The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-08-23

4 . Fl
The word valley conveys to the gen.
eral understanding no idea of, what the
Red river country valley is. IL is not
bordered by ranges of Iaountains, or
hills. or bluffs oil any considerable di-
mansions, but only by trolling prai-
ries" slightly higher than this
enormous level prairie. II is vast
treeless plain, from sixty to 100 miles
wide and 400 miles long--an area larger
than that of Lake Michigan, with sur
face almost as level, in appearance, as
that of this "unsalted sea" in a calm.
It is the bed of an ancient shallow lake,
whose outlet was southwark through the
Minnesota river into the primeval Mis-
sissippi. 1t received the waters of the
Assiniboin ard other large streams that
now reach the ocean by shorter route
through Hudson's bay. At length it's
waters broke through the range Of hills
that confined them, below the present
mouth of the Assiniboin, the lake was
emptied into Lake Winnipeg, and gave
place to the So called Red river valley
the richest wheat-producing land in the
| Northwest. sw 60,
The soil, from two to four feet in
~
bed OF deposited clay and mari from
twenty to fifty feet in depth. Neither
ledge nor bowlder nor gravel nor sand,
in even the smallest quantity, have been
anywhere found, either on the surface
or in the substance of this formation.
The bed of the Red river is simply
tortuous gorge worn by water in the
clay, and the water, even at the lowest
stage, is still deeply colored by clay held
in solution. The Cheyenne and other
tributaries of the Red river present the
same features. The evidences of forma-
ton by deposition from the waters of
great lake are conclusive.
The plain is not wholly treeless. Thin
belts or ribbons Of timber skirt the prin-
cipal streams; but the quantity of tim
Der is too small to be OF any economic
value. When within the range OF vision
it serves to break the oppressive monot-
ony of landscape otherwise without
limits, and it also serves the useful pur-
pose of a break in the immediate
vicinity of the streams; but there is too
little OF it for any other purpose.
This is the new and wonderful winter
wheat region of the Northwest, where
can be seen fields of wheat whose bound
aries are only the limit of human vision.
Here are wheat fields whose dimensions
are expressed in figures, as 5000 acres,
5000 acres, 1000 acres, etc., and whose
aggregated area might be described as
township of growing wheat. But these
are terms of exact definition which the
mind comprehends only as subjective
limitations. The objective spectacle is
indefinite, unlimited. Standing at the
center of this "farm," and looking i'll
any direction, the peholder gazes only
upon a level sea of wheat whose bound
airy is where the earth and sky come to-
gether.
It is said by disinterested experts that
every acre of these wonderful wheat
fields will yield not less than twenty-five
bushels, and that every bushel will weigh
sixty pounds, and grade as No. l. The
harvest is somewhat better this year
than it was last. The yield is enexpect-
edly large. The grain is simply perfect
And this is a part of the country which
the scientific Gen. HAGEN pronounced to
be barren, worthless desert, that would
not produce anything. The latitude was
too high (between 46 and so degrees)
the climate was too frigid the seasons
were too short there was no water, DO
anything to render it habitable. The
opening of it by the Northern Pacific
railway has proven by actual test and
experience that the unfavorable opinion
which Gen. Hazen put into such positive
statements was not we'll founded.
For wheat culture the experience Of
two years has shown the Red river
country to be the most favored portion of
America. While in the southern half of
Minnesota the wheat crop is a failure,
in the extreme north of Dakota, in lati-
tude AZ degrees, within $50 miles of the
British boundary, upon Gen. Hazen's
worthless desert. the best and most
bountiful wheat-harvests on the CONT
nent are found. On the banks of the
Red river this wheat crop will command
within ID cents of the price of the same
grade on the Chicago market. 1t can be
placed at tide-water at a cost not ex-
ceeding cent bushel more than the
cost of placing the crop of Eastern Iowa
at the same place. To some these state
ments may be surprising. But they are
facts. In view of such facts, is it won
derful that Gen. Hazen's desert is rapid
ly acquiring vigorous and thrifty popu-
lation ?-ChicdgO Times.