Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual ExperiencesRitchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
History
Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual Experiences
Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- Emigration and immigration
‘2nd—That a fair crop can be obtained the first year of settlement on
breaking.
‘3rd—That for fall seeding with spring grain on the western plains, a
satisfactory result cannot be looked for with any degree of
certainty.
‘4th—That cereals, roots, and garden produce can be successfully
raised at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the sea-level.
‘5th—That seeding can be done sufficiently early to allow of all the
crop being harvested before the first of September.’
And I hear of many who have done well—some of whom came out without a
rap—and who enjoy a robust health unknown to them at home.
Perhaps nowhere has a village so suddenly sprung up into a city as at
Winnipeg, which first obtained notoriety by the advent of Lord Garnet
Wolseley, then a young man, who came to suppress the rebellion raised
there by a half-breed of the name of Riel, a daring young French
Canadian, wily as a savage, brilliant and energetic. In 1870 he appealed
to the prejudices and fears of the half-breeds, and in a few days had 400
men at his back. Owing to the clemency—perhaps mistaken—of his captors,
Riel escaped the punishment due to his crimes. In 1873 he was enrolled
as a member of Parliament, notwithstanding that at one time a reward of
5,000 dollars had been offered for his apprehension as a murderer.
The name of Winnipeg was then little known outside Manitoba. It was
built by traders, who wished to rival Fort Garrey, then the headquarters
of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and to carry on a free trade on their own
account. After the suppression of the rebellion, Manitoba had a local
Parliament, which met at Winnipeg, and also sent its representatives to
the Dominion Parliament. The place grew rapidly, though even at that
time Mr. Mackenzie, Sir John Macdonald’s political opponent, declared
that a cart track was good enough for Manitoba for many years to come.
In 1875 the total population was 3,031 assessed and 2,000 non-assessed,
which was a pretty respectable increase, considering that in 1869 there
were hardly a hundred settlers in the place. As late as 1876 the sport
of wolf-hunting was carried on by several of the inhabitants just outside
the city. Now it has churches, banks, schools, manufactures, and
mercantile men of great energy and high standing; and has become,
especially since the Pacific Railway Company has made it one of their
great stations, the gateway of the North-West. Settlers came crowding in
from all quarters, and in ten months, in 1878, 600,592 acres of land were
located. In 1879 Winnipeg boasted of a street extension of 83 miles, and
then came the bridge over the Red River to render the town easy of access
to all new-comers. Intoxicated with success, what the Americans call a
‘boom’ was created a year or two since, which seemed to have made
everyone lose his wits. There was no end to speculation in town lots;
merchants, tradesmen, professional men, could think of nothing else. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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