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The Gazette, 1893-08-17, Page 2NORTHERN STEAMBOATS. Three Little Vessels That Ply in the Mac- kenzie Basin. Carrying Freight by Inland Routes From Civilization to the Arctic Seas—Limber 'Sawn by Sand to Build Them—The Rap- ids That Separate filet Courses—Furth- er Prospects for Arctic River Boats. Three steamers ply on great Canadian rivers far outside the pale of the populous part of the continent. These waters all flow to the Arctic Ocean. The steamers belong to the Hudson Bay Company, and are a great convenience to all who visit the north- ; ern . part of the Dominion. We have heard how steamers on the Con-' go and the Central African lakes were car- ried on backs of men for hundreds of miles i before they were put together and launch- ed. It required almost as much effort to set the Hudson Bay Company's steamers afloat in the Canadian Northwest. Nearly two years were spent in 1882-83 building the little steamer Grahame at Fort Chippewyan on Lake Athabasca. Every foot of lumber was sawn by hand from pine trees near the lake. Her machinery was carried hundreds of miles over an almost roadless country ; and when she was launch- ed the little fiat -bottomed stern- wheeler of 140 tons was not much to look at. Her companion boat, the Athabasca, built at Athabasca Landing, on the river of that name, is a sternwheeler of the same capacity ; but she was built at much less cost, for a portable sawmill on the river bank ripped out the lumber in short order. The third steamboat, one of the few see that goods -may-be carried from any part of civilized America to the Arctic Ocean by steam along inland routes except for about 200 miles. The crossing of Great Slave Lake tests the qualities of the little Wrigley ; for this inland sea is lar: en some of our five great lakes, and ae gimes the waves are very high. In all the long stretch of country served by these little steamboats, there .is not a single town. Oue map shows, however. how numerous are the trading posts of the Hud son Bay Company. They are scattered by the score along these great waterways and sometimes are planted far from the rivers. They are places of rendezvous and r'evictual. ling for traders and were chosen for their ad- vantages as the meeting places of hunters and travellers. If in the development of this region villages ate ever planted they will be reared upon the sites of these posts just as Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara and Winnipeg were built around the forts of the early Canadian traders. Some of these posts have acquired cele- brity from the fact that famous explorers, like Mackenzie, Franklin, Back, and Rich- ardson, visited and described them. Fort McMurray dominates the confluence of the Athabasca and Clear Water rivers, and is a natural meeting place for hunters and traders. At Fort Cihippewyan nearly o e hundred people live, making it quite a ci y in the thinly peopled region. It was : n important station even when Mackenzie et - plored the river that bears his name, ai d he called it the " Little Athens" of tl e north: Fort Smith, on the Great Sla- e River, is one of the busiest of the post. Further north, Forts Resolution and Prov- idence, on the Great Slave -Lake, were -..— _0^0.``1., inti: e • • i FORT= SIMPSON. —At the junction of the Mackenzie and Liard rivers. river steamers that ply within the Arctic made famous by the Franklin expedition. Circle, was built in 1886 at Fort Smith on the Fort Reliance, once an important post, was Great Slave River. The Wrigley, as she is long ago abandoned. Now nothing re- mains of ft but a heap of ruins. Fort Rae, on a northern arm of Great Slave Lake, was abandoned, but was restored at the cost of the British and Canadian Governi ments, and was occupied in 1882-83 as one of the circum -polar stations. The principal post between Great Slave and Great Bear lakes is Fort Simpson, at the confidence of the Mackenzie and the Liard rivers. Our illustration shows its large buildings and the vast bodies of we- ' ter whiciAneetiDere for the Mackenzie is the third largest river in North America, and its Liard affluent is as large as many a famous European river. The most northern post is Fort Macpherson on the Peel River, and it is the only fort worthy of the name. near the Mackenzie delta, and back again, For many years it has been kept in a state she hes made a round-tripjourney of 2,600 of adequate defence, owing toithe attack miles. made upon it long ago by Eskimos of the The reason why these steamers were built Mackenzie delta. so far from one another is that they were It usually takes the Wrigley eight or required to ply on portions of the Mac- kenzie system that are separated by stretches of falls or