These land examination reports were prepared by CPR's Land Inspectors, and include the following elements (not necessarily all of them in any single report), which helped the railway determine the value of the land, and what price they should charge for it: average grade; nearest railway station; elevators; nationality of nearest settlers; type of farming in district; nearest creamery, post office, school, church; average rainfall; area of arable land; soil type; timber cover; surface water and well depth; grass and hay cover; stone and coal in district; improvements made; and general remarks.

The fonds consists of colonization files (including those of Department of Natural Resources, Department of Colonization and Development, Canadian Colonization Association, and various colonization boards) (1886-1940); Advisory Committee minutes and reports (1916-1958); Executive Branch files (1911-1952); P.L. Naismith and S.G. Porter correspondence (1912-1957); coal files (1904-1911); and British Columbia Land Department files (1896-1926) as well as land sale maps, building plans, plans and drawings of railway structures & equipment from the CPR Mechanical Department.