THE LETTERS OF RUSTICUS

INVESTIGATIONS IN MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST,

FOR THE BENEFIT OF INTENDING EMIGRANTS.

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER OF THE "MONTREAL WITNESS." i

• 1 1 $ ^

John Dougall & Son, 33 to 37 St. Bonaventure Street, at r.

INTRODUCTION.

Two or three years ago the Montreal Witness who, from the nature of things, cannot be all devoted much attention to the question of finding speculators. work for the unemployed in agricultural pursuits, Having been born and brought up on a and opened its columns to descriptions of the backwoods farm, and having afterwards cleared attractions of different parts of the country. It one for myself, the proprietors of the Witness was s on found that the hope and interest of the thought I would be a suitable person to send to people centered largely in the prairies of the the North- West to glean information among the North-West, and numerous were the letters of settlers there, which might be of use to many of enquiry with regard to tbat land of promise. In the readers of that paper, as some of them or the published accounts within reach there was their friends might be thinking of removing to much evidence of one-sidedness and some con- that land of promise. It was their desire that I tradiction. Another defect which was too ap- should avoid as much as possible the beaten parent in almost all North-Western literature paths in which others had sought for information, was the fact that the writers were not practical and strike out afresh for myself, and to this end agriculturists themselves, and it might be as I was given carte blanche both as to time and wise to send a doctor to examine and test a steam means to be used. engine as send a man who never did a day's I did not at first anticipate that my letters work on a farm to write of the agricultural would ever appear in pamphlet form, or my first capabilities of a new country. Still another communications might not have been written so " defect in the writings referred to, was the lack much on the minor key," a* some readers have of sympathy, or fellow feeling, between the expressed it, although in all cases I wrote as I then writers and the class of readers who, above all felt ; but having just previous to my departure others, needed correct information. Perhaps a for the North- West, been reading a glowing doctor after having carefully examined a steam description of that country, written by Thomas engine, might be able to make a report on its Spence, and finding the true state of the country condition, which would be underst iod by other so unlike the description given, I felt a good doctors as well, if not better, than if the report deal of disappointment and much inclined to. had been made by an engineer ; but it certainly find fault with everything that was not up to would not be so well understood by engineers as my anticipations. Most of the new settlers if made by one of their number—so a book- whom I met in that country seem to have ex- learned gentleman might write correctly and perienced the same feeling of disappointment on intelligently about farms and farming, but he their arrival, although they were afterwards could make himself much better understood by well satisfied with their new home, and many of farmers if he had previously worked for many them blamed Mr. Spence's highly colored years on a farm. Again, although a person pictures as the chief cause of their feelings of travelling rapidly for several weeks over a large disappointment. I further believe that Mr. country will have opportunities for seeing a good Spence's work, although containing a great deal deal, yet a great deal more will remain unseen that is true, has driven hundreds, if not by him, and for a knowledge of what he does not thousands, of intending settlers out of that see he must trust to the statements of others country after they were at the trouble and ex- who have seen it ; but if his informants are all pense of going there ; for people will sometimes of one class, their statements will be more or less injure themselves in order to be revenged, as biased to suit the views and interests of that they think, on their deceivers. A few words particular class. Hitherto nearly all the writers more to the intending settler, and I am done for about the North-West have either been specula- the present (although I hope to continue my tors themselves, or were the guests and friends letters to the Witness on this subject after the of speculators, consequently their writings have press of Parliamentary news is over). The best been chiefly derived from, and made in the in- time for coming to the country is early in the terests of, that class, but in variance with the spring before the frost is out of the ground, or interests of the great majority of the people who in the latter part of the summer after the rainy propose to make that country their future home, season is over. The month of August I consider INTRODUCTION.

the best time, although a person coming early in thrown up by the little animals referred to. the spring may secure his lot in a more con- The surface of the best prairie lands in the venient place, and also raise a considerable crop North-West is like a turtle's back, irregular like

the first summer, which he could not do if he low wide potato-hills. This is caused by the

came later ; but I know of a good many people action of the frost on very rich land, but I have who came to Manitoba at the beginning of not space here to explain it fully. If the surface April, yet had not done as much work on their is very smooth and the grass or weeds fine and farms by the first of October, as they might have not close together, no matter how rich the soil done in one month's steady work. Travelling may look, avoid it, as there is too much alkali in August here is very inexpensive, and almost present. I have also remarked that there is as pleasant as a pic-nic, if you have a tent and scarcely any alkali in land where timber or

team of your own. This is also the best time bushe3 grow, although small alkali spots are

for judging the quality of the soil, as there is no often met with almost surrounded by timber. test so safe and sure as "the crop test," or the I would advice all new comers to receive with

judging of the land by what it produces. The caution a great deal of the advice which they moles, gophers, and badgers are also useful will be sure to receive, perhaps while on the animals to show the nature of the soil without way, but certainly after their arrival in the

your having the trouble to dig into it yourself. North- West. Some of the persons giving the The moles burrow near the surface, and make advice may seem to be quite disinterested, but deposits of the earth in little piles on the even if they may have no axe to grind for them- grass, a little distance from their hole. If this selves, there is great likelihood that some of their deposit is rich black clay, or loamy soil, without friends own a dull axe. I an sorry to say that

any gray or white clay, or gravel mixed with it, this applies to some of the Government officials, the soil is good (that is if there is little or no although I believe that their masters at Ottawa alkali in it), but if the moles bring up a good are sincerely desirous of promoting the best in- deal of light colored clay, or gravel, leave the terests of the country. land to them, and pass on to where the soil is Hoping that the readers of this pamphlet may deeper. Except where the soil is exceedingly derive a considerable amount of instruction or deep, the gophers and ground squirrels bring up amusement from its perusal. more or less of the lighter colored subsoil, or I remain their sincere friend, gravel, but you can judge of the quality of the soil by the quantity and quality of each kind on DAVID CURRIE. exhibition. The badgers are powerful animals Montreal, March 10th, 1880. and expeditious diggers, and are useful in bring- ing to light the subsoil, so that you may judge P. S. — I have just read in the papers that the for yourself, whether it is white soapy clay, gray Government at Ottawa propose to allow settlers clay, gravel or sand. in the North-West to import cattle for their own After a little practice a person can judge pretty use free of duty, for which considerate act they well the quality of the soil, even when the grass have my most hearty thanks. is burnt off, and there are no earth-mounds D. C. THE LETTERS OF RXISTICTTS. ON THE WAY TO THE NORTH-WEST. THE TBIP THROUGH CANADA—THE SMOKERS' PARADISE—A RAILWAY CONDUCTOR WHO UNDERSTANDS HIS BUSINESS—TRAVELLERS' NOTES IN THE UNITED STATES—TO BE REMEMBERED.

St. Paul, March 28. and I'll get you a seit." He would then march along until he found a seat with only one human Sir,—Having for some time been affected, occupant. Then, no matter how many valises r which uore or less, with the "Manitoba fever," or o\ ercoats there might be on it, he would call the has been increasing in virulence throughout out, " Here's a seat, fir," and if the former occu- greater part of the older provinces of Canada, pant made any obj -ctions to company, he would States, I and is now spreading to the United answer, " Let this gentleman sit down," and accepted with pleasure a favorable opportunity would not take " no" for an answer. I could not of visiting the Great North-West. On the evening but admire the good sense displayed by this of Tuesday, 25th inst., I purchased for $29 a brakesman in discriminating between a man who St. Vincent, second-class ticket from Montreal to is a gentleman and one who is not. He never left near Emerson, Manitoba, and the Bonaven- asked what kind of a ticket a man had, but if he ture at ten o'clock p.m. The journey Depot was well-behaved he got a first-class seat ; if, over the Grand Trunk Railway to Detroit was on the contrary, he showed signs of intoxication, made in twenty-five hours, including a deten- behad to march to the smoking-car. A seedy-look- tion of two and a half hours on the track near ing individual, with two or three sheets in the Scarboro, owiner to the engine of a freight train wind, gave symptoms of " casting up his ac- haviDg become disabled. Unfortunately for my- counts," when the watchful brakesman said to self, I have a great aversion to the smell of to- him, without enquiring what kind of ticket he bacco, and in the close, crowded second-cla3S held, " If you take so much aboard that you cars of the Grand Trunk Railway an can't stand the pressure, you had better get into ANTI TOBACCO STOMACH the second-class car," and as he did not obey readily, the brakesman took him by the coat col- has but a poor chance, and mine being of this lar and marched him to the smoking-car. sort very soon began to cause me considerable It was about 9 30 a.m. when we reached Chi- uneasiness. I endeavored for some time to in- cago, where not a vestigeof snow was to be seen. duce the smokers in the second-class car to ab- We were then transferred to city omnibuses and stain from their incense offerings, or else go to driven about a mile and a half to the depot of the smoking-car while at their devotions, as my the Chicago, St. Paul & Minneapolis Railway, health was not good and the smoking made mo and at 10.10 started North westward, leaviDsr sick. Some of them were considerate enough to our baggage in Chicago to follow by the next cease smoking, but others would not ; so I train, as thers was not time to transfer it across complained to the conductor, but he good- the city, and these trains seem to be very punc- naturedly told me that he could not help tual on time. While we were in and around it, but if I paid $1 35 additional he would Chicago, the weather was quite foggy, but it allow me to occupy the first-class car. When soon afterwards cleared up, and the sun shone we reached Sarnia, the cars with all their out beautifully over occupants were shunted on board a boat and ferried over to Port Huron, and during the pas- THE PRETTIEST FARMING COUNTRY sage custom-house officials examined our satchels that I have ever seen. The beautiful prairies, and valises, which was more a matter of form at first level but afterwards rolling, seemed to to the Manitoba travellers than anything else. be a delightful place for a farmer. The dwelling- At Port Huron our baggage had to undergo a houses were mostly fine, but the barns and other similar examination ; every box, trunk or bundle buildings small and often not very good. The had to be opened, but a very strict search was farm-yard was generally disfigured with one or not made. more unsightly stacks of straw or hay, which We reached Detroit Junction at a little after seem to be an eye-sore in these Western States, 11 p.m., and there transferred ourselves to the and are not unfrequent in Canada. These stacks cars of the Michigan Central Railway. I soon look more natural than artistic in shape, and made the discovery that there were no second- are of various sizes and physical features, a very class cars attached, and we had very superior common form being that of an enormous "grave- travelling accommodations the only objection mound" at the sides of which being to the crowded state of the car, and the A PACK OF HUNGRY HYENAS impossibility of letting in fresh air except.by the door. A very had been endeavoring to bring about the prema- OBLIGING AMERICAN BRAKESMAN ture resurrection of the dead (the cattle having made similar excavations in the sides of the kept going around, and if he saw any one stand- stack). The prairie got quite rolling as we drew ing (although of humble appearance) he would towards the southern boundary of Wisconsin. say to him, "You come right along with me It was generally very fertile, but I was told that The Letters of Rusticus. in many places the water is very bad for A WORD OP ADVICE drinking purposes. We reached Madison, the to those who may think of coming this way, al- capital of the State of Wisconsin, at four though my experience is not very extended as yet. p.m. This is the most beautifully located First, It is bettter to come in companies of city that I have seen, being built on a thirty or more, as in such cases the Grand Trunk hill almost completely surrounded by three Railway will furnish good, though old, first-class or four pretty large lakes, one ol them at least cars, but a person coming alone, or with only ten miles long and four miles wide. Shortly one or two others will have to travel in the after passing Madison we came into a rough, second-class cars, which are made hardly mountainous country strongly resembling the habitable for common cleanly people, by the Gatiueau region. In some places we passed amount of tobacco smoking, chewing and spit- through immense rock and sand cuttings and be- ting which is done in them. The Montreal tween high towering rocky hills clothed with Amti-Tobacco Society would secure the lasting brushwood and scrubby white pines. The gratitude of many good people in Canada, if curves are numerous and pretty sharp ; ihe train it could prevail on the G. f. R. authorities often seeming as if it were running up against to stop the Blanking, as tbey have already nearly " stupendous rocks. At one place called Devil's stopped the driukina: on their passenger cars. Lake" the railway is dug out of the side of a A person ought also to carry with him an nearly perpendicular mountain of bare rocks ample supply of provisions, as he is charged at some two hundred feet high, on tho other side of tho refreshment rooms fifty cents for about ten which is the lak* about a quarter of a mile wide, cents worth of food, swallowed down in a hurry, and over five hundred feet deep. It is called by while every moment he is dreading to hear the the Indians the well-known call " All aboard !" In my own case, " LAKE! OF THE BAD SPIRIT," I got a good loaf of home-made bread, worth say IGc small tin can filled with preserves, worth from a tradition that all persons who fell into its ; a 15c small jar containing nearly a waters were at once dragged under water by the about ; a of honey in the comb, worth 20c, and a evil one, and could not be rescued. The real pound parcel of bottle cause of the almost certain death by drowning small each tea and sugar, and a of pain killer, but I have had no need for the of all who fall into the lake, is the nearly per- — pendicular banks give no chance for any but latter yet. I also got a tin flask for holding is some- swimmers to get out again. The Indians thought milk to drink by the way, as the water tho lake was bottomless, but the white man times no better tban it ought to be. I had this miik-fla&k refilled with fresh milk every oppor- found bottom at less than one hundred fathoms. at also it a point one The rocks on the sides of the mountains which tunity. I make to get warm meal each day yet my whole expenses for eat- enclose this beautiful little lake with the u^ly ; name, resemble somewhat the perpendicular ables from Montreal to St. Paul is less than dollars, and should further delays be columns of tbe " Giant's Causeway," but are not two no necessary, two dollais more will do until wereach so regular. There is a laige hotel on its banks, Winnipeg. They have tbe habit of charging which is a summer resort for persons from cents per meal and 10 cents for a cup of tea Chicaeo and other Western cities. 50 at the railway stations on both sides of the line, A little while after passing the lake we came the delay is generally so short that you have to a town of some importance called Baraboo and not time to look elsewhere. At Toronto and which is romantically situated on a little river of is of to get a meal that name, which empties into the Wisconsin Chicago there plenty time elsewhere for 25 cents, although in the latter River not far from the town. The railway city to pay 50 cents for dinner, not- follows the bed of this river about twenty-five I had my withstanding been promised to have it for miles, between pretty high mountains, during I had 25 cents. The it came to pass was this : which tbe railway, river and public highway way A hotel-runner, as Fcon as tbe 'hus stopped at the seem to be railway sfation of the C. & St. Paul Railway, SEEK PITTING HIDE-AND invited us to come to his hotel for dinner, and with each other, crossing and re-crossing back as we objected paying 50 cents, he promised to and forth I don't know how often. A good deal give it for 25 cents. Several of us went, although of the land hereabout is of poor quality, a con- the time was very short before the train would siderable portion of it having been bought about i-tart, and after a hurried meal, we tried to set- twenty years ago by people dwelling in the East- tle for 25 cents each, but it would not work. ern States, who purchased it from agents with- The runner who made tho bargain was not to be out having previously seen it. There is consider- found, and the landlord said he had never au-

able white pine timber in this part, although thorized him to make such bargains ; and we much of the better kinds has been already re- had each to fork over 50 cents in order to catch moved. The land between this and St. the train. Paul is not nearly as good as in South- There are a good many places where the cars ern Wisconsin, a great deal of it being very wait fifteen or twenty minutes for refreshments, poor.and sandy hillocks covered with brushwood. where We got to St. Paul at six o'clock this morn- CLEVER TRICKS OF SHAVING ing and got our first view of the " Father of Waters," the Mississippi. At this point it re- can be done. At Jackson, in Michigan, sembles very much the Back River near St. Vin- one of our party who felt hungry called for a cent de Paul, at ordinary summer level. The cup of tea and a sandwich, and gave a Cana- trains running to Breckenridge, on the Red dian bank bill to settle the account, but got back River, made some changes in their running time only 65c. change in those sickly -looking coins called nickels. wanted more, but this week ; consequently, we were detained here dimes and He until five o'clock this afternoon, when we will could not get it, the purveyor asserting that Ca- j North-West. nadian bills were only worth 85c. on the dollar, (D. V. ) pursue our ourney to the Now for and the cup of tea and sandwich cost 20s. The — The Letters of Rusticus.

Canuck had to leave at once, and I overheard was due him, we could not get the money back. him counting how much that sandwich and tea When we got to the station we had an oppor- had cost, which he made out to be 48 j., as the tunity of seeing part of our baggage wnich had 65c. change in American money vhich he re- been left behind at Chicago. It seemed to have- ceived was only worth 52c. in Canada. A good been wrecked on the road, as a good many boxes place to get a first-class meal of good plain and trunks were broken open. It requires a very victuals is at Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the strong lock to bear the abuse which Western train which leaves Chicago at ten a.m. will ar- baggagemen give to the goods in their charge. rive at six p.m., and wait for twenty minutes. ST. PAUL An hour before Baraboo is reached a person goes round among the passengers to find out is a pretty city built on the lower bank of the how many want to have supper, ostensibly so Misbiasippi (the higher bank being over 100 as to telegraph the information ahead, in order feet above the water in the river). A little that preparations may be made, but 1 above here at Minneapolis is the Falls of St. think the real cause is to prevent the Anthony, where the Mississippi decends about passengers by previous arrangementfrom getting eighty feet in less than a mile. There is some their supper for 25c . at the opposition houses. very good land in this vicinity, but the greater One of these opposition houses is a hotel, which part is poor, there being a great many lake3 I did not visit, but I went to the other, which and ponds near the railway north-west is a private house, where an old Yankee lad} from here. While passing through this part had prepared a substantial meal for 25c, and of Minnesota (St. Paul to Breckenridge), I had a gave a cup of tea or coffee, with plenty of sugar good deal of conversation with the. way-station and milk, for five cents. travellers Some of these were formeily from I might also add another word or two of advice the Ottawa region, and told me that a great to induce intending emigrant* to Manitoba to many Canadians are living in these parts, but have all their arrangements completed and many of them intend to sell out in a few years affairs settled several days before starting, so and remove to that their sleep may be disturbed as little as possible. The separation from friends will cause THE UPPER SASKATCHEWAN enough of sleeplessness Without the mind and when there is suitable means of going to that body being racked with preparations for a day country. I may say here, that I found several or two before starting. I had several pretty native Americans, who say they will remove sleepless nights myself before startiDg, and the to the Upper Saskatchewan whenever the sleep got during the two first nights spent on the C. P. Railway is opened to there. train could scarcely be called sleep, but only We reached Breckenridge on the Eed Pviver short dozing. Last night, as we had plenty of at five a.m. Saturday, and had our first -view of room and first-class car cushions for a bed, I slept the "prairie sea." I will leave the description soundly, and feel very much better to-day. of this " marvellous expanse" for another time. We got to the Glyndou crossing at about nine ST. PAUL TO EMERSON. (Montreal time), or 7.30 local time. I, here, got an abundant supply of new warm milk—all A DISINTERESTED LOOKING IRISHMAN—A SOFT- the milk I had got heretofore was more BEDDED RAILWAY—THE ARRIVAL IN MANI- or less old. The price was five cents per TOBA—A WORD TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS. small pint, and a great many of the passen- Emerson, March 31. gers bought it. We reached Crookstown, on the Red Lake River, at noon, and waited a short We were detained at St. Paul on Friday time, and left some of our passenger cars. We from six a.m. to five p.m., and, as usual, were now entered on the part of the road which was swindled by "mine host" of the "St. Paul laid last fall, and not yet ballasted, and soon House." His runner at the station assured us found out the ca«.se for the recent change in. the that we would only be charged twenty -five cents running time, which had delayed us eleven hours per meal, and be driven to and from the hotel at St. Paul. Had we come the previous week free. While we were hesitating about accepting we would have reached Breckenridge on Friday, the good offer, a disinterested-looking old Irish- and during the following night would reach St. man passed by, and told us that we need not hesi- Vincent ; but the condition of the track made it tate about the charges, as he knew the house exceedingly dangerous to go at night and it was well, and the charges were only 25c per meal. far from safe to travel on in the day-time. The Although we had been caught in a similar way prairie is in many places in Chicago, about twenty of us accepted the offer, because we could do no better, and were UNDER WATER, driven to the hotel, where we got a good wash the frost is coming out of the ground, and the the first really good wash since starting. We is far from stead . very plowly, had breakfast and dinner here, and on settling track v We went and often the cars would cant over a little as if our account h»d to pay 70c. each— that is the passing sharp curve, although line id more fortunate ones. One of our party was a a the straight as arrow. Often feel young man, who with his two sisters was going an we would that the brakes were being applied and the cars would to Manitoba. He gave a $4 bill to pay the account (S2J0), but stop, although the engine had given no warning whistle. Mr. Lapthoru, of Montreal, who had \t GOT NO CHANGE BACK. insinuated himself into the good graces of one of The bustliner bar-keeper said that he gave the the brakesmen, was informed by that official tha£ change to another of the party and would not they put on the brakes at all soft places when pay again. Although several of the party were one side of the track began to sink, but to pre- present and pointed out that the change given vent any fright among the passengers, the whit- to the other party was only the change which tle was not blown. We reached St. Vincent ai The Letters of Rusticus.

