Beaverlodge, Alta.
Dear Sir:
I am sorry to be so late in answering your letter of Jan. 18, 1922. I shall endeavor to answer your questions to the best of my ability. I came to where I am now on May 4, 1913, within a mile of the Hudson’s Bay Post. My experience with stock and crops has been very favorable to both. I feed my cattle all winter. Some have been letting theirs run out most of this winter which has been mild until February. I have not seen any of their stock so I can’t say how they looked when they started to feed in February.
I have run horses out here with a fair amount of success. We have to feed weaners and yearlings most of the time. Mature animals do well wintering out on the range.
Crops. Wheat, oats, barley — all varieties of grain do very well here. The finest wheat I’ve seen for years has been grown at Taylor Flats. It was put in early with a drill and came up even and ripened very evenly — in fact the best sample I believe I’ve seen. The oats do well. I grew some hulless oats last year which did well.
Barley. Both hulless and other varieties do well. The hulless does exceedingly well. Grain put in here in proper season and properly worked ground can not fail to ripen.
Hudson’s Bay Factor, Mr. F.W. Beatton. Has been at this Post for 30 years. Has one of the finest gardens one would wish to see. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash. He does a great deal of farming now — oats, barley, and a small amount of wheat. Has about 30 head of cattle at present. Potatoes do very well. I am situated on a river Flat. The Flat is a silt deposit left by the Peace River and potatoes do very well. I have never measured my potato crop. The old timers here spaded up their gardens and had good results with all small vegetables.
All I can say about the surrounding country as a mixed farming community [is that] I think it can’t be beat. I cannot estimate the amount of good land without going over government reports so will close by hoping this will be of some use to you in preparing your bulletin.
Your obedient servant,
Signed: R.J. Ogilvie.