The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-07-15
WHEAT In THE NORTH
May Be Proftably Cultivated in the
Hudson Bay Region.
Good Farming Lands Are Attracting
the Attention of Agriculture
lists to the Region of
Manitoba.

Manitoba.
The belief that habitable Canada con-
sists of a narrow strip of territory
stretching along the border of the
United States with no depth to the
north is one that is little heard of now
adays on this side of the line. 1t is
still, however, held by a great many
people abroad, and we ourselves have
but the haziest ideas of our north coun-
try and its tremendous possibilities.
Year by year, however, with the return
of explorers we learn not merely of the
Ell Dorados of the frozen north, but of
the far greater wealth of the fertile
soil on the northern slope of the conti-
nent. The farthest north at which
wheat will ripen has not been definite
ly ascertained, but it has been success
fully established that the most useful
of all cereals will ripen q thousand
miles north of the boundary line.
1t has heretofore been supposed that
the huge territory in eastern Canada
north of the height of land and drain
ing into James bay, although in the
same latitude as Manitoba, was not so
Mr.. Henry O'Sullivan, prominent sur
veyor and explorer in the service of the
province of Quebec, who made an ex-
ploration last fall with the object of
locating a line from Lake St. John to
Hudson bay, says wheat as good as
that grown in any part of Quebec ripens
far north of the height of land and
well up toward James bay. At Wa
swanipi, Hudson bay post en- route
to Rupert's Landing, he found Mr..
Baxter, an agent who takes an interest
in farming.
After looking over the results Mr..
O'Sullivan says: SIT is surprising to
see the fine vegetables and grains he
has grown there. I never saw better
cabbage, carrots and turnips, and he
gave me samples of wheat which he had
grown from seed raised there the year
before, and other wheat which he had
grown from seed obtained from the
agricultural farm at Ottawa. They
are equally good and can compare ia
vorably with wheat grown in any other
part of the province. The surrounding
country is all level, rich clay land"
At Moose Factory, on James bay, Bish-
OPP Newnham raises the finest of celery,
tomatoes, vegetable marrows, cauli-
flower and other garden stuff.
In the west the wheat belt runs far
up toward the Arctic. The farthest
north will probably be found in Atha-
basca, just east of the Rockies. The in
huence of the Chinooks, the warm
winds of the Pacific, gives moderate
climate there for hundreds of miles
north of Edmonton, which is itself
some $50 miles ncrth of the latitude of
Toronto. A committee of the senate
established the fact that flowers bloom
as early on the shores of Great Slave
lake, 1900 miles north of Toronto, as
they do in Winnipeg. In the Peace
River valley the climate is pretty much
the same as in western Ontario, yet the
Peace river is at it's most southerly
point over 1000 miles north of Windsor.
The largest rush of immigration in
Manitoba this year is into the Swan
River valley. This is in the extreme
northwest of the province, yet it is in
practically the same latitude as the
English midlapds. Mr.. Burrows, a
member of the Manitoba Legislature,
reporting on this new district to Mr..
Sifton on the 1st of March, says that
the history of grain-raising in Mani
toba for the past Is years demonstrates
the fact clearly that attitudes have
very much to do with summer frosts.
The most successful districts in Mani
toba for the raising of No. wheat are
those localities which lie at an altitude
of from 800 to 1900 feet above the sea
level.
1t is also known that in every case
where a district is found to be subject
to summer frost in Manitoba, the land
is found to be at a high altitude. Most
of the Swan River valley is less than
1 200 feet above the sea. Lieut.-Gov.
Patterson, of Manitoba, who went on
q tour of inspection last fall over to
Hudson bay, in his report says that every
Indian south of the Nelson river could
have an excellent kitchen garden if he
took the trouble to cultivate the land.
The Nelson river enters Hudson bay at
York Factory, about latitude 81, some
300 miles further north than Moose
Factory, where Bishop Newman is con-
Quoting his experiments.
Grouping all these facts together, it
is not too much to claim that the wheat
belt of Canada averages at least 500
miles in width by 1000 in length, @
greater stretch than any other part of
the world, except Russia and Siberia,
possesses. The bulk of this tract of
land lies west of Lake Superior, the bar
rem lands north of that lake cutting the
fertile portion of the dominion into two
distinct parts. OF the great western
wheat-growing country Winnipeg is the
if not the geographical,
center. 1t has up to the present, save
during the boom period, grown rather
slowly, but has Kept pace with the
growth of population upon the land.
Now that the rush to the Canadian
wheat plains is beginning, Winnipeg
VIII probably show greater proper
.ionate growth than any other Canadian
city. 1t may forget the lesson of the
last period of speculation and retard
It's development by another boom. If
this is avoided and the people of Winni-
peg bend their energies to maintain the
city in its present position as the rail-