76 DEEP FURROWS 



Winnipeg for the East every twenty minutes of every 

 twenty-four hours. The freight boats on the lakes load 

 460,000 bushels in three-and-a-half hours.* 



It is interesting to note that nowhere else in the 

 world is a great public grain market like the Winnipeg 

 market found located four hundred miles away from 

 the storage point where grain dealt in is kept for sale 

 delivery. Geographically Fort William and Port 

 Arthur at the head of the great lakes water route would 

 provide the natural delivery point for Western grain 

 which has been routed eastward** and there the loca- 

 tion of the exchange might be looked for logically. It 

 so happens, however, that the eastern edge of the vast 

 grain fields lies four hundred miles west of the twin 

 harbors, the country between not being adapted for 

 farming, and to avoid the delay of mail transit and to 

 operate the trading effectively it was necessary to 

 locate the exchange at Winnipeg, the great metro- 

 politan railway centre where the incoming grain 

 concentrated. 



In Western Canada the grain is stored in bulkfby 

 grades,) thereby cheapening handling cost. Unlike most 

 countries which sell grain on sample Western Cana- 

 dian grain has been sold by grade. The inspection and 

 grading of wheat, therefore, is a very important factor 

 in the grain trade of Canada and is in full charge of 



* Although only about ten per cent, of the arable area in Western 

 Canada is under cultivation there are already 8,500 country elevators. 

 Terminal elevators at the head of the lakes with a storage capacity of forty- 

 four million bushels and interior Government terminals with ten and one- 

 half million bushels capacity are overflowing already. Wheat exports of 

 Canada have increased from 2,284,702 bushels in 1867 to 157,745,469 

 bushels in 1916. Per capita Canada has more railway mileage than any 

 country in the world. 



** In early days nearly all grain was routed eastward via Winnipeg; 

 but with the development of the grain trade and the opening of the 

 Panama Canal some Western Canadian grain travels west and south. 

 Facilities for inspection and grading have been established at Calgary, 

 Superior, Duluth, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat and Vancouver. 



