Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-08-12

just completed q unique bridge over
the Rainy river at this point. In or
der not to obstruct navigation a draw
bridge Is required, and in this case,
instead Of having it 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 a 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
hundreds of square miles of water
as reservoir, furnishes volume
greater than the Mississippi at Min
neapolis. This wonderful power is
being developed by the Rainy River
Improvement Co.. a 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
manufacturing plants to be erected
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.. C. B. Kinney, resident agent
and superintendent, kindly accorded
the visiting editors every courtesy in
showing the party about the works
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 its travels over his line
attaching a private observation cal
to the train, and rendering it's use to
the members OF the party, doing ev'
erything in his power to make the trip
pleasant. The Canadian Northern is
comparatively 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 a
meteOric career in railroad circles
The run from International Falls
to Winnipeg takes the party through
the northern part of Minnesota for a
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 rather low and flat
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 Roya
Alexand ra, after which the cars were
again boarded for a run to the north
west, over the Canadian Northern line
as far as Edmonton, 500 miles from
Winnipeg, and over 300 miles NORTH
of the boundary between the United
States and Canada. Our first stol
was made in time for breakfast The
following morning, the Goth, at
DAUPHlN, MANITOBA.
Here we found nice town in a
flourishing agricultural section. The
crops were good, the land here being
rich and productive. Farms were
we'll 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 oil
farm crops. This part OF Canada is
largely what is known as bush lands
There is a 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
sixty miles. A dozen miles furthe,
and the lively town of
kAMsAck, SASKATCHEWAN,
is reached. Here a stop was made
for dinner. This is a much newe,
section than that about Dauphin. L
is settled quite largely by farmer:
from the states. The generally ex
pressed opinion in Canada is tina
those who come from the states make
the best farmers. They know theil
business, are enterprising, and the,
have the money to start in proper
| shape to bring their holdings into Gro,
| rapidly. At Kamsack number O
farmers were interviewed and all tol(
! the same story of their satisfaction
with the country, it's soil and climate
Only a portion of the land has beer
opened up here, but the fields of grai1
were uniformly good. Wheat and oat:
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 il
price, being from SO per acre up tt
twice that sum. Homesteads ca,
| also be had. but ONLY at a considerable