The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-02-10
Land CROWS RICH
Wonderful Development of Can
ada in Forty Years.
Four Decades Ago Little Considered
Today One Of the Greatest Gran
aries and Dairying Centers.

The recent announcement that
the sale Of the first section of Cana
dian Pacific land was sold forty years
ago, and when you read that the
first carload of wheat was shipped
from Winnipeg forty years ago, the
changes that have taken place since
then are matters of Renaissance but
yet Of interest. What forty years ago
was an unknown quantity, barren be-
cause but little production vas at
tempted, is today one of the greatest
granaries in the world. Then there
was scarcely any farm live stock in
the West. Dairying was not engaged
I'm at all. Today there are 6,99S,317
farm animals on the prairies, of which
SS1 800 are milch cows; and dairying
Is only second in Importance to grain
growing, in the West.
Forty years ago the shipment of one
carload Of grain was Il notable ex-
plot.
Today, Canada ranks as the second
largest wheat-producing country in the
world, with 800, 1S5, 300 bushels, 80 per
cent of which was grown in the three
prairie provinces, of which the pro-
vince OF Saskatchewan produced more
than half. The Dominion is today the
second largest producer of oats, with
$50, 10000 bushels, of which go per
cent was grown between Winnipeg and
the Rocky mountains; and the fifth
largest producer of barley with 63,3ll,-
600 bushels, of which the prairieS
yielded 60 per cent.
Forty years 9 scarcely any of the
rich soil had been brought under cul-
tivation. The farm machinery Of the
time was crude; there were no COM
petent advisers; government expert
mental farms were u blessing that
came years later.
Yet these hardy pioneers stuck 1t
out, and in forty years numbers OF
them are enjoying their declining days
in the communities they wreSted from
the wilderness, prosperous, cOntented.
with their children's. families gathered
about them or seeking their own for
tunes still further westward or north
ward. They have seen civilization
step in to the West and the wilderness
swept out. Today are thriving cities
and towns where bleaching buffalo
bones marked the OK trails Of forty
years ago. Today are mighty freight
trains, each with It's thousand-tOn car
go Of wheat or merchandise, roaring
down the roads where the old carts
creaked. To-day are schools within
walking distance Of every farmhouse,
churches within driving distance OF
every home. Today are telephones
and every modern convenience linking
communities over vast distances by the
common bond of the spoken word.
Forty years ago the Rockies were
practically an impenetrable barrier.
the Pacific coast being reached from
the east by ships sailing round Cape
Horn. The province of Manitoba had
q population Of G2,26O, compared with
613,OO8 in 1921. Winnipeg was then
q frontier town with 1887 people, and
Brandon, which was regarded as a
far-fiung outpost Of the West, boosted
Of n few hundred in population. In
1891 it only had BITS. Such places
as Calgary and Edmonton were mere
trading posts in the Northwest terri
tories. Buffalo roamed the prairie In
their native state.
Today or these plains are to be
seen herds of cattle, bands Of horses
and droves OF sheep, from any OF.
which can easily be selected stock
that can carry off premiums, sweep
stakes and championships in compe-
tition with the best in any other part
of the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..