East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-06-04

\ Pendleton man writing of the
Alberta country to the East Oregon
ian, says:
You will note by the address that
we have quit the Alberta country.
That place is very much over rated
and is nothing like what it is repre-
sented by some of the suckers who
went there. 1 think from what l
have seen and from the information
I gained that the place is too cold and
the seasons too uncertain.
THE country has been partly set
tied by farmers three times during
the past 80 years, but they did no
good and had to quit. 1t is cattle
country and nothing more. Sheep
do no good, in fact, you cannot see
a sheep in hundreds of miles.
last winter it got down to 50 be-
low zero and stockmen had to feed
for eight months. Whilst we were
there they got some rain, the first
for 10 months. and the cold was in
tense.
Il notice in Calgary most of the
houses have storm doors and windows
and guess a storm cellar about the
premises somewhere.
There is not much OF the country
being farmed. and people who have
lived 80 years in the country never
tried to do any farming for the reason
that the seasons are too uncertain.
"The c. P. R. and other land COM
panies say that settlements will alter
weather conditions. Perhaps they Will,
but they have not done so during 80
years so l would not want to take
chances, and land is dearer than II is
right in Umatilla, where crops are
certainty. 1t ranges all the way from
SIS to s25 per acre, and that from
six to 10 miles from the railroad. l
don't know how much they sell at
that price. but that is what they ask.
The talk about cheap land is all
rot there is none to be gotten and
all the land is rough and new. The
brush has to be cut, burned and the
real sod broken up. The plowing costs
$3.50 per acre, besides the cost OF
cutting and burning the brush, and
then there is fencing and hundred
and one other things to be done in the
way of making corrals, barns. sheds
house. etc, which makes that lanc
pretty dear.
1.-The water proposition is very un
certain. Some get wells where other
have gone $50 feet and have not foun'
water. The country might do TO
some OF the Minnesota and Dakot;
people, but Oregonians had bette
stop at home. Even the land tina
may be made to produce something
is very limited, and the crop condi
ton very precarious.
THE irrigation project is fraud
They are trying to sell people LAND
and the ditch is not dug within fiv
miles of it. There are not nearl
enough bitches even If they did al
they say they are going to, and l
many instances farmers have to di
bitches for more than a mile and
half to get the water onto their lanC
The land is all cut up with gulche
and draws which, of course, cannot b
graded, which will necessitate a IL
of laterals and box fumes to get tn
water on to all parts of the land, an
there will be a lot of waste land. TT
roads and bitches are all taken ol
of the farmers land, the compar
giving nothing. The price for II
land is: Irrigable, .25; non-irrigabl
s1s; 81 .Her year for water, one cub
foot for each acre; water supplied b.
tween May and october only, and tn
for the roughest kind of prairie lar
nearest point six to seven mil
from railroad.
This is the toughest kind of hol
up country from Fernie on the bou
dairy till one gets out at Vancouvt
B. C. The C. P. r. charges 4 cen
per mile. and almost all places mea
are 81; beds from 81 to 50.
~ have heard of places where no
est men are scarcer than hens tee
and rogues and thieves are thick
than weavils in a barnyard. We
Alberta is one of those places"