The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1908-09-05


"canada-The Land of Greater
Hope"-"The Invasion of Canada by
American Farmers"-"A Thousand
Miles on Horseback Across the De-
minIon Provinces" ETC., Etc.
Not so very many years ago the major
fly of people in the United States
laughed at the prediction that the day
was coming when Western Canada
would far outstrip this country in
the raising of grain-when, in other
words, it would become the great
bread-basket of the world. During the
past three or four years the enormous
production of grain in the Dominion
West has thinned the ranks of those
who doubted the destiny of Canada's
vast grain growing regions; the crops
of this year will dispel the doubts of the
remaining few. From Winnipeg
westward to the foothills of Alberta,
over country nearly a thousand
miles in width, the grain production
this year will be something to almost
stagger the belief of those hundreds
of thousands of American farmers
whose average yield is not more than
from ten to fifteen bushels of wheat
to the acre, and who are finding that
their product is also outclassed in
neighbOrS.
The enormous grain crop of this
year in the Canadian West may truth
fully be said to be the production of
"a few pioneers Only small per-
centage of the unnumbered millions
of acres of grain land are under cult
walton, Notwithstanding the fact that
tens of thousands of homesteads were
taken up last year. And yet, when
all the figures are in, it will be found
that the settlers of the western prai-
ries have raised this year more than
125, 100000 bushels of wheat, loo, 000,-
900 bushels of oats and $4,000, 900
bushels of barley. 1t has been for
tune making year. for thousands of
American farmers who two or three
years ago owned hardly more than the
clothes upon their backs, and whose
bumper crops from their homesteads
will yield them this season anywhere
from 81 800 to 81, 500 each, more money
than many of them have seen at one
time in all their lives.
Very recently I passed through the
western provinces from Winnipeg to
| Calgary, and in the words of fellow
passenger, who was astonished by
what he saw from the car windows in
| Manitoba, we were, metaphorically
speaking, in land of milk and
| honey" The country was one great
sweep of ripening grain. In fact, so
enormous was the crop, that at the
| time there were grave doubts as to
the possibility of GETTING ENOUGH
| BINDER THYME TO SUPPLY THE
| DEMAND. A situation like this has
| never before been known in the agri-
cultural history of any country.
Before made my first trip through
the Dominion west. 1 doubted very
much the stories that I had heard OF
| this so-called grain wonderland
across the border. II believed. as I'M
| numbered thousands of others be
lieved, that the stories were circulated
| mostly to induce Immigration. quick
ly found that I was wrong. AS one
| Alberta farmer said to me a few
weeks ago, eff the whole truth were
told about this country I don't sup
| pose you could find one American il
ten who would believe it,
This year the prospects of the
| wheat crop of Saskatchewan, Mani
toba and Alberta are an average OF
| over TWENTY-FIVE BUSHELS TIC
THE ACRE, and that this grain i:
| far superior to that raised in the
states is proved by our own govern
| ment statistics, which show tha
| American millers are importing mil
| lions of bushels of B Canadian hard
to mix with the home product in order
| that THIS HOME PRODUCT MAY
BE RAISED TO THE REQUIRED
STANDARD. 1t is a peculiar fact thai
while the Dominion Government i:
anxious for it's western provinces t.
fill up with the very best Of immi
grants, there has been no blatant o.
sensational advertising of those lands
For this reason it is probable that MOI
one American farmer out of fifty
knows that Canada wheat now hold:
the worlds record of value-that, il
other words, it is the best wheat or
1 earth, and that more of it is grown
to the acre than anywhere else in the
| world.
A brief study of climatic conditions
and those things which go to make
a climate, will show that the farther
one travels northward from the Mon
tana border the milder the climate be
comes-up to a certain point. II
other words, the climate at Edmonton
Alberta, is far better than that Of
Denver, 1900 miles south; and while
thousands of cattle and sheep are dy
ing because of the severity of the
winters in Wyoming, Montana anC
other western states, the cattle, sheer
and horses of Alberta CRAZE on
THE RANGES ALL WINTER WITH
| ABSOLUTELY NO SHELTER This
IS all largely because sea-currents anC
air-currents have to do with the ma
king Of the climate OF temperate re
| gions. For instance, why is it tina
California possesses such a beautiful
| climate, with no winter at all, whili
| the New England states on a parable
with it have practically six month";
of winter out of twelve?
1t is because of that great SWEEP
of warm water known as the "Japal