The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-06-09
farm LANDS OF The UPPER
PENINSULA NOT ADVERTISED
Infatuated With Romance OF IT,
known, Opportunities at
Home Overlooked
EMIGRANTS PASS RIGHT BY

A Duluth railway official Is author-
lty for the statement that an average
OF 300 farmers pass through Daluth
each week on their way To take up
farms i'm the Canadian northwest. He
further states that as n class these en-
igrants are men and women of good
character. hard-headed common sense
and, i'm short. the class of farmers or
which any country may well be proud
and can in afford to lose.
"Why?" il the question that at once
suggests itself.
why are hundreds of the best farm
els OF the northwest leaving the UNI
ted States 10 take up claims on British
soil? Why are these sturdy agricul-
turists passing right through the upper
peninsula of Michigan and Northern
Minnesota, with its thousands of acres
of undeveloped farming land, to Sas-
katchewan and Alberta with it's rigor-
Gus winters and mosquito infested
summers? This is question to
which residents of Marquette and the
upper peninsula may well give
thoughtful consideration.
Is il true chat the Canadian North
west offers so much greater opportun-
tiles to progressive tillers of the soil
than northern Michigan? The writer
believes not The fact of the matter is
that our British cousins have been ana
are the better advertisers. For five
wears or more the newspapers ana
MAGAZINES Of America and Canada
have teemed with romantic tales OF
the wonderful undeveloped resources
of northwestern Canada. These artl-
cles have not been entirely confined TO
highly colored descriptions and pho
tographs of wonderful fields OF wheat
and other crops but the advertising
managers of the Canadian northwest
have induced many of the goth century
writer's of fiction to localize their ro-
mances under the sunny skies" of AL
berta in the new western empire
Romance of the Unknown.
Accounts of fabulous yields of wheat
and enormous profits from stock rails
ing have been spread broadcast
throughout the United States and staid
farmers who had been contented with
a modest living and n steadily though
slowly increasing balance I'm the bank
have been fired with enthusiasm Tor
the new country. In most mems souls
there is a desire and longing for new
and unexplored lands; tendency to
run after the rainbow while the oppor-
tunities at ones feet are passed UNI
noticed. The press agents OF the Ca
madam northwest have fed this ten
dency with most alluring bait.
1t is not the purpose of this article
to show that any of these claims for
the Canadian northwest are untrue, or
even oyerdrawn, but il is safe to say
that only the bright side of the pic
ture has been shown. The stories OF
farmers who have made fortunes have
been told and retold but where are TO
he found the accounts of those VINO
have lost the savings of years, wheh
an untimely frost cut down the hrst
and perhaps the second years crop, or
Of the common practice of making
| "smudges" to keep the cattle ana
horses from being devoured by flies
and mosquitoes?
Suppose that the business districts
of the upper peninsula of Michigan mad
been pursuing a similar aggressive ad-
yertising policy for the past five years
Could not Just as good showing be
made for the agricultural opportuni-
ties and successes of upper Michigan
as has been made for the Canadian
northwest? True. the upper peninsula
will never be able to compete with the
Red River valley in wheat growing
but there are other fields of industry
which offer just as great inducements
to the farmer.
| No Longer an Experiment.
| II has been demonstrated that as
good yields of potatoes can be obtained
I'm Marquette county as anywhere II
the United States; that, corn can p'
profitably grown; that hay. alfalfa ant
oats are practically n sure crop; ina
strawberries offer q most alluring ant
profitable field for horticultural en-
deavor; that apples. cherries and otheI
fruits can be raised here i'm abundance
land that upper peninsula swamp lands
when drained are well adapted to cele
lry culture. In fact, agricultural pro
ducts in infinite variety can be grow
in northern Michigan with reasonable
surety of a large yield.
Again. it has been proven that stock
raising offers large returns to the skill
ed and thrifty farmer. Dairying espe
cially, is q money maker. This is no
theory; it is fact. In Menomine
} county are to be found as well-kep
farms, and as good crops can be raise'
, as in Wisconsin. Right here in Choco
lay, Skandia and West Branch town
: ships are as neat and thrifty looking
farms as one often sees anywhere. We
} half the people of Marquette do no
l.. 4.I. t.rI.