Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08
TALK WITH A SASKATOON FARMER
Ry WILLIAM CURTIS
Chicago

SASKATOON, September "a, 1911
Fred Engen. one of the leading citizens
of Saskatchewan province. has had an
active part in the building OF
Model this city and the development
f., of the country round about
EoAM. Mr. Engen has model farm
of 4,5OO acres, with model buildings and
the most modern machinery. He has his
own sidetracks from the railways. his
own elevator, and this year he will
thrash 10000 bushels of wheat, 10000
bushels of oats and 10000 bushels of flax
seed. Next year he will have $500 acres
in crop and will cultivate that area with
only twenty or thirty men, but will use
almost as many traction engines.
Mr. Engen was born in Tromsoe, Nor
way, north of the arctic circle, and came
over to this country about twenty-five
years ago. He lived in La Crosse, Wis,
for three years. and then moved to North
Dakota, where he remained until he came
TO Saskatoon in 1903. He married Miss
Lund of Minneapolis, whose family came
from Norway in the early days and were
among the first settlers of Minnesota.
Mrs. Engen is the first white woman to
cross these plains, and has spent months
at time with her husband on horse
pach' exploring and selecting land. MI
E.ngen declares that she is responsible
for mis- success in Saskatchewan.
when 4 asked him the history of the
place he told an interesting story: Henry
Smith, with his wife and six children"
he said. came out here in 1854 from On
tarlO, and started farming in a small
way 16O miles from the nearest white
neghbor. There were plenty of Blackfeet
Indians around. but they We're friendly.
and We're the only company the family
had. Smith formally entered 100 acres OF
land. He could have had any amount.
but did not need it. because he could
use all the northwest territory for the
pasture of his cattle. When he landed
here he had just 81 in money, but he
did not need even that. because there
was no place to spend 1t and nothing to
spend it for. In a couple of years, how
ever, he had bunch of cattle to market
and drove them down to Moose Jaw.
where there was quite settlement. From
that time he used to 20 to Moose Jaw
annually to sell his cattle and trade.
X
In 1900 a temperance colony, organ
lied in eastern Canada, bought half a
million acres of land at 81
Temperance an acre in this neighbor-
hood. But it did not sue
OoioHy. coed very we'll 1t was diff
into a wilderness like this, and most OF
those who came did not stay. The conf
pany failed and tried to induce the gov
eminent to take back the land at 81 an
acre. This entire section was pronounced
by the government official surveyors as
unfit for human habitation, and the Hud-
son Bay people of course told the same
story until the present liberal govern
ment came into power and Clifford Sif-
ton, minister of the interior, adopted a
vigorous immigration campaign. with
other things. he employed Col. Davidson
of st. Paul TO advertise the lands and
bring in settlers, and set aside large
tract of land for them. Davidson and
his associates, as soon as the Canadian
Northern railway was finished. brought in
carloads of land-lookers and In 1904 the
settlers began to buy land. Since then
all of this western country. covering mil
lions of acres, has been homesteaded the
same as in the western part of the United
States.
Eighty per cent of the homesteaders are
Americans-mostly sons of farmers from
Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and other
northwestern states. who sold their farms
down there for 500 an acre and bought
equally good or better land here for 81 an
acre and upward, or got a homestead by
living on it six months a year for three
years, cultivating thirty acres of land
and paying a fee of $40
Saskatoon, which. in the Blackfoot lam
guage is the name of lovely little ber-
ry, was on the east side of the Saskatche-
wan river and Utana, meaning the first
born was on the west side, and both
have since been joined together by five
bridges.
Il came in the spring of 1908. wher
there were 1l3 people, men, women an6
children, in the two towns. Now there
are about 1900 and at least 1000 oil
them are children in the schools
started in buying and selling land anG
have handled more than half d million
acres in this district. At first I bought
land from 3.J0 TO $3.50 an acre and sold
it from 81. - to $50. Those same lands
now sell from $2J to 500 an acre.
This has always been "a law and
order town The settlers have been re-
spectacle, educated. high class people
This has been no place for Adventures
gamblers or saloonkeepers. Nearly al
of the population are Anglo-Saxons and
many of them are from the best farms
in the best farming districts of the United
States. We have had no buns, no bad
men and no tramps, and while we have
had failures they would have been fail
ures anywhere they might have settled
and ] never knew town which had Sc
few of them.
K x
six miles from the city, even two OF
three years ago, a settler could pick the
most beautiful land fol
H. l. l. L. Il .~~<r