36 DEEP FURROWS 



tion of wheat for export. Close on heel the railways 

 and water-carriers began competing for the transporta- 

 tion of the grain, the railways pushing eagerly in every 

 direction where new wheat lands could be tapped. In 

 1856 wheat was leaving Chicago for Europe and four 

 years later grain vessels from California were rounding 

 Cape Horn. The nine years that followed saw the con- 

 quest of the vast prairies of the American West which 

 were crossed by the hissing, iron monsters that stam- 

 peded the frightened bison, out-ran the wild horses and 

 out-stayed the lurking Indian. 



No sooner had the railways pushed back the frontier 

 than wheat began to trickle steadily upon the market, 

 to flow with increased volume, then to pour in by train- 

 loads. Sacks were discarded for quicker shipment in 

 bulk; barns and warehouses filled and spilled till ade- 

 quate storage facilities became the vital problem and, 

 the need mothering invention, F. H. Peavey came for- 

 ward with an idea an endless chain of metal cups for 

 elevating grain. From this the huge modern elevator 

 evolved to take its place as the grain's own particular 

 storehouse. With the establishment of exchanges for 

 conducting international buying and selling the uni- 

 versalizing of wheat was complete. 



These things had come to pass while that great region 

 which is now Western Canada was still known as a 

 GreaJL Lone -Xtajid. QPioneer settlers, however, were 

 beginning to venture westward to the newly organized 

 Province of Manitoba and beyond. The nearest rail- 

 road was at St. Paul, Minnesota, from which point a 

 " prairie schooner " trail led north for 450 miles to 

 Winnipeg at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine 

 rivers; the alternative to this overland tented-wagon 

 route was a tedious trip by Red River steamer. It was 