rapids impassable by steamboats. Each steamboat is confined to its own stretch of water and freight is carried from one vessel to another by scows or land portage. All goods which the Hudson Bay Company or missionaries carry into the Mackenzie basin are taken over the Canadian Pacific to Cal- gary, then on the branch line to Edmonton on the North Saskatchewan, where they are transferred to wagons for the portage 100 miles northeast to Athabasca Landing, where they are loaded on the Athabasca called, is a little thing , but she cost a round sum, for every piece of lumber in her was sawn by hand, and all her machinery was carried 100 miles by horses over terrible roads, then taken in scows 250 miles, and then transferred to the Grahame and car- ried 300 miles further before it could be put into the hull ot the Wrigley. The com- pany depends upon the Wrigley to supply all trading stations along the Mackenzie, between Fort Smith and the Arctic Ocean. Unlike the o le oats, 'sheiss a propeller. She carries only thirty tons of freight and her engine drives her about eight mires an boar. Fort Smith is her most southern landing place, and by the time she steams north to Fort MacPherson on Peel River, nine days to make the journey from Fort Smith to Fort Macpherson. On the return journey her average rate is five and nine• tenthe miles an hour, only a little more than half her speed descending the river. There are possibilities of steam navigation in the Mackenzie basin that have not yet been tested. Mr. Oglivie, who recently made an extensive journey on the Liard and Peace rivers thinks that both may be largely utilized as steamer routes. A short distance up the Liard is a rapid, but sufficient water flows over the ledge to per- mit the passage of flat-bottomed steamers which plies 265 miles to the head of the for most of the summer. If this proves Grand hiapids. At the foot of these rapids true, the Liard can be navigated by is Forte cMurray, and here the Grahame waits for the cargo the Athabasca brings. The Grahame plies from Fort McMurray to Fort Chippewyan, about 290 miles, and also by the Peace River to the Vermilion 220 miles from Fort Chippewyan. The total course of the Grahame accordingly is about 420 miles. 'These three vessels, steamboats for 200 miles and at the furthest point the best branch joins it, and Oglivie says the east branch affords 100 miles more of� navigable waters. Long stretches of many rivers are adapted for navigation by fiat boats, and it is believed that there are 6,000 miles of waterways in the Mackenzie basin, which in one way or another may therefore, afford steam navigation along be utilized as highways. 2,000 miles of river routes, meeting with The Wrigley has not yet gone further only two series of rapids impassable by down the Mackenzie than the head of the delta, though it is said to be practicable to reach the sea, and very likely the experi- ment will be tried this season. Whether vessels can pass from the delta into the ocean is still an unsettled question, but it is probable that bars impede the delta chan- nels at the mouths. - It is evident from this short sketch of navigation in the Mackenzie basinthat travellers may easily and quickly reach the Arctic Ocean by an Inland route. The only difficulty would be to catch the steamer Athabasca when she leaves the Landing for the Grand Rapids. None of the steamers has a regular date for starting, their move- ments being governed by the needs of the Hudson Bay Company. The Athabasca, however, usually leaves the Landing about steamers. The first of these is the Grand Rapids of the Athabasca River, eighty-five miles long. The Hudson Bay Company carries its freight through these rapids in large boats, each manned by ten or twelve men and with a carrying capacity of about ten tons. They run through ten rapids before they reach Fort McMurray and some of the rapids are named from incidents that have occurred in them. One of them is Boiler Rapid, taking its name from the fact that the boiler in- tended for the Wrigley was lost there in 1882 by the wrecking of the scow that car- ried it. This accident delayed for a long time the building of the vessel Another is known as Drowned Rapid, because a Mr. Thompson was drowned there, and a little latter Mr. Ogilvie, the famous Cana- dian explorer, lost one of his men in the same treacherous current. There is plenty of water to float a steamer, but vessels with the present steaming power cannot ascend the rapids. In the opinion of many, how- ever, the Grahame could be so equipped that it would be possible for her to make the journey both. ways. The second an"d last obstacle is at Smith's Landing in Great Slave River, where four- teen miles of land portage are required. It