Chapter III: Part 3

A most valuable asset 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 grass 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 grasses 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 butter 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, passes through Lethbridge and Macleod and crosses the mountains by the Crow's Nest Pass, 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. Mileage 593.

The Grand Trunk Pacific serves the territory lying between the Canadian Northern and the Canadian Pacific, operating trains through productive territory and for some distance into British Columbia. This Company has completed its line south from Tofield to Calgary, a part of the transcontinental line of that system. Through trains now run from Edmonton to Toronto, Provincial mileage, 545.

Another road is now under construction northward from the international boundary through Pincher Creek, with Calgary as a northern terminus.

The Provincial government has outlined a policy of railway development throughout the Province, particularly in the north, opening vast agricultural lands which will attract settlers desirous of taking up free homestead.

=Lakes and Rivers.=--The Saskatchewan and the Mackenzie rivers rise in the Province. The former is divided into two great arteries, one of which with its tributaries, the Bow, Belly, St. Mary's, Old Man and Red Deer, waters the south, while the north branch, with the Brazeau, Clearwater, Sturgeon, Battle, Blindman and Vermilion as tributaries, waters the great central plains. The Peace and the Athabaska drain the north. Lake Athabaska, 120 miles long, Lesser Slave, 60 miles long, and many smaller bodies of water are chiefly in the northern part.

=Mineral Resources.=--Alberta has enormous coal and lignite areas. The production of coal in 1913 was over 3-1/2 million tons, valued at over 7-1/2 million dollars. The coal supply is practically inexhaustible, and underlies much of the whole Province in seams from four to twelve feet thick. It is found in all grades, lignite, bituminous and anthracite, on the banks of every stream, and in the shafts from 20 to 150 feet deep. The total formation contains 12,800 square miles; contents 71 billion tons.

Natural gas has been found at Medicine Hat, Tofield, Dunmore Junction, and Bow Island on the South Saskatchewan, and at Pelican Rapids on the Athabaska. Recently considerable interest has been taken in the oil fields south of Calgary and north of Edmonton. Important commercial oil fields will soon be located. There is also petroleum, gypsum, salt and tar sands. Excellent brick and fireclay.

=Fish and Furs.=--The Great Lakes of the North furnish yearly half a million pounds of incomparable whitefish, while the fur wealth of the north is important.

Lands within irregular line along railway in British Columbia are administered by the Dominion Government.

Surveyed lands shown in colour.

For Map of Central Alberta see pages 30 and 31.]

=Education.=--The organization of free district schools is optional with settlers, the Government liberally supporting them. An expenditure of about $700,000 a year brings educational advantages within the reach of the most scattered community. One new school a day has been opened in Alberta during the last three or four years, an indication of the settlement that is going on. School population at end of 1912, over 70,000; number of schools 2,029. Two hundred and forty-five school buildings were erected in 1912.

The dissemination of exact scientific knowledge is carried on by farmers' institutes, stock-judging schools, seed fairs and travelling dairies. The raising of pure-bred stock is assisted by Government grants. Experimental and demonstration farms have been established throughout the Province. Agricultural high schools will soon be started, and agriculture form part of the public school curriculum.

=A Healthy Product.=--The air of Alberta insures the best of health. The whole of Alberta lies above mountain altitude, and the air is extraordinarily clear and bracing. Consequently there is comparatively little cloudy weather on normal days, either in summer or winter. Bright sunshine prevails. Striking testimony as to freedom from consumption is provided by Dr. T. H. Whitelaw of Edmonton, according to whose official report not one case of this disease has originated in Edmonton since the beginning of 1911.

=Stock.=--Alberta's dry and invigorating atmosphere, short, mild winters, nutritious grasses, and abundant water supply, make it pre-eminently adapted to horse breeding. The Alberta animal is noted for its endurance, lung power, and freedom from hereditary and other diseases. It winters out at a nominal expense and without even hay or grain feeding.

Four-year old steers, which have never been under a roof nor fed a pound of grain and have been given less than a ton of hay, weigh about 1,500 pounds by August 1 and will then gain until October from 2 to 3 pounds a day. Experiments made at the Demonstration Farm at Olds show that 100 steers weighed in November 1, at 127,540 pounds, weighed out May 20, less than 7 months later at 143,412 pounds, showing a net gain of $10.12 per head.

At the Lacombe Experimental Station the gain per day in feeding cattle ranged from 1.8 to 1.72 lbs., showing a net profit when sold of $14.35 to $28.90.

=Good Roads in the Province.=--One of the most important considerations in a new country is that of roads. The Alberta government has taken up this problem in an intelligent manner, that will eventually greatly enlarge the resources of the Province.

The money expended on ferry service, maintenance of bridges, road construction, construction of bridges, and the construction of trunk roads, was essential to the opening up of vast tracts of fertile land.

As a result, $100,000,000, or more than $200 per capita of the total population of the Province, is the estimated farm value of the 1913 crop in Alberta.

