The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-12-11
IN WESTERN CANADA

As 1t Was Seen by a Writer Travelling
Through the Waving Wheat
Fields.
Emerson Hough, the celebrated
novelist, who made a somewhat ex-
tended trip through Western Canada,
during the past summer, grows en-
Last Best West" which comprises
the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatch-
evan and Alperta, as all other writer's
who have ever visited that great
country. To extract from what he
has said we find the following:
THAT black strip across the land
scape-it was not the shadow of a
passing cloud, but the record of a
plough. These yellow gray bands
were the fields of stubble already
reaped These other bands of green,
Of pale yellow, Of deep bright yell
low-they were the fields Of wheat,
among which the binders were yet to
do their work. The centuries-o.u
soil was finding it's first upturned ex-
posure to the sun. Surely the plough
had come! There is no more thrill
ing experience than this, of seeing
the ancient wilderness just passing
into the first loose fingers Of civilized
mans occupation.
Here was the wheat, crowding UP
to the trail. high as the wagon seat
as we drove through. AT the edge OF
a grumbllng COW man 9 unowned but
long occupied range, we reached
down and plucked off ripe wheat in
handsful, crumpling out into the
palm the full ears of triple-rowed
kernels, magnificent grain, the food
which the world must have-that
grain upon which the whole civiliza-
ton of the. earth seems SO strangely
to depend; for, when the wheat has
come, civilization has taken hold of
the land again to loose its
grasp. One who loves the open air
and the wild world cannot suppress a
sigh of regret at first thought of the
passing plains, at the thought of the
dead romance of the rancher; but
none the less, there must come the
soberer thought that the wilderness
of this world, as well as the scant
fields of the older world, belong to
the world and the worlds peoples.
Extended personal inquiry in the
course of a long journey failed to dis
cover one farmer who vas homesick
or disconnected, or who declared that
he was going back to Old England OF
to the States. Without exception
they declared that they were not only
%contented, but prosperous. In most
cases their one or two crops had given
them their lands and their first
farmstead buildings of rude comfort
at least, fully paid for; and this land
was their own. No basement life
for these settlers, nor for their
children, nor their children's child
rem; no rack rents; no struggle with
a worn, exhausted soil; no cap.
touching to a so-caned superior class
Here vas a different field for hui
manity. Is mere any d1.oulty in pre-.
dieting the difference between the
product of such fields and those OF
the 'pent and huddled East?'
at was a fascinating sight, this
middle land between the old and the
new. Most fascinating of all was the
air of hope and confidence. Some.
thing set the blood tingling in the
veins. No n here spoke of despair
or encouragement. These men made
no repining at their lot as frontier
farmers. Their sole and engrossing
concern was the question of means
of getting out their wheat to the
markets-for even in Western Cana.
da farming has run in advance OF
transportation.
"In such regions as this, one still.
travels as M likes across country
paying no attention to roads; al
though nov and again one comes up.
on roads rudely ploughed along the
section lines, in some cas- near the
railroads, fairly we'll worked. The
time of the 'm~aintraveled road is
passing rapidly, even in Canada
Soon the fences will come along the
highways, and all travel will follow
the lines bounding artificial rect,
angles. Exulting in our liberty. fol-
the most part our party continued tc
travel direct toward a destination
We still held to the prairies; and
still on every side of us was wheat
wheat, wheat"
NO matter what It Is. II an ad In
the want column rant AnN n it's