Homesteading 



in the winter. As some companions were also 

 going to spend the winter with him, with a con- 

 siderable quantity of stock, a large stable was 

 also built of upright poles well sodded round 

 and with a hay roof, and large Enough to hold 

 some twenty-four head of cattle and horses. A 

 small bank or hillock was excavated away and 

 formed part of one wall of this building, which, 

 however, though forming an excellent winter 

 shelter, would require much more work to make 

 it a really permanent cow-house. Nor must the 

 shack be confounded with the idea of a pretty 

 little British cottage, though the conventional 

 Irish mud cabin or the Scotch " shieling on 

 the misty island " might convey some idea of it. 



When this homestead was taken up, about five 

 years ago, it was twenty-seven miles from the 

 nearest railroad station ; now there is a nice 

 little railroad town about fourteen miles distant. 



This young homesteader, working in connec- 

 tion with others, had the use of oxen and im- 

 plements for two or three weeks of the first season 

 in ploughing and preparing twenty acres, in 

 fulfilment of his homestead duties and in an- 

 ticipation of a crop during the following year. 

 A considerable part of the land lay rather low, 

 among rolling hills, and contained some nice 

 little hay sloughs, and on this account (its depres- 



236 