five p.m., and Btarted to the station to make ar- to St. Vincent, near 1,200 miles, without ever rangements to get our baggage checked for Win- getting off for feed or water. Their owners tried

nipeg ; but how great was our disappointment to feed and water them as best they could, and to find the Btation locked up, and not a soul had often to travel a considerable distance along

around to give any information ! The station with the horses, at no little ri&k from crushing, was nearly all surrounded by water, the track to accomplish th?s result. Two or three of being only a few inches above the surface. the horses gave out by the way and were At first we could discover no sign left to recuperate, a man being always of human habitation, but at last dis- left to take care of them. When the oars covered two houses about half a mile distant, reached St. Vincent on Sunday morning but did not feel like wading out to them. We the owners of horses were anxious to get them were not kept long waiting, however, before the off the cars, as they had been close prisoners

station agent arrived in a waggon and consoled since Wednesday at noon ; but through some us with the information that it was uncertain red-tapeism some of the bonding papers had not when we could get on to Winnipeg, but we might been forwarded, and altbough it was no fault of rest for the present as no train would leave until the horse-owners, the poor horses were kept in near noon on Sunday. Had it been another day the crowded cars until after four o'clock Sun- I would have staid over night along with my day afternoon. Some of these horses I did not companion, as the conductor of the train we came see, as they were sent on to Winnipeg, but about in told us we might occupy the cars over night. six o'clock twenty- five of them reached Emer- But atsund)V£n I started on the track to Emer- son and were at once taken across the ice on the son, two and a half miles distant, and as the Red River as they were destined for Pembina Emerson station is a half mile from the hotel we Mountains. This mode of crossing the river is were to stop in, I got acquainted with not altogether unknown in the Ottawa region. The river is about 250 feet wide and has been MANITOBA MUD, rising pretty rapidly of late, so that the centre which seems to be very friendly with your boots, ice is above water for over 100 feet wide, while as it rises up and comes along without any coax- on each side there is a space of 50 or 60 feet ing. I have travelled on more sticky roads near under water, which, near the shore, is 8J feet Ottawa, where the mud would like to keep your deep, but slants upward towards the centre ice. boots and let you go ahead yourself ; but if you The poor horses, some of which showed signs of are determined to go, the greater part of the mud recent hard work in the shanties, looked rather would prefer waiting where it was. Here, on dejected after their long ride, and were averse to the contrary, you trudge along until the load of going into trhe water, but one of the men would mud gets too heavy ; then you scrape it off with a mount the tallest horse and lead one or two stick and go ahead, the only difficulty being the others into the water, while the rest were weight of mud, and not its adhesion to the rest driven after. When they got on to the centre of the road. At ice, some of the horses ran away down the river EMERSON on the ice, but were caught and brought back, we found four hotels overcrowded, and were told and again had to go through the water to the that the best that could be done for us was a west side, having got wet about half-way up "shake down" on the floor. After a good sup- their sides. The reason for hurrying them across per we wanted to go to bed, having had little on Sunday evening was the dangerous condition sleep since leaving Montreal. Contrary to ex- of the ice, and I have been told to-day that the pectation, I was furnished with a regular bed, ice attached to the western shore has hince broke the excuse being that one of their regular lodgers up. The poor nags had to stand all night on the had goDe away for the night; but there might opposite shore without the least shelter, although have been other reasons, as our landlord had a cold north-west wind was blowing, and I can made the discovery that I had something to do see them standing there still as I am writing this with the Witness. Many of the transient in- letter. They are being fed with prairis hay, habitants of Emerson slept that and the follow- but no oats can be gotten for them here at pre- ing night on the floor, without any extra bed- sent. clothes, and not a few camped out in stables or wherever they could get a little hay to sleep on. Emerson, April 2, 1879. On Sunday morning the Ottawa party arrived, HOW EMIGRANTS ARE TREATED— CROSSING THE and I met some of the members of the Robin- RED RIVER—SOME DISCLOSURES 1HAT NEED son party from Montreal. These had left Mont- THE ATTENTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. real on Monday morning, thirty -six hours before, and reached St. Vincent fifteen hours after me. Sir,—As most people are aware, the first im- They complained badly of their treatment and pressions made on the mind of a traveller on are difficult of removal delays along the road, for although they had been reaching a new country ; detained several hours at various stations, yet consequently, it should be the object of any they could never learn how long they were go- government who wishes to attract and retain ing to stop, so they had to stick to the train, immigrants from other lands to make all possi- and could not go and look for refreshments. The ble provision for their comfort on arrival. I conductors, when asked for information about will in this letter give a Bhort account of my the length of time they were likely to remain, first three days' experience in the great North- either could not or would not give any informa- West. The first day at Emerson being tion further than that the train mij?ht start at Sunday I visited the three city churches, any moment. This treatment of the passengers and heard three sermons. The first was in was bad enough, but the the Episcopal church at 11 a.m., where there were just a dozen hearers. At three p.m., about CRUELTY TO THE HORSES thirty-five people assembled at the Presbyterian was many times worse, as they were kept in the church. There wculd probably have been m< re cars (contrary to law, I believe) from Port Huron hearers at this church were it not that the churca . The Letters of Rusticus.

is situated at some distance from the inhabited but the train left before they could be replaced portion of the city, and could not be reached in the car, and they, consequently, had to wait without wading through mud and water from for another train. The delays at St. Vincent two to four inches deep. The little Methodist were most aggravating, caused by the Church was well filled in the evening, it being the NEGLECT most convenient to the places where immigrants on the part of the Custom House officials at were stopping. In the evening I strolled by my- Port Huron in not forwarding the proper papers self alone the banks of the Red River, and had in time. I saw a number of these horses as they occasion to remark the doings of a ferry-man were unloaded from the cars, and felt almost who was busily sick to witness the starved-like appearance of "paddling his light canoe" most of them. Some of them had also ugly-look- ing wounds, they received in the cars, near the opposite shore. The water in the river which had owing to the peculiar way they have in the West having lately risen between three and four feet, of jerkins: cars when starting or shunting them had borne up the ice in the centre of the river, at the stations. 1 did not hear that any horses leaving the sides, which were attached to the had died, but several had been left to recuperate shore, submerged to a distance of from fifty to at the stations, and some of those that sixty feet from each side of the river. Both oxen way reached St. and horse teams were crossing back and forth Vincent were scarcely able to walk alone. On the eastern, or Emerson side, a couple About half- past five p.m. the train from St. of planks served as a bridge for foot Paul arrived passengers, while on the other side the at St. Vincent, and was detained nearly hours before it could go on to licensed ferryman for five cents took travel- two Emer- son. The weather was getting uncomfortably lers across the small strip of water between cold, owing to the steady north- western breeze the ice and the river bank. He was kept quite busy, while I was watching, and as the canoe which was blowing, and I went into the passen- would carry four persons and had to go only a ger cars, where my sympathies for the horses gave to for few few lengths of herself, the trips were speedily place sympathy a women and children passengers. performed, although the craft frequently took in who were among the I heard wishes expressed water over the side when the passengers, from several fervent by worn- fright or other cause, did not keep perfectly out looking mothers, who were striving to pacify crying children, still- that they had but known what had to endure, in which case they On Monday morning, the ice near the opposite they would this early shore had risen in broken pieces to the surface, not have come on journey so in the season. The following night was very so that the canoe could not be used ; but the ferryman had taken his station at windy and cold, yet a number of the people newly arrived in Emerson had to THE END OF HIS PLANK SLEEP IN OUT-HOUSES, still collected five cents fare from every and without any bed-clothes whatever, except the passenger, for crossing on the plank, leaving the clothing they wore. As there was sufficient ac- unfortunate travellers to pick their way, at the commodation in the old Government police sta- risk of their lives, over the floating chunks of ice tions at Dufferin, on the west side of Red River, near the opposite shore. It a woman carried a and about a mile and a half further down to- child in her arms across the plank, she had to wards Winnipeg, many of the immigrants were pay ten cents, and if a man carried a moderately exceedingly anxious to get there, and tried to sized bundle, he too was mulcted in double fare. make arrangements with an individual who man carrying several small bundles in his A owned a team on the west side of the river,to take hands, was about to cross the plank, when he a waggon-load of travellers and their baggage unfortunately dropped a spare coat, not into the from the shore opposite Emerson down toDufferin, water, but on the Emerson shore. He did not T)ut Jehu would accept no lees than $2 for his ser- miss it until he had paid his toll. He now vices, and as it would take about a dollar and a wished to return a steps for the coat, but few half more to get past the plank-tollman, the Cerberus guarded the plank would not per- who trip was abandoned. Things began to look blue mit him to do so until he "forked over" five to the new-comers in Emerson. But as the cents, which operation had to be again repeated shore ice had risen the previous day, and the when he returned with the lost coat. im- An frost the succeeding night had cemented the migrant from Ontario informed me that he had to pieces of ice along the shore pretty well together pay in all fifty cents for the privilege of convey- in some places, some of us thought a temporary ing a couple of trunks and a few bags across bridge might be rrade with a few planks so that the Emerson plank. the horses and all might get across. I at once After dinner I went back to St. Vincent to started across on foot to Cufferin to solicit aid see about forwarding baggage, which had my from the emigrant agent, Mr. Tetu, to construct been checked to that station. The wind was a temporary bridge. I found Mr. Tetu and also blowing strongly from the north, and the Mr. Grahame, the Dominion Emigrant Agent at weather was getting uncomfortably cold. At Duluth, in a snug, warm room. They had evi- the St. Vincent station there were a good many dently just got out of bed. When I proposed members of the Ottawa party, and also the that something should be done speedily to assist from Exeter, Ont. , all anxious Greenwsy party the immigrants to cross over from Emerson, they to get their horses out of the cars. Some of these seemed to think I was joking, and offered me a horses in the Grand Trunk had now been crowded drink from a bottle with which they seemed to cars for eight days, during which time they had be on friendly terms. When I at last convinced never been allowed get out. one station to At them that I was in earnest, they called me where they were delayed for some time the own- ers of the horses in one car insisted on taking A GBEENHOBN AND FOOL, the suffering animals out for exercise and feed, and said that the ferryman (tollman it should be) The Letters of Rusticus. was only exacting his just rights, as he was pay- * : CBREBUS " OUTWITTED—AN EIGHT MILES ing a high license to the Government. 1 sug- TRAMP—HOW THE COLD FEELS IN MANI- gested that if he had a right to levy toll, he TOBA- CROAKERS AND POFFERS—A GENERAL should furnish proper accommodation, and that OPINION OF THE PROVINCE. temporary bridges could be erected for a few doi Winnipeg, April 5th. Jars. They laughed at me and said that I did not know what I was talking about, as the cost of Sir, —During the first three days of April i bridging here was quite different from what it remained at Emerson, being most of the time on was in the " Ottawa region." I wanted to know the ice assisting immigrants to cross over. During " if they would not try and do something in the the first day of the new bridge" the tollman re* way of borrowing lumber for a temporary bridge, mained at his plank, and finding his trade gone, but was informed that they had waded around he frequently threatened vengeance to the oppo- Emerson all Monday trying to borrow lumber, sition ; but seeing we were not to be frightened, but could not get any. I left the immigration he drew his plank ashore, and went to more com- office, thinking to myself that Sir John Mac- fortable quarters at the hotel, leaving us donald could apply the pruning-knife with ad- MASTERS OF THE SITUATION. vantage to a few more immigrant agencies. When I got back to Emerson I found that the On Thursday forenoon, as very few people wer> Greenway party from Exeter had already bor- crossing, I strolled up the west side of Red rowed twelve planks, about twenty-four feet River, through the towns of West Lyn in long and nine inches wide, and had with these Manitoba and Pembina in the State of Dakota, constructed bridges at both sides in places where then crossed to the east side of the river to St. the shore ice had jammed. I waited with them Vincent in the State of Minnesota, and went all day, a pretty smart snow-storm blowing from northward along the east bank of the river until the north-west nearly all the time. The shore I reached Emerson again. The distance tra- leading down to our temporary bridge was velled was between eight and nine miles. The rather steep, and the horses had to bo taken Hcil was the richest I ever saw ; yet, during out of the waggons and led over the bridge my journey, I did not find one hundred acres cf singly, after which the baggage was carried over land that had ever been cultivated, nor as much to the solid ice in the centre of the river, and fencing as could be found on many lots of only lastly the empty waggon was taken down the 100 acres in Quebec. Part of the land was cov- steep bank, and although we had pieces of ered with bushes, chkfly hazel, willow and scantling stuck through between the spokes of poplar, with a fair Bhare of elm and oak. There the wheels to prevent them from revolving, yet, were also a great many berry bushea, which grow owing to the snow, it was difficult to prevent from one and a half to three feet high, and were the waggon from going too fast, and on several loaded with a small red berry rather smaller occasions one of the wheels would miss the than red currants. There were also a good bridge and break through the ice. After the wag- many bushes which bore larger berries, about gon was drawn over the first bridge it w as re- the size of cranberries, and although they had loaded and driven down the river to bridge been on the bushes all winter, they were still soft No. 2, connecting the centre ice witb and good tasted, but I did not care to eat them the opposite shore, where the process of unhitch- not knowing if they were wholesome. In some ing and unloading had to be gone through again. places there were some attempts at cultivation, A man named Daley had the imprudence to but the rank weeds seemed to crowd out what- drive his waggon too near the shore, where the ever grain had been sown. Part of this country ice was cracked, and while taking his team has been wooded, but almost all the large trees ashore, one side of the waggon broke through were cut down some years ago to supply the the ice, and before we could get it unloaded the Red River boats with fuel ; and at the present time, whole waggon except the box went down were all the treea within four miles of Emerson, to the bottom, some fifteen feet. But as of four inches and over in diameter, cut into we had a rope tied to the end of the firewood, they would not produce as much wood waggon pole, we did not let it get entirely away as could be got from off fifty acres of good hard- trom us. We then brought the planks wood bush in Ontario or Quebec. There were a from our bridge, and placed them firouud the few houses standing here and there, but chiefly hole in the ice, and after we 'got the waggon box of very small size. One of these houses I took clear soon drew up the waggon. But the work a special fancy to, owing to the was not pleasant, as a cold snow-storm was SIMPLICITY AND CHEAPNESS blowing from the north, and our mitts and gloves were thoroughly wetted. As the planks in our of its construction. I walked around it and ob- bridge were only borrowed for the forenoon, I served that it was built in about the same went to Messrs. T. Carney & Son, lumber deal- way that we used to make pigeon-traps ers, who owned the lumber, and desired them in Hull. The building was aDout fourteen to allow us to keep the bridge lumber all day, feet by twelve, and was made of oak and and a3 it was not likely we could get all over- poplar poles. There might have been other kinds to-day we would like to keep it the next day of timber, but from the way it was covered with too. To this proposition Mr. Carney kindly clay it was difficult to tell. When the perpen- consented, on my becoming personally responsi- dicular walls got about eight feet high, the side ble for the safe return of the lumber ; conse- logs were placed in about a foot and a half on quently, I am detained a little longer at Emer- each side and an end log wa3 placed on it, three son than I had intended. feet shorter than those below it, when another : The Letters of Rusticus.

pair of side logs were put on, also a foot and a ling over one hundred miles to the Little Sas- naif nearer the centre of the building than the katchewan on Rock Lake, and are going to take last pair, and thus the construction went on until up land in the State of Dakota, as it can be the building was closed at the top ; elm bark was got without much travelling. I am convinced then placed on this slanting roof and all the that until all the land in the Red River valley, seams filled up with clay, while a stove-pipe pro- in the States of Dakota and Minnesota, is tak- jected through the pitch of the roof. Below is a en up, a good many Canadian immigrants will be rough sketch of the frame of this building content to remain there instead of proceeding to the Canadian North- West territories. Although I have not yet met with " croakers," I have met a good many of another class, whom for want of a better name I shall designate as *' PUFFERS." These individuals hang around taverns and drink and swear like troopers, and are ready to assist immigrants when paid exorbitant wages for their services. When one of these puffers over- hears an immigrant complaining of the excessive charges, or any other inconvenience arising from the people, country, climate, or water, Mr. Puffer begins to taunt him with cowardice, and tells him he had better go back to Ontario, as he is too much of a green-horn to get along in Manitoba,where he "will likely be lost in the mud or eaten up by mosquitoes." Some of the Gov- ernment officials are of this class, and do more to disgust intending settlers with the country than In this drawing 1 are the regular end logs about almost any other thing that I know of. I have 12 feet long 2 are the side logs 14 feet long 3 ; ; on several occasions begun to complain of Mani- are the rocf-logs which support the elm bark, toba in the presence of some puffer, just for the they are 14 ftet long 4 are the short end logs ; fun of hearing him rage and rave at the cowar* which go to construct the gable-end of the house ; dice of " some people," which of course includes 5 is a part of the completed roof, two lengths of myself. In justice to the country, I must say bark reaching from the eaves to the ridgeboard ; that, from all I have seen, it is fully equal to 6 is the window the door being on the other ; my most sanguine expectations, except in the side of the house having of and a small porch exceedingly small amount which has yet been rough boards . If the poles could be got conveni- brought under cultivation, and also the large ent to the place where the house wa3 to bs built, area which is at present under water (I should four men with a pair of oxen could cut the tim- say under ice). The water has an unpleasant ber, draw it to its place, and erect the building, taste, but seems to be quite healthy, and the soil roofing, plastering and all, in less than a week. is such as would make almost any farmer's eyes While I making was my observations here, I sparkle. heard On Thursday evening all the immigrants CRIBS OF DISTEESS around Emerson who wished to cross the river had got over to Dufferin with their live stoek among the bushes down near the river, and observ- and baggage, and not a few had started for the ed a boy about nine years old coming up carrying Pembina Mountains, so I returned the planks a pail of wTater. As the thermometer was about which we borrowed from Mr. Carney, and that z-ro, and a keen north wind >vas blowing, I did gentleman would accept nothing for their not wonder at the poor boy cryiDg with the use, except twenty-five cents for one which had got cold ; but I did wonder at the people who say broken. lam sure a good many of the new set- that you do not feel the cold here as you do in tlers in Pembina Mountains will remember with Quebec. Although I have been but a few days pleasure in Manitoba, I have felt the cold worse in the month of April here, than I remember having MR. CARNEY'S KINDNESS, ever felt it in the month of March in the Pro- the more so as such conduct is not common in vince of Quebec. At the hotel where I stopped, these parts. During the three days in which I was obliged to sleep with my clothes on while we had these planks, we assisted about three hun- in bed, and yet was so cold that to keep from dred people to cross the river with their effects, shivering I had to place my big overcoat on which consisted of about one hundred horses, top of the bed-clothes. I may say that the forty waggons, about eight sleighs, a dozen houses here are chiefly constructed on the bal- yoke of oxen, thirty other beef critters, and I loon fashion, and are not finished with care, so don't know how many sheep and poultry of that the cold wind finds a too easy ingress. various kinds, including a pig from Ottawa, and Before 1 ltft Montreal I heard a good deal various dogs and cats from different places in about what they call here "croakers." They Ontario. The cars from South going to Winni- are people who have paid a short visit to Mani- peg should reach Emerson Station at 7 p.m., but toba and, becoming disgusted, have returned to tbis evening (Thursday) they did not arrive until old Canada, bringing an evil report of the good after nine, and as there is no telegraph on the line land. I have not met with any of this ckss nor any means of telling when the train would yet ; although I have met with several who arrive, we remained with a good many others on coming to Manitoba and seeing the walking up and down the track to keep ourselves difficulties of travelling at this season of the warm with the thermometer about zsro, and year, and also the way they were being fleeced no place where we could sit down except on on every hand,have abandoned the i^ea of travel- a pile of ties or on somebody's luggage. The 10 The Letters of Rusticus. reason we had to remain out in the cold was that I spent the greater part of Friday and Saturday the station is nearly half a mile from the hotels, searching for a boarding-house, but could get and if we went to the hotels to warm ourselves none to suit, as they were all crowded. The the train might come along and pass on without hotels also were pretty well crowded, and the our knowing it. charges not very moderate, considering the We reached St. Boniface, opposite Winnipeg, accommodation given. The food provided was at a little after two o'clock on Friday morning, good enough, but the bed-clothes were rather and, after paying a man fifty cents to convey my scarce for a cold night, and you could not ge^t a chest over to Winnipeg, I started on foot to bed exclusively to yourself, but had to sleep travel the two intervening miles between St. along with some stranger whom perhaps you Boniface Station and the centre of Winnipeg, never saw before, and you were by no means crossing the Red River on the ice, which was certain of the company he might or might not quite good, the once open space of water at the bring with him. In the hotel at which I stop- sides being covered with about three inches ped tor a few days there was a large billiard- of ice. Mr. Lapthorn, who came with room with five billiard tables ; and on Saturday me from Montreal, told me that on Mon- evening I counted over seventy persons at one day night he had to pay fifty cents to time in it.and bar-rooms,that were separated only get his trunk conveyed from the station to the by folding doors, whicn on this occasion were edge of the river, which was open at the Bides, wide open. The charge for while small temporary footbridges connected the BOABD AND LODGING solid ice in the centre with the land on both sides. For the privilege of carrying his trunk at the hotels is $1.50 per day, if you remain for across these little bridges, Mr. Lapthorn was less time than one week ; but if you continue charged ten cents, and had afterwards to con- more than a week, the charge is but a dollar per vey it to where he was to put up for the rest day. The boarding house -keepers charge from of the night. I do hope that all who contem- five to six dollars per week for board and lodging. plate coming here, especially those who are On Saturday afternoon the weather having bringing their families, or live stock, will defer become mild, I went down to the river to see how their journey until the warm weather in May or the crossing went on, and observed that although June. the shore ice was sufficiently strong to carry foot passengers, yet it would not sustain horses. A large amount of freight and luggage was being CROSSING THE BED RIVER AT WINNIPEG—THE taken over on sleighs, having first been brought APPEARANCE, CONSISTENCY AND OTHER AT- to the banks on waggons. Two horses were TRIBUTES OP MANITOBA MOD. employed drawing these loaded sleighs from side to side, the horses remaining on the Winnipeg, April 9. more solid centre ice and by means of SlR,—I arrived at the St. Boniface Railway long ropes drawing the sleighs across the Station, about two miles from Winnipeg, at a weaker ice at the sides. Several horses and little after two a.m. on Friday, 4th instant, and waggons were also brought over, but before this after making arrangements for having my lug could be done a road had to be cut through the gage forwarded, I started, along with many surface ice near both shores, and the horses others, to walk over to the capital of Manitoba, driven across, the water coming up to within six and crossed the ice on the Red River, which, or eight inches of their backs. The waggons owing to the late fro3t,had become strong enough were also drawn through this watery-way by to carry horses. The river at this place is some means of long ropes. 800 or 900 feet wide, and the water has been On Monday forenoon this shore ice had nearly rising of late, bearing up the ice in the centre of all disappeared and about a hundred head of the river. Thus, as at Emerson, there was a horses and cattle having just arrived from On- stream of open water at each shore, from 80 to tario, the getting of them 100 feet wide, and about four feet deep in the ACROSS THE RIVER deepest part. A few days before I came here, the corporation of Winnipeg had erected a tem- caused no little anxiety to their owners, more porary footpath across these two streams, and had especially as the submerged ice near the shore placed a toll-man to collect five cents toll from was beginning to break up and float away in all passengers. The toll-man, however, had an large cakes, leaving openings which would not eye to business, and secured the services of an permit of horses crossing through the water as assistant, whom he placed at one of the corpora- they did on Saturday. After some negotiations tion bridges and collected another fare himself at the Ontario farmers made arrangements with the other. Thus, as some of the new- comers re- the owner of a scow, about fifteen feet long and marked, they had to pay to get into the show seven and a half feet wide, to ferry the horses and then over at fifty cents per head. This scow was lay- PAY TO GET OUT ing in the mud on the western or Winnipeg side again. Some of these people told me that they of the river, and was dragged to the water's ed*e had to pay fifty cents to get one trunk conveyed by a horse belonging to the owner. It was from the railway station to the eastern bank of then set afloat, and a number of men and the the river, and after paying ten cents for the pri- horse got into it and pushed out to the centre ice, vilege of carrying it across the river, had to pay and one end of the scow was drawn up on the another fifty cents to have it taken to the ice sufficient to support it, while the horse and hotel where they proposed stopping. When men got off, when the nag was hitched to the I got here Jack Frost bad put his veto on craft and drew it up on the solid ice and across such work, and as sleighs were crossing it to the open water on the other side, win re the on the ice, trunks and boxes were taken boat was again launched, and long ropes being at- from the station to the city at a cost of tached to each end two or three men got in and fifty cents each. pushed across to where the Ontario horses were The Letters of Rusticus. waiting to embark. These horses were taken over this forenoon I walked around the city a good two at a time in the scow, and left on the centre deal to study the peculiarities of this black mud, ice, where they waited until joined by their com- which you can hardly persuade yourself is not rades on shore, when the scow was drawn across mixed with tar. You don't need to get off the to the western side, where the horses had to sidewalks to get your boots clogged to almost make another short voyage before reaching terra any desirable weight, as the waggon wheels firma in the city of Winnipeg. This sort of gather up a cubic foot or two of mud each, and navigation was attended with considerable dan- at the plank street- crossings the jolting shakes it ger, from passing cakes of ice, as well as from off. It is taken up by the feet of travellers and the horses sometimes crowding to one side of the conveyed to the sidewalk, where it is distributed fcdw, and sinking it so that it frequently took along in curiously-shaped lumps ranging in size in considerable water. On several occasions I from thought it would have gone down with all on A MARBLE TO A GOOSE EGG. board, but fortunately no serious accident took place. On some occasions when there were no In a short time the sidewalks in the most horses to bring across, the proprietor of the scow travelled localities become nearly covered with would bring over merchandise and immigrants' these lumps, which are ready to adhere to the first effects, including boxes and trunks, for which he boot that comes along. If you happen to cross charged the handsome sum of twenty-five cents the street where there is no sidewalk you will per box. soon have cause to repent your temerity. This If any persons felt desirous to hear a variety of morning I crossed the street at a place where yesterday I passed over what seem- IMPRESSIVE LAKGUAGE ed to be a beautiful asphalt pavement, but to day, although my boots did not sink more they would be gratified by waiting on the river than half an inch, the mud soon rolled up on bank and listening to the immigrants as they set

