Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1905-12-21
FROM N. w. TERRITORY
Bsrthold a. Chickering Is I'm That
Country And writes Home Con-
corning IL.
CALGARY, ALBERTA. Nov | 9. o5

Dear Mother am laid over here for
the night, so thought | would write
little more of letter than a postal card
would hold. have come thus far safely
and am in good health and spirits. The
rest OF the party are all right but pretty
tired Of the long ride However, Penhold
is only about seventy-fve miles further
on and we will soon be there.
Well. now | will give you short history
Of the trip. Soon after leaving the 500.
we reached Sudbury. where we had to
wait short time for the train. At day
break the next morning we were at sta
ton called Pardee, and night found us at
Nipigon The country between these two
places is nearly all rough and rocky, in
fact. it is all covered with rocks and
enormous boulders This has been COW
cred with spruce. birch and popars from
ten to twenty feet high, wherever there
was a chance for them to grow between
the crevices Of the rocks, but nearly ev-
erywhere along the railroad fire has been
through and killed them, leaving nothing
but dead poles and rocks in sight.
The road bed is cut through solid rock,
often ten or twenty feet deep. and we
passed through at least six tunnels made
through the rocks. The road follows the
shore OF Lake Superior a long distance and
we had good view Of the lake nearly all
the time. Sometimes the road was SO
near the shore that person could jump
from the cars into very deep water. We
saw good many islands, all bold and
rocky The rivers run between rocks and
are very rapid with numerous shadows
and deep holes. | had terrible banker
ing TO stop and fish but did not. We also
saw great number of small lakes which
we're mostly frozen over and white with
snow. There was from one to four inches
Of snow around there but not enough to
hinder us from seeing the country to ad-
vantage.
The next morning we were in the east
ern edge of Manitoba near Rat Portage
When we got to Winnipeg, November IL,
was surprised to find no snow on the
ground and farmers still blowing. The
| Red river was not all frozen over although
the current was slow. Winnipeg is pref
tily and substantially built and full of bus
ir ess, but we were there only a few min
u,es. The soil in and around Winnepeg
was remarkable sight. 1t is nearly as
black as coal dust and as level as floor
and, apparently, as good in the bitches by
the road side as on the surface. We
could see for miles in any direction and
not tree in sight. Nothing but good and
prosperous looking houses and barns,
wind mills. telephone poles, hay stacks
and heaps Of straw in every direction.
counted over thirty big piles of straw in
one field. They don't'pretend to stack it
there but burn nearly all of it saw
some Of the land that had not yet been
cleared and it was covered with clumps
Of bushes, scattering low willows and
stunted poplars. We certainly passed
through some beautiful farming country
in Manitoba.
Night overlook US soon after we cross
ed the line into Assiniboia. There were
great herds of cattle there which were in
good condition We did not see much OF
Assiniboa as we were nearly to Medicine
Hat and in the semi-arld regions by day
break the next morning. Here there is
little or no farming done as it is too dry,
but the country is divided into big ranches
and we could see great drovas of horses
and cattle grazing on the short dry grass.
The grass seemed to be perfectly dead
and yellow, but the stock was mostly in
good condition. Some of the ranches had
a little hay stacked around them and some
did not. None of them had any barns or
shelter other than the corras. They evil
IDENTIFY depend upon the stock picking their
living on the open range. Two or three
weeks of such snow as we have in Mich
gan would starve them all to death.
have hardly seen tree today until
reached Calgary. There were few
stunted tree willows near mud holes IN
d ry creek beds and saw few oaks that
looked about the size and shape Of an old
apple tree that has grown on blow sand
In all the low places and around all the
water holes and shallow lakes. of which
passed good many, the soil is covered
with a white sediment which glistens like
frost. This is the alkali of which you
have read We passed some big irriga-
ton bitches in course of construction which
had TO water ia them; also valley which
had been lately damned in two or three
places, probably to supply water for the
bitches II had been a resident of the
vicinity the valley would have been damn
ed long ago, as well as the surrounding
country.
Soon after passing Medicine Hat we
saw the Rocky Mountains for the first
time. | think was the first one on the
car to see them They looked like low
lying bank Of dull blue clouds with now