New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-16
ALBERTA'S LAND BOOM
Factors Which Have Raised
Soils Value by Leaps.


refhbriage. Alberta. May 15.-ln THESE
days Of dry farming, expert asrlcuituie az
scientific ranchng almost every ldf aii'iS
region on this continent has somethins -
show in the way of actual results hetn-
bridge. which is in the heart of the rahch-
ing section OF Southern Alberta. Is one u
the greatest surprises In Canada Up ~
a few wears ago the eattlemen heid uhoi7
nrted swav here, where cattle range OUT
the wear around and where beef steers are
rounded trp. shipped and sold in the month
OF February
Some credit Is unduestionably due the MOT
mons who came I'm here from Dtah- They
rushed in where native Canadians, as farm
ers had feared to tread. They proved that
what had been regarded as serni-arld Iaho
would grow good crops OF wheat ABOUT
nineteen times in twenty. Later they eN-
perfmented with winter wheat, and the re-
suits are amazing. They imported turkey
red, which In Canada is called kansas reu'
because it comes from Kansas. and from
this seed they have harvested ali the way
from thirty bushels TO sixty-four ana
quarter bushels CT hard wheat an acre.
Another and greater factor in the testing
and development of the resources OF wna'
used to be called the dry belt is the ALBERT
Railway and Irrigation Company. THIS
company brought soil experts, agricultural
experts and irrigation experts, and began
systematic educational campaign
First they set about to educate them
selves. OF faith they had an abundance.
but they wanted to demonstrate. As the
experiments went on the holdings OF this
pioneering company scared in value. High,
dry land, which they had taken over under
certain colonization arrangements and
which cost the corporation something Ike
81 an acre, and other land which had come
TO them by way OF public aid to their
colonization railway, went up to 20 an
acre That was three years ago.
Last year they sold the bs1k of their
holdings at SO an acre This increase of 81
an acre yearly for the last three years was
due largely TO the educational work car
ried or by this pioneer railway and irriga-
lion COMPANY AS matter OF fact. the
land was worth no more than il had been,
mt before il was tried out no one knew its
value.
During this development another depart
rnent of the same company, under the
guidance of irrigation experts. was laying
out an extensive system of canals and dig
cling bitches through which the waters OF
the great rivers that run down from the
mountains to the wales could be distributed
over the vast treeless plain The ranch
men saw the wonderful fields OF golden
grain that grew upon what they had called
the desert lands, and still greater crops
grown on irrigated land. sold their herds,
cut their ranches UP into farms, beat their
six-shooters into spades and began grow
ing wheat.
About the time the '.cow king began to
doff his hat to the "r11an with the hoe the
Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company
uncovered a huge coal bed where the Belly
River lad gouged q great groove down the
plain. nearly three hundred feet deep
OF course, the price of wild land in all the
region round about SCARED in sympathy with
the prices eagerly paid to the pioneer com
pany by incoming settlers. Ten million
acres of land lying about Lethbridge has
increased in value $40 an acre within the
last ten years. so that If one were to wipe
of the cities. towns, mines, mills and other
improvements, and think only OF the naked
plain, this district IS valued at Sl00,000000
more than ten years ago.
Last year the mining department took
half million tons of good coal OUT from
under the city of Lethbridge, which was a
COW camp yesterday. With modern equip
rnent recently Installed In newly opened
mines they expect to take out a million tons
in 1910. and there are several other COM
panies operating or opening mines in the
same section.
The vast tract Of land which the Cana
dian Pacific Railway Company has watered
near CALGARY is now retailing at $50 an acre
Ten years ago the Dominion government
was glad TO hand these lands over to any
reliable colonization company at dollar
an acre And that, too, was good business
for by this arrangement they were able to
people these ''silent places.
Year by year, as men experiment with
watered land they realize that water. az
so cents an acre, even if I'm many seasons
thew do not use it, is the best and cheapest