=Sugar Beets and Alfalfa.=--Operations are now extending north as well as south of Lethbridge, where a large factory has been conducted for some years. An expert from Colorado has taken up irrigated land in the Bassano district to carry on the industry on a large scale. He says: "This is going to be a great beet-raising country. My crop averaged between 16 and 18 per cent sugar, which is a very high grade." He says his new farm produces as much alfalfa per acre as his former more expensive land in Colorado.

=Fruit.=--It has not yet been demonstrated that the larger fruits, such as apples, can be made commercially attractive in Alberta. All the smaller fruits can be grown with little trouble, at a cost that makes their culture profitable.

WHAT SOME ALBERTA FARMERS ARE DOING

=Macleod.=--Weather conditions were excellent throughout the season. Ninety per cent of the wheat up to October 1 graded No. 1, the only No. 2 being fall wheat. The yield ranged from 20 to 40 bushels per acre, with an average of 28. Oats yielded well, and barley about 60 bushels.

=Inverary= is a new district. Wheat graded No. 2 and some of it went 50 bushels to the acre, oats going about 75 bushels.

=Monarch.=--The yield of wheat on summer-fallow averaged 35 bushels, a large percentage No. 1 Northern.

=Milk River.=--All spring grains yielded better than expected. A 300-acre field of Marquis wheat gave 41-1/2 bushels.

Experimental farm results on grain sown on irrigated land place "Red Fife" wheat in the banner position, with a yield of 59.40 bushels per acre. Oats yielded 13 bushels to the acre.

=Calgary.=--The yield of grain was everywhere abnormal, with an increased acreage of about 23 per cent.

=Bassano.=--September 25. Individual record crops grown in Alberta include a 1,300-acre field of spring wheat, near here, which went 35 bushels to the acre and weighed 66 pounds to the bushel.

=Noble.=--Mr. C. S. Noble had 350,000 bushels of grain. The cost of production per acre was $9.10 on summer-fallow and the returns were $24.93 per acre. Oats averaged 90 bushels on 2,880 acres, wheat 38 on 300 acres, and barley 61 on 450 acres, all grading top.

Mr. Harris Oium, came from South Dakota twelve years ago and homesteaded the first 160 acres in his township, dividing his land between grain and pasture. He earned sufficient money to buy a quarter section of railway land at $11 an acre. The half section netted proportionate profits and he gradually increased his holdings to 1,920 acres, which are devoted to mixed farming this year. He values his land at $50 an acre. He has 200 hogs, mostly pure bred Poland China, 25 head draft horses and 35 head of pure bred Hereford cattle. Feeding barley to hogs nets him 80 cents a bushel, twice the average market price when delivered to the warehouse. His barley averages 40 bushels to the acre; oats average 80 bushels.

=Red Deer.=--John Lamont says that a man on a quarter-section, with a few cows, brood sows, and 100 hens, can be as sure of a good living for his family as if he were pensioned by the government. His 20 acres of Alberta red winter wheat yielded 985 bushels. Last year his wheat went a little over 40 bushels per acre, machine measure. He grows alfalfa.

S. D. McConnell has carried on mixed farming for twelve years keeping a few cattle and some hogs; makes a dollar a bushel out of his barley by feeding it. His fall wheat has gone from 30 to 65 bushels to the acre; oats from 40 to 100 bushels, never weighing less than 42 lbs. to the bushel.

H. S. Corrigan has averaged at least 30 bushels of spring wheat per acre, 40 bushels of barley, and 60 bushels of oats. Twenty-one acres of oats ran 90 bushels per acre, and weighed 48 pounds per bushel. Last winter he bought nine head of cattle for $420, fed them six weeks on hay, green feed, and chop and sold them for $579.60. Two steers, 26 months old weighed 2,440 lbs. One sow raised 58 pigs in 2-1/2 years, and when sold, weighed 550 pounds. Two of her pigs, now a year old, are raising 23 pigs. Timothy has yielded a ton and a half on an average, at $15 a ton.

=Red Deer.=--J. Northrup has not missed a crop in nine years, and says: "This is the best country in the world for small grain, better than Iowa and that is good--I love old Iowa. Winter wheat yields as high as 45 bushels per acre. Potatoes yield 400 bushels per acre at times. Alfalfa is a good crop when the soil is inoculated."

C. A. Sharman has the world's champion Jersey cow. He says: "A quarter section of land and 100 head of stock mean the maximum of growth from every square yard. Any man, woman, or child that uses Alberta rightly will be used rightly by Alberta. Farming in Alberta is no gold brick proposition, but an industry, which is the basis of all wealth."

A. P. Olsen formerly of Minnesota has raised cattle, horses, hogs and also milked a few cows. His oats yield 45 bushels to the acre, spring wheat, 36 bushels, winter wheat and barley 40 bushels. He won first prize at the Calgary Exhibition for a collection of 32 varieties of grasses found on his own land.

=Macleod.=--R. McNab has returns which show a yield of 45 bushels of No. 1 Northern wheat to the acre.

=Gleichen.=--Forty-five bushels of No. 1 Northern wheat per acre was the yield on the Blackfoot Indian reserve in 1913.

=Pincher Creek.=--Alfred Pelletier had 130 bushels oats per acre.