1 each side of boots until the ascending mud foot in Winnipeg, after having paid fifty cents my walls met together on the top, or instep of the per box for the conveyance of their baggage from boot, causing them to look more like a pair of the station to the eastern bank of the river, and mallets than anything else— the weight, also, twenty-five cents per box more forgetting it taken was not to be despised. When I reached the side- across the river, where the carters demanded walk, I succeeded in getting free from the greater fifty cents more to take it to the hotel. Some of portion of the superfluous weight by stamping the Ontario men seemed to think that they coald violently on the hard boards, but a considerable eive Winnipegers a lesson in profane swearing,but portion would still remain, and required a good they almost invariably found their match, and deal of scraping with a stick before I could pro- sometimes a little more. ceed with any facility. Under these circumstances This work of ferrying over horses, cows, sheep the and luggage continued all Monday and until Tuesday evening, when the centre ice began to BOOT- BLACKS get bad in some places, and at last the ferry- get a good deal to do, but they spend much man's horse and also the man who was leading more time in scraping the boots than in brushing* him, broke through the ice. With some difficulty them. It was amusing to see how the mud would the man was got out, but the poor nag was per- gather on the tires of the wheels, sometimes mitted to take a submarine journey towards Lake creeping up the spokes until the hub was reached, Winnipeg, where he may help to fatten the and the wheel became nearly a solid black mass. fishes. During this day, several men who were I have been informed by several persons that assisting in taking goods across the river, broke even empty vehicles are brought to a stand- through the ice near the edge of the open water, still on the street owing to the accumula- but were all got out with no greater injury than tion of mud on the wheels. Such mud a good fright and a thorough ducking. accumulations are always worst on unfrequented To day (Wednesday) foot passengers are still portions of the streets and in places that are not crossing the river. email ferry boat on each A very wet. The mud, however, dries up very side takes them over the open water, and there rapidly, and after two or three hours of bright is a footpath of planks laid across the interven- sun, the road which could scarcely be gone over ing ice. heavy freight is being conveyed No becomes one of the most desirable that one could over, and eeveral immigrants who have yet con- wish to walk or drive on. When at Emerson I siderable effects, and also horses, to bring over chanced to get my feet rather muddy, and ob- are anxiously waiting for the ice to leave the serving a lot of prairie hay lying near, I river, while others who have got all their effects stepped on it and began to rub my feet on it, over are starting out for the Little Saskatche- thinking to clean them, but the hay stuck to wan. the boots, which began to look like hedge-hogs, Most people in Canada have already heard of and I was compelled to go to a convenient log, MANITOBA MUD, sit down and disentangle them by the aid of my hands. but I think very few have any just conception of its friendly adhesiveness. Where there is consi derable water along with the mud there is not much greater difficulty in travelling through it THE NORTH-WEST BLUES— SLIPPERY PLACES- than on many of the roads in the eastern pro- PRICES OP CATTLE AND PRODUCE. vinces. surface water is drained off the If the Winnipeg, April 14. mud dries, with a bright sunshine, in a sur- prisingly short time, aud the surface of the road Sir, —I intended to write about the North- soon atsumes the appearance of some of the as- western blues last week, but put it off in order phalt sidewalks in Montreal, being a little to see what effect a few days of rest and cessa- springy, and very pleasant to walk on. Last tion from worldly cares would have in allaying night we had a considerable shower of rain, and the gathering symptoms of a disease with which The Letters of Kusticus.

immigrants from the Eastern provinces are like- direction moat unexpected, leave you sprawling ly to be affected on their arrival here. People on your hands and knees, or sitting uncomfort- who are accustomed to travelling, or who make ably on the footpath, or, it may be, in the deeper only short journeys, can scarcely realize the mud beside it. These feelings of BLIPPERY SIDEWALKS QUIET COUNTRY-PEOPLE, are an annoyance to old settlers as well as to who had perhaps never before been one hundred new-comers. miles from home, on their starting to seek a new The churches were very poorly attended yes- home in the North-West. The bustle and ex- terday forenoon, because a slight shower had citement of preparing for removing, and the fallen the previous night, and the sun being parting with friends and associations, helps to obscured by clouds until near noon, did not drive away sleep at a time when they most need dry up the roads in time ; consequently, it. Then follows four or five sleepless days and many Winnipegers preferred remaining at nights spent on the cars, which of itself is home to risking a short journey under such enough to make a person foel as if he is contract- slippery circumstances. I went to church my- ing some kind of fever and ague. You feel self, and must confess that I found locomotion chilly and ready to shiver with cold when the more difficult than on the most ice-covered side- thermometer is but a few degrees below freezing walk that I have ever seen in Montreal. I also point, and, as you have been told that the cold is witnessed several unpleasant falls, and in one not felt so much here as it is " down East," case saw the deeply stamped impression, in the when in fact you feel it much more, your mud near the sidewalk, of the seat of some- faith in the flowery pictures of Manitoba is body's trousers. Such a fall as the one thus in-

considerably shaken, and you are ready to con- dicated may not be so painful as one on ice ; clude that there is about as much truth in the but if the subsequent paii does not continue as glowing accounts of the great North-West as long, the mud stains will continue much longer. there are in the assertions of a Montreal street When the immigrant has got temporarily pedler of cheap jewellery or patent worm located in some overcrowded hotel, his first look medicines. While on the journey your courage out is to secure a team to transport himself and is kept up with the thought tbat you will soon effects to the Little Saskatchewan, or some other reach Winnipeg, when most of your difficulties place from one hundred to one hundred and will be over ; but this is a serious mistake, as the seventy miles distant. He tries to buy a yoke difficulties, especially at this season of the year, of oxen, and is amazed to hear $175 asked for a

are but well begun . The trains coming from the pair of oxen which could be bought in Montreal South usually arrive at St. Boniface in the mid- for $100. He may perhaps have read in gome of dle of the night, and if it should chance to be a the provincial papers, or in R. Prettie's circulars, murky, damp one, the job of transferring your- that oxen and other things much needed by new self and baggage from the St. Boniface station beginners can be procured in Winnipeg nearly as to Winnipeg is neither pleasant nor profitable. cheap aa in the Eastern provinces, but he is not Because of the hie-h charges for conveying your long here when he finds by sad experience that baggage, you do not care to add to it by includ- it is all a delusion. If he has brought a team ing yourself in the quantity requiring transpor- of horses with him he finds that they require ex- tation, so you start to walk to the ferry, and in tra feed, to make up for what they lost during doing so make your first acquaintance with the the journey (several horses died coming on the far-famed Manitoba mud, in circumstances not cars this spring), but there is only the prairie hay the most favorable. At first you will try to to feed them, and oats are 90c per bushel. The idea of starting on a journey of more than a hun- PICK YOUR STEPS, dred miles, with a loaded team, on roads (excuse and seek the less wet parts of the road ; but find- the name, since they are in the condition they ing th at the mud is much more adhesive here were left by nature, with the exception of a very than where there is plenty of water, you soon considerable amount of mixing in the upper cease to shun the water-covered mud (in some strata by the feet of oxen and horses and the places it is almost impossible to shun it) and wheels of various kinds of vehicles) covered with plunge right along towards the river, and if tenacious mud of uncertain depth, .is not plea- your boots are waterproof, at least half sant, and many go no further, but, succumbing way up to the knee, you may get through to an attack of the blues, turn back to the more it all without needing to change your conveniently situated lands in Dakota, or perhaps socks. you have settled the exorbitant When go to their old home in Ontario . I have h«ard of demands of the individual who assists you some cases already this year where the parties had to cross the Red River, and in doing so have bought horses, waggon, ploughs, stove, and given vent to a number of very expressive ad- other needed outfit, but before they had gone jectives, which you would not like to see in over a dozen miles on the road to their intended print, connected with your name, you start for destination the some hotel, and are ready to conclude that since there are plank sidewalks to travel on, locomo- HORSES GAVE OUT FROM FATIGUE tion will be much more pleasant than when and overloading in such roads, and their owner your footing is on St. Boniface mud. This got a severe attack of the blues and sold out his would, no doubt, be the case were the side- whole stock at a lo3S of over one hundred dollars walks dry, but the slight rain that has and started for his old home in the far distant fallen is sufficient to wet the mud which the east. feet of pedestrians have left on the planks, The "blues," bad enough in themselves, are and as you proceed you are ready to imagine much aggravated by the constant exactions which that there has been a recent shower of grease on are made on the purse of the newly arrived. the sidewalk, and if not very careful your feet Although there are many well-disposed people fray* by a quick horizontal movement in the in Winnipeg, yet the immigrant does not The Letters of Rusticus. J 3 readily meet with them, except he should en- such carelessness prevails in the cultivation you quire for some of the city pastors, who, by the will not be surprised that potatoes are sixty-five way, are overrun at this season of the year by cents per bushel, although there has been no rot the visits of "anxious enquirers" in other than or bug to hinder in any way their growth. a spiritual sense. But clerical gentlemen are Before concluding this letter I would like to not always qualified to give the much needed draw attention to an evil which should secure advice about purchasing an outfit for farming, the immediate attention of the proper authorities nor can tbey state with certainty where the in the United States. I refer to the open sale of most desirable free-grant lands are to be had, OBSCENE BOOKS and the visitor, whose previous trials have soured his temper, is ready to blame the minister for on the railway trains this side of Chicago. not being able to give worldly advice with the Although these books could not be brought into same alacrity with which he gives " advice Cauada, except clandestinely, yet they are spiritual," and perhaps the interview closes with openly sold on the passenger cars, and the young something like a scolding match. men who buy them bring them into Manitoba in On last Tuesday evening, I met, by appoint- their coat pockets, which unfortunately are not ment, the kirk session of Knox Church in this searched by the'eustoms officials. city, to see if something could not be done in It may be too soon for me to offer advice as the way of forming a "reception committee," to the best way to avoid being afflicted with the which would meet with newly arrived people at "blues" on arrival here, but I think if people certain hours and ad visa them as to the best coming here waited until the middle of June means to take in regard to settling on a home- and came by the lake route, they would be less " stead of their own. Although my arguments in liable to an attack of this disease. They would favor of the formation of such reception commit- also save a considerable sum by bringing a tee were ably seconded by the pastor of the con- tent along and camping out on the prairie gregation, the Rev. Mr. Robertson, yet there while they stop in this vicinity, and also while were so many seemingly insuperable objections on their journey to where they intend locating. presented that no progress was made. I could I think also that the Government might lend scarcely blame the elders of Knox Church for tents for a short time to immigrants for a small not wi&hing to undertake so arduous and pos- rent. sibly unpleasant a job, and besides they as well Most of the parties who left the Eastern pro- pistor as the knew little or nothing about the vinces about the same time that I did, got start- places where settlements are being made. In ed from here during the cold spell, and would order to fully comprehend the difficulty of giv- get over the wettest part of the road before the advice, let ing us euppoie that an emigrant from roads got too soft to travel on with tolerable ease; Scotland should apply to tho kirk session of but they must have suffered considerably from Erskine Church, Montreal, for advice about set- cold. Two large parties from the East are ex- tling in back township some in the counties of pected to arrive here this evening, and I intend or Ottawa Beauce. Perhaps neither the Rev accompanying some of them on their journey nor of his elders Mr. Black any have ever heard westward, to see how they get along. of the name of the township about which infor- mation is sought, and any advice given in such circumstances is likely to be misleading, and OFF FOR THE SASKATCHEWAN—A TRIP OVER should the intending settler have cause to regret THE PRAIRIES — OXEN AND HORSES—A HARDY afterwards having taken such advice, you may ENGLISHWOMAN— OXEN AND OXBN. well believe that Mr. Black's sermons would not Winnipeg, April 21. afterwards acceptable be to that particular in- Sir, — Aiter resting: here for over a week I left dividual. on the afternoon of Tuesday,15th instant.in com- You must not suppose that I have become so pany with Mr. Garret, formerly of Haliburton, " badly affected with the blues" that I cannot Ont., who with two nephews and another man see the superior chances for good farmers in this were going out to the Little Saskatchewan, country. At the present prices of produce a where they had previously taken up homestead?. farmer in this vicinity Mr. Garret and his nephews had bought two SHOULD MAKE A FORTUNE double waggons, one of which was furnished with a cloth covering extended over light wooden in two or three years ; but what surprises me semi- circular supports, whose ends were fastened most, is, the very small quantity of cultivated to the sides of the waggon-box, while the middle land near the city, and even in tbe gardens most formed an arch about five feet above the bottom favorably situated, more weeds than vegetables of the waggon. These temporary coverings are seem to be grown. Fassing lately by a garden very convenient in wet or atormy weather, but connected with a fine house in the outskirts of are rather a hindrance to the full enjoyment ot the city, I observed a very large quantity of a ride over the prairie in fine weather. To one old dry weed stalks standing over the greater of these waggons a pair of oxen was attached, part of it ; also here and there place a while the other had three oxen to draw it ; but where some digging had been done last fall. in crossing the many bad places in the road this 1 climbed over the fence to see what kind of crop third ox had first to assist in pulling out one lad been grown here last season, and found that waggon and then be unhitched and returned to it had been intended for potatoes, but the weecs the other waggon to give it " a long pull and a jaad so overmastered the potatoes that only a strong pull" and assist in portion of the latter had been considered worth " A PULL 'figging ; consequently, the rest were left to rot in ALTOGETHER." he ground. I kicked over some of these hills of I don't remember how often this helping pro- potatoes and weeds, and must say that I never cess had to be gone through during the seven j ; aw such an inviting soil in which to plant pota- miles travelled by our party on the first half toes to make sure of an enormous crop. When day's journey to the Little Saskatchewan. H The Letters of Rusticus.

The other man who had left Winnipeg along become a quagmire, much worse to draw a load- with us had a good span of Canadian horses at- ed waggon through than if there had been no at- tached to his waggon, and, getting weary from tempt at road-making. our frequent delays, started ahead with several On Saturday evening when I was returning other persons, who being furnished with waggons over this road, the mud in the centre, except in drawn by horses, overtook and passed us on the one or two places, had become dry and hard, wav to the same destination. although it had sunk in some places below the When about three miles from Winnipeg we level of the water in the adjacent ditches, while overtook an Englishman with his family, who here and there might be seen a grayish-green had all his household goods stored on two Red puddock hopping across the dry road to pay a lliver carts, which were drawn by one ox each friendly visit to his neighbors in the other When we came up to him his oxen and carts ditch, and, perhaps, give a little more weight to were stuck fast in a quagmire, several of which he had previously gone through by doubling, THE BASS IN THE CONCERT, that is, hitching the two oxen to one cart, but as this processs consumed much time, and as he had which was there in full blast. already been making much less than one mile an About half way between Sturgeon Creek and hour, he, seeing help close behind, waited St. Charles Church, the road strikes the open patiently in the mud until we came up, when prairie and divides into two trails, one going the difficulty was overcome by Mr. Garret, hia west past Headingly post-office, the other trail two nephews and myself, each getting hold of a going north-west towards the half-breed reserve wheel and tugging our best, while the English- in township eleven, range one, eaet. (The man whipped up the forward ox, and his good-wife readers of the Witness will perceive by the map with a two-year- old child on her back, and more that the meridian line from which the ranges of than ankle deep in mud, directed and urged on townships in Manitoba, Keewatin and the the hinder ox. When we reached Sturgeon North-West Territory are numbered to the Creek, seven miles on our journey, it was pretty east and west, passes across the Assiniboine near dark, and we stayed there for the night. the dividing line between the parishes of Head- I had already begun to feel tired, although carry- ingly and St. Francois Xavier, or about fifteen ing only a small satchel, overcoat and umbrella, miles west from Winnipeg.) The trail going not over twenty-five lbs. weight in all, but I north-west is the one most used at present, and felt ashamed to acknowledge that I was weary is said to be much the better for travelling on in presence of just now, although there are some pretty deep sloughs to be crossed without any bridges but THIS LITTLE ENGLISHWOMAN, ; there are eighteen miles to be gono over before who had carried a two-year-old child nearly any house can be reached, the first being the every foot of the way from Winnipeg, walking hotel kept by H. G. House at Pigeon Lake in mud and water of various degrees of consist- post-office, near the further end of the ency and depth, for more than half the way, parish of St. Francois Xavier. Even in besides giving occasional aid to an eight-yesr- coming to House's Hotel, a considerable detour to old boy, and not unfrequently helping to drive the left has to be made, and many Western tra- the oxen. They had arrived in Winnipeg nearly vellers who are prepared for camping out, do not four weeks before, and the husband had gone call here at all, but continue going north-west West, and taken up a homestead on the Little through the half-breed townships number twelve Saskatchewan, 175 miles from Winnipeg, then in the second and third ranges west, into the set- returned and bought the oxen, harness and carts tled township thirteen in ranges three and four for $170. He put all his outfit on board, and west, av.d, after passing round the north end of started towards his future home, having spent Long Lake, turn south-west, reaching the front nearly the whole of the first day in travelling road near to Poplar Point, or fifteen to eighteen seven miles. His little wife did not seem miles from Portage la Prairie. As several of the disposed to complain, but expressed the oxen had already begun to develop sore shoulders, wish that she had never left " hold it was evident that they could not reach House's Hingland." She expressed considerable fears Hutel that night,and not being prepared to camp lest her feet would get too sore to carry in the prairie, we chose the front trail, and her all the way, as they were wet all the reached Headingly post-office at noon. My time, and although her husband held out hopes travelling companions drove to the banks of a that when they got on the open prairie she coulie or small creek, which chanced to be elope might ride on one of the carts when the roads by, and there prepared their own dinners, but as were dry, yet this was no great relief, as she had I had little or no provisions with me, I went to to get off and walk when the prairie was wet, the hotel, where a number of returning travel- and sometimes to wade through the sloughs up lers were taking dinner. Most of these had se- to the knees in cold water (as I afterwards found lected homesteads on the Little Saskatchewan, by experience), the oxen having as much as they and were returning to Winnipeg to look for work could do to draw without the additional weight on the railway or elsewhere ; but two or three of of herself and baby. them had not taken up land, and seemed dissat- From Winnipeg to Sturgeon Creek the road is isfied with the country, especially the wet roads. more or less enclosed by fences, and in the wet- One young man acknowledged that he had test places there are something like ditches on gone only thirty miles west of Winnipeg, when each side, while the road is slightly raised in the his feet, having been wet all the time, got too centre ; but as there is scarcely any attempt, ex- sore to travel further, so he engaged his passage cept in one or two places, to open a course for to Winnipeg with a man who was returning the water to flocvoutof these side ditches into the there with a waggon, intending to return to On- Afsiniboine, which is quite near, they were full tario at once, from which he was sorry that he of water, which had become musical with frogs, had ever wandered. I may say here that I have while the road between had in many plases met with few who expressed a determination to — The Letters of Rusticus. *S return to Ontario, but a good many say that they twenty feet above the present high water will go back to Dakota, where good land can be but during the entire length of the parish had with less trouble in Manitoba ; also, of St. Francois Xavier »nd until near Baie than i the settlers in Dakota are said to be more friend- St. Paul post office, not one coulie is ; ly to new-comers than are the people of Mani- crossed, and the country is almost a dead toba. While my companions were resting at level. The river Assiniboine is exceedingly noon, I walked on some distance ahead over a crooked at this place, and the banks at Baie St. splendid farming country, which is also much Paul post-office are only between three and j better cultivated than anything I had seen in four feet high above the present high water, this province, except oa the banks of Sturgeon while back a short distance the prairie is in I Creek. I saw here a rather novel sight in the some places flooded with the backwater from the form of a Scotch iron plough with an oaken river. Baie St. Paul, from which this parish mouldboard. As I had often seen wooden ploughs takes its name, is not properly a bay in the i

