Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-10-28
SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN
EDITORS CROSS BIG PROVINCE ON THE
WAY HOME FROM THE WEST.
Given Elaborate Entertainment in the Cities
OF Swift Current. Moose Jaw, Indian
Head and Regina. and See the
Finest Wheat Raising Conu.
try OF Canada.

we had lust completed our tour of the
Province of Alberta and after leaving
Medicine Hat were crossing the line
into the Province of Saskatchewan
The ride that afternoon was through
the most dreary and desolute country
that we had encountered uDon the en-
tire trip. A hundred miles of undu
lating prairies. barren almost as a
desert. dotted here and there with
beds and lakes of aIkali, in fact for
100 miles we were scarcely out of
sight of alkali. The ladies of our car.
the ''Wapato" had wisely planned
ahead and this afternoon entertained
the ladies of the party, sending the
men to the observation coach ahead
The car was handsomely decorated
with bushel of large, beautiful astors
which came from green house at
Medicine Hat, and the afternoon was
spent at cards, dainty refreshments
being served at an appropriate time.
The function was al unqualified sue
cess. Meantime the gentlemen amused
themselves at cards. smoking. and
conversation in the open car. A negro
quartette from the dining car amused
them with musical selections for a
time
| Through this section of the country
the Canadian Pacific is employing
hundreds of men in Strengthening and
rebuilding their line, mostly Chinese,
many of whom cannot speak word
of English.
We continued on through the same
! barren prairie country for several
hours. skirting the base of the Cypress
hills. seeing nothing but alkali beds
and sage brush for miles and miles,
but finally merged into more prosper
ous looking country, where sheep are
raised by the thousands At Gull Lake
about 5000 are wintered by the Can
adian Land q Ranch Co.. and they
have also irrigated 1900 acres at
| Crane Lake, where the company's
headquarters are located. On this
farm at least I 200 cattle and 800 hers
es are kept on the range. The coun-
| try keeps improving and soon we ar
rive at Swift Current, town of 600
| people on stream of the same name.
| Within twenty-five miles of this place
| the company above mentioned annual
ly roundup IL, 900 sheep. This is
nished from here for many miles to
the territory to the north, being car
ried in the main by 20-yoke team of
oxen, which comes to town every
week. Here we stopped only few
moments. but we were pleased to meet
Fred Schoonmaker, formerly prophet
or of the meat market at Burr Oak.
He is running barber shop and pool
hall and has made small fortune
since he went to Swift Current, being
one of the most prominent business
men of the place. Mrs. Maria Peacock
of Burr Oak was with him, and here
Frank Sullivan lmmortaliZed his
name during the summer as a baseball
artist.
AS we left Swift Current the coun-
try kept improving rapidly. We
passed through the basin of the Chap
in lakes, extensive bodies of water
having no outlet and alkaline. The
prairies hereabouts are marked in all
directions by old buffalo trails and
Scared and pitted by their wallows. "
Sometimes antelope are seen, and
coyotes and prairie dogs. Near Morse
| is salt lake, and not far away Rush
Lake. a favorite resort of water fowl,
swans, geese. ducks and pelican con.
gregating in myriads. The Canadian
aggregating 10, 900 acres, have farms
in this section. one of them irrigated
Their ranches average 10, 200 acres in
size.
We arrived at Moose Jaw about sew
Ell o'clock in the evening, and remain
ed there over night. 1t is splendid
city of 1900 people, 400 miles west of
Winnipeg, division point of the Can
adlan Pacific 1t is surrounded by
very fine wheat producing country
1t bids fair to become wholesale
center and prominent railroad point
It has fine churches and public build
ings, wide streets, excellent stores and
in fact is more like an American city
than anything seen since leaving the
mountains. Here we were entertained
with a band concert and reception at
the city hall Three thousand farmers
had been here the day before to pre-
empt land under the new Canadian
law. as we noted at Lethbridge. We
were pleased to meet here Rev S. Pet
erson, a student at Luther College,
previous to 1897. who is now doing
mission work in that vicinity. j. S.
Thomas and family are also located
about twenty miles north of Moose
Jaw, and in this vicinity a number of
naoOpa ora intaraCta1 Ia an,