THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



by the Canadian irrigation law, but also guarantees 

 forever to maintain the system of canals and to deliver 

 water to each quarter section of land brought "under 

 ditch." 



This particular section of Western Canada has, 

 within the past few years, attracted almost world wide 

 attention by its tremendous yields of the smaller grains, 

 especially winter wheat. By the introduction of irri- 

 gation these great yields of wheat and other small 

 grains will be assured every year and in addition thereto 

 the raising of alfalfa and sugar beets will be rendered 

 not only possible but most profitable. 



Alberta has been, and is, a great stock raising 

 country. The native grasses on these prairies are prob- 

 ably unequaled anywhere else. So much is this true 

 that Alberta has been appropriately called the "Sirloin 

 of Canada." With the introduction of alfalfa it is 

 known that the raising of stock will become still more 

 extensive and more profitable. Sugar beets have been 

 raised and there is already a beet-sugar factory in South- 

 ern Alberta. The long days of sunshine common to 



The climate of Alberta is also an attractive feature. 

 Many people think because it is far north and far 

 west it must be as cold, or even colder, than Manitoba, 

 which is known to be a rather cold country. The fact 

 is that Alberta comes under the influence of the Chinook 

 winds from the Pacific, and the climate of Alberta 

 is more to be compared with the climate of Colorado 

 or certain parts of Montana than it is to be compared 

 with that of Manitoba. For a northern clime it prob- 

 ably has no superior on the continent. 



The vastncss of this undertaking and the favorable 

 conditions as to climate and soil and water, together 

 with the fact that the great corporation, the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, is forever to maintain the system, has 

 attracted the attention of experts in agriculture the 

 world over. It is predicted by our American irriga- 

 tion experts that there will be a vast tide of emigra- 

 tion from the irrigated and non-irrigated States of the 

 Union into the territory acquired by this new project. 

 The tide of emigration from the States to Western 

 Canada has been increasing for the past five years at 



Section of Main Canal, Canadian Pacific Colonization Company's Project, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 



this north country have proven peculiarly suitable to 

 the raising of sugar beets. The soil is rich and a large 

 tonnage is always secured in sugaV beets, and the per- 

 centage of pure sugar averages higher than in the 

 United States. It is believed that Alberta along the 

 line of this vast irrigation project, will become a- great 

 producer of beet sugar. 



It will be of interest to our readers to know that 

 in this great irrigation undertaking there is not a single 

 tunnel or flume. Nature seems to have perfectly 

 adapted the contour of this section of land to the arti- 

 ficial application of water. Partly because the cost per 

 acre of getting the water upon the land is compara- 

 tively small, although the aggregate cost of this tract 

 is great, and partly because the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way was more desirous of building up a great agricul- 

 tural community than of making an immense profit 

 by the sale of the land, these lands are to be placed 

 upon the market with a perpetual water right at a 

 merely nominal price as compared with the prices of 

 irrigated lands in the States, and the maintenance 

 charge is to be less than that attached to any irrigation 

 projected conducted by a corporation in the States. 



a marvelous rate. The American farmers in Western 

 Canada have been so uniformly, and in many cases, so 

 marvelously, successful that the desire to possess some 

 of this Canadian land has become almost a craze in 

 the Western States, and while the price of lands in 

 Western Canada has advanced rapidly within the past 

 few years, the opportunities for profitable investment 

 are just as great today as ever, and while it is not 

 our business to advocate the advantages of a foreign 

 country over and above those of our own country, yet 

 it is our business and privilege, wherever the facts 

 are so apparent as they are in the case of Western 

 Canada, and especially in Alberta, to call the attention 

 of our American friends and patrons to the superior 

 advantages offered across the border. We do not and 

 can not forget that for years the young blood and the 

 vigorous blood of Canada has been pouring into the 

 United States, and now that the door of opportunity 

 has opened wide in Western Canada, we feel as a matter 

 of even-handed justice that we are only in part re-pay- 

 ing our Canadian friends a just debt and sending back 

 to them a part of that which belongs to them. 



