Mower County transcript., 1908-08-12

alsp i,a had. but only at a considerable
distance from the railway lines.
There is one feature about the Cana.
dian homestead law that Is quite an
advantage. a man may take home
stead and prove up on without liv-
| ing on it. He Is allowed to do this
provided he buys a piece Of land and
lives upon it near the homestead
claim. He must farm the claim
The next stop was at Humboldt, q
hundred miles further to the north
| west. Much the same farming condi-
tions prevail here as at Kamsack.
! The country as we go northwest grad
uaHy becomes more open, and the
brush gets scarcer. The stretches of
| open prairie become larger, but the
soil still shows fine black loan, with
good stands of grain where farms
have been opened.
| A further run of hundred miles
or more and the train pulled into the
bustling little city Of
PRINCE ALBERT, sAsK.
| This is city of 5000 people, To-
| Gated on the mighty Saskatchewan
river, which is navigable for four hun
dred miles north of the boundary, but
instead of finding an arctic region we
see vegetables and grains growing
luxuriantly We are yet a long way
from the latitude where crop growth
Is made doubtful by the cold. In this
connection we might state fact not
generally known, which illustrates the
crop possibilities of the Canadian
Northwest In 1876 at the Philadel-
phia exposition, wheat from the Peace
river region, which is five hundred
miles northwest of Prince Albert, took
first prize and a gold medal. Even
that long time ago wheat was being
raised in small way much farther
north than was reached by the edi
torial party on this trip. One thing
was quite noticeable by the editors
on arriving at this far northern lati-
tude. The days are much longer here
in midsummer than in Minnesota.
From 3 o'clock in the morning until
10 o'clock in the evening it is day.
light. This extra amount of sunshine
gives a great stimulus to plant life,
and growth is very rapid. The sea.
| sons are shorter, but this. makes up
| for It.
Through the courtesy of A. l..
Mates, superintendent of the Prince
| Albert Lumber Co., the party was
given a steamer ride up and down
the Saskatchewan river, also an op.
portunity to examine one of the large
saw mills of this company. The
yearly output of this corporation alone
Is 50,000,000 feet of lumber, mostly
Of spruce. Pine does not grow in this
region to any extent. .v: a.
eATTLEFoRD, sAsK.
After a half days stop at Prince
Albert, We started westward, our OBJ
Jective supper point being Battleford
Here we again strike the Saskatche.
wan. There are two hustling towns
| here on opposite sides of the river,
Battleford and North Battleford. Bat
tleford, as we'll as Prince Albert, are
historic places in Canadian history.
A fine banquet was rendered the edi-
tors at this place, and other entertain
ment in the way Of broncho busting
and races provided, followed by q
dance in honor of the guests. -
| On the run from Prince Albert to
Battleford, we pass through a great
wheat growing region. Rosthern, one
| Of the points passed, has eight large
grain elevators, and is said to be one
| of the greatest primary grain markets
in the world.
! Leaving Battleford Tuesday morn
Ing, we made a noon stop at
vEGREVlLLE, ALBERTA,
and enjoyed fine repast rendered by
(! town OF couple of thousand souls.
Six. or eight years ago land could be
bought here for less than so cents an
ie, i,1c
out of doors anywhere. Prices now
are up to their proper level. The fer
| tilfty of the soil here is great, and the
crops fine.
Time flies, we are due at Edmonton
| for supper, and we were obliged to
leave the kind people of Vegreville
| and board our train for the afternoon
run. Wheat fields, uniformly promis-
| ing good yields, were seen on every
side as we sped along. Just before
the supper hour we entered the en-
| vironments of 4
I EDMONTON,
one of the leading cities of Alberta,
the province which lies to the west of
Saskatchewan Two cities, Edmon-
7! ton and Calgary, in this province, are
keen rivals, and each claims to be the
best. Edmonton lies on the north
| bank of the Saskatchewan river, has
| over 10000 inhabitants, fine business
| blocks, brick making plants, coal
mines, and what you would scarcely
expect to see at this northern point,
large pork and beef slaughtering es-
Establishments. A new packing plant,
now nearing completion, was inspect
ed by the visitors. Supper was fol-
lowed by automobile and carriage
rides about the city, the vehicles be-
ing rendered by the public-spirited cit
liens. Edmonton is surrounded by "a
fine farming country and is a lively
city It's position insures it's perma-
nence as a distributing point for a
large territory to the west and north,
and is certain to make a steady
growth.
Strathcona, Just across the river,
has some five thousand people, and is
really a part of Edmonton, though a
separate municipality. Here are 10.
Gated the Alberta university and other
Institutions of learning. Here the ex.
cursionists changed from the Canadian