Daily Republican., 1878-12-11
The Great North west.

MIssgApoLIs, Mimi, Oct. 3l.--The
dwellers on the Atlantic coast think Of
this city Of saw and -four mills as being
far away to the Northwe est, but when
you reach this section you hear the
citizens talk Of the great Northwest be-
yond. The coming month OF Novem-
Der will see the locomotive speeding
its way 800 miles northwest Of the Falls
Of st. Anthony TO Winnipeg, capitol of
the central Province of the Dominion.
How queerly that reads--central Pro-
vince But If you stick pin into
Winnipeg, and stretch n string east
ward TO Quebec and then wes' ward, Il,
will only reach the vest Province OF
Queen Victoria's dominions on thiston
tintnt. We have been accustomed to
think Of the British domirions between
Lake Superior and the Rocky Noun
tains as hyperborean, asa worthless
section, too far north to be OF value for
agriculture; but We may disabuse our
selves of such an opinion, for the mill
ers at Minneapolis, who make the finest
Of -four, have discovered that the best
whegt is to be found in the Northwest.
Soil and climate are alike suited to
its production. The wheat grown this
year In South and Southwestern Min
nesota, grades, nearly all of 1t, Nos. 2
and 3, with some as No. a, while that
grown along the line OF the Northern
Pacific Railroad, and in tn. Red River
Valley, grades No. !, and commands
the highest price Of all raised on the
continent.
THE NUMBER ONE WHEAT RiBLD.
What wheat field il Is Star, your
plough on its eastern edge and drive
due west and you may turn furrow
that shall be seventy mites in length
start at the southern end OF the valley
and you may drive north to Winnepeg,
four hundred miles, and 1t is a wheat
field all the way
Thus far, in this valley, only the
lands adjacent to the Northern Pacific
Railroad have been under cultivation
the present year about two hundred |
and forty.fve thousand acres. The
first furrow along the line Of that road
was turned in 1871. At that time the
may have been 100 persons.
The road was constructed wholly in
advance of population, hut so rapid
has been the development during these
years Of depression that the popu-
lation to-day is found--not by esti-
mates but by statistics--to be about
$4,000. The new breaking Of 1878
To 1873, $40 acres, and the grain
probably 70 about 4. 0O0, 900 bushels.
The next years crop probably will ag-
100000 bushels along the
line Of that road.
Up to this time Manitoba has had no
outlet for its agricultural products; hut
next year will see the beginning Of it's
exports. The nearness of the Red
River Valley to. Lake Su perior, only 200
miles distant, the adaptability Of cell
and climate; the long summer days and
cool nights, the exemption from blight
and rust, cannot fail to make this far
Northwest the future granary Of the
continent.
Nor are these prospecst confined TO
the Red River Valley. have just had
an interview with a gentleman who had
explored the wheat fields beyond, and
he pictures the Saskatchewan a. sur.
passing the Red River Valley. And
that still remoter wheat field is soon 10
be reached by the locomotive, for the
Canadian Pacific Railroad is being con
4tructed, and although the land beyond
Is now the home Of the buffalo, civilNa-
tion is moving on in gigantic strides.