“Until the country has a railway affording the settlers entrance to the markets, the grain acreage will not increase beyond sufficient to supply the settlers’ own wants, and to meet local demands, but the advent of a railway will change all this.”[[16]]
Present Day Agriculture.
Inspector Howard gave the following information as to agriculture in his district:—
“The general state of the district is satisfactory, and most of the settlers, having had good crops, seem well pleased with their prospects in this new country. In some parts of Peace river country a few suffered loss from hail, and want of rain in other parts has affected the crops of a few injuriously, but on the whole the crops were a very fair average. In most cases threshing is not over, but in one case where the crop has been threshed a Mr. L. H. Adair, of Baptiste lake, about twelve miles west of Athabaska, really in the Athabaska country, threshed five thousand bushels of oats from one hundred and twenty acres of land. Nearly all the new settlers coming into the country this year have settled at Grande prairie, in Peace river country, where the land is very good. Most of these settlers were from Eastern Canada and the United States, and in nearly all cases were supplied with a fair amount of capital, stock and farm implements. Nearly all of them have put in gardens, and have vegetables enough for their use in the winter, and from reports I have received from the detachments, in no cases should there be any shortage amongst the new settlers during the coming winter.
“Mixed farming is chiefly carried on in this district, oats and barley being the chief grain grown. There is practically no market for wheat at present owing to the want of railway communication. Potatoes and all other kinds of vegetables are successfully grown, most of the farmers having small vegetable gardens for their own consumption, but practically none are grown for market.
“In Peace River district, Red Fife wheat was sown last spring from seed supplied by the government. The wheat principally sown in this district in former years was Ladoga, an early ripening grain, but the Red Fife appears to have done just as well this year. The amount of grain raised this year in Peace River Landing district is about:—Wheat, five thousand bushels; oats, four thousand bushels; barley, one thousand two hundred bushels. Threshing was not finished at the time this report was made, so the above is only an estimate.
“There are about three hundred head of horses of all kinds and three hundred and fifty head of cattle owned by settlers in Peace River settlement, practically
Every Farmer Owning a Few Head
of each. In Lesser Slave lake district there are approximately six hundred and one horses, seven hundred and fourteen cattle and one hundred and forty-five pigs; in addition to these there are the following registered stock: three stallions, five bulls, thirteen cows, four boars and six sows.
“The crops through Peace River Landing and Lesser Slave lake subdistricts have been a fair average. The grazing lands about Lesser Slave lake, Grande prairie, Peace River Landing, Fort Vermilion and other sections are very good, and hay is very plentiful and a supply for the winter can easily be put up.