Western Canada and its Great Resources
The Testimony of Settlers, farmer Delegates and high Authorities

8 WESTERN CANADA Returning east to Portage la Prairie, we drove over that renowned district, and saw evidences of agricultural wealth that completely astonished us, it having all been accumulated within the past few years. From here we took the railway to Yorkton, passing all the way through a first- class farming country, with evidences of prosperous farmers all along this road t > Yorkton, which is its present terminus. From here we drove 45 miles along the pro- posed line of road to the South Dakota Colony (which now consists of 200 souls), the members of which settled here during the last few months. We visited all of them, most of them being old acquaintances ; we found them all busy building houses and breaking land. We examined the country in which this colony is located as carefully as possible for the time at our disposal, and we find a first-class soil, plenty of small, beautiful lakes, pure water, plenty of timber for building, fencing, and fuel for all time to come; hayinabundan.ee. We saw here three-year-old steers fit for the English market that never saw the inside of a stable. In the interests of our friends and neighbours in South Dakota we desire that this, our report, be printed and circulated in the Dakotas ; and we say most emphatically that the statements made by Agents Holmes and Webster, to us, in regard to the agricultural resources of Manitoba and the Canadian North-west, are true in every particular, as we found everything better than they represented them to us, and we wish here to tell the farmers of South Dakota that they can place confidence in. their statements. Signed at Winnipeg, 10th June, 1891. O. W. Pasholke, Glasston, Pembina County, North Dakota. Francis B. Megarry, Leola, South Dakota. James Cameron, Aberdeen. South Dakota. F. J. Randall, Conway, North Dakota. William Hill, Leola, South Dakota. Neil McLean, Roscoe, South Dakota. Report of a party of North Dakota Farmers’ Delegates who spent a month visiting Manitoba and the North-west with a view to reporting to their friends in Dakota the facts regarding this country :— Winnipeg, 18th June, 1891. We, the undersigned delegates from North Dakota, wish to make the following report for the benefit of intending settlers. We have visited the country north and west of Yorkton for over 50 miles, and found a country which cannot be surpassed for mixed farming. There are numberless good meadows, and it would be hard to find a section, without a nice poplar grove in it. There are also many streams of fresh water, and the soil is excellent in every particular. We spent several days at Prince Albert, Duck Lake, and in the Shell River country. The general appearance of the country around Prince Albert is particularly desirable on account of its groves of tamarack, spruce and poplar timbers. The valley of the Shell River is a very beautiful country, extending for a long distance east of the Thickwood Hills; the prairie is composed of a dark loam with heavy clay subsoil, with numerous lakes and springs. There are millions of acres of this land unoccupied in the valley of the Saskatchewan. The country in many places resembles parts of Great Britain. We also visited the country north of Calgary for more than 100 miles; the Poplar Grove and Red Deer country is a very desirable point for any one who desires to emigrate from Dakota. There is abundance of wood and water, and lumber can be got for $18.50 per M. One of our party has already located about eight miles from Red Deer. We have seen several herds of cattle that never were fed any hay, or had shelter during the winter; in fact, it is the country for a great many people who are getting poorer every year in Dakota. We also desire to state that on our visit to Brandon we had the pleasure of visiting the Government Experimental Farm established at that point, and we were glad to find