The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-08-14

| der not to obstruct navigation a draw
bridge is required, and in this case,
instead of having 1t swing around in
| the old style, the bridge is tilted up
| into the air on one end, which is
| heavily counterweighted to balance
| the other end. 1t is operated by a
gasoline engine. At Fort Frances the
| party took breakfast, and the meal
was followed by steamer trip on
Rainy river by courtesy of the Rainy
Lake Improvement Co., after which
we landed on the American side and
enjoyed bountiful lunch prepared
| by the people of the Minnesota town,
| we'll known as
INTERNATIONAL FALLS.
This point on the northern border
Of Minnesota is destined to become
an important manufacturing city, for
two reasons. One is that it has a
wonderful waterpower of undoubted
permanency, which is now in process
of development. The Rainy river
watershed, and Rainy lake, with it's
hun dreds of square miles of water
as a reservoir, furnishes a volume
greater than the Mississippi at Min
neapolis. This wonderful power is
being developed by the Rainy River
Improvement Co., corporation COM
posed largely of Minneapolis men. 1t
is estimated at from 10000 to 10000
horsepower. The dam is now about
two-thirds completed. The compile
ton of the dam will be followed by
the erection of power houses on both
sides of the stream, transmitting its
energy through electricity to various
M MI 20 ho cd
including large paper and pulp mills,
flour and saw mills and other manu-
featuring plants. The raw materials
are at hand and the power is here.
A large industrial center is sure to re-
suit from these natural advantages.
Mr. G. B. Kinney, resident agent
and superintendent, kindly accorded
the visiting editors every courtesy in
and explaining the scope of the i'm
provements. The town itself is bus
Ting place with a good array of bust
ness blocks and public buildings. The
editors left on their journey to the
westward with best wishes for the
future prosperity and growth OF Inter
national Falls.
The excursionists were transferred
to the line of the Canadian Northern
railway. Arthur Hawkes., of Toronto,
superintendent of publicity Of this
railroad system, accompanied the
party during it's travels over his line,
attaching private observation car
to the train, and rendering its use to
the members of the party, doing ev-
erything in his power to make the trip
pleasant. The Canadian Northern is
comparatively a new railway system,
the first mile of track being built
about 1892, while at this date the sys-
tenn includes thousands of miles of
line covering the Canadian Northwest
from Winnipeg to the Rockies, with
lines extending eastward into Ontario
and Quebec. This line is controlled
absolutely by two men, VIM. MacKen-
zie and d. D. Mann, who have had
meteoric career in railroad circles.
The run from International Falls
to Winnipeg takes the party through
the northern part of Minnesota for
distance Of about fifty miles, where
the line passes south of the Lake of
the Woods. The remainder of the
run is over Canadian territory, the
entire distance being some $50 miles.
The country traversed on both sides
of the line is a rather low and fiat
region, covered mostly with spruce
and tamarack. 1t is largely taken up
by homesteaders, who have taken the
land for it's timber value. In the vicin-
ity of Warroad, on the Minnesota side,
there is considerable actual farming
done.
The party arrived at Winnipeg after
dark, and dined at the famous Cana.
dian Pacific railway hotel, the Royal
Alexandra, after which the cars were
again boarded for a run to the north
west, over the Canadian Northern line,
as far as Edmonton, 800 miles from
Winnipeg, and over 800 miles north
of the boundary between the United
States and Canada. Our first stop
was made in time for breakfast the
following morning, the 29th, at
DAUPHIN, MANITOBA.
Here we found nice town In
flourishing agricultural section. The
crops were good, the land here being
rich and productive. Farms were
well improved and the best farms are
worth $50 per acre. Members of the
party talked to farmers who had made
fortunes in few years in the rise of
land values and in the growing of
Id III ClOpo. lis PAL VI Sduduct -
largely what is known as bush lands.
There is scattering growth Of pop
lars, willows and other scrubby
growths. This is true of all of Mani
toba and considerable parts of eastern
Saskatchewan.
Travelling on to the northwest from
Dauphin, the railway crosses into the
next province after a run of about
Cd f,,rf h
and the lively town of
KAMsAck, SASKATCHEWAN,
is reached Here a stop was made
for dinner. This is a much newer
section than that about Dauphfn. 1t
is settled quite largely by farmers
from the states. The generally ex-
pressed opinion in Canada is that
those who come from the states make
the best farmers. They know their
business, are enterprising, and they
have the money to start in proper
shape to bring their holdings into crop
rapidly. At Kamsack a number of
farmers were interviewed and all told
the same story of their satisfaction
with the country, its soil and climate
Only a portion of the land has been
opened up here, but the fields of grain
were uniformly good. Wheat and oats
were just heading out nicely at the
time of our visit. Harvest here be-
gins from about August 10th to Sep
TENDER LIST. Land is not high in
price, being from So per acre up to
twice that sum. Homesteads can
also be had, but only at 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