of Hereford cattle on the American*"continent. 

 His ranch near Crossfield, Alberta, consists of 

 7,000 acres of land, which support nearly 700 

 head of pure bred "White Faces." The intrinsic 

 value of the herd may be roughly calculated 

 when the owner finds it a profitable move to 

 purchase bulls at $20,000 each. 



The Rise of the Hired Man 



Yet time was, and not so very long ago, when 

 the owner of this mammoth concern was the 

 "hired man" of a small rancher, herding cattle 

 and doing the many odd jobs of a hireling about 

 a ranch. His cattle experience and the knowl- 

 edge he acquired, however, stood him in good 

 stead, and he left to become a buyer for one of the 

 largest packing companies in Southern Alberta. 



Further insight into the cattle business only 

 served to prove to him the money to be made by 

 the producer and he decided to throw up work 

 as an agent to enter the industry at its source. 

 At that time he was in such a low financial state 

 that he had to borrow money to make his first 

 payment of 30 cents per acre on 640 acres of 

 land. He already dreamed of success, however, 

 and, with a view to later development, located 

 at the bottom of a wide and well-sheltered 

 coulee, calling it "Willow Springs," the nucleus 

 of what was to become one of the largest pure 

 bred ranches on the continent. 



Development through intelligent effort was 

 teady and rapid. 



A commencement was made with a few grade 

 animals, but after following the industry for a 

 few years, he decided to make a change to a 

 smaller herd of pure bred stock on the argument 

 that a pedigreed animal cost no more to rear 

 and yielded greater returns. Accordingly, in 

 1908, a herd of Hereford cattle, which came 

 originally from the native county of the breed 

 in England, was acquired, and formed the 

 foundation of the white-faced herd which now 

 ranges over the huge Willow Springs holdings. 



A Prosperous Venture 



The prosperity in this venture can be seen 

 from the fact that, in 1916, Mr. Collicut was able 

 to purchase a $11,900 bull from across the line, 

 and, two years later, one for $20,000. That these 

 investments were justified is evidenced by the 

 statements of prominent animal husbandmen 

 that the progeny constitutes the equal, if not 

 the superior, of any similar herd on the American 

 continent. The young animals have gone to 

 every part of North America, many bringing 

 $5,000 each, and one being later resold for 

 $20,000. 



This is the record of fifteen years' work 

 backed up by faith and intelligence not 

 exceptional, but rather typical of the rise to 

 fortune of a host of Western agriculturists. 



To-day, the Willow Springs with the pure 



bred herd it'nourishes is almost impossible of 

 valuation, and its product is known for its high 

 excellency all over America. Its owner started 

 out with nothing but an unwavering faith in the 

 possibilities of the Canadian West. 



Success of Soldier Settlers , 



Practically every country implicated in the 

 maelstrom of the Great War, and experiencing 

 the same problems in the aftermath, has paid 

 warm tribute to the generous manner in which 

 Canada treated her returned warriors and the 

 effective measures she devised for their success- 

 ful re-establishment in civil life. In common 

 with other belligerent nations, Canada was faced 

 with the problem of rehabilitating a huge army 

 alienated, after years of hardship and contention 

 with primitive conditions, from their pre-war 

 existences, and facing an uncertain future with 

 vastly differing ideals and an entirely changed 

 outlook upon life. 



It was a wise procedure, both for the nation 

 and the individual soldier, to encourage the army 

 to go on the land, and to assist soldier settlers 

 in such a manner as to become producers almost 

 immediately instead of undergoing the hardships 

 and years of slim revenue, which often are the 

 lot of the pioneer. That the years of war had 

 turned the minds of many towards the land is 

 indicated by the response to questionnaires 

 distributed to soldiers shortly after the armistice, 

 when 487,771 men advised their desire to take 

 up farming as their life work, whereas there 

 were only 172,218 of these who, previous to their 

 enlistment, had been so employed. Only 4,175 

 men in the Canadian army, who had previously 

 been farmers, wished to leave their calling to 

 follow others. The subsidized, assisted project 

 of the Soldier Settlement Board has proved 

 immensely popular, as witness the fact that in 

 the two years which have elapsed since the 

 armistice up till December 1st, when the last 

 figures were published, approximately 59,000 

 returned soldiers have made application for 

 the purpose of qualifying, 42,000 have been 

 declared qualified, whilst approximately 20,000 

 have received advances amounting to more than 

 $80,000,000. 



Soldiers Favor West 



Alberta has received by far the largest num- 

 ber of these settlers, followed by Saskatchewan, 

 Manitoba and British Columbia. Of the total, 

 eighty-five per cent, of soldier settlers have 

 located on land west of the Great Lakes, the 

 figures by provinces being: Alberta, 5,710; 

 Saskatchewan, 4,875; Manitoba, 3,289; British 

 Columbia, 2,941; Ontario, 1,403; New Bruns- 

 wick, 505; Quebec, 459; Nova Scotia, 395; 

 Prince Edward Island, 302. 



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