The Bemidji pioneer., 1901-09-12
Farms on the
American Rainy
They Will Soon Be in Demand.
Farmers on the Canadian Side
TilIing Rich Timber Land.
Clearing Is Costly, but Pays.

L 4 X
Theodore Knappen in the Minneapolis journal
What may be expected from the
approaching development Of the
American side Of Rainy river may
be gathered from an examination
Of what has been accomplished on
the Canadian side. Practically all
of the Canadian river front has
been taken up by actual settlers
for many years. More recently
the land remote from the river.
front in places as far as 10 and IS
miles back has been homesteaded,
and the building of the Canadian
Northern along the north shore
it runs sometimes as far as 10
miles back from the river will en-
courage settlement remote from
the river front which, winter and
summer, has hitherto been the
only highway for this region. I'm
the summer the steamers furnish
the means Accommodation, while
in the winter the frozen river
makes a good road for leaning.
Altogether there must be several
Thousand settlers in the strip Of
land between Lake Of the Woods
and Rainy lake. The Canadian.
homestead law is somewhat more
liberal than the American. The
Ihomesteader can get 100 acres Of
land by living on it six months in
each of the three successive years,
providing he has at the end Of that
time rs acres under cultivation
and has erected a house at least 10
BY 90. After that he is expected
| TO break at least two acres year,
but his patent is granted then. 1t
IS much more difficult to Jump a
claim Canada than in the
United States. The original APP
lplicant must have been absent q
Year before the attempt can be
made. The jumper must then
notify the land commissioner, who
thereupon notifies the absent
Ihomesteader that unless he returns
within 80 days he will lose his
claim. Ifhe returns, all is we'll
and the jumper is foiled.
THE LAND Is VERY FERTILE.
The most cnrsory inspection Of
4 the Canadian river front farms is
sufficient to show how fertile this
| timber land is. AS the geological
l formation on the American side
l for some miles back is Identical
! with that on the Canadian side. ii
is reasonable to suppose that when
l the Minnesota front is cleared it
4 will quite as fertile as the Canadi-
4 an lands, at least for some 10
4 miles back from the river front.
i Indeed there are enough farms
i already started on the American
4 side to show what can be done.
i One Of the prettiest farms | ever
saw is that belonging to Pat
Reedy, atithe mouth Of the Bic
/ Fork river, where the rich meadow
LANDS alone are sufficient to yield
a good income. Oats OH cleared
). lands yield from 80 to 100 bushels
an acre, wheat rarely yields less
than 90, and potatoes Of excellent
quality yield so heavily that the
! producing capacity is limited
. simply by the number of plants
]. that can be made to stand on the
ground. All other northern ROOT
! crops are abundant and of thu
. best quality. A popularity ofthis
timber land is that the first crop il
never SO heavy as later ones. 6
the farmer cannot Judge the pro
ductiyitY of his land BY the frs
/ years crop.
CLEARING rs COSTLY.
Ofcourse it is an enormous tasl
TO clear the land of it's heavy tim
Der, even when it has been burn
I over. The Canadian farmers hay'
4 mot been over enterprisiGg. ant
have been content for the mos
i part to leayethe stumps to rot out
Clearing costs from so to $15 al
acre, but now that better com
munications are assured it woul'
seem that the sale of timber cal
y - l. 70. L,