; with iron mouldboards, but never usual sense, but a large extent of drowned ji prairie, through which the water from Lorg IRON PLOUGH WITH MOULDBOARD, AN A WOODEN Lake finds an outlet into the Assiniboine after I asked the owner, an intelligent Scotch half- distilling itself through seven mi'es of long grass. I breed, the reason for such a change, and As the Assiniboine makes a considerable bend to was told that it was very difficult to get the south here, the direct road to Port- I iron mouldboards that would clean them- age la Prairie crosses this drowned prairie selves in this soil, especially where it had in winter time, but in summer the road been ploughed several times." During my wan- has to wind along close to the brushwood on | derings in the parish of Headingly I saw numer- the river banks (at present two feet above the ous reapers and mowers, including two very fine water in the river), or else turn northward until " Marsh Harvesters," which bind the grain as the trail going round Long Lake is met with. I well as reap it, all laid up for future use along The front road along the river banks had recent- with other farming utensils, in the bushes or ly become impassable for any but foot passen- some other convenient spot near the farmhouse gers, owing to the bridges having been carried places the travelled without the least protection from sun or rain. away from the where road | When I had gone a short distance in the par- crosses short but deep coulies through which ish of St. Francois Xavier, I was overtaken by a the water from Baie St. Paul runs into the As- covered waggon drawn by a superior yoke of siniboine. Some of these bridges had been re- oxen, with two men walking alongside, while a paired, but one of the largest was still without \ woman and some children were seated in it a bridge . I learned from a half-breed that the among a lot of household stuff. As these oxen way travellers get over this stream is to wade appeared to trudge along at a better rate than around the head of the coulie among bushes and any I had yet seen on this road, I asked their grass with water over two feet deep in some owners how much they had cost, and was told places. As I had already wet my feet on several that the sum paid for them was $110 at Still- occasions, and was already beginning to feel the water, some distance east of St. Paul, Minne- admonitions of an old enemy called rheumatism, sota, where they (the oxen) had worked in the whose first acquaintance I had made while log shanties all winter, but a party coming from driving sawlogs in the Ottawa County, I con- St. Thomas, Ont., had the foresight to purchase cluded to turn back and defer my visit to the a carload of these shanty oxen, which were much places west of St. Paul's Bay until there were cheaper as well as in much better working con- drier roads. dition than any which could be got at Winnipeg. During this short journey I had seen numerous I have seen several pairs of oxen for which $170 large flocks of the pair had been paid here, which were not SNOW-BIRDS, BLACKBIRDS, ROBINS, near as good as were those Yankee oxen for which $110 had been paid at Stillwater. My sparrows, quails, prairie chickens, wild ducks new acquaintances reached House's Hotel, 25 miles and geese, and one loon. A good many of the from Winnipeg, the first day, while my former farmers had done considerable ploughing, and fellow-travellers, who had started half-a-day be- some of them had sowed more or less grain . The fore them, did not get within six miles of cattle were out feeding on the prairie, which in House's stopping-place. some places showed a green tint, yet in many The following morning about seven o'clock, places there were patches of snow among bushes while I was at House's, several men with two where it had been drifted from the prairie. The double waggons drawn by oxen came in from the weather had been most delightful, which made prairie, where they had lost their way on the travelling on the open prairie very pleasant, al- previous evening and had to camp out without a though in some places I had to wade for a con- stick of wood to kindle a fire or a bundle of siderable distance in water. When returning hay to feed their oxen. I learned from them about half-way between Baie St. Paul and that they had left Winnipeg the previous morn- Pigeon Lake post-offices, I got a last look at my ing and after crossing Sturgeon Creek had taken forme* acquaintances, Mr. Garret and his the north-west trail, but night coming on a little nephews, and the Englishman with his wife and too soon, they lost their way in striving to reach family. They were more than a mile distant to House's Hotel and after wandering a while had the north-east of the road I was travelling on, to camp out, although not prepared for it. and as a large slough intervened, I preferred to The land from Winnipeg to the parish of St. pass on without paying them a last visit, but I Francois Xavier, except a few miles in the took out my glass and watched their movements borders of the city ana for three miles east of for a short time. It was now four o'clock on Headingly post office, is most suitable for farm- Thursday, and they had already travelled but ing, being slightly rolling owing to numerous twenty-eight miles of their journey of 175 miles. coulies which empty into the Assiniboine—the While taking a last look at my late acquain- banks of this latter being from fiftee n to tances, I also made a survey around the horizon, The Letters of Rusticus. west, east and north, and counted fifteen waggons be, of a household. But if this expenditure of and carts, chiefly the former, which were all time is equally distributed amongst those to owned by immigrants on the way " to their home whom we refer, not so with the expenditure of in the far distant west." After'wishing them all money. This fell upon the few, the liberal- a prosperous journey and fine weather, I again hearted, those who were for the time being flush started for Winnipeg, meeting many other west- in pocket. There were those— the down-hearted ern-bound travellers by the way. fellows with a touch of the blues, and a feeling akin to homesickness—who drank at the expense of others. Nor was there so much want of equity in this after all,for, more than likelv, they DRINKING AND GAMBLING IN WINNIPEG—FACT3, each had their ADVICE—WHERE THE TALL FIGURES AND GOOD DAT OF TREATING, STORIES COME FROM. Winnipeg, April 23rd. and were popular while their money lasted." The foregoing extract is from the Winnipeg Sir,—"That man who spent his time in the bil- Times of Monday, 21st April, and as it states liard-room,drinking and smoking Saturday night, exactly what I have myself witnessed (except until a late hour, has lost confidence in himself, as to the lateness of the hours—between ten and in his fellow man, in the value of industry, in twelve o'clock—as I have not been out so late), I the laws of economy and in the virtue of good can vouch for its correctness, and might add that morals. And, the writer regrets to state that by all the other nights in the week except Sunday far too many spent last Saturday night in this are very little better than on Saturday nights. manner. A visit was paid to most of the drink- It is a matter of surprise to many where so ing places in the city between the hours of ten many young men come from as are to be seen and twelve and, without any exception, a around the hotels every evening. A good many flourishing business was going on in each place. of them may be called

WINNIPEG LOAFERS, was too freely indulged in, and the kind ©f drinks used evidenced bad taste. Beer was frequently who do little jobs during the daytime for which called for ; but, whiskey, straight whiskey, and they charge exorbitant fees, and at evening go to bad whiskey at that, was the chief drink. The the hotels and play billiards or cards, and are crowds wi re, as a rule, quite orderly, but profan- ready to spin out long yarns of their wonderful ity was indulged in bay oad all bar-room etiquet! e adventures in the North-West to those newly ar- Money was freely spent, but there was scarcely a rived from the eastern provinces, and also offer saloon in which signs of the credit system did not any amount of advice as to the best modes of present themselves. A brave, good hearted, getting along in this country. Of course they honest, whole-souled fellow would lead his jolly are always ready to take their places at the bar good-natured companions to the bar—nor was when some farmer's son from Ontario, or some he particular as to the number who joined him, laborer from the C. P. Railway, is desirous of for the invitation to drink here in Winnipeg i3 giving effect to his generous impulses by stand- to the treater's friends, and his friends' friends, ing a treat for all hands. and to his friends' friends' friends, and their I believe that many young men belonging to friends, —and when all had been served the respectable parents in the eastern pro- leader not unfrequently, with a familiar toes of vinces, who sent them up here that they the head and a well known wink of the eye, in- might take up land of their own, never structed the bar-man to mark it on go beyond Winnipeg, or perhaps a few miles out on the prairie, and after spending * A PIECE OF ICE,' their funds acting the good fellow in a Winni- peg saloon, return home to their parents dis- which the latter responded to with an 'All right, gusted with the country, and telling wonderful my lord I' calculated to bust all the cash sys- tales of their imaginary adventures, which they tem theories in the city. There was a ring in had learned from Winnipeg loafers. great his voice which at least impressed the debtor A many of the laborers on the Canada Pacific Rail- that hi3 account might be increased with a wel- come here to have a good time of it now and come on the part of the creditor. After makiag way again, squandering their means and destroying the rounds of Winnipeg the writer is of the opin- their health in the taverns and other places ion that about three hundred persons spent Sat- which abound in this little city of the North. urday evening as above described, that is, either It is a great pity that intoxicating drinks were drinking, playing billiards or pool, treating or ever permitted to be sold anywhere in this fair getting treated, and in many cases mingling th r;ir country, and I fear it will be difficult to root it acts with words of useless profanity. If this out, as it causes so much money to be spent number is not an overstatement, and the re- here which is supposed to benefit the whole city. porter thinks it is not (f believe it i3 an under- is surprising little quarrelling or estimate), an It rather how fighting is done, and I can only account for it by ESTIMATE OF THE COST the presence of so many strangers ; so that, like a lot of strange cattle in a yard, everyone is may easily ba made, counting one dollar a bead, afraid to begin a quarrel since he does not know which is much below the average, and here we who he may have to encounter. Could I reach have three hundred dollars worse than uselessly the ear of each fond parent who intends sending spent in this city on a single evening by men his boy to this province to push his fortune, I who should be saving their money, and spending would say with all earnestness, " Do not send their valuable leisure time in the improvement of him until he has become a pledged teetotaler of their minds, or attending to the wants, it may at least a year's standing." 1HE JLETTERS OF KUSTICUS. n

'" KILDONAN—ST. PAUL'S—SELKIRK— NATIVES I marsh in this pariah. By the aid of a small " HALF-BBEEDS "—WOMEN WHO CAN glass I could distinctly see the Provincial Peni- OR j tentiary WORK—SUGAR-MAKING—" LAID UP." I at Rockwood, nine m^e* distant, with only one farmhouse occupying the intervening Sir,- I left Winnipeg on Wednesday, 23rd This April, and travelled twenty-three miles down the wtsb bank of the Red River to Selkirk, WET, UNINHABITED COUNTRY I reached on Friday evening. The which extends from the borders of Winnipeg city north- weather was cold and rainy, and on the following ward along the third range of townships east, Sunday morning Bnow fell, but before noon had until the border of the province is reached west disappeared under a bright sun ; but this morn- of the Icelandic settlements. The march is ing there was a pretty hard frost, and the eight miles wide in the narrowest place, but is weather seems unsettled. in some places twice that breadth. A good deal The first place visited on the way was the of it is fine hay land, with here and there a dry Parish of Kildonan, which is settled chiefly by spot, but much the greater part is what they Scotchmen and their descendants. There are call here "swampy," but I think that name is also a few farmers from Ontario amongst them. inapplicable to a tract of country which can As a rule, the boast of bullrushes and cat-tails (flags) like its FARMS ARE WELL CULTIVATED — largest forest trees. All this marshy space can be readily drained, the volume of water and not that is, the ends next the river and extending back want of sufficient fall being the chief obstacle, from half a mile to a mile, the balance being in a and the time is not far distant when large fields state of nature. The dwelling-housea are neat, of wheat and oats will grow luxuriantly where and many would compare favorably with the the frogs and wild ducks now find a favorite abode. average farmhouse in Ontario or Quebec, but The nouses along the river's banks are close the outbuildings are much inferior to those in together, especially in the long parish of St. An- the Eastern Provinces, a passable barn being drews, whioh looks like a continuous village for almost unknown here— in fact I did not see many miles The inhabitants are almost exclu- one between Winnipeg and Selkirk. The cul- sively Scotch and English natives. I use the tivated portions of the farms are generally well term "native3" for those we are accustomed fenced—no easy job owing to the scarcity of to call narrow strips into which the timber and the very HALF BREEDS farms in this section are divided, varying from ; three to ten chains in width, by three hundred but many of these are as white as myself, and and twenty in length. both educated and intelligent, and the latter The early settlers of Kildonan have had much term is inapplicable to people who havo very to contend with, such as want of market and lack little Indian blood in their veins, and henceforth of means of communication with the world, the M I mean to use the term, half-breed" only in con- invasions by grasshoppers and by floods, and the nection with certain land reserves in this province, oceasional troubles and disturbances which have and instead use the more correct term "natives," distracted and decimated the people of this with the prefix of Scotch, English or French, as parish. During the wars between the rival fur- the case may be. A considerable number of the trading companies twenty three old countrymen Scotch and English natives, whose fathers were were slaughtered in one day, and all their build- in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company,were ings and crops destroyed. In view of these facts sent to Britain for their education, while others I think that the people of Kildonan have done made good use of the limited educational ad- pretty well, and also, had it not been for the vantages of the country. The present Premier of the province, the Hon. Mr. Norquay, is a CIVILIZING INFLUENCE good specimen of this latter class. There are, however, a good many who have very little of this section, exercised by the presence here of edu- cation, and there are not a few of them so many Scotch families previous to the influx who cannot_ read or write. I found that the color of settlers from the East and confederation, the of the skin was no indication as to the great majority of half-breeds would have been at amount of intelligence or education of its possessor, as present but little better than the Indian. some of these dusky gentlemen The Rev. Mr. Black, Presbyterian min- Bpeak fluently English, Gaelic, French and Indian, and sub- ister, who has been here for nearly thirty years, scribe regularly to two or three weekly news- is, and always has been, a staunch upholder of papers. the Witness. From present appearances he It seemed particularly strange to is good for another quarter century's work me when conversing with some of the in the Noith-West. I have reason to fear that darker native wo- men to hear them uae the broad the Puritan characteristics of this section are Scotch as if they were but a few years from the heather-clad hills becoming less distinct, as "tripping the b'ght fan- of Old Scotia yet if these same ladies clad tastic toe" amongst the young is becoming much ; were in a blanket and mocassins they too common for the growth of healthy Presby- would pass in any part of Ontario or terianism. Quebec as The ntxt parish below Kildonan on the Red FULL BLOODED SQUAWS, River is St. Paul, where there is visible a marked chaDge in the appearance of fences and and this conviction would become much stronger farm-buildings. Shingled-houses now become should they converse in the Ojibsvay language, the exception and not the rule, thatch being which they speak fluently. I may here remark used as the covering of more than half the that the Scotch natives cling much more tena- dwelliDg-houses from here to Lake Winnipeg. ciously tothe U3e of the beautiful Scotch brogue While passing through St. Paul I climbed in which Burns used to sing than do their fairer on the fence and took a survey of the large cousins in the Eastern provinces. [8 The Letters of Rusticus.

While passing along one evening on the river diameter, and from twenty to forty feet in. road iu the parish of St. Andrew's, I observed height, were tapped by the Indians, the tapping two native gentlemen reclining on a small straw- being done with axes and seemingly with very covered shed, smoking their pipes, seemingly at little regard to the future growth of the trees. perfect peace with themselves and all mankind, These very pretty maple trees often grow five while at the two nearest houses, and within less or six and up to a dozen trunks from one than one hundred yards of the two smokers, stamp. I saw one case where a dozen trees were two native ladies engaged in chopping the varying from two and half to nine inches night's supply of stovewood from piles of poplar in diameter grew from one stump, and nine of poles. The way that the these trees were tapped, making a little sugar bush in itself. These trees are rapid growers, LADIES HANDLED THE AXE are easily transplanted, and will grow from young shoots stuck into the ground like currant showed plainly that they were no strangers to bushes. I have also seen in some places where that occupation. Although possessing lands of these maples have been made into fence pickets. extraordinary fertility, and situated on the banks After being driven into the groun 1 they of the river, many of these people are pretty have started to grow healthy branches, arid were hard-up, and have not yet paid the Governmert rapidly becoming trees. I havo seen some of for the seed wheat obtained at the time of the these trees with very beautiful tops on them, very grasshopper invasion. Drinking and smoking much resembling an inverted spinning top, and are much too prevalent here for the intellectual a:n informed that with a little care in training or material progress of the inhabitants of this almost any desired shape of top can be attained. portion of Her Majesty's dominions. It is a matter of surprise that these beautiful Here and there along the river may be seen the trees are not planted more frequently around residence of some old employee of the Hudson Winnipeg, the only difficulty in their culture Company, some of have passed Bay whom being the delight the cattle take in browsing on through rather interesting adventures. I called the young shoots. at the residence of Col. James Stewart, an old After travelling down along Sugar Pob-t for Nor'- Wester, and who, in company with Jame3 more than a mile, a heavy snow and rain storm Anderson, commanded the expedition which left came on, and as it was very wetting I turned to the north-east corner of Great Slave Lake on the the left at right angles to reach the main road, 23rd May, 1855, to search for traces ot which I knew to be not very distant, but was SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S LOST SHIPS. much disappointed by coming to a lagoon of deep water with a two-masted schooner riding at river flows into After ascending a small which anchor in it, which compelled me to travel the north-east end of Slave Lake, they crossed back through the bush by the way I came, the the height of land to the head waters of the result being a wetting which did me no good. Great Fish River, which they descended to the This lagoon extends up in the rear of Sugar Arctic ocean, and on an island at the mouth cf Point almost to where the railway crosses, from this river found various relics of the lost expedi- a point a milo and a half below, and is a most tion, among which was a board belonging to a convenient place to winter boats in, as they boat on which the name Terror was painted. will be, entirely free from danger when the ice Col. Stewart and his companions returning is passing out of the river in the spring. There of reached the north-east cud Great Slave Lake is a similar lagoon of deep water extending on the 18th September. I also spent a night at from the east bank of the river up to the C. P. the hospitable residence of Capt. William Railway near the place where the Pembina Kennedy, a native of this country, and who also Branch joins it, and making spent two winters in the Arctic seas commanding an expedition which was sent in quest of Sir ONE OP THE MOST CONVENIENT NATURAL HARBORS John Franklin. Capt. Kennedy seems to be in the Dominion. considerably exercised about the way the Gov- When I reached my hotel I was both wet and ernment agents here treat the Indians, and, cold, and as there was scarcely any fire in the although he is a very good man, I fear that he bar-room, I got pretty well chilled bef jre a cou- overdraws his pictures of their wrongs. ple of half-intoxicated individuals could be in- I reached Selkirk on Friday evening and, after duced to get a little wet poplar to kindle ths enquiry, was directed to what was said to be the fire with. The landlord, who seems to be a most orderly of six hotels which do business clever man, was on this occasion absent in Win- here. On Saturday I travelled around a good deal nipeg. A good^pa-'t of the succeeding evening to see the environments of this the future great was spent uncomfortably with a lot of half- city of the North-West, and started numerous drunken young men who blasphemed in some of ducks and prairie chickens from among the the most disgusting forms that I have ever heard. bushes and small ponds which at present cover After I retired to my bedroom these indivi- the greater part of the city. I also travelled duals got into a free fight and made a great deal along the lower banks of the river below the place of noise and some havoc among the furniture of where the line of the C. P. Railway crosses, and the bar- room. visited numerous Indian camps, the inhabitants On Sunday morning,as grog-drinking was going of which have lately been engaged in sugar- on with renewed vigor, and feeling unwell, 1 1 e ft the making from the pretty city of Selkirk and sought the hospitable home of Rev. Alexander Matheson. Presbyterian min- ASH-LEAVED MAPLES the ister at Little Britain Church near Lower Fort which abound here, and which have given the Garry. On Monday morning I began to write name of " Sugar Point" to this locality, and also this letter, but soon became too unwell and had to a somewhat similar place a little above the to go to bed. About noon, a snow-storm came city. Several thousands of these small trees, on, and as I lay in bed w» r,ching the big snow- varying in size from three to fifteen inches in flakes whirling past the window, my thoughts J The Letters of Rusticus. 19

and sympathies turned towards the hundred of wheat which grew on this spot last summer. families who were at that time out on the trail, Besides the above, two small cart-loads of exposed to the snow and rain, on their journey to unthreshed oats were brought to the stable and the Little Saskatchewan. Should any of them fed to the horse and poultry during the fall. I be taken sick they could scarcely expect to re- carefully examined the soil here, and found it ceive such kind attention and care from a good to be but little different from all the land which Samaritan and his wife as had been my good for- I have seen since coming to this province. tune during this sickness. It may seem incredible to Eastern farmers to be told that most of the farmers here are liv- Little Britain Manse, County of Lugar, April ing in a "hand-to-mouth" sort of way. and not 28th, 1879. unfrequently suffer from want, while living on such rich soil. Very few of them think it BBMARKABLE CROPS—EQUALLY REMARKABLE IM- worth while to use their manure on the land, PROVIDENCE — IT PAYS TO MANURE EVEN but pile it up near the stable or on the banks IN MANITOBA— FENCING — FRENCH SHAPED of the river. The highest mounds in some parts FARMS—THE GOVERNMENT AND THE INDIANS. of the country are made of manure, which is sometimes drawn from the stable-door to the Sib,—Since coming to this province I have manure mound on a dried cowhide by an ox.much frequently been told almost incredible tales of the same as we use a stone-boat down east. In some the productiveness of the soil here, but as there places where the manure is drawn out and wa3 not sufficient proof of the quantities raised spread on the land an ox-cart is used, but as it given I did not choose to write under this head has no box an ox-hide is spread inside of the until I learned more about the matter. During rock, and the manure piled on it. The Rev. my stay of over two davs at the hospitable resi- Mr. Matheson uses all the manure produced by dence of the Rev. Alex. Matheson, within a mile of a horse and four head of cattle on his garden, Lower Fort Garry, I learned something of the and finds that it pays to manure land here as productiveness of the soil in these parts, from a well as elsewhere. perfectly reliable scurce. Attached to the manse Asall the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches at Little Britain Church, there is a glebe with in the old settlements have large glebes attached* six chains frontage on the river and extending the parishioners might largely augment their four miles back. This is nearly all covered with pastor's salaiy by making a bee in the spring to brushwood and small poplar.*, with a good many put in a crop in these rich glebes, and another grassy pastures, making an- excellent run for bee in harvest to gather in the grain. Instead cattle. A little over four acre3 have been ploughed, of that, Mr. Matheson has to pay much more for from which mere produce was raised last year getting his land ploughed than would be considered than was grown on many thousands of farms in good pay near Montreal or Ottawa. Most cf the Province of Quebec. About an acre of this the churches here of every denomination would tilled land ia in the form of a garden, on part of require some such preacher as Dr. MacVicar of which were grown Montreal to come among them, and preach to them from such texts as 2 Cor. ix., 6, Rom. xii., CABBAGES, BEETS, OARBOTS MONSTER AND 11, &c. TURNIPS ; As Lower Fort Garry is situated in a com- but no correct account was taken of the quantities. paratively well-wooded country the Several common pumpkins (not squasher-) grew COST OF FENCING to over sixty pounds each in weight ; citrons, ten to twelve pounds in weight. A patch of com- here is not nearly so high as in other places mon yellow corn consisting of fitteen rows, with throughout the province. The fencing of a eighteen hills to the row, produced over six square containing about four acres requires about bushels of shelled c.rn. The hills were about 200 lengths of fence, consisting of six poplar three feet apart each way. There was also a poles, and two long and one short tamarac pick- patch of pop-corn, which was also very fine, but et, for each length. no account was kept of the quantity grown. I The cost of the material for such fence deliver- " saw samples of both of these kinds of corn in ed on the spot is as follows : the ear," and they were up to any average crop 1,200 Poplar poles, each 12 feet long, at that I have seen grown around Ottawa. On a $2 per 100 $24 00 potato patch measuring twenty-three by thirty- 400 Tamarac pickets, each 7 feet long, at one yards were grown one hundred bushels of $3.50 per 100, 14.00 very fine early rose potatoes, yielding at the rate 200 Tamarac pickets, each two feet lonsr, of seven hundred and twenty-nine bushels to the at$lperl00.... 2.00 acre. From one hill sixty- two fine potatoes were Total cost of material $40.0 dug, which made three dinners for a family of four grown persons and as many children. I ate This does not include hazil and willow withes portions of enormously large beets and potatoes, to tie the pickets together in two or three places. and they were both superior in taste and flavor The pickets after being sharpened at one end, to anything of the kind which I have eaten in are driven into the ground in pairs, about eleven Montreal for over a year. Mr. Matheson keeps feet distance between each pair. The pickets in his roots in a pit near the bank of the river, where each pair are about six inches apart, and a short they are quite safe from f ro3t picket is driven into the ground between these to About half a mile back from the manse there support the ends of the poplar pole3 from resting is what ia called here a " park," or piece of on the ground. After the pickets are properly cultivated land enclosed by a fence. I measured tied with withes the poplar poles are laid in their this park myself, and found that it contained places, slightly zig-zag fashion, but not so much less than three and a quarter acres of ploughed so as is customary in Ontario. There is a strip land, yet Mr. Matheson said that he paid for of bark peeled off each side of the poplar pole3 t 'ure&hing 180 bushels of oats and 38 buehels of f. o prevent them from rotting a3 speedily as tb' y 20 The Letters of Rusticus. would otherwise do. Where tamarac, oak, ash school here is entirely controlled by non treaty or maple oannot fc-a obtained, poplar ia used for men. He further complained that non- treaty pickets, but it will only last three years, when it men, white and natives, came into the reserve becomes rotten at the ground. The fence poles and bought lands from the treaty Indians, using also require to be renewed every eight or nine years, but there is not much lost by this, as they A BOTTLE OF GROG are then used for fuel and green poles put iu in making the bargain, and by this means the their places. This changing of the fence rails is treaty lands were slipping out from under the often done much more frequently than is needed, authority of himself and his council. as they are often He had applied frequently to the agents, to prevent CDT UP FOB FUEL these unlawful sales of treaty lands, but nothing had yet been done, and he feared that nothing during the cold weather by people who neglected would be done until he was compelled to to lay by a winter's supply of firewood. On the take forcible possession of tho transferred treaty following spring these individuals are often en- lands. He was very anxious to know if I was gaged replacing their fences, when they ought to an authorized Government agent, and when told be putting the seed into the ground. that I was only a newspaper man, he desired to Owing to the very narrow strips of land con- know if I would publish a list of his grievances. tained in most of the farms on the river, and also I told him that if he would make out a list of all want of arrangement among near neighbors in cases where tho Government failed to carry out the selection of their parks of cultivated land, their promises, I would see that they were print- fencing becomes very costly sometimes. I have ed; He promised to have a meeting of his seen strips of land less than two hundred feet council shortly, when a full list of their wide and more than half a mile long enclosed by grievances would be made out and a copy of a fence from the surrounding prairie, yet part of them sent to my address at Winnipeg. We this little strip remained uncultivated. then parted, shaking hands all round in a friend- After a few days' rest at the manse at Little ly manner. Britain, receiving the kindest care and attention After leaving the Chief, I interviewed several from the family of the Rev. Mr. Matheson, I be- others, both treaty and non treaty men, and came well enough to proceed down heard various accounts of the •* Indian troubles" which seem to be about as follows :—These In- AMONGST THE INDIANS dians, or natives (the Saulteux, came originally living on the reserve north of Selkirk, and passed from Lake Superior, while the Swampy Creea one night at the house where Feguis post offioe came from north ot Lake Winnipeg), settled in is located west of the Red River, near the line this locality a good many years ago (I think between township fourteen and fifteen in the they all profess Christianity at present), and were fifth range east. I was now nearer to Lake attended by missionaries from the Church Mis- Winnipeg and the north pole than I had sionary Society. ever been before, the grass was start- yet BEFORE THE TREATY ing to grow vigorously, and the forests were changing considerably from the dead gray with the Government was made many of these •color of winter. The people in this locality are Indians sold their claims to natives and others called the Saulteux Indians, but they seemed who would not come under the provisions of the much more like French and Scotch natives. treaty ; consequently, they have a perfect pight

