EARLY HISTORY OF WHEAT-GROWING 13 



Wisconsin. After journeying for several hundreds of 

 miles on snow-shoes, the men arrived at their destination 

 at the end of three months, and purchased 250 bushels at 

 10s. per bushel. The grain was stowed in flat-bottomed 

 boats which were laboriously propelled up the Mississippi 

 Elver, up its tributary the Minnesota Eiver, through 

 Big Stone Lake, and then down the Red Eiver. ^'^ The Set- 

 tlement was reached in June. The seed was immediately 

 sown and the wheat-plants made a vigorous growth ; but 

 the grasshoppers again appeared, and it was feared that 

 the crop would be destroyed for the third time. However, 

 for some unexplained reason, the whole swarm suddenly 

 disappeared early in the season, and did not return. 

 Owing to the late sowing, the harvest did not ripen well. 

 Tievertheless, it came to sufficient perfection for seed.^*^ < 

 After this the Eed Eiver never lacked seed-wheat again J 

 until the year 1868 when, for the second time, a mighty 

 swarm of grasshoppers completely destroyed all the crops. 

 The cost of the expedition to Prairie du Chien was 

 tremendous, for it amounted to no less than 1,040.^*^ 

 However, it was not allowed to weigh on the settlers for it 

 was charged to the estate of Lord Selkirk and paid by his 

 executors.^'^ Whether or not the new wheat brought from 

 a distant part of the United States with so much toil and 

 at so great an expense was a named variety or was simply 

 called wheat, unfortunately, does not now appear to be 

 known. ^^ 



27 G. Bryce, loc. cit., pp. 157-158. 



28 A. Ross, loc. cit., p. 51. 



29 Ibid. 



30 C. Martin, loc. cit., p. 173. 



31 Dr. C. N. Bell has informed me that when he came to Winnipeg 

 nearly fifty years ago, there was a tradition in the colony that a 

 number of new weeds were introduced into the colony with the seed- 

 wheat from Prairie du Chien. Among these weeds the French-weed 

 or Stink-weed {Thlaspi arvense) was especially mentioned. 



