The Saskatchewan drains one of the biggest and finest sections of
country on the face of the globe, and is one of the world's noblest rivers.
It rolls through Saskatchewan, and gives its Indian name to our magnifi-
cent province: and it deserves something more than the passing notice
we have already bestowed upon it. Not that we are going to attempt to
even half-sing its glories. To do that we should have to begin in the
Rockies, and speak of a dozen other rivers that pour their great volumes
into its lordly channel; and then we should have, not in name but in
reality, to follow it out again from Lake Winnipeg from which it pursues
its royal course to Hudson's Bay as the Nelson River. It is in our prov-
ince that the North and South branches meet to form the main river which
is known as the Saskatchewan without qualification. The South
Saskatchewan is really a gigantic tributary, and it is not till recent years
that it has lost its old name of the Bow River. The South Saskatchewan
was spoken of in the Assembly as the Bow years after Regina became
the capital of the Territories.

There is a great halo of romance about the Saskatchewan. English
speaking boys the world over have thrilled to the name. The Indian, the
half-breed, the voyageur, the hunter of big game, the adventurous priest,
the fur seeker, the explorer have all been romantic figures in many a
story real and imagined. The story does not lose but rather gathers
interest as we approach civilization. Steamboating, now a thing of the
past, was full of adventure.