In North-West Canada. 135 



In a week the first house is up. Neighbour helps neighbour. 

 In two or three weeks several log houses spring up, dotting the 

 hitherto lonely expanse with centres of life and interest. The 

 settlers now have their shelters ; complacently they look on 

 their new neat log cabins, which usually consist of one large 

 room, with a ladder in the middle that leads to the loft or 

 upper story where rude quarters for the night are found. A 

 dark strip on the green prairie that bespeaks the presence of 

 the plough is the next step in advance ; then a piece of fenc- 

 ing, or one or two stables or other outhouses, and cattle gather 

 round the steading. June comes, and the plough is in full 

 swing ; " Gee " and " haw " are heard for miles around. Black 

 strips of ploughed land, becoming larger every day, are notice- 

 able. Where the prairie has been broken near the houses the 

 chances are that the dark-green of the potato vine is seen 

 coming up, and farther off a piece of oats or barley looking 

 strong and healthy. Perhaps a row of trees is planted along 

 the road in front of the houses ; and now visit the settlement 

 in September, the most delightful time of the year for prairie 

 travelling, and ask the settlers how they like the new country ; 

 the answer will be in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 

 either " first-class," or " you couldn't pay me to return to On- 

 tario." With pride they point out the progress that has been 

 made in a few months, and contrast it with what would have 

 been accomplished in the same time on a bush farm in any of 

 the older provinces. Next year a fine field of wheat is pretty 

 sure to stretch away from the front door, and the milk house 

 is furnished with rows of bright pans filled with creamy milk. 

 The North-W^est bids fair to be the future granary of the 

 world. It is scarcely possible to estimate its illimitable pos- 

 sibilities. This vast region is the true habitat of the wheat 

 plant. The yield is astonishing, not only because of the rich- 

 ness of the soil, but because here the plant attains its full de- 

 velopment. Some of the best wheat is grown at Prince Albert 

 five hundred miles north-west from Winnipeg, and at Fort 

 Vermillion on Peace river, six or seven hundred miles still 

 further away to the north-west. Wheat from Peace river, 