=Cities and Towns.=--On the banks of the Saskatchewan and forming the portal alike to the Last West and the New North, the capital city of =Edmonton= has attractions for the capitalist, the tourist, the manufacturer, and the health seeker. At the centre of two great transcontinental highways, Edmonton will soon be rated among the world's great cities. Traffic from the Pacific to Hudson Bay will go through her portals, the south, north and west will contribute. Possessed of municipally-owned waterworks, electric-lighting and power systems, street railways and telephones, the city is modern, attractive and alive. The number of banks is evidence of prosperity. The coal output of the district is about 3,000 tons daily. Population, about 60,000. In 1901, it was 2,626. In 1911, the assessment was a trifle under 47 million dollars; in 1912, 123-1/2 million dollars. School attendance, 5,114.

=Calgary= tells its own story in public buildings and in over one hundred wholesale establishments, 300 retail stores, 15 chartered banks, half a hundred manufacturing establishments, and a $150,000 normal school building. The principal streets are paved. There is municipal ownership of sewer system, waterworks and electric light and street railway. Directly bearing upon the future of Calgary is the irrigation project of the Bow River Valley, where 3 million acres are being colonized. One thousand two hundred miles of canals and laterals are completed. Population in 1911 was 43,736; now claimed 75,000. There are 36 schools, 146 teachers, and 7,000 pupils. The Canadian Pacific car shops here employ 3,000 men. It has the Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern, and Grand Trunk Pacific.

=Lethbridge=, with a population of about 13,000, the centre of a splendid agricultural district, is also a prosperous coal-mining and commercial city. The output of the mines, which in 1912 was about 4,300 tons daily and necessitated a monthly pay roll of $145,000, finds a ready market in British Columbia, in Montana, and as far east as Winnipeg. A Government Experimental Farm is nearby. The several branches of railway diverging here make it an important railway centre. It will shortly have the Grand Trunk Pacific, and direct Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern lines eastward. The municipally-owned street car system affords excellent service.

=Medicine Hat=, in the valley of the South Saskatchewan and the centre of a magnificent ranching and mixed-farming district, is a division point of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with extensive railway shops operated with natural gas for fuel. The light, heat, and power, derived from this gas are sold to manufacturers at 5 cents per thousand cubic feet, and for domestic purposes at 1 cent. The factories and industries now using natural gas pay out about 2-1/2 million dollars annually, which will be considerably augmented by factories in course of construction, and to be erected. When the new flouring mills are completed, Medicine Hat will be the largest milling centre on the continent. Population over 6,000.

=Macleod= is one of the oldest towns in the Province. With the rapid settlement of the surrounding agricultural land, this town is showing wonderful progress; during 1913 a large amount was spent in new buildings.

=Wetaskiwin= is a railway division point from which farms stretch in all directions. The city is beautifully located, and owns its electric light plant, waterworks, and sewerage system.

=Red Deer= is situated on the Canadian Pacific, half way between Calgary and Edmonton. It has a large sawmill, two brick-yards, concrete works, creameries, wheat elevators, and a sash-and-door factory. Coal and wood are plentiful and cheap. The district has never had a crop failure. It showed considerable business activity in 1913. Lines of railway extend westward.

=Lacombe=, on the direct line between Calgary and Edmonton, has a flour mill, foundry, planing mill, brick-yard, grain elevators, electric lights, and telephones. The surrounding country is noted for its pure-bred cattle and horses, and a Government Experimental Farm adjoins the town.

=Raymond= enjoys a rapid growth, and has one of the largest sugar factories in the west. Sugar beets are a great success here. Mr. Henry Holmes, who won the big wheat prize at the Dry Farming Congress held at Lethbridge in 1912 resides here.

Other prosperous towns are Claresholm, Didsbury, Fort Saskatchewan, High River, Innisfail, Olds, Okotoks, Pincher Creek, Ponoka, St. Albert, Vermilion, Vegreville, Carmangay, Stettler, Taber, Tofield, Camrose, Castor, Cardston, Bassano, Edson, Coronation, Empress, Magrath, Nanton, Strathmore, Gleichen, Leduc, Hardisty, Walsh, Daysland, Sedgewick, Grassy Lake and Wainwright. Much interest is being taken in Athabaska Landing, owing to its increasing agricultural settlement and the completion of the Canadian Northern.

CONDITIONS IN ALBERTA, 1913

=Agricultural Conditions.=--From the agricultural standpoint the season of 1913 was perfectly normal. Spring opened favourably for seeding operations and at no time from seeding to threshing did unfavourable conditions threaten a successful harvest. Copious rains in the growing period, and bright dry weather in the cutting and threshing period kept the farmer confident from the beginning. It was a season made, as it were, to the farmers' order. The quality of grain was extra good. Wheat weighed from 61-1/2 to 68 pounds to the bushel, oats 40 to 46, and barley 52 to 58.

Conditions were equally favourable to pasture and hay crops and live stock. The first and second cuttings of alfalfa were especially heavy and timothy made a good average yield. Abundant pasture continued throughout the season making both beef and dairy cattle profitable investments. Live stock, dairy products, poultry and eggs are worth four times the value of grain crops. The value of the former is nearly 120 millions, while the total value of the grain crop is about 30 millions. The income from the former reached 40 million dollars last year, that from the latter about 25 million dollars.

