Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-04-25
NEVER SAW SUCH LABOR YIELDS.
Tho Climate IL Healthy-The Winters
-. - D~.AaA l..

Tho Climate IL Hca1thy-The Winters
Are P~ieasant-in Western Canada.
Writing from Stirling, Alberta, to
one OF the agents representing the Ca
madam Government Free Homestead
Lands, Mr.. NJ. Pickrell, formerly of
B~eechwood, KY, says of Western
Canada:
I'm the first place we will say that
the summer season is just lovely In
deed. AS TO the winter, well, we never
experienced finer Weather than we are
now enjoying. We have just returned
from Northern Alberta and will say
that we found the weather to be very
mild, the air dry, fresh and i~nvigora-
ting. Considering everything we can
say that the winters here are most
pleasant, healthy and enjoyable to
what they are in the States. Here 1t
gets cold and continues so till spring
there are no disagreeable winds. In
South Alberta 1t is some warmer-two
to four inches of snow may fall and
In a few hours q Chinook wind come
along, evaporating the entire snow,
leaving terra firma perfectly dry, In
fact, we did not believe this part until
We came and saw for ourselves and we
now know what we herein write to be
just as we write 1t. There has not
been q day this winter that l could not
work outdoors. Farmers here are cal
culating on starting the plough the
FIRST Of March.
AS to farm wages, we would not
advise q man to come here with the
expectation of living by his days
work, but all who do want a home I
advise to have nerve enough to get up
n come, for there never has been,
and may never be again, such a grand
opportunity for a man to get a home
almost free.
"As to the crops, l have been In the
fields before harvest, saw the grass put
up and the grain harvested, and l new
er saw such large yields. 7 saw oats
near Edmonton over six feet tall that
yielded 80 bushels per acre, and |
talked to a farmer near st. Albert who
had a field year before last that aver
aged ITO bushels per acre, and weighed
a3 pounds to the bushel. All other
crops would run in proportion-as to
potatoes and vegetables, the turnout
was enormous. ! have such reports as
the above from all sections that | have
visited, and that has been every COM
munity between the Edmonton district
and Raymond in the Lethbridge dis
trict.
A to stock raising. l would advise
q man to locate in this place, or any
place, In South Alberta, but for mixed
farming, l would say go up farther
north, say near Lacombe, Wetaskiwin or
Edmonton, where it is not quite so dry
and where there is some timber TO be
had. l will say that nowhere have |
ever seen a better opportunity for q
man, whether he has money or not.
to obtain a home. Nowhere can be
found a more productive soil, better
water and a better governed country
h Western Canada affords. Induce
ments to the homeSeeker are uneX-
celled. l met two men near Ponokn
on the c. & r. r. r., who borrowed
the money to pay for their homestead
and in four years those two men sold
their farms-one for $500, the other
for $1,000. l met n man near Wetas-
klwin who landed here with % cents
six years ago. lie Is now worth S.
600. The advantages for ranchinE are
excellent, In fact, | do not believe this
section car be beat. Markets are
good; as to living. a family can live
as cheap here as they can in the
States. The average yield Of oats in
this neighborhood, last year. was 20
bushels per acre; wheat averaged 81,
barley 40, and the beet crop was good.
In consequence of the successful cult
walton Of the beet, a large beet sugar
factory is being erected at Raymond,
seven miles from here.
I'm conclusion | will say that n. w.
T., from Manitoba to a long distance
north of Edmonton, produces most
wonderful crops. Lakes and rivers
abound with fish, and game L. plenti-
full. And that this Is unquestionably
the country for a man to come to if
lie desires to better his condition in
life. / would advise the prospective
settler to look over the Lethbrldge, La
combe, WetasSiwin and Edmonton
districts before locating.
II will locate in the Edmonton dis
trict next fall and several families
from the States will locate with me.
In the meantime, | will receive my
mail here and will be pleased to give
the interested all the information de-
sired"
For information as to railway rates,
etc, apply to any agent Of the Cana
dian Government, whose names appear
elsewhere in this paper.