The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-07


are seen. Sportsmen drop Off at these
various stations.
All along during the day the aka
line lakes glisten like snow In the sun.
light. Alkali exists in the surface soil
in places through the prairies and we
see either dry beds of soda or ponds OF
water with broad white alkali borders.
In reading over the game laws. we
find that the Canadians are under SIM
liar restrictions as are our American
sportsmen. 1t Is a closed season in
Manitoba from January l to OctoDer
for elk, deer, moose, caribou. reindeer,
antelopes or their fawns. From De-
cember to September Is, for all kinds
Of grouse. including prairie chickens,
pheasants and partridges, and from
May Is to october l, the bear, sable.
muskrat, and several other animals.
No description of game can at any sea-
son be hunted or shot, or caught on
Sunday. Every person not resident
of Manitoba must pay s25 for license
to hunt game, but the guest of any
resident may have a three days permit
without charge. In the Northwest Ter
ritory, elk, moose, and caribou deer are
restricted for six months and under no
circumstances can any one person XIII
more than six head in one season. The
building of the Canadian Pacific rail-
road has driven all big game into the
| interior and hunters to have what they
| call q "sure thing" must penetrate the
primeval forests northwards.
BRANDON TOWN.
Brandon Is beautifully situated on
| high ground at the crossing OF the AS
| siniboine river, and is the market town
| for an extensive country north ana
| SOUTH 1t is only thirteen years old, but
has a population of 5000 and Is the sec
ond city In Importance in Manitoba and
| between Vancouver and Winnipeg. 1t
is well laid out with excellent paved
streets and has many handsome build
ings. 1t Is the distributing market for
an extensive and well settled grain
country. In fact, it Is the largest grain
market in Manitoba. 1t has five grain
elevators. besides Touring and saw
mills. The grain elevators have ca
pacity of $4,000 bushels. 1t is, too. a
! divisional point and also an important
railroad center north and south. From
here is complete network of the Ca
madam Pacific branches, extending
along the international boundary above
Dakota. and leading to the fertile dis
trictS of the Souris river, and coal dis
trict to Estevan, on the 500 Pacific line,
which connects the Canadian Northwest
| with the Middle and Northwestern
states of the Union. 1t is also the west
ern terminus of the Manitoba division
| of the Northern Pacific railway. At
| Brandon the standard time changes
| from Mountain to Central time, which
Is one hour earlier as we go east.
Here Is another experimental farm
| under the care of Dominion officials.
The amount of good that these expert
mental farms are doing throughout the
Dominion is incalculable: not only at
| the present time, but in years to come,
the results obtained from them will he
seen and appreciated. In so extensive
a domain, soils of different qualities are
| to be met with and the experiments
made and results obtained enable the
new settler to start in understanding
| ly, selecting the variety of seed best
| adapted for his particular soil as pre-
viously ascertained by experienced ag-
rculturalists. Here in this deep, black
| soil is grown the Hard Red Fyfe'
wheat the most famous of all the var-
eties of wheat. Every endeavor is made
to obtain wheat equal in quality to
| Red Fyfe," which will ripen earlier.
Many early varieties have been obtain
| ed, but they do not come up to the
standard of Red Fyfe. over two hun
| dred varieties Of wheat alone are being
tested, besides, about as many of oats.
barley, rye, and Indian corn. Think Of
this! Fodder corn was grown here last
year yielding twenty-five tons to the
| acre. Aside from mOnstrous yields of
oats, rye, barley and flax, gigantic pota-
toes. and almost everything that can
be grown in temperate climate are
here produced in the greatest yields and
perfection without an appreciable drain
upon the soil. Fertilizers are not util
lied on the great wheat fields Of the
northwest. From the Brandon expert
mental farm this spring $4,000 young
trees were distributed to farmers
| throughout the country in lots Of one
| hundred. To the prospects of Bran
| don no one can set limits, for a vast
Is tributary to 1t.
ON THE WAY.
Proceeding OIL our journey eastward.
the horizon only limits the view and
| as far as the eye can reach on either
side the prairie is dotted with newly
| made farms, with great black squares.
| where the sod has just been turned by
| the plough or with fields of grain.
grain stacks, and farm houses, or with
| the short. sweet prairie grass, studded
with brilliant flowers which cover the
land on both sides of the train as With
| carpet ever changing in color, that
| has never been cropped.
We passed several wheat fields where
the cutting was finished and thresh-
| ing was In progress. the click of the
binder being heard on all sides. Some
Of this wheat was in perfect condition,
well and handsomely stacked. In some
fields the wheat was in a damp cond-
tion, owing TO the stacks being badly
built and untha tched, and in other
fields the standing wheat was so
lodged as to be impossible to cut it
with the reaper, and it was thereupon
suffering from over-ripeness and want
| of attention and help to gather it. An
| interesting sight, never before wit
messed by us, was for hundred miles
the thousands upon thousands Of
stacks, as far as the eye could see, of
wheat in all conditions ready for
threshing and shipment. Owing to the
| enormous increase over last years
yield (say some thirty per cent?. there
was a lack of help to gather it and the
farmers were then sending calls for
men, and according to the Winnipeg
morning papers, some five thousand
| people passed through the city west
ward, over the Central Pacific railway
| this autumn to gather the "waving
grain" Well may Consul Taylor say,
in speaking of the wheat fields of
Manitoba. "The future wheat area Of
this continent lies north of the inter-
| national boundary line between the
United States and Canada"
THE TOPOGRAPHY.
In describing the topography Of this
| cOuntry-the Dominion side of the
| continental Divide"-we must say
"up south and down north" The read
er should bear in mind that from this
| divide, or water shed. the waters flow
nOrthward and downward into the
Hudson Bay and Arctic Ocean. The
drainage of the Red River Valley"
runs northward and downward. This
| valley. once a great ocean bed. COM
mences with Fargo in the United
States and extends northward to VIM
nipeg, and hundreds of miles further
northward. growing broader and
broader with each mile. The farther
| north we CO. or lower down the Hud-