=Public Works and Railways.=--About 600 miles of steel were laid last year, bringing the railway mileage of the province up to nearly 3,600 miles. Equal activity is assured for 1914. This year the Government made a step to provide transportation facilities for districts sidetracked by the railway companies. The means adopted is guaranteeing the interest on the securities of light railways up to one-half the estimated cost.

=Financial.=--The income of the farming community exceeds that of all former years. It is estimated that the product of this year that will be converted into cash for the liquidation of debts, is nearly 65 million dollars. The farmer is therefore in a position to pay his machinery debts, store debts, and other obligations. Consequently the farmers are optimistic and are planning extended operations for the coming season.

Measured by every economical standard, Alberta shows sound prosperity and justifies a continuance of the confidence of outside capitalists in her established business, and increased investments in the development of her vast resources of farms, mines and forests.

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

1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Population ...... ...... 374,663 ...... [2]500,000
Horses 263,713 294,225 407,153 451,573 484,809
Milch cows 116,371 124,470 147,687 157,922 168,376
Other cattle 910,547 926,937 592,163 587,307 610,917
Sheep 171,422 179,067 133,592 135,075 178,015
Swine 139,270 143,560 237,510 278,747 350,692

[2] Estimated.

Surveyed lands shown in colour.

For Map of Southern Alberta see pages 26 and 27.]

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Stretching from the Rockies to the sea and from the United States to the 60th parallel, British Columbia is the largest Province in the Dominion. It is big enough to enable one to place in it, side by side at the same time, two Englands, three Irelands, and four Scotlands. Looking across the water to the millions of British subjects in India, in Hong-Kong, in Australia, and the isles of the sea, one catches brief pathetic glimpses of the commercial greatness which the Pacific has begun to waft to these shores. Nature intended British Columbia to develop a great seaward commerce, and substantial trade relations are now established northward to the Yukon and southward to Mexico. Population, June, 1911, 392,480.

British Columbia has natural wealth in her forests and her fish, in her whales and seals and fruit farms. But it is from her mines, more than from aught else, that she will derive her future wealth.

The parallel chains of the Rockies, the Selkirks, and the Coast Ranges are a rich dower. They furnish scenery unrivalled in its majesty; they are nurseries of great rivers which pour tribute into three oceans; and in their rocky embrace they hold a mineral wealth second to none.

British Columbia contains an aggregate of from 16 million to 20 million unoccupied arable acres. Sir William Dawson has estimated that in the British Columbia section of the Peace River Valley alone, the wheat-growing area will amount to 10 million acres. It is a country of big things.

=How to get the Land.=--Crown lands in British Columbia are laid off and surveyed into townships, containing thirty-six sections of one square mile in each. The head of a family, a widow, or single man over the age of eighteen years, and a British subject (or any alien upon making a declaration of his intention to become a British subject) may for agricultural purposes record any tract of unoccupied and unreserved crown land (not being an Indian settlement), not exceeding 160 acres in extent.

Free homesteads are not granted. The pre-emptor of land must pay $1 an acre for it, live upon it for two years, and improve it to the extent of $2.50 per acre. Particulars regarding crown lands of this Province, their location, and method of pre-emption can be obtained by communicating with the sub-joined government agencies for the respective districts, or from the Secretary, Bureau of Agriculture, Victoria, B. C.:

Alberni, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Golden, Cranbrook, Kaslo, Nelson, Revelstoke, Bakersville, Telegraph Creek, Atlin, Prince Rupert, Hazleton, Kamloops, Nicola, Vernon, Fairview, Clinton, Ashcroft.

=Agriculture.=--It is not so long ago that agriculture was regarded as a quite secondary consideration in British Columbia. The construction of railroads, and the settlement of the valleys in the wake of the miner and the lumberman, have entirely dissipated that idea. The agricultural possibilities of British Columbia are now fully appreciated locally, and the outside world is also beginning to realize that the Pacific Province has rich assets in its arable and pastoral lands.

Professor Macoun says: "As far north as the fifty-fourth degree it has been practically demonstrated that apples will flourish, while in the southern belt the more delicate fruits, peaches, grapes, and apricots, are an assured crop."

On a trip through the valley one sees apple orchards with the trees fairly groaning under their loads of fruit, and pear, plum, and prune trees in like manner. In many places between the trees there are rows of potatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables, showing that the land is really producing a double crop. Grapes, water melons, and musk melons also thrive in the valley, and large quantities of each are grown. Tomatoes, cherries, and berries of all kinds are grown extensively. Wheat, oats, and corn give excellent yields. As an instance, one man's wheat crop this season averages 48-1/2 bushels to the acre. Of prunes, one orchardist grew a crop of 7,000 boxes. The apples shipped find a ready market in Calgary, Regina, and in the other cities in the prairie provinces. Prices this year are considerably better than they were a year ago. Last year this valley produced 350 carloads of fruit and vegetables, and some of the farmers have made net profits of as high as $250 an acre.

Those who have turned their attention to mixed farming are exceptionally well pleased with the result. A local company is being organized to build a cannery and this will be in operation next year. And besides this one, another cannery is being talked of.