They seem to cultivate nearly a3 much land per to do what they please with their lands . When family as do the natives above Selkirk, but they the treaty was made, all this tract of country have very few cattle or horses, which is not was given to the Indians without any exception very wonderful since the meadow-lands are not being made regarding lands held by persons who as convenient to their homes as is the case fur- would not come under the treaty. This was an ther up the river. A good deal of fishing and unintentional omission, yet the Chief thinks that hunting is done by these Indians, as the fi3h in these landa rightfully belong to the treaty In- the river is very abundant and of fino quality. dian, and that the Government should extinguish Most of the doga have a wolfish look about the claims of non treaty men, and give the land to them, and are pretty generally used in drawing the Indians. The old chief says he is willing to sledges in winter time. I h id quite a long in- forego his authority over these lands if the Gov- terview with the Indian Chief, Henry Prince, ernment will secure to him and his people all who received me cordially, and conversed with the lands held by treaty- men at the time the me through an interpreter, a,lthout^h I have been treaty was made ; as treaty Indians are selling told that he speaks pretty good English. He is their lands to non-treaty natives and whites. I much blacker in color than I have seen any In- believe the old chief is quite right on this latter dian before. He ia of commanding presence point, and that the Government should not per- and speaks well in hi3 own language,and displays mit treaty lands to be bought by others without considerable shrewdness, but I fear he smells the consent of the whole tribe, and I might add, the cork too often, which gives hi* eyes some- the Government authorities. what of a dissipated cast, although he complains THE SCHOOL DIFFICULTY hardly of the Selkirk hotel-keepers selling grog to Indians. He complained very much of the is about as follows : The Dominion Government Government having neglected to carry out the having promised to support a school for the In- provisions of their treaty with the Indians, dians, have been lately paying $300 a saying that they had not supplied them year to that end, but as there are two schools in with nearly the number of cattle, nor the amount the parish (some ten miles in length), the grant of seed grain which had been promised. The is only $150 to eaoh school. The non-tre*ty men Government also promised to support a school make up the balance (after the Local Govern- for the Indians, but had not done so, <

tory in Sunnyeide, where I parted with Mr. in this school hails from Aylmer, P.Q , where I Robertson at some time after three p.m., neither formerly had considerable experience in the diffi- of us having tasted food since early in the morn- culties attending the carrying out of the school ing. Mr. Robertson had scarcely any previous lawa among an unwilling people. I hope he acquaintanceship with the bereaved family vizfr will have better success among his new bache- " A en this occasion, and did not expect to re ! .r-r acquaintances. I am told that baching it" 22 The Letters of Rusticus.

is very generally practiced throughout nearly located oa this ridge. This township and also all the settlements in this country, and since the townships south and west of it are included Buch a state of affairs tends to hinder the in- in the half-breed reserve, but a good many set- crease of both trade and population Sir John tlers had located here before the reserve was made, Macdonald would confer a lasting benefit on the and consequently continue to bold their lots. The great North-West if, with the aid of Mr. Phipps, half-breed lots are also passing pretty rapidly he could concoct some scheme of national policy into the posseseion of speculators. The gravel ridge whereby in Rossmore, where it is not occupied by man, is largely tenanted by badgers, which burrow hole3 OOULD BE SECURED WIVES in the ground large enough to allow a cat to en- for the many lonely gentlemen residing in this ter, and in some cases I have seen upwards of a country. Sometimes two neighbors " bach it cartload of gravel which had been taken out of together," and occupy the same house, but for one hole. Although the holes were pretty nume- the most part they " den up alone." A rous, and many of them bearing traces of recent few them keep their dwellings quite tidy, badger-work, yet I could never get a sight of but more of them leave things inside the " his badgership." This township is also much house in a state of confusion much worse infested by than prevails in of the homes of the In- many PRAIRIE WOLVES, dians living down near the mouth of the Red River. I find that most of these single gentle- making it almost impossible to keep sheep. Two men are in pretty good circumstances, having of these small wolves had been seen close to a besides a good farm a large number of cattle. farmhouse here the day before I arrived, but al- One of them, whose personal appearance seemed though I wandered a good deal among the woods less cultivated than any Indian whom I have on the eastern bank of Cook's Creek, I could dis- seen in the vicinity of Montreal, is the owner of cover no traces of Mr. Coyotte. a first-rate farm, and over fifty head of cattle, On the afternoon of to-day (9th) I was coming and has also considerable money lent out at high westward out of Rossmore, about a mile and a- interest. As in all cases I tried to get my board half north from the south boundary of that town- and lodgings in houses made bright by the pre- ship, and in doing so had to cross the creek, sence of women, I cannot speak from experi- which at present is nearly the size of a ence about bachelor fare, but I am told that the small river. As I did not like to bannocks baked by them are generally not very make a detour of several miles through brush tempting to the appetite nor easy of digestion. and swamp to reach a bridge, I looked for some They allow their calves to suck the cows, time to see if a fallen tree could be found lying and consequently have very little dairy across the stream, but none could be found. As work to perform. I have been propos- I had no axe nor any other edged tool with me, ing to several of these men that after except a small jackknife, the idea of bridging the harvest is gathered, they should club such a stream would indicate the superlative de- together and run an excursion train down east gree of verdancy when viewed by a Western im- to where the ladies are more plentiful, and see migration agent on friendly terms with if they cannot secure housekeepers. Mr. Joseph OIL Tees, formerly of Montreal, told me lately that A COAL BOTTLE, he was contemplating starting a but not so with an Ottawa shantyman. After narrowest " MATRIMONIAL AGENCY," searching for some time for the part of the stream, I found a place where as it was likely to be better patronized than the it was about fifteen feet wide with a business of undertaker. rapid current running three feet deep. Here On the evening of Wednesday, 8th inst., I I laid down my satchel and went in search crossed Cook's Creek on the boundary line be- of bridging timber, and found am pi 3 supplies tween townships 11 and 12 in the sixth range not far off, in a place where the fire had, some east, not quite a mile from the north-east corner years ago, killed a number of poplar trees, which of Sunnyside, and during that evening and the had afterwards been blown down by the wind. next forenoon visited most of the houses in Those that lay on the ground were too rotten for these two townships. The creek is quite large bridging purposes ; but where they were sup- here, although not quite two miles from its ported from off the soil by the stump or some source in an extensive marsh which covers a other tree, they were still sound and very light considerable portion of township 11, ridge 6, to carry. I first got one of the smallest and put east, and several Equare miles of the eastern it across the stream, and afterwards, by means part of Sunnyside. I may say here that this of this, succeeded in getting two larger ones creek i3 not properly laid down on the placed across, and on this temporary bridge map, where it is also wrongly called croased Cook's Creek in safety. '* Devil's Creek." It runs about ten miles Cook's Creek, Township 12th, range 5th, east, May north-east of this place, and does not join the 9th, 1879. Red River until close to Lake Winnipeg. It jseems rather strange that the name of ORNITHOLOGICAL SWAMPS—CROPS—A VIEW OF HIS SATANIC MAJESTY THE PRAIRIE—A FRIENDLY INTEREST IN should be so frequently attached to lakes and WOODLANDS. creeks in this and other countries, while there i3 Sir,- On Friday, 10th instant, I made a cir- reason to fear that he has much more stock cuit through the south half of Sunnyside, which taken in the people than in the waters on the seems to be an excellent eurface of this terrestrial sphere. BBEEDIKG-PLACE FOR WILD DUCKS, There is a low gravel ridge running east across {he front part of the Township of Rossmore (town- as, during a journey of eight miles, I found four ship 12, range 6, east), and moat of the settlers are nests of these birds, containing in all thirty eggs. -

The Letters of Rusticus. 2 3

The ducks when hatching seem to lose a good said to be nearer four tons to the acre. These deal of their former wildness, and will farmers all told me that they had never seen not leave nests until you are their SUCH LARGE CROPS within a few feet of them, when they nutter away as if one of their wings were of timothy hay grown in any of the Eastern brok-n, much after the same fashion as a ground provinces, and one farmer who had eight acres sparrow when endeavoring to induce a boy to of timothy hay, on which three tons of hay per run after herself and pay no attention to her acre had been cut last season, sold the greater part nest. These ducks seem rather careless in select of it at $12 per ton. I enquired of some ing the place to build their nests, as two of the of the successful cultivaters of timothy hay, nests were quite close to a travelled road, and why its culture had failed in Sunnyside, and one wa3 in a ploughed field. Prairie chickens was told that the land where it had been sown are also numerous here, of largo size and very was too wet ; but wherever it was sown on dry tame. I did not Eee any of their nests, as it is land it did remarkably well, if not too thickly rather early in the season, but was informed that seeded, as it stools out here much more than in when hatching they are very loath to leave tho the Eastern provinces. The farmers who raiso nests, and will allow people to come up quite timothy hay feed their horses with it while a'; close to them, and after a while bacome so work, as thef do much better on it than when familiar with children who pay frequent visit? fed on prairie hay. I have not yet found any to the nests that they will remain on them and cases where clover has been successfully grown,

peck at the youngsters who approach too near, nor anyone who has tried red-top ; but Hun- just the way that a cross setting hen would do. garian grass grows most luxuriantly, and if not Owing to the large amount of wet land here sown pretty thick the stalks become rather the settlers are few and far between, there coarse for fodder, more resembling wheat straw. being not one inhabited house to every square I went some distance to see a small field of mile in the south half of Sunnyside, and the ratio is not much greater in the north half. At PALL WHEAT, the time of my visit I believe that the half of this township was from two inches to two feet which the owner says is the only one in Mani- under water, and more than half of the remain- toba. The greater portion was pretty well killed der was too wet to bs ploughed even here, where out, but a strip about thirty feet wide across the they plough land in a much wetter state than north end of the piece looked well, and promises would be done in the eastern provinces. I be- to produce abundantly. I asked the owner the lieve that I am within the mark when I say that cause of such a marked difference in the same not five per cent, of the land in this township field. He said that he had sown Clauson wheat, has been ploughed. A brought frDJQ Markham, Ont., in that strip, while the rest of the field was sown with a COMPLETE SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE variety called " white chaff." The part of the field where the Clauson wheat was sown being for the two townships of Springfield and Sunny near the fence, was covered by a drift of snow, side (it should have been called Marshyside) while the rest was more exposed. would not cost over twenty-five cents per acre, There are some pretty extensive farmers in the and would increase the value of all the land township of Springfield, and in one case I saw a from $1 to $3 per acre, besides making good field containing 80 acres of ploughed land, part of it ereen with the plants. roads to market at all seasons ; yet tiie people young wheat hesitate about incurring the expense, some of There seems to be a strange fatality among them saying that the wet land is more valuable horses brought from Ontario to this place, one than the dry, since it supplies them with plenty farmer having lost eleven horses during the eight of hay to feed their live stock with, although the years he has been farming here. Some of these two past seasons were too wet to cut the hay in were raised here from mares brought from On- many places. tario. I have not been able to learn the cause During all my journeyings in this province I of this have been making careful enquiries as to the MORTALITY AMONG HORSES, suitableness of the soil and climate for producing the but have strong suspicions that the feed, care, TAME GRASSES, small, close stables, and also bad roads in spring, are the chief causes of it, since Lower Canadian such as timothy hay, red- top, clover, Hungarian horses seem to do very well. grass, &c, but could get no reliable informa- On Saturday afternoon I again visited Moose tion about them. Even in Sunnyside, among Nose Cemetery, tor the purpose of getting a the Canadian farmers, the general opinion was good view of the country from the summit of that only Hungarian grass could be grown with that hill, which is elevated about seventy feet profit to replace the wild native grasses. They above the surrounding plain. This hill is situ- had heard of large crops of timothy hay hav- ated near the north-west corner of the town- ing been grown in some parts of Springfield, but ship of Sunnyside, and from it can be seen near- the experiments with that grass in Sunnyside ly all the houses in the townships of Springfield, had almost all been failures . I afterwards visit- Sunnyside, Cook's Creek and Rossmore, with a ed the farms in Springfield where timothy hay number of the houses in Plympton and Mill-— was grown, and was equally surprised at the broke (township 10 in the 5th and 6th ranges, enormous crops grown, and at the small num- east). The view was charming, as the country ber of farmers who have tried to raise this valu- seemed streaked with a great variety of colors, able kind of hay. I was shown several pretty among which were black, dark brown, dark large fields where over three tons of timothy grey, light grey, dark green, bluish grey, hay to the acre was cut three years in succes- dappled grey and green, and some spots of sion, and in one or two cases the produce was ulue. The appearance at the distance of three ; K The Letters of Rusticus. or four miles, when viewed through a small PBIVATION3 OP FREIGHTING— MABSHY PBAIBIES" glass, resembled very much some THE MENNONITES — ORGANIZING SUNDAY- KALEIDOSCOPIC VIEWS. SCHOOLS—A HINT.

The black streaks were the lately ploughed Sra,—On the afternoon of Thursday, 15th insfc., fieldB, the dark brown was where prairie fires had I started on a pilgrimage amongst a number of been running last fall, burning the grass and small Canadian settlements lying east and killing the bushes ; the dark gray consisted of south east from Winnipeg. My course was along hazel and poplar bushes, which had not yet the Dawson route (trail it should be called) for leafed out ; the light gray was pretty extensive, thirty miles to Pointe des Chenes; then south- and consisted of unburnt fields of old prairie west some seven or eight miles to Clear Springs and-oat grass and unploughed wheat stubble ; the settlement, which is situated on the south-east dark green color adorned the wet jneadow laud?., quarter of township seven, range six, east, and from which the hay had been taken last year, also includes a strip of land from one mile to one and although now covered with tTvm two to six and a half mile wide along the west border of inches of water, yet the young hay has already township seven, range seven, east. After crossing got high enough to overshadow the flood ; the the railway track at St. Boniface I passed bluish gray indicated the marshes, where the through a small strip of poplar woods, and bluish-colored new grass, and also spots of entered on the most lonesome and wet piairie water, give a bluish tint to the old and wither- I had yet seen, being nearly all covered over by ed marsh grass of the previous year's growth water and willow bushes. The road had been the dappled gray and green colors arise from the lecently passed over by a large number of present half -leafed state of the willow bushes, French natives, who were freighting goods to the which are very plentiful all over these parts, and North- West Angle of the Lake of the Woods on the blue spota were places where the water, ox carts, and was cut up in a way scarcely ever while covering the old crop of wild grass, was seen down east. Freighting on such roads must still too deep for the new crop to get above its be hard on the men, oxen and carts engaged in it, surface. proof of which I saw in a dead ox lying beside The tops of the higher buildings in Winnipeg the road and several portions of broken carts, but are seen from I suppose THE MOOSE NOSE THE MEN ALL ESCAPED WITH THEIB LIVES. —called this name owing to a supposed resem- blance which it bears to the nose of the moose Here and there along this dreary road consi- derable streams of are crossed, — and were it not for the groves of poplars which water which run grow near St. Boniface, the whole city would in a north-easterly direction and help to drown be plainly visible in favorable weather. The nearly all the land for about five or six miles Government own the land on the most elevated wide by ten miles long, reaching from Kildon- part of this hill, it being a school reserve, and an to Protestant Ridge, which is near the east have given several acres on the summit for a side of range four, and on the dividing line be- cemetery and also sites for churches. The soil tween townships nine and ten. This overflow is composed of very beautiful white gravel, with of water is caused by an ugly propensity which few stones larger than a man's fist. If near a the small rivers in this country have of forsaking large city this white gravel, about the size of their proper bed or channel, and spreading small marbles, would be in good demand for pav- themselves into immense muskegs or marshes, ing footpaths in gardens and lawns. This school which frequently have Satan's most vulgar name reserve was at one time of considerable value, prefixed to them. The marshes which are laid owing to the large amount cf wood on it, but it down on the map form but a small portion of has been pretty well stripped of that commodi- the overflowed lands in their vicinity, especially ty. Some people here seem to have very mis- during the early part of summer. By reference taken ideas about the righ^ of the Dominion to the map you will perceive that a large part Government and the Hudson Bay Company to of this tract is owned by the Roman Catholic the timber grown on their reserves, consequent- Church, and to "render this savage wilderness ly the school lands and the Hudson Bay Com more waste," there are no houses nor signs of pany's lands are plundered without compunc- cultivation to be seen for over eight miles of the tion. Not only is the wood grown on these journey which took me near four hours to ac- lands taken for farming purposes, but a large complish. portion finds its way to Winnipeg mar- PBOTESTANT BDDGE, ket. Some people who really do not own any land of their own engage pretty extensively or Prairie Grove, as the post office here is call- in the firewood business, and they seem to have ed, is situated on the borders of the large float- the sympathy of a good many others who ought ing bog where the river Seine loses itself the to know better. Recently forty- six cords of fire- second time, and contains over a dozen Canadian wood were seized and sold at Selkirk, for having settlers, who have no school as yet, but have the been cut, contrary to law, upon the Indian re- timber out for a building to serve as a school and

serve ; but the price at which it was knocked meeting-house. down was less than thirty cents per cord, and the I stayed over night at the house of Henry Mc- press of that great city of the future spoke ap- Quade, sen., who may properly be called the provingly of the transaction. The thieving of patriarch of the settlement, as be has six sons Government wood would not look so bad, if it and three sons-in-law among the land-tillers were only done by poor people who have no wood and defenders of British Canadian rights in this lots of their own, but some of the wealthiest men portion of Her Majesty's dominions. The old in these parts, who own wood lots, raid pretty gentleman is possessed of a full share of Irish extensively on the Government wood, and leave combativeness, and it seems to give him con- their own for future use. siderable pleasure to relate the encounters which Winnipeg, May 15th, 1879. he and his friends had with the French natives The Letters of Rusticus. 25

who were sent by Father Richot and Arch- AT POINTE DES CHINES bishop Tach^ to there is a large new Roman Catholic church, DRIVE OFF with a considerable number of French natives and Canadians dwelling en both banks of the the intruding Irish Canadians. Seine, which is here about thirty feet wide and distance From here to Pointe des Chenes, for a from three to four fee& deep, and running about Eng- of seventeen or eighteen miles, there are no three miles per hour. A rather novel feature heard of, and it is lish-speaking settlers that I about this river is the fact that there is here settled French-Canadians only very sparsely by much more water running in it than there is in natives. is of superior quality, if and The land it thirty miles further down at its outlet into for are excellent facilities, drained, which there Red River, although it receives several tribu- Seine is as the water in the pretty little river taries by the way. A considerable portion of four eight feet lower than the adjacent from to the surplus water is no doubt evaporated during places. called at the house of a lands in most I its slow progress through the two muskegs and French-Canadian, formerly worked who had numerous other wet marshes over which it has Dine years with Gilmour & Co. in the Ottawa to travel : but a considerable portion of the lost region, last year two hundred but who bought water finds its way to the Red River through frontage the acres of land, with ten chains on two large coulie3, which empty themselves near acres Seine, having a little bouse and several the lower end of Kildonan. There are about ploughed the price only for the ; paid was $300 half-a dozen English-speaking families at whole. The general price of land in this quarter Pointe des Chenes, but they are a small seems to b« from $1 to $2 50 per acre. If a con- number to support a school ; some of siderable tract of this section of country was them sent their children to the French bought by a company of enterprising farmers school, but the teacher sent the young heretics from Britain comparatively or Ontario, and a home again, stating that there was not sufficient small sum spent in draining and improving it, the room in the school house to accommodate them, selling price of it thereby increased would be which is quite likely, since the teacher occupies more than fourfold. a portion oi the schoolhouse as a private resi- five or six miles Chenes, When from Pointe des dence. There is here also one of the the road comes out into the largest open prairie in Manitoba east of the Red Kiver. This prairie BEST SAW AND GRIST MILLS is about ten miles long and five miles wide, and in the province. The price charged for grinding is almost a perfect level with scarcely a bush wheat is one-sixth, and for sawing lumber $10 three feet high in sight, a considerable portion of per thousand feet. it being On Saturday morning I started for Clear UNDER WATER Springs settlement, and in doing so passed through a corner of with a good growth of freBh green hay growing THE MENNONITE RESERVE, up through it. I observed also in one place that a considerable extent of this meadow land had near to the village of Bloominhoff, to which ia the hay cut last season and raked up with a attached the land in the north-east quarter of horserake and part of it cocked ; but it was left township seven, range six, east. Although on the field over winter and continues there still, Bloominhoff lay about a mile and a half out as it is too wet to burn. of my road, and the chance for holding con- Just before coming to this open prairie I passed versation with its inhabitants was very small, as two bands of most of them are about as ignorant of Eng- lish as I am ignorant of Low Dutch, which they NATIVE FREIGHTERS speak, yet I could not resist the temptation to visit these peculiar people in their own homes. who were on their road back from the Lake of I had ample opportunities for seeing whatever I the Wood3, where they had delivered their loads. wanted to see, as the people weie very friendly, There were in all fifty-two ox-carts. The oxen, but our conversation was almost a complete being unhitched, were grazing on the prairie failure, as my small collection of Gaelic and while their master* were preparing their own French words were entirely worthless, and I mid day meal. Most of these carts were loaded had to keep to the English, of which they seem- with cedar and tamarac posts, which were ed to understand a little, but could scarcely being taken to Winnipeg, while several carts had eprak a word. On my asking for a drink of for loads the debris of other carts which had milk the obliging lady Mennjnite brought been broken on the journey. The price paid along with a jug of rich, sweet milk a for freighting from Winnipeg to the Lake of a plate with bread on it, and another with but- the Woods is $1 50 per 100 lbs. when ter. I gave a copy of the Northern Messekgsr the roads are bad, and $1 to $1.25 when to an intelligent young man named Isaac Wark- the trail is in tolerable condition. Mo9t ington, and he took it and read it slowly, about of the French natives in this part do little as well as a boy who had got through the first else than freight goods on this road, and will find book of lessons would do, but he evidently did it hard to make a living when the freighting not understand all he read. I had a much better business ceases through the completion of the opportunity on the following Monday of holding railway to Rat Portage. The usual time taken intercourse with the Mennonites, through an in making the round trip is from ten to twelve interpreter, a Scotchman, named John Peterson, days, each man driving three or four carts, hav- who had learned to speak the Low Dutch ing from seven to ten hundredweight on each fluently, and with whom I visited the village of

