AGRICULTURE. 



MOOSE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT, WEST- 

 ERN CANADA. 



In preparing an article on the Canadian 

 Irrigation it was thought well to call atten- 

 tion to the famed Moose Mountain Dis- 

 trict, which has come into great promi- 

 nence during the past few years. 



This District needs no particular intro- 

 duction to the people who have been in- 

 terested during the past year in farm lands 

 in the Canadian West. 



A large amount of advertising and work 

 has been done in connection with this 

 territory by the American Colonization 

 Company of Ottawa, 111. This firm real- 

 ized the great possibilities of the Moose 

 Mountain territory and immediately se- 

 cured control of large bodies of land, and 

 it is said that they now practically control 

 nearly one million acres in that country. 



We are presenting illustrations fur- 

 nished by this company, one showing a 

 harvesting scene, another harvesting a 

 potato crop, and still another giving an 

 idea of the appearance of the homesteads 

 in that country. 



This past year and a half over 2,500 

 persons have taken up homesteads in this 

 District and nearly one-half of these are 

 now resident farmers. The year 1902 will 

 exceed all others in the line of immigration 

 from England, Ireland, Scotland, Ontario, 

 Quebec, and all parts of the United 

 States. To the north rise the Moose 

 Mountains and from the elevation of this 

 pretty range can be seen the long fertile 

 valley to the south extending sixty or 

 seventy miles east and west. From this 

 range of mountains the whole district gets 

 its name. 



The soil throughout the district is of a 

 very high quality, being a rich black clay 

 loam on a clay subsoil, and is admirably 

 adapted for the growing of hard wheat. 

 The water throughout the entire district is 



of the finest quality and is to be obtained 

 almost everywhere at an average depth^of 

 from 10 to 20 feet. In a great many places, 

 especially along the small creeks which 

 flow from the mountains, live springs are 

 to be found of pure crystal water. About 

 the center of the district and running 

 from the northwest is the Moose Moun- 

 tain creek, a splendid stream of fresh 

 water, which runs the year round and fur- 

 nishes a constant supply of water for cat- 

 tle or other purposes. 



The mountains, which bound the dis- 

 trict to the north, are thickly wooded and 

 supply an unlimited quantity of feed for 

 cattle. There is an abundance of all kinds 

 of native grasses, including red top and 

 wild peas, which varieties are considered 

 by the cattle men to be the best adapted 

 for feed purposes. In the heart of the 

 mountains the government has a large 

 area of the best timbered land set apart 

 as a wood reserve for the use of the set- 

 tlers, who can obtain a free permit to cut 

 the following amounts of timber for fuel 

 for use on their land; 3,000 lineal feet of 

 building timber, 400 roof poles, 500 fence 

 posts, 2,000 fence rails, and a sufficient 

 quantity of fuel for domestic purposes. 

 The mountains are not of use for timber 

 alone, as large herds of the farmers' cat- 

 tle graze quietly on the hills from spring 

 until fall, at no 'cost to their owners. 

 About the end cf October the herds are 

 rounded up and the cattle selected for the 

 eastern markets. The beef cattle from 

 the Moose Mountains are not surpassed in 

 either size or quality by any other cattle 

 in America. 



Although there is an abundance of wood 

 to be had in the mountains there is very 

 little, if any, timber on the prairie. A.n 

 abundance of hay scattered throughout 

 the entire district in the sloughs affords 

 food for the cattle and horses throughout 