In the valleys, of which there are many, there are tracts of wonderfully rich and, largely of alluvial deposits, that give paying returns.

The Columbia and Kootenay Valleys, comprising the districts of Cranbrook, Nelson, Windermere, Slocan, Golden and Revelstoke are very rich. The eastern portion requires irrigation; they are well suited to fruit farming and all kinds of roots and vegetables. Timber lands are said to be the best, when cleared. In the western portion of these valleys there are considerable areas of fertile land, suitable for fruit growing. The available land is largely held by private individuals.

The valleys of the Okanagan, Nicola, Similkameen, Kettle, North and South Thompson, and the Boundary are immensely rich in possibilities. The advent of the small farmer and fruit grower has driven the cattle industry northward into the Central district of the Province. The ranges are now divided into small parcels, occupied by fruit growers and small farmers. Irrigation is necessary in most places, but water is easy to acquire.

The Land Recording District of New Westminster is one of the richest agricultural districts of the Province and includes all the fertile valley of the Lower Fraser. The climate is mild, with much rain in winter. The timber is very heavy and the underbrush thick. Heavy crops of hay, grain, and roots are raised, and fruit growing is here brought to perfection. The natural precipitation is sufficient for all purposes.

For about seventy miles along the Fraser River there are farms which yield their owners revenues from $4,000 to $7,000 a year; this land is now worth from $100 to $1,000 an acre. As much as 5 tons of hay, 120 bushels of oats, 20 tons of potatoes, and 50 tons of roots have been raised per acre.

Vancouver Island, with its great wealth of natural resources and its commanding position, is fast becoming one of the richest and most prosperous portions of the Province. Its large area of agricultural land is heavily timbered and costly to clear by individual effort, but the railroad companies are clearing, to encourage agricultural development. Most farmers raise live stock, do some dairying and grow fruit. Grains, grasses, roots, and vegetables grow to perfection and yield heavily. Apples, pears, plums, prunes, and cherries grow luxuriantly, while the more tender fruits--peaches, apricots, nectarines, and grapes attain perfection in the southern districts when carefully cultivated.

F. A. Starkey, Pres. of the Boards of Trade says that a clear profit of 66-2/3 per cent can be made in fruit growing.

=Lillooet= is well adapted to dairying, cattle raising, and fruit growing.

=Central British Columbia=, through which the Grand Trunk Pacific is now being constructed, comprises the valleys of the Bulkley, Endako, Nechaco, Fraser, and Stuart, where there is considerable land inviting to the settler. The soil and climate of the valleys extending westward to the Bulkley are adapted to grain growing and cattle raising, while further westward and to within fifty miles of the west coast belt apple culture as well is successful.

Down the Fraser from Fort George there is active development in settlement, and wheat, oats, barley and hay are highly productive; the climate is good. The soil is a brown silt covered by a layer of vegetable mould, and the timber is light and easy to clear.

Along the Nechaco, between Fort George and Fraser Lake, is same character of soil and a similar country, there being large tracts well fitted for general farming. Native grasses yield abundant food; there is ample rainfall, and the winter climate moderates as the coast is approached.

North of Fort Fraser there is good grazing and farming land, somewhat timbered and covered with rich grasses. The prevailing price is $25 an acre; owners are not particularly anxious to sell.

The Bulkley and Endako valleys have a lightly-timbered rich soil, and a well-watered country with mixed farming possibilities. There is no necessity for irrigation. It would be rash for the inexperienced to penetrate this district in search of land before the railway. The difficulties and cost are too great. To the hardy pioneer, who has knowledge of how to select good land in a timbered country, the future is at his feet. Most of the available land within a reasonable distance of the railroad is taken up, and the days of the pre-emptor, except in remoter parts, are past. Land can be secured at a reasonable figure from those who have purchased in large blocks from the Government.

Central British Columbia is lightly timbered from end to end; natural open patches are not frequent, and occur mostly on river banks and at the ends of lakes. While railroad construction is under way and settlement in progress good prices will be obtained for all agricultural products. This portion of the Province can now be reached by way of Prince Rupert, by rail from Edmonton, or by trail from Ashcroft, B. C.

=Highways.=--One-half million dollars was spent last year in opening up first-class wagon and motor roads throughout the Province.

=Education.=--The school system is free and non-sectarian; equally as efficient as in any other Province of the Dominion. The Government builds a school-house, makes a grant for incidental expenses, and pays a teacher in every district where twenty children between the ages of six and sixteen can be gathered. High schools are also established in cities, where classics and higher mathematics are taught.

=Chief Cities.=--Victoria, the capital, about 60,000; Vancouver, the commercial capital, 123,902; New Westminster, 13,199; Nelson, 4,476; Nanaimo, 8,168; Rossland, 2,826; Kamloops, 3,772; Grand Forks, 1,577, Revelstoke, 3,017; Fernie, 3,146; Cranbrook, 3,090; Ladysmith, 3,295; Prince Rupert, 4,184; Fort George and Fort Fraser on the Fraser and Nechaco rivers and Grand Trunk Pacific will be important towns in the near future.

