The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-01-23

worst of it is that the cold Gomez so
early and stays so late. We can raise
neither apples, pears, nor peaches up
there. Nor can we raise Indian corn,
and for that reason our Canadian
Northwest can never be a great pork
country. Small fruits, cherries, rasp-
berries, currants and strawberries, how
ever, will ripen, but we can not hope to
make fruit abundant. The cold is too
severe to enable us to raise anything
but the hardest kinds of fruit and corr.
those which ripen early.
eve WAC live in the cities de rot
suffer from the cold half as much as the
farmers. Wood is scarce all over the
country, and the farmer is obliged to
economic his fuel This is one of his
greatest hardships. Along the line of
railway he can get coal, which is now
found in great abundance on the
| Saskatchewan. but when the farmer has
to depend on wood for fuel be has
hard tilno of it IN winter. Ee sona-
| times makes fuel out of his manure
heap in the autumn, after the manner
of the Mennonite5, by mixing it with
! straw and working it into the consist
ence of peat. This burns well, but in
the end it will be found expensive. lie
must let his fire 90 out every nighta and
light it next morning when the Their
m0meter may be twenty, thirty, or forty
degrees below zero. His dog generally
| sleeps at the foot of his bed Every
thing in the house freezes. If he hap
pens to put his lips to any iron SUBJ
stance before he lights the fire his lips
stick to it and the skin pees off before
he can release them. Ii his cellar is
not good he will find everything he has,
in the way of eatables. frozen. lie
never wears boots. Ii he did his feet
would freeze. He puts on three or four
pairs of stockings and pair of mecca
| sins. If he wants to visit neighbor,
who probably lives miles away, hs
must travel on snowshoes The air is SO
rarefied that his coming can be heard q
mile away. As he beats down the snow
in walking the noise will make a dog
bark at the distance of han a mile.
The stiffness is depressing. He. never
sees a bird all through the winter, and
the sight of a coyote is always welcome.
The cav, cav of a crow to him is q
messenger of Joy, for it precludes the
spring. That cav, cav is the North
west Canadian farmers opera, and no
lover of music ever listened to the queen
of the operate stage with more pleasure
than he does to the crow as it gives out
its cav over the bleak plains of Man
itoba, Alberta, or Asnaboid. He has,
indeed, the aurora to look at in winter,
and he does not tire of it soon either.
The great streamers of tremulous light
are his only outside attractions. Ihaye
seen, more than once, these streamers
go up from every point of the compass
and meet at the zenith, where a meteor
| of great brilliancy was formed. This
occurred at Prince Albert, which, with
Edmonton, is the most northerly settle
ment in the Canadian northwest
"The Northwestern Canadian is not
a visiting man. He spends all his time
in winter between his house and his out
Offices, if he has any He looks for
ward to splendid fields of wheat and
oats to compensate him for the hard
ships he endures. But he must be care
full. These large yields per acre will
become less every year unless the farm
ers manure their lands. In Minnesota
and Iowa thirty-five bushels of wheat to
the acre were not uncommon when the
lands in those States were first broken,
and now | suppose that they do not ay-
erage more than sixteen. The Amer
lean farmers neglect to farm scientific
ally, and worked the land for all it was
worth. 1t is just the same with us.
The summers are short and hot. 1t is
hotter in Winnipeg than it is in New
York. But here, too, we are ahead of
you people in some things. AS we
dress for the winter in furs, we dress
for the summer in becoming way.
Down here q man is supposed to SILVER
in a tall black hat and kid gloves in
winter with pair of earlaps making
him hideous, while in summer he is ex-
pected to change the color of the hat
only, while he roasts under an overcoat
which he calls buster. 1t is very diff
ferent with us. In summer we wear
thick helmets with good ventilation,
and we keep the sun eff our heads
while we have plenty of air, We all
wear light clothes, suited to the season,
and flannel shirts with flannel collars
attached are general even among the
wealthy. When these are white they
are becoming, and nothing else is so
cool. Then we wear white canvas shoes,
and if we dress for comfort we also
dress with taste But we are worried
with flies They come in millions.
There are black flies, mosquitoes, bull
dogs and sand flies or bits, and can't see
| , a., IT, I Al
GAS for the Indians, they never bother
us. But do not fancy that the Indians
in the Canadian Northwest are quiet
because of the paternal policy of the
Canadian Government. That is a pop
ular delusion. The Indians are quiet,
or have been, because the Hudson Bay
Company, which had judicial and com
mercial control of the country for near
ly two centuries, treated them WELL 1t
was to the interest of the Hudson Bay
Company to be on good terms with the
Indians, and the fact that in their long
intercourse with the Indians the com
pany had only one of their number
killed is sufficient proof of the friendly
relations which existed between the red
skins and the whitemen all over the
Canadian Northwest. | have heard
factors, as the managers of the Hudson
Bay posts are called, say that they al
ways gave trust to the Indians in the
old days, and that the Indians always
paid their Indebtedness; that there were
very few disputes, and those that did
occur were always settled by the legal
authorities, and in conformity with the
methods Of the Indian as well as those
of the white man. You see the Hudson
Bay Company wanted nothing from the
Indian but his furs, and so long as the
Indian was not robbed of his land he
looked on the Hudson Bay Company as
a benefactor, and it was to his interest
to carry out his obligations and preserve
peace and order. We never had any
trouble with the Indians until the Can
adian Government bought the North
western territories from the Hudson Bay
Company for S1,500,000, the cheapest
purchase ever made. Now few of the
Indians are uneasy because we are TAX
ing their lands. Bat it does not amount