1908-09; 1920-21. (20) Commissioner's Letter Books, R.C.M.P. Papers, Comptroller's O f f i c e , Public Archives of Canada, Record Group 18. (21) F. White to P.F. B r i t t a i n , Hon. Secretary, B r i t i s h Exporters' Association, 4 June 1906, Ibid., v o l . 138, p. 62. (22) F. White to H.S. Blake, Toronto, 30 May 1907, Ibid., p. 191. (23) F. White to H.S. Bl ake, Toronto, 28 May 1907, Ibid., pp. 189-90. (24) F. White to H.S. Blake, Toronto, 20 July 1907, Ibid., p. 208. (25) F. White to H.S. Blake, Toronto, 23 July 1907, Ibid., pp. 213-15. (26) F. White to N.L. Newcombe, Deputy Minister of Justice, 8 A p r i l , 1908, Ibid., pp. 354-55. (27) F. White to A. Larose, The P as, N.W.T., 3 A p r i l 1908, Ibid., p. 347. (28) Commissioner White wrote to James McKay, K.C. of Prince Albert Saskatchewan, on 14 August, 19075 \" A l l ordinances of the old North West T e r r i t o r i e s which apply to the new t e r r i t o r i e s are now being compiled and I hope w i l l be issued under proper authority f o r the guidance of the public g e n e r a l l y . . . C o m m i s s i o n e r ' s Letter Book, V o l . 13$, p. 238. They never were; the demand f o r them did not warrant the expenditure f o r publication. In fa c t the l a s t ordinances of the \" o l d \" Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s were not repealed u n t i l 1954. (29) Commissioner's Letter Book, 10 A p r i l 1908, v o l . 13$, p. 363. (30) Report of the Auditor General, Public Accounts of Canada, 1893, Sessional Papers, (No. 2.) A. 1$94» (31) F. White to Frank Oliver, Minister of the In t e r i o r , 28 March 1907, Ibid., p. I65. 186 (32) F. White to E.L. Cash, M.D., M.P., Yorkton, Saskatchewan, 13 May 1907, Ibid., p. I84. (33) Canada, Annual Report of the Auditor-General f o r the F i s c a l Year ending 31 March 1913. \"R\" 3 j • Sessional Paper No. 2. (34) F. White to Captain C.W. Allen, Philadelphia, 5 June 1915, Ibid.. V o l . 139, p. 90. (35) For example, when considering the issue of game regul-ations i n the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , the Deputy Minister of the Int e r i o r suggested; \"At the same time before taking further steps, i t might be well to make sure that similar action i s not contemplated by the Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r y , or any other federal department.\" W.W. Cory, Deputy Minister of the I n t e r i o r to the Minister of the In t e r i o r , W.J. Roche, 30 March 1914. Bordon Papers, RLB 529, 101528, Public Archives of Canada. (36) Sam Lewis, Comptroller, R.N.W.M.P. to the Commissioner of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , 9 A p r i l 1918, Copy, i n F i l e 930, N.W.T., Department of Indian A f f a i r s and Northern Development. (37) F. White to J.B. Hunter, Deputy Minister of Public Works, 18 May 1915, Commissioner's Letter Book, Vol. 139, p. 68. (38) Debates. House of Commons, 25 June 1919, P« 4045* (39) Loc. c i t . (40) Memorandum, re Secretary to Commissioner of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s , G eorge D. Pope, Accountant to the Commissioner, to the Commissioner of the North West T e r r i t o r i e s , March 24, 1920. F i l e 530, NWT, Department of the I n t e r i o r . Public Archives Record Centre. (41) O.S. Finnie, Acting Secretary, Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , to J.H. Walker, Portland Oregon, 9th May 1921. F i l e 498, NWT., P.A.R.C. Finnie was a Yukon veteran, and had obeen Chief Mining Inspector of the Department of the I n t e r i o r u n t i l 1921, when he was transferred to the Government of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . (42) Minute Books of the Council of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s . Vol. 1, Of f i c e of the Clerk of the Council of the Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s , Yellowknife, N.W.T. (43) Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s and Yukon Branch, Report of the Director, O.S. Finnie, Part VI, Annual Report of the Department of the I n t e r i o r . 1923. p. 153. (44) Diamond Jenness, Eskimo Administration; I I . Canada. A r c t i c I n s t i t u t e of North America, Technical Paper No. 14, Montreal, P.Q., Washington, D.C., 1964, p. 29, p. 49. 187 BIBLIOGRAPHY Manuscript Sources Borden Papers. Public Archives of Canada. Laurier Papers. Public Archives of Canada. Meighen Papers. Public Archives of Canada. Department of the I n t e r i o r Records. Northwest T e r r i t o r i e s and Yukon Branch; Public Archives of Canada; Public Archives Record Centre, Ottawa? Northern Administration Branch, Department of Indian A f f a i r s and Northern Development, Ottawa * Letter-Books of the Commissioner of the North-West T e r r i t o r i e s . 1905-1919. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Records, Public Archives of Canada. Letter Books of the Lieutenant Governor of the Keewatin. P r o v i n c i a l Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg. 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Smith, Gordon W., \"The Transfer of Arctic Territories From Great Britain to Canada in 1880, and some Related Matters, As Seen in O f f i c i a l Correspondence, Arctic, vol. 14, no. 1, (March 1961), pp. 53-73. "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; dcterms:spatial "Northwest Territories"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0104485"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "History"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "The attitudes and policies of the federal government towards Canada's Northern Territories: 1870-1930"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/36486"@en .