Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-27

story that has the heart interest in t.
l like to think Of the homes that are
there waiting to he materalized. and OF
the beef and bread and milk and honey
that are latent in the great stretches OF
the prairies. Surely when they are made
ready there will be something less of
hunger in the world. That is good work
the aiding to the food supply Of the
nations, quite aside from the personal
element Of a livelihood and a home.
Though this rev road is going through
many mile of mysterious wilderness
It is not an ice-bound Wilderness but a
rich and rare domain. If It had not been
for the Hudson's Bay company, they say.
who chose to keep its charms secret,
We should long ago found and lost this.
our last wilderness. And If it were not
for the new Grand Trunk Pacific, It
would probably he many and many a
decade yet that there were vast. unex-
rlored, unsettled tracts too full of real
and imagined dangers for any home
steadar to sock out and claim The other
trans-contnental roads keep near the
edge Of things, This one will take its
direct almost unbending way straight
through the virgin territory.
one is apt to think first of the agri-
cultural wealth. perhaps. because the
marvel OF the wheat belt has SO re
Gently burst upon us. The country was
know for It's cattle and horses long before
tts wheat possibilities were discovered.
Tho uninitiated probably have a very in
adequate idea OF tho extent Of the stock
raising. Then there IS the timber a
quarter Of a billion of acres Of timber
ed land. and the mnos--of gold. copper.
silver. lead and nickel-and the fruits Of
British Columbia. and the fish of the
lakes and tile seas. And-Creater than
ever. the old. old trade. the one that
kept Western Canada so long unpeopled--
the fur trade. The Hudson's Bay com
pany sells more raw furs now than ever
before-thouGh It shares with other com
panies now the rights formely held alone.
One thing the engineers of the east
ern division found almost Immediately
that Just north Of the Height of Land
there are several hundred miles Of level
land. woOdoi with spruce. birch and cedar
having numerous lakes In its extent; and
a fertility that promised much in the way
of crops This discovery made known
there were those who stood not upon the
order of their going. but went ut once
and now some 5000 settlers are already
there. And the first crops proved that the
land had kept its promise.
II is such a little time since those who
thought Of Western Canada at al' thought
of It with SILVER, hut the temperature Of
Winnipeg. which Is the central point
of this new trans continental line and
of the other trans-continental lines as
well, Is on the average like the temporal
ture of Chicago.
As the Grand Trunk Pacific goes far
Their west, it bends to the north. where
the future of Canada lies. but the climate,
of growing colder. becomes less cold.
Away north Of Edmonton they raise
melons and cucuubcrs, and speak with
compassion Of the half-frozen denizens
Of Minnesota. At Prince Rupert, tho
western terminus, the average of heat
and cold s about like that Of Detroit.
The dry air, tho sunshine, the smelter OF
the mountains. protects the region
through which tho Grand Trunk goes.
and the settler finds conditions almost
ideal for successful farming,