Hon. W. R. Ross, Provincial Minister of Lands, says that there is a total of 93,000,000 acres of land reserved for pre-emption within the confines of the Province at the present time. Of the 250,000,000 acres of ground estimated to be within the Province only 5,000,000 acres, or about 2 per cent, had been sold to date he said, even excluding reserve land, available for settlement. As a matter of fact, during the past few years between 9,000 and 11,000 pre-emptions had been issued by the Government to settlers, and during the last year 3,600 had been issued outside of the railway belt and about 1,200 within the area.

The cities afford a splendid reflex of the trade of the country, and show the development in mining, fishing, lumbering, shipping, manufacturing and agriculture.

=Climate.=--Near the coast the average number of days in the year below freezing is fifteen; rainfall varies from 40 to 100 inches. Farther inland the average number of days in the year below freezing is sixty-five. The northern districts of Hazleton, Pearl River, Cassiar, and Atlin are somewhat colder.

Ocean currents and moisture laden winds from the Pacific exercise a moderating influence upon the climate of the coast. The westerly winds, arrested in their passage east by the Coast Range, create what is known as the "dry belt" east of the mountains; the higher air currents carry the moisture to the lofty peaks of the Selkirks, and the precipitation in the eastern portion of the Province is greater than in the central district, thus a series of alternate moist and dry belts is formed. The Province offers a choice of a dry or moist climate, an almost total absence of extremes of heat and cold, freedom from malaria, and conditions most favourable.

=Mineral Resources.=--The precious and useful metals abound in British Columbia, and it was the discovery of placer gold in the Cariboo District that first attracted attention to the Province. Occurrences of copper, gold, silver, and lead ores are widespread, and mining is being carried on in those districts convenient to transportation facilities. Coal is extensively mined in Vancouver Island, in the Crow's Nest Pass district and more recently, in the Nicola Valley region. Miners' wages are high, and there is usually a constant demand for workmen. The value of the mineral production last year was 32 million dollars, of which coal contributed 9 million and copper 8 million dollars.

Much successful prospecting is in progress in the region traversed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the completion of which will undoubtedly be followed by important mining development. Already many valuable finds of coal and metal ores have been made. The mineral resources are not confined to any one section, although the principal metalliferous operations have so far been confined to the southern portion of the Province. The various mining camps, employing large numbers of men, who are paid high wages, afford a fine home market for the products of the farms and orchards.

Dominion Electoral Divisions shown in Colour. Lands in Peace River Block, as well as those along the Canadian Pacific Railway within shaded line, are administered by the Dominion Government.]

=Timber.=--Next in importance, at the present time, are the timber resources. It is admitted that the largest remaining areas of first-class building timbers in the world are in British Columbia. The lumber industry has increased enormously of recent years owing to the demand from the rapidly growing Prairie Provinces. For many years to come it will have to undergo constant expansion to keep pace with the ever-growing needs of the untimbered prairie regions. The principal woods are Douglas fir, cedar, spruce, tamarac, pine and hemlock.

=Fisheries.=--This Province has risen to the rank of the greatest fish-producing Province in the Dominion. Besides its extensive salmon fisheries, it has, lying within easy distance of the northern part of its coast line, extremely rich halibut grounds, while herring are in great abundance all along its shores. These various branches of the fishing industry are being rapidly developed, but there is yet room for great expansion. The value of the fisheries of the Provinces for 1913 amounted to about 11 million dollars.

=What Premier McBride says=:

"Millions of British money is finding investment in British Columbia, and there is scope for millions more. One of the advantages of British Columbia is that all of its industrial and other enterprises are of a permanent character. There is room for millions of people. We have the resources, the geographical situation, and the climate that will appeal.

"Our elementary school system is free and compulsory, and one of the most efficient in the world, making ample provision, as it does, for ambitious students to pass on to the universities of Canada, the United States, and England. But we are also to have our own University."

Much attention has been attracted to the result of the opening of the Panama Canal on the shipping future of the ports at the coast.

=Lakes and Rivers.=--The most important are the Columbia, which has a course of 600 miles in British Columbia; the Fraser, 750 miles long; the Skeena, 300 miles long; the Thompson, the Kootenay, the Stikine, the Liard, and the Peace. These with their tributaries drain an area of one-tenth of the whole of the North American continent. The lake area aggregates 1-1/2 million acres.

On the lakes and rivers first-class steamers give accommodation to the settlements along the banks and in the valleys, and afford excellent transportation for tourists. There are lines of steamers in service between Vancouver, Japan, and China; between Vancouver and Australia; between Vancouver and Mexico, and between Vancouver and England via the Suez Canal. These ocean communications of British Columbia are highly important. Vancouver is the terminus of the shortest route from Liverpool to Yokohama and all important points of the Far East. The Province has a considerable coasting fleet, having direct connection with Yukon and Alaska. There is not as yet a large Pacific marine of Canadian registry. Although in the service of Canadian interests the tonnage is largely British.

