The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-07-11
WHEAT "FARTHEsT NORTH"
1t May Be Cultivated With Good Results
in the Hudson Bay Region.
from the Toronto Globe ,

sists of a narrow strip of territory stretch
ing along the border Of the United States,
with no depth to the north, is one that is
little heard of nowadays on this side of
the line 1t is still, however, held by q
great many people abroad, and we our
selves have but the haziest ideas of our
north country and it's tremendous posi-
olllties. Year by year, however. with the
return of explorers, we learn not merely
OF the Ell Doradoes of the frozen north,
but Of the far greater wealth of the fer
tile soil on the northern slope of the con-
tinent. The farthest north at which
wheat well ripen has not yet been def
nitely ascertained, but 1t has been sue
cessfully established that the most useful
of all cereals will ripen a 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 draining into
James Bay, although in the same lati
tude as Manitoba, was not so well adap-
ted to the growing of cereals. Henry
| O'Sullivan, a prominent surveyor and
| CAp1OICI Ill uiO bCItlCC VI uuo pIObll1C0 VI
Quebec, who made an exploration last
fall with the object Of locating 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 Waspanipi, a Hudson Bay post en-
route to Rupets 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 vegetable and grains he has
bages, 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 fayorably 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, Bishop Newman raises the finest
OF celery, tomatoes, vegetable marroWs,
cauliflower and other garden stuff.
One can scarcely overestimate the prac
tical value OF this testimony as to the
climate on the northern slope toward
| James Bay. That wheat and delicate
vegetables can be grown fully 200 miles
due north of Toronto is fact the sig
nificance of which will probably not be-
come fully apparent to the present gener-
alton. Eventually, however, it must
mean the settlement of that vast territory
from the crowded regions of the Old
World.
| In the west the wheat belt runs far up
toward the Arctic. The furthest north
will probably be found in Athabasca, just
| east of the Rockies. The influence of
the chinooks. the warm winds of the Pa
cific, gives q moderate climate there for
the hundreds of miles north of Edmon-
| ton, which is itself some $50 miles north
of the latitude of Toronto. A committee
of the Senate established the fact that
flowers bloom as early on the shores of the
Great Slave Lake, 400 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 its most SOUTH
erly point many miles north of Windsor.
| The largest rush of immigration in
Manitoba this year is into the Swan Riv-
or Valley. This is in the extreme north
west of the province, yet it is in practi-
| cally the same latitude as the English
midlands. 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 Manitoba for the past fifteen
years demonstrates the fact clearly that
all attitudes have very much to do with
summer frosts. The most successful dis
tricts in Manitoba for the raising of No
hard wheat are those localities at an al
titnde of from 800 to 1900 feet above the
sea level.
1t is also known in every case where a
district is found to be subject to summer
| frost in Manitoba the land is found to be
at q high altitude. Most of the Swan
River Valley is less than 1 200 feet above
the sea. Lieut.. Gov. Patterson of Mani
toba, who went on a tour of inspection
last fall over to Hudson Bay, in his re-
port 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 degrees some 800 miles
further north 5han Moose Factory, where
Bishop Newnham is conducting his ex-
periments.
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 1900 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 barren 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 commercial if
not the geographical center. 1t has up
to the present time, save during the boom
period, grown rather slowly, but has kept
pace with the growth of population up
on the land.
Now that the rush to the Canadian
wheat plains is beginning, Winnipeg
will probably show greater proportion
ate growth than any other Canadian city.
1t may forget the lesson Of the last period
of speculation, and retard its develop
mont by another boom. If this is avoided
and the people of Winnipeg bend their
energies to maintain the city in Its pres
emit position as the railway metropolis
and commercial centre of the West, Win.
nipeg in another ten years should have
we'll on to .00,0 900 Inhabitants If this
promise is fulfilled it will be by the push
ing of wheat production even further
north.
LEWIS AFTER THAT PRIVAT EER