cart ; but in some cases it has taken these cara- Steinbach, where I got civil answers to all the vans nearly four days going the eight miles be- questions asked without being made to feel like tween St. Boniface and Protestant Ridge. an intruder, as I have oftea felt when searching 26 The Letters of Rusticus. for news in the vicinity of Montreal. As the ia- that none of the settlers here could tell me formation gained during this interview will pro- where, or by what means, it found an outlet into bably form the subject of another letter, I will Red River. Lastly. I believe that the presence leave the Mennonites for the present, mertly of the MennoniteB ha3 a good deal to do with the saying that with the exception of the adjoining present progressive condition of their English- Scotch and Canadian settlement of Clear speaking neighbors, as the Springs, I have seen no such progress made in cultivating the ground and in building dwelling- SCOTCH PRIDE stables and other outhouses in any part houses, of the latter will not suffer them to lag behind settlements in Manitoba. In the of the new the quiet, plodding Mennonites in the culture of matter of gardening they are far the soil. I think that if the Mennonite settle- ments had been scattered over the whole pro- AHEAD OP THEIR ENGLISH NEIGHRORS ; vince, instead of being confined to two reserves, not only vegetables, but flowers being exten- the whole country would be better cultivated. sively cultivated by them. I believe that there The people here had their spring's work nearly is more gardening done in the village of Bloom- finished at the time of my visit (19th May), and inhoff than is done in any township in Manitoba I do not know of a place in Eastern Canada east of the Red River, yet the place where the where the farmers sow so much grain on an village with its numerous gardens now stands, average as is done here. The quantity of land was only five years ago a, wilderness, and the cultivated by each farmer ranges from thirty to present inhabitants were dwelling in South- sixty acres, and more than three-fourths of this eastern Russia. ground was green with the young growing crops divine service On Sunday forenoon I attended when I saw it. As there are ample supplies of in the house of one of the Canadian settlers at tamarac to be had within six or eight miles, the Clear Springs, and at the conclusion assisted in cultivated fields are generally well fenced with the organization of a Sunday-school. On the tamarac poles, There are a number of beautiful previous Sabbath day J had also assisted in or- ganizing a Sunday-school at Cook's Creek, and NEVER- FAILING SPRINGS as the organizing and starting of Sunday schools 0* *rate lin this quarter, from which the settle- in the new settlements of this province will pro- ment takes its name. The flow of water from bably occupy many of my Sundays while out the largest spring would about fill a two and a here, I would like to say to the superintendents, half-inch auger hole. The water is very clear, teachers and scholars in some of the highly but leaves a red stain or soft, pulpy scum adher- favored Sunday- schools in Quebec and Ontario, ing to the sides and bottom ot its channel, juat that if they would save a few of their like a spring which is situated on the farm in OLD SUNDAY-SCHOOL PAPERS Hull where I was born, and the water is the same in taste. Timber has been prepared to and send them here, they would be very accept- build a schoolhouse here, but in most of the able reading for children living in such remote families the children are too young to go to places that the only school that they will have school. It is remarkable a chance to attend for some years to come is a Sunday-school, and whose parents are at pre- HOW VALUARLE LAND HAS ALREADY RECOME sent too hard up to spend money in books or here ; one quarter section favorably situated was papers. If the benevolent Sabbath-school sold this spring for $2,000, the last being only scholars in the Provinces would save Eastern $10 seven years ago. of their old Sunday-school papers and tie some The sections along the west border of Town them in a bundle directed to "R., Drawer 32, ship 7, range 7, are pretty good farming Winnipeg Post Office," I will see that they are lands, but the rest of the township is of inferior properly distributed among the Sunday scholars quality, being composed of gravel ridges and in the newly-settled portions of this province swamps, the subsoil in all cases being either and the Little Saskatchewan country. coarse gravel or very fine gray colored sand. Clear Springs, County Provencher, 18th, of May There are a number of French Canadians settled along the banks of the Seine all through the eastern part of this township, but I fear that off while THE CLEAR SPRINGS SETTLEMENT—MARSHES AND few of them will ever come to be well RIVERS—THINLY- SETTLED TOWNSHIPS. they stay there. On Tuesday morning I went northeast through Sir,—The settlement of Clear Springs is the this township to the French settlement on the most progressive that I have yet seen in the Seine, and travelled down the banks of that North-West. This, in my opinion, is chit fly stream, about six miles, to Pointe des Chenes. In owing to the three following causes : First. The all the distance travailed over, except about a people are nearly all young married men and mile and a half as I approached Pointe des Chenes, women, and were possessed of considerable the land is light, with a fine hungry-looking means when they first settled here. Secondly. sand for a snbsoil The crops may be good for The land is most favorably situated for farming a few years, but I am sure they will not hold purposes, being slightly rolling, owing to several out long. coulies which pass through it in a north westerly From Pointe des Chenes I went north over a direction, the banks being from four to eight wet, open prairie to the Canadian settlement of feet high. These coulies unite into one stream Caledonia, in township 9, range 7, east. Only near the northwest part of Township 7, range the western range of sections in this township 6, east, and form what is called the Moira River, are in the open prairie, the rest being what is which afterwards takes a westerly course of here called woods. The western portion of this about six miles, and becomes lost in a large township is nearly a dead level and wet. I tra- marsh. So effectually is thi3 little river lost velled nearly two miles on a stretch near the The Letters of Rusticus. 27'

northwest part of the township without ever There i3 a Canadian settlement of four or five

stepping on dry ground. All had the usual families in the bush near the centre of Township i covering of water, through which a vigorous 9, range 7. Being anxious to know how bush- growth of grass was growing. This settlement farming is done in this country, I went nearly was made four or five years ago, when the sea- two miles through brush and mud until I came to sons were remarkably dry, but the two past a very stony ridge, such as I had not before seen seasons have been wet. and the people could get in this country, the in very little crop'. This LARGE BOULDERS WET LAND protruding out of the soil so thickly that you could be readily drained, but the cost would be might travel a considerable distance without too great to be borne by the few settlers living letting your boots come in contact with the J' here, who own not more than a fourth part of ground, by jumping from one big stone to an- the land which would be benefited by any drain other. I here saw four inhabited dwellings and which would take the surface water from the set- several fields under crop, the land being light and tlement. There is a stream called Fish Creek, dry and in some places pretty free of stone. which, after a course of five or six miles in a Most of the land in these parts, except a wet 1 direction, westerly comes out of the woods about strip of a little more than a mile wide on the half miles corner two and a from the southeast border of the prairie, was overrun by bush fires of the township, when it spreads itself into a about eight or ten years ago, and only patches marsh, and continues in a westerly direction for of the larger timber remain, but the second five miles, then Seine ahout empties into the growth is comina' on speedily. There is ecarcely through a short coulie. The deepening of this auy more labor required to bring these bruits creek would not cost a sixth part of the increased under cultivation than most of the willow- value which the drainage secured by such deep- covered prairies. The people here, although ening to lands. would add the adjacent There poor, seem pretty contented with their lot, as is also a considerable stream, called English their homes are sheltered from the fierce blasts River, which has its source near the border of which sometimes in winter blow across the the province, in latitude 49.35, and longitude prairies, and they have an abundance of wood 96.26 west. This stream, after a north westerly for fuel and fencing, and plenty of good- tasted course of twelve mileB, about partly a3 a marsh svater which is not to be had in many places in and partly as a creek (river they call it), enters this country. There is a school in operation in the prairie near the south-east corner of town- this township (Caledonia), and there are forty ship range east, i3 10, 7, which called Rich* children of school age living in the district, but, land, but, like a great deal of rich land owing to the wet state of the roads, the distanco these parts, is in nearly all under water— at some have to come, and also the number of child- least that portion which I saw of it. When the ren who have to help their parents at this season, English River reaches the prairie, is open it the attendance of scholars at present is only transformed into a marsh and drowns a con- about a dozen. siderable portion of townships nine, ten and It was after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the 21st eleven in six ranges five and east, the water May, when I reached Millbrook, and had to go ultimately finding an outlet in Cook's Creek, nearly three miles before reaching any house near the northwest corner of Township 11, which seemed to have been inhabited, although range 6, east. At the time of my visit to these I had passed some half a dozen unfinished build- parts (May 21st and 22nd) there were over ings. Feeling very hungry, 1 called at the first seventy-five square miles of good land under the house to get waters of English River in its course of over twelve miles as a marsh from the point where it SOMETHING TO EAT, comes out of the bush near the southwest corner of Richland until it enters Cook's Creek near the but there was no human inhabitant present, al- northwest corner of Rossmore. I believe that a though there' was a considerable field of young grain growing, enclosed by a fence, near by. SMALL STEAM SHOVEL I went a half mile further to another of say twelve or fifteen horse power placed on a house, which wa3 also deserted. I next

flat boat, say ten feet wide and thirty feet long, visited two other houses with no better success. ! would dig a channel twelve feet wide and three I was beginning to get a little anxious, as I had feet deep through the whole length of this marsh no provisions with me, and it was now past six in one season, at a cost of not over $2,000 for o'clock, and I was growing tired as well as hun- fuel and attendance, while 50,000 acres of wet gry. I then climbed upon the walls of an un- land would be drained. finished building, and with my glass took a At the point where English River reaches view of my surroundings. The country to the the prairie is a favorite camping-ground of the south and west was an open prairie with scarce-

Indians. I visited the encampment, but none ly a bush on it ; yet only one house, and it wa3 of those present (chiefly squaws and children) unfinished, could be seen within a distance of could speak English. I was told by their more than six miles. Towards the southeast, from neighbors that they are three to eight miles distance, could be seen the houses of Caledonia and Richland which I had STILL PAGANS. lately visited. The view towards the north was The only remarkable thing about the encamp- cut off by several bluffs of small poplars, but ment was the number and variety of the does, towards the northwest, about one and a half which seemed all anxious to let me know that miles distance, I discovered a small shanty with they could bark and fcrowl the same way that two little children playing in front of it, a sure Christians' dogs do. Besides th9 Indians, there sign of civilization. I hastened to this hut and are only two or three settlers living in the town- found it to be occupied by a family who came ship of Richland, which is mostly wooded. from the Gatineau, not far from where I was ;

28 The Letters of Rustic us.

born. While the goodwife was preparing sup- While walking through the garden in company per I learned that the with Mr. Bedson, a middle-aged man ap- DESERTED HOOSES proached the latter gentleman and asked permission to go out of the garden to see his son, which I had visited, as well as some others in whom he had not seen for over four weeks. that locality, belong to young men whose par- Mr. Bedson replied that he could not go outside ents live in Kildcnan, where the young men the garden, but that he (Bedson) would tell the are at present stopping, but as there are exten- boy to come and see his father. After we left sive hay-marshes in this quarter, they cut a large Mr. Bedson told me that the man we had just quantity of hay in autumn and feed it to their leftwas a lunatic, and that quite a number of dry stock, which are stabled here during win- the other persons present in the garden were of ter, the young farmers keeping bachelors' hall unsound mind, who were sent into the garden in and attending to the stock during that time, but fine weather, where they could work or wa'k returning to the old homestead after they have around as they pleased, while several of the put in a little crop in the spring, leaving the most trusty convicts were employed to keep cattle to range over the country at pleasure. watch over their actions and assist in preventing Owing to this cause, and also the large amount their escape. Several of the penitentiary guards of wet land, there are only two or three inhabi- were also within hailing distance. One of the ted houses at present in the south half of the lunatics had recently made his escape from the township of Millbrook. garden and ran nearly three miles across a wet The people living here are very inconveniently prairie before being caught. Everything around situated for receiving letters or papers by mail the building is kept their nearest post-office being Cook's Cretk EXCEEDINGLY NEAT AND CLEAN which is from eight to twelve miles distant, with ; an immense marsh intervening. This and the yet the convicts sometimes suffer through the adjacent township west of it, called Plympton, lack of proper drainage, which seems the mora are very thinly settled, although not included in strange since the building is on the top of a the half-breed reserve. I do not think that there mountain. There is a well in the building bored are at present over forty families living in the two 180 feet down into the solid limestone rock, and townships. I am told that there is a consider- the water drawn from it is very clear and of good able quantity of Government land here yet, but taste. From the summit of Stony Mountain I as it is so wet, and also in the railway reserve, had a good view of the surrounding country, settlers do not care to get it, not knowing how where I saw the evil effects of the alkali in many much it may ultimately cost. places. Winnipeg, May 24th. In every part of the country in which I had yet been, I saw many THE PENITENTIARY AND LUNATIC ASYLUM — ALKALI SPOTS, ALKALI SPOTS—INVESTIGATING A MDSKEG. where the ground was slightly crusted with something like hoar frost, which in some places Sir,—On the afternoon of Tuesday, 27fch May, made the ground nearly white, with scarcely a I left Winnipeg to visit a number of Canadian blade of grass growing. There are many of settlements lying north- west of the city. After these alkali spots in the city of Winnipeg, but a j ourney of fifteen miles (part of it through a they were mostly of small size, covering only a wet marsh) I came to a place called faw rods. In the townships of Rockwood and Victoria (Nos. 13th and 14th in range two, east) STONY MOUNTAIN, there are pretty extensive tracks of alkali lands, in the township of Rockwood. This mountain where very little grass will grow. There are very is a solid ledge of limestone rock, about a mile few cultivated fields on the eastern half of the long by a quarter of a mile wide, and some township of Victoria which are not more or less seventy or eighty feet above the surrounding damaged by alkali spots, amounting in some swamp. There is a gentle slope from the plain fields to nearly a third of the surface. In the up to the top of the mountain, on the east worst spots no grain whatever will grow, while

side ; but on the west side it is nearly in others there is a very feeble growth of grain in- perpendicular. Several lime-kilns are built into termixed with several kinds of weeds, one of the sides of this little mountain, and considera- which. looked exactly like what we used to call ble quantities of lime and stone are brought " fire weed" in Canada. I have seen some stub- from here to Winnipeg. The Provincial Peni- ble fields where in places there was very strong tentiary is built on the top of this rock, grain stubble, indicating a rank growth of grain, and commands one of the most extensive while within a few feet there was not a vestige views in Manitoba, the city of Winnipeg of stubble to be seen, the alkali having prevented being plainly seen, although thirteen miles any grain from growing. distant as the crow flies. I was shown all through There is a strip of wooded land about a mile the penitentiary building by Mr. Bedson, the wide which runs northward along the centre of very efficient warden, who seems to have a townships 13, 14, 15 and 16, range 2, east. This special knack for keeping order in an institu- wooded land is mostly divided into wood-lots of tion of this kind, which gives accommodation to twenty acr^s each, which are owned by the the lunatics as well as the convicts of the great holders of the adjacent prairie lands. In some North-West. Twenty-four of the latter and places in the township of Victoria and lying to fourteen of the former class now find board, lodg- the eastward of this strip of wood, there are most ings and employment in and around this institu- BEAUTIFUL LITTLE BLUFFS tion. There is a cansiderable farm and garden connected with the establishment, which is being and strips of wood, consisting chiefly of poDlar rapidly enlarged, and will soon furnish more fringed with willows. These strips of wood often produce than i3 required at the institution. enclose beautiful little level Rrassy parks of very The Letters of Rusticus. 29 fine grass of last season's growth, about six to ten day, and must say that they were good eat- inches high. The picture is most charming, but is ing, having been salted for a couple of days. somewhat marred by the thought that it is There is a very large spring in one place in tbis ' caused by the presence of alkali, since wood will creek which remains unfrozen in winter time, not grow on the alkali Bpots, which are covered and to this place the pike resort, and are then with short fine grass. As if the alkali was not caught in large numbers. This creek (or lake) is bad enough in itself, there is in this township Baid to be five miles long, from ten to two hun- (Victoria) considerable tracts of what we used dred feet wide, and from three to twelve feet to call '' spouty land," where the land is quite deep, and although there is a considerable cur- wet, even on the top of the ridges or slight rent flowing through it, yet it has very little elevations, where the water seems to ooze out of water flowing into it, and no visible outlet. Its the soil. I passed two deserted homesteads banks are in nearly all places composed of mus- where houses had been built, and also consider- keg. I visited a part of this creek yesterday, able land cultivated duriDg the dry seasons and had to travel for nearly one hundred which prevailed three or four years ago. Part yards before getting to the water's edge, over of it had also been ploughed last year, but no a spongy-hke surface, where at every step I crop could be sown owing to the wtt condition of took I sank from four to six inches in water, ' the land. The owners of these although I was carefully stepping on the most grassy spots. ^The journey over this place was ' SPOUTY LOTS certainly exciting, if not very dangerous, as the whole surrounding surface seemed to tremble at have left for drier quarters and the lots are for each step, and I was not altogether without fears sale, and any person visiting them in winter that I might slip through the top crust into the time would be ready to consider them suitable unknown depths beneath. When the open for farms, as there is plenty of fall for the sur- water was reached, which was at thatplace about face water, and the spouty nature of the land is 100 feet wide, I could not see the bottom,and felt concealed by the frost. I walked across a field a longing desire to return to terra and the of this spouty land which had been ploughed firma, journey back to solid ground was made much last year, and although there was a fall of about more quickly than the one in the opposite direc- a foot iu every hundred feet, yet it was a most tion. When the solid land was regained and I difficult, and, I might say, disgusting job to drew a long breath of relief, I could distinctly travel over it, as at every step I took my feet hear my heart beat from the excitement. I in- sank four or five inches in a "soapy like" mud, tend to make some further investigations about of a mouse color. Of course raising grain on such this creek, but the " June freshet" (as the wet land, except in very dry seasons, is out of the season in this province is question. called) seems to be set- ting in, as it has beenrainirg more or le6s every On the west side of this township there are day for three days past, and in such a time it is numerous dry, gravelly ridges, and near the north not pleasant to be investigating the peculiarities end there is considerable land which has a mod- of a muskeg. As the weekly mail leaves early erate covering of dark loam, resting on a subsoil to-morrow morning, I must conclude for of exceedingly fine " dead sand," which displays the present. a tendency to " run" when a ditch is being dug Greenwood, Township 15th, Range two, East, through it. There is here a considerable growth May 30th. of what is here called birch willow, which grows to about the proper size to use in the correction of unruly boys. This birch willow resembles very JACK FISH CREEK—SLAVISH WORK—WELL DIG- much the young shoots of the white birch of GING. Canada. Sir,—The weather being wet on Friday, 7th, In the and forenoon of Saturday, 8th May, I did not TOWNSHIP OF GREENWOOD, feel inclined to make any further personal ex- plorations of Jack Fish Creek, but was credibly township 15, range 2, east, there is more wood- informed that a little to the northward of the land than in the townships south of this ; also Canada Pacific Railway Telegraph Line the the prairie land is mostly covered with bushes, surface soil or crust above the except in the hay marshes. There also seems to bog, through which the water of Jack Fish tCreek finds its be much le3S alkali lands than in either Rock- outlet to Netley's Creek, wood or Victoria. In the range of townships and through which the pike from Red River and Netley's Creek find immediately to the east of this there is an ex- their to Jack Fish Creek, tensive marsh, to which I made reference in my way becomes so firm, that teams crossed over it the present season. letter of April 28th. For some distance along the crossing of the telegraph the western border of this marsh, and at the At line the bog is pretty bad, being nine eastern borders of Victoria and Greenwood, or ten feet deep and wide also, and is by far the worst muskeg on there is a natural curiosity called the track of the Canada Pacific Railway be- JACK- FISH CREEK tween Selkirk and the Narrows of Lake Mani- toba. from the lar^e numbers of Jack-fish (pike) which The greater part of the townships of Green- are caught in it. Several yonng men went out wood and Dundas (15 and 16, in range 2, ea&t) in a boat on this creek last Wednesday and in is called less than half a day caught fifty -seven pike, (57) BRUSH PRAIRIE, weighing from three to nine pounds each. The fish were caught with drag-hooks and many being thickly covered with oak, hazel, poplar more would have been taken were it not for the and willow bushes, with a good many boulders loss of three of the hooks, which were broken in some places, the land being chiefly a loamy from the line by these powerful and voracious clay, with an occasional sandy ridge. There is fish. I got pieces of these fish for breakfast to* also a considerable quantity of wooded land, 3° The Letters of Rusticus.

from which the farmers draw a good idea of seen it could tell very little about it. On Satur- firewood to Winnipeg in winter time with ox- day afternoon, the weather being fine, I started teams, although the distance is from thirty to to visit the creek, although assured that I would forty miles. I have done a good deal of wood- meet with more water than was either pleasant hauling in my younger days, and always con- or profitable, even before reaching the creek sidered it a slavish kind of work, but in all itself. As there was no road to travel on, I had my experience I never met with such a case of to steer the best way I could through woods, bruits, and willow prairies, the water being * WOOD- DRAWING UNDER DIFFICULTIES B almost all the time from four to eight inches ' as is experienced by the farmers here. The ox- deep. The soil here seems to be of excellent quality, since it produces immense crops of wild ; sleigh is usually loaded with from a cord and a where there is an open space ; and even j half to two cords cf dry poplar firewood on Mon- hay trees, the p day,and a start is made before daylight on Tues- among the where ground was Dot too the young pea-vines were growing rank, and ( day morning, and after five or six hours travelling wet, of them in blossom, which seems pretty t a halt of about two hours is made to rest and some early for the northern borders of Manitoba, on . feed the oxen, when the journey is resumed, of The large timber here is t This process of alternately travelling for five the 24th May. chiefly of Gilead, is from eix to fifteen n hours and resting two hours is continued until Balm and Winnipeg is reached, sometime during the fore- inches in diameter near the ground ; but aatha : noon of Wednesday. At each halting place, a BALM OF GILEAD i tire is kindled and tea made, and, not unfre- [quently, the bottle passed around as there here, quite unlike the poplar, is of little or no iare generally several teamsters going in value for fuel or building purposes, it detracts t company. When the load is sold in Winni- from the value of the land ; consequently, this

1 peg, realizing from $6 to $9, the whiskey tract of country still remains in the possession jar is replenished and a start made for home,when of the Government. The fact of its being in the a second series of journeyings and campings is railway reserve, while the track of the railway ; i gone through, the bottle being passed around has been removed thirty mile 3 southwards helps i more frequently to drive away the drowsy feel- to keep settlers from locating on theee lands. i ing which troubles the teamsters during the The greatest drawback is undoubtedly the wet i second sleepless night passed on the road. Gen- condition of the Boil and the improbability of i:s erally when the roads and weather are favorable, being drained for many years to come. There the well-tired oxen and their teamsters reach is a narrow strip of dry ground on the banks of

t home early on Thursday afternoon, but the creek, but a ehort distance back it is very

i sometimes they do not get home until some- wet. The creek is about twenty-four feet wide time on Thursday night. Although the severe with five feet depth of water running in it at a sufferings of both men and oxen when travelling velocity cf nearly two miles an hour. Shortly on cold and stormy nights, is not easily realized after entering on the prairie, the creek is lost in by Ontario farmers, yet some of the young men a muskeg, through which the water filters for here seem to enjoy the whole thing, but I fear over five miles, when it assumes the creek form they will suffer afterwards from the evil effects again and runs out to Red River in a stream so of the fatigue as well as the grog-drinking. This large that a Email steamboat can ascend it for a wood-drawing business was begun during the considerable distance from the mouth. time when the crops were destroyed by grass- On Monday and Tuesday I visited the western

hoppers, and the farmers had to do something to side of these townships ; also, the settled parts

keep the pot boiling ; but there is no necessity of the townships adjoining on the first rarge of for continuing so demoralizing a business at townships east. The land here is much drier present. than almost any I had seen in this province, and As the brush land, when the brush is first re- consists chiifly of loam with a clay subsoil, moved, is very difficult to plough, some of the which produces large crops of grain. There are farmers here have some places rather stony, with an occasional ridge of rather poor gravel. The

