NORTH-WEST TERRITORY was at first the vague general designation of all that portion of British North America which lay to the north-west of the provinces of the St Lawrence basin. In the British North America Act of 1867 provision was made for the eventual admission into the Dominion of Canada of Rupert’s Land and the NorthWestern Territory. When, in 1869-70, the territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company (Rupert’s Land, &c.) were incorporated with Canada, the province of Manitoba was formed out of the district lying between 49° and 50° 30' N. lat. and between 96° and 99° W. long., and “any portion of Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territory outside” of those limits was to be governed by the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba under the name of the North-West Territories. In 1876 the district of Keewatin (or Kewatin) was constituted; in 1881 the limits of Manitoba were shifted north to 52° 30'and west to 101° 20'; and in 1882 the four new districts of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca were organized. (1) Keewatin (395,000 square miles) lies due north of Manitoba, and extends as far as Boothia on the Arctic Ocean. (2) Assiniboia (about 95,000 square miles) lies west of Manitoba between 101° 20' W. long, and the line dividing the 10th and 11th ranges of townships of the Lands System Survey, and is bounded northward by the 9th correction line (near 52° N. lat.). It contains Fort Belly, Fort Ellice, Qu’Appelle, and Regina (on the Canadian Pacific Railroad), the last of which has been chosen as the future capital of the province. (3) Saskatchewan (about 114,000 square miles) lies north of Assiniboia, and extends north to the 18th correction line (about 54° N. lat.) and east to the Nelson river and Lake Winnipeg. It contains Battleford, ...