is here that the Cariboo Mountains cross the river channel-, and the result is a series of formidable rapids and some falls which aggregate a drop of 240 feet in fourteen miles, putting all thought of navigation out of the question. At the foot of these rapids is Fort Smith, and from this point navigation is practically unimpeded to the Arctic Oeean. The total length of rapids between Athabasca Landing and the Mac- kenzie delta is ninety-nine miles. Adding tothis the hundred miles land portage from ':Edmonton to Athabasca Landing, and we MACKENZIE BASIN WATERWAYS. The dots show Hudson Bay posts. the first days of June, and makes close con- nections with the steamers . further down the rivers. From Grand Rapids it would take three or four days . to reach Fort Mc- Murray ; then only one day would be needed to reach Fort Chippewyan, another day would take the traveller to Smith's .Land- ing, and another- would suffice for the por- tage. around the rapids to Fort Smith. In nine or ten days more the traveller would be at Fort MacPherson, and if he desired to reach the Arctic coast the Hudson Bay Company would place at his disposal canoes and canoe men, which now form the primi- tive style of travelling in the delta. A jour- ney of 4,000 miles from Ottawa would take the traveller to the Arctic coast. Near the coast he would find himself in the land of the midnight sun, and throughout the jour- ney he would likely experience as pleasant weather as he would find anywhere in Can- ada. The journey would cost about $300, and the round trip would require about seventy-five days. At present the only source of revenue in all this vast region is fur. The business of all whites, except the missionaries, is fur trading, and they, too, engage in it to some extent. A few years ago the Canadian Parliament appointed a committee to in- quire into the resources of the Mackenize basin. This committee spent months ex- amining a large number of witnesses who had lived long in the region and were com- petent to testify as to its capabilities. The report was published in a large volume which contains much interesting informa- tion. On the whole, however, the committee took a too roseat view, though there is no doubt agriculture and stock raising may be followed to some extent in the Peace and Liard river districts, It will be long, how- ever, before this region is turned to much account ; and not until the great prairies of southern Canada have become the homes of many thousands of people will there be any temptation for colonists to prove fur- ther north : and the three steamers now plying in the Mackenize basin are likely to be adequate to the needs of the country for a long time to come. . Special Versus _General Farmin-• There is much discussion, and most of it useless, as to the comparative merits of the systems of g eneral farming and special farming. This, as if the two were so op- posite that there could be no harmony be- tween them. But it has been well said that the general farmer who makes a speciality of every branch, has the best system of all. But this latter is not often - found, because the general farmer has not the time and opportunity to so thoroughly study the needs of each crop, as this would imply. The success of the specialty farm- er lies in the fact, that he can study his crop and so bring together all the necessary and favorable conditions which will work together for its good. He brings to bear the skill of a trained expert, and so is enabled to not only produce exceptionally good crops, but to produce such uni- formly, in bad seasons as well as in good ones. And right there is where he •makes his profit—in having good crops in the years when other men tail. But the same source of gain is in some degree within the reach of the general farmer, for by confin- ing his work to so small an area that he can give each crop the most thorough cultiva- tion just when it was needed, he can also do much to prevent the loss from untoward conditions. It is, after all, the man—with his methods in general, rather than by any one particular method that influences the result. So it is not worth while to discuss whether one of these systems is better than another, but whichever you follow, do it to the best of your bent. It is quite pos- sible, however, that the better one per- forms the work of the general farmer, the more will it incline him toward special branches and methods. A Railroad Ualculator • " If there is any class of mend like more than another," remarked the drummer to the traveling passenger agent, " its rail- road men, and I always buy my tickets, too." The t. p . a. smiled blandly. " Now," went on the drummer, " there's S. B. Hege, the Baltimore & Ohio agent in Washington. You know Hege, of