Alaskan Homesteaders Watch With Interest As—
Farmer Directs^WorId’s Biggest Land-Clearing Job
Alaskan homesteaders are watching with keen interest the
world’s greatest land-clearing project now underway for Canadian
veterans in the Peace River area of Alberta.
A pattern for big-scale land-clearing—the costly, arduous job
which has deterred settlement of the territory—is being shaped in
Alberta. The project will prepare some 100,000 acres of Candadian
soil for eventual planting. When completed, they should double
the present productive land surface of Canada, and contribute in
a great measure to feeding the starving peoples of the world.
Of special interest to Alaskans is the novel methods initiated
by O. B. Lassiter, an Alberta farmer, the man responsible for
the giant land-clearing program. Lassiter’s mechanical innova
tions have brought world-wide approval.
At Wanham, 70 miles north
east of Grande Prairie, Alberta,
a reporter recently viewed the
operations underway in spraw
ling “tent” villages which look
much like the vast army camps
thrown up during the recent
war. Drawn up were tractors,
brushing machines, plows, roll
ers, motor trucks and jeeps. A
landing strip had been carved
out and planes carried in emer
gency equipment and supplies
daily to speed the job.
To get water for the huge
enterprise, a dam was built near
the junction of the Saddle
Spirit and Burnt Rivers.
“As far as you could see,” the
reporter wrote, “in all direc
tions, work was going on. In
one sector, the big D-8 “cats”
were brushing. The brushing
machine is a great big flat-iron
arrangement w ith al 1 i g a t o r
knives on the front. From the
front it looks like a small battle
ship.”
Teams of "Cals"
Lassiter employs teams of
"cats” working abreast, the re
porter continued observing:
“Mr. Lassiter uses two D-8
“cats” on the seven disc job and
turns over a width of 10 feet on
each round. The bigger of the
j two plows cuts 10 feet, the
j smaller plow, with one "cat”
took six feet, they were break
j ing 16 feet wide, with the fur
row between 12 and 14 inches
[ deep. The discs are 32 inches
in diameter.
“The furrow being turned was
' eight miles long. That is to say
i one side of the field was two
miles, the width of about a mile
and a half, and the other side of
the field involved some contours
around windbreaks, making m
all eight miles.
"The plows proceeded at from
four and a half to five miles per
hour. Each tractor uses 100 gal
lons of distillate a day.”
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► —
the fact that the discs did not
throw up the subsoil, but rather
“stood the black topsoil on edge,
while grinding back into it tons
of oroken limbs, roots and
trash.”
“The great weight of the
plows”, the reporter noted,
“makes it possible to chew up
stumps and roots and commit
them back to the earth to help
it retain its fertility.” I
Mr. Lassiter’s experiments
were costly. His first breaking
plow cost $15,000. A four-disc
plow worKs better than the nine
ton seven-disc model, he found.
His ingenuity has led him to
develop what he calls the “stump
splitter lor use after the break
ing.
“This monster, weighing 60
tons, is equipped with knife-like
attachments which revolve with
the roller and further grind the
stumps, wood and trash. It is
hauled by two D-8 “cats.”
'Floating' Along
After the stump splitter has
made its way over the ground,
the plowed land is then “float
ed. ’ This consists of half a dozen
logs lashed together and drag
fed behind a D-8 “cat.” “Float
ing’’ breaks down lumps and
helps level the land.
The big-scale operations work
on this principle: Under the
terms of tne agreement, the vets
pay Mr. Lassiter one-third of
their crop for seven annual in
stallments. The Canadian gov
ernment collects three and one
third percent of the settlers’
crop for ten years to pay taxes
and other expenses borne by the
Province of Alberta.
If all the cleared dand is not
taken up, Mr. Lassiter agrees to
crop the unused portions.
Each allotment of land to the
veteran is 320 acres. Twenty
acres of brush are left on every
allotment. Woodlands are also
left along road allowances and
on section lines as windbreakers.
Some 10,000 acres have al
ready been cleared and all the
provincial governments through
out Canada are raptly watching
the Alberta land-clearing pro
ject’s success.
Something similar may some
day be broached for Alaska as
well, it is pointed out.
Coffey Insures Everything—
Remember? —Adv.
CARPENTERS
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Are Scheduled
For Health Tests
WASILLA—Health examina
tions for the students of Wasilla
school will be conducted next
Thursday, it was announced to
day by Mrs. W. A. Zeile, public
health nurse. Examinations are
scheduled to begin promptly at
9 o'clock Thursday morning, and
will continue throughout the day
until all students have been ex
amined.
Parents are requested to be
present when their child is ex
amined. This is most important,
according to Mrs. Zeile, for no
further report of the child’s
physical condition will be given
to the parent. The doctor, R. E.
Garret, wishes to discuss the
child’s health and make recom
mendations at the time of the
examination.
r
Arrangements will be made
to examine all children of a fam
ily together, so that the parent
need make only one trip to
school. Written notices from the
school office will be sent to each
home, scheduling examination
periods by grade.
Mrs. Zeile will assist Dr. Gar
ret in the examinations.
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