When Clyde was 21 years old he went to Alberta, Canada, where he filed a claim to homestead.
Creelman Oct 22nd 1909
Dear Parents:
I got your letter the other day lots of news. And I see you all want to know more about the homestead. I don't think you have been getting near all the letters I have written as I see you are asking questions that I have already told about.
Wheat is pretty good averaging about twenty bushel to the acre. Have heard from Mike twice. And from what I could find out from him I don't think he is coming home. I may see him before I go to Calgary or maybe he will come to see me. I haven't seen any papers from the states but the Winnipeg and Montreal, and other eastern Canada papers have quite a lot of news from the states. I do not sleep in the straw pile. We have a sleeping car that moves along with the outfit. Today is your birthday, is it not Mother? It is raining and sleeting here today. I wrote a letter in Calgary reading something like this did you not get it? Homestead and Preemption information. The grass does not grow very tall would average about twelve inches high. Prairie wool 6 inches high. Spear grass a couple of feet in patches. Slough hay foot and half sometimes more or less. One or two other small grasses. A fair good stand of grass on the land. A few little pond holes on it that is where the slough hay grows. There are some of the them on any farm. Longview is only a small station with a depot, a few shacks and a couple of stores.
Where land is situated. Now take that last best west pamphlet and find Tide Lake, you see the township to the north part of that lake. Well the next township east is where my land is right in the bottom row of sections. The east half of section 4.
About twelve miles south of the of the nearest part of the Red Deer River. 3.4 miles west of the South Saskatchewan River. I don't think the rainfall is way too much there. But over on the fire break six or seven miles southwest of my place, there was moisture enough on the ground when I was there to sprout grain. A person could take some of the dirt squeeze it together in the hand and it would stick together. There is a farmer living just south of the red deer river who has lived there thirteen years. Having had one failure in nine years. And if I remember right I think they said he got his grain in late and a hot wind caught it before it ripened. The terms under which I have to pay of for the 160 are this. 3 dollars an acre. One third of the purchase money must be paid three years after the date of entry for the preemption, and the balance in five equal annual installments with interest at five percent from the date of the preemption entry. Reside six months in each of three yrs for homestead. Reside six months in each of the three yrs for Preemption. Taking six yrs times to get a half section. If anything more you want to know ask me. Good bye from Clyde.
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