course ? Good-looking fellow and as smooth as vel- vet. Well, I heard a good joke on him the other day. A friend of mine in Washington wanted transportation to Chicago along in June some time, and he dropped Hege a line. Hege sent the request over to head- quarters at Baltimore, forty miles away. The answer hadn't come in ten days and the applicant received an invitation to go out in a private car. On the way to the train he met Hege. " `Don't bother about that transport- ation. S. B.,' he said, very solemnly. ' I don't believe I can use it.' " 'Why not ?' -asked S. B., who was sur- prised to find a man who couldn't use a railroad pass. " 'Well,' and the man was more serious than ever, ' I've been calculating on it. That is to say, I've figured out that a pass weighs say one-tenth of an ounce, and I weigh 200 pounds, or 3,200 ounces. Now, if it takes the Baltimore & Ohio ten days to carry one-tenth of an ounce forty miles, how long will it take to carry 3,200 ounces to Chicago, say 680 miles ?' "Hage was knocked arithmetically galley - west and was speechless. " ' Ic will take,' resumed the calculator, ' just five million three hundred and forty thousand days, or about fourteen thousand nine hundred years, and you know, old fel- low, I can't wait that long if .1 want to see anything at all of the fair. Isn't that cor- rect ?' " But Hega couldn't say a word," con - chided the drummer, " and when I asked him about it last week he offered to set up the champagne at the funeral if I would kill the calculator." --- Look Out for the Sheep. Costiveness in sheep is to be carefully looked after at this season of the year, when the food is dry. .It is sure to produce inflammatory symptoms and disorder of the skin. This is immediately followed - by loosening of the wool, and the fleece drops off in patches where the skin is red and in- flamed. The remedy is to give the sheep a small ration of flax seed twice a week, one or two ounces is snffieient if given regularly, as should always be the casein all the man- agement of a flock. The oil -meal now it the market is not as suitable for his use as the seed, on account of the absence of oil in themneal, and the oil is the useful part- of the seed, being laxative and cooling. .AGR O JJ 1 UR Ito altry Clippinffs• None appreciate and show the result of good care so much as poultry, both old and young. Hens should always be free from Iice before being permitted to set. - A wide range on fresh green grass is what poultry love above all things, but if that is impossible, cut some fresh grass or clover every day for their benefit. The old notion that hens need nothing in the way of food except corn and what they can pick for themselves, is fast dying out, but even now many poultry breeders do not realize the importance of lime. " Eternal vigilance" is the price of chick- ens, and the woman who hasn't time to " bother" with them, but feeds them by throwing them handful of cornmeal made into a dough with . cold water, won't have good luck. The comb of the fowl is its health bar- ometer. When the comb is a bright red and filled with blood the fowl is well. When it becomes pale and looks whitish the fowl is out of condition. If it turns dark at the end; the trouble will generally be found connected with the respiratory organs ; if the fowl is choking with food or the trachea is filling with canker, the comb will be black. Whole sound wheat is of course prefer- able when one can afford it ; if not, chick- ens gladly accept screenings, and there is nothing they are fonder of than wheat bran. They tike it dry, moistened with water or skim -milk, or as a principal ingredient of all soft foods. They should have it, too ; there is nothing cheaper nor more whole- some for them. But whatever else we give our charges by all means let them have plenty of green food. Selection is the grand watchword of the breeder of all species of domestic animals. The unmethodical and half unconscious selection practiced by the masses of farmers and even semi -civilized hunters and herds- men during ages has modified all kinds of live stock wonderfully. But selection as applied intelligently and methodically by the skillful breeder brings quicker and more certain returns. One good way to teach hens to eat eggs is to throw into the fowl yards the empty and uncrushed shells of eggs from the kitchen. The fowls devour these voraciously, and thus get a taste for this kind of thing. A better way is to throw such shells icto the ash -heap, or else to crush them up so fine that they will not be recognizable among the chickens. Hens will not get this habit if allowed free range. It is only when they are stived up in close quarters,with nothing for idle beaks to do, that they learn to eat