=A Rich Province.=--British Columbia coal measures are sufficient to supply the world for centuries. It possesses the greatest compact area of merchantable timber in the world. The mines are in the early stages of their development, and have already produced about 400 million dollars, of which coal contributed 122 million. The value of the mineral production in 1911 was 30 million dollars. The fisheries return an average annual yield of nearly 10 million dollars. British Columbia's trade, per head of population, is the largest in the world. The chief exports are salmon, coal, gold, silver, copper, lead, timber, masts and spars, furs and skins, whale-oil, sealskins, hops, and fruit.

=Railways.=--The Canadian Pacific Railway has two main lines and several branches making connection with United States railway systems, as well as operating on Vancouver Island. With the exception of one or two small gaps the Grand Trunk Pacific will have its line completed through Central British Columbia this year. This will open up a very large area for settlement. At the Pacific terminus in Prince Rupert, splendid steamers connect with other portions of the Mainland and with Vancouver Island.

The Canadian Northern has secured low grades across the Rockies and, making its way down the Fraser and North Thompson, finds an easy outlet at Port Mann near Vancouver. The Great Northern enters the Province at points in the boundary. The provincial railway mileage is 1,854 miles with 1,000 miles under construction.

=Stock.=--Dairying pays handsomely in British Columbia. The local demand for butter is constantly increasing and the prices secured are higher than in Eastern Canada. The Province possesses many elements necessary to constitute it a great dairying country. There are extensive areas of pastoral land in the interior, while increased cultivation in the lower country will form the necessary feeding ground. With a plentiful supply of good water, and luxuriant and nutritious grasses, there is every required facility added. Cattle raising on a large scale was formerly one of the chief industries of the Province, and many of the large ranches are still making money, but the tendency of late has been for smaller herds and the improvement of the stock. Sheep raising is another branch of agriculture capable of great expansion. Hogs, in small farming, are probably the most profitable of live stock, owing to the general demand for pork, bacon, ham, and lard, and much attention is now being given to raising them. Over 1 million dollars of hog products are imported annually, and prices are always high. The demand for good horses, especially heavy draft and working animals, is always increasing, and prices are consequently high.

=Dairy Products.=--In 1912 this industry reached a valuation of nearly 4 million dollars. Poultry raising is a branch of general farming which is beginning to receive special attention in British Columbia. The home market is nowhere nearly supplied either with eggs or poultry, large quantities being imported from Manitoba, Ontario, California, Washington, and elsewhere. Good prices prevail at all seasons of the year. Every portion of British Columbia is suitable for poultry raising. In the Coast districts, hens, ducks, and geese can be raised to great advantage, and the dry belts and uplands are particularly well adapted to turkeys.

=Grain.=--Wheat is grown principally in the Fraser, Okanagan, and Spallumcheen Valleys and in the country around Kamloops. Barley of excellent quality is grown in many parts of the Province. Oats are the principal grain crop, the quality and yield being good, and the demand beyond the quantity grown. Potatoes, turnips, carrots, mangolds, and all other roots grow in profusion wherever their cultivation has been attempted. Hop culture is carried on in the Okanagan, Agassiz, and Chilliwak districts. British Columbia hops command a good price in England and recently Eastern Canada and Australia have bid for them. Some attention has been given to the cultivation of sugar-beets, tobacco, and celery, and in each case with the most gratifying results, ensuring an early expansion of operations in all of these lines.

In 1912 there was a total agricultural production in the Province of about 14-1/2 million dollars, but there was imported another 15 million dollars' worth.

British Columbia agriculturists and fruit growers are particularly fortunate in having a splendid home market for their products, and for their surplus there is the enormous present and illimitable future demand of the Prairie Provinces, assuring always good prices and ready sale for everything they produce.

=Game.=--For big-game hunters there are moose, wapiti, sheep, caribou, goat, deer, grizzly, black, and brown bear, wolves, panthers, lynx, and wild cats; in the way of small game there is the best snipe shooting procurable anywhere, and duck and geese, prairie chicken, grouse, and quail abound. In addition to sport with rifle and shot gun, salmon fishing, unknown elsewhere, trout and grayling fishing, unsurpassed in any other country, may be enjoyed at a minimum of cost and inconvenience.

WHAT WINS IN CENTRAL CANADA

The adaptable and friendly man going into Canada will find a welcome awaiting him. There is room for everybody. The man already established, the railways, and the Government are equally anxious to secure further immigration of the right kind. The new man is not looked upon as an intruder but as a producer of new wealth, an enricher of the commonwealth. The new man should buy his tools as he needs them. Until he has more than thirty acres under crop he can work with a neighbour, in exchange for the services of a binder. He may not need to build a granary for two or three years. A cow is a good investment, and a vegetable garden easily pays its own way.

A few broad general suggestions might be made to the settlers who come in with varying capital at their command.

=The Man Who Has Less Than $300.=--This man had better work for wages for the first year. He can either hire out to established farmers or find employment on railway construction work. During the year, opportunity may open up for him to take up his free grant or make the first payment on a quarter-section that he would like to purchase.

=The Man Who Has $600.=--Get hold of your 160-acre free homestead at once, build your shack, and proceed with your homestead duties. During the six months that you are free to absent yourself from your homestead, hire out to some successful farmer and get enough to tide you over the other half of the year which you must spend in residence upon the land. When you have put in six months' residence during each of these years and have complied with the improvement conditions required by the Land Act, you become the absolute owner.

