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Continuing our journey to the West, we
travelled over the Canadian Pacific Railway from Regina to Calgary.
There is not very much settlement in that part of the country,
although more small farmers are there than was the case on a
previous visit in 1889. At intervals may be seen the farms of the
Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonisation Company, each covering a
considerable acreage. The principal business at the present time on
these properties seems to be the raising of cattle, sheep, and
horses, the only arable farming that is done being for tho purpose
of providing food for the stock. A good many of the surplus cattle
are shipped to England, as well as the sheep, and the horses are
sold locally. The company also sends a considerable quantity of meat
to the West as far as Vancouver. Conducted on so largo a scale, with
every opportunity of economising labour and expenses, one would
think that the farms should have proved a success, but, so far, such
has not been the case, chiefly, it is said, in consequence of the
way in which they have been managed. That, as so often proves to be
the case, has been much more expensive, especially in the earlier
days of the company, than was contemplated, or than farming would
warrant, oven with the higher prices that were obtained for all
kinds of produce some years ago.
The principal places between Regina
and Calgary are Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Dunmore, and Medicine Hat,
and the level of the country gradually ascends from 1,870 feet to
nearly 2,400 feet. From Dunmore a branch line, now worked by tho C.
i\ R., leads to the coal mines at Lethbridge, and an extension of
the railway on a narrower gauge provides a market for the coal in
Montana. Medicine Hat is the largest of all the places mentioned,
and derives its importance chiefly from its position as a railway
divisional point. The railway crosses the Saskatchewan about a
quarter of a mile from the town, the river being about 100 or 400
yards wide. There is always a considerable number of Indians
squatting on the station platform, painted and got up for show
purposes; at any rate, one never sees them so “fixed” away from the
stations. Their chief object in life appears to be to sell
cow-horns, polished and furbished up to look like buffalo trophies,
and they seem to find a ready market for their wares. In this part
of Canada the buffalo used to roam in countless myriads, and it does
seem a thousand pities that they should have been allowed to die
out, or rather exterminated, without an effort being made for their
preservation. Their tracks, to and from water, may still be seen,
and the shallow holes in which they used to wallow are also very
numerous. Lakes, many of them alkaline, are frequently passed, and
they serve to attract wild fowl; but the country generally has an
arid appearance. Competent scientific authorities state, however,
that with cultivation the land will improve, and that it is capable
of producing grain and vegetables of all kinds—which, to a certain
extent, was proved by tho small experimental stations established by
the railway company at intervals throughout the district some years
ago.
Calgary is the most solid-locking
town between Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains. It has a population
of over 3,000, and its inhabitants appear to have gone there to
stay—to use a local euphemism—judging by the character of the
buildings they have erected. There are several hotels- good,
substantial-looking structures. The business houses and stores in
the principal streets are all also well built, a light-coloured
sandstone that is found in the neighbourhood being generally used.
Attention is also apparently paid to style as well as to comfort.
The town is very prettily situated between the Bow and Elbow rivers,
with a ridge of low hills on one side. It is a railway divisional
point and an important junction, the lines to Edmonton on the north,
and to McLeod on the south, passing into the C. P. R. station. It is
the source of supplies for tho ranches that are found on all sides
of the town and for the mining districts in the Rocky Mountains —
which, by-the-way, are clearly visible from Calgary in anything like
fine weather. The enterprising people of Calgary do not like the
visitor to go away with the idea that the country around is only
good for grazing purposes. They claim that the district is suitable
for mixed and dairy farming, but they seem to have arrived at the
conclusion that irrigation is necessary to enable it to fulfil all
the anticipations that have been formed of it. In fact, irrigation
is now the leading topic of conversation, and more than one scheme
will be in operation in the course of the coming year (1895).
Like most places of any pretence in
Canada, Calgary has its club. It is called “The Ranchmen’s Club,”
and an exceedingly comfortable place it is. The membership is
limited, and its members are generally interested in the ranching
business, as its name implies, by far the larger proportion being
Englishmen. There is little or nothing, however, of what is known in
the United Kingdom as the cowboy element, either in Calgary or in
the district tributary to it. The cowboy of fiction is ft loud
individual, extravagant in dress, in language, and with an infinite
capacity for “painting the town red.” Neither at the club, nor on
the ranches, as “rounds up,” nor, indeed, on any occasion, does one
meet with the individual of whom one reads much occasionally. The
cowboys are, as a rule, gentlemanly fellows, well conducted, well
read, quiet and unassuming ; they look like Englishmen, and not
something between a South American gaucho, an Indian, and a
bush-ranger, as they are so often depicted. Those we met in the
course of our travels were the best of good fellows, and we looked
in vain for any specimens of tho cowboy of pen and pencil. |