eggs. Browsi n:; Sheep. . It may be, writes A.P. Reed, that some of the failures with sheep husbandry result from trying too many on a given piece of ground. A very rough and unseemly piece of land for other animals will be just the thing for sheep and if we turn them on to it we shall first see them going for the brush and weeds and having taken these, at last look for grass, andetikus a homely pasture lot grows more/ ,;arable -in looks -under their training, Irire' land is rot over stocked. lin the latter event the grass will disappear as well as the browse and weeds. It were well to overstock a bit while the browse lasts, but take off the surplus when it gets so that grass is the principal diet. Were it not for overstocking I believe many a farmer would have seen profit in both wool and mutton and in beautified pastures, who as it is has become disgusted with sheep husbandry. Rolling land is good for sheep and hill- sides furnish favourite resorts for them. Practical Pointers. The reputation of your stock depends upon the top, the best. Sell of at the other end. When a farm pleases the fancy of the passerby it is worth more to the owner. I have grown an oat and pea crop for ten years, and have found it remunerative. It is better to go slow and keep the horses in good condition than to rush work so that the teams become weak. Storage room out of doors for farts tools is cheap in the first instance, but the most costly thing a farmer can indulge in the final reckoning. Clean cultivation is the only wise method for conducting a farm. The great things needed are promptness and thoroughness. If you want to raise premium onions, steep hen manure in a barrel of water and apply it to the growing crops in a liquid form. It is stated that a good corn crop will produce not less than two tons of actual digestible food material per acre, or more than twice as much as a heavy hay crop. If, by somebody's carelessness, a tool has become rusty, rub it well at night with kerosene and in the morning a little fine sand and a woolen rag will take off most of the rust. No man with brains would atteinpt to work a horse without feeding him, but how many there are who pay out hard-earned money for fruit trees, plant them in worn out land and expect choice fruit, without ever giving them a bit of food. I built a road 10 or 15 years ago with nothing but cobble stones and a little cov- ering of clay to compact it. Put on three or four inches of crushed stone in good shape and perhaps a little clay to make it com- pact, if necessary, and it will last for a long while and give you a good road. Twice a year, in June and September, borers in fruit trees should be looked for, and &faithfully done no one need lose trees through damage the borer may do. When hatched the grub bores into the bark of the tree, making a track of sawdust as it goes, which indicates where to search for it. The farmer who starts out in the spring to supply his table with everything possible from the farm, will find a good balance on the right side of the ledger next year. He will look to the egg basket for one of the riche* and cheapest articles of food, and to the excess of chicks for the meat supply, because nowhere else cafitit be produced so cheaply. He will gather from his vege- table' and small fruit garden some of the healthiest articles of diet, and so reduce estideitt the butcher's'h e mini- m mum. A good motto is"save the dollars by living off the fat of the land and cream of the flocks." --[Maine Farmer. Peas on Sod Ground - Will some one who has had experience in sowing peas and barley tell me if they have ever tried plowing in the peas on sod ground? I have some ground that is quite smooth and had thoughts of plowing one furrow around the piece and then sowing peas in the furrow and covering by the next but am afraid that the peas will not come up. Last year I harrowed the peas in but when the first shower came, about half of the peas were on top of the ground. Feeding Ruminants on Grain. lit has generally been supposed that those animals that chew the cud must be fed upon a certain amount of corn fodder ha order to insure the health of the animate that a certain amount of coarse material must be fed to the animal in order that its stomach may be distended and in a con- dition necessary to healthy digestion. When Mr. Miller, of New York, reported experiments on feeding cows grain alone, there was much criticism, and perhaps more skepticism, displayed. This feeling began to be somewhat dispelled when later a two- year-old heifer was fed exclusively upon corn meal. Since that time experiments at State Colleges have been successfully tried thus in effect showing that for the cows or sheep there is no absolute necessity of pro- viding coarse fodder in case of its scarcity, or, in other words, the experiments go to show that corn meal may be made an exclus- ive dietwithout any danger to the animal. The Utah Agricultural College Experi- ment Station has conducted some experi- ments in this line of feeding, and we give a summary of results as follows :- 1. Cattle and sheep can be successfully fed on grain alone for very long periods. 