Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-17

quiries as TO the crops and saw the posi-
bilities of land speculation In looking
about he found that the GU Appelle Long
Lake and Saskatchewan railroad had mil
lion acres which they were anxious to get
rid Of. The railroad company had received
the land as a concession for building the
road. with the provision that Il was TO
be good farming land. They did not un-
derstand the soil, however, and were so
disgusted with their grant that they wanted
the dominion government to take 1t back
and allot them something else. The road
itself was almost bankrupt. It consisted
of little more than two streaks of rust and
a mortgage. with stray settler here ana
there along the line. When Colonel Da-
wilson offered to take the grant off It's
hands at a dollar cash per acre the owners
fairly tumbled over themselves in their
rush to accept Davidson first got the sale
confirmed by the dominion government and
then brought in trainload of bankers
and capitalists from the United States He
took them over the tract and showed them
the land | am told that he sold one
fourth OF IL on the train, and that within
a year the whole of his million acres had
been disposed of. AS to his prices, | I'M
derstand that he started at 81 per acre IN
big blocks, and that quarter sections were
retailed at SO per acre and more.
Since then these same men and others
have gotten possession of land grants be-
longing to the various railroads, and they
have sold some millions of acres. Indeed.
the most OF the land selling has been done
BY Americans. This is especially so with
real estate agents. but the most of them are
doing business in the small
An American Woman Agent.
Indeed, one of the chief businesses of the
new Canada is selling lands. The real es-
tate agent is found at every station. He
meets you as you step from the cars. You
see his sign in the samples of wheat, oats,
potatoes and other products in his Office
windows. and you may find farm exhibits
even at the depots.
Take, for Instance, Moose Jaw. at the juno
ton OF the 500 Pacific and the Canadian
Pacific railroads. It is lively city of 4,oC0
souls. and the liyliest part of 1t is the rail-
road depot. Just outside the station build
ings a pyramid has been erected of sheayes
OF oats, wheat and barley, with Cana
dian flag floating over 1t. The pyramid is
made up Of samples OF the grain grown
in the vicinity, and they are so displayed
that they can be seen from the cars. We
had wait of twenty minutes at Moose
Jaw. and l stepped off and walked about.
AS / stood before this pyramid fine look
ing American woman of forty. with
buxom rosy-cheeked girl OF sixteen, drove
up in buggy. Both ladies were clad In
furs and the cheeks Of the girl shone like
Jacqueminot roses. The lady aecosted me,
asking II l were about to settle in Canada,
and II so did l not want some choice lands.
l replied that l had not fully decided.
whereupon she continued:
We'll. | can tell you, sir, that there Is
no better soil than right about Moose
Jaw and that / have the best of all left
in the neighborhood / have few choice
pieces that 1 want to sell. and IL you care
to look I will drive you out into the
country. That is my sign.' And she
thereupon pointed TO a billboard tackled UP
beside the straw stack saying that Mary
Jane --- bought and sold lands.
| asked her where her lands were and
she told me, saying that they were worth
from SIS to $40 and that they would produce
40 bushels of wheat. ninety bushels of
barley. or 100 bushels of oats to the acre.
But" said l, II am afraid IL will be too
cold. l understand you people freeze to
death in the winter"
"As to that" said the madam II am
an American woman who came here for
my health from Colorado a good many
years ago. Suppose you take look at my
daughter who sits here beside me. She is
sixteen years old and 1 have never paid !.
cent for doctor bills on her account Do
either of us look like freezing to death?
No sir, we have a few cold days in the
winter, but as a rule our climate is better
than that of the northern parts of the
United States
/ then told the madam that I was "a
newspaper correspondent and not land
purchaser whereupon she handed me her
card, saying: We'll, I would like to inter-
est you in our lands. and. II You See any
one who wants to buy, send him to me-
1 mean any man with good hard cash.
cer,d votrr RI aio with him. n1ad AZ 1a