Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-03-10
The skcs River G0tsItry-It,9 Ere
sources.

The following extract from recent
letter OF Mr.. j. w. Taylor to the
Washington Chronicle, III relation to
the immense region OF British Ameri-
ca, embraced in the great plains OF the
Saskatchewan and Red River, whose
haj,tans are now contesting its posses
sion and sovereignty with Canada, will
be read with interest
CAS- early as 1869 IA committee of the
Minnesota Legislature compiled agrea,
variety OF testimony upon the resources
OF Central British America, including
Il narrative by Governor, and now Sen
ator, Ramsey, of an official visit to
Pembina, on the northern frontier OF
minnesota, and trip TO Fort Garry,
seventy miles beyond Penbina. AZ
ter describing, with some enthusiasm,
the first approach, 20 civilized settle
ment, fifteen miles south OF the june.
ton of the Ass;niboine and Red Riv-
ers, the Governor groups the following
picture OF lite on Red River.
Imagine river ilowin. slug9ishly
northward through a flat, a!!avlal plain.
and the west Of it lined continuously,
for over thirty miles. with cultivated
farms, each presenting those appear
.nces OF thrift around them which
mentioned as surrounding the first
farms seen: each farm with a narrow
frontage On the river OF only twenty
four rols in width, but extending back
tur one or two miles and each OF these
narrow farms having their dwellings
and out buildings spread along the riv-
CIR front, with lawns sloring TO the
waters edge, aud shrubbery and vines
literally trained around them, and trees
in.erminglcd--th whole presenting
the appearance OF a long, suburban vii
lage--such as You find eyhil tied in
pictures OF English country villages;
with the resemblance rendered more
striking by the spires Of several large
churches pceping above the foliage OF
the trees, in the distance. White
washed school houses gllsten here and
there, amid sunlight and green; gentle
mems houses OF pretcntious dimensions,
and grassy lawns and elaborate fencing,
the seats of retired officers OF the Ilud-
son Bay Company, occasionally inter
spersed. Here ain English Bishops
parsonage, with boarding or high
school near by, and over there Gath
olic Bishops massive cathedral, with q
Convent OF the Sisters Of Charity at
tached, while the two large stone forts
(at which reside the officers OF the IIud-
son Bay Company, or Of the colony;)
one called Upper Fort Garry and sit
uated at the mouth of the Assiniboine;
and the other termed Lower Fort Gar
ry, which is twenty miles further down
the river, helped to give additional
picturesqucness to the scene"
'Governor Ramsey was satisfied that
wheat, barley, oats, and csculcnt roots
were cultivated rs successfully as
in Minnesota; that Indian corn was
precarlous; that the country was espe-
cially favorable to stock raising, and
that the interior districts, even to lat.
itude 60 degrees, near the Rocky
Mountains, were no less adapted tc
agriculture. His language on the lat.
ter point is rs follows:
"But without casting moro than q
pdSSiuS SiduCt vi lHc agricultural Cd
pacity OF remote Peace River, we may
come down to the fertile valley and
plain of the great Saskatchewan, The
Mississippi of the North, which pours it.
waters from the Rocky Mountains
orer more Mana thousand miles of agricul
tural territory, tceming with coal and
other mineral treasures, into Lake Win
nipeg; and We may note the still more
fertile and desirable lands of its soutl
or Bear River branch, the winter homo
in its wooded valleys of tie buffalo and
myriads Of other game; as far north al
these regions are actual cxperimcn,
has shown them to be capable of rals
ing successfully nearly every cereal
hardly excepting corn, and every veg
etable that can be produced in OIL
lands OF the temperate zone further
south.
"From what have seen of the LAND
in that section, and from what learned
respecting its capacity, and making
every allowance for its extraordinary
fertility also, l hesitate not to ascrij
toMs vhob Of the nppsr plains on 5otl
branches Of the Saskatchewan R,cer an aq
ricwltHral Calue superior natavoNy to III,
fe1s Of New England IN hse,r prim,tir
condition, and though lack OF timber