River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-12-23
COUNTRY WHOSE SOIL SPELLS
WHEAT AND OUT OF WHOSE
FARMS THOUSANDS ARE
GROWING RICH.
WHAT PRESIDENT TAFT AND
OTHERS THINK OF CANADA.
Another Fat Year for the Canadian
West.

are again rejoicing over an ABUNDANT
harvest, and reports from reliable
sources go to show that the total yield
of 1909 will be far above that of any
other year.
1t is estimated that $100,000,000
will this year go into the pockets of
the Western farmers from wheat
alone, another $60000,000 from oats
and barley, while returns from other
crops and from stock will add $40,-
100000 more. Is it any wonder then
that the farmers of the Canadian
West are happy?
Thousands of American farmers
have settled in the above mentioned
provinces during the past year; men
who know the West and its possibili-
ties, and who also know perhaps bet
ter than any other people, the best
methods for profitable farming.
President Taft said recently in
speaking of Canada:
1--WE have been going ahead so rap
idly in our own country that our heads
have been somewhat swelled with the
idea that we are carrying on our shout
ders all the progress there is in the
world. We have not been conscious
that there is on the north a young
country and a young nation that is
looking forward, as it well may, to a
great national future. They have
100000 people, but the country is
still hardly scratched"
Jas. J. Hill speaking before the
Canadian Club of Winnipeg a few days
ago said:
81 go back for So years, when I
came West from Canada. At that time
Canada had no Northwest. A young
boy or man who desired to carve his
own way had to cross the line, and
to-day it may surprise you-one out
of every five children born in Canada
lives in the United States. Now you
are playing the return match, and the
Northwest is getting people from the
United States very rapidly. We
brought 100 land-seekers, mainly from
Iowa and Southern Minnesota, last
night out of st. Paul, going to the
Northwest. Now these people have
all the way from five, ten to twenty
thousand dollars each, and they will
make as much progress on the land in
one year as any one man coming from
the Continent of Europe can make, do
ing the best he can, in ten, fifteen, or
twenty years"
1t is evident from the welcome
given American settlers in Canada
that the Canadian people appreciate
them. Writing from Southern Alberta
recently an American farmer says
1--WE are giving them some new
ideas about being good farmers, and
they are giving us some new ideas
about being good citizens. They have
a law against taking liquor into the
Indian Reservation. One of our fell
lows was caught on a reservation with
bottle on him, and it cost him $50.
One of the Canadian Mounted Police
found him, and let me tell you, they
find everyone who tries to go up
against the laws of the country.
con Saturday night, every bar-room
is closed, at exactly z o'clock. Why?
Because it is the law, and it's the
same with every other law. There
isn't a bad man in the whole district,
and a woman can come home from
town to the farm at midnight If she
wants to, alone. That's Canada's idea
how to run frontier; they have GER
tainly taught us lot.
con the other hand, we are running
their farms for them better than any
other class of farmers. l guess
can say this without boasting, and the
Canadians appreciate us. We turn
out to celebrate Dominion Day; they
are glad to have us help to farm the
country; they know how to govern;
we know how to work"
Another farmer, from Minnesota,
who settled in Central Saskatchewan
some years ago, has the following to
say about the country
"My wife and have done well enough
since we came from the States; we can
live anyway. We came in the spring Of
1901 with the first carload of settlers
effects unloaded in these parts and
built the first shanty between Sas-
katoon and Lumsden. We brought
with our car of settlers effects the
sum of $500 in cash, to-day we are
worth $4,000. We proved up one
of the finest farms in Western Canada
and bought 800 acres at SO per acre.
We took good crops off the land for
four years, at the end of which we
had $4,000 worth of improvements in
the way of buildings, ETC., and had
planted three acres of trees. Two
years ago we got such a good offer
that we sold our land at $45 per acre.
From the above you will see that we
have not done badly since our ar
rival"
Prof. Thomas Shaw of st. Paul, Min
nesota, with a number of other well
known editors of American farm jour-
mails, toured Western Canada recently,
and in an interview at Winnipeg said
in part
with regard to the settlement of
the West 1 should say that it is only
well begun. / have estimated that in
Manitoba one-tenth of the land has
been broken, in Saskatchewan one
thirtieth and in Alberta, one-hundred
and seventy-fifth. I am satisfied that
in all three provinces grain can be
grown successfully up to the sixtieth
parallel and in the years to come your
vacant land will be taken at a rate
of which you have at present no con-
aapfi0n UT0 hou0 0nO11oh ToQOn1p I'm