at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia 

 came from Fort Chipewayan, approximately 

 650 miles north of the international boundary, 

 and at that time a region barely penetrated by 

 explorers, having been raised there by Roderick 

 MacKenzie, a brother of the great explorer of 

 the same name. This success was followed up 

 in 1893, when some of the prize wheat at the 

 Chicago World's Fair was grown at the Shaftes- 

 bury Settlement, fifteen miles from Peace River 

 Crossing, or approximately 500 miles north of 

 the United States boundary. 



These successes presaged the great productiv- 

 ity which the future held for that fertile region to 

 the north of Alberta, undefined, and known gen- 

 erally as the Peace River Country, stretching 

 northward from a line drawn west from Edmon- 

 ton upward to the Arctic Circle. This territory 

 is just coming into its own and is clearly des- 

 tined to evolve into one of the richest agricultur- 

 ally producing regions of the Canadian West. 

 It has suffered from certain handicaps, and has 

 had, to a great extent, to await for its develop- 

 ment the great farming areas to the south of it. 

 Now, however, the way seems clear to unrestric- 

 ted development with an active transportation 

 system giving it communication with the pro- 

 vincial capital. This region has experienced a 

 most successful agricultural year, and has wit- 

 nessed the introduction of numbers of new set- 

 tlers of fine type with substantial capital, whilst 

 the individual prosperity of the farmers 

 is indicated in the volume of raw material, 

 lumber, etc., moving into that country along 

 the railroad. 



A $15,000,000 Cereal Crop 



It has been estimated that in the Peace River, 

 Grande Prairie and districts along the lines 

 of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Col- 

 umbia Railway, the acreage sown to wheat was 

 about 65,000 acres, to oats nearly 100,000 acres, 

 and to barley about 25,000 acres. The value 

 of the total crop is expected to run in value from 

 ten to fifteen million dollars. The grain pro- 

 duction this year was a substantial one, and in 

 addition to the fine grain crops of cereals, others 

 have achieved excellent growth. Tomatoes 

 and cucumbers have grown to profusion, cab- 

 bages four and a half feet wide are said to be 

 not uncommon, and potatoes twenty inches 

 long have been harvested. 



The Grande Prairie and Peace River districts 

 appear at a glance at the map to be so far north 

 and in such propinquity to the Arctic Circle, 

 that the popular belief will persist that crops 

 which are produced further south are impossible 

 of production there. A few duly authenticated 

 instances of crop production, gleaned from many, 

 may best aid to eradicate this misconception. 



Henry Robertson, a Grande Prairie pioneer, 

 threshed this season nearly eighteen thousand 

 bushels of wheat, making his twelfth consecutive 



bumper crop. His wheat yield per acre, during 

 this period of farming, has never dropped be- 

 low twenty-five bushels and has run as high as 

 fifty. 



Some Excellent Results 



A threshing machine operating in the region 

 of Lake Saskatoon, Grande Prairie district, 

 this year, maintained an average of thirty-five 

 bushels of wheat per acre for seven days oper- 

 ations in the district. One field of Marquis 

 wheat threshed sixty -seven bushels to the acre; 

 a field of oats went one hundred and seven bush- 

 els to the acre; and a field of barley seventy- 

 one bushels. 



The Government Experimental Farm at 

 Beaverlodge, which serves the Grande Prairie 

 district, secured a yield of seventy-five bushels 

 to the acre from Liberty Ottawa 480 hulless oats, 

 the equivalent in meat content to one hundred 

 and seven bushels of ordinary oats. Winter 

 wheat on the same farm returned thirty-eight 

 bushels to the acre, and the spring variety as 

 high as sixty bushels per acre. Excellent yields 

 of clover seed were also secured. 



These are merely a few instances of agricul- 

 tural production in a territory five hundred miles 

 and more north of the international boundary, 

 and this is as yet a pioneer country attracting 

 coloniststoits available lands open for settlement. 

 It is not difficult in the face of the facts to 

 prophesy, for the vast territory, a future of un- 

 paralleled prosperity and vision in this Last West, 

 one of the wealthiest areas of the Dominion. 



Pocket Gardens 



The New York Independent recently pub- 

 lished an account of what is called a " Pocket 

 Garden" taken to the Arctic seas. "When 

 the MacMillan expedition packed up its 

 goods and chattels a short time ago and de- 

 parted for Baffin Land and the Frozen North 

 on a voyage of scientific exploration, it carried 

 along the first fresh fruits and vegetables ever 

 to penetrate to that barren country," says 

 The Independent. "Fresh spinach and green 

 corn, new rhubarb in the stalk for rhubarb 

 pies, and raw cabbage for salad were in- 

 cluded. Can you imagine the scene? A mid- 

 summer dinner in the midst of icelocked fields and 

 a group of fur-wrapped Esquimaux to wonder 

 and comment on the strange delicacies of the 

 white man's table! Fresh food, months after 

 it has been pulled from the garden and 

 eaten still fresh in a land where no vegetation 

 of any sort is found! How is it accomplished? 

 Every bit of it has been wrapped up simply in 

 paper, bags and stowed away with no greater 

 precautions than the blankets or other luggage. 

 Yet sufficient food has been carried along in 

 this form to last each member of the party five 

 months." 