I MAMMOTH GRUBBING PLOUGHS, CROPS HERE REMARKABLY which are drawn by three, and sometimes four, GROWING LOOKED j FINE, . pairs of oxen and horses, turning over a furrow eighteen inches wide and ploughing two acres in ! and the farmers peem to be getting on well. i a day, making good work, although the clumps The limestone rock underlies all this quarter, of roots are ; numerous and tough. In one case being frem ten to twenty feet from the " I saw where a sulky plough" had been used surface. Most of the farmers here have to I

, drawn by two teams which seemed to do nearly blast, or drill from ten to fifty feet into as well as the large grubbing ploughs with three j this rock in order to obtain a never failing or four teams. Where the plougning is to be , supply of water, but a few of them have plenty done by one team, these root clumps have all to of water without going into th6 rock for it. The I be first cut out of the ground with axes. water obtained from wells which have been dug There is a pretty large stream called ! a considerable distance into the rock, is clear netley's creek, and free from all taste, which in a greater or leas degree affects the springs and wells in this pro- which has its source in the wet, wooded country vince. of Keewatin, | at the boundary and runs south- I travelled westward for several miles towards east, losing itself in the bog lying to the eastward School Lake through the unsettled portion of distance ; of Dundas. Although the to this creek Ridgeway (township 15 in range 1, east). The was not over two and a half miles from the land for nearly the whole distance is a brule\ border of thesettlement.yet but few of the set- having been burnt over in also in 1874. ; 1861, and tlers here had ever seen it, and those who had There are some dry ridges in it, but the greater The Letters of Rusticus- 5 l

part is low and wet, although there is a good in which he charges me with untruthfulness in chance of draining it. The soil is of average the statements made by me in my communica- quality, but gets worse as you go north-west, tion which appeared in the Witness of Apiil near to School Lake. This place will be set- 15th. He says, "I regret exceedingly that I tled by-and-by, some people having taken up deem it necessary to refer to a few of the misre- J and here lately, but the presentations which the letter contains," yet COST OF CLEARING UP THE BRULE LANDS DOES NOT POINT OUT i-* much more than would buy excellent prairie a single statement made by me which is not in lands nearer to Winnipeg. accordance with the truth, although he bints that The Kildonan half-breed reserve is six miles what I said "about delays, used-up horses," &c. pquare, partly in the township of Victoria, but are exaggerations. If Mr. Greenway would only mostly in the township west of it, Brant. It state^ the particular cases where I exaggerated ii nearly all open prairie with a dry soil, or misstated anything, I would feel obliged to and is favorable for farming purposes. A him, since it would give me an opportunity of number of claims—240 acres—have been scld proving my statements or of apologizing to the here lately at from $2 to $3 per acre. There readers of the Witness for having deceived them. are only two houses yet built on the whole re- I am the more anxious that Mr. Greenway serve, but ploughing is being done in several would forward bi3 bill of particulars at once, places, and more houses will be built soon. The and also give the names of at least a dozen of purchasers of these claims can get wood lots to the leading citizens of Emerson (or one or two buy in the north part of Greenwood and Ridge- respectable persons) "who are fully acquainted way at $1 per acre. The Jack Fiah Creek with the circumstances," so that I might crosses the north-eastern corner of this reserve, call on them and see if they will under- and is here a pretty stream with gravelly bot- take " a verification of what I (Greenway) have tom, and numerous small ponds or enlargements, said in reference to this matter." Mr. Greenway where the water is four or five feet deep at would lead your readers to infer that tem- present. There was more than three time3 the porary bridges had been constructed across the amount of water running in this creek when I open water in the Red River at Emerson, on crossed it on Monday evening than was running Sunday, March 30th, while there were really no in it on the previous Thursday, six mile3 fur- bridges erected until Tuesday, April 1st, except ther east, where it joins the bog stream. I that referred to in my letter as connecting the was told by the people living here that thi3 shore on the eastern or Emerson side of the Btream has an annual freshet about the bsgin- n'ver with the solid ice on the centre. I was in- ningot June—the wet season —but by the be- deed toldthat the planks which entered into the ginning of August the stream and also the construction of this bridge were borrowed from ponds through which it passes are all dried up. Mr. Carney on Sunday, but I thought that On Wednesday I travelled southward, crossirg it was the ferryman and not Mr. Greenway the large open prairie lying southwards of the who had borrowed them, since the ferryman townships of Rockwood and Grassmere, to the collected toll from the people Assiniboine, and in who passed over them . Mr. Greenway blames me for saying that TEN MILES OF MY JOURNEY I "called upon Mr. Tetu and Mr. Grahame on Monday in reference to this matter" Mr. did not pass a single house, although land the Grahame also makes a similar statement, but was dry and qui.ie suitable for settlement. I have not heard of any claims having been sold I DENY THAT I WENT NEAR THESE GENTLEMEN ON here the present season, but was told that from MONDAY, §4 to $8 per acre is the price asked since the and I leave to the readers of the Witness if I Canada Pacific Railway is expected to pass along said so in any of my letters, Mr. Tetu's "coal the northern boundary of this province, while oil bottle" seems to have mixed and muddled the Winnipeg branch will pass along the south the senses of these gentlemen so much that side. ^ they failed in their calculations of time. Mr. Green- From the parish of St. Paul westward, ex- way's letter infers that I "stood by and saw men tending five or six miles on each side of the fifti- hard at work, lifting and drawing like horses, eth parallel north latitude to Baie St. Paul, a without as much as offering to lend a helping distance of thirty miles, there is a track of hand." I deny the charge, as I assisted in taking country containing fully 300 square miles, or across tha temporary bridges the first waggon yearly 200,000 acres of land, almost all of first loaded with goods belonging to Mr. Greenway's quality, although it needs draining in many party, and nearly every load or empty waggon places. It is capable of sustaining a population belonging to that party and the Ottawa and of 20,000 people^ yet, at the present time, there Montreal parties which crossed the Red River are not a dozen inhabited bouses on the whole at that time ; yet, during all that time, track. So much for the blessings of half-breed reserves, which serve to demoralize the natives, DID NOT MEET WITH MR. GREENWAY, and enrich speculators to the great material loss although I was anxious to see him and had made of this unfortunate province. many enquiries as to his whereabouts, while Mr. Winnipeg, June 5th. James Cretch, of Exeter, seemed to be the work- ing head of the Greenway party. Will Mr. CERTAIN CHARGES AGAINST " RUSTICUS" ANSWER- Greenway explain where he was during that ED—DATES MUDDLED —HAD THE " COAL OIL" cold and stormy 1st of April, when so many of BOTTLE SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT ? hi3 partv took their teams and waggons across Sir, —I was much surprised to see in a late the Red River? Mr. Grahame charges me with number of the Witness a communication signed " being non est at the time I ought to have been by Thomas Greenway, ex-M.P., South Huron, present to redeem my pledge" to Mr. Carney to : ;

32 The Letters of Rusticus.

return the lumber to him, which was borrowed THE RIVERS AND LAKES CP THE PRAIRIE PRO- for the purpose of making temporary bridges on VINCE—A SAIL UP THE WINNIPEG—ENTER- which to take the effects of the immigrants PRISING MONTRKALERS—ATTACKED BY MU8- across the river. That statement, like many QUITOES—" WOODING-UP." others made by Mr. Grahame, is untruthful. On As it may be interesting to of Thursday afternoon, April 3rd, finding that no Sir,— some the readers of the Witness to hear something more immigrants were wanting to cross the Red about the rivers and lakes, as well a 3 the land in the River at Emerson, I borrowed a handsleigh and North-West, I purpose in this letter to give a with it drew the planks which formed the west- short account of a recent trip from the city of ern shore bridge, up the river nearly half a mile Winnipeg to Pine Falls, on the Winnipeg River, on the centre ice to where the eastern shore some seven or eight miles from its outlet, where bridge was located. I then went to hire a team Messrs. Josiah Adams and G. H. Schneider to draw them all up to Mr. Carney's lum- (formerly of Montreal) are at present erecting a ber yard, but while lookiDg for a team pretty large sawmill, including shingle and lath I met a man who wished me to leave machines, and machines for planing, tonguing the temporary bridges undisturbed for some and grooving. Messrs. Adams and Schneider time longer, as he wished to take a load recently chartered the little steam tug "Vic- across the river, stating that he would deliver toria," of fourteen tons register, to tow the the planks to Mr. Carney when he had done schooner " Mollie " from Winnipeg to Pine with them. I then went with him to see if Mr. Fails, laden with the machinery for their new Carney was satisfied with this arrangement, and mill, and provisions for the men at work there, to this he (Mr. Carney) agreed, as the other man and having offered me a free passage I accepted was well known to him. Thus your readers it the readily as the proprietor will perceive more of the tug "Victoria," Mr. John Doty, of Toronto, and of the well-known " THAT I REDEEMED MY PLEDGE, inventor Doty Steam- Engines and Boilers," was to accompany the although Mr. Grahame has stated that I did expedition, and from whom, as well as from not. As it is probable that I will have to refer Captain McMillan and several of the steamboat to Mr. Grahame's false statements and curious hands, I could receive a good deal cf informa- actions at some future time, I will say no more tion regarding on that subject at present. THE NAVIGABLE WATERS OP THIS COUNTRY, The following is a rough sketch of the cele- brated Emerson toll-bridge especially in the vicinity of Lake Winnipeg. We left Winnipeg at noon on Thursday, June 12fch, and proceeded down the river to Selkirk

in less than four hours ; here we halted for an- other four hours, then proceeded to the mouth of the river, and cast anchor to wait for daylight, bo that the buoys and stakes which mark the crooked channel at the entrance to the lake might be seen. A sail down the Red River on a warm summer's day is exceedingly enjoyable to a person who has for some time been travel- ling over the prairies, or among the rather mono- tonous groves of poplar, as there are numerous beautiful trees, chiefly maple, elm and ash, adorning the b?nks with green of different tints. The river is not so very crooked, as it is above Winnipeg, but the cur- rent is much more swift, and for a distance of about ten miles, between the parish of St. Paul and Little Britain Church, there is a con- rniPTP „ stant succession of rapids which make it very l [ 'TV : V...i: .1 " difficult to tow loaded barges up stream from Selkirk to Winnipeg. Mr. Doty drew my atten- The Emerson shore is represented by figure 1 tion to a place at the foot of the rapids, about a the open water by 2 ; the roof of a flat-boat by mile above the Stone Fort, most conveniently 3 ; a scow for ferrying teams across the river by situated the centre ice by ; the plank connecting 4 ; 5 FOR ERECTING A DAM ACROSS THE RIVER, the Emer3on shore with the roof of the flat-boat —the boat itself being fastened in the submerged with a lock made through a low point of land at ice—is represented by 6 ; and 7 r presents the the west end, through which vessels could pass two narrow planks which formed toe connection up and down the river. The advantage of such

between the roof of the flat-boat and the large lock and dam would be : First—Vessels navi- scow, the western end of which—the scow—was gating Lake Winnipeg could bring up firewood, up on the dry ice, while the other end was sub- building stone and sand to the City of Winnipeg, merged in water, the scow being frozen in the where all these needful articles, in the building partly submerged ice. I crossed this bridge of a large city, are both scarce and dear. At

mvself, and paid five cents for the privilege, the present, during the period of low water in the tollman having taken hi3 stand on the roof of river, vessels drawing three feet of water are the flat-boat—figure 3—and would not let me unable to pass over the rapids. Second—The pa?s without paying or fighting, and I preferred construction of such a dam would cause a fall doing the former, as I might get a ducking even of some nine or ten feet in the river, thus if I succeeded in giving the tollman, a drubbing. creating a splendid water power (the only The Letters of Rusticus. 33 one in the province), capable of driving nel on Friday morning we met a schooner all the machinery required ia a large manufac- endeavoring to beat her way ny the channel turing city so much needed for the development against a moderate east wind . As the vessel had of this country. Third—A bridge could be con- no load she was able to sail across the channel structed here for railway purposes as well as for back and forth, while a man at the bow kept con- ordinary traffic, at a fraction of the cost of con- tinually throwing the lead. She remained beating structing such a bridge at either Winnipeg or about here until we were some ten or twelve miles Selkirk, because the river is narrow here (some out in the lake. When opposite Point Grande 400 feet) with high banks and a solid rock bot- Marie, at the boundary of Keewatin, my at- tom, whereas at the two cities named the river tention was attracted to the beautiful white is wide with low banks and a mud bottom, that appearance of the shore, which seemed as if even when filled with piles is not a reliable place covered with snow. Capt. McMillan informed to build piers on capable of successfully resist- me that this appearance was caused by the fine ing the pressure from floods and ice in the spring. white sand with which the shore of this lake

I am satisfied that the construction of such a abounds . The dam at the place indicated will be opposed by COUNTRY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LAKE the persons at present in power in this province, whose interests are chiefly centred in Winnipeg, is well wooded, with poplar, balm of Gilead as it would lead to balsam and spruce, but the soil is generally of poor quality, being gravelly and stony where THE BUILDING OF A. KIVAL CITY high enough for cultivation. On the east side which would soon eclipse Winnipeg. It would of the lake, a short distance north of the Mani- also in a slight degree increase the danger from toba boundary, there is a range of mountains or • flooding, to which the latter city is already too elevated hills running north for six or eight liable. The banks of the Red River for mil*"?, These hills, I think, are from two to over a dozen miles before entering Lake threa hundred feet above the lake, and are Winnipeg have a dreary aspect, being thickly covered with spruce, and can be seen very low and covered with a thick growth readily from the deck of the tug several miles of ^eeds and rushes, with a few willow bushes. before reaching Lake Winnipeg, and continue Here and there on the drier spots there were in sight until we reach Fort Alexander^ at Indian wigwams, whose occupants seem to sub- the mouth of the Winnipeg River, being sist on fish ; but the locality is dangerous even then some eight or nine miles to the for Indians to reside on, as the country is sub- west of us. During the first twenty-five ject to be overflowed by the waters of Lake Win- miles of our voyage on Lake Winnipeg, we were nipeg should a strong gale blow from the north too distant from shore to make much observation for some time. A few years ago as to the country without a glass, which the rocking of the boat prevented my using. We A LABGE NUMBEB OF INDIAN FAMILIES WEBB passed round Elk Island (the most northern DBOWNED point in our journey) at one o'clock, it having begun to rain heavily about an hour before. here by a freshet of this kind. The water having Passing near the shore of this island we had a risen rapidly in the night during a gale from the pretty good view of the timber and soil. The north, floated away their canoes. The poor In- southwest point of the island is composed of a dians were aroused from their slumbers by the ledge of limestone rock with numerous boulders water coming into their huts, and ran out to scattered on the beach. All around the island, find their only means of escape removed ; they the beach is more or less strewn with granite were carried away and drowned by the furious boulders, some of them being nearly waves which swept over the land to a depth of six to eight feet. Although there is a low strip AS LABGE AS AN INDIAN'S HUT. of dry land along the banks of the river the greater part of the way, yet a short distance In a few places where boulders were not suf- back and extending for several miles the land is ficiently numerous to protect the shore the lake mostly under water, with a growth of rushes and continues to make inroads on the land, which wild grass and reeds coming through in most seems to be of a light, sandy character. The places. In Netly Lake, covering several equare whole island contains about 5,000 acres of land, miles, the water is too deep for even rushes to all densely wooded with poplar, balm of Gilead, grow in it. The outlet of Red River at spruce and balsam. Although Elk Island is Lake Winnipeg is about two miles wide, and a distant nearly two miles from the mainland sand (or mud) bar lies across the whole distance, south of it, yet the water is eo exceeding shallow the water on whinh is only from two to three feet here that only small boats and canoes can deep,except in a narrow, crooked channel, where pass through. This shallowness of the water there is a depth of nearly six feet at ordinary causes the voyage between the estuaries of Red level. This channel cannot be navigated at and Winnipeg Rivers to be ten miles longer night, for although marked with buoys and than if there was sufficient depth of water to stakes, the darkness of night prevents their being allow vessels to pass south of the island. We seen. Tnis state of affairs is very disagreeable reached Winnipeg River at about five p.m., and to vessels coming in from the lake at night, took on board the schooner some 2,000 feet of especially when there is a storm threatening, as plank and boards, then proceeded up the river the unfortunate vessel has to remain at anchor six miles to the foot of the Manitou Rapids, exposed to the fury of the elements until day- which, owing to the prevailing easterly winds light . As this channel runs east and west for having lowered the water in the bay at the mouth nearly a mile in one place, sailing vessels cannot of the river, had become rather formidable for come in at all if there is a strong east wind blow- an ascending craft. The schooner was left here ing, but have to remain outside until the wind at anchor while the " Victoria" proceeded up the changes. When coming out through this chan- rapids to Pine Falls, the voyage being nearly as 34- The Letters of Rusticus.

exciting- as running the Lachine Rapids. As I regardless of the fourth commandment, some go- will at sows other time give a description of what ing up stream and more going down, the latter Paw - 1 in thj8 vicinity, I will conclude by an ac- having been employed to work in the steam saw- count of the mill of Messrs. Burrows and Walkley, which is situated at the mouth of Winnipeg river. BATHER PRIMITIVE MODE OF n WOODING DP" The Indians who encamped near the Falls were also practised here and in other places on the lake. engaged in fishing as usual, but I think they are On Monday evening, having with considerable mostly paganp, although seemingly anxious to labor delivered our cargo at its destination, we be very fiiendly, and will grin, laugh and hold proceeded a short distance down the river, and out their hand to Bhake hands with you when ran the little tug as near the shore as we could you try to hold conversation with them in Eng- in a muddy bay to get a supply of firewood for lish. They seem to have a wholesome—or un- 'mr #eturn trip across the lake. The end of a wholesome—dread of an imaginary creature, a long plank was put ashore, and all bands, includ- species of gorilla, called ing myself, started to carry the wood on board. THE " WINDEGO," We had first to proceed up a steep bank thickly covered with an undergrowth of poplar, and which carries death and destruction wherever he about forty feet high, and after a journey of goes, and no Indian will remain in the section of about one hundred and fifty yards, came country wliere he is supposed to be. I saw an to a place where the poplar had been cut Indian who speaks a little English, and who into firewood the winter before last, but had professes to have seen the " Windego," but he never been piled, and as a very vigorous second has been so often jibed about it by incredulous growth had since sprung up, there was consider- white men that he refuses to tell anything fur- able difficulty in finding the wood scattered ther about it. I fear the " Windego" is not to around. This wood we gathered up and carried be found without the assistance of a bottle. on our shoulders down through brush and bushes When the steamboat was passing a little to the tug, while the hungry mosquitoes assailed above Fort Alexander, I was shown

us as if we wre robbing their nest . I have seen mosquitoes as bad in the swamps of Hull thirty AN OLD INDIAN CEMETERY years ago, but then I could use both bands in not used now, where the dead bodies were keeping them off, but here my handa being en- placed in boxes, wrapped around with the bark gaged holding the firewood on my shoulders, the of the white birch and placed on the top of four mosquitoes had it nearly all their own way, for posts, some eight or nine feet from the ground. the hour or more which we spent in wooding up. I could see from the deck of the steamboat oeo or two of these aerial sepulchres, and was told that there were many more concealed by the THE INDIANS—SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR AP- bushes, while the ground in that vicinity i3 PEARANCE, CHARACTER AND HABITS—A BIT strewn with human bones and skulls, the latter OP ADVICE TO THE GOVERNMENT. having their full complement of teeth, as tooth- Sir,—There is an Indian reserve at the mouth ache was alrno t unknown among the Indians of the Winnipeg* River extending five or six until they began to use civilizsd food. miles along each bank of the river. Here about The soil in this reserve is of good qnality near two dozen dwelling-houses and about as many the river, and heavily wooded with poplar and more wigwams are erected, in which there are balm of Gilead, requiring a good deal of labor to Indian families living at present. The quantity clear it. The Government had promised to furnish of land cultivated by each family is very small, these Indians with seed grain, but the grain did not exceeding one hundred acres in the aggre- not arrive until a few days before my visit, gate, more than half of wh'ch is held by four cr when the season was too far advanced to sow is five families. There is an Episcopal and also a with any prospects of securing a fair crop. It Roman Catholic missionary residing here seems like mocking the Indians to send them Mobt of the Indians now profess Christianity SEED GRAIN IN THE MONTH OF JUNE and some of them seem to practice it more closely than do many white professors. to be sown in land which is almost certain to be Last winter a teancster employed in one of the visited by August frosts. log shanties up the Winnipeg River, was coming There seems to be considerable room for im- to Selkirk for supplies, and passed through the provement in the mode of dealing with the In- Indian settlement on Sunday. Having only dians out West, as well as at Oka, and I would wild hay to feed his horses, he sought to buy make the following some oats or barley from the Indians, but found SUGGESTIONS that only one Indian had any grain to spare. teamster called The at the house of this Indian, for the consideration of those in authority : whom he found reading his Indian Testament, First—Let all the treaty stipulations be car- but when the teamster proposed to buy a bag of ried out to the letter, and in the way and at the oats or barley the Indian flatly time when it will do the Indians the greatest amount of good. REFUSED TO SELL Second—The Indians should be encouraged to any on Sunday, since all such transactions were build dwelling-houses, raise cattle, and cultivate forbidden in that book (pointing to the Indian the soil as much as possible, by furnishing them Testament). The teamster pleaded earnestly the with the things needful to this end, at as cause of his hungry horses, but in vain, as the low rates as possible, and in some cases, it may Indian was inexorable in his purpose to keep the be gratuit msly. Sabbath. During the Sunday which I spent at Third—A practical farmer, with his family, Pine Falls, quite a number of Indians transport- should be stationed in each reserve to conduct a ed their canoes and luggage across the portage, "model farm," where the young Indians could "»