2. Cattle and sheep fed on grain alone make a pound of growth on as few or less pounds of grain than hogs will. 3. Cattle when fed on grain, drink but lit- tle water, void a large ratio of it as urine and probably vaporize less of it by lungs than when receiving hay or coarse food. 4. The stomach off sheep and cattle weigh less when fed on grain ; the first stomach notably so. 5. The first stomach of sheep and cattle receive fine foods but do not fill up, nor quite half fill. The animals practically cease ruminating when fed grain alone. 6. The vital organs of a steer slaughtered weighed quite differently from those of cat- tle heretofore slaughtered, especially so in regard to blood which weighed more, and more notably so for lungs which weighed less, and is the first notable instance in the experience of the experimenter of the va- riation of lungs due to food. 7. These relations of food to the develop- ment of vital organs should receive the careful attention of physiologists, notably in the relation of food to human health. It becomes quite evident from the above that no little influence is exerted upon the vital organs by the food consumed, which fact opens a new and wide field of inquiry regarding not only the nutrition of stock but of man himself. The subject of foods should also be treat- ed of in its economical aspect. There are periods when a scarcity of the coarser food exists, which can be supplied only at con- siderable trouble and extra expense ; now if purely grain foods can be employed to bridge over periods of scarcity, and instead of doing an injury to the animal really cause an improvement by the change, much good will be accomplished. It is in such fields of inquiry that the greatest good comes. Waste of Fertilizers. It might be said with considerable truth that about one-half of all manure is wasted. The great body of water which collects on the barn must run down to eaves and drip upon the top of the manure heap, and as this water leaches down and runs away it carries the most valuable part of the man- ure with it. Tons of water fall upon it in this way every winter, and the loss is tre- mendous. Manure is so valuable now that it is worth the trouble of carrying away from the eaves of the barn. Take it to some safe place, and pile it compactly in a solid heap. -Care of Apples. There is no question about the impor- tance of so far as possible preventing the bruising of the fruit. From what has been said in strong terms concerning the barrier of a tough skin which Nature has placed upon the apples, it goes without saying that this defense should not be ruthlessly broken down. it may be safely assumed that germs of decay are lurking almost everywhere, ready to come in contact with any substances. A bruise or cut in the skin is therefore even worse than a rough place caused by a scab fungus as a lodgment provided by the minute spores of various sorts. If the juice exudes, it at once fur- nishes the choicest of condition for molds to grow. An apple bruised is a fruit for the decay of which germs are specially in- vited, and when such a specimen is placed in the midst of other fruit it soon becomes a point of infection for its neighbors on all sides. Seldom is a fully rotten apple found in a bin without several others near by it being more or less affected. A rotten apple is not its brother's keeper. The surrounding conditions favor or re- tard the growth of the decay fungi. If the temperature is near freezing they are com- paratively inactive, bat when the room is warm and moist the fruit cannot be expect- ed to keep well. Cold storage naturally checks the decay. The ideal apple has no fungous defacements and no bruises. If it could be placed in a dry, cool room free from fungous germs it ought to keep indefin- itely`until chemical change ruins it as an article of food. Seventeenchildren have been born to Mrs. Ellsworth Miller of Cold Spring, 11 T. Y. - She has been a wife less than ten years, and in that time has had three sets of triplets, three sets of twins, and two sing- les. A novelty at a New York wedding was a dance on the lawn facing the Hudson, be- fore the door of the- bride's country seat Among the dances was " Sir Roger . de Coverley." There were six bridesmaids, who all wore pink and white Empire gowns. 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