Dauphin, Man., September 13. Threshing is general. The grain is in good shape and the weather is ideal. The samples are best ever grown here, grading No. 1 Northern. The returns are larger than expected in nearly every case. E. B. Armstrong's wheat went 34 bushels to the acre; others, 25 to 27.
Balmoral.—John Simpson says: "Very prosperous has been our first year's farming in Canada. Shipped two carloads of wheat that graded No. 1 Northern and sold for eighty-five cents. Weather for the last two weeks was perfect—no snow and just enough frost to keep the roads from getting muddy."
Brandon.—Hard wheats have long been the choice product of Manitoba soil, but nothing more significant is required to announce a new industry in the Province than that Glencarnock Victor, a Manitoba-finished steer, owned by Mr. J. D. McGregor, was last year grand champion of America, and his half-brother from the same stables, won like honours this year. Neither had ever been fed any corn, but fattened on prairie hay, alfalfa, and barley.
CITIES AND TOWNS
Winnipeg, with a population of about 200,000, is a natural distributing point for Western Canada, as well as the shipping point for the wonderful crops from the tributary prairie lands. The prosperity of Western Canada is here reflected in substantial buildings, wide boulevards, quarries, water works, street lighting systems, asphalt plants, and a park system of 29 parks, covering 500 acres. There are 40 modern school buildings with 378 teachers and 21,210 pupils.
Winnipeg has four live daily papers and forty weekly and monthly publications. Twenty-four railway tracks radiate from the city, making Winnipeg the leading grain centre of the world. A photograph taken at any point in the financial centre of the city shows magnificent new buildings under construction, representing immense investment and indicating the confidence felt in the city's future. Municipal improvements are constantly being made. The city now has 466 miles of sidewalk, 112 miles of boulevard and 162 miles of street pavement. There are 115 churches.
St. Boniface, the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of St. Boniface, adjoins and is partly surrounded by the business district: 17,000 population.
Brandon—With 18,000 population is the second city in the Province and is located on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with its seven branch railway lines. The Canadian Northern runs through the town and has erected a fine new modern hotel. The Great Northern entering from the south and the Grand Trunk Pacific completed, there is afforded excellent shipping facilities, necessary to the factories, flour mills, machine shops, and wholesale houses established here. There are fourteen branch banks here with clearings totalling $33,000,000. As an educational centre Brandon might be ranked with cities several times larger. The high school would be a credit to any city of first rank. A Dominion Experimental Farm is located here.
Portage la Prairie—Enjoys splendid railway facilities at the junction of four lines of railway. This fortunate situation has brought a number of industries. The city owns its park and has a fine educational system, including a Collegiate Institute. Many churches and fraternal organizations are supported by this city of 7,000 population. Municipal improvements are constantly being made.
Selkirk is a distributing point of supplies for points on Lake Winnipeg.