The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1906-03-16

In Feb, 1902, j. G.. Smith & Bro.
were weavers in a big cotton mill in
Lancashire, England. Coming here,
they arrived in Wapella, Sask., with
only $4,000 between them. They were
so green" and inexperienced that all
they could earn the first summer was
$500 per month. and the first winter
they had to work for their board. The
next year, 1903, they took homesteads.
and by working for neighbors they BOT
a few acres broken out, upon which the
next year they raised few hundred
bushels of wheat and oats. They also
bought team and broke out about
sixty acres more. In 1905, they
threshed 1900 bushels of wheat from
it, and $4,000 bushels Of oats. Their
success being then assured, they Dor.
rowed some money, built good house,
barn and implement shed, and bought
cream separator, etc. They now have
a dozen cows, some full blooded pigs
and chickens, good teams and imple-
ments to match, and are on the high
road to prosperity. Herb are three
cases selected from my note book from
among a score of others. One, a mine
boss, one farmer, and one a factory
operator. With each Of them I took
tea and listened to their story. Il
hoped to better my condition." said
one. Il thought in time might make
home," said another. II had high
expectations" said the other, and all
said that Il never dreamed it possible
to succeed as have"
Like Arabian Nights.
Everywhere, on the trains, at the
hotels and in family I have been told
successes that reminded me more OF
the stories in the Arabian Nights than
OF this matter-of-act workaday world.
Yields Of wheat from IS to So bushels
per acre, and Of oats of from GO to 100
bushels, are numerous In every local
ity and we'll authenticated. At Moose
Jaw, Lethridge, Calgary, Edmonton,
Regina, Brandon, Hanley and many in
termediate places I saw cattle and
young horses fat as our granted ami
mails OF the States that had never
tasted grain, and whose cost to their
owners was almost nothing. At Moos-
omin saw trainload of 1,4OO steers
en- route to England, that were shaky
fat, raised as above stated. II the
older generation of farmers in Indiana,
who have spent their lives in con-
test with logs and stumps as did their
fathers before them, could see these
broad prairies dotted with comfort
able homes, large red barns, and straw
piles innumerable, and the thriving
towns with their towering elevator
: damned to the roof with mo. hard"
and then remember that four or five
years ago these plains were tenantless
but for the badger and coyote, they
would marvel at the transformation
Then If they followed the crowds as
they emerged from the trains and hur-
Gied to the land Offices, standing In line
until their respective turns to be wait
ed on came, and saw with what rapid
1ty these lands are being TAKEN, they
would certainly catch the disease"
and want some of it, too If =. these
lands are beautiful in midWinter, with
their long stretches OF yellow stubble
standing high above the snow, what
must they be in summer time, when
covered with growing or ripening
grains? Speaking Of winter, reminds
me that our Hoosier friends shrug
their shoulders when they read in the
Chicago and Minneapolis dailies Of the
temperature up here. For that very
reason am here. this winter. The
Canadian literature with it's pictures,
half-tones and statistics, gives a good
idea of her resources, but thirty OF
forty degrees below zero sounds dan
gerous to a Hoosier, who nearly
freezes In temperature of five above:
especially when accompanied by a
wind, as it., often IS. but the fact is
when, It is very cold. here it is stilI ano
1.-The air being dry, the cold is not felt
as it is In our lower ATTITUDES, where
there is more humidity in the atmoe-
nphere. 4 am S., and I never saw a
finer winter than the one ! am spend
ing up here. IL arrived In Winnipeg
Nov. 9, and have not had the bottoms
aof, my overshoes wet since Isentered
Canada: I Under q c1oudless sky T. have
ridden, ~, sleighs nearly "a THOUSAND
: miles. averaging "a ) drive every other
day., Stone. masons have not lost q
weeks time soafar tthisswinter. Build
ing of all kindspgoes right ahead IN
every city and hamlet, as though win.
tor ,uoro r1nlJops heard 0f - q,