WINNIPEG TO EDMONTON 129 



Every platform was a mart where farmers, agents, 

 and speculators were there and then willing to sell 

 desirable sites and thriving farms. Judging from what 

 I heard, I might have been a millionaire, had I only 

 the temerity, half a dozen times over before reaching 

 my destination. This spirit of disinterestedness on 

 the part of vendors has been checked of late years by 

 the formation of reliable bureaus under Government 

 supervision. There is no longer any necessity for a 

 purchaser of land to find himself in possession of a 

 swamp, a by no means uncommon experience. The 

 Prairie is not a uniform El Dorado. It has its arid 

 wastes, its thin substratum of fertility, as well as its 

 deep rich loam, and there hover over it all, hawks 

 which are ready to pluck any unwary bird about to 

 stretch its speculative wings. 



The journey to Edmonton is in itself an object 

 lesson in inequalities. Great rivers are crossed, cut- 

 ting their sinuous way through vast plains, pregnant 

 with the highest possibilities of agriculture. Rocky 

 soil comes into view of a different order and more 

 limited in productive qualities ; lakes with great 

 stretches of marsh, out of which flocks of wild duck 

 rise, attesting its suitability for their habitat and 

 little more. 



It was late when we arrived at Edmonton, the 

 capital town of Alberta. A number of omnibuses were 

 drawn up at the station for the convenience of 

 passengers. Choosing that more archaic method of 



K 