=The Man Who Has $1,000.=--Either homestead a farm or purchase one on the installment plan, and get to work at once. A small house and out buildings will be required, with horses or oxen, a plough, a wagon, etc. Working out in the harvest season will be needed to bring in money to tide over the winter and get the crop sown in good condition. As the crop grows, opportunity is given to make the house comfortable, to look around and plan ahead.

=What $1,500 Will Buy.=--No farmer should come expecting to make a homestead pay its own way the first year. He needs buildings, an equipment, and money for the maintenance of himself and family, until his first harvest can be garnered. After securing his land and putting up his buildings, $1,500 will give him a fairly good equipment to begin with. This will probably be expended as under:

1 team of good horses $450.00
1 harvester 165.00
4 milch cows at $65 260.00
1 seeder 113.00
1 strong wagon 94.00
4 hogs at $25 100.00
4 sheep at $8 32.00
1 set strong harness 35.00
1 rough sleigh 37.00
1 disc harrow 36.00
1 breaking plough 25.00
1 mowing machine 60.00
1 stubble plough 20.00
1 harrow 20.00
Other smaller tools 40.00
Barnyard fowls 40.00
Total $1527.00

If the settler locates early in the season he may get in a crop of potatoes or oats in May or early June.

=Will a Quarter-Section Pay?=--"Will the tilling of a quarter of a section (160 acres) pay?" when asked of those who have tried it provokes the invariable answer that "It will and does pay." "We, or those following us, will make less than that pay," said one who had proved up on a homestead. Another pointed to the fact that many of those who commenced on homesteads are now owners of other quarters--and even larger areas, showing that they have progressed in obtaining more land, while others still have stuck to the homestead quarter and this year are marketing as much as $2,000 worth of grain and often nearer $3,000.

=Shall You Buy, Rent or Homestead?=--The question is one that Canadian Government officials are frequently asked, especially in the homes of a family of boys who have become interested in Central Canada. If the young man has grit and inexperience let him homestead. Treating this subject in a newspaper article, a correspondent very tersely says, "He will survive the ordeal and gain his experience at less cost."

Another has ample knowledge of farming practice, experience in farm management, but lacks pluck and staying power and the capacity to endure. The food for thought and opportunity for action provided by the management of an improved farm would be just the stimulus required to make him settle into harness and "work out his own salvation in fear and trembling."

Many men make excellent, progressive, broad-gauge farmers, by renting, or buying an improved farm in a settled district and keeping in touch with more advanced thought and methods. Their immediate financial success may not be so great; their ultimate success will be much greater, for they have been saved from narrow-gauge ways and withering at the top.

Let the boy take the route that appeals to him. Don't force him to homestead if he pines to rent. Don't try to keep him at home if homesteading looks good to him. The thing to remember is that success may be achieved by any one of the three routes. If the foundation is all right, hard work the method, and thoroughness the motto, it makes little difference what road is taken--whether homesteading, buying, or renting--Central Canada is big enough, and good farming profitable enough.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

Contentment is not necessarily achieved by accomplishments that benefit the world--the world outside the small sphere in which we move; but when accompanied by such accomplishments how the satisfaction broadens! The genius whose inventions have been of service to mankind is in a plane far above that of the simple-minded individual who finds contentment in the little things of life affecting himself alone.

Feeding the world is no mean accomplishment. Nor is it a vain or trifling boast to say that this is what the farmer of Western Canada has started out to do. He is sure to find contentment. Part of his contentment will be the consciousness of doing world-wide good; part of it will be the personal enjoyment of an inspiring liberty and independence. Afield and abroad his friends will learn what he is doing. Soon they too will become partners in a work that not only betters their own condition, but ministers to the needs of the whole world in the raising of products that go to "feed the world."

It is to those who desire this broad contentment that the Canadian Government extends the heartiest welcome, and to such men it offers the vast opportunities of a country richer in possibilities than any other in the present century. To the man on the farm in other regions, whom success has followed with slow tread; to the farmer's son, who has watched with unsatisfied eye the unrequited efforts of his forbears, seeing the life that has made his mother a "drudge," noting the struggle which has stooped his father's shoulders, dimmed his vision, dwarfed his spirit, and returned nothing but existence and a meagre bank account--it is to these men, father and son, that the opportunities of Western Canada are presented. To them an invitation is extended to secure the contentment found in personal progress and world-wide benefaction.

The possibilities of Western Canada are no longer new and untried. Twelve or fifteen years of cultivation have made it a vital, living land, and placed it on the level with the greatest of the food-producing countries. That same redundant energy will shortly make it the richly laden "bread basket" not of England only, but of the entire world.

Here every condition is a health bringer as well as a wealth bringer. A few months in this "New World" to which you are invited and where rejuvenating physical and mental changes are wrought; where before hard work was drudgery, it is now a delight; where nothing but fresh trouble darkened the horizon, the outlook is now a rainbow of promise. Industry is seasoned with the compelling spirit of adventure, and the thought of the coming harvest constantly lightens the burden of labor.