The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1901-1982, 1908-09-03


TIope"-"Tlre Invasion of Canada by
American Farmers"-"A Thousand
Miles on Horseback Across the Do
minion Provinces" Etc, Etc.
Not so very many years ago the major
aty 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
poread-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
oTho doubted the destiny of Canada's
vast grain growing regions; the crops
arf this year will dispel the doubts of the
remaining few. From Winnipeg
westward TO the foothills OF Alberta,
saSver a country nearly thousand
smiles in width, the grain production
rims year will be something to almost
ssstagger the belief of those hundreds
of thousands of American farmers
whose average yield is not more than
from ten to fifteen bushels of wheat
SO the acre, and who are finding that
n heir product is also outclassed in
equality by that Of their northern
neighbors.
The enormous grain crop of this
r'year in the Canadian West may truth
rs.ully be said to be the production of
- "a few pioneers Only a small per-
zeentage of the unnumbered millions
Of acres of grain land are under cult
yation 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
hat the settlers of the western prai-
a-ies have raised this year more than
-525, 100000 bushels of wheat 100, 000,-
900 bushels of oats and 25,000,000
bushels of barley. 1t has been for
sumo making year for thousands of
american farmers who two or three
wears ago owned hardly more than the
clothes upon their backs, and whose
bumper crops from their homesteads
will yield them this season anywhere
t,saom 81 500 to 81. 500 EACH more money
than many of them have seen at one
slime in all their lives.
Very recently l passed through the
western provinces from Winnipeg to
Calgary, and in the words of fellow
.g1assenger who was astonished by
what he saw from the car windows in
Manitoba, We We're, metaphorically
speaking, in land of milk and
thoney" 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 TWINE TO SUPPLY THE
DEMAND. A situation like this has
never before been known in the agri-
n itural history of any country.
Before | made my first trip through
eeGae Dominion west | doubted very
,eYsxeh the stories that had heard of
Ghis so-called grain Wonderland
across the border. l believed. as I'M
numbered thousands of others be-
yieved that the stories were circulated
irnostly to induce immigration. | quick
w found that | was wrong. As one
Alberta farmer said to me a few
weeks ago, IF the whole truth were
Fold about this country l don't sup
rose you could find one American in
zen who would believe it
This year the prospects of the
wheat crop of Saskatchewan, Mani
Soba and Alberta are an average of
over TWENTY-FIVE BUSHELS TO
THE ACRE, and that this grain is
far superior TO that raised in the
states is proved by our own govern
snent statistics, which show that
American millers are importing mil
Iions of bushels of B Canadian hard
10 mix with the home product in order
hat THIS HOME PRODUCT NAY
E3E RAISED TO THE REQUIRED
STANDARD. Ii is a peculiar fact that
while the Dominion Government is
anxious for its western provinces TO
rin up with the very best of immi-
syrants. there has been no blatant or
sensational advertising of those lands.
For this reason it is probable that not
one American farmer out of fifty
Knows that Canada wheat now holds
she worlds record of value-that, in
other words, it is the best wheat on
earth, and that more of it is grown
70 The acre than anywhere else in the
world
A brief study of climatic conditions,
and those things which so TO make
4 climate. will show that the farther
one travels northward from the Mon
Eana border the milder the climate be-
-comes-up TO a certain point. In
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 and
other western states. the cattle, sheep
and horses of Alberta CRAZE ON
THE RANGES ALL WINTER WITH