“SQUATTERS IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20917, 6 January 1930, Page 5

“SQUATTERS IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC.”

(From Our Own Correspondent.) ~,, VANCOUVER, December 11. Although in winter one-third of the Dominion of Canada is in the icy grip of King Zero, ranchers and squatters hav« made notable progress in their efforts to wrest the products of Nature from the wilderness of the Far North. Not only does this Northland hold fabulous riches in mineral ores, but ranching of the production of cereals and vegetables is now earned on successfully witnin the Arctic Circle.

Two thousand miles north of Vancouver there is a big ranch, with corrals, stock ysrds, and cold storage plants that ships eiery year hundreds of tons of Arctic meat to the United States. The pastoral industry, as represented mainly by reindeer, is just now being given a new stimulus by the Canadian Government in the tremendous project it has successfully r!fn!w a r ed ™ tr f kking , 12 ’ 000 head of reindeer from Alaska to the delta of the ne r ar the Esld “o metromni+i, * Ak !? vl H’ a | ter T a Journey of IS months on the hoof. It is intended to use the main herd on the Mackenzie fiats of a - br / edinß “?«* t 0 BU DPIy colonies moving eastward gradually HriL the u ar ® 4 0mie y ed on the Seres of Hudson Bay, where Samuel Horne, crossing these plains m the name of the Gentlemen Adventurers Trading into Hudson Lauds « bris4ened 4be territory " Barren

Where the reindeer went to, if thev were ever settled in the Canadian Arctic n.Ji 0 } kno 'j 1 1; hut the Government of Canada is determined to migrate them eastward until they provide a peAnanent food source, for the Eskimo aid remove the uncertainty arising out of the mysterious migrations of the caribou The reindeer, domesticated since the dawn of history, need no shelter. There is already a big trade m reindeer meat between Alaska and the United States. Canadians intend to develop the industry as it has been developed beyond Fiftv-four-Porty The mu»k ox,/a noble big-bodied animal cross between a cow and a sheep, is anptbf,r, ob is ct ~o f Paternal interest by Canada. For thousands of years it roamed the north until the advance of civilisation iect to its herds being decimated in the same way as the buffalo. Like the buffalo the musk-ox is to be saved for posterity, c icLr” Same sanctuary, a tract of iS.OOO square miles has been declared out of bounds to all humans, white or native, until the musk-ox increase and multiply. Living under the most adverse conditions, the musk-ox can defend itself against all its enemies except man. The hollow square method of lighting, when refugees are being rescued by modern armies was practised by the musk-ox before the birth of civilisation. Th& rows and calves are herded into the square, with the bull-warriors facing outward on lour sides—a. perfect form of defence against any invader except the modern high-powered rifle in the hunter's hands Arctic-hybrid wheats are thrivin* farther and farther north as these remote lands become cultivated. In the Gres'Slave country are huge expanses of lush nay meadow lands that are gradually being brought into cultivation. At the Koman Catholic monastery near For* Smith flowers, and vegetables are grown under conditions that hitherto were deemed impossible. The development if airways in the Far North, as far as the extreme mail terminal at Aklavik. has proved a staunch ally to hardy plainsmen nho believe that the soil can be wooel as successfully on the Arctic plateau as on the prairies of the south.