Autobiography of John Macoun, M.A. Canadian Explorer and Naturalist, Assistant Director and Naturalist to the Geological Survey of Canada. 1831-1920

While on a collecting trip to the Owen Sound region in 1872, Macoun happened to meet Sandford Fleming, chief engineer of the Pacific railway, who invited him to take part in a survey of its projected route westwards. During five separate surveys of regional potential as well as railway routes, between 1872 and 1881, Macoun examined the agricultural capabilities of various western tracts and concluded, largely on the basis of natural vegetation, that all of the northwest, including the arid southern plains, was an agricultural Eden. This enthusiastic but unsubstantiated assessment dovetailed with the federal government’s expectations for the region and made Macoun a favourite of the Conservative party. It's not surprising, therefore, to find Macoun's autobiography was in the collection of former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden.