1 NEWFOUNDLAND to MANITOBA THROUGH CANADA'S MARITIME, MINING, AND PRAIRIE PROVINCES BY / W: FRASER RAE WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 27 AND 2Q WEST 23 D STREET 1881 40403 ^ 'O cP O X . '^z.- PEEFACB, I VISITED and described tlie Province of Manitoba and a part of the New West in the United States, as a Corre- spondent of The Times, during the summer and autumn of 1878. Last autumn and winter I visited Newfound- land, landed on the North American continent, journeyed across it from Halifax on the Atlantic Ocean to Rapid City on the Little Saskatchewan River, and athwart it from the Red River of. the North in Manitoba to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Letters contributed to Tlie Times, during both visits, are reprinted in the following pages. All of these letters ha^ve been carefully revised; some have been recast, while the contents of many pages now appear for the first time. The Province of British Columbia is the only important section of the Dominion which is not treated in this work. I purpose reproducing in another volume my experiences and observations in those States and Territories of the Union which constitute the remarkable New West, extending from the Territory of Dakota to the Territory of New Mexico, and from the State of Kansas to the Territory of Wyoming. Whilst gratefully acknowledging my indebtedness to many Canadians for great courtesy and attention, I must return special thanks for the information and aid which I received from Mr. John Lowe, Secretary to the Depart- ment of Agriculture at Ottawa, and Mr. William Hespeler, Dominion Immigration Agent at Winnipeg. Mr. Hespeler is one of the many cultured Germans who have made Canada thoir home, who do credit to the country of their birth, and who render genuine and patriotic service to the land of their adoption. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. England's oldest colony. PARE Earliest !N'otices of ^Newfoundland 3 Products of the Island 5 Rich in Minerals • • 7 Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Mission 9 Daniel discovers Silver • 11 Result of Mineral Discoveries 13 "Whitbourne's Account , , 15 First Colonists 17 Laws of Charles I. ,19 Settlement Impeded 21 Condition of the Fishermen 23 Increase of Pauperism 25 Responsible Government granted . . . . . • 27 Yiews of the Islanders 29 The Capital of Newfoundland 31 Public Buildings 33 Legislative Assembly 35 The Soil and Climate . 37 Newfoundland Railway .,,....• 39 Agricultural Prospects 41 Opposition to a Railway . 43 Newspaper Press ......... 45 Notes on Newspapers 47 Compulsory Education ........ 49 Principal Imports ......... 51 Mines and Mining . . , . . . ' . . . 53 French Claims 55 Fish, Game, and Dogs 57 CHAPTER IL THE LAND OP THE " BLUE NOSES." The Founder of Nova Scotia • • • • • • 61 The *' National Pohcy " 63 "Old Fossils" 65 Gold-Mines 67 Vlll Contents PAGE ISTova Scotian Collieries • i , 69 Scenery and Climate ........ 71 The Capital of Nova Scotia . . , ... • . 73 Halifax Hospitality . . , . " , , , . 75 Governor Archibald • • 77 ^ CHAPTER IIT. THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK The Puritans and New Brunswick Foundation of St. John . , , New Denmark . • • • The St. John River^ Churches in Fredericton Headquarters of the Intercolonial A Forest on Fire .... New Brunswick Land Laws . • Cattle-Eearinor • . . • CHAPTER TV. PEINCE EDWARD ISLAND. Oysters, Mackerel, and Lobsters . Yield and price of Potatoes .... Highland Settlers ..... Subdivision of the Land .... Landlords and Tenants .... Settlement of the Land Question . . . Summerside . . . . . . . Charlottetown and its Suburbs . . . Governor John Ready's Administration . 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 101 103 105 107 109 111 118 115 117 CHAPTER Y. INTEKCOLONIAL, GEAND TRUNK, AND NOETHEHN RAILWAYS. Intercolonial : Origin and Character ..... Workshops at Moucton Scenery along thesLine ........ Newcastle Mr. Justice Henry Mr. Hickson's Management of Grand Trunk . . . , Glut of TraflBc Murkoka Lakes Future Prospects of Northern Railway ..... CHAPTER YL ACROSS LAKE SUPERIOR. The North Shore Route . A Landlord's Career , , 121 123 125 127 129 131 133 135 137 139 141 Contents. IX PAGE Tempestuous Weather , • . • * • • .143 The Bruce Mines 145 Homes for Indian Children » 147 Fishing in the Eapids 149 A Historic Ceremony ,161 Panegyric on Louis XIV. ....••; 163 Micliipicoten Island ,165 Discoveries of Copper 167 Value of Native Copper . . . . , . • 169 Copper Mining Companies 161 Mineral Eiches . . . 163 Silver, Copper, and Iron Deposits 165 CHAPTEH VII. DULUTH TO WINNIPEG. Mr. Proctor Knott's Speech 169 Delights of Dulnth 171 Geographical Ignorance 173 Manufactures and Trade 175 Land SiDccnlators . 177 A Hint to Emigrants 179 CHAPTER VIII. ON THE RED KIVER OE THE NORTH. Course of the Red River 181 Mammoth Farms 183 By Water to Winnipeg . • ,186 Lake Minnetonka .....•••• 187 Stern Wheel Steamers 189 Onslaughts of Insects 191 Scenery on the Banks #193 First View of Winnipeg 195 CHAPTER IX. THE CITY OE WINNIPEG, University of Manitoba . Historical and Scientific Society Public Markets Fruit and Flowers . A Journalistic Experiment The Hudson Bay Company Mr. Brydges . St. Boniface . . • Archbishop Tache . • Advice to Electors . • A French Newspaper 199 201 203 205 207 209 211 213 216 217 219 X Contents, CHAPTER X. THE PROVINCE OP MANITOBA. PAGE Opinions about the Eegion • • 221 Extent of the Province 223 Farming in Manitoba ....'..•• 225 Red River Farmers 227 Prairie Grasses • 229 GrasshopjDers . . , , . . , . • 231 Manitoba Homesteads • . • 233 CHAPTER XL MENNONITES AND ICELANDEES IN MANITOBA. Mennonite Homes 237 Mennonite Doctrines and Habits •••••• 239 Failings of the Mennonites .•••••• 241 Mennonite Exclusiveness • • ^43 ISTew Iceland . . . ■ 1^45 Discord among the Icelanders •...•• 247 CHAPTER XII. THE NOETH-WEST TEEEITOEIES. Western Roads 249 Mudholes 251 Prairie Hotels 253 Royal Commissioners in Manitoba • . • • • 255" Journalism at Rapid City •••..•• 257 Successful Farmers . • . • « • . • 259 Home of the Buffalo 261 Sale of Intoxicants Prohibited , 263 CHAPTER XIIL THE CANADIAN TAE WEST. Western Winters 267 Chmate, Soil, and Minerals .,.,.,, 269 Sir George Simpson's Prophecy . • • , • ,271 Canadian Pacific Railway . • • • • • • 273 Hudson Bay Route . . 275 Rival Regions 277 Perfect Wheat Plants . . . ... . . .279 The "Land of Misery'* 281 A Terrestrial Paradise , , 283 Canada's Future , 285 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. WEEDS IN NOETH AMEEICA. Weeds in North America ....... 287 MAPS AND II.LUSTRATIONS, TAGB 1. Map of Newfoundland. • • • . Fruntispiece 2. Do. Manitoba 233 '^ 3. Do. Dominion of Canada 295 4. Winnipeg as it was in 1870 ..,,•. 19j/ perience of public life and he has played his part in it most admirably. He filled the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba at a crisis in the history of that far western member of the Dominion, and he there displayed great adminis- trative ability, solving the difficult problem of reconciling the Indians to their new Canadian x'ulers and concluding treaties with them which have proved as just to them as they have been serviceable to Canada. If his fellow-countrymen in Nova Scotia were imbued with his patriotic yS The Land of the *' Blue Noses'* spirit r.nd were endowed witli bis capacity for dealing witli problems in public affairs, tlie progress of their fine Province would be even more rapid and gratifying in tlie future than it lias been in the past. That the " Royal Province " has a great future I firmly believe. That " the Blue ISToses " have great opportunities as well as honourable traditions is quite certain. Their land offers many inducements to the capitalist and it is a tempting home for the emigrant. The capitalist, the mining engineer, the agri- culturist, the sportsman and the emigrant can all find within the ample and untenanted limits of Nova Scotia, an incomparable field wherein to realize the fondest desires of their hearts. CHAPTER III. THE PEOVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK. When St. John, tlie chief city of ISTew Brunswick, was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the 20th of June, 1877, the loss sustained was greater proportionately than that caused by the great fire at Chicago six years previously. About 13,000 New Brunswickers were then rendered homeless ; 1612 houses, covering an area of 200 acres, were destroyed in the brief space of nine hours ; the loss of property was estimated at $27,000,000. English philanthropists showed their usual and laudable alacrity in aiding the sufferers. Some of them also displayed discreditable ignorance about the situation of St. John and the nation- ality of its inhabitants. T remember an appeal earnestly made by one of them to the effect that the sad occasion vv^as an admirable opportunity, not only for succouring the needy, but also for manifesting brotherly love and charity towards 8o The P7^ovince of New Brunswick, the citizens of the United States. Unfortunately, this is no isolated example of geographical igno- rance. Indeed, when Cobden expressed his opinion that young Englishmen should be in- structed in the history of Chicago, he might have added that they would be all the better for obtaining precise knowledge of the history and geography of Canada. This knowledge would prove quite as useful to them as that minute and exclusive acquaintance with Grecian history and literature which he assumed them to possess and which, as an intellectual possession, he may have undervalued. It is true that the people of New Brunswick are closely allied in race to their neighbours across the border. Many of the oldest and most respected New Brunswick families are descended from the Loyalists who were driven from the United States because they pertinaciously avowed their predilection for an ideal British Empire of which the North American Continent should form a part. No Province of the Dominion of Canada is less Yankee in sentiment than New Brunswick which is conterminous on the south-west with the State of Maine. Its inhabi- tants do not seem to have forgotten how the State of Maine was aggrandized at the expense of their Province in 1842, owing to what they The Piiritafts and New Brunswick. 8 1 believe to have been the sharp practice of Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State in Mr. Tyler's Administration. The Puritans of Massachusetts played a curious part in the early history of what is now New Brunswick but was then called Acadia. John Winthrop, then Grovernor of Massachusetts, assented to a request that New England ships and men should be employed in helping Latour, who held the fort which stood on the site of the principal city in the Province and who refused to surrender it, and resign his commission of Lieutenant- General to D'Aulnay whom the King of France had sent to supersede him. The assistance rendered by the New Englanders proving effectual, D'Aulnay had to retire dis- comfited. This happened in 1643. Two years afterwards DAulnay renewed the attack during Latour's absence. The wife of Latour then dis- played the heroic qualities which the Countess of Derby afterwards did during the war between the English Parliament and Charles the First. Again, D'Aulnay was repulsed. A third time he made the attempt and, on this occasion, he succeeded through bribery in getting a footing in the fort though vigorously opposed by Madame Latour at the head of fifty brave men. His revenge con- sisted in hanging the whole garrison before the G 82 The P^'ovince of New Brunswick, ejes of the woman wlio liad manifested so much fortitude and bravery. The spectacle was more terrible to her than an assault of armed men ; she died of grief soon after. When D'Aulnay felt himself strong enough to assert his rights, he accused the Grovernment of Massachusetts with a breach of neutrality and demanded compensation. The latter replied that they had not directly interfered in the quarrel, having merely permitted Latour to hire ships and enlist men. The damages demanded were 8000/., vet the Commissioner who urgfed the claims of D'Aulnay said that if the Government acknow- ledged their guilt in the matter the damages might be reduced to a nominal amount. Ulti- mately the blame was transferred to Captain Hawkins and the volunteers who had taken part with Latour, and the Government consented " to send a small present to D'Aulnay in satisfaction of what Captain Hawkins and the others had done." Governor Winthrop in describing the transaction, enables us to understand that the " smartness " which is supposed to be a modern characteristic of New England was possessed and exercised by the early Puritans. The small present sent to D'Aulnay was " a very fair new sedan " which had been taken in the West Indies and presented to the Governor, which was Foundation of St. John. ^T) " worth forty or fifty pounds where it was made, but of no use to us."^ In 1650, Latour returned. D'Aulnay had died in the interval, leaving a widow who surrendered the fort to Latour and, three years afterwards, became his wife. Thus Latour not only regained possession of the fort but he became the husband of his rival's wife and lord of all his lands. This settlement occurred in 1653 ; in the following year it was abruptly terminated by Oliver Crom- well who sent a naval expedition against him with the result that he was ousted from office and Acadia was annexed to England. It was ceded to France again a few years later and it was re-acquired by England in 1745 ; a few years after this an English garrison under the com- mand of Colonel Moncton was established in the fort which, during a century, had been the subject of strife. A few settlers came hither from England in 1764; but the first settlement on a large scale and permanent basis was made by 5000 United Empire Loyalists who left the United States in 1783 and, on the 18th of May in that year, founded the city of St. John. Several years later there was an infiux of settlers from Ireland who have found their removal to the new country from the old one to be highly advan- * John Wintlirop's "l^ew England," vol. ii. p. 274. G 2 84 The Province of New Brunswick, tageous. The least successful tillers of the soil appear to be the descendants of the Acadians who escaped expulsion from the country. Their farming is both slovenly and wasteful, consisting in exhausting a piece of land and then applying to the Government for a new piece whereon to recommence the same process. Many small colonies have settled in N'ew Brunswick and have prospered exceedingly. A small colony numbering 182 went thither from the North of England in 1837. The colonists had to fell trees before they could cultivate the land. According to a return compiled in the sixth year of their sojourn, the result of their labour was that they had taken from land originally covered with trees, 260 tons of hay and straw, and 1500 brshels of grain, potatoes and turnips. They appended to the return the fol- lowing remarks : "The climate of New Bruns- wick agrees well with the constitution of English- men ; the air is salubrious, and the water as pure and wholesome as any in the world. During the six years of our location there have occurred but two deaths, while there have been thirty-nine births without the presence of medical aid. Six years' experience have convinced us that not- withstanding the privations to which new settlers are exposed, diligence and perseverance must New Denmark, 85 ensure success." In 1842. an attempt was made to found a small colony of Irish people where teetotal principles would be rigorously practised. The experiment was successful beyond expecta- tion. The colony, including women and children, numbered 101. Thirty male members of it are credited at the end of the first year with having gathered from a spot, which had been a dense forest till they cleared it, 7276 bushels of grain, potatoes and turnips. Their labour had been rewarded with a total return, in crops and per- manent improvements, to the value of 2000Z. Quite as interesting and significant as any of the foregoing examples is that of the Danish colony established within the last ten years about eight miles from G-rand Falls in the western part of the Province. This place, formerly called Hellerup, is now known as New Denmark. There it was that, in the year 1872, thirty-six Danes began to cut down the primeval forest. The toil was harder than they had counted upon, while the difficulties against which they contended seemed so great as to dishearten them. But they per- severed and they have now no reason to complain. Where trees covered the ground a few years ago, is now a tract of cleared land extending over 3000 acres and yielding large crops. The colony has grown from 36 to 500 persons and it is S6 The Province of New Brunszvick, being recruited by frequent arrivals; as many as 120 immigrants arrived there from Denmark in 1879. The extent of the settlement is such that there are thirty- six miles of road running through it. The people are frugal and indus- trious, and are growing rich, because they have an annual surplus in excess of their own require- ments. A curious circumstance is that, whereas the Danes who arrived here were Lutherans, they adopted the service of the Church of England in the church which they built for themselves. All the facts which I have gleaned from official papers as to the prosperity of the JSTew Brunswick farmers were verified in conversation with those whom I questioned as to their condition. They have many advantages over farmers in the Far West. The land yields as good a return, while the price obtained for the produce is higher owing to the proximity of a market. They have not to pay so much for what they buy, as the farmers must do who are far removed from the sea-board, while they receive more for what they have to sell than the farmers can do whose crops have to be carried to market hundreds of miles by rail. The area of the Province is 27,332 square miles, being greater than that of the Kingdoms of Belgium and Holland combined. Thirteen million of acres are available for cultivation. It is estimated that The St. JoJm River, ^j tlie land can support a population numbering four millions and a half. The actual population does not much exceed three hundred thousand! The St. John River is the most notable fact in the Province of K"ew Brunswick. It is a noble stream, affording, with its tributaries, 1300 miles of navigable waters, draining a region covering 17,000,000 acres, thereof 9,000,000 are within the Province, 2,000,000 in the Province of Quebec, and 6,000,000 in the State of Maine. The valley through which it flows is very beautiful, the scenery being quite as attractive as at the most lovely parts of the Hudson. The Indians gave it the name " Looshtook " because they were struck with its length, the word meaning " Long Eiver." It winds through the Province for a distance of 250 miles ; as the Province is 190 miles long by 140 broad, it is obvious that the St. John Eiver is a meandering stream. At the upper part of the stream are Grand Falls where the water descends 70 feet perpendicularly. Where it enters the harbour at the city of St. John another fall of a singular kind attracts the notice of strangers. When the tide is out and the water low, the water descends 17 feet. At high water, on the contrary, the fall, if I may thus phrase it,, is in the opposite direction, the tide rising so high as to cause rapids up stream. I passed over the 88 The Province of New B7nmswick, spot in a steamer during the twenty minutes this can be done when the tide is at its height, and I could scarcely realize that the spot was the same as that at which I had seen tlie river dashing down the rocks in a sheet of foam. For some distance above the city of St. John the river is very wide and is studded with wooded islands. The view on either side is varied and most attractive over the whole eighty-six miles which intervene between that city and Fredericton, the Capital of the Province. The Lieutenant-Governor occupies an official residence at Fredericton which is imposing in appearance but which has a serious defect, judging from the statement which Dr. Botsford, a physician of St. John, made in a paper read before the Convention at Ottawa of the Canada Medical Association. Dr. Botsford said that Government House, which cost $100,000 to erect and from $5000 to $8000 annually to maintain, was so unhealthy that the persons who lived there did so at their peril. The sudden death of \hQ late Lieutenant-Governor and the ill- health of the present one were attributable, in his opinion, to the seivage gas which pervades the edifice. It is clear, then, that the Governor of this Province runs quite as much risk as the leader of a forlorn hope. Let me hope, however, that Government House will be converted into a Churches in Frederidon, 89 place, in which to enjoy life, from one in whicli to risk and lose it. A house of meeting for the Provincial Legislature is the most recent public building in Fredericton ; it has been erected to replace the one destroyed by fire. The new House of Assembly is a substantial stone struc- ture. The Episcopal Cathedral is the building most conspicuous and best worthy of a visit. This Cathedral vies with that of Montreal as a fine example of Canadian ecclesiastical arcbitec- ture. The loyal citizens take pleasure in in- fo rmino: a strangfer that the altar-cloth is the one used at the coronation of William the Fourth. The Methodists have built a church with a spire still higher than that of the Cathedral and having a hand with an outstretched finger at the summit. Much of this structure is of wood, and it does not resist the action of the weather like the stone of which the Cathedral is built; thus, while the Methodists are entitled to boast of having the higher spire, they have also the obligation of paying largely to keep it in repair. The Uni- versity of ISTew Brunswick, founded in 1800, is at Fredericton. An annual scholarship of $60 is awarded to one boy from each county in the Pro- vince as well as free tuition, and fifty-six scholar- ships, entitling the holder to free tuition, are appropriated for competition to any youth in the 90 The Pi^ovmce of New Brimswick, cities and counties. The Methodists founded a College at Sackville in 18G2 which is open to students of either sex, and the Eonian Catholics maintain St. Joseph's College at Memramcook. The Post office, and other public buildings in Fredericton are of red brick ; several stores and warehouses are built of the same material ; they have all a solid appearance and they belong to men who are enterprising and opulent. Trees line the streets and surround many of the buildings. Gardens are attached to most of the houses and the combination of foliage and flowers on every hand, and public buildings, shops 'and houses standing among gardens, produces a rural effect and makes the observer fancy that he is looking upon a large and finely-built country village. I have never seen a capital which seemed less like a city, or a city which had so pleasant reminders of the country. The river is half a mile wide here and the banks are too flat to be picturesque. Fish of various kinds abound iu the river. Sturgeon are specially plentiful. This fish used to be prized by royalty in England; it is n'ot considered a delicacy here. Yet great zeal is shown in catching sturgeon because the business is profitable. I visited a station where four men were engaged in fishing. They had caught twenty fish within twenty-four hours ; all these sturgeon Headquarters of the Intercolonial, 91 were large, one of tliem measured six feet ia length. The price paid for each, irrespective of size, is fifty cents. I was told tliat, when tlie fish reached Boston, whicli was their destination, thej would fetch five dollars each. It is strange that the New Bruns wickers have no relish for the fish, because it is good, though rather substantial eating. But a prejudice such as they entertain cannot be removed by argument, any more than the prejudice of the Irish people against rabbits and of the Scottish people against eels. Moncton takes rank, after the Capital and St. John, as the most rising Kew Brunswick town. It is the headquarters of the Intercolonial E-ailway and the junction where the trains meet which run between Halifax and St. John and Halifax and Quebec. While St. John is situated not far from the mouth of the Bay of Fimdy, Moncton is at the head of that extraordinary sheet of water which, as the tide flows and ebbs, rises and falls in certain places as much as sixty feet. So far from the sea as Moncton, the difference between low and high water is thirty feet, and the contrast is most striking between the vast expanse of almost dry ground when the tide is out and the area of water where the largest ships can float when the tide is at its height. The phenomena called the " bore," which is occasionally seen on 92 The Province of New Brunswick, the Severn, is a common occurrence at this part of the Bay of Fundy. A few years ago Moncton was a straggling and quiet village. The old and the new are easily distinguishable, the town having recently grown in the opposite direction to that which it followed in its early days. When the 600 acres within which it stands are covered with buildings the place will have an imposing appearance, and the main street, which is a mile long, will not seem so different from the other streets. As the centre of a large agricultural district, Moncton has long been a place where much business was transacted and this accounts for the number of stores ap- pearing to be far in excess of what the inhabitants could support. The articles on sale in some of these stores are very varied. On a notice-board outside one of them a list of the goods kept began with Bibles and Prayer Books and ended with newspapers, but did not include the potatoes, turnips, cabbages and other vegetables which were the chief things to be seen indoors. Late in the evening of the first day I spent in Moncton, I gazed upon a sight grander than any which I had beheld elsewhere, unless! except a fire in the woods on the bank of the St. John Eiver. I have seen a prairie ablaze and I have looked with wonder at the " tules " or gigantic A Forest on Fire. 93 bulrushes sucli as grow on tlie banks of the Nile, burning as far as the eye could reach along the left bank of the Sacramento River in California, but this was the first time that I beheld the con- flagration of a forest. At first the fire seemed trifling, but the flames gradually rose in angry shape and spread in serried masses as tree after tree succumbed to the effects of an element which, in this case, was really a devouring one. The march of the fire was marked next morning by a space through the forest as clearly defined as if it had been wrought by machinery, and by hundreds of blackened trees which would never bud again. The sight of these bare and lifeless poles is a common one here; the poles are termed "ram-pikes." They are utterly useless, being valueless as timber and merely cumbering the ground. The people of Moncton thought nothing of a sight which impressed me greatly. They care no more about the loss of a part of a forest by fire than the in- habitants of a coal district care about the ignition and loss of a pile of waste coal at the pit's mouth. One of them, however, sympathized with me. He had left Ireland thirty years ago and he had prospered in New Brunswick, and he expressed his opinion that the folks in the old country would naturally regard the destruction of so much valu- able timber as a serious calamity ; adding that 94 ^'^^ Provi7ice of New Brunswick, wood was too plentiful and clieap in New Bruns- wick to be sufficiently valued. But tlie day is at hand when even tlie forests of this Province will cease to be sources of wealth and to be regarded as practically inexhaustible. The area covered by primeval forest is gradually becoming cleared. Where young trees are allowed to grow they do not furnish timber equal in value to that derived from the old ones. Indeed, the industry of *' lumbering " which used to be a leading and profitable one in this Province, as well as in the ad- joining State of Maine, is growing less remunera- tive year after year. The day is not distant when it will have to be exchanged for that of cultivating the soil or rearing cattle and I do not hold that the exchange will be a loss. The farmer and the grazier make quite as industrious and sober citizens as " lumbermen." The gentleman to whom I have, just referred was an Irishman who has found in the Dominion a home which reconciles him to live away from his native Erin. He was a patriot in his youth who regarded 0' Conn ell with idolatry. His affection for the land of his birth is strong enough to cause him to watch its fortunes with intense interest. He seemed, however, to entertain a sentiment akin to that v/hich made Horace Walpole declare that he would love his country exceedingly if it Land Laws, 95 were not for "his countrymen. He was personally acquainted with many of the Irishmen who devote themselves in the United States to stir up strife in Ireland. Between them and the Irish in Canada there is a strong antagonism. This was shown by the murder of Darcy McGee for his opposition to Fenianism and his denunciation of Fenians. My informant was emphatic in stating that his countrymen in New Brunswick were per- fectly satisfied with their lot, and his desire was that thousands, whose hearts were set upon having land of their own to cultivate and who could not attain their object in Ireland, might emigrate to that Province. No Province in Canada, nor any State in the Union is so liberal to settlers as New Brunswick. In the year 1868 an Act was passed by the Provincial Legislature empowering the Government to give free grants of 100 acres of land to a settler who paid a sum of $20 to be expended in making roads, or who gave his labour to the value of $10 for three years in succession, who built a house within two years and cultivated ten acres within three. An Act of 1872, now in force, is more liberal still. Under it an actual settler can obtain 100 acres of Crown land if a single man, and 200 acres if he be married and have two or more children, on condition that a house is built and three acres are cultivated within 96 The Province of New Bj^unswick. a year and ten acres within tliree years. After the house is built, the Goyernment makes a present to the settler of $30. Moreover, he is protected against utter ruin by a law giving immunity to his property to the amount of $600, in the event of execution for debt. It is not easy for a visitor to the city of St. John to believe that nearly the whole of it was a blackened ruin a few years ago. A vacant charred space here and there proclaims in an unmistak- able fashion that a fire has swept a building away ; but the general aspect of the city is that of a prosperous place which has never been devastated by fire. Most of the buildings are new, but new buildings are what one expects to see on the North American Continent. Some of them, such as the banks of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, are effective specimens of architecture. The Custom House has an imposing aspect, resembling in several particulars the Louvre at Paris. The docks are spacious and filled with ships ; it is the boast of the citizens that St. John ranks after Glasgow in the amount of its registered shipping and is, in fact, the fourth port in the Empire, Churches abound. As the city is built on a series of eminences, the Churches and the Church spires are visible at every turn. In answer to my inquiry whether St. John were not a very pious city, the Cattle Rearing, 97 landlord of tlie hotel in wHicli I stayed replied that I ought not to reckon the Churches as a guide to such a conclusion, because they were largely exceeded in number by the '' whisky- holes." I heard many lamentations about the prevalence of intemperance. Efforts are made to lessen it by prohibiting the sale of strong drink, in imitation of the system prevailing in the ad- joining State of Maine. The struggle is carried on with a bitterness which does not edify the spectator and which cannot produce lasting good, whatever the political issue may be. My own opinion is that, if half the energy and money ex- pended in this controversy with the effect of stirring up bad blood, were devoted to encouraging immigration the Province would gain euormously. A new industry dating from the year 1879 pro- mises to increase the wealth of the Province. This is the exportation of sheep and cattle to England. No part of the Dominion is better adapted than New Brunswick for rearing cattle and the proximity of the sea-board is a natural advantage of the first importance. Like Nova Scotia it has been inadequately appreciated by the emigrants from the Old World ; indeed these two Maritime Provinces of Canada, which are among the oldest of any, are really less known than the younger which are more remote and far H gS The Provmce of New Brunswick, more difficult of access. Tlie emigrant who has resolved upon leaving the United Kingdom for Canada might go farther vrest than New Bruns- wick and fare worse than if he settled there. CHAPTER IV. PEINCE EDWARD ISLAND. The Island now called Prince Edward was known as St. Johns Island till 1800. In tliat year its name was changed to commemorate the sojourn of the Queen's father in British North America. Till 1770 it formed a part of the Province of Nova Scotia. In 1873 it became a Province of the Dominion of Canada. Though the smallest member of the Dominion, its area being a httle in excess of 2000 square miles, it has a population of 100,000, which is proportionalely larger than that of any other Canadian territory of the like extent. The situation of Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence corresponds, in its relation to Canada, to that of the Isle of Wio^ht in its relation to England. The climate is milder and more equable than en the mainland. The sea breeze tempers the summer heat, and renders the Island a pleasant place of resort during the H 2 lOO Prince Edward Island. warm season. The sea-bathing on the north side is excelleDt, and of late years many persons, not from Canada only, but from the United States also, take up their abode here in the summer time and enjoy a dip in the Atlantic surf. Though the distance across the Straits of ^Northumberland between Cape Traverse, on the Island, and Cape Tourmentine, on the shore of New Brunswick, is 9 miles, and between the opposite end of the Island and Nova Scotia 15 miles, yet the journey over the route taken by the steamer occupies four to five hours. During the winter months communication with the mainland is maintained with difficulty, it being often an arduous feat to force a passage through the ice w^hich j&lls the Straits. In spring, summer and autumn, steamers ply every other day between Point du Chene, in New Brunswick, and Summer- side, the second town of importance on the south coast of the Island, and between Pictou, in Nova Scotia, and Charlottetown, the capital of the Island. When beheld from the sea on a bright day, the Island looks very beautiful. Its cliffs are as red as those of South Devon, and the com- bination of red rocks, dark green woods, and green fields, dotted with white houses, is very pleasing to the eye. The coast is frequently in- dented with baySj running far inland, and swarm- Oysters, Mackerel, and Lobsters. loi ing witli j&sli. Shell-fisli abound. Oj^sters are plentiful and good. They are in great request at Halifax and other cities on the mainland. The shells are longer and the contents are larger than those of English oysters, and also than those of the " Blue Points " which are highly prized in the United States. On the other hand, they resemble English, oysters in taste more than those of the United States. The chief fishing industry is tliat of catching and curing mackerel, and tinning lobsters for ex- portation. There are nearly 50 factories in which lobster preserving is carried on, giving employ- ment to 2000 persons. Some of the factories treat from 10,000 to 15,000 lobsters a day. It was expected that 125,000 cases, each containing 48 tins ll,b. in weight, would be exported the season of my visit. The price paid to the fishermen for every lobster delivered at the factory is half a cent, arid the present shipping price of each box holding 48 tins of lib., is S4 25c. ; in other words, nearly 43 lb. of lobster can be bought for export at a trifle over 16s. If I do not mistake, the retail price of a tin in England is 9(i., so the margin between 16s. paid here and the 30s. ob- tained for a case in England leaves a large per- centage out of which to defray incidental expenses and to gain a profit. I am told that lobster io2 Prince Edward Island, catcliing is forbidden by law during the montli of August. The fishermen neither seem to care anything about a close time, nor to pay a willing respect to the law which decrees it. One of them told me that, in his opinion, lobsters were always in season, and that he did not believe any one knew or would ever know when they spawned. He adduced evidence to the effect that, at all periods, they presented the appearance of being in a condition to spawn. Yet there can be no doubt in the minds of rational men that lobsters can be exterminated, just as oysters have been in places, if the number taken from a given spot be in excess of the number produced. The cultivators of the soil thrive as well on Prince Edward Island as the harvesters of the sea. Oats, potatoes, and buckwheat are the most remunerative crops. Large quantities of oats are exported to Europe. Hay is exported to the West Indies ; oats, hay, eggs, fish, and other edibles are exported to JSTova Scotia, New Bruns- wick, and Massachusetts. For several months in the year, a steamer which runs weekly between Charlottetown and Boston carries away many young islanders of both sexes, as well as the produce of the farms. The desire of the young men and women to visit Boston is as keen as the desire of young people in the rural Yield and Price of Potatoes, 103 districts of England to visit London. In botli cases they consider that, when the capital of the country is readied, their fortunes are made. I asked some of the young islanders what was the special attraction of Boston. They replied that they had been told they could get high wages there. They did. not know that if the wages they received were higher than those obtainable in the island, the price of what they had to buy was higher also. Besides, they had the inducement of being able to make the experiment at the low cost of $8, and they were sanguine that they would have no reason to regret the change. It w^s the change of life which most of them de- sired. They could not complain of anything save the monotony of existence ; the Island seemed far too contracted a world to them. Prince Edward Island has an established repu- tation for producing excellent potatoes. Neither in size nor quality can any potatoes be found of a superior kind. As many as three and a half million bushels are produced in a single year. But the main difficulty is to find a market for this useful and abundant article of food. A year ago it was possible to buy a bushel of potatoes for 10 cents. At the time of my visit the price had risen to 15 cents, though 25 is the price at which the seller obtains a handsome I04 Prince Edward Island. profit. Even at 25 cents, or one sliilling, tLe price is extremely low from an Engiisli point of view, seeing that one penny a pound is accounted cheap by tlie purchasers of potatoes by retail. A bushel which sells in the Island for one shilling sterling would thus command five shillings in the London market. Last year, three steamers were freighted with potatoes from Prince Edward Island to England, but the result, unfortunately, was disastrous to the exporters. Whether the cause was imperfect packing or some other mis- take, certain it is that the potatoes arrived at their destination in so bad a condition that the parties who engaged in the venture lost money. I understand that the attempt will be renewed, and I hope that the issue may be more satisfactory. The first settlement of this Island on an exten- sive scale took place shortly after the beginning of the present century. It is not generally known, I think, that among the few sensible measures of Mr. Addington's much ridiculed Administration was one for encouraging settlers to make Prince Edward Island their home. Lord Selkirk stirred Mr. Addington to move in this matter. It was Lord Selkirk's desire to divert the stream of emigration to the British pos- sessions in !North America. He induced 800 Highlanders to proceed to the Island in 1803. Highland Settlers, 105 They prospered exceedingly. Tlie colony would have had many accessions had not war again broken out in Europe. When the war was draw- ing to a close in 1812, Lord Selkirk had set his heart npon what is now the Province of Manitoba, as the most eligible place for settlement; he had become chairman of the Hudson Bay Company and he had bought a large tract of land in the I^orth-west. Other Scottish families emigrated to the Island. The two parties were divided into hostile camps on the question of religions worship, the one being attached to the Roman Catholic form, and the other preferring the Presbyterian. Down to the present day there is enmity between the descendants of the two sets of immigrants from Scotland. The branch of the Church of England in the Island has also many adherents. The tendency in the Episcopal Church is towards the extreme form of Ritualism. There is now an end to the conflict which raged for a century between the tillers and pro- prietors of the soil in Prince Edward Island. From the date of its cession to England in 1763 down to 1875, statesmen were perplexed with a '' land question " there. At the outset the best mode in which to dispose of the land had received great consideration. It was surveyed in 176G ; two years before it had been granted to io6 Prince Edward I sla7td. Lord Egmont who was enamoured of tliat feudal system which, even in his day, was accounted foolishness by many peers. His scheme was to divide the Island into fifty baronies ; each baron was to erect a castle with a moat and drawbridge in genuine mediasval fashion, he was to maintain a certain number of men-at-arms and do suit and service to the Lord Paramount. Upon the merchants of London hearing that the king had granted this Island to Lord Egmont they valued the gift at half a million sterling. When his scheme for dealing with it was published, the public laughed at him and doubted whether he possessed his senses as well as an island. Sancho Panza could not have made a more absurd propo- sition about the Island of Barataria. Finding that he could not turn his grant to account Lord Egmont relinquished it, and the Board of Trade and Plantations devised a scheme of their own. According to this scheme, the Island was divided into ^1 townships of 20,000 acres each ; the proprietor of each township was to find a settler for every 200 acres, within ten years after entering into possession, and to pay a sum varying from six to two shillings yearly for each 100 acres held by him. The applicants for the land were so many, being far in excess of the quantity to be allotted, that it was resolved to put Subdivisio7t of the Land, 107 up tlie whole as prizes in a lottery, subdividing the townships into lots of a half or a third. The prize-holders became the proprietors of the Island, with the exception of two townships which had been reserved for the use of a fishing company. In a single day of the year 1767, l,o60,000 acres of land were appropriated to persons not many of whom had the intention either of settling on the Island or of inducing others to do so. The prizes were sold for cash ; many fetched as much as lOOOL at first ; but, the supply continuing, they ceased to have any value in the market. Yery few of the proprietors fulfilled the con- ditions under which they obtained their lands. In only ten townships were the conditions com- plied with as to settling one person for every 200 acres, before the expiry of the time when the lands were to be forfeited in the event of all the conditions not being fulfilled. The quit rents remained unpaid. These proprietors were de- faulters to the Crown and at the same time exacting landlords. They declined to pay the rents for which they held their lands, but they insisted upon rents being paid to them by the tenants to whom they leased the lands. The scandal was so glaring that as far back as 1770 an agitation began in the Island for the forfeiture of estates to which the holders had ceased to io8 Prince Edward Island, en jo J an indisputable title. Year after year tlie dissatisfaction waxed stronger. ISTothing of a decisive kind was accomplished till 1853 wlien tlie Provincial Legislature passed an Act autho- rizing the Government to purchase such estates as might be offered for sale and to resell them, in portions, to the tenants. Between 1854 and 1871, thirteen estates, comprising 457,260 acres, were bought by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, acting for the Grovernment, at a cost of $518,294. In every case of re-sale the sum obtained for each acre was larger than that paid, so that the redistribution of the estates was profitable to the Government as well as satis- factory to both tenants and landlords. The Act was permissive only. Like all permissive legis- lation this attempt to settle the " land question " was fundamentally weak. The best landlords readily disposed of their property, the worst or the most useless refused to come to terms. Thus the agitation throughout the Island did not abate and the call for a drastic measure grew louder and more general. In 1860 another attempt was made to effect a settlement of the popular grievances by appointing a Commission to devise and enforce a measure for converting leasehold into freehold estates. The Commissioners consisted of the Hon. J. H. Landlords and Tenants, 109 Gray of l^ew Branswick, nominated by tlie Britisli Government ; the Hon. Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia, nominated by the Legislature of Prince Edward Island, and the Hon. J. W. Ritchie of Halifax, nominated by the proprietors. A Pro- vincial Act was passed giving the force of law to the Commissioners' award. On the award being published the proprietors raised a technical objec- tion to the manner in which provision was made for valuinsr the land. The Commissioners had devolved the duty of valuing the land upon other persons, whereas they ought to have discharged it themselves. Hence it was that their lleport and award which the Duke of Newcastle, then Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, pronounced " able and impartial " were invalidated and their labour led to no result. The people throughout the Island regarded this conduct on the part of the proprietors as betokening bad faith and a deter- mination to thwart a thorough and enduring settlement. Accordingly the agitation increased in strength and the demands of the tenants became more extreme as well as more menacing to social order. A " Tenant's League" was formed with the avowed purpose of resisting the payment of rents. The civil power, not being able to make head against the opposition to authority, a mili- tary force was despatched from Halifax to aid in no P7dnce Edward Island, upholding and enforcing the law. Rents were collected at the point of the bayonet ; unless over- whelming force backed the demand, they were withheld. This lamentable and discreditable state of things lasted from 1865 till 1875 when the Land Purchase Act was passed. Under this Act the proprietor of any piece of land, or pieces of land amounting in the aggregate to 500 acres, who was in the receipt of rents, could be compelled to have his interest valued by a Commission and to have his property transferred to the Commissioner of Public Lands in exchange for the price fixed by the Com- mission and paid to him. No proprietor who culti- vated his own land was affected by the Act, pro- vided his estate did not exceed 1000 acres. The opposition of the proprietors to this Act was perti- nacious and vehement. A petition to the Crown praying that the Act might be disallowed, set forth that the Act embodied " a most unconsti- tutional principle," that it was utterly " destruc- tive to the rights and property " of the petitioners, that it reproduced to a considerable extent in one provision "the worst features of the Star Cham- ber," that it was an " act of open and sweeping confiscation " directed against persons '' whose only crime was to possess land in Prince Edward Island." However, the Act was put in force, the Commission over which Mr. Childers presided as Settleine7it of the Land Question, in representative of the Dominion of Canada, held its sittings and made its awards. Cases of dis- content were common, as was to be expected when the persons affected objected to the whole proceedings ; but cases of real hardship were rare and the Island has ceased to be the theatre of angry disputes respecting the tenure and treat- ment of land. The proprietors' loss has been the Island's gain. I found general satisfaction as to the result. I learnt also that, since the settle- ment of the land question and the transforma- tion of leasehold into freehold properties the area of land under cultivation has largely increased and that this salutary process is con- tinuing. I have since read the last report of Mr. Donald Ferguson, the Land Commissioner, which contains minute and satisfactory details as to the working of the Act. The following extract is instructive ; the passage which I print in italics I consider to be specially deserving of attention : — " The sums received at this office during the years 1877, 1878, and 1879 in payment of instal- ments, and interest on purchase-money, amount to §177,878 76c. A much larger sum would no doubt have been received were it not for the great depression in trade existing during that period, causing a decline in the prices usually received 112 Prmce Edward Island, for agricultural products. Whilst some of the tenants are somewhat slow in meeting their instalments as thej fall due, the mapritij are making commendable efforts in that direction, and the piMic sentiment in the Colony loill sustain the Department of Public Lands in firmly but pru- dently enforcing payment of the balances rem^aining unpaid by the tenants.''^ A narrow guage railway, which runs from one end of the Island to the other, is of great service in developing its agricultural resources. Farmers can get their produce carried quickly and cheaply to the port of shipment. The railway is not a very pleasant one to travel on. There are no mountains in the Island, yet there are plenty of undulations and, as the line is carried iip one slope and down another and round sharp curves, the consequence is that the trains oscillate and jar to a great extent. A serious accident which occurred shortly before I journeyed on the railway, was attributed to the imperfect condition of the permanent way and the Dominion Govern- ment, who manage the line, were bitterly denounced for this by their political opponents. Their political supporters were quite as ready to maintain that the Government deserved thanks for having kept the line in excellent condition. I could not find evidence of any other fault save Summer side, 113 that of running trains at too great a speed oyer dangerous curves and high gradients. Shipbuilding used to be the great industry of this Island. As many as 100 vessels were on the stocks at one time in the several yards, some being of 1000 tons burden. The demand for wooden vessels having fallen off, the Islanders are the losers. At Summerside, I saw but one small vessel on the stocks ; it was thought a subject of congratulatory notice in the newspapers that another of 600 tons, which was about to be built, would give employment to some of the ship- wrights who had been for some time in enforced idleness. Timber of the best quality is so abundant, labour is so plentiful and there are so many facilities here for supplying wooden vessels of the highest class at the lowest price that, should a demand for them spring up again, the Islanders will have busy times. I fancy, how- ever, that wooden hulls are destined to diminish in number and to be superseded by iron ones. Summerside, the second largest town in the Island, is in communication by steamer with Point du Chene, in JSTew Brunswick. The popu- lation is not much more than 3000. An attempt to make it a place of resort for summer tourists has failed for the present. This consisted in building a palatial hotel, called the Island Park I 114. Prince Edward Island, Hotel, on an island in tlie Bay. The Island covers 200 acres and tlie grounds in which the hotel stands are beautifully laid out ; a steam ferry keeps up communication between the hotel and Summerside. For a time the 600 rooms in the hotel were filled, but the visitors gradually departed without any intimation that they would return. The result has been a heavy loss to the proprietor of the hotel, which, was closed when I saw it. Everything seemed in its favour. The situation was lovely ; a pleasanter spot on which to spend a few days or weeks it would be hard to find. But the sojourner in the Island Park Hotel found that it was less of a paradise than might have been supposed. I was told that the Island produces mosquitoes of a specially vicious and persevering cliaracter, and that these mos- quitoes did not rest till they had made the hotel too kot for its occupants. I have known cases of eyes being closed owing to mosquito stings, but I never before beard of mosquitoes shutting up a kotel. It is certain that the hotel was a failure and it is possible that the mosquitoes were unjustly blamed for a misfortune which might have been due to other causes. I did not sojourn on the Island where the hotel stands ; I cannot write from personal knowledge of its character as the hunting-ground for sanguinary insects, but I Charlottetown and its Stcburbs^ 115 can saj tliat I was untroubled bj mosquitoes in Prince Edward Island. Charlottetown, the Capital, is the largest city in the Island and even it does not contain more than 10,000 inhabitants. Its situation is admirable, being built on a rising ground at the bottom of Hillsborough Bay and at the confluence of the rivers Hillsborough, York, and Elliot. From the upper part of the city the prospect is charming ; in the distance are the hills of Nova Scotia, between them and the Island lie the Straits of Northumberland and many sheets of water filling irregular indentations in the shore, as well as many small islands or promontories covered with trees. There are several important buildings in Charlottetown, the principal one being the Colonial Building, where the Government officials and the Legislature are accommodated. The suburbs contain neat villas, surrounded with flower- gardens tastefully laid out and well kept. In traversing this Island and visiting the private houses and living in the hotels, one is pleasantly reminded of the Old World ; there is not much bustle and there is much more comfort. Times do not appear to have changed materially since the Island was divided into three counties. Kings, Queens and Princes, and since the chief streets of its capital were traced and named I 2 1 1 6 P^Hnce Edwai^d Island, Kent, Dorchester, Grafton, Queen and Great George. Tlie conductors of the newspapers are less disposed than the other Prince Edward Islanders to take life easily and quietly. They display much energy and fertility in personal attack and recrimination. The newspapers often contain specimens of the style of journalism typified by the Eatanswill Gazette. Professional politicians, who are as active and unpopular here as they are in other parts of North America, frequently make public statements about each other's motives and conduct which the charitable stranger must hope are grossly exaggerated, if not wholly unfounded. Thouo^h the smallest Province of Canada, this one is not the least worthy of a visit. The future of the Island will probably resemble its past in all respects save the controversy concerning the land question, and also in the advance in wealth and population going on at an accelerated speed. It is possible that coal exists at a great depth, and it is known that a small quantity of iron ore exists, but the only natural wealth of the Island is in the trees which still remain and show how the whole country looked when it was entirely covered with forest, in the soil which is very fertile, in the game which is very plentiful and in the fish which swarm around the Island and fill its many rivers". Governor yohi Ready's Administration, 117 During several years of its early history, complaints were made as to the injury wrought by the rapacity and tyranny of the Governors sent from England. One of tbem, Governor Smith, was actually removed in 1813 for misconduct, in deference to the strong complaints of the inhabitants. Since the Island has enjoyed responsible government, that is since 1851, its rulers have not had the power, even if inspired with a wish to do, mischief. The pleasantest memories of bygone days are associated with Governor John Ready who dis- played a benevolent disposition and a sincere desire to promote the welfare of the people. It was in 1827, during his Administration, that the first Census was taken, the population being found to number 23,266. At the beginning of the century the number was 5000. The census of 1871 showed that the population had increased to 94,021 ; it is estimated that about 15,000 have been added to the people during the last ten years. These statistics prove a steady increase in population and there is no apparent reason why the progress should be speedily arrested. After visiting the Maritime Provinces of Canada, I was struck with the advantage which they would derive from a legislative union. Before the Con- federation Act of 1867 was passed, it had been 1 18 Prince Edwai^d Island, proposed to confederate tlie Maritime Provinces, but the jealousy and opposition of each was too great to be surmounted. Since becoming Pro- vinces of the Dominion, complaints are frequently made that they do not exercise so much influence at Ottawa as the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario. This grievance would be mitigated or removed if they joined their forces and acted as a unit. Their interests are identical; a single Provincial Legislature could provide for their local affairs, while as a united body, they would command greater respect in the Dominion Parliament. Home rule has its advantages ; but, when thr^e legislatures exist in a population of 800,000, the cost of home rule is greater than the benefit. "Whether the Maritime Provinces make this change or whether they remain as they are, they will be the better appreciated in Europe, the more they are known, and the tourist w^ho desires to see new places will find a trip through them both enjoyable and instructive. The time wasted by ambitious travellers in aimless journeys round the world and in describing what they had imperfectly seen and understood, would be more advan- tageoilbly expended, while literature might have a lesser quantity of rubbish added to it, if they leisurely traversed and truthfully described the Maritime Provinces of Canada. CHAPTER V. INTERCOLONIAL, GEAND TEUNK, AND NOETHEEN RAILWAYS. In 1838 tlie Earl of Durham strongly urged tlie British Government to construct a railway between Halifax and Quebec. In 1876 the Inter- colonial Railway was completed and opened for traffic. When passengers were first enabled in 1869 to travel by rail from New York to San Francisco, they rejoiced that this had been rendered possible. It was not remembered that the con- struction of a Pacific Railway was advocated by John Plumbe in 1836. The rule is for a great national undertaking to be delayed at least thirty years longer than is absolutely necessary. A generation often passes away before the project of a far-seeing man is carried into effect by the persons whom he has converted to his views and who, when they see the feasibility and success of 1 20 Intercolonial Railway, the undertaking are ready enougli to appropriate tlie credit wliicli is his due. The first objection made to the Intercolonial Eailway, while it was still the subject of considera- tion, was that it could not be constructed ; the second was that, if constructed, traffic over it would be suspended during the winter months ; the third and, in the opinion of most persons, the conclusive one was that, even if constructed, it could not possibly pay. The objections made in the United States to the Pacific Eailway were of the same character and were equally conclusive. Engineering skill has overcome all natural obstacles in both cases. The trains on both lines run with regularity all the year round, and both are successful railway undertakings. With, re- gard to all such undertakings as great trunk railways or interoceanic canals, the prophecies of failure are the only things connected with them which usually remain unfulfilled. The Intercolonial Eailway is the most palpable result of Canadian Confederation. At a meeting held at Quebec in 1864 of the delegates from the Provinces which first constituted the Dominion of Canada it was resolved, and this resolution was afterwards incorporated in the Imperial Act creating the Dominion, that " the general govern- ment shall secure, without delay, the completion Origin and Character, 121 of the Intercolonial Railway from Riviere du Loup, tlirougb. New Brunswick, to Truro, in Nova Scotia." In accordance with this resolution and "with a capital of 3,000,000/. raised under Imperial guarantee, the construction of the railway was begun in 1869. Several surveys and plans for a railway had been made at an earlier day. The first scheme referred to a line, surveyed by Major Yule, R.E., which was to run from St. Andrew's in New Brunswick to Quebec and which a joint- stock Company was to construct with the sanction of the British Government. The International dispute as to the boundary between New Bruns- wick and the State of Maine caused the postpone- ment of this undertaking, and the Ashburton treaty under which certain territory, claimed and occupied by Great Britain, was ceded to the United States, caused the project to be abandoned. Several other plans for constructing a railway from the sea-board to Quebec through British territory were successively mooted, matured and laid aside. The great work was ultimately begun and completed, without half the difficulty which was expected and with more advantage to those primarily affected than had been imagined or foretold. Thougli not so gigantic a work as the Pacific Hallway from Omaha to San Francisco, it is yet no trifling display of engineering capacity. Its 122 Intercolonial Railway, total lengtli, including branches to Pictou and Shediac, is 713 miles. A more substantial line of rail is not to be found anywhere. The permanent way is in admirable condition ; the rails are of steel ; the bridges are of stone or iron ; the engines and carriao^es are made of the best materials and on the latest models in the Government workshops at Moncton. It is indisputable that the snowfall is very heavy and the cold is intense in winter throughout much of the country through which the line runs. A part of it passes along a tract 743 feet above the sea level. In the Metapedia Valley the weather is frequently severe, yet the detention of a train owing to bad weather is rarer than in the Highlands of Scotland. This is largely due to the careful provision which has been made for all contingencies. Wherever the snow is likely to drift and bar the passage of a train, fences have been erected to keep it off the line ; where it might fill up a cutting, snow sheds have been built ; one of these sheds, which is upwards of a miie in length, cost $1,500,000. In this case, however, the outlay has proved to be judicious economy. Only a short section of the line has baffled the efforts of the engineers to render it perfectly free from risk or trouble ; this consists of a vast slope composed of clay down which, in the spring-time, a heavy mass sometimes slides Workshops at Moncton, 123 and sweeps rails and everything else before it. Various remedies have been tried in vain. As the clay is of excellent quality and bricks are in demand, it might serve a double purpose to erect a biick- making machine and thus turn the erratic clay to useful account. During my visit to Moncton, the headquarters of the Railway, I had the privilege of inspecting the Company's workshops and offices under the guidance of Mr. Bruce, the Chief Clerk, who was in temporary charge during the absence of Mr. Pottinger, the Government Superintendent, to whom I had an introduction. I was impressed with the business-like way in which everything was arranged and executed. The workshops are on a large scale, consisting of three huge buildings which cover 70 acres ; as many as 2000 men being employed when the demand for making or repair- ing cars and locomotives is at its height. A proof of the care with which the line is managed is the fact that carefully compiled Meteorological tables are kept at each station and forwarded at regular intervals to the head office, where they are filed for reference. This may seem superfluous, yet it is an eminently sensible as well as a practi- cal arrangement. Should the Manager be called upon to make compensation for damage to goods in course of transit, it may happen that the 124 Intercolonial Railway, damage is entirely due to excessive heat or exces- sive cold or to a condition of the weather which exonerates the railway authorities from blame and from any liability to pay damages. By referring to the Meteorological tables on the given day at the place in question, the state of the weather can be ascertained and thus a dispute may be averted or settled. There can be no doubt that the Intercolonial Eailway is excellently constructed and admirably managed. The Chief Clerk, Mr. Bruce, who readily afforded me all the information I desired and displayed a courtesy which I heartily acknow- ledge, and Mr. Pottinger, the Superintendent, whose praise I heard from many mouths and whose ability is demonstrated by his success, evidently do their duty without reproach. Yet I am not convinced that a great railway should be a Government undertaking. The temptation to appoint or promote railway officers for party ser- vices rather than for personal merit is hard to resist and it is not easy to satisfy the public that Government patronage is uninfluenced by political considerations. Whenever this line is a paying property the Canadian Government would show wisdom in leasing it for a term of years. They would then be able to count upon an annual return without running any risk. Hitherto the working Scenery along the Line. 125 expenses liave been in excess of tlie receipts, but the days of deficits appear to be numbered. The rate of increase has been rapid and, with one exception, continuous. In 1876-7 the deficit was $307,000; in 1877-8, it was $282,000; in 1878-9, it was $547,867 ; in 1879-80, it fell to $97,131. A profit has accrued at the time I write. This is the manner in which the prediction has been justified that the Intercolonial would never earn enough wherewith to pay for the grease on the axles of the wheels. The Intercolonial Railway is not only an in- valuable means of intercommunication between the Maritime and mid-Provinces of Canada, but it offers many attractions to tourists. From Hali- fax to Quebec the distance is ^^^ miles. After leaving Halifax the scenery begins to attract the beholder, nothing can be more charming than the chain of lakes with wooded islands nor can any- thing be more weird than the tract of country strewn with boulders. About thirty miles along the way the Gold quartz mining district is reached. Ten miles further on is Shubenacadie on a river of .that name which divides Nova Scotia into two parts and abounds in shad and salmon. I was told that the sunsets at Shubenacadie were gor- geous in the extreme. The statement was verified in my own experience ; never have I seen sunsets 126 In ter colon ial Ra ilway, elsewhere that presented so many marvellous and brilliant effects. Truro, a refreshment station, was a small village before the railway was made; now it is a town of 5000 inhabitants. Ifc is sur- rounded by meadows and it has the benefit of the ocean breeze from the Bay of Fundy. At London- derry, a station further on, shipbuilding is the chief industry. Here the Acadian Charcoal Iron Company's works are situated ; these works have been acquired by English capitalists. The outlay upon them has been 300,000L and they are ex- pected to yield, when in full operation, 20,000 tons of pig iron annually. The railway runs through the small settlement of Ishgonish, where rabbits are as plentiful as at Ostend. A local firm catches and tins these rabbits and exports them to England. The tins are labelled " Pre- served Hare." Purchasers of Nova Scotia pre- served hare ought to see that the contents of the tins tally with the label. The course of the line over the Cobequid Hills is very picturesque, the elevation reached being 600 feet, and the view both far and near being exceedingly beautiful. Where the level country is gained lies the village of Oxford; which is noted for its manufactures of carpenters' tools and wooden boxes. After entering the Province of New Brunswick, the most notable place on the line is Dorchester on the left bank Newcastle, 12J of tlie Peticodiac Eiver. Near tliis place a mineral called "jet coal " is found in large quantities. It is as rich in gas as cannel coal. I pass over Monet on which I have already described and name Newcastle as next in order of note. It is the most important business place in New Bruns- wick after St. John. Like St. John it has been swept away by fire and rebuilt in a more attrac- tive style though not a more substantial manner, wood being principally used instead of stone which is quite as abundant and nearly as cheap. The Miramichi river on which it is situated is one of the largest in the Province, being 220 miles long and having a width of 9 miles at its mouth. At Bathurst the sightseer, as well as the angler, will be repaid should he visit the Grand Falls on the JSTequissiquit River. These Falls are 140 feet in height, and are sublime specimens of natural scenery. On the banks of another river, the Tete- a-Gauche, is to be found the curious Wax-yielding plant, Myra Conifera ; candles made from this wax are commonly used in the locality. Camp- bellton, which is 372 miles from Halifax is a place well known to the passengers who leave by the night express on Saturday, as they have to remain here all Sunday, the running of trains being for- bidden on Sunday in Canada. The attractions of Campbellton, which greatly resemble those of the 128 Intercolonial Railway, town in Scotland after whicTi it was named, would be more appreciated if they were not seen under compulsion. From tliis point to Metapedia the first village in the Province of Quebec, the scenery is diversified and the places at which the tourist might halt are many. No finer fishing can be had anywhere than in the Restigouche and Meta- pedia Eivers ; the valleys of both streams abound with game while the scenery is on as vast and im- posing a scale as in the Alps, while it has at times all the soft effects which enchant the traveller in the Pyrenees. A pretty place in the Metapedia Valley bears the unpronounceable name of Assa- metquaghan. Shortly after this valley is left behind, the line nears the St. Lawrence, and runs at no great distance from it for upwards of 200 miles till entering the terminus at Point Levi opposite Quebec. Here the Intercolonial ends and the Grand Trunk begins. In the latter part of the journey there are many places which tempt a halt, chief among them is Cacouna the fashion- able watering-place of the Dominion. Here the visitors can amuse themselves by bathing, boat- ing, fishing and shooting. There are several large and well-managed hotels at Cacouna, which is not only a pleasant place of resort for the holiday- maker, but also enjoys the reputation of restoring health to invalids. Mr, ytistice Henry, 129 I journeyed over tlie Intercolonial from St. Jolin to Shediac, from Pictou to Halifax and. from Halifax to Quebec. A piece of pleasant personal experience on tlie last journey deserves mention. This consisted in forming the acquaintance of Mr. Justice Henry, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a native of Nova Scotia and took a leading part in the affairs of that Province. He was an earnest advocate of the Intercolonial Eailway and of the Canadian Confederation. In addition to being an active and a respected poli- tician, he distinguished himself as a law reformer ; it was at his suggestion and under his guidance that the Statutes of his native Province were re- vised, a work which was praised in the House of Lords by Lord Campbell, then Lord Chancellor. The reforms in legal procedure introduced by him are vast improvements on the old state of things. At a dinner given in his honour by the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1876, after his appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court and before his de- parture for Ottawa, the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Archibald, said " It is fair to say that on our smaller scale Mr. Justice Henry has had the honour of initiating in this Province something in the same line of policy which has lately been carried out in England. If his bill did not succeed at once, it, at all events, entitles him to be considered as one K ijO Grand Trunk Railway, of the earliest and oldest advocates in tlais country of a policy on the subject of judicial tribunals, which has, after a long straggle, prevailed in the Mother country." I was gratified to learn from Mr. Justice Henry that the Canadian Supreme Court is working satisfactorily and fully attaining the objects of its originators. The cost of litiga- tion is reduced, owing to appeals to the Privy Council occurring in exceptional cases only. The existence of the Supreme Court adds to, while gratifying national feeling, in Canada. I have had the good fortune to become acquainted with several Canadian Judges and I have been impressed not only with their professional attainments, but with their readiness . to adapt themselves to changes of every kind and with their power of dealing with all matters as men of the world as well as trained lawyers. Among them Mr. Justice Henry is not the least notable. II. The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada is a sadly familiar name in many an English household. When the line was projected its shares and bonds were considered so good and safe an investment that thrifty parents bought them as a provision for their wives and children. During its con- Mr, Hicksoiis Management, 131 struction the interest on the bonds was punctually paid. It is now difficult to credit that the Fourth Preference Bonds were once quoted at upwards of 70Z. each in the Stock Exchange official list. After the opening of the Victoria Bridge, when the interest on the bonds was to be paid out of earnings, many an English family was reduced to poverty, no surplus having accrued wherewith to meet the interest on all the bonds and to divide something among the shareholders. Writing on " Eailways ; their Cost and Profits " in the West- minster Review for October 1862, 1 stated that the G-rand Trunk Railway was perhaps the most un- successful undertaking of the time : *' it has been made fifty years too soon for profit, but not a day too soon for the Province." This prediction has as good a prospect of being verified as any prediction about the future of a railway. The receipts are now increasing so largely that bondholders who despaired of their lot are now receiving a return, and the case of the shareholders has ceased to be absolutely hopeless. This pleasing transformation is due, both to the progressive improvement' in traffic, and to the great organizing and administra- tive ability of the General Manager, Mr. HicksoQ, whose policy has been ably carried into effect by his assistant Mr. Drinkwater and a well-selected and an efficient staff. K 2 132 Grand Trunk Railway. The traveller bound West from the city of Quebec can now journey over the Grand Trunk as far as Chicago. By securing a direct through line to the great city of Illinois, the Manager and Directors of the Grand Trunk have displayed as much judgment as boldness. Moreover, the Inter- colonial acts as a feeder to their line, so that the connexion by rail is unbroken between Halifax on the Atlantic and Chicago on Lake Michigan. A feeder to the Grand Trunk of great value is now in course of construction. It starts from Sher- brooke and runs through New Brunswick till it joins the railway in that Province which now runs to St. John. The saving in distance between the sea- board and Montreal over this line will be 200 miles, and the result may be to make St. John a still more dangerous rival to Halifax. It is possible also that the Intercolonial may be injuriously affected, yet of this I am very doubtful. The local traffic on the Intercolonial will not be di- minished, and this is quite as remunerative as the through traffic. Indeed, there is ample room for both lines. When this new route is open the Grand Trunk will have three termini on the Atlantic, one at Portland in Maine, a second at Halifax in Nova Scotia and a third at St. John in JSTew Brunswick. When the Canadian Pacific Eailway is finished, the Grand Trunk will form Glut of Traffic, 133 an important and profitable link in tlie iron road wliicli will then pass across British Territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. It is eleven years since I first travelled over the Grand Trunk Railway ; on my last journey I could scarcely fancy that the line was the same, so com- plete had been the improvement in the interval. At the date of my earliest trip over the Grand Trunk, the chance of arriving at the appointed hour was very slight ; the probability of a break- down, if not of a serious accident, being very great, the oscillation and jumping of the cars being intolerable. I^ow, the trains run with remarkable punctuality and with a smoothness equal to that on the best railway in England or elsewhere; acci- dents have happily become very rare. It seems to me that there is as m-uch goods and passenger traffic on the line as can be accommodated ; the pressure on the rolling stock is specially severe between Montreal and Toronto. Another line of rails may yet have to be added between these two places. I think, however, that the struggles of the Grand Trunk as a commercial undertaking are nearing their close and that the long expected period of prosperity is about to begin. Everything that can be done by skilful management to make the line remunerative has been carefully attended to, and the shareholders 134 Northern Railway, may yet find that tlieir patience "has not been tried in vain, and that the sanguine expectations which they once cherished about future profits were premature rather than baseless. III. "While the Grand Trunk runs west beyond Toronto, another line, the Northern, running in a north-westerly direction, connects that city with Collingwood on Georgian Bay. The distance between the two places is 95 miles. At Allandale a branch runs to the Muskoka district, that pic- turesque region of wood and water which bears many resemblances to the Highlands of Scotland. The total length of the Northern with its branches is 167 miles. It has been under the management of Colonel Cumberland since 1859. Before his advent, the prospect of the line becom- ing remunerative was very slight. A great change for the better has now taken place, the vigour and ability of Colonel Cumberland having altered the prospects of the railway. Not only is the line in an admirable state for transporting goods and passengers, but its stations are models of neatness and good taste. The sight of a pretty garden at a station is common enough in England, but it is Mtiskoka Lakes, 135 so rare in Canada and the United States that tlie flowers, grass and shrubbery at the stations on the Northern Railway impress a stranger as ex- ceedingly effective. The country through which the Northern Rail- way runs after leaving Toronto is well adapted for farming. The Yale of Aurora is a district in which good grain is grown and horses and sheep of the best kinds are reared. Beyond the village of Aurora is Newmarket which is noted for manu- factures. Half-way between Toronto and Col- lingwood is the Holland River Marsh, a spot where snipe and wild duck abound and where there is also excellent fishing. At AUandale, the junction for the Muskoka branch, the prospect is lovely. This place and Barrie are on Kempenfeldt Bay in Lake Simcoe. This Lake as well as the Lakes in the Muskoka district are not like the huge inland seas which entirely upset the ideas of Lakes formed by visitors to the north of England, the Highlands of Scotland and to Switzerland. The sheets of water in this part of Canada while seldom too vast to be embraced at a single glance, are exquisite in their surroundings. It is fifteen years since the Muskoka district was thrown open for settlement and free grants of land were made to those persons who should fix their homes there. The influx of settlers has 136 Northern Railway. been considerable ; the inhabitants numbered 300 in 1861 ; tbey now number about 10,000. Many persons bave been disappointed because tlie land is of small value for the agriculturist, though furnishing a beautiful prospect to the tourist. The settler naturally prefers fine soil to fine scenery. Moreover, the country was in a wild state when the first settlers went thither and was not so easily farmed as in the west, where the prairie is ready for the plough. But the early failures of a few have been the exceptions and the country is now becoming filled with industrious and thriving families. Year after year it is grow- ing in favour as a place of summer resort, being to Ontario what the Highlands are to England. All this brings traffic to the Northern Railway. Collingwood is the most important station on the line, being the place of departure and arrival of the steamers which ply between this town and Duluth at the head of Lake Superior. Other lines of steamers run between Collingwood and Chicago. As the West becomes more populous and the surplus of products increases in amount, the trade on the Northern Lakes must grow in a corresponding ratio and this increase will add more traffic to the Northern Railway. It stands fourth, in the extent of its traffic, among Canadian lines of rail. As the line whereby north-western Fttture Prospects, 137 Ontario will be developed and which will profit, in turn, bj such development, it stands first. Possessing a virtual monopoly of an important tract of country, the Northern should attain a high place among the most successful Canadian Railways. CHAPTER YL ACEOSS LAKE SUPERIOE. The traveller bound for tlie Canadian Far "West, who crosses the Atlantic in an Allan liner, reaches Toronto hj rail after landing at Halifax, Eimouslvi or Quebec. Unless he shall have made up his mind before leaving home as to the route which he will take in order to arrive at Manitoba, he finds at Toronto that three courses are open to him and that each has its professed advantage or special temptation. First, he may proceed to Winnipeg by rail. If he travel night and dsij, he is at his journey's end in three days and a half. Second, he may proceed to Sarnia on Lake Huron over the Grand Trunk Railway, embark there in a steamer for Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, where he takes the train for Winnipeg. Third, he may proceed to Colling- wood on Georgian Bay over the Northern of Canada Railway, where a steamer will carry him The Noi'th Shore Roide, 139 to Duluth whence he continues his journey as in the second case. The time occupied in the third of these cases is four days and a half, being one day shorter than by the Sarnia route and one day longer than the direct route by rail. In addition to the saving in time, the third route has the advantage over the second that the voyage is made along the North Shore of Lake Superior where the scenery is bolder and more varied than on the South. During five months out of the twelve, Lake Superior is closed to navigation; the open season begins at the end of April and closes at the end of November. As the boats were running, I determined to cross the Lake and, after careful consideration, I elected to start from Collingwood in order to enjoy the attractions of the North Shore route. Five hours after leaving Toronto on a Thurs- day forenoon, I reached Collingwood and I looked for the City of Winniijeg^ the steamer which was advertised to leave the wharf shortly after the arrival of the train. I looked in vaia. The steamer did not get to Collingwood on her return trip till Saturday evening, having been detained owino^ to boisterous weather and havinof been so much injured that she had to be docked for repairs. On Sunday evening the Frances Smith, another steamer of the same line, reached 140 Across Lake SupeiHor, Collingwood and lier Captain reported that Tie had encountered a gale on the upward trip which jeopardized the vessel's safety and did some damage to her. After being temporarily re- paired, she started for Duluth on Monday night. I was not sorry to leave Collingwood, having grown tired of waiting there four days for a steamer which might appear at any mo- ment. In other circumstances I might have liked Collingwood better. The town is of recent date. It stands upon what was formerly a cedar swamp. Its advance in importance has been rapid. The population numbers 4000. Collingwood is ad' mirably situated for the purposes of commerce ; the greater part of Ontario's trade with the Upper Lakes must pass through it. The soil in the immediate vicinity is poor, yet certain vege- tables and fruits flourish there, the vield of excellent plums being very large. Small though Collingwood be, it is yet rich enough to support two weekly newspapers and one daily. There are many attractive villas in the neighbourhood where the prosperous merchants reside. There is an Episcopalian, a Methodist and a Eoman Catholic Church and two Presbyterian Churches. In the two principal hotels the traveller is housed at a very moderate charge. At one of them I A Landlord's Career, 14 1 obtained a comfortable room and excellent food for the small sum of $1 a day. The proprietor of the hotel told me an inte- resting storj of his struggles with fortune. Born in the North of Ireland, he came to Canada at an early age. lie migrated to Collingwood, where he followed the trade of a shoemaker. Being a skilful workman he was able to save a little money and to employ men to execute the orders he received. He had as many as eight men in his employment and had plenty of business when he was obliged to suspend payment owing to the bad debts which he made. Then he became hotel keeper, prospered in that capacity and paid all his old creditors in full, the sum required for the purpose being $2500. Soon afterwards his hotel was burnt down; it was uninsured and he lost everything except a good name and credit. On the strength of his credit he borrowed money, where- with to buy the site on which his hotel had stood, and to erect a new building. He has now paid off all his liabilities and is independent. He ascribes his success in life to working hard and mindinof his own business. He told me that his fueling for Ireland was as warm as ever, but that he felt ashamed of many Irishmen. He spoke highly of the neighbouring country as a place where farmers can prosper. There are many 142 Ac7^oss Lake Supe^^ior. « farms of lOOacreswitli substantial liouse and offices which can be bought for $7000. In several cases farms are for sale because the possessors have not inherited their fathers' viitues as well as their acres. Taking life easily and giving to pleasure the energy which ought to be expended in their fields, these young men find that they have to raise money by mortgaging their land, and are often obliged to part with the land because they cannot meet the interest on the mortgages. The Frances Smith is a paddle steamer. For sea-going purposes a steamer propelled by paddles is inferior to one propelled by a screw, but the former commonly affords superior accommodation to passengers. I had a better furnished and more spacious state-room in the Frances Smith than is to be found on the best Atlantic liners. I cannot imagine anything more enjoyable in fine summer weather than a trip in such a steamer. But when the equinoctial gales are blowing and Lake Superior is a raging sea, a steamer like this is neither comfortable nor staunch. If the engines broke down the vessel would be at the mercy of the waves. On a screw steamer sail can be carried which might prove serviceable in the event of damage to the machinery. The voyage was tedious owing to stormy weather. Leaving Collingwood on Mon- Tempesttiotts Weather, 143 day night we did not reach Duluth till the suc- ceeding Monday morning, though we were due on the previous Thursday night. Captain Robertson, who has had seven years' experience of navigating Lake Superior, had never seen a worse season; this does not prove much, however, for the Cap- tains of steamships always appear to think that the present bad weather is unprecedented. This is their mode of flattering passengers ; the latter are rather proud of hearing that their experience of the weather is altogether exceptional and that their survival is almost miraculous. However, the Captain of the Frances Smith demonstrated that he considered the weather very bad, for, rather than face the gale blowing in Georgian Bay, he remained twelve hours in the sheltered harbour of Owen Sound. Another steamer which left Collingwood for Chicago soon after we started, was driven on an island in Georgian Bay and became a total wreck. The Captain of our steamer had the greater reason for caution because the boat was obviously over-laden. There were several horses and fifty head of cattle on board ; cargo was piled in every spot where space could be found ; ample provision seemed to have been made for causing what would have been misnamed an accident. Though the weather was unpropitious for full 144 Across Lake Stiperior. enjoyment of tlie scenery, yet I saw enongh to lead me to concur in the praise lavished upon it. As many as ten thousand islands or islets have been counted in Georgian Bay and this figure is believed to be far under the mark. Many are wooded ; they differ in shape and they give a variety to the landscape which is exceedingly charming. The steamer was a whole day thread- ing its course among this maze of islets. Killarney on the north shore is the fourth stopping-place after leaving Colling wood; it is a village con- sisting of about twenty houses and a church. The land is very poor in the neighbourhood ; the laurentian formation is conspicu3us, the out- cropping of bare rock being more frequent than patches of soil. The people are Indians and Half- Breeds who live by catching fish and gathermg fruit. They had many tubs of freshly caught white fish and salmon trout and barrels of cran- berries for sale, the latter costing $5 each. Specimens of Indian embroidery were in a store over which was a sign '' Indian Works." As a few of the houses were new, I inferred that the village of Killarney was flourishing. A very different impression was produced by the sight of the Bruce mines. This was once a busy settlement; now it is in decay; many of the houses are empty and the church seems The B^'ttce Mines, 145 falling into ruin. The copper-mines around wliich the settlement had gathered belong to an English Company. At one time thej were very remunerative. A gentleman who had managed one of the principal mines told me that, if copper were to fetch 16(i. a pound again all these mines would return large dividends, but that, at the present price of copper, they must be worked at a heavy loss. The works are stopped and the machinery is not only idle, but it is deteriorating rapidly. However, the English Company is so fortunate as to possess in addition to unproduc- tive mines, 6500 acres of good farming land, for which there is a demand ; the capital sunk in the mines may be partly replaced from their sale. The Bruce mines are 307 miles from Colling- wood. After leaving them the steamer enters the St. Mary's Eiver, connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron ; it is about sixty miles long. For a great part of its course it bears no resemblance to a stream, being rather a series of shallow lakes, among which Bear Lake and St. George's Lake are the most important. At the outlet of the latter the Neebish Rapids attract attention, chiefly because the current is so jnuch less sluggish there than at other parts. The St. Mary's River is meandering as well as shallow ; at parts the space between the banks is narrow and the banks them- 146 Ac7^oss Lake SupeiHor, selves are very picturesque. When I saw tliem, tlieir rocky sides were not only tinted with many colours but their summits were crowned with trees glowing in the gorgeous tints of a Canadian autumn. On the northern side there is an Indian reservation whereon an Indian tribe, under the rule of Chief Francis, lives by fishing and farming. In physique the chief strikingly resembles the great Duke of Wellington and in character he is quite as shrewd. He resists all encroachments on his domain. The Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Company discovered a silver-mine to which access could be had only through the Indian reservation. Chief Francis refused to allow the Company's servants to exercise the right of way which they claimed on the technical ground that the land was unfenced. When the Indians understood the nature of the claim, they lost no time in surrounding the land with fences of the strangest and most primitive kind and thus check-mated the Company. Chief Francis stands upon his legal right, and he will neither surrender his title to the land nor sell any of it. The Canadian Government respect his title, and there is no likelihood of Chief. Francis havinsf to make any change against his will. He knows that a treaty with Indians is always scrupulously respected wherever the British flag floats. Homes for Indian Children, 147 A little way further up tlie river, at Sault Ste. Marie, on the Canadian side, is the Shingwauk Home established six years ago by members of the Church of England in Canada for the training of young Indian boys. Two years ago the Wawanosh Home was estabhshed for training Indian girls. There is accommodation for eighty boys and thirty girls. The Government gives a small subsidy to the Homes, but voluntary contributions are their chief support. As is common with charitable institutions these two labour under the drawback of poverty. I am assured that both have been appreciated by the Indians, who are glad to send their children to be educated and, I may add, civilized there. A little monthly paper printed at the Boys' Home called the J.?^o?72(X Missionary Neios and Shingwauk Journal gives information about missionary progress among the Indians. The profits from the sale go to the support of the Home; the yearly subscription is only S 5 cents. Moreover, any one who desires to support a boy or girl, including clothing, can do so by paying $75 a year. The purposes and wants of these Homes only require to be generally known for their prosperity to be assured. It is through such agencies that the Indians of Canada will not only remain peaceful dwellers in the land, but are prepared and disposed to exercise the privileges of L 2 148 Across Lake Supeinor, citizen sliip to wliicli they are entitled, under Canadian law, whenever they choose to comply with the requisite formahties. On the Michigan side the land is good and well-cultivated. The most comfortable looking house and the best laid grounds belong to Mr. Church who has accumulated a fortune by making raspberry jam. He settled here when this part of the State was unpeopled by white men and he employed Indians to gather the wild raspberries which grow in profusion. He made them into jam which he forwarded for sale in the more settled and civilized parts of the United States. His jam grew into favour with the public and he became very rich. At Sault Ste. Marie the steamer passes through a canal into Lake Superior. This canal is a fine example of engineering skill, but it will soon be superseded by a still finer example. The second canal is an admirable piece of work, every part being built of the most durable materials. Vessels drawing sixteen feet of water will be able to pass through the new canal. It is not creditable to Canada that no such canal has been made on her side of the rapids. The natural difficulties are far less there, while the advantages of a canal through Canadi[in territory are obvious. As a spectacle, the Eapids are very striking. Fishing in the Rapids, 149 For the distance of a mile tlie waters of Lake Superior rush down over shelving rocks ; at intervals in the descent, islets, covered with trees, form obstacles to the hurrying waters which eddy and foam around them. In the eddies white fish lie and feed till they fall a prey to the Indian fisherman. It is nearly two centuries and a half since the Sault Ste. Marie was first visited by white men. In 1641, two Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Raymbault and Jorgues, pushed their explorations as far as this place. They then found an Indian village of two thousand persons on the spot where a small United States city now stauds. For centuries the Chippewa Indians had made this a place of abode, living on the white fish that swarm in the Eapids. The mode of fishing is unlike any which I ever saw practised. Two Indians stand upright at either end of a canoe and force it up the swift running stream. One attends to keeping the canoe's head up stream while the other watches for a fish ; on seeing one he scoops it out with a small net attached to a pole six feet long. The pole, with the net attached, is not easily handled on land ; when a fish weighing from ten to fifteen pounds is in it, the phy- sical exertion required to raise the net must be great. There is a knack in this as in all other feats; but it is one which none but Indians are 150 Ac7^oss Lake Stipe7'ior, known to acquire. The Indians get 2 cents a pound for the fish they catch, which are packed in ice and sent to Detroit. The fish caught in the Rapids are better eating than those caught above or below them, the flesk being firmer and the taste being more delicate. I never enjoyed a greater delicacy than a piece of white fish which I ate within half an hour after the fish had been s dimming in the water. Another new sensation I did not covet. This consists in running the Eapids in a . canoe. Adventurous and curious persons can have their desire gratified by Indians in exchange for $5. The first step is the payment whick is enforced before-hand, the next is to spend a couple of minutes in breathless excitement, as the canoe spins down the foaming water, and to be drenched by tke spray through whick tke canoe passes, tke final conclusion being tkat tke game is not wortk tke cost. Wken one looks at tkese Eapids wkere fisking kas been prosecuted in tke same faskion for centuriep,, one is not so greatly struck witk tke little change in this respect which has taken place, as with the greatness of other changes. Powerful Indian tribes, whom the first white man. laboured to conciliate before essaying their con- version, have passed away leaving only names behind. Tke Jesuit Fatkers wko visited tkis spot A Historic Ceremony, 151 would have less difficulty in recognizing it agaia if the J could return to earth, than in realizing the transformation in the position of that great French nation which they admirably represented and devotedly served in the wilds of western Canada. Few scenes in French colonial history are so memorable as that of which this place was the theatre on the 14th of June, 1671. A grand council then assembled, in which fourteen Indian tribes were represented, where the Rev. Claude Dablon, Superior of the Lake Missions, Fathers Gabriel Druillettes, Claude Allouez, and Louis Andre represented the Church, and where M. Daumont de St. Lusson with fifteen of his followers represented the Government of Louis the Four- teenth. A large cross was blessed by Father Dablon and erected on a hill, while the Frenchmen, with bare heads, sang the Vexilla Regis. Near the cross a post was fixed in the ground and to it was fastened a metal plate on which the royal arms were engraved; the Exaudiat was sung and a prayer ofi'ered for the King during this part of the ceremony. Then Daumont de St. Lusson stood forth with upraised sword in one hand and a clod of earth in the other and said in a loud voice : '' In the name of the most high, mighty, and renowned monarch Louis, Fourteenth of that name, most Christian King of France and Navarre, I take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du 152 Across Lake Supe7'ior. Saiit, as also of Lakes Huron and Superior, tlie Island of Manatoulin, and all countries, rivers, lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the North and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea : declaring to the natious thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his Majesty, bound to obey his laws and follow his customs : promising to them on his part all succour and protection against the incursions and invasions of their enemies : declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states and republics, — to them and to their subjects, — that they cannot and are not to seize and settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only under the good pleasure of his most Christian Majesty, and of him who will govern on his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the efforts of his arms. Long live the King." ^ After the representative of the* King had performed liis official duty. Father AUoiiez harangued the Indians about the ceremonies which they had witnessed, impressing upon them that they should worship Christ upon the Cross, and honour and obey the King, who, he told them, had lio equal upon earth. Many fulsome panegyrics were passed upon Louis during his * Translated and quoted by Mr. Parkman in his admirable work " The Discovery of the Great West," pp. 41-2. Panegyric on Louis XIV. 153 lifetime, but none surpassed this one. The Indians were told that when Louis goes to war all his chiefs raise armies. " When he attacks, he is more fearful than thunder. The earth trembles, and the air and the sea are on fire from the dis- charge of his cannon. He has been seen in the midst of his squadrons covered with the blood of his enemies ; so many of them has he put to the sword that he does not number their scalps, but merely the rivers of blood which he has caused to flow. He carries such a number of captives with him that he does not value them, but lets them go where they please, to show that he does not fear them. Nobody dares make war on him. All nations beyond the sea have sued for Peace with great submission. They come from every quarter of the globe and hsten to him and admire him. It is he who decides upon the affairs of the world. What shall I say of his riches ? You think your- selves very rich when you have ten or twelve sacks of corn, and hatchets, and kettles and other things of the kind. He has more cities than you have men, which are scattered over a space of more than five hundred leagues. In each city there are shops containing hatchets enough to cut all your wood, kettles enough to cook all your cariboo and sugar enough to fill all your wigwams. His house extends further than from here to the Sault, is higher than the tallest of your trees, and contains more people than the largest of your settlements ever contained." It is doubtful whether the Indians to whom Father Alloiiez recounted the feats and magnifi- i^\ Across Lake Superior, cence of the great Louis were so mucli impressed by the recital as they were by Lake Superior. The Lake they worshipped. It was the source of their chief food and it represented to them the might and mystery of the ocean. No other sheet of fresh water on the globe is larger or more wonderful. Its extreme length is 355 miles and its breadth 160; it covers an area of 32,000 square miles. The surface of the Lake is 627 feet above the sea level ; parts of its bed are several hundred feet below it ; hence it is one of the deepest depressions on the earth's face. The largest and deepest, it is also the coldest body of water in the world, the temperature not rising above 35° Fahrenheit when the summer is at its height. The most skilful and the boldest swimmer may abandon all hope should he have to swim any distance for his life in Lake Superior. The sailor has to exercise the utmost caution when navi- gating a vessel upon it. Fogs are frequent and they obscure the air in the twinkling of an eye. Without any warning the wind often begins to blow furiously, and lashes the placid bosom of the Lake into tumultuous waves. The Atlantic during a gale is not a grander or a more sublime spec- tacle, and the navigation of the Atlantic is never a greater test of seamanship than that of Lake Superior when a storm is raging. Michipicoten Island, 155 Micliipicoten Island, distant about a Hun- dred miles from Sault Ste. Marie, is the first regular stopping-place after entering the Lake. The Island rises 800 feet above the water ; it is richly wooded, the principal trees being maple, birch, spruce, cedar, balsam and mountain ash. The climate is more temperate than on the main- land. It is probable that the Island may become a favourite place of resort during the summer months on account of the extreme salubrity of the air. The soil, which is a rich vegetable mould mixed with sand, is very well fitted for growing root crops. Beautiful agates are found along the beach. The visitors who busy themselves in searching for agates are generally die appointed, as the keeper of the lighthouse has forestalled them in gathering the finest specimens. Those persons who buy agates instead of trying to pick them up, may amuse themselves profitably by fishing, as speckled trout abound close in shore and can easily be caught. The Jesuit Fathers who were the earliest explorers of this region of the Continent have left on record many interesting particulars about the mineral riches which abound on the shores of Lake Superior, as well as on the islands in it. Father Dablon, in his Chronicle for 1669-70, thus refers to the Island of Michipicoten : " After entering the Lake the first place met with containing copper is an island 156 Across Lake Superior, about forty or fifty leagues from the Sault, towards the North Shore, opposite a place called Missipi- cooatong (Michipicoten.) The savages relate that it is a floating island, being sometimes near and and at others afar off. A long time ago four savages landed there, having lost their way in a fog, with which the island is frequently sur- rounded. It was previous to their acquaintance with the French, and they knew nothing of the nse of kettles and hatchets. In cooking their meals, as is usual among the savages, by heating stones and casting them into a birch-bark pail containing water, they found that they were almost all copper. After having completed their meal, they hastened to re-embark, for they were afraid of the lynxes and hares, which here grow to the size of dogs. They took with them copper stones and plates, but had hardly left the shore before they heard a loud voice exclaiming in an angry tone 'who are the thieves that carry off the cradles and the toys of my children ? ' They were very much surprised at the sound, not knowing whence it came. One said it was the thunder ; another that it was a certain goblin called Missibizi, the spirit of the waters, like Neptune among the heathen ; another that it came from theMemogoris- sioois, who are marine men, living constantly under the water, like the Tritons and Syrens, having long hair reaching to the waist, and one of the savages asserted that he had actually seen such a being. At any rate, this extraordinary voice produced such fear that one of them died before landing ; shortly after^ two others died, and one alone reached home, Discoveries of Copper. 157 who, after having related what had happened, also died. Since that time, the savages have not dared to visit the Island, or even to steer in that direction." Father Dablon concludes by saying that it is commonly believed by the savages that the Island contains an abundance of copper. He also gives a rational explanation of the phenomena which so terrified the savages as to make them shun the spot. The heated stones containing copper which they put into their birch-bark pail may have poisoned the meat and caused the deaths of the eaters; the supernatural voice may have been an echo of their own, while the apparent vanishing and reappearance of the Island may have been due to fleeting fogs. It is noteworthy that, while the- existence of minerals was known to the savages who lived near Lake Superior and was made known by the first European explorers of that Lake and its vicinity, the working of the mineral deposits was not begun l^iere till nearly two centuries later. Stranger still it was ascertained that a race far older than the savages with whom the Jesuit Fathers conversed, a race of which little more is now known than that it existed, must have been extracting copper from the mines at Lake Su- perior long before Columbus set forth to discover a new world. These people are supposed to be 158 Across Lake Superior, Mound Builders ; in tlie Mounds which are their only memorials, copper ornaments have been found. The Indians inhabiting the country had no know- ledge of mining and no skill in working metals. In the winter of 1847-8 a most curious dis- covery was made at the place on the South Shore of the Lake, near the Ontonagan River, where the Minnesota mine is situated. There Mr. Knapp discovered the remains of old workings, and found a mass of native copper, ten feefc long, three feet wide, nearly two feet thick, and weighing six tons. The earth has been carefully excavated on all sides, but the metallic mass proved too heavy to be removed. In the vicinity were stone hammers, copper knives and chisels and wooden bowls for baling out water. Had not the copper been de- posited here in its native or pure state these ancient people could not have mined it. Yet their operations, though rude, were most ingenious and they were a people which had made a greater step in the direction of civilization than the Indians who succeeded and supplanted them. While the citizens of the United States have carried on Copper-mining at Lake Superior with great energy and to their pecuniary advantage, the copper deposits of the like nature on the Canadian side have remained almost untouched. The magnitude of the mining operations in this Value of Native Copper, . 159 part of the United States may be understood when I add that the amount of metal extracted since their beginning is 300,000 tons in weight and valued at $ 140,000,000. Several mines have yielded profits which may be literally termed fabulous. The shareholders in the Calumet and Hecla, for instance, receive dividends at the rate of half a million sterling annually on an original capital of forty thousand pounds sterling, the market price of the original capital being about five millions. Indeed, the tales about the yield of the gold mines of California and Australia, of the silver mines on the Comstock lode and at Leadville are not more wonderful than the authentic story of the Copper-mines of Lake Superior. The purity of the Lake Superior native Copper is remarkable, being as great as that of the same metal found in Japan and in Siberia. The metal is pronounced to be chemically pure, leaving no residuum when dissolved in pure nitric acid, giving no precipitate when the nitric acid solution is heated with ammonia, containing no trace of arsenic or other volatile metal. For electric purposes it is preferred to any other owing to its superior conductivity ; hence it commands a higher price in the market and hence, too, the process of mining this native Copper is more remunera- tive than that of mining the sulphurets of Copper. i6o Across Lake Superior, When I visited the Island of Michipicoten I learned that its mineral treasures are attracting the attention of capitalists. In addition to de- posits of native Copper, resembling those on the South Shore of the Lake, deposits of silver and nickel have been found. With a supineness which, it is difficult to understand and scarcely possible to justify, the Canadians allow strangers to reap the profits which, the mines in this part of their territory can easily be made to yield. I was told that a company formed in the United States had acquired several acres of land on this Island where they were mining for native Copper and that their preliminary operations had been eminently satisfactory. Still better results were anticipated by the Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Company which had acquired ten square miles of land on the Island. I was unaware at the time of my visit to the Island that the share- holders in that Company were indisposed to furnish the capital wherewith to erect machinery, so as to profit by the explorations which demon- strated that their property was as rich in native Copper as other remunerative properties on the United States side of the Lake. Several months later I returned to England where I learned that a Company called the Michipicoten Native Copper Company had been formed, that Mr. W. W. Stuart, Copper Mining Companies, 161 the Cliairman of the Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Company, having purchased the majority of the shares, had transferred his interest in ten square miles of the Island of Michipicoten to the English Company for a sum of 50,000Z. in fully paid up shares, these shares not to rank for dividend till the subscribers of money had received all their capital back out of profits. I was im- pressed with the stories which I heard on the spot and read about the mineral riches of Michipico- ten Island. I was also struck with the unusually favourable terms on which the English Company had acquired a property there, and I thought I should not act foolishly in becoming a share- holder in a Company which not only promised so much, as is the rule in mining companies, but which appeared likely to be one of the companies which supplement promise with performance. Other Companies will doubtless be formed to bring to the surface and . divide among shareholders the riches which lie below the surface of Michipicoten. Nor is the mineral wealth confined to the islands in the Lake. The J^orth Shore also is rich in copper and silver ; an English company, the Lake Superior Native Copper Company, is now working a property at Maimainse, in Batchewaung Bay, where the Copper in the ore amounts to 69 per cent, while, in addition, the ore contains M 1 62 Across Lake Stiperior. silver to tlie value of 36 ounces per ton: Silver Islet was the next place at wliicli tlie Frances Smith stopped. The passage from Michipicoten Island to that spot was made in most disagree- able circumstances. A storm of thunder and lightning raged for five hours ; seldom have I seen so much and such vivid lightning ; never have I seen rain fall so heavily ; the water descended in sheets. The storm began at 6 o'clock in the eVening ; early on the following morning the liain ceased, the wind lulled and the sea gradually went down. A dense fog covered the water. About 8 o'clock in the morning while looking towards the bow, I heard the roar of surf and I saw rocks not far distant on the port side. Captain Robert- son, who was on the look-out, at once ordered the engines to be reversed, and the steamer began to go astern iii time to prevent any mischief. A delay of a few minutes would have rendered a catastrophe unavoidable. It is improbable that any one would have survived to tell the tale had the vessel first struck upon the rocks and then gone down in the deep, icy cold water. The coolness and rapidity with which Captain Eobertson acted were appreciated by the passengers. It was with a tinge of incredulity, however, that they heard him avow he had expected to meet with rocks at the very place where they loomed ominously through the fog. Mineral Riches. 1 63 A few years ago a Montreal Company was seeking: for silver on an Islet about a mile from tlie mainland. Having discovered tliat tlie rock was ricli in silver the Company sold the property to a few citizens of the United States. These gentlemen have since then taken silver out of this small rock to the value of two miUion dollars. The Islet is a mass of rich silver ore ; it is esti- mated that eighteen million dollars' worth of silver may yet be extracted from it. The search for silver on other islands, such as Isle Roy ale, Pie Island, McKellars Island, as well as on the mainland is actively pursued by many persons who have made valuable discoveries. Indeed, the prevailing opinion is that the mineral deposits around Lake Superior and on the islands in it are extensive and rich beyond calculation. After leaving Silver Islet the steamer enters Thunder Bay, a sheet of water twenty miles in diameter, girded with lofty heights and guarded at its entrance by Thunder Cape, a rugged rocky headland rising 1350 feet above the surface of the Lake. The cliffs of Thunder Cape extend in unbroken surface for a distance of seven miles. "When the tempest howls around this mass of rock the echoes reverberate like claps of thunder. The Indians believed the noise to be the voice of the Great Spirit, Nana-bijoo, speaking to them M 2 164 ■ Across Lake Stiperior. from out of his dwelling in tlie clouds. The ex- planation of the tradition is that a volcano at the summit, now extinct, once belched forth fire and lava. A grander or more impressive spectacle than that presented at this spot it is scarcely pos- sible to imagine. Prince Arthur's Landing is a town on the mainland at which the steamer calls, and here the cattle, which had suffered mucli during the voyage and had caused the passengers no slight discomfort, are sent on shore. The town itself dates from the time that Sir Garnet Wolseley started from this place at the head of the Red Eiver Expedition to suppress Louis Kiel's re- bellion in Manitoba. Prince Arthur's Landing is a Lake port of the Canadian Pacific Railway, com- peting with Fort "William to the South as the terminus of the line. "The town has a thousand inhabitants. It supports two weekly newspapers, one being the Thunder Bay Sentinel, the other the North Shore Miner, The purpose of the latter is to chronicle the prospects and progress of mining in this region. It contains highly eulogistic articles on the mineral wealth of the Islands in the Lake and of the mainland. The great demand is for capital. Lamentations are indulged in as to the indifference of Canadian capitalists to the development of the riches which , are buried underground, and the remark is made that '' the Silver^ Coppery a7id Iron Deposits, 165 American capitalist is tlie one on whom we must depend for tlie development of our ricli resources. There are no Canadians who have the push and stamina sufficient for the purpose." A Frenchman, Baron de Guichainville, who has taken up his abode at Prince Arthur's Landing, is labouring to induce his countrymen to invest money in a fish-canning establishment there and also in various mining enterprises. In addition to the deposits of silver and copper which have excited much attention and enriched many persons, this region abounds in vast deposits of iron ore which may prove as remunerative when extracted and smelted as mines of silver or gold. Not far from Prince Arthur'^ Landing stands Fort William, an older settlement on the Kami- nistiquia Eiver where the Hudson Bay Company have long had a trading-post. The rivalry between the inhabitants of the two places is extreme. In each place it seems to be an article of faith that the rival must speedily decay and that the one which remains will increase rapidly in wealth and population. There is ample room and oppor- tunity for both. After a ten hours' sail through scenery of great beauty and variety, the head of Lake Superior is reached and the steamer is moored at the wharf of Duluth, the ambitious city which it was supposed would rival Chicago in 1 66 Across Lake Superior . quickness of growth, whicli is one of the best puffed cities on the North American Continent and which is styled bj its self-satisfied and grandiloquent inhabitants, " the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas." CHAPTER VII. DULUTH TO WINNIPEG. Twenty years ago a few enterprising and sanguine men settled on the site of Duluth and resolved to found a city wMch should excite the astonisliment and admiration of mankind. They were also prompted by the desire to eclipse the city at the head of Lake Superior which then seemed destined to become a place of importance. They partially succeeded in tbeir project. It is unquestionable that Duluth has thriven more rapidly than Superior city with yhich it has maintained a constant rivalry from the outset. Yet the stranger whose expectations are very moderate will be the least disappointed witb Dulutb. Eleven churches and a few houses scattered upon a hillside are all that meets the eye when tbe city is approached from the Lake. There is a main street in it contain- ing stores and hotels ; there are side streets con- taining many unoccupied building-sites; there 1 68 Diihith to Winnipeg, are said to be 5000 people in the city, yet nothing is visible wbicti produces a stronger impression on a new-comer tlian that made on the least observant stranger by the sight of other preten- tious and quite as populous cities in the United States or Canada. It must be apparent, however, to the careful observer that Duluth possesses natural advantages which almost justify the hopes and boasts of its founders. This city is the natural depot for tralB&c by way of the Lakes to the interior of the Continent. The opening of new railways to the west has had the effect of increasing that traffic and such increase must continue to benefit Duluth. Cairo on the Mississippi, the "Eden" where Martin Chuzzlewit nearly lost his life, is com- monly supposed to have been more cleverly and jrpstly ridiculed in its younger days than any other city in the United States. Quite as much ridicule has-been cast upon Duluth and nothing has served it so well. None of the advantages which, this city owes to Nature have helped to make it so attractive as the speech in the United States Congress which Mr. Proctor Knott, a representative of Kentucky, delivered in February, 1871, a speech which was designed to scout its pretensions and to make it the laughing-stock of the country. Whenever the conductors of Duluth Mr, Proctor Knott's Speech, 169 newspapers are at loss for sometliing wlierewitli to fill and enliven their columns, a condition of things which appears to be not infrequent, they reprint Mr. Proctor Knott's speech and, when- ever the citizens have nothing better to do, which appears to be a common occurrence also, they re- read it with unconcealed satisfaction. Mr. Knott made for himself a reputation for oratory by this one speech, resembling that which was made in the House of Commons by the member who was not quite accurately nick-named" Single Speech '*^ Hamilton. Mr. Knott's effort is a striking' example of that mock heroic vein which is sup- posed to be the forte of Western orators. It made him and Duluth the subject of general talk and celebrity, if it did not confer upon both lasting fame. It was directed against an application for a grant of land from the national domain which he fancied would advance the growth and foster the prosperity of Duluth. A few extracts will show the character of a speech which produced a more lasting impression than hundreds which have been addressed to Cougress in our day and which no sane person would dream of reprinting from the volumes in which they are consigned to oblivion at a large cost to the country. After a laboured introduction Mr. Knott said : " Years ago, when I first heard that there was somewhere in the vast 1 70 Duluth to Wimiipeg, terra incognita^ somewhere in the bleak regions of the Northwest, a stream of water known to the nomadic inhabitants of the neighbonrhood as the river St. Croix, I became satisfied that the con- struction of a railway from that raging torrent to some point in the civilized world was essential to the happiness and prosperity of the American people, if not absolutely indispensable to the per- petuity of republican institutions on this Continent. I felt instinctively that the boundless resources of that prdific region of sand and pine shrubbery would never be fully developed without a railway constructed and equipped at the expense of the Grovernment, and perhaps not then. ... Who will have the hardihood to rise in his seat on this floor and assert that, excepting the pine bushes, the entire region would not produce vegetation enough in ten years to fatten a grasshopper ? . . . I had been satisfied for years that if there was any por- tion of the habitable globe absolutely in a suffering condition for want of a railroad, it was the teem- ing pine barrens of the St. Croix. At what particular point on that noble stream such a road should be commenced I knew was immaterial, and so it seems to have been considered by the draughtsman of this bill. It might be up at the spring, or down at the foot-log, or the water- gate or the fish-dam, or anywhere on the bank, no matter where. But in what direction it should run or where it should terminate were always in my mind questions of the most painful perplexity. . . I was utterly at a loss to determine where the terminus of this great and indispensable road Delights of Duhtth, 1 7 1 should be, until I accidentally oyerheard some gentleman the other day mention the name of 'Duluth.' Duluth! the word fell upon my ear ■with peculiar and indescribable charm, like the gentle murmur of a low fountain stealing forth in the midst of roses, or the soft sweet accents of an angel's whisper in the bright joyous dream of sleeping innocence. Duluth ! 'Twas the name for which my soul had panted for years, as a hart panteth for the water- brooks. But where was Duluth? Never, in my limited reading, had my vision been gladdened by seeing the celestial word in print. And I felt a profound humiliation in my ignorance that its dulcet syllables had never before ravished my dehghted ear. I was certain that the draughtsman of this bill had never heard of it, or it would have been designated as one of the termini of this road. . . . Yet, sir, had it not been for this map kindly furnished me by the Legisla- ture of Minnesota, I might have gone down to my obscure and humble grave in an agony of despair, because I could nowhere find Duluth. . . . The fact is, sir, that Duluth is pre-eminently a central place, for I have been told by gentlemen who have been so reckless of their personal safety as to ven- ture away in those awful regions where Duluth is supposed to be, that it is so exactly in the centre of the visible universe that the sky comes down at precisely the same distance all around it. . . . Then, sir, there is the climate of Duluth, unques- tionably the most salubrious and delightful to be found anywhere on the Lord's earth. Now, I have always been under the impression, as I 172 Dtiluth to Winnipeg, presume other gentlemen have, that in the region around Lake Superior, it was cold enough for at least nine months in a year to freeze the smoke- stack off a locomotive. But I see it represented on this map that Duluth is situated exactly half- way between the latitudes of Paris and Venice, so that gentlemen who have inhaled the exhilarating airs of the one or basked in the golden sunlight of the other, may see at a glance that Duluth must be a place of untold delights, a terrestrial paradise fanned by the balmy zephyrs of an eternal spring, clothed with gorgeous sheen of ever- blooming flowers and vocal with silver melody of Nature's choicest songsters. . . . Sir, I might stand here for hours and hours, and expatiate upon' the gorgeous prospects of Duluth, as de- picted on this map. But human life is far too short and the time of this House far too valuable to allow me to linger longer upon the delightful theme. I think every gentleman on this floor is as well satisfied as I am that Duluth is destined to become the commercial metropolis of the Uni- verse, and that this road should be built at once. . . . Nevertheless, sir, it grieves my soul to be compelled to say that I cannot vote for the grant of lands provided for in this bill. . , . These lands, which I am asked to give away, alas, are not mine to bestow ! My relation to them is simply that of trustee to an express trust. And shall I ever betray that trust ? Never, sir ! Rather perish Duluth ! Perish the paragon of cities ! Pather let the freezing cyclones of the bleak Northwest bury it for ever beneath the eddying Geographical Ignorance, 1 73 sands of tlie St. Croix." The speecli from wliicli the foregoing extracts are taken has been pro- nounced *' the most amusing speech ever made in the American Congress;" it gave its author a reputation which he has not adequately sustained. But the most curious thing is the ignorance of geography shown in it ; if a foreigner had made half the number of blunders with which Mr. Knott is chargeable, he would be held up to scorn in hundreds of newspapers throughout the Union, and pronounced a being unworthy to live. If Mr. Knott had spoken about the St. Louis River, his remarks would have had some cogency ; if the St. Croix Eiver were to swallow up Duluth it would have to begin by making a journey across Lake Superior. Intending to ban Duluth, Mr. Knott succeeded in blessing it most effectively. The bill which was thrown out, owing to his speech, was opposed by the friends of Duluth, and was supported by the friends of Superior City, of which it was the rival. Indeed, to repeat what I have said and to do so in the grateful words of a Duluth newspaper, Mr. Proctor Knott's speech " gave Duluth the best advertisement she ever had." For a year before, and for three years after this speech was delivered, the city was in a state of feverish activity. In the spring of 1870, every 174 Duluth to Winnipeg, boat that arrived swarmed with passengers and every stage-coach was over-crowded. A railway was in construction to St. Paul, the capital of the State and Mr. Jay Cooke had projected the Northern Pacific railway which was to run from Lake Superior to Puget Sound on the Pacific. Mr. Jay Cooke suspended payment in 1873 and a panic spread to Duluth from the financial centres of the United States; real property fell to one- fourth of its former price and then, as an eye- witness wrote, " for a few months, there was as much of a stamjpede from Duluth as there had formerly been of a rush to the place." A worse fate than being buried '' beneath the eddying sands of the St. Croix River" was reserved for " the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas." In the days of its prosperity, money had been bor- rowed and expended in a reckless fashion : when the panic subsided, the citizens who remained behind, found themselves face to face with municipal bankruptcy. ' Not till 1879 was a com- promise effected whereby the creditors agreed to cancel one-fourth of the amount due to them. The most significant sign of the depression then prevailing in Duluth, and the circumstance most deplored by many citizens, was the publication of the newspapers once a week instead of every day. There are two weeklies now. The Tribune Maiitifactures and Trade, 175 and Tlie Lake Sii'perior News, Should the revival in trade continue, a daily newspaper, that neces- sary of existence according to western ideas, may again be reissued here. Certainly, the confidence in tlie city'sfutare wliich had vanislied,has returned in full measure and speculation in land is renewed in the old style. During my visit I learned that pieces of land which could scarcely be sold for $500 six months- before were then easily saleable at $1500. Several sawmills and a blast furnace are in active operation ; an industry paying those who take part in it very well is collecting the sand on the shore of the Lake and despatching it to glass- making works, where it is in demand. There is a large elevator for the transhipment of grain and there are well-built docks for the accommodation of shipping. Indeed, Duluth is not only doing a large trade now, but has made full provision for future expansion. The additional traffic carried over the Northern Pacific Railway when its construction was resumed benefited the trade of this place, while the emi- gration to Manitoba has had the like effect. The Canadian Government have erected a home for the emigrants who halt here on their way to Manitoba. It is under the intelligent and atten- tive supervision of Mr. Grahame, the Canadian 176 Duluth to Winnipeg. Emigration ^gent. He told me tliat tlie immi- grants are often very exacting and are generally very dirty and that those among them who were most stinted in their means and living before they left home, develope the most luxurious tastes after crossing the ocean. An express train starts once daily from Duluth for Winnipeg. It is not long since the passengers who started for the same destination could not travel farther by rail than Fisher's Landing, on Eed Lake River, the average time taken being a week. Now, the journey between the " Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas " and the Capital of Manitoba can be made in twenty-seven hours. The scenery is very beautiful on part of the line skirting the left bank of the river St. Louis. The. '' Dalles of the St. Louis " are as striking as those of the Columbia Eiver, though on a smaller scale. Within the space of four miles the river descends 400 feet, passing over serrated rocks which are enclosed between high banks, the ap- pearance being that of a series of small and long drawn out cataracts surging downwards. At Glyndon the passengers for Manitoba change to the St. Paul and Manitoba line, while those for the l^orthern Pacific continue their journey west- wards. There is a second change at St. Vincent, the frontier city between Canada and the United Land Speculators. 177 States, to the Pembina branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway^ I have made this trip several times without finding many things worthy of record and I have been quite as unfortunate after having spent a night at Glyndon. Yet emigrants who pass over the hne are kept in a state of pleasing excitement from the time they quit Canadian territory till the time they re-enter it. Land agents and speculators are accustomed to- travel backwards and forwards in order to persuade the emigrants to make their new homes in the United States. These persons commonly assume the characters of disappointed Englishmen who, hav- ing tried Manitoba, left it in disgust, and have found a genuine Eden on United States soil. As the profits of these agents are not small when they manage to sell the land belonging to the Company with which they are connected, they are naturally disposed to make representations of greater strength than trustworthiness in order to effect sales. I can write from personal experience in this matter. It was erroneously thought by a w^orthy gentleman that I was on the way to settle in Manitoba and might be induced to settle in Minne- sota instead. He told me that many English families were expected to arrive and take up their abodes on the prairie lands of Northern Minne- N 178 Duluth to Winnipeg, sota and tliat the represePitative of an Eng^lisli Company was in negotiation with the St. Paul and Manitoba railway company for 56,000,000 acres. There had been a slight hitch in the nego- tiations, but my informant added " I guess that will be fixed." He explained that the gentleman flesired the Company to let him have the land at $4 an acre and to insert in the deed of sale that the price paid was $8. This gentleman could then make sales in England at a professedly slight advance upon what he had actually paid, while his real profit would be more than double. I was cognizant of a flagrant case in which ignorant persons in England had been made to pay $25 an acre for Minnesota land which could have been bought on the spot for less than $4. I found that the gentleman who was negotiating with the St. Paul and Manitoba Railway for 56,000,000 and who was said to have 170 families waiting to be transported thither from England in the following spring bore the same name as the one who had disposed of land in another part of the country at an enormous profit to himself. I learned also that a second Englishman who was very active in recommendiug Minnesota as the best place to which his countrymen could emigrate, had been trying to establish a land Company, but had failed owing to insisting not only upon a large A Hint to Emigrants, 179 commission, but upon a double commission. I do not question tile advantage of choosing Minnesota as a place of residence. It may be quite true, as is alleged, that the land in the North-western part of that State is superior to that in the South- west of Manitoba, even though an imaginary line is the only separation between them. The soil may be affected in some occult way by the nation- ality of the flag flying over it. Yet, after assuming for the sake of argument, the truth of everything that I have heard in favour of this part of the Continent, I still maintain that no folly can be greater than buying land here on the representa- tions of a third party, and that those purchasers of land will have least reason to repent them of their bargains who enter into no contract and make no payment till they have seen the land with their own eyes. IT 2 CIIAPTEE VIII. ON THE EED EIVER OF THE IJORTH. Although tlie trip to Manitoba hj rail tlirongb. United States territory is generally uninteresting, yet the trip by water is sometimes diversified by' incident. The railway attracts all the passengers in winter; but the steamers on the Red River of the North are eagerly patronized during the summer time. Having made the trip all the way by rail and partly by rail and partly by water, I can affirm from experience that, by journeying partly by rail and partly by water, an adequate notion can be formed of the country and its insects, while much more can be learned about the people. Besides, the Red River is a stream of sufficient volume and importance to deserve notice. Com- pared with the Mississippi, the Red River of the North appears insignificant. Nevertheless, as its length from Elbow Lake, in which it rises, to Lake Winnipeg into which it flows^ is 900 miles, it merits a place among the great rivers of the world. Course of the Red River, 1 8 1 Two RedEiyers are numbered among tlie notable streams of the Nortli American Continent. One of them rises in the Territory of Kew Mexico, flows through the States of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and, joining the Mississippi,helps to swell the volume of themightyflood which the Father of Waters pours into the Gulf of Mexico. The other, which is known as the Red River of the North, rises in Elbow Lake, in the State of Minnesota. Its source is not far distant from Lake Itaska, which is the fountain-head of the Mississippi. Though that river's course is southward and the course of 'the Mississippi is northward when both streams first issue from their parent lakes, yet they soon follow the direction which they keep till their race is run. The Reel River, in its northerly progress, divides the Territory of Dakota from the State of Minnesota; it enters the. Canadian Province of Manitoba at Fort Pembina ; it passes by the city of Winnipeg, the capital of that Province, where it is joined by the Assineboine, flowing from the west ; it enters Lake Winnipeg, whence it issues uuder the" name of Nelson River; and, finally, it finds its level and a last resting-place in the icy waters of Hudson's Bay. The valley bearing the same name through which it runs is still more remarkable than the Red River itself. For a space which is 400 miles in length by 70 in breadth, that 1 82 On the Red River of the North, valley is tlie finest wheat-growing tract on tlie continent of North America, if not on the habitable globe. Farming on a scale nnparalleled except in California is prosecuted in the Red River Valley. This dates from the year 1875, wlien several capitalists bought vast tracts of land there. Mr. B. P. Cheney, of Boston, and Mr. Oliver Dairy mple, of St. Paul, purchased 5000 acres of wdiich 3500 were under cultivation in 1879. In 1877 they harvested 42,000 bushels of wheat, 6000 of oats, and 3000 of barley. The machinery on this farm comprises 40 ploughs, 16 seeders, 40 harrows, 16 harvesters, 3 steam thrashing machines, and 3 portable steam-engines. As many as a hundred men are employed at the busiest season. Mr. Cass has a farm of 6000 acres, nearly the whole of which is sown with wheat. Large though these farms are, yet they seem small in comparison with that belonging to Mr. William Dalrymple ; it covers 30 square miles. The area sown with wheat in 1878 was 20,900 acres; the yield was 250,000 bushels. Seventy-five reaping and binding machines were used to harvest the crop, the work being done at the rate of 1000 acres a day. This farm is managed on the plan of a factory. It is divided into sections of 2000 acres, over each of which an overseer is placed ; Ma77tmotk Farms, i %2) lie carries out the orders of Mr. Dalrymple jiist as a Brioaclier- General carries out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of an army. Comfortable dwelHngs are provided for the overseers, while there is a boarding-house for the accommodation of the farm-labourers. Each section has its granary, stables, machine-shop, and engine-house. Indeed, the vast estate is really divided into a number of separate farms, each complete in itself, and all subject to a common head. Four hundred and fifty labourers and upwards of three hundred horses and mules are employed on this f arm ; three bookkeepers are required to register the accounts, and two cashiers to receive and disburse the money. Indeed the whole arrangements are designed to assimilate the production of grain to the operations of a manufactory. The idyllic side of farming has no place here. The farmer is a capitalist ; the farm-labourer is called a " hand " and treated as one. Advocates of spade-husbandry will see nothing to admire in this wholesale method of cultivating the soil, and they will maintain that if this system should grow in favour, the day must arrive when, in the United States as in certain European countries, there will be a perma- nent and rigid separation between the tillers of the soil and its owners. However, while land continues as plentiful and as easily acquired in 1 84 On the Red River of the North, JSTorth. America as it was in Europe during tlie Middle Ages, wlien the existing large estates were formed in England, tlie citizens of the United States will disregard gloomy forebodings and will continue to lavish their admiration upon a success- ful capitalist like Mr. Dalrymple. His farm is a common topic of glorification among the citizens of the new North- West, and of admiring envy among the dwellers in less fertile parts of the land. My present purpose is not to linger and describe what may be observed on the Red Eiver within the United States, but to journey along it to the Canadian Province of Manitoba. That river is the silent highway of intercourse between the citizens of the Union and the citizens of the British Empire. A few years ago an Indian canoe was the only kind of boat which traversed its surface. Now steam vessels pass backwards and forwards between St. Vincent, a station of the St. Paul and Manitoba Railway and the capital of Canada's Prairie Province. There has been a settlement of British subjects on this river since the year 1812. Then the Earl of Selkirk, chair- man of the Hudson's Bay Company, induced Highlanders, who could not live in comfort on their native heath, to seek a new home in the heart of the North American Continent. Nearly half a century after this settlement was formed, By Water to Winnipeg. 185 Dr. Eae, the famous Arctic explorer, iDformed a Select Committee of tlie House of Commons tliat about two months were required to journey from Toronto, in Upper Canada, to the Red River Settle- ment in Rupert's Land. The Earl of Southesk, who went to hunt in the Hudson's Bay Territory in 1859, saw a steamer on tlie Red River for the first time. In 1862 the late Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle experienced on the Red River a pain- ful foretaste of the perils which had to be faced and surmounted before they could begin their toilsome journey across the North-Western Wil- derness. Finding that the steamer sailed but once a fortnight, and not caring to wait for it, they started down the rapid stream in a canoe, and endured extraordinary hardships before they reached Fort Garry. Eight years latter Captain Butler was commissioned by Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley, the chief of the expedition which was sent to suppress Riel's rebellion, to proceed to Winnipeg through the United States. He passed along the Red River in the steamer Inter' national^ and suffered by the way as others have done before and since. The tale of his misery is graphically told in " The Great Lone Land." The inconvenience of this route caused the Government of Canada to devise another within the Hmits of the Dominion. This was known 1 86 On the Red River of the No7^th. as the Dawson route. A traveller over it, wlio started from Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior, reached Fort Garry in the course of three weeks. The Red River expedition, under Sir Garnet "Wolseley, which first passed over this part of the country, took three months to make the same trip. As the Dawson route proved unre- munerative to its promoters, it has long ceased to be a regular pathway for traffic and travel between the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. The traveller who started from the capital of the former province for that of the latter either went to Chicago by rail, thence by another line of railway to St. Paul and Fisher's Landing, where he stepped on board a steamer which carried him to his destination, or else he took the train to the shore of Lake Superior, where he embarked in a steamer for Duluth ; thence he proceeded by rail to Fisher's Landing, and by steamer to Winnipeg. But, whichever route was chosen, the time occu- pied was not less than 11 days, so that Manitoba remained as far apart from the Eastern Provinces of the Dominion as Canada is from England. My first trip to Manitoba was made by rail from St. Paul to Fisher's Landing, thence by water to Winnipeg. Since tlien the landing-place has been changed to St. Vincent, thus saving the tedious navigation of Red Lake River. Lake Minnetonka, 187 In tlie spring, wlien the river is in flood, tlie 600 miles which separate the two places can be traversed in 48 hours. In the autumn the river is very low and then the passage is very tedious. The return voyage which I made occupied five days and nights. The first part of the journey northwards is easy and pleasant. Leaving the capital of Minnesota by the St. Paul and Manitoba Eailway at 5 o'clock in the evening, the passenger reaches Fisher's Landing shortly before noon the following day. Twenty-five miles from the starting-place a stoppage is made at Wayzata, on Lake Minnetonka. This Lake is one of the natural attractions of the State of Minnesota, ; it excites even greater admiration than the falls of Minnehaha, which owe much of their popularity to Mr. Longfellow's poetry. The Lake consists of a series of bays, each of which is a lake in miniature, and many are studded with wooded islands. There are 25 of these bays. The Lake is navigable for a length of 17 miles. In olden time it was the favourite haunt of Dakota Indians ; they encamped on its margin or on one of its islands. They caught fish in the lake, gathered wild fruits on the islands, hunted deer and other game in the surrounding forests, and procured sugar from the maple trees which beautified the scene. The places of the wild 1 88 On the Red River of the North. Indians are now filled with thousands of civilized tourists, who enjoj themselves during the hot months of summer along the shores or on the bosom of the lake. As we proceed northward there is a change in the aspect of the land. The southern part of Minnesota is diversified with wood and rising ground ; the northern is genuine prairie, extending to the horizon without any- thing but a few log houses to vary its flat sur- face. The monotony of the night journey was broken by an incident of which I do not desire a repetition. About midnight the car was filled with an acrid and stifling odour ; such a smell I had never ex- perienced before. If the pungent and nauseous effect produced by throwing water upon hot cinders were intensified a hundredfold and if all the worst stenches were combined with it, the result would not equal the reality on this occasion. In the morning I learnt that the train had passed over a skunk. The small town, called Fisher's Landing, from which the steamers started was on the model of Western cities. It had two hotels, between which there was nothing to choose, both being as comfortable and attractive as the cabin of an Irish bog-trotter. There were several drinking-saloons and one general store ; a sensible notice in the latter was to the effect that Stern Wheel Steamers, 189 persons who came to make pm^cliases were more welcome than those who merely wished to gossip. Fisher's Landing is on the Red Lake River, a stream which joins the main one at Grand Forks. Steamers plied between it and Winnipeg twice weekly between the months of May and Septem- ber. The Manitoba was the one in which I went, and the Minnesota the one in which I returned. They are the property of the Kittson Transpor- tation Company. I gladly acknowledge that the officials of the company and the officers of the steamers did what they could to render the voyage as pleasant as possible. The boats are unlike anything to be seen in England. Their appearance can best be realized by supposing si Thames coal-barge to have a deck and two long furnaces, with boilers above them, placed near the bow, and two steam-engines further aft. The engines work a paddle-wheel which is the breadth of the boat, and revolves at the stern. Above the boilers and engines is a wooden house, containing the saloon and state-rooms. The top of this house forms the upper deck. Pipes convey- ing steam from the boilers to the engines run under the thin flooring of the state-rooms, which are situated at the sides of the saloon. As the thermometer seldom indicated less than 95 deg. in the shade during this journey on the Red igo On the Red River of the North, Eiver, the extra lieat from these steam pipes was a superfluity with which the occupants of. the state-rooms could easily dispense. Though the heat was intolerable almost beyond endurance and far in excess of what most of the passengers had ever experienced, yet it was not the worst infliction. Myriads of hungry and ruthless mosquitoes plied their sanguinary trade in every corner of the steamboat where a human being could be approached. Many black flies rivalled them in assiduous efforts to get food and inflict pain. At a competitive examination a black fly could bear away the prize from a mosquito. He bites with greater force and to a greater depth, and he clings to the surface of the skin with more firmness than a mosquito, while the irritation which he leaves behind lasts longer and is more painful than that produced by his fellow pest. It is a beautiful provision in nature that a real or imaginary remedy is provided for every plague. Everybody knows that there are several " infallible " cures for sea-sickness. Pro- vision of the same kind exists for the protection of the human skin against the bites of venomous insects. A passenger on board the Manitoba was the happy possessor of one of these infallible remedies. He had being fishing in Labrador, where the streams are alive with fish and the air Onslaughts of Insects, 191 is dark witTi stinging insects, and he had been able to pursue his sport in comfort by smearing him- self with a mixture of tar and sweet oil. He was loud in praise of this panacea before the mosqui- toes and black flies pounced upon their prey. He prepared himself for the onslaught, and he was kind enough to allow myself and others to do the same by rubbing the skin with the mixture. It was not long before he stated with extreme emphasis that the insects of the Red River must be differently constituted from those of Labrador, because what repelled the latter seemed to attract the former. The distance from Fisher's Landing to Grand Forks is 12 miles by land. It is about 50 miles by water. The time taken to go between these two places when the water is low varies from 18 to 30 hours. Ten hours were consumed in passing over the worst part, the distance being four miles. I was surprised, not that the steamer made slow progress, but that it made any. The river winds to a degree which is unprecedented. At few parts is the course a straight one for a quarter of a mile in length. What renders the navigation more laborious is that a barge, laden to the water's edge, is generally lashed alongside the steamer ; hence the difficulty of rounding sharp curves is materially increased. The stop- 192 Oji the Red River of the North. pages are frequent and tedious. Sometimes they are caused by tlie barge and the steamer ground- ing on a sboal, and then a rope has to be sent on shore, fastened round a tree, and dragged in by the steam winch, or "nigger " as it is here called, till the tree is torn up by its roots or the steamer is moved into deep water. At other times long halts are made to repair the stern wheel, the floats of which are often broken by striking against the bank. It is strange, indeed, that the steamer is not seriously injured every voyage. At the narrowest and most curved parts of the river the steamer's bow is forcibly sent against one bank, while its stern is swung round by the force of the current, and each shock shakes it from stem to stern so terribly as to produce the impression that the entire structure must fall to pieces. When a steamer runs aground or stops for repairs during the day, the cabin-boys, and the crew, who are not on daty, set to work and catch fish. They use long lines weighted with sinkers ; a piece of raw meat forms the bait. Cat-fish, gold-eyes, and pike abound in the river, and a good catch of fish is often secured during the interval of waiting. The anglers and the on- lookers are kept awake and excited by the insects, which increase in number and energy when the vessel is stationary. • If any one is tempted by the Sceiiery 07i the Banks, 193 wild grapes or wild plums to go asliore and pluck tliem, he gladly returns on board. Tlie mosquitoes are even more plentiful and savage on land than on water. On each bank there is a belt of timber ; outside this fringe of trees, the prairie stretches its apparently illimitable expanse. The wood, which comprises elder, oak, box, ash, and elm trees, constitutes the supply for fuel and building pur- poses over a very large area. Eafts formed oi the fallen trees are floated down to Winnipeg, where they are broken up and the logs sawn into boards. One of the rafts which we passed was navigated by a woman ; a man lay in a rude structure erected upon it. Household furniture was piled up at the sides, the whole being the worldly effects of a couple changing their place of abode. The man, who had kept watch during the night, now slept while his helpmate took her turn in steering. The steamer stopped at four stations between Fisher's Landing and Fort Garry. The first was Grand Forks, a town in Dakota Territory ; the second Fort Pembina, on the frontier bet^veen the United States and Canada; the third West Lynn, a Canadian settlement, where is Fort Duft'erin, a trading-post of the Hudson Bay Company ; and Emerson, on the opposite side of the river, which is one of the rising towns of o 194 ^^^ ^^^^ -^^^ Rivei' of the North. Manitoba. A flag showing tlie letters H.B.O. in white on a red ground was the mark of the Hud- son Bay Company being in possession of the fort. An American citizen told me that some of his countrymen were puzzled when they saw this flag for the first time. One of their number thought he had solved the engima of the three letters by saying that they meant " Here before Christ," as, from the appearance of the country, there had not been any change since then. Sixty miles intervene between the frontier and the capital of the Province. There is very little wood left along this part of the river, the greater part having been cleared away by settlers or by speculators. Farms are to be seen at short intervals ; the crops which cover the ground look exceedingly well. The passengers in the steamer experience a change since the stream has run between banks denuded of timber — in other words, the mosquitoes have ceased from troubling. The only insect which skims the surface of the river and which fills the saloon when the lamps are Jit is a white- winged one called a " miller." I have seen these insects on the Rhine iu the autumn months, but I never saw so many as on this occa- sion. A constant stream of them is borne along by the breeze ; it has the appearance of a bank of snow. The glasses of the steamer's lanterns are First View of Winnipeg, 195 covered with tlieso insects ; tliey dash against the glass and then fall down to die among the mass on the deck. They fill pails when the deck is swept in the morning. Though they obscure the light, they give no other annoyance, and they are mere objects of curiosity. The first I saw of Winnipeg was in the autumn of 1878. Fort Garry, a rectangular building, with a turret at each corner, then stood where the Assi- niboine enters the Red River. The steamer stopped a few minutes to land passengers, the permanent landing-place being a short way further down the river. The houses which form the city have a substantial look ; the villas on the river's bank are tasteful in appearance. On the opposite side of the river to that on which the capital stands is the parish of St. Boniface, with its cathedral, the palace of Archbishop Tache, its college, and its convent. When Mr. Whittier was here a quarter of a century ago the journey down the river in a canoe seemed to him a wearisome undertaking. He wrote a poem on the " Red River Yoyageur," which opens with this vivid and correct descrip- tion of the river itself: — Out and in the river is winding The links of its long, red chain Through belts of dusky pine] and. And gusty leagues of plain. 2 1 96 On the Red River of the North, He depicts the ''voyageur," wlien tired and exhausted, regaining his spirits and vigour on hearing the chime of the bells of St. Boniface. Then the poet, as his manner is, ends his verses with a comparison and points a moral : — Even so in our mortal journey The bitter north winds blow, And thus upon life's Eed Eiver Our hearts, as oarsmen, row. And when the Angel of Shadow Rests his feet on wave and shore, And our eyes grow dim with watching And our hearts faint at the oar, Happy is he who heareth The signal of his release In the bells of the Holy City, The chimes of eternal " peace.** CHAPTER IX. THE CITS' OF WINNIPEG. Winnipeg, tbe capital of Manitoba, surprised me more at first sight tlian any one of the countless cities which I have visited on the North American Continent. The older ones frequently surpassed my utmost expectations ; the younger as fre- quently fell below the most moderate estimate which I had formed of them in imagination. Indeed, a pretentious city in the Far West is commonly on a par, in external appearance, with a paltry village elsewhere. I had read much about Winnipeg before visiting it, and the im- pression left on my mind was not favourable. The Earl of Southesk, who was here in 1859, writes that " there were houses enough to form a sort of scattered town." Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, who followed him three years later, saw nothing worthy of note. Captain Butler, who paid it a visit in 1870, refers to it, in his " Great 19S The City of Winnipeg, Lone Land," as '' the little village," and " tlie miserable-looking village of "Winnipeg." I knew that changes had been made since Captain Butler came hither on duty' connected with the Red River expedition under Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley; but I was not prepared to find that they had been so great and startling as those which I actually beheld. Walking down Main-street, on my way to the Pacific Hotel, I could hardly realize that I was in a city incorporated so recently as 1873 and supposed to be far beyond the confines of civiliza- tion. The street is 132 ft. wide and it is lined with shops, churches, and public buildings which would do credit to a much older and more famous place. The solid look of the majority of the edifices is as noteworthy as their ornamental design. They are built of cream-coloured brick. It is at a comparatively late stage in the growth of a western city, either in the United States or Canada, that the buildings are composed of any- thing but wood; hence, a stranger in one of them is apt to arrive at the conclusion that the build- ings are erected for a temporary purpose. Here, however, the effect is the reverse. The Town Hal] and the Market, the Post Office, the Do- minion Land Office, and the Custom House, to name but a few of the pubHc edifices, are as sub- o 00 University of Manitoba, 199 stantial buildings as can be desired. No one looking at them can feel here, as is so commonly felt in other places of rapid growth on this conti- nent, that the citizens apprehend their city will decay as rapidly as it has sprung up. While the progress of Winnipeg is one of the marvels of the Western world, there is good reason for be- lieving that it will continue at an accelerated rate, and that Winnipeg will hereafter hold in the Dominion of Canada a place corresponding with that now held in the United States by Chicago. In 1870 there were 300 people in the miserable- looking village of those days; now, the popula- tion is approaching 15,000. There are eight churches — one belonging to the Eoman Catholics, three to the EpiscopaHans, one to the Presby- terians, two to the Wesleyan Methodists, and one to the Baptists. There are several schools and colleges — two common schools, St. John's College Schools, for boys and for girls ; a Central School ; St. Mary's Academy ; Manitoba College, in con- nexion with the Presbyterian Church, and a Wes- leyan Institute. Most remarkable of all, if not altogether exceptional among seminaries for the advancement and diffusion of sound learning, is the University of Manitoba. It grants degrees in arts, sciences, law, and medicine. Its govern- ing body is composed of representatives of re- 200 The City of Winnipeg. ligious societies whicli have not succeeded in working liarmoniously for a common end in other parts either of tlie Old or the New World. The colleges affiliated to it are the Episcopal College of St. John, the Eoman Catholic College of St. Boniface, and the Presbyterian College of Mani- toba. Others may and are expected to join a University which, if as successful as it deserves to be, will become a model for other places, both on the North American continent aud on the con- tinent of Europe. The governing body consists of a Council, composed of a Chancellor and Vice- Chancellor, representatives of each college, three representatives elected by the graduates, and two representatives of the Provincial Board of Educa- tion. The first Chancellor chosen to preside over the Council is the Bishop of Eupert's Land, and the Yice-Chancellor is the Hon. J. Eoyal, the Secretary of State for the Province, and a highly- respected member of the Catholic Church. Pro- vision is made for the colleges affiliated to the University granting theological degrees. No ob- jection can be raised to this by the most advanced and uncompromising educational reformer; in- deed, the educational reformer would be hard to please, if he were not satisfied with the constitu- tion and government of the University of Mani- toba. While those persons merit unstinted praise Historical and Scientific Society, 201 wlio liave worked and made no mean sacrifices to render the University successful, the Legislature of the Province is equally worthy to be held in honour for having contributed to aid the experi- ment by endowing the University. Thus nothing has had to be paid by the colleges which are now in connexion with it, nor will those which may hereafter become affiliated to it have to provide any funds. Another institution which I did not expect to find in so young a city is the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba. Though it has been only two years in existence, this Society has rendered a. service to the Province by collecting its records, exploring its Indian mounds aud collecting specimens wherewith to illustrate its mineralogy and geology. It is unfortunate that the Society could not persuade the Hudson Bay Company to spare old Fort Garry, instead of levelling it to the ground and using the stones to form the foundation of a new store. However, the Company have wisely presented many volumes of records to the Society's library, where they will be safely kept, and accessible for study. From a personal inspection of the works in the library, and the curiosities in the museum, I can vouch for a good beginning havmg been made, and I have no doubt that, if the members continue 202 The City of Winnipeg, to display tlie same energy, tlie Historical Society will prove of infinite advantage to the inhabitants of the Canadian Far "West. The great width of Main- street, which runs north and south, adds to its effect; Portage- avenue, which, like it, is 132 ft. wide, runs west, and is an important thoroughfare ; Burrow' s- avenue is 99 ft. wide ; and the other streets are ^^ ft. Indeed, the city is laid out with an eye to its future increase in population. This is spe- cially shown in the care which has been taken to secure open spaces, which will prove of much benefit when the area is more thickly covered with buildings. There are three public parks — Victoria, Burrow's, and Mulligan ; the first covers eight acres, the second five, and the third three. There is a race-course and a rifle range. The young men take delight and are very expert in rifle- shooting, their ambition being to obtain a place in the Canadian team which pays a yearly visit to Wimbledon, and there displays a vigorous and fraternal rivalry with the volunteers of the United Kingdom. Several tall chimneys in diffe- rent parts of the city denote the presence of- manufactories. I learn that there are two flour mills, three saw mills, and four planing mills ; that there is a carriage factory, a biscuit and con- fectionery bakery, a distillery ; and that there is Public Markets. 203 a brewery five miles distant, where the hops used in combination with malt are the wild hops which abound in the district and can be obtained by any one who chooses to gather them. Hotels of various classes are plentifully provided for the entertainment of strangers, the Pacific Hotel and the Queen's being the two best and largest. The public-houses, or saloons as they are called throughout the West, are many in number ; they are under risrid supervision and each is licensed. The licence, which costs $240 annually, is liable to forfeiture in the event of the saloon being badly conducted. The public markets I found well supplied with butcher's meat, poultry, game, fish, and vege- tables. The fish come from the lakes and the rivers, comprising pike, cat-fish, gold eyes and white-fish. I have always thought that none but persons who are nearly starving can really eat pike with any relish. A good imitation pike could be manufactured out of white blotting-paper with small pieces of fine wire interspersed; on being cooked the taste of the fish would be well reproduced by the moist blotting-paper, while the sensation of finding a sharp bone at each mouth- ful would be periectly rendered by the stray pieces of wire. One of the fish on the bill of fare at the Pacific Hotel bore the name of Eed River 204 ^'^^^ ^^^y ^f Winnipeg, salmon. I tasted it and tliouglit it delicious, tliougli not at all like any salmon whicli I had eaten. It was quite as rich as salmon and had scarcely any bones, resembling a lamprey in this respect more closely than any fish with which I am acquainted. A travelling-companion was quite as much pleased with it as I was. Before eating and praising it, he had warned me against ever eating the cat-fish, which he had seen taken out of the river, and of which he disliked the look as well as the name. He was rather surprised to learn that he had heartily enjoyed and commended cat-fish under the name of Red River salmon. The vegetables for sale in the market reminded me of stories which I had read at home in the months of autumn. ]^o imaginative writer in a country newspaper ever penned a paragraph about gigantic vegetables that could not be justified by the potatoes, cabbages, and turnips which I saw for sale here, and others which I have seen se- lected for exhibition. It is a common thing for potatoes to weigh 2 lbs. each and turnips 20 lbs. and for them to be as good as they are heavy. A squash has been produced weighing 138 lbs. and a vegetable marrow 26. Cabbages measuring 4 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 1 inch in circumference have excited the astonishment of other visitors as well as my own, while a cucumber, grown in the Frtiit and Flowers. 205 open air and measuring 6 feet 3 inches in length, was rightly considered a curiosity. The display of fruit was not equal to that of vegetables, the culture of fruit having been neglected owing to the supply of wild fruit being so varied and abundant. Experiments made in growing apples having proved successful, the gardens here will soon be filled with fruit-bearing trees. Yet it is not wonderful that the early settlers should have been satisfied with what Nature has provided for them, seeing that they had nothing to do but gather and consume an abundance of wild plums, grapes, strawberries, currants, red and black raspberries, cherries, blueberries, whortleberries, marsh and high bush cranberries. If the settlers have not busied themselves about the culture of fruit, they have not neglected the culture of flowers. The little gardens which adorn the fronts of the houses are filled with roses, mig- nonette, and other flowers dear to English eyes. Never have I seen flowers with more brilliant tints than those of Manitoba, and the brightness of their colours is in keeping with the strength and sweetness of their perfume. An enumeration of the principal sights in the streets of Winnipeg would be incomplete if I omitted to mention that it contains many stores which for size and variety of the goods kept 2o6 The City of Winnipeg, would do credit to any city, as well as several bankin^-lionses, whicli have not only a solid look as buildings, but wliicli enjoy the reputation of being sound financial establishments. First there is the Post-office Savings-bank, where depositors receive interest at the rate of 4 per cent., with the advantage of perfect security ; secondly, there are branches of the Merchants' Bank of Canada, of the Ontario Bank, and of the Bank of Montreal. In the newest western cities it is customary to find churches and schools, manufactories and markets, shops and banks; but I think no other city than Winnipeg has ever been able to boast of a club-house at so early a stage of its existence. The Manitoba Club was founded in 1874 — that is, one year after the incorporation of the city. The club-house in Main-street presents a neat appearance externally, while its internal arrangements are as comfortable as the most fastidious person could expect. Its. members number about 80. I can write with the greater confidence in praise of the Manitoba Club, because I had the gratification of being made an honorary member of it and of enjoying its advantages. Though acquainted with many clubs, I know of few wherein dinners are supplied of equal quality at so moderate a charge as in the Manitoba Club. I found that the members enjoyed some articles of A journalistic Expeinment, 207 food wliicli would be accounted startling noyelties in any Englisli club, among tliem being sturgeon, an excellent fish, and roast bear, a tender and finely flavoured meat. I was more struck with this club than with the fact that Winnipeg pos- sesses two excellent daily newspapers, the Mani- toba Free Press and the Daily Times. A club- house is regarded as a luxury in the Far West, whereas a newspaper is held to be a necessary of life. In the town of Selkirk, twenty miles farther north, the few inhabitants decided that they must have a newspaper, and, as there was no printing- press in the town, the difficulty to be overcome was considerable. They agreed among them- selves to pay a sum of $500 to the founder of a weekly newspaper in Selkirk, and they advertised this offer, adding that a circulation of 400 copies, at $2 each, was guaranteed for a year. The result was that an enterprising gentleman started from the older part of Canada with a printing- press, and became printer, editor, and newspaper proprietor in Selkirk. The experiment was not successful ; the weekly journal lived a year when it ceased to appear and a monthly magazine was issued in the hope that the reading public would give it the support which had been denied to the weekly venture. Before crossing the Red Eiver and describing 2o8 The City of Winnipeg, the thriving suburb of St. Boniface, I must devote a few sentences to tlie Company wliicli was once supreme and wbicli is still a power in Winnipeg. There was a time not very long ago when no per- son could buy, sell, or reside here without leave from the Governor of Assineboia, the old name for this Province. The Hudson Bay Company had then an actual monopoly of the country and exercised an exclusive jurisdiction over it. It had not been disputed in a court of law that th.e cbarter conferred on the Company by Charles II. gave them all the authority to which they laid claim, neither could it be denied that the attempt to keep a fertile region vaster than Europe as the hunting-ground of savages and a breeding-place for wild beasts, was opposed to the spirit of the age. The monopoly ended in 1869, when the Company surrendered its claims to Canada in return for 300,000Z. in cash, the retention of land round the trading- stations estimated at 50,000 acres, and of one-twentieth part of the remainder of the land. Thus the Hudson Bay Company became the largest possessor of landed propei ty in the world. In past times no company could well be more prosperous than this one ; the proprietors received enormous returns for their investments ; the divi- dends were sometimes as high as 300 per cent. The Hudson Bay Company, 209 Not even tlie East India Company in its palmiest day was a greater financial success tlian this great fur company of the North- West. And jast as the East India Company had among its servants men of genius like Clive and Hastings, so was the Hud- son Bay Company served by men whose ability was not inferior to that of the conquerors and rulers of the East. The factors who conducted the Company's trade were proud of their position and did their utmost to uphold it. Once a year they met at Norway-houc'e, reviewed the operations of the previous year, planned those of the following year, and carefully scrutinized each other's per- formances. The factor who had been weio^hed in the balance and found wanting was excluded from acting with his colleagues. Indeed, merit was then the indispensable quahfication for the ad- vancement of a Hudson Bay Company's servant. In treating the Indians of the North- West, the policy of that Company has been both humane and exemplary. No one, indeed, who has studied the subject and who has had the good fortune to enjoy the acquaintance of the pioneers of civilization in the North- West can refrain from praising the servants of the Hudson Bay Com- pany in the strongest terms. Though that Com- pany is as ably served as of old, yet its excep- tional prosperity is a thing of the past. The p 2IO The City of Winnipeg. fur trade must dwindle in importance as tlie settlers cover the region where the desultory efforts of wild Indians to kill wild animals alone checked their multiplication. The Company must look for its future profits from the sale of land. It is difficult for any body which has certain tradi- tions, and which has prospered by observing them, to forget them altogether and begin an entirely new career, and this is the difficulty with which the Hudson Bay Company have been confronted. Fort G-arry, the original post of the Hudson Bay Company, was at the southern end of Main- street. A large store adjoins it, in which all the articles can be purchased which are required either by the simple savage or the exacting white man. Next to the store is the Governor's resi- dence, now occupied by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. Formerly this store was the only place where the Eed River settlers, for several miles round Fort Garry, could make purchases, or where they conld dispose of their produce. Even now the articles sold here are as good and quite as cheap as in the Winnipeg shops ; in makiug this statement, I do so from experience, having been a customer both to the store and to some of the shops. ISTow, if the Company desired that their store should be able to cope most thoroughly with rival establishments the obvious course was to Mr. Brydges, 2 1 1 promote settlement in its vicinity. This was not done ; on the contrary, the chief business part of the city was driven northward. Five hundred acres of land at Fort Garry remained the property of the Company at the transfer of its dominion to Canada in 18G9. Instead of selling this land to the highest bidder, a price was set on it far in excess of the sum for which land equally good could be bought elsewhere. Hence it is that, instead of the neighbourhood of the Fort and store being covered with dwellings, it lay waste, while dwellings covered the opposite end of Main- street, nearly two miles distant. A change has taken place in the conduct of the Company's business which is likely to redeem all the errors once committed. Mr. Brydges, who had been Manager of the Grand Trunk and Super- intendent of the Intercolonial Railway, was ap- pointed Commissioner for the sale of the Company's land. He has brought his large business-know- ledge and tact to bear upon the matter with the best results. There are still changes to be effected in the management of the Company's affairs before they can be said to be conducted in the most efficient manner. Nevertheless, so much has been done in the rio^ht direction that the financial success of the Company ought to be far greater in the future than in recent years. About p 2 2 1 2 City of Winnipeg, the value of their property there can be no ques- tion. To use a phrase common in the United States, ''there are milhons in it." But prudent management both in London and Winnipeg is required to extract the millions from it. II. It is time, for the sake of variety, to pass across the river to the interesting suburb of this city. A few minutes spent in a ferrj-boat, and then '-he passenger sets foot in St. Boniface. The cha between any part of the English and French c^ is very great ; crossing the Straits of Dover landing in France is like entering a new w( Much the same effect is produced on him leaves Ottawa, passes through the suburb of Edin- burgh, crosses the river, and enters Hull. This is not only a change from the Province of Ontario to that of Quebec, but it is also a change from an English to a French speaking locality. Such a contrast may also be perceived, both in the oldest and youngest States in the North American Union. AVhen the river is crossed which separates New York from Hoboken, one passes from an English to a German speaking city ; indeed, there are shops in Hoboken where Grerman is under- 5/. Boniface. 