River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-03-08
IMPRESSED WITH
WESTERN CANADA.
Saws Our Prairies VIII Be Filled Up
in Ten Years.

L A. Stockwell, of indianapolis. a
United states land man who made an
extensive tour of inspection in the
west, wrote the following article, un-
der date of Jan. s, for an Indiana pub
LEGATION:
States" In this letter / propose
TO show by extracts from my note book
that thousands who have come up here
from the States" have succeeded far
beyond their most sanguine expecta-
tons.
Mr.. II. E. Beaumunk, of Brazil, In
diana, was earning $4,000 per month
with a coal company. At about the
age OF 40 he had saved about $4,000.
Four years ago he landed near Hanley,
Sask. He now owns 30 acres of land.
Last fall (1905) he threshed 400 bush.
els Of wheat and 3,100 bushels Of oats.
His wheat alone brought him over
$4,000, which would have paid for the
acres that it grew on. He is to-day
worth $4,000.
This Is Making Money Fast.
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 got
few acres broken out, upon which the
next year they raised few hundred
bushels Of wheat and oats. They also
bought a team and broke out about
sixty acres more. In 1905, they
threshed 1900 bushels of wheat from
it, and 1900 bushels of oats. Their
SUCCESS being then assured, they Dor.
rowed some money, built a good house,
barn and implement shed, and bought
a 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. Here are three
cases selected from my note book from
among a score of others. One, mine
boss, one farmer, and one factory
operator. With each of them | took
tea and listened to their story. II
hoped to better my condition." said
one. II thought in time might make
a home," said another. Il had high
expectations" said the other, and all
said that 81 never dreamed it possible
to succeed as 1 have"
Like Arabian Nights.
Everywhere, on the trains, at the
hotels and in family | 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 35 to So bushels
per acre, and of oats of from 60 to 100
bushels, are numerous in every local
ity and well authenticated. At Moose
Jaw, Lethridge, Calgary, Edmonton,
Regina, Brandon, Hanley and many in
termediate places l saw cattle and
young horses fat as our granted ami
mails of the Estates" that had never
tasted grain, and whose cost to their
owners was almost nothing. At Moos-
omin l saw trainload of 1 400 steers
en- route to England, that were shaky
fat, raised as above stated. If 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. 1 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-
ried to the land Offices, standing in line
until their respective turns to be wait
ed on came, and saw with what rapid
ity 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
grains3 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 l am here this winter. The
Canadian literature with its pictures,
: half-tones and statistics, gives a good
idea of her resources, but thirty or
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 still and
the air being dry, the cold is not felt
as it is in our lower ATTITUDES, where
there is more humidity in the atmos-
phere. l am Sc, and I never saw
finer winter than the one / am spend
ing up here. / arrived in Winnipeg
Nov. 8, and have not had the bottoms
of my overshoes wet since I entered
Canada. Under cloudless sky l have
ridden in Sleighs nearly a thousand
miles, averaging a drive every other
day. Stone masons have not lost
weeks time so far this winter. Build
ing of all kinds goes right ahead in