New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-11-16
TIE GREAT NORTH WEST.
WHEAT. FIELDS on THE RED RIVER.


WHEAT FIELDS ON THE RED RIVER.
TIE LOCOMOTIVE SIX HUNDRED MILES BEYOND
TuR FALLS OF 81. ANTHONY-A VAST COUNTRY
WAITING FOR SETTLERS.
IRON An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT oP THE TRIBUNEI
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn Oct. 31.-The jewellers on
the Atlantic coast think of this city OF saw ami
honring mills as being far away 10 the Northwest,
but when YOU reach this section you hear the cit
liens talk Of the great Northwest beyond. The con-
ing month of November will see the locomotive
speeding its way 600 miles northwest Of the Falls
of st. Anthony ~ WnnepeG, capital of The central
Province of the Dominion How quee-ly that reads
central Provincc! But if you stick pin into
Winnipeg, and stretch a string eastward to
Quebec and then westward, it will only
reach the western Province of Queen Nictoria's
dominions on his continent. We have been accus-
toned to think Of the British dominIOns between
Lake Superior and the Rocky NounttTs'as hyper
horcan "A worthless section, too far north To be
Of value for agriculture; bot we may dSabuse our
selves of such an opinion, Tor The millers OF Mime
apos, who make the finest OF -four have discovered
that the hest wheat is 10 be found in the Northwest
Soil and climate are alike suited to its production.
The wheat grown this year in Southern and South
western Minnesota grades. nearly all Oh 1t,
Nos . and 9, with some as No. 4, while
that grown along the line of the Northern
Pacific Railroad andi in the Red River Valley grades
No. l. and commands the highest price of all raised
on the continent.
THE NUMBER ONE wHEAI-FiELD.
What wheat-fcd it is Start your plough on its
| eastern edge and drive due west and you may turn
| a furrow that shall be seventy miles in length!
| Start at the southern end Of the valley and you
may drive north to Winnipeg four hundred miles and
| it is whcat-Gcld all the way! Thus far in this
| valley only the lands adjacent to the Northern
| Pacific Railroad have been under cultivation-the
| present wear ABOUT two hundred and forty-fve
| thousand acres. The first furTOw along the line
| of that road was turned in 1871. AT
! that time the population may have been
| 100 persons. The road constructed wholly
in advance of population but so rapid has been the
| development during these years OF depression that
! the population to-day is found-not by estimate,
but by statistics.~to be about 10000. The new
breaking of 1873 amounts to 1884 acres. and
the gram probably about 200 900 bushels. The
next years crop probably will aggregate 100000
! bushels along the line of that road.
Up to this time Manitoba has bad outlet for its
agricultural products but next year will see the be-
! ginning of ITS exports. The nearness of
! TIE Red River Valley 10 Like Superior, only
200 miles distant, the adaptabiIlty of soil and eli
| mate, the long Summer days and cool nights, the
! exemption frcm blight and rust. cannot fail to
| make this iar Northwest the future granery of the
continent Nor are these prospects confined TO the
| Red River Valley. / have just had interview
with gentle nan who has explored the wheat-heds
| beyond and he pictures the Saskatchewan as
passing the Red River Valley And that still re-
moter whcat-feld is soon to be reached by the loco
motive for the Canadian Pacific Railroad is being
constructed, and although the land beyond is now
the home of the buffalo, civilization is moving on in
gigantic strides
HouEs FOR THE MULTITUDE.
1t is gratifying to know that men who have been
trying to get living by shopping jackknives with
their neighbors-a great crowd of middlemen. who
have been nOn-prOducers who have eked pre-
carious living during these years OF depression, are
finding comfortable homes in this Northwestern re-
euOn of Dakota and Minnesota, Just as Others are
doing in Nebraska, Kansas aud all along the line.
The books of the United States Land Olhce show
that along the line of the Northern Pacific 132f,0OO
| acres have been entered during the present year.
| As no person can enter more than 100 acres
this ia equivalent to S,270 farms. Last year the
| entries were nearly a. many, while next year they
VIII doubtless be even greater
waving grass through this Valley of the Red
River. 1t was a solitude. No voice, save nv
own or the voices of my companions disturbed the
universal stiffness. The virgin SOL was as IL had
been for ages. There were not fifty people within
ffty miles of the present line of the railroad. But
now wherever YOU look you behold farmers
driving their teams alield preparing the
pround for next Springs seeding. The men
| who put their money into the railroad
have seen it SINK out of sight but through their i'm
| poverishuent thousands are being made nch. What
| l9nd-grabbers they were-thOse men who buit this
| road from Lake Superior to the Missouri They
were ma!igned, deceived, held up to scorn and con-
| tempt; but tire time has come when generous pab
! lie should revise its opinions. They were public
| benefactors WHAT would these millions of acres
be worth to-day if there were no rallroadsY Moth
| mE The land -grabbers have lost their money but
| through their loss 10000 people have already OBJ
| tanned comfortable homes, and there other mil
lions of acres just fertile awaiting the coming of
the multitude that in future years Will people this
! Northwest, beyond the Northwest. CARLETON.