213 stood better than English. In Chicago and Mil- waukee there are quarters where German is the prevailing speech, and in St. Paul there are quarters where ]N"orse is the only tongue fluently spoken. But none of these cases is so curious as that of St. Boniface. In the cities of the United States, though the people may speak a foreign tongue, there is yet no external token of the popu- lation being foreign. On the western side of the Eed Eiver, the wayfarer who looks at the street- corners sees such truly British names as Alfred, Gladstone, and Macfarlane ; on the eastern side he sees Eue St. Boniface, Rue St. Joseph, Rue du Moulin, while he hears the passers-by converse in the French language. It is not so much the fact that French is spoken, as that everything looks so French which renders this suburb of the city of Winnipeg unlike any other which I have seen in any city on the continent of l^orth America or of Europe. The settlement of French half-breeds at St. Boniface dates from the year 1818. Since then it has been the Roman Catholic mission centre of the North- West. Bishop Pro voucher laboured bare as a priest from 1818 tiU his death as bishop in 1853. His successor. Archbishop Tache. has spent the greater part of a long life as a missionery priest among the Indians. Archbishop Tache' s work 214 The City of Winnipeg, entitled *^ Twenty Years of Missions in the Nortli- West of America " is not only an interesting record of personal experience, but till recently it lias been the only trustwottliy guide to that obscure region. He is very popular, and bis great authority over the Half-Breeds and the Indians is exercised with much discretion. He chiefly con- tHbuted to allay the irritation which occasioned and succeeded the rebellion headed by Louis Riel ; and, though he was said to have rather strained his powers as a mediator by promising an absolu- tion to the rebel leaders which the Canadian Government did not intend to accord, yet he un- questionably acted in good faith and with a suc- cess proving that his interpretation of the mission which he undertook was justified by events. The most conspicuous buildings in the suburb of St. Boniface are connected with the church of which Archbishop Tache is a worthy representa- tive. First in importance is the Cathedral, a stone building in simple Gothic style, and one of the best edifices of the kind in the North-West. Its organ is one of the finest in the country ; it was a gift to the Archbishop from his friends in Quebec on the 25th anniversary of his accession to episcopal rank. The interior of the Cathedral is principally remarkable for the absence of the tawdry decorations which so often offend the eye Archbishop Tachd, 215 in sucli places. Tlie Archbishop's palace is close to the Cathedral, and is also built of stone. It is a plain, comfortable dwelliag-place, with a well- kept garden in front, filled with flowering plants and trees. I had the pleasure of conversing with the Archbishop and of learning his views with regard to the settlement of the country. He has that polish of manner which seems to be the inheritance of most persons whose mother-tongue is French. Though no longer young and though much of his life has been passed among hardships which render a man old before his time, yet he has the look of a man much younger than his years. He is a living witness to the salubrity of the climate, having been here upwards of 30 years ; his predecessor, Bishop Provencher, lived long enough to show that residence near the Red River was conducive to longevity. Archbishop Tache has a strong faith in the progress of this region of the country and in its adaptability for settlement. Some parts further westward he considers too poor for cultivation, but he admits there is ample space and attraction for millions to take up their abodes and prosper. The task of civilizing the Indians he holds to be much less difficult than is commonly supposed, and the success which the missionaries of his Church have had among the Indian tribes between 2 1 6 The City of Winnipeg. the Red River and blie Rocky Mountains is strongly in favour of the sanguine views entertained by the Archbishop. His own exertions to promote edu- cation are worthy of high praise and have yielded good fruit. Several educational and charitable institutions over which he exercises supervision are within a short distance of his palace. First there is the College of St. Boniface, where the students number between 60 and 70 ; secondly, there is St. Boniface Academy for the education of girls, where the teachers are Sisters of Charity ; thirdly, there is the Convent of St. Boniface, where orphans and destitute old women are cared for and supported by the Sisters ; and, fourthly, there is a hospital in connexion with the convent for the relief of the sick. Having read some extracts from the pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Tache at the time of the last general election in Canada, I was desirous of seeing the document itself, and, on stating this, the Archbishop kindly presented a copy to me. I shall translate a few passages from it in order to show the kind of advice which is given to electors by this excellent representative of the CathoHc Church in the Canadian "West. He begins by claiming for priests, as citizens, the duty to take part in elections and the right to do so in virtue of their education and sacred oflS.ce. Advice to Electors, 217 He sets fortli tlie importance of the elections on account of the results which may follow, and the necessity of having a well-constituted Legislature. He insists on the value of every vote in a Legisla- tive Assembly, seeing that a single vote may turn the scale for good or evil, and he contends that this consideration ought to be borne in mind in choosing representatives. He controverts the generally prevailing view that any man is fitted to be a legislator, saying that to represent one's fellow-countrymen, to undertake the preservation of the interests of one's country, and to become a legislator are such very difficult and important duties that one is often surprised at the ease with which certain persons set up as candidates and solicit the votes of electors. A proper candidate ought to possess common sense, a thing which the Archbishop holds to be rarer than is commonly supposed, and of which the absence is almost in- variably marked by ignorance of the precept there is " a time to keep silence," adding, '' Discretion in speech is so charactistic of prudence that we are assured in Solomon's Proverbs that even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." He thinks it imperative that a good member of Parliament should be a well- instructed man, " it being possible to be a worthy 2i8 The City of Winnipeg, man without instruction, but not a good legislator." Equally necessary is it to be an honest man, to be received in good society, to be sober and God- fearing in order to merit being sent to Parliament. The Archbishop remarks that these considerations prove that the requisite Parhamentary qualifica- tions are not possessed by all men, and then he goes on to show what are the duties incumbent on electors. The first is to pray for enlightenment, the second to consult wise and discreet persons, to avoid being inflaenced by passion or personal in- terest, to widen the sphere of their contemplation, and to consider the public weal. He warns them against the curses of elections, which are lying, drunkenness, venality, and violence, and he implores them to allow the result to be achieved in opposition to their wishes rather than to gain an electoral triumph through perjury, calumny, or falsehood. He denounces bribery as a crime which stains both parties, both the briber and the bribed being bad citizens, traitors to duty and honour. He styles a member who owes his election to corruption as an intruder in Parliament. He charges the electors not to commit any acts of violence and to refrain from copying the bad example in this respect which had been set else- where, adding, " Above all show yourselves Christians, and you cannot fail to be good citizens." A French Newspaper. 219 He concludes by forbidding tbe holding of political meetings at the church doors on Sundays and by desiring that such gatherings should be held on weekdays only. The foregoing summary of this pastoral letter not only shows the opinions which the Archbishop inculcates, but it justifies me in asserting that if other dignitaries of his Church displayed the same tact and good taste there would never be any cause for protesting against priestly interference at elections. Before leaving St. Boniface, I must note that this suburb of Winnipeg promises to thrive even better in the future than it has hitherto done. The terminus of the Pembina branch of the St. Paul and Pacific Eailway is here, and this has given an impetus to building. A newspaper in Prench, called Lq Metis, is published weekly. It is the only French journar published in the Cana- dian !North-West and taking cognizance of the wishes and wants of the large class there which preserves the use of the French language. There is no part of Canada where speech is more diver- sified than in the Province of Manitoba, nor is there any in which the ordinary routine of existence is more varied. CHAPTER X. THE PROVIISCE OF MANITOBA. The surprise wliicli I felt on first walking along the streets of Winnipeg and seeing so many tokens of progress and civilization was increased when I journeyed through the Province of which Winnipeg is the capital. I had read that the country was totally unfit for settlement. I had read that it was pre-eminently adapted for farming and that no other part of the Continent was a more desirable place of abode. Indeed, few regions of the world have been the subjects of greater controversy than Manitoba, the Prairie Province of Canada. It has had many indiscreet eulogists and as many unscrupulous defamers. If the former are right, the Province must be an Earthly Paradise; if the latter set forth the whole truth, it must be the counterpart of Dante's Inferno. Though the discussion as to the ad- vantages or drawbacks of this place has been opinions aboitt the Region, 221 specially keen and persistent of late years, yet tlie difference of opinion concerning it is of old date. Since the Hudson Bay Company received tlieir charter from Charles the Second in 1670, doubts have been expressed and uncertainty has pre- vailed as to the character of the region ont of which this Province has been carved. The matter was carefully investigated by a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1749 and again in 1857. Mr. Gladstone was a member of the Committee which sat in 1857 and he was not so ready as some of his colleagues to conclude that the officers of the Hudson Bay Company were justified in maintaining that the entire Canadian JSTorth West was unsuited for settlers and had been evidently designed by Providence to be a perpetual breeding-ground of wild beasts and a congenial habitation for wild Indians. Sir George Simpson, who had been Governor of the Hudson Bay Company's territory during thirty-seven years and who had traversed every part of it, emphatically assured the Committee that the region now known as Manitoba was cursed with a poor soil, a variable and inhos- pitable climate and disastrous and frequent inundations. The Eight Hon. Edward Ellice, speaking on behalf of the governing body of the Company in England, confidently asserted that 22 2 The Province of Manitoba. tlie Eed River district was no place for settlers and that the State of Minnesota, now so prospe- rous, was no place for them either. Sir John Eicbardson, the famous Arctic explorer, agreed with the officers of the Company in pronouncing the land utterly worthless for settlement; and he declared that he could not understand why any one should go thither except to prosecute the fur trade. He made a statement which caused an impression on his hearers but which seems very stransre to me. It was to the effect that the vine does not grow naturally on the North American Continent to the north of 43 degrees of latitude. Now, I have eaten and plucked grapes on the banks of the Red River to the north of the 49th parallel of latitude, and I have drunk wine made from wild grapes grown on the Assiniboine River at the 50th parallel. When men of experience and eminence like Mr. Ellice and Sir John Richardson made such extraordinary mistakes as to matters of fact relating to this part of the country, it is not to be wondered at if they grievously erred in matters of opinion. In truth, many of the facts and opinions current about Manitoba have been either palpable fictions, or absurd blunders. The Province. of Manitoba occupies the centre of North America, being equidistant from the Extent of the Province, 223 pole and the equator, tlie Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Its area when formed into a Province was 14,310 square railes; since then its boundaries have been extended and it now covers 120,000 square miles. In Canada the Provinces of Quebec and British Columbia are the only two coverinof a lars^er area than Manitoba, while in the Union two States only, Texas and California, are vaster than it. Yet Manitoba covers but a fraction of the Canadian Far West, there being ample space therein out of which to carve fifteen other Provinces of the like extent. Its peculi- arity and advantage consist in the fact that settlement there is of an old enough date to enable its capacity for producing food and affording pleasant homes to the landless to have been thoroughly tested. When I visited it in 1878 for the first time the novelty of the scene fell short of my expectation. I had been accus- tomed, in common with many other persons, to regard it not only as outlandish and inaccessible, but as a region where life must be spent under even less favourable conditions than in those remote parts of the Far West with which I was acquainted. With a feeling of amazement, then, I discovered throughout Manitoba innumerable indications of a long-settled and well-governed country. Many of the farms which I visited had 224 The Province of Ma^iiioba. an antiquated look wliicli produced a striking impression. I had expected them to resemble other Prairie farms, which appear as if they had just been established, or were on the point of being abandoned, everything about them being unsub- stantial and unfinished. The rude dwelliug-houses seem intended to serve a temporary purpose. No trim gardens give evidence of long residence and the expenditure of leisure time. An unenclosed plot of ground, in which cabbages or potatoes are struggling for existence among a mass of weeds, is the only attempt at gardening to be seen on a new prairie farm. The fields bear testimony to the haste with which the settler has striven to grow and garner a crop. He has sown the seed before the land has been wholly reclaimed from its wilderness state, caring nothing about appear- ances so long as he can harvest a quantity of grain sufficient to repay his outlay and to leave him a surplus wherewith to feed himself and his family. Tidiness is not the forte of a prairie farmer. . In Manitoba, however, many prairie farms have as finished and comfortable a look as any in Great Britain. An enclosed garden, filled with flowers and vegetables aud free from weeds, is attached to most of them ; the fields are in excellent con- dition; the dwelling-house seems built to last Farming in Manitoba. 225 and to afford a comfortable shelter; an air pre- vails which can best be rendered by the epithet home-like. This was not what I had come so far to see. Yet, if I had pondered more carefully the history of the country, it is precisely what I ought to have expected. It is a common but an entire mistake to reg^ard Manitoba as a region of the globe in which farming is an ex- periment. The truth is that farming has been practised there on a considerable scale and with remarkable success since the year 1812. At the beginning of this century the problem of how to deal with the poorer Highlanders caused much anxiety to philanthropists and statesmen. The semi-patriarchal state in which the Highland clans had lived was a thing of the past, and there appeared to be no place for the members of these clans in the new state of things. Shortly after the bloody suppression of the re- bellion of 1745, many Highlanders emigrated to North America. Expatriated Highlanders con- stituted the bone and marrow of the colony which General Oglethorpe conducted across the Atlantic in order to found what is now the State of Georgia. Others had chosen JSTorth Carolina as their dwelling-place, and, siding with Congress in the war of Independence, they proved themselves sturdy and dauntless soldiers in battle. Q 2 26 The Province of Maniioha, In tlie introduction to Scott's Legend of Mon- trose an account is given of Sergeant More M'Alpin who, having served his time in the army and been discharged with a pension, went back to his birthplace in the North of Scotland and found that a single farmer occupied the ground where two hundred persons had lived in his boy- hood. He meditated following them to Canada and settling in the valley which they had called after their native glen. Lord Selkirk persuaded some of these evicted Highlanders to unite in founding a colony on the banks of the Red River of the North. He had become Chairman of the Hudson Bay Company and he had acquired a tract of land covering 116,000 square miles, whereon he wished to form a settlement. In the spring of 1811, a party of Highlanders, the majority being natives of Sutherlandshire, em- barked at Stornaway and sailed for York Factory on Hudson Bay. It was autumn before the party reached York Factory, and the land journey to Fort Grarry, on the Red River, could not be begun till the following spring; the emigrants did not reach their destination till the autumn of 1812. The weary and dispirited Highlanders found that they were expected to fight as well as to farm, hostilities being then in progress between the Hudson Bay Company and the North-West Red River Farmers, 227 Fur Company of Canada and they were told that, if the latter Company were victorious, they would be deprived of the land which they had bought. So hard did their lot seem that they resolved to quit the country, and they had actually started in 1816 when, on Lord Selkirk appearing with a fresh band of emigrants, they agreed to remain. Their descendants in the third generation are now successful and prosperous farmers, and it was their farms which struck me as very different from the Prairie farms which I had seen else- where. Their experience demonstrates how fertile the soil is along the E-ed Eiver Valley. I visited farms in the parish of Kildonan where wheat had been sown and where crops had been reaped for sixty years in succession without manure being applied. Indeed, the Red Eiver farmers have long regarded the natural fertilizers of the soil as an incumbrance of which, they try to rid themselves with the least possible trouble. Their babit was either to cast manure into the river or else to build out-houses in such a way that it might fall down and be no more seen. When this region passed from under the juris- diction of the Hudson Bay Company and became a Province of Canada, one of the earliest legislative enactments provided that the farmer who polluted a river with manure should pay a fine of $25, or Q 2 2 28 The Province of Manitoba, else be imprisoned for two montlis. Even now It is more common to collect the manure in heaps than to strew it over the land. The only fertilizer added to many fields is the ash from burned straw. I often saw the straw, remaining after the grain had been thrashed, set on fire as the quickest way to dispose of it. However, as the country becomes more thickly peopled, straw will be taken to market and sold for money instead of being converted into ashes. That a piece of land should bear wheat for three generations in succession is extraordinary, but that the yield at the end of that period should amount to 25 bushels an acre is more extraordi- nary still. On virgin soil the yield is enormous. The best evidence on this head, because it is per- fectly authentic, is that furnished by Mr. Senator Sutherland, a native of the Province*, to a Com- mittee of the Dominion House of Commons in 1876. Mr. Sutherland then said that he had "raised 60 bushels of spring wheat per acre, weighing 66 lbs. per bushel, the land having been measured and the grain weighed carefully. I have also received reliable information to the efiect that 70 bushels of wheat have been pro- duced from 1 bushel of wheat sown." Another interesting fact rests on the same trustworthy authority ; this is the abundance of grass and Prairie Grasses. 229 clieapness of hay. The prairie grasses, of which there are six varieties in this Province, con- tain much nutriment; thej can be converted into hay at the cost of $1 a ton. These wild grasses often grow to the height of 5 feet ; the yield of hay is as much as 4 tons an acre. While the descendants of the original settlers are living in comfort, the new-comers are pros- pering also. They have to struggle against cer- tain drawbacks as is the lot of all prairie farmers ; in their case, however, it is emphaticallj^ true that patience and perseverance have their reward. I conversed with many of the later settlers. One of them was a very intelligent man who had emigrated from the North of Ireland, to Ontario fifteen years ago and who had migrated to Mani- toba a year before I saw him, being induced to do so because the return from his farm did not keep pace with the increase and the demands of his family. His flock of a dozen children gave him no concern in his Manitoba home. His eldest daughter had found a good place at a 'liberal w^age in a clergyman's household, while his crops were so abundant that he could easily feed all the mouths dependent upon him and lay something aside for the future. He had but one fault to find with the country, and he was not singular in his complaint. The 230 The Province of Manitoba, violence of the thunderstorms appalled Mm. I was not surprised to hear him say this. I have had some experience of thunderstorms and I am prepared to maintain that those of Manitoba are so terrific as to be beyond all rivalry. In Ontario the flashes of lightning are more vivid and the peals of thunder are far more resonant than in England, but a Manitoba thunderstorm is to one in Ontario what one in Ontario is to one in England. When Manitoba is visited with such a storm the rain falls as if the windows of heaven were open, the thunder crashes as if the celestial combat imagiiied by Milton were at its height, the lightning fills the air with sheets of dazzling brightness athwart which dart tongues of flame. The air is so charged with electricity that the simplest operation reveals its presence. It can be made manifest by merely combing one's hair. At times it appears in a startling fashion. The Earl of Southesk records in the narrative of his travels here that, when about to wrap himself in a fur robe, "a white sheet of electrical flame blazed into his face, for a moment illuminating the whole tent." The Manitoba farmer who reaps fabulously large crops can afford to bear the discomforts of occasional thunderstorms of exceptional violence. "When locusts, or grasshoppers as they are here Grasshoppej^s. 231 called, visit the country they cause greater un- easiness because tliey occasion far greater loss than all the thunderstorms. This plague is not peculiar to Manitoba ; it is dreaded by farmers in the Western States from Minnesota to Colorado. At Denver, the capital of Colorado, I once saw a flight of grasshoppers, resembling a scintillating brown cloud, pass over the city, and many were the speculations among the onlookers as to the part of the State on which it would descend and work destruction. The settlers in Manitoba have suffered less from this pest than their neighbours in the United States. Since the first settlers came here in 1812 the grasshoppers have ap- peared thirteen times, whereas they have visited the State of Minnesota six times since 1855 ; in the former case the visitations having been thir- teen during sixty-eight years and in the latter, six during twenty-five years. The Indians wel- come grasshoppers ; they catch, roast and eat them and pronounce them very good. Happily for the farmers, who prefer bushels of grain upon which they can live, to bushels of grasshoppers which devour their crops, the voracious insects are not regular visitors. As many as thirty-five years have elapsed between their successive appearances. Moreover, the farmers are better able now to ward ofi" their ravages than they were in bygone days. 232 The Province of Mmiitoba. Grasslioppers are an infliction which is not very frequent nor very greatly feared ; the spring floods are annual torments for which no remedy has yet been adopted. They cause the farmer much annoyance and serious loss. The deposit left upon the land which has been inundated fre- quently lessens its fertility for a season. There is a remedy which would cure all this, or better still which would prevent the mischief altogether. A lightning-rod guards the farmer's house and barns from injury by the electric fluid. A proper and general system of drainage would shield his fields from the destroying flood when the snow melts in the spring and the streams are swollen to a great height. The Government of the Province have a comprehensive scheme of drainage in contemplation. If it were carried out and if it proved efiectual, the wealth of the Province would be vastly augmented, the waste now produced by the floods being incalculable. The Red River cart is a relic of Manitoba in the old time which is destined to follow the bufialo and be seen no more. Indeed, it cannot outlast the buffalo, because buffalo hide is one of the chief materials used in its construction. The cart is entirely made of wood and buffalo hide, no metal being employed or required in its construc- tion. It was an ingenious device of the first settlers v/ho, having no iron at their disposal, had SIJEAN BAPTISTE] MINNIE WASHTA GAUTHIER MOUNTAIN CITY LETELLIER ERVILLE MBNNONITE ETTLEMBNTS ^EST LYNNE I5VERVILLE CLEAR SPRING >RAT RIVER MENHONITE StSETTLEMEHT^ ^fl^RNAUD ^" -OREEN RIOCE IIOGEVILIE EMERSON fPETNEL 'FAIRVIEV^t CLAN(r^pYE*-ir^Q"'5 .victoria' ^llCELKIRKi 'KSCREfe 'POIOT fACE 'LA PRAIRIE JNHY 6I0E "so^SJS^o""""'' GRAND VALLEY RANO LlNt ^P^ I } STV»CATHE« I MANITOBA. NEWFOUNDLAND TO MANITOBA W . FRASER ROE. N E; W YO R K G.P.PUTNAM'S SONS. 1S81. TOBACCO CRE^ RIOOELL LORNE. Ji'i'^t MTENOY _ • .QN'7> <'jSyTCHIjlCRIVE M^,£22^^^**vSl£R?PRH^ \ / GAUTHIERl BADCEgL—5S^TROT0M<^ ^^C-v ^SAtEMT ^ 'MOUNTAIN CITY LETELLIEH • Q ^^RNAUO 19 HENNONITE ITTLEMENT^ MENNONITE W PEMBINA '%, '^^^ cr7-r/ CMCNTi WEST LYNHE ■ MOUNTAIN % ^-SETTLEMENTS lOCEVILLE. EMERSON Manitoba Homesteads, 233 to contrive to dispense with it. Sucli a cart costs $10 ; it is light as well as cheap, and a heavier load can be drawn in it by an ox over the soft prairie than in a cart of another build. With one of these carts carrying a load of half a ton, a yoke of oxen, a plough and a few other implements, the Manitoba farmer is equipped for tilling the soil. Farming on the prairie is very different work from farming in the backwoods of Canada. It has been aptly and truly said, "Where the Ontario farmer ends, the farmer of Manitoba begins." The latter has merely to plough the prairie, sow the seed and wait till his grain is ready to be reaped ; he has neither trees to fell norland to clear. Any citizen of the British Empire can g