Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-05-20
COMING BACK
TO MONTANA
People Who Went Up to the Domin
ion of Canada Are Not Salts
fled With New Home.
SORRY THEY LEFT MONTANA
Northern Country Possesses No In.
ducements, Either Social or
Financial for New Settlers.

Great Falls, May 16.-"In almost
every town in southern Alberta, little
groups Of discouraged men daily stand
upon the street corners, cursing Can
ada and earnestly wishing that they
were back in the United States" de-
clares Joseph Blaine, formerly a far
me Of Black Butte district, who re-
turned yesterday after two years of
vain striving to make a living as a
farmer in the vicinity of Cardston.
Hundreds of men who have gone
into that country from the United
States are coming back" continued
Mr.. Blaine, land after next falls crops
shall have been gathered, If there
are any, thousands will return to I'm
Gle Sans domain. The return move
ment has already commenced in nor
thern Alberta, and | have no doubt
that, within three years, 80 per cent.
of the people who have gone from the
United States to the country
than 100 miles north of the boundary
will have returned, with very few of
those who have settled in southern
Alberta, aside from the Mormons, will
remain there.
81 farmed in Cascade county for IL
years, including the terribly dry years
of 1889 and 1890, and | had only a
bench land farm. | thought l had
not done well and concluded to go to
Canada, but never again will I leave
Montana. The crops in Cascade cOun-
ty in 1889 and 1890 were better than
the best yer raised in Alberta. To
secure my land in that country, |
swallowed every shred of my pride
and declared my allegiance to a king
and. emperor. | sold my 800 acres Of
land for $4,000, and | have come back
to Montana, a a without a coun-
try and without a farm, but | shall
secure 160 acres of Cascade county
land as soon as possible and again
become a citizen Of the United States.
never more to my alleg-
lance.
"A Mormon may live in southern
Alberta. The Utah farmers have
learned how to struggle against great
disadvantages, and to suffer for the
sake Of their religion. but no other
man can or will do 1t, and the ordi-
nary farmer can do better financially
and be much happier on 80 acres Of
| Cascade county land than on 800 acres
of land in Alberta. For the last three
years there have been utter failures
of crops in all the district 100 miles
or more north of the line, and in
southern Alberta the crops have been
poor. Hailstones as large as my fist,
frosts as late as July Is, floods in
June and snow in August are almost
normal conditions in that country.
Thus far this year, except in a mar
row strip of territory extending not
much north Of Lethbridge, no grain
has been sown, the climatic conditions
being very bad. Many Of the farmers
are utterly discouraged and while 1t
is now too late for them to leave, they
will pull out of that section early in
the fall. and many will come into
northern Montana.
Social conditions are bad. The peo-
pie are not c%ongenial, the Mormons
are in the saddle, the schools are poor
and few, and there is an utter lack OF
progressiveness. One Of my first acts
upon arriving in Great Falls was to
order a beef steak at a restaurant;
could not get one At to eat in an AL
berta restaurant, and in many other
little things there is such a difference
between Alberta and Montana.
Recently prairie fires have caused
great loss in that country. Several
outfits have lost all their range and
many head of cattle, and many farm
homes, outbuildings and much hay