i8 THE UPPER YUKON 



who proved to be a banker of Winnipeg, was 

 standing near by, and entered into conversa- 

 tion with me. I confessed to a feeling of 

 enraptured wonder at the enormous quantity 

 of wheat that was being transported to the 

 elevators, there to be loaded into the waiting 

 railroad trains for transportation either to the 

 Atlantic or to the Pacific, or to local points. 



"Where do you live?" said the banker. 



"In Philadelphia." 



"Well, you are now about a thousand miles 

 north from Philadelphia. A thousand miles 

 Still farther north of us is more wheat, and 

 better wheat, than that which you see passing 

 to the elevators. In perhaps ten years from 

 now this country north of us will be opened up 

 by railroads and other forms of transportation. 

 People will pour into it from the northern 

 sections of your country, immigrants will ar- 

 rive from Europe, Asia, and even Australia 

 to till this fertile and easily farmed land, and 

 then in a few years more a new empire to the 

 north of us will be pouring its rich freightage 

 of the products of these northern prairies 

 into the lap of the then great city of Winni- 

 peg." 



At that time his talk made but a fleeting im- 

 pression upon my mind, but can you not see 



