The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-07
WONDERS OF THE
QUEENS DOMAIN
Something About the Wonderful 0rain
Fields Of Manitoba.
WHERE MARVEL FOLLOWS MARVEL
Wheat Yielding Fifty.three Bushels
to the Acre and Weighing Sixty.fOur
Pounds to the Bushel Is No Excep.
tiOn in This Fertile Red River
Valley.
peclal Correspondence of The Tribune.

Valley.
peclal Correspondence of The Tribune.
Brandon, n. w. r., Sept. 15.-Regina.
though the capital of the Northwest
Territories, with a population OF 2,o9e'
would hardly get justice done 1t by the
general run OF travellers. for it has no
special beauty of situation to recon-
mend 1t. Its striking feature is loneli-
ness and immensely. The country sur
rounding II for about twenty-five miles
is known as the Regina plain" and
while 1t looks barren and desolate, 1t Is
said to contain some of the best soil TO
be found in the dominion for growing
wheat. 1t is clay loam, often black in
color. not less than two feet, and often
fifteen feet deep. In wet weather it Is
very sticky. and inclined to cake on the
surface. This treelesS plain extends
westward as far as the Dirt Hills,
which is the northward extension of the
great Missouri coteau. as seen rising
on the horizon in a dark blue line.
AS we travel eastward we find our
selves coursing over an apparently
boundless tract of undulating, swelling.
and fiower-scented prairie, our vision
only limited by the horizon, which plays
deceptive tricks. Despite the rate we
are travelling, we seem to be no farther
advanced on our journey today than we
We're yesterday: the stations are so
similar, SO uniform in distance and
style. and each stretch of prairie is so
much like the one that follows it, it is
difficult to realize from the features of
the landscape that the train is making
any headway. Still, there is a fascina-
tiOn rather than monotony in this re-
markable prairie ride.
After leaving this capital town, in six
teen miles We stop at Balgonic, where
Is another of the Canadian experiment
tai farms devoted chiefly to grain grow
ing-for we are soon to enter the great
wheat growing districts. QuAppelle,
Indian Head, and Brandon. Since leav-
ing Regina, we have been travelling on
an up grade. instead of a level plain,
rising 200 feet in twenty-five miles, and
in eight miles additional. we are 375
feet higher than when We left the great
Regina plains.
IN THE WHEAT BELT.
Qu'Appelle is vigorous new town of
1000 population situated amidst small
bluffs OF light timber. 1t is a supply
and shipping point for a large section of
country and the supply depot for the
GU Appelle Indian agency. There are
several Indian reservations in this Vi
cinity and an important Catholic Indian
mission and school established by the
Jesuits in the fifties under the care of
Father Lacombe. Here are two hun
dred Indian children varying in age
from ten to eighteen years. The boys
are taught a trade and the girls sew
Ing, knitting and household work, and
thoroughly fitted, many of them, for
domestic servants. 1t is said these In
dian children show great excellence in
writing as compared with the whites
Two miles west of the town is st.
Johns college governed by the Bishop
of the Diocese. Here the pupils are
taught farming, the premium charged
being from fifty to one hundred pounds
year. AT the farm connected with
the college, stock of every descript ion
Is kept. Near at hand is the Edgerly
estate of 14,0OO acres. This is an old
post of the Hudson Bay company.
Fort Qu Appelle is situated few miles
distant on the Fishing Lakes" six in
number in all about twenty miles long,
with an average width of one mile;
they extend along the valley for twen-
ty miles. Not only Is good fishing
found here, but good chicken" shoot
Ing all along the river and valley.
The land during the next ten miles
to Indian Herd is a rolling prairie,
dotted with bluffs and the soil is black
loan and clay subSOil. the road ira
versing several large wheat farms-the
Canadian Alliance farm. the Sunbeam
farm, these being portions of Lord
Brassey's colony. also the great BELL
Farm which embraces one hundred
square miles of land or $1,000 acres.
The town of Indian Head itself lies
within the farm boundaries. This farm
Is veritable manufactory of wheat
Here the work is done with an almost
military organization, ploughing by
brigades and reaping by divisions.
Here wheat Is cultivated on the same
StupendOuS scale as on the famous
Dal ymple and other bonanza farms we
visit q in North Dakota, along the line
Of ti,A Northern Pacific railway.
LARGE SCALE FARMING.
Think Of farm where the burrows
are ordinarily four miles long and also
of country where such a thing is
possible. To plow one furrow outward
and return Is half days work for a
man and team. This farm was laid
nut in 1882, by Major Bell, at which
/, "a he was 200 miles from the nearest
rail-. 'ad station. Here are $500 aeres
devoted to wheat which produce from
thirty to thirty-four bushels of wheat
to the acre. Major Bell claims that
wheat can be raised here with profit
at twenty-five to thirty cents per
SubhSi, tIC yiCiu ylh6 III ulilci cIll
seasons about ten per cent. The neat
square stone cottages of the farm
laborer. and the immense barns and
collection of other buildings about the
headquarters near the railroad station,
make a respectable village. there being
also a church, a hotel, a flour mill. and
of course. grain elevator AS we rode
along. harvesting was being done by
the regular staff of laborers, increased
II
entail farm here are numerous belts
of young trees, which We're planted
and sOwn round the farm three years
ago and are growing so rapidly as soon
to afford complete shelter. The growth
of the belts of timber throughout the
prairie cannot be too much encourag-
ed. Beside taking away the bleak ap-
pearance Of some parts, it helps ma
terially to equalize the climate.
A fifty mile run brings us to Broad
view, a railroad divisional point sit
uated at the head of Weed Lake"
with population Of 600. Near here is
reservation of Cree Indians, who
visit the station on the arrival of
trains, the braves being under the care
of the mounted police. Here the squaws
sell polished buffalo horns. millions of
which are said to be bleaching on the
prairies. The Indians color these horns
black by some secret process and pol
ish them until they shine, and then
mount them in various forms, an art
yet undiscovered by the white man.
GOOD GAME PRESERVES.
In the next 131 miles to Brandon we
cross a rolling or undulating prairie,
dotted with fifteen stations and occu-
pied by prosperous farmers, of which
these thriving villages at frequent in
tervals bear evidence. Their prosperi-
ty Is particularly noticeable as we ap-
prOach the district of Manitoba, which
We enter after leaving Fleming. 75
miles west of Brandon, joining the dis
trict of Assiniboia which lies along the
American border The railway build
ings at these stations are uniform. con-