Canada Before The Confederation Of The Provinces.

Canadian provinces they lay             Divided by river and by bay,             Many a separate division,             Among them there was no cohesion.             But statesmen saw that a great nation             Could be formed by federation,             And soon they led public opinion             To favor forming this Dominion.             North-West with its streams and fountains,             With sources in the Rocky Mountains,             It was all a great mystery,             Hunting for furs its history.             Though North-West is filling slow             Yet soon there will be mighty flow,             Millions to North-West will hurry             In last decade of century.             For therein is an opening grand             In great fertile prairie land,             For there the choicest wheat it grows             Near where the Saskatchewan flows.             And on many a river's branch             There is found great grazing ranch,             Favoured districts therein abound             Where cattle graze all the year round.             Protected from the stormy blast             By the Rocky Mountains vast,             Through canon blows no storm terrific,             But balmy breezes from Pacific.