The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1908-09-04


Hope"-"The 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
lty 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, 1t 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 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
quality by that of their northern
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 a 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
125,000,000 bushels of wheat, 00,000-
900 bushels of oats and 25,000,000
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 $1,000 to 50, 500 each, more money
than many Of them have seen at one
time in all their lives.
Very recently l passed through the
western provinces from Winnipeg to
CoI1arv and IN tho yyordc IF n faiJo1y
passenger, who was astonished by
what he saw from the car windows in
Manitoba, we were, metaphorically
speaking, in a 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 TWINE TO SUPPLY THE
DEMAND. A situation like this has
never before been known in the agri-
cultural history of any country.
Before l made my first trip through
the Dominion west | doubted very
much the stories that l had heard of
this so-called grain wonderland"
across the border. l believed. as I'M
thousands of others be-
lieved, that the stories were circulated
mostly to induce immigration. / quick
ly found that | was wrong. AS one
Alberta farmer said to me q few
weeks ago, IF the whole truth were
told about this country l don't sup
pose you could find one American in
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 TO
THE ACRE, and that this grain is
Far superior to that raised in the
states is proved by our own govern
nent statistics, which show that
American millers are importing mil
ions of bushels of B Canadian hard"
o mix with the home product in order
hat THIS HOME PRODUCT MAY
BE RAISED TO THE REQUIRED
1t is peculiar fact that
while the Dominion Government is
lnxious for its western provinces to
Ill up with the very best of immi-
grants, there has been no blatant or
advertising of those lands.
'or this reason it is probable that not
me American farmer out of fifty
lnows that Canada wheat now holds
he worlds record of value-that, in
'ther words, it is the best wheat on
'arth, and that more of it is grown
o the acre than anywhere else in the
world.
A brief study of climatic conditions,
nd those things which go to make |
climate, will show that the farther |
ne travels northward from the Mon
ana border the milder the climate be-
omes-up to a certain point. In
Their words, the climate at Edmonton,
liberia, is far better than that of
)enver, 1900 miles south; and while
thousands Of cattle and sheep are dy-
lg because of the severity of the
Iinters in Wyoming, Montana and
Their western states, the cattle, sheep
nd horses of Alberta CRAZE ON
HE RANGES ALL WINTER WITH
BSOLUTELY NO SHELTER. This
all largely because sea-currents and
lr-currents have to do with the ma