The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-10-15
THE FAR NORTHWEST.
A Vermonter Describes the Coun-
try. Incidents of the
Journey.

Editor Waterman: - During our
pleasant little chat in your Office
promised to send you few notes that
you might know where | was and
some of the things / saw while in the
great West. Now at this late hour
will acknowledge my negligence, hope
for your forgiveness and proceed with
the items. On August % we left
for Montreal where we
took tourist car for Winnepeg.
The principal thing we noticed from
Montreal to Ottawa were large oat-
fields, large fields of grass seed in the
shock, rail fences built in the old
style, poor roads and the Ottawa river
which really looked beautiful. In
many places it seemed actually filled
with logs and at one place we saw
raft of logs one-third of mile long
drawn by u small steam tug. On
reaching Ottawa we found it to be a
city of extremes, half of the buildings
appeared like the best in the world
while the other half was nothing but
shanties covered with rough boards.
The city has 90. 600 inhabitants and
is noted for its fine buildings and ex-
ceeds every other city in the Dominion
in the value of lumber manufactured.
After leaving Ottawa the scenery was
uninteresting until we came to Penn
broke where civilization seemed to
cease and the only live animals we
saw for 400 miles were two cows and
three bears. The country seemed to
be covered with small trees called
jack pines which grow little larger
than hop poles. The conductor in
formed me that a vast extent of coun-
try, from the great lakes to Hudson
Bay, was a bowling wilderness cover
ed with jack pines and inhabited only
by wild beasts-moOse red deer, bears,
wolves, etc We were favored with
jolly companions, as on board our
train was a company of volunteers re-
turning from South Africa. When the
train stopped at Peninsula the boys
got out to pick raspberries on the side
of the track but all at once they found
competitor in the person of large
black bear which started out of the
bushes. There was no trouble, as
neither bear nor boys wished to pro-
long the acquaintance, and the exit
was quick and mutual.
forgot to tell you that at Sudbury
there are copper, nickel and other
mines which at the present time are
being operated by over two thousand
men. Here are found the most eX-
tensive deposits of nickel in the world.
Before these were discovered most of
the nickel used was found in New
Caledonia, an island in the southern
Pacific, belonging to France This is
the metal used for plating articles
made of steel to prevent them from
rusting: it also improves their APP
pearance on account of the high polish
which can be given the nickel, and
it is largely used by the United States
government as armor for battleships.
Our ride from Heron Bay to Fort
William on the North shore of Lake
Superior was magnificent - through
tunnels which were cut in solid rock,
under overhanging rocks 200 feet high
and so close to the water that nothing
but water could be seen from the win.
dow next to the lake, and winding round
curves, the car going at such high
rate of speed that the passengers were
badly frightened. Some one asked the
conductor why they did not slack W
on such dangerous places and he re.
piled that the road bed was solid rock
and there was no danger. AT Jack
Fish was coal station and steamboat
landing; it was quite interesting tC
see six cable cars on an elevated cir
cular road take the coal from the boat
to the railroad, one man doing all the
work of unloading by simply touching
a spring.
Rat Portage on the Lake of the
Woods seem to stand alone. 1t is 8
great gold mining and numbering cen.
tire with a population of ., 600. About
100 miles west of Rat Portage we
reached the great praries of Manitoba
where we saw wheat fields and pra-
ri9 chickens. When we reached the
Red River of the North we found il
was well named as it flows in deeI
ravine, stream of brick colored
water. When we reached Winnepee
we found it to be fine city of 40, 00(
inhabitants situated on the site OF
Fort Garry, a Hudson Bay post. 1t:
principal buildings are government
buildings, the court house and city
hall. 1t has ten railways, branching
like spokes of wheel, and it may well
be called the gateway of the British
North West At that time the emf
grafton from Ontario and Quebec was
enormous, II 900 being landed in less
than four days. Most of these were
going to the harvest fields where they
would get from 81 to 50 per day
From Winnepeg we came to North
Dakota where we saw immense wheat
fields. Here ordinary farmers have
from Is to 100 acres of wheat while
larger farmers have from 300 to 1000,
acres, \ man may look as far as he
can and see nothing but wheat, with
occasionally "A field of oats, barley OF
flax. 1t is no uncommon thing to see
80 or 100 acres of flax in one field. Ii
yields about fifteen bushels to the acre
and usually sells for 81 30 per bushel,
The oats and barley are largely used
for home consumption, feeding horses,
pigs etc, although much of the barley
goes to the distilleries. Most of the
farmers keep only one COW tied out
on the prairie, while some have as
many as seven. A few sheep are kept
in field, near the buildings, ON nc
count of wolves. The soil, IA rich
black loan exceedingly fertile, and
entirely free from stone, has II Won
derful adhesive element which sticks
4