Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1898 — THE CANADIAN GOLD FIELDS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE CANADIAN GOLD FIELDS.

They Do Not AU Lie in the Yukon.

The excitement < f the past few months has drawn a great many people to tho Gann dia a

Yukon in the search for gold, and hrs diverted the attention of many other< But in qrder to get there it is necessary that a man should be possessed of the best of health, strong powers of endurance and considerable means. He leaved his wife and his family for a consider.'!’, period, and the hardships he has to eudu: .» are all unknown to him. Canada has other gold fields, though. They are the fields that produce her golden grain. This year the crop of Manitoba, lying directly north of North Dakota, yielded 21,000,000 bushels of wheat alone. The current price averages 76 cents, which, as a local paper puts it, “makes the product in gold this year, for wheat alone, equal to a value of $15,060,C00.” Twenty thousand farmers did this, or rn average to each producer of about S7OB. “But these same farmers are not livirg by wheat alone. This is only one source of revenue to them out of many. They have also beef, butter, potatoes, barley and poultry to sell, and sometiui.j other things, so that it may be fairly estimated that their incomes will arcrr.CJ at least SI,OOO per farmer. Thus Manitoba’s fields have yielded this year fully $20,000,000 in gold, divided among 20,000 actual producers, and a general population of about 200,000." After counting the cost of stamp mills, expenses of men, etc., rich as is the Klondike, such vast wealth as is being taken out of the soil in raising wheat in this one province, cannot possibly be secured in any mining district. Of course mining development assists agricultural development, and that is why the Government of Canada feels so much assurance in predicting prosperity to all who take up farms in Canada. Western Canada to-day promises more than any other known field that is open to immigration. Farms of 160 acres, capable of producing the best No. 1 hard wheat, yielding thirty to forty bushels to the acre, are given away free. Railways, markets, schools, churches—nil are convenient. The Canadian form of government is one of the most liberal known, and a hearty welcome is given to settlers of all nationalities. Already there are many settlers gone in from the States, and the reports from them are highly favorable. Those desiring information as to free homestead laws, low transportation rates, etc., will have pamphlets, etc., sent free on application to the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, or to any agent of the Government.