The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-23
WHEAT "FARTHEsT NORTH"
1t May Be Cultivated With Good Results
in the Hudson Bay Region.
(From the Toronto Globe.)

(From the Toronto Globe.)
The belief that habitabls Canada cen
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 a
great many people abroad, and we our
selves have but the haziest ideas Of our
north country and it's tremendous posi-
bilities. 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 farthess north at which
wheat well ripen has not yet been def
itely ascertained, but it has been sue
essfully 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 we'll adap-
ted to the growing of cereals. Henry
! O'Sullivan. a prominent surveyor and
explorer in the service of the province of
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 surpri sing to see
the fine vegetable and grains he has
grown there. I never saw better cab
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 favorably 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 Inarrows,
caulidower and other garden stun.
One can scarcely overestimats 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 a fact the sig
niiicance Of which will probably not be-
alton. Eventually, however, 1t 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 a moderate climate there for
the hundreds of miles north of Edmon-
ton, which is itself some 750 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, 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 south
erly point many miles north Of Windsor.
The largest rush of immigration in
Manitoba this year is into the Swan Riv-
} er Valley. This is in the extreme north
west of the province, yet it is in praoti-
cally the same latitude as the English
midlands. Mr.. Burrows, member of
the Manitoba legislature, reporting on
this new district to Mr.. Sifton on the list
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 Of an al
~oef ~ Go1l L "
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 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
Bishop Newman is conducting his OK.
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 1000 in length. q create,
| Suf6bCu VtuCT pdft Vi tu0 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 d
the Dominion into two distinct parts.
OF the great western wheat growing
country Winnipeg is the commercial Il
not the geographical center. 1t has up
to the present time, save during the boon
period, grown rather slowly, but has Kent
pace with the growth of population m.
on the land.
Now that the rush to the Canadian
wheat plains is beginning, Winnipeg
j will probably show greater proportion
ate growthsthan any other Canadian city
: It may forget the lesson of the last perios
of speculation, and retard its deyelon
ment by another boom. If this is avoided
and the people of Winnipeg bend thei
energies to maintain the city in its pres
emit position as the railway metropoli
and commercial centre of the West, Win
nipeg in another ten years should have