Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1901 — "FINESTLAND OUT OF DOORS." [ARTICLE]

"FINESTLAND OUT OF DOORS."

Millions of Acres of Canadian Territory So Described by Travelers. L. A. Hamilton and Land Commissioner Griffin have arrived in Winnipeg after a three weeks’ drive through 500 miles of what Mr. Hamiltop says an American would call “the finest block of land that lies out of doors.” This land comprises about 25,000,000 acres and was covered by two men from Wetaskiwin through Battleford east, north to the Vermilion Lakes, across into the Blackfoot Hills, then to the Saskatchewan River, from there south to the Trapping Lake district and east again to Saskatoon. “The object of our journey,” said Mr. Hamilton, speaking to a Free Press reporter, “was to note the resources and progress of this district for intending settlers. Mr. Griffin had not been over this ground before and it was to him a trip of great value on this account. What we saw confirms the view I have taken that here lies one of the richest tracts of land in the world. We found that settlers have pushed their way In and are located not only on land all along the railway, but 10 miles on each side of it. The soil in all parts we saw Is of the richest, and timber and water plentiful, except an eastern tract lying south of Eagle Hills, where timber is scarce. In the Battleford district, lying 120 miles from the railway, we found excellent fields of grain being grown, but in the majority of the farthest districts cattle raising is the chief industry. Settlers are pushing their way out from Calgary and Edmonton east as far as the Buck Lakes, 100 miles from the railway.” Game throughout this district, Mr. Hamilton states, was very plentifulin fact, too plentiful. “We were told that the prairie chickens were so thick,” said Mr. Hamilton, “that disease am'ong them had developed and they were dying off in thousands. This I am told, occurs about every seven years, when the ravages of the disease are much more destructive than that wrought by the hunters after feathered game. There is no scarcity of fresh meats, however, and in many of the farming districts or ranching properties the owner has his own game preserves. “On this tract of 25,000,000 acres there is no reason,” concluded Mr. Hamilton, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, “why 500,000,000 bushels of wheat could not be raised and this will -be tbc case some day not far distant.”