Canada West Part 8

=Agricultural Cooperation.=--The Provincial Government has established co-operation in creameries, elevators, telephone, hail insurance, agricultural societies and live stock. Five million dollars have been set aside for road improvements. The new agricultural college, with its 1,300 acre farm, costing one million dollars, is an evidence of public activity. The college has 100 students.

=Temperatures= and hours' sunshine in Saskatchewan ranged lower, and rainfall during the growing season higher, than the average for several years.

The average temperatures and precipitation for each of the first nine months of 1913:

Month Mean Maximum Minimum Precipitation January -7.85 37.5 -45.3 .70 February 2.64 37.7 -34.3 .64 March 8.9 44.9 -31.9 .65 April 41.7 78.5 13.4 .31 May 47.2 84.7 20.7 1.00 June 59.2 87.7 30.7 3.00 July 61.1 86.6 37.4 3.18 August 60.8 85.9 38.9 2.80 September 52.1 85.5 32.9 .88 January-September, 1913 36.2 69.8 5.9 Total 13.16 April-September, 1913 53.6 84.8 27.5 " 11.17 April-September, 1912 50.9 79.9 27.5 " 13.92

=Interior Storage Elevators.=--A great advantage and an immense relief for the hundreds of elevators of from thirty to forty thousand bushels'

capacity, will be the two interior storage elevators now under construction at Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, each with a capacity of 3 million bushels.

=Farm Help in 1913.=--Labourers work by the month, for $32 to $41. Servant girls were paid from $14 to $22 this year as compared with from $10 to $15 in 1907.

=Population and Live Stock.=--(Dominion Census Bureau):

1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 Population 492,432 [1]540,000 Horses 279,063 332,922 507,400 551,645 580,386 Milch cows 124,186 138,455 181,146 184,896 194,843 Other cattle 391,789 431,164 452,466 461,244 468,255 Sheep 129,630 135,360 114,216 114,810 115,568 Swine 131,757 125,788 286,295 344,298 387,684

[1] Estimated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A healthy family from Nebraska, now living in Western Canada. Observe the height of the oats. The crop yielded 70 bushels per acre.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. J. C. Hill & Sons, of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, who recently became winners for the third time of the Colorado Silver Trophy, valued at $1500 for best peck of oats in the world. They now own the trophy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN

Surveyed land shown in colour.

For Map of Southern Saskatchewan see pages 18 and 19.]

ALBERTA

Alberta, the most westerly of the three Prairie Provinces, is twice the size of Great Britain and Ireland, much larger than either France or Germany, and has a greater area than the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania combined. The area of arable land alone in Alberta is estimated at 100 million acres, of which less than 3 million acres is under cultivation. This provincial empire, with its great wealth in agricultural lands, mines, forests, and fisheries, has less than 500,000 people.

Alberta is a vast plateau from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea-level, hung by its western edge on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It slopes gently toward the east and north. Absolutely level plains form no great proportion of the surface. While open, treeless country characterizes the southern part of the Province, the greater part is undulating, diversified by forest, stream, hill and open country, not unlike Ontario or New York State. Beautiful lakes, fringed with forest and abounding in whitefish are scattered over its central and northern area. Luxuriant gra.s.ses cover the open country, which once formed the chief feeding grounds of herds of bison.

The Province naturally falls into three divisions, exhibiting marked distinctions in climate and topography--Southern, Central and Northern Alberta.

=Available Homesteads= are to be found west and north of Edmonton--territory made accessible by the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Railways--in an immense stretch of splendid country.

Wheat and oats are reliable crops. Rainfall is certain. Mixed farming is highly successful. The wild gra.s.ses and pea vine supply ample feed for stock; water is plentiful and easily secured. On into the foothills and the mountains are stretches of prairie land, through which the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways are now constructed.

The northern and western portions of Central Alberta have some "brush"

land with soil equal to that of the open prairie. The cost of clearing is slight, and there is the advantage of shelter for cattle, and an absolute a.s.surance of splendid water. There is a good market for the fuel and timber obtained in clearing. Practically all of the land between Edmonton and Athabaska Landing--and between Edmonton and Lac la Biche to the northeast has been subdivided for homesteading.

NORTHERN ALBERTA

North of the end of steel extends 75 per cent of this rich Province, yet unexploited. When the railways push into the Athabaska and the Peace, it will be realized that Alberta owns an empire north of the Saskatchewan, a country set apart by nature to provide homes for millions of agrarian people.

SOUTHERN ALBERTA

=Southern Alberta= is open and rolling, and devoid of timber except along the streams and the Rocky Mountains' foothills. The soil is a fertile loam. The climate is ideal, with pleasing summers and mild winters.

Stock pasture in the open air during winter, grazing on the nutritive sun-dried gra.s.ses. The absence of timber in Southern Alberta is compensated for by the supply of coal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Typical school in rural district in Western Canada, which will soon be replaced by consolidated school, picture of which appears elsewhere.]

Ranching which once was predominant is fast being abandoned and settlers are dividing the limitless acres into small, productive holdings. As a grazing country, Southern Alberta has had few equals, for the hills and valleys, well watered, afford excellent pasturage. Winter wheat sown on new breaking, or summer-fallowed land, from the middle of July to the end of September is ready for harvest from the 1st to the 15th of August in the following year. Climate and soil make this an ideal wheat-growing district. Considerable spring wheat is grown, as well as oats, barley and flax. The production of sugar-beets compares favourably with that of Germany and the world.

The average of winter wheat for the Province in 1913, was 21 bushels an acre. The greater portion was grown around Lethbridge, Taber, Gra.s.sy Lake, Cardston, Spring Coulee, Pincher Creek, Macleod, Stavely, Leavitt, Claresholm, Nanton, High River, Okotoks, Carmangay and Calgary.

