Mower County transcript., 1908-08-12

free from stones 10 be farmed and
the soil, while considered light, grows
luxuriant crops Of tame grass, veee-
tables and grain. The two problems
with this land is clearing 1t and drain
ing the soil. It Is now covered with
a heavy growth of pine, spruce, cedar
and tamarack. It is argued that this
section will make fine dairy country.
and we can easily believe this to be
true, but 1t will take much work to
transform it.
FORT FRANCES AND INTERNA. 3
TIoNAL FALLS.
Our special train reached the north
ern border of Minnesota and crossed
the line into Canada about 8 a. M.
Saturday. The railroad company has
just completed 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. It is operated by a
gasoline engine. At Fort Frances the
party took breakfast, and the meal
was followed by a 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,
well 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 8
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 reservoir, furnishes a 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. It
is estimated at from 10000 to 10000
horsepower. The dam is now about
two-thirds completed The compile
tion 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
u,
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
tling place with a good array Of busi-
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
tQ The LING Qf 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 a private observation car
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 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. sMacKen-
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 thea 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. It 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 run to the north
west, over the Canadian Northern line,
as far as Edmonton, 500 miles from
Winnipeg, and over 800 miles north
of the boundary between the United
States and Canada. Our first stop
was made I'm time for breakfast the
following morning, the 10Th, at
DAUPHIN, MANITOBA.
Here we found nice town in a
dourishing 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 a few years in the rise of
land values and in the growing Of
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. D.
Travelling on to the northwest from