Series consists of letters addressed to the Minister of the Interior and handled by the North-West Territories Branch. The correspondence is arranged in numbered subject files, but many numbers in the series are missing. For the most part the series consists of letters from the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories and his staff reporting the proceedings of the North-West Territories Council, requesting funds accounting for expenditures, recommending appointments and dealing with other routine matters.
Canada. North-west Territories Branch : When the Interior Department was established in 1873, the North-West Territories Branch was made responsible for all phases of administration in the areas which today form the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and parts of Manitoba. These responsibilities included the delineation of boundaries, the establishment of law and order, the appointment of magistrates, education, medical care, the erection of public buildings, road construction and the protection of game. The branch was abolished in 1898 and its functions were distributed among various other branches. However, in 1922 the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch was established, having for its responsibility the area included in the present-day Northwest Territories. When Royal Canadian Mounted Police posts were established in the Arctic archipelago, the branch was given the additional responsibility of provisioning these posts. For this purpose a ship was fitted out each year to visit the posts with supplies and to transport personnel when transfers occurred. When the western provinces assumed control of their own natural resources in 1931, the branch was abolished and its functions transferred to the Dominion Lands Bureau. RG15 General Inventory