As was to be expected with its unprecedented development, the financial stress during 1913 was felt as keenly throughout Western Canada as anywhere in the country. The fact is that money could not keep pace with the natural demands of 400,000 new people a year. Towns and cities had to be built, farming operations were extensive, and capitalists had not made sufficient preparation. But last year's crop has restored conditions to a normal state, and natural and reasonable development will continue.
Owing to a wet fall in 1912 and a heavy snowfall the succeeding winter, seeding in some districts was later than usual. But with the favourable weather of May, June, and July, wheat sown in May ripened early in August. Rains came at the right time, and throughout the season the best of weather prevailed.
These cattle winter out in Western Canada and do well. Shelter and water are abundant.
The Cities Reflect the Growth of the Country.—Passing through Western Canada from Winnipeg, and observing the cities and towns along the network of railways in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, one feels there must be "something of a country" behind them all. Gaze in any direction and the same view is presented: field after field of waving grain; labourers at work converting the virgin prairie into more fields; wide pasture lands where cattle are fattening on grasses rich in both milk- and beef-producing properties. Here is the wealth that builds the cities.
In thirty years Winnipeg has increased in population from 2,000 to 200,000; and become an important gateway of commerce. The wheat alone grown in the three prairie provinces in 1913 is sufficient to keep a steady stream of 1,000 bushels per minute continuously night and day going to the head of the lakes for three and a half months, and in addition to that, the oats and barley would supply this stream for another four months. The value of the grain crop alone would be sufficient to build any of our great transcontinental railroads and all their equipment, everything connected with them, from ocean to ocean. With only 10 per cent of the arable land under cultivation, what will the possibilities be when 288 million acres of the best land that the sun shines on is brought under the plough? Do you not see the portent of a great, vigorous, populous nation living under those sunny skies north of the 49th parallel?
New Railway Mileage Grows at Rapid Rate.—Every year long stretches of new rails are extended into some hitherto untravelled domain, bringing into subjugation mountain, plain, and forest. Mighty rivers are being bridged, massive mountains are being tunnelled, and real zest is being given this work in the exciting race between the rival companies as they strive to outstrip each other in surmounting Nature's obstacles. During 1913, more than 4,000 miles of new road have been built in Canada, the bulk of this in Western Canada.
The latest reports give the total railway mileage in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta as 12,760 miles, the Canadian Pacific Railway having 5,534; the Canadian Northern, 4,187; the Grand Trunk Pacific, 1,476; the Great Northern Railway, 162. Manitoba has a total mileage of 4,014; Saskatchewan, 5,679; Alberta, 3,073. The gain over 1912 is about 3,400 miles.
Western Canada's Wheat.—The quality of Western Canada wheat is recognized everywhere. Recently a U. S. senator said of the Canadian grain fields: "The wheat that Canada raises is the Northwestern hard spring wheat. The cost of raising is less in Canada than in the States, because the new lands there will produce larger crops than the older land on this side of the line, and the land is cheaper than in the United States."
According to official figures the total estimated wheat production of Western Canada in 1913 was 209,262,000 bushels, an increase of more than 5 million bushels in 1912. Oats show a total yield of more than 242,413,000 bushels, barley more than 30 million bushels, rye more than 2,500,000 bushels, flax more than 14 million bushels, and mixed grains more than 17 million bushels. Wheat, oats, barley, and rye are above the average quality of the last two years, and potatoes and root crops show a good percentage of standard condition during growth. The value of the harvest is approximately 209 million dollars as compared with about 200 million in 1912.