Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-05-02
Another Letter From Alberta,
WETASKIWIN. Anrill19,

A. l.. FONTAINE, Dear Sir-I am 60
ing to write you few lines to let our
old neighbOrS know what we think of
WetaSkiwin in Alberta, Canada. They
told us there was no winter here
grass was green all the while, etc. -
but when we landed here on the 18th
of April it was as cold as any day we
had down home this winter. and the
snow was drifted three or four feet
deep and on April Is it showed in
Calgary near here one and one-half
feet deep. spoke with many old
settlers and they tell me they have
from three to four months good
sleighing and the ground stays frozen
seven months out of the year, and
that there is frost here every month
in tue year They begin farming about
May 15, and all they can raise is
wheat, oats and barley. These old
settlers tell me that wheat ripenS
there about one year out of every five
with frost. Last year everything froze
here SO that the people had to send off
this spring to some other country for
good seed They cannot raise fruit
and vegetables of any kind, and there
is no timber here to amount to any
thing. The country is billy and rough
and where there is a fiat stretch of
country itreSembleS the marshes down
hOme-full of willows and poplar
islands. All the timber | see around
here is poplar They claimed they
had good water here. [ have been on
the road all the while, around the
country, and [ have not found any
good water yet. It's all hard and bad
tasting stuff. Farming implements
are about so per cent dearer than in
the states and lumber is 10 per cent
dearer here. Mr.. J. Flanagan, the
Canada agent known in Rudolph, told
us we could get good coal here fer 81
per ton, but after we got here we
found we had to pay 1915 per ton or
He told us when strangers came here
to locate, that the government fur
niShed men and teams free of charge
to show them the country. They have
got men and teams for strangers to
use in seeing the country, but we have
to pay 81 and S5 per day. for the use of
them. So far as the soil is concerned,
| guess it is all right for crops if they
had the right climate. He told US
there was no wind here, but every day
LdNC UCCu uCIc UllC Wlilu HdS UlOWU
hard.
There is plenty of small game, but
there isn't any large game within a
hundred or more miles of this place
and | haven't heard person speak of
must buy it already canned: that's
pretty handy after all. What seems
queer to me is that all the old settlers
TO sol aha TO -
some other country. If this country
is so good as they claim it is. what is
their object in trying to sell out and
leave it? That is what beats me.
understand there are many in Wood
county want to come here with their
families. They had better take our
advice instead of the agents and
leave their families at home and come
and see this country themselves first,
because | have seen lots of men come
here With their families and all they
had without seeing the country. only
| taking the agents advice, and the
most of them today are trying to sell
all they have got to go back to their
native homes.
There were lots of our friends in
Wood county who wanted TO know my
ideas about this new country, so !
thought it was best to let you know,
and if you will be so kind as to pub
lish this in your paper, it will save me
lots of writing and in this way every.
body will know what we think of this
country. With best regards to all my
friends, am Yours Truly,
ALBERT MARCOUX.
Philip TRUDELL.
APPLETON GOLEN.
JEFFRY GRIMARD