Map of the Province of Manitoba (1871) Published under the Authority of the Hon. David Laird, Minister of the Interior. Dominion Lands Branch, Department of the Interior : J. Johnston, Chief Draftsman. Note : The Surveys exhibited on this Map were commenced in the Summer of 1871. The extent of Land laid out for Settlement to the present time, comprises an Area (approximately) of 9,695,156 Acres. Engraved by H.H. Lloyd & Co., New York Scale 1 inch to 6 miles. Hand Coloured

Persons proposing to settle in western Canada could obtain a great deal of information on the country side from maps compiled annually by the department of The Interior showing surveys completed. Topographic data obtained from the surveyors’ plats were plotted on the maps. Three forms of vegetation were designated: woodland, swamp or muskeg, and prairies and meadowland… Most surveyors recorded vegetation in the field books only on the lines traversed along the section boundaries, so that in places this office-compiled map takes on the appearance of a map showing orchards because of the resulting arrangement of the vegetation symbols along the section lines at the scale used. The idiosyncrasies of the individual surveyors in deciding how much vegetation to record creates a severe limitation in using these maps as a source of vegetation distribution. In some townships we cannot be absolutely certain just by looking at the map, whether there was an absence of trees or whether the surveyor did not choose to map them… The sharp boundary between prairie and woodland is well shown in the eastern part of this map, as is the lack of rivers west of the Red river in the Red River Plain… Along the west side of the Red, the “Great Highway” is shown with the stage stations marked. This map is an example of the beautiful cartographic work done by John Johnston of the Department of the Interior. (Warkentin and Ruggles. Historical Atlas of Manitoba. map 117, p. 268)

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