=Water Supply and Irrigation.=--Water for domestic and farm purposes is easily obtained at reasonable depth. In certain sections of the Canadian West, as in the American West, the soil is unexcelled for growing cereals, but the geographical location and relative position to the rain avenues is not advantageous, not only the requisite amount of rain but its conservation is essential to the growing of crops, and that is the meaning of "dry farming." This is being successfully followed in the southern portion of Southern Alberta. Some of the district can also be easily and successfully farmed by means of irrigation. Irrigation ditches have been constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Southern Alberta Land Company.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Typical school, such as many towns are building in Western Canada, where the education of the children is carefully looked after.]

A most valuable a.s.set to Southern Alberta is the Lethbridge Experimental Station, operated by the Dominion Department of Agriculture. Reports from the farm show that on land broken and backset in 1912, spring wheat sown April 3, 1913, ripened between July 31 and August 17, and yielded from 22 to 41 bushels per acre; oats sown April 13, 1913, ripened from July 31 to August 4, and yielded from 54 to 84 bushels per acre; barley sown April 15, 1913, ripened from July 28 to Aug. 5, and yielded from 28 to 40 bushels per acre. On irrigated land the yield of spring wheat was from 30 to 54 bushels, and the period of ripening about the same; oats yielded from 102 to 132 bushels per acre, same period for ripening; barley yield on irrigated land was from 65 to 100 bushels per acre, harvested from July 28 to August 11.

CENTRAL ALBERTA

=Central Alberta= extends from the Red Deer River northward to the height of land between the Saskatchewan and the Athabaska. Its great wealth is its deep black humus varying in depth from ten inches to three feet, overlying a warm subsoil.

=Mixed Farming.=--None of the three central provinces afford greater advantages for mixed farming than Alberta. In the south the great ranges of vacant area affords excellent pasturage. The central portion furnishes pasturage of equal quality, and the groves and park lands provide shelter, making it possible to raise cereals, as well as feed for cattle and hogs. Dairying and poultry raising meet with undoubted success.

=Dairy Products= have an unlimited market; cattle can be pastured most of the year; every variety of gra.s.s including clover and alfalfa thrive; the climate is healthful and water abundant. More than a million head of cattle could have been fed on the wild hay that went to waste last year.

Hundreds of thousands of acres are literally overrun with rich wild gra.s.ses and pea vine. The dairy yield approximated $1,250,000 in 1913, and 50,000 cows could be added without affecting the price of dairy products. The government operates a travelling dairy to instruct new settlers, and manages permanent creameries which produced over three million pounds of b.u.t.ter last year. Fattening hogs on milk adds to the revenue.

=Poultry Raising.=--The winter price of fresh eggs ranges from 50 to 60 cents a dozen, the summer prices rarely falling below 25 cents.

Extensive developments along this profitable line cannot be long delayed.

=Crops of 1913.=--With an average rainfall of 10.92 inches during the growing season in that part of the Province including Edmonton and southward, an average daily sunshine record of 10 hours, and a mean temperature of 53 degrees Fahrenheit for the months April to September inclusive, good crops were certain. Spring seeding began early in April.

The season was highly favourable and a big crop was harvested in excellent condition. Marquis wheat at one point went as high as 62.5 bushels per acre as a field crop, and oats and barley relatively as high. Yields of all kinds of grain and forage crops have been most excellent.

The census bureau of the Dominion Government give the following returns:

Area Area Average Total Total 1912 1913 1912 1913 1912 1913 Fall wheat 212,000 202,000 21.83 21.00 4,628,000 4,242,000 Spring wheat 1,378,000 1,310,000 21.54 23.00 29,675,000 30,130,000 Oats 1,461,000 1,639,000 46.30 43.65 67,630,000 71,542,000 Barley 187,000 197,000 33.05 32.15 6,179,000 6,334,000 Rye 15,000 16,000 25.56 24.89 377,000 398,000 Flax 132,000 105,000 12.83 11.00 1,693,000 1,155,000

The Provincial Department of Agriculture for Alberta placed the total yield of all grains at 81,500,000 bushels, but as the acreage is less, the average yields are about the same.

The average yield per acre of potatoes from 25,000 acres was about 170 bushels; turnips and other roots about 250 bushels. Alfalfa yielded about 2.77 tons per acre and sugar beets about 9 tons per acre; hay and clover 1.56 tons, with a total value of all these products of $3,700,000.

=Government and Other Telephones.=--The Government operates the telephone system, including about 7,000 miles of long distance wires, pursues an active policy of stimulating the organization of rural companies by giving as a bonus all poles required. These rural companies are connected with local exchanges and toll offices wherever possible.

=Railways.=--During 1913 considerable was added to the railway mileage.

Besides its main line the Canadian Pacific has two branches from Calgary--one north to Strathcona, the other south to Macleod. Two running eastward diverge at Lacombe and Wetaskiwin, the latter a through line via Saskatoon to Winnipeg. Another leaves the Canadian Pacific near Medicine Hat, pa.s.ses through Lethbridge and Macleod and crosses the mountains by the Crow's Nest Pa.s.s, a branch connecting with the Great Northern at Coutts and extending to Cardston and west. Another branch will connect Lethbridge with Weyburn, on the "Soo" line. Provincial mileage 1,523. Other branches connecting the system are being built; as shown on the maps.

The Canadian Northern enters Alberta from the east at Lloydminster on its way to Edmonton. From Edmonton lines are projected and partially constructed north and west. One starting at Vegreville connects the main line with Calgary, and then extends southeasterly toward Lethbridge and Macleod. From this line a branch is being built into the coal fields west of Lacombe and will form part of the transcontinental line of that system. Its extension from Saskatoon to Calgary is about completed.