Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-13

men who have lived here longest advance
the most roseate views They believe that
the new area has several hundred million
acres, estimating it as equal to about eight
states as big as Ohio, or six or seven OF the
size of Pennsylvania or New York. This
does not include the vast regions north OF
where am writing.
Along the New Railroads.
This mighty farm is being opened up by
the railroads. Between two and three thou
sand miles of new tracks were constructed
last year, and three great systems are now
pushing their way through it. The old line
of the Canadian Pacific goes across it not
far above the international boundary, and
that company is constructing new branches
to the northward 1t will build one line al
most direct from Winnipeg to Edmonton.
The Canadian Northern, which is but lit
tie known in the United States, has just
completed a trunk line to Edmonston, and
it has in addition road reaching north to
Prince Albert, which lies hundreds of miles
east of here, on the Saskatchewan river
The Grand Trunl. Pacific is building be-
tween Winnipeg and Edmonton, going
through a rich wheat country some distance
north of the two other lines, so that the
whole land is humming with railroad posi-
bilities
How the Wheat Belt Looks.
My first trip across the wheat belt was
on the Canadian Pacific. The country is
all prairie and plain. In some places the
lands are fiat, in others rolling, Some OF
them are like Illinois and some like North
Dakota. In Manitoba and the greater part
of Saskatchewan you ride for miles through
wheat fields with patches of prairie be-
tween. A little further west you strike a
region somewhat like Montana. 1t is, in
fact, the extension of the Montana semi
arid country, and part of what was once
known as the great American desert. In
T. &c Il tod 80
they have begun to raise winter wheat even
on the dry lands, and their possibilities are
not yet defined. A little further westward,
just before you reach the foothills of the
Rockies, some big irrigation projects are
under way, and winter wheat is being
raised at points both north and south
Leaving the United States boundary and
travelling northward. the land grows bet
ter. This is especially so at the west
where there are trees and patches of
thtcket scattered over the plains The
spring-wheat region begins with the Red
river valley in Manitoba and runs north
westerly in great tongue or triangle,
spreading out as 1t goes.
l find much difference in the quality of
the land. Some pieces are excellent, others
are of a medium grade, and not a few de-
a network of streams. The mighty Sas
ka tchewan, which compares in SIC with
the Mississippi, flows through the wheat
belt from west to east, emptying into Lake
Winnipeg, and from there going on through
other streams into Hudson bay.
l am now writing on the banks of the
Saskatchewan. 1t is ravigable for small
boats for about thousand miles, and dur
ing the summer it is used largely by set
tiers They come here to Edmonton on the
railroad and float their effects down to the
homesteads, which they have picked out
upon the banks. They use fatboats and
RATS just as the pioneers did along the
Ohio in our early days. l have before me
maps which show what homesteads have
been taken The lands are pretty well alb
sorbed on both sides of this river for
distance of thousand miles. Many little
towns have sprung UP. The same. is true
everywhere along the new railroads, there
being something like forty new towns on