The Letters of Rusticus. 35

be tat gat to work steadily while young, be- the Assiniboine to Portage La Prairie, which lies fore they learn to skuiK around like their nearly due west of Winnipeg about fiity miles ia daddies, which is not very different from a dirtct lino, but is sixty miles by the land road what white people would do if brought up and one hundred and eighty miles by the water in the same way as the Indians are. The route, caused by the extreme crookedness of the farmers chosen to conduct model farms among river. Owing to the prevailing rains, the water the Indians should Ire something more than poli- was unusually high, and still rising, which added tical hacks, whose chuf end in all their doings to the swiftness of the current against which is their own and their party's aggrandizement. the good steamer "Cheyenne" had to contend. Each one should, in addition to a complete The boat was heavily laden with freight and knowledge of farming, be a jick-of-all- trades, about seventy passengers, and in addition bad a with a great deal of patience and persever- deeply-laden barge in tow alongside. Under ance, and, if possible, an enthusiast in his de- such unfavorable circumstances it was not won- sire to promote the advancement of the Indian derful that our progress westward was exceed- race. His wife and family should also be a ingly slow, so that we were forty hours from little enthusiastic in the same way, and while leaving Red River until we reache*d the landing hating: dirt and lice with a perfect hatred should at Portage La Prairie. not bo too squeamish and eaeily disgusted by Thi3 voyage was to me most tedioua, owing to their presence. This farmer should be supplied the very slow progress of the boat, as well as the with ail the things needful to begin and carry monotonous on the farm, and in addition to a moderate salary receive also a percentage of the produce SCENERY ALONG THE BANKS raised on the farm. A number of Indian lad> of the river, which are lined with bruehwocd and some lasse3 from twelve to eighteen years of nearly all the way ; in which there is an occa- age should be en gaped permanently working on sional opening where some French native has the farm, and older Indians should be allowed to erected a house and cultivates a few acres of wcrk in payment for such supplies as they may ground—when he is at home. On some of these need. All Indians who may desire to cultivate patches of cultivated land the crops looked well, lands of their own should be furnished with seed but the) greater portion was suffering from too grain from the model, farm by way of a loan, to much rain, as the growing crops were in many be paid back the following fall, when the thresh- places being drowned out by water, which by a ing is done. The farmer should see that the full very little tffort at draining would have run amount of grain id returned in the fall to be intj the Assiniboine and allowed the crops to again lent to the same parties the following grow with all the luxuriance which such rich spring, and thus the ground would not have to soil is capable of producing. remain idle for lack of seed to row in it, as is so Although I took cabin passage, for which I often the case now, since want of forethought, paid $3, the number of lady passengers was so more than laziness, is the great drawback to the large that th>y occupied nearly ail the sleeping Indians becoming successful farmers. berths, so that I and many other gentlemen had While waiting for the boat to sail to Winnipeg # to sleep during two nights on the cabin floor, river, I went out about three miles west of this with no other bedclothes than our coat or satchel city, where a number of Indians are encamped, for a pillow. and tried to interview several Indian chiefs from few miles west of Winnipeg, when passing Qu'Appelle, at the head of the Assiniboine River, A through the parishes of St. James and but for want of a proper interpreter I could not St. Charles, there are what are called get much information. I learned that some of the Indians in that country do a good deal of THE ASSINIBOINE RAPIDS, farming, but tbe greater part do nothing in that line. The Indians complained of not having re to be overcome by every boat going to the Port- ceived the cattle promised to them, and were age. It is probable that the " Cheyenne considerably annoyed at a recent order of the would have been able to have sailed up these Government prohibiting the sending of cartridges rapids had she been unencumbered, but with the to the North- West. Some of these Indians had barge in tow it could not be done without assist- their ance from shore. Ten men (hands of the FACES PAINTED boat) were landed, and, taking the end of a very long rope, drew it out to its with yellow, blue and green paint, and with large full length up the banks beside the feathers stuck in their heads, seemed to think rapid stream and fastened it to a tree or some they looked formidable but I think there is not ; object on shore, while the other end of the rop hair the fight in them that is in many of the was put around the capstan, which is worked bv French native traders. I have been informed steam. The rope was then drawn in, and th>> that the Government has issued orders for the engines kept going at full steam, when the* persons who bought lands unlawfully from the " Cheyenne" and her consort ascended the rapid i treaty Indians in St. Peter's reserve to vacate at a snail's pace. This process had to be gon<» the lands immediately, which, although it may through three or four times before reaching Head- involve some cases of hardship, is a step in the ing ly. right direction. Tae banks of the river westward from Head- Winnipeg, June 20th. ingly are very low, and in the vicinity of Baic. St. Paul only about two feet above the present water in ; NAVIGATION OF THE ASSINIBOINB BIVER—HELP high the river but as the immediate ING THE STEAMER—A WESTERN THUNDER banks are generally higher than the land a shorn distance back, the back river STORM—PORTAGE LA PBAIBIE. water from the in many places flooded considerable tracts of other-

Sir,—On ihe afternoon of June 21st I left wise good land . When passing near the lower Winnipeg on the steamer " Cheyenne " to go up end of .

3 6 The Letters of Rusticus.

L0N3 LAKE "WOODING UP" my attention was attracted to a large drain or where there had been no previous preparation. cutting, which had been done by the Public When the boat required a fresh supply of fuel Works Department of this province, for the she was tied to the shore near to where there of trees purpose of draining the water of Long Lake into are a number dry which had been kill- ed by fire. All hands were then sent ashore the Assiniboine ; but as the former refused to fell trees, in join the latter at this point, the Assiniboine con- to these and cut them lengths of twelve to twenty feet, suitable for carry- cluded to use the canal to convey a portion of its from surplus water into Long Lake. To prevent this ing on board, and when enough of them were untoward event a dam had to be made across the obtained the boat started on her journey, while Government canal, and when I passed the water the boatmen employed their leisure time in cut- on the Assiniboine side of the dam wa3 fully two ting up and splitting these leg3 into suitable size feet higher than the surface of the water on the for firing up with. other side of the dam. The latter finds an outlet THE VILLAGE OF PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE the immense marsh of Baie St. Paul along and is divided into east and west by an intervening into the Assiniboine, many miles lower down strip of beautiful farming country. In front of River. towards the Bed this there is a very large coulie which, at some The timber along the banks of the river for former period, not very remote, formed the bed nearly half the distance to Portage La Prairie is of the river Assiniboine, which seems to have a rather small, but as you approach the Portage peculiar fondness for opening new channels for respectable size the trees are of and would com- itself. It is quite evident that at some remote pare favorably with the low-lying woodlands of period the river Assiniboine emptied into Lake Quebec or Ontario. Manitoba, as the surface of the water in the lat- of while the On the morning the 22nd June ter is considerably lower than that in the former, sailing Bluff to- "Cheyenne" was from High an i there is the mark of the old bed of the river wards first the Portage, I witnessed the nearly all the way to the lake. I would not be much surprised if the Assiniboine should yet GENUINE THUNDER-STORM turn to its former course and mingle with tbje clear waters of Lake Manitoba instead of con- that I saw in this country. The thunder cloud tinuing its present crooked course to the Red before reaching us had a peculiar indigo-blue River at. Winnipeg, Some of the older inhabi- color which I have never seen in the eastern pro- tants of the Portage state that at times of un- vinces. This strange color drew the attention of usually high water in the Assiniboine, the water the passengers, especially of Mr. Wild, of Lon- has in some cases overflowed its present bank? don, Ont., and editor of the Canada Farmer, who and run north to Lake Manitoba. was with us. The rain which followed was not The farming country near the Portage seems as heavy as I have frequently seen in Lower to be Canada, but the flashes of lightning and peals of THE GARDEN OF MANITOBA, thunder succeeded each other more rapidly than if not of the North- West. The deep black feofl I had ever seen before. The storm did not con- has a slight mixture of sand in it, which m.kes tinue more than twenty minutes, but a equaw it less nearer to was struck dead in her hut near High Bluff by much tenacious than Winni- peg. land is also slightly rolling, con- the lightning,and her husband was also stunned; The and sequently does not suffer from the very heavy some cattle were also said to have been killed rains of the present season . While travelling in The equaw who was killed belonged to a band of this vicinity 1 saw numerous large fields of the Sioux who were driven out of the United spring wheat, the growth of which was much States. They are still believers, more or less, in ranker than I have ever seen spring wheat in pagan superstitions, and almost immediately after Ontario Quebec, early a period in its death the poor squaw was buried in a hole dug or at so growth. I heard also many accounts of the in the spot where she was killed, and the whole enormous quantity produced per acre from band removed their huts to another place of en- wheat here in former seasons ; but I campment, as they would not venture to remain sown fear that proper are not always used where such an accident had occurred. Four means secure correct figures. people of the days after the accident I passed this encamp- to The considerably ment and found that they were making prepara- Portage (village) are at present exercised the great probability of being left tions to have the corpse taken out of the hole by out in the cold by the railway passing six or into which it was so unceremoniously placed, in eight miles north of the village, and also by the order to its being decently interred in the Pro- steamboat navigation the Assiniboine ceasiDg testant burying -ground at High Bluff. on when the railway is completed westward from While speaking about the lightning in this Winnipeg, since merchandise as well as passen- country I may state that nearly a week after- gers can be more cheaply as well as ex- wards, during a thunder-storm at night, the much peditiously transported westward by rail than flashes of lightning were so continuous for several crooked, rapid, and often shallow river minutes that I Believe there would not have by the Assiniboine. There are in the village at present been much difficulty in reading ordinarily large flour mills and a sawmill, all driven by print by this electric light. two ; there are also numerous stores and During the present season several voyages have steam power hotels, and a court house and jail will probably been made upon the Assiniboine as far up as added before long. Fort Ellice,or five hundred miles from Winnipeg be by the course of the river. These western voyages IN QUICKSAND—WADING ON THE PRAIRIE were made under considerable difficulties owing WELLS MOSQUITOES. to the crookedness and in some places shallow- —THE ness of the river, the danger of running against Sir,—The distance from the Portage (village) snags, and the trouble of northward to Lake Manitoba is about fifteen The Letters of Rusticus.

miles. The country for the first eleven miles is ex- A CHARMING PLACE TO DRIVE ALONG, cellent farming land, but tor lour units as you as it is elevated some 70 or 80 feet above the ad- approach the lake the surface is at present a reed jacent plains. I am informed that there is but marsh, interspersed with small lakes which are a one settler in the whole township of Bonnie Doon, great resort tor wild ducks. A sportsman fr>iu a good deal of the land being reserved for wood Winnipeg visited this place last fall, and curing lots. The townships cf Meadowlea and Wood- a week's shooting secured more than lands (townships 13 and 14 in range 2, west) are A WAGGON LOAD OF BIRDS. much more thickly settled than the townships on either side of them, yet tbere i3 not more than In no place that I visited is the land lying be- an average of one inhabited house to every tween the Assiniboine and the lake more than 1,000 acres of land, which is nearly all of good twelve or fifteen feet higher than the surface of quality, but badly in need of a system of the water in the river at present, yet, owing to drainage. the presence of several winding coulies (evidently The people here are nearly all immigrants the bed of a river at some former period) the from Canada or Britain, and have had a land is mostly dry. Only a few quarter-sections PRETTY HARD ROW TO HOE are without gooa dry Bites on which to erect the farm buildings. This tract of country is under- since their arrival, as the grasshoppers destroyed laid by a bed of quicksand from six to twelve feet nearly all their crops during the first two years from the surface of the ground. Wells dug into of their residence here, and the wet weather this bed of sand have a never-failing supply of nearly destroyed the third crop. The reason water, even in the driest weather, as there is that the people here came to lose their crops by evidently some connection between the waters wet the year after the grasshoppers left was cf Lake Manitoba and the water in the quick because they were mostly sown on low lands, sand underlying the country south of it. Seve- which are entirely free from the boulders that ral respectable farmers, living from six to eight cause considerable inconvenience when plough- miles south from the lake shore, have assured ing the higher portions, and during the previous me that when the wind blows from the north dry seasons these low lands were dry enough to for several days, causing a rise of one or two feet cultivate advantageously ; but when the wet in the surface of the water at the southern ex weather came they had to be abandoned, and are tremity of Lake Manitoba, there is also a cor- now lying waste. This tract of country is, responding rise in the water in their wells. however, an excellent place for stock-raising, as Although this section is so advantageous for there is an abundant supply of pasturage and farmers, it is, like all other new settlements in meadow lands, and this, with dairying, seems to this province, very sparsely settled. I don't be the chief source of income among the farmers believe there are more than five or six inhabited here at present. houses in the whole of the township, thirteen At the time when I visited this part of the in sixth range, west, yet $2,000 is the price asked province the people seemed to be suffering from for some unimproved quarter- sections iu the an unusual series of unfortunate events. They south side of this township. There have been had had a a much larger number of "jumping unpleasantness " HOMESTEADS lately, and a number of them had to give bonds taken here, but homesteading in this province to appear to stand their trial at tho Court cf does not always imply the building of a dwelling- Queen's Bench, to be held in Winnipeg next house or the bringing into cultivation of a por- September. The weather was very wet, and tion of the soil. the land wetter than the oldest inhabitant ftm I did not notice any spots of alkali lands near ever seen here at this season of the year. Peo- the Portage, but about ten or twelve miles north- ple living in the eastern provinces, who have east towards the head of Long Lake there are pretty good roads to travel on, with bridges to numerous spots of alkali, and north of L^ngLake cross over the streams and sloughs, can scarcely they are very frequent. The land lying north realize the inconvenience of travelling on foot of Long Lake is also more or less stony on the during a wet time like this in these parts. Al- drier portions, and in travelling across this though my boots are good for travelling through portion of the country (township 13, ranges 2 water up to ten inches deep, yet for several days and 3 west), the road is most of the time either while journeying here I wore no socks. These crossing a stony, an alkali, or a wet strip of land, luxuries were most useful when carried in my the alkili growing less frequent as you journey pocket, and after wading through each deep eastward. There is also a gravel ridge of con- slough I would pull off my boots and after siderable height crossing the northern part of emptying out the superfluous water, pull them on these townships, which near the corner of again, wet as they were. Twice during one half- Poplar Heights (township 13, rar»ge 3 west) is day's iDurney I had to wade through water so seventy or eighty feet high. This ridge is deep that it generally well wooded, where the fire has not tails my coat, been making recent inroads on the forests. Most wetted the op of the land north of this ridge is also wooded, which is not a long one, and on one of these oc- while the soil is not desirable for cultivation, casions I had to go over half a mile with the being mostly sandy and stony ridges, with wet water from a foot to two and a half feet deep the of marBhes intervening . When approaching towards whole distance. Perhaps some of the readers the north-east corner of Poplar Heights, the the Witness may think it rather monotonous high gravel ridge turns northward through a reading about so much water ; but it was much corner of Bonnie Doon (township 14, range 3, more so to have to travel through it on foot. west). The summit of the ridge here is devoid Again, the mosquitoes are now at their worst, of all bushes or trees for several miles, and ia and they are scmetimes not to be despised. On ; x v 3« The Letters of Rusticus.

the evening of Monday, July 1st, I was travel- acquired double the amount of land that they ling through a very wetpart of the country near could legally secure if they had postponed their the boundary between Woodlands and Meadow- homasteadiog until after they became man and lea. There were occasional Bhowers of rain fall- wife. But in all such cases of "double-home- ing, and between the showers the mosquitoes as- steading" there is a seemingly insuperable diffi- sailed me in larger numbers than I had ever seen culty in complying with the requirements of the before, and it required the rapid use of both my law. Indeed it is not desirable that persons hands armed with a bush to wipe them off my after becoming "one flesh" should each reside face and neck. When I reached the home of a upon separate homesteads, consequently one of poor settler, my the claims must remain unoccupied. If such cases as these were the only ones where the re- WINGED PBBSE0DT0B3 quirements of the Homestead Act are not com- were for a while driven away by a smudge, but a plied with, the evil would not be great, since short time after retiring to rest on a " shake there are but few such ; but in some down" laid on the " cabin floor," a heavy thun- townships at least, on more than half of derstorm came on and drowned out the smudges, the homesteads the requirements of the law have which emboldened the " skeeters" to pay me an- cot been complied with. On a great many quar- ter sections which were homesteaded from five other visit, which lasted till morning ; conse- quently, I got neither rest nor eleep that night, to seven years ago no permanent settlement was and arose in the morning more tired and sore made until within the past two years, while a than when I lay down. The forenoon of the large number remain still untenanted with only next day, July 2nd, was also murky and wet, and a few acres brought under cultivation, and per- I felt as if I would never despise mosquitoes haps the walls of a house erected, and not a few again, but the weather cleared up at noon and homesteads remain without any attempts being with a slight wind blowing the mosquito siege made to bring them under cultivation. was raised, and I don't know that I am any The only check, so far as I have yet heard, to worse from the effects of this encounter, but this reprehensible mode of homesteading is by would not like to repeat it. what is called "jumping;" but it seems to me Winnipeg, July 7. that it would be difficult to devise a scheme bet- ter calculated to CBEATB HEABT-BUBNINGS AND LASTING HATBED LADIES AND THE HOMESTEAD ACT—" JUMPING"— A FORCIBLE EJECTION—SPECULATING IN GOV- between neighbors. Its operations are almost EBNMBNT GBANTS. exclusively confined to depriving the poor and friendless of their homesteads when they have Rib,—Nearly all the readers of the Witness failed to fully comply with the law, while the have already heard of the " Homestead Act," by rich and influential are in a great measure pro- which actual settlers receive a free grant of a tected from its operations. The mode of " j amp- quarter section (one hundred and sixty acres) of ing" is as follows : Some person who has not yet Government land upon condition of making cer- secured a homestead for himself may have been tain improvements residing it for three and on casting longing eyes on an unoccupied home- years consecutively, during which time the set- stead. If its former claimant has numerous tler is liable to forfeit his homestead rights if ab friends in the neighborhood where the claim i3 feat from it -for more than six months in any situated, very few people will care to jump it year. All heads of families, and also unmarried but if he has not he can secure his homestead men and women who are over eighteeu years of claim with "scrip." A large number of lots age, may take up homesteads, and although which were held for several years as homesteads THE IDEA OP SINGLE LADIES without being the home of any human being, and during which time their market value was faithfully performing homestead duties seems more than doubled, were afterwards secured to unnatural, yet a number of such have secured the their owner by his land, but that they have complied with the M PLACING SOBIP ON THEM," terms impo3ed by Government ia rather doubt- ful. During my travels over this province I which scrip perhaps cost originally only from have met with a great many unmarried gen- $40 to $50. If, however, the original home- tlemen who are fulfilling the letter if not the steader is not in a positiou to frighten away in- spirit of the law by "baching " it on their home- tending jumpers, nor yet to ' sctip" his claim, < stead ; but I have not yet met with a single and if stiil unable or unwilling to reside on it, case wo ere a maiden lady has been honestly en- the "jumper" gets two persons acquainted with deavoring to comply with the law which the lot to be jumped to make affidavits before gives her a title to her lands. Indeed the Crown Lands agent or a magistrate to the any attempt to do so would scarcely seem effect that the requirements of the Homestead prudent in a country where the population is Act have not been complied with, when the bo ytry scattered. The only feasible way by original grant is cancelled, and a new homestead which ladiei might faithfully comply with the grant of it is made cm behalf of the jumper, who terms of the law giving them a right to "home- in addition to seouring the homestead has se- stead" land, is by forming a matrimonial al- cured the enmity of its former owner and his liance with some gentleman friend, in whose friends, and besides is generally looked upon as company homestead duties may be faithfully a "mean fellow." performed, thereby Fecuring the approval of a A rather seriou3 ca?e of jumping and house- good conscience in addition to a reasonable share demolishing took place in the township of of conjugal bliss. I have heard of seme cases Meadowlea a few days before my visit to that where parties engaged to be married have each locality. The north-wesb quirter of section 31 secured homestead rights a short time previous in township 13, range 2, west, was homestead- to their wedding day, and by this means ed some six or seven years ago by Thomas .

The Letters of Rusticus. 39

Bunce, sen.; bat the old gentleman, although ful manner. I afterwards learned that the rea- cultivating stveril acres ou his homestead, con- son which led so many respectable people to par- tinued to res de along with an unmarried son, ticipate in such unlawful doings was the fact whose homestead is on the adjoining quarter that they were nearly all of them personally section. The Buncos, while they had many concerned in crushing out any jumping tendency friends, hid also several enemies in that locality, in that neighborhood, since they all are more or and applications were made to the Crown Lands less interested in lands liable to be jumped. Al- agent at Winnipeg to have Mr. Bunco's claim though the Homestead Act has declar- cancelled last fall. Mr. Codd, the agent, re- ed to be illegal all attempts on the ferred the case to the authorities at Ottawa, and part cf the homesteader to sell his claim was instructed to allow old Mr. Bunce an ex- until he has received his patent for the tension of six months' time in which to get lo- land, yet such sales are often made by means of cated upon his homestead ; Mr. Codd also wrote the "jumping" clause in the Act.as the purchaser, a private letter to Mr. Bunce, urging him stroDg- after paying the price stipulated, id allowed ly to be sure and have his residence on the lot peaceably to jump the lot he has already bought. by the time the six months' extension given him Although a person making a homestead entry would expire. This on any lot is required to Btate on oath (or by affirmation) that he is taking the land for the FEIENDLY ADVICE purpose of making it his home, yet some respect- able people have secured homesteads by making was disregarded by Mr. Bunce, acting, it is said, the necessary affidavit, while having no inten- very upon the advice of his sons, who have not a tion of ever residing on them ; but after holding enviable reputation in these parts, and who them for a few years until their value was great- said that no one would dare to jump the claim ly increased, have put scriD on them or else sold in question. This spring the claim was cancelled them to some one who would then secure pos- by Mr. Codd, on sufficient proof of the require- session by jumpinc. ments of the homestead law not being complied The tree-planting scheme, so far as this with, and Mr. G. F. Hyde had it entered as his province is concerned, seems also to be only homestead, and proceeded to build a house and used as a means for securing unlawful posses- remove with his family to his new acquisition. sion of Government lands. I have heard of But he did not long enioy peaceable possession, cases where people have taken up land for tree- for on the evening of June 17th, a largo party of planting and after retaining possession for seve- the neighbors, headed by old Mr. Bunce and his ral years without planting a tree on them, have two sons, came and forcibly ejected Mr. Hyde sold them to be jumped into a homstead. Some and Lis family frcm their new home, and after others are putting him and all his movables off the lot, pulled down his little house, and carted part of CULTIVATING GRAIN ON THEIR TREE-PLANTlNG it away to the adjoining road, and burnt the CLAIMS, rest of it on the spot. Mr. Hyde started for but I have not yet heard of one acre of these Winnipeg the following morning, and had war- claims being planted with trees, although obtain- rants issued for the arrest of the Bunces and a ed from the Government for that very purpose number of their friends, who were taken to Win- I think it i« high time that all premiums on nipeg, and after a preliminary examination be- lawlessness were abolished in this country, and fore Chief-Justice Weod, had to give bonds tc especially that jumping should be discontinued, appear at the next term of the Court of Queen's and in all cases where people neglect or refuse to Bench in Winnipeg next September, to be there comply with the terms on which they first se- tried oefore a jury of their countrymen. I visit- cured their lands, the Government might cancel ed Mr. Hyde, also the Bunces and some of their such claims and resell the lands as they may see associates in this transaction, and of course re- fit without giving a jumper the chance of mak- ceived different accounts of the affair but what ; ing a rich strike at other people'3 expense. caused me great surprise was the respectable Emerson, July 10. appearance of some of the parties concerned in the unlawful ejectment of Hyde, and the destruction of his house. Among the assailants of poor Mr. Hyde were two schoolmasters at A HEARTY RESPONSE—A CHAPTER OF INFER- present in charge of the two public schools near- ENCES, QUOTATIONS AND THANKS. est to the scene of law-breaking. A neighbor- ing magistrate is also blamed with being one of Sir, —Perhaps I should have sooner acknow- the chief plotters and counsellor to these deeds of ledged the hearty response which many of the violence, although not present when it was Sunday-schools in Ontario, and also private in- dividuals, have to appeal for old Sun- enacted ; and a clergyman who ministers to the made my people in holy things, not only expressed his ap- day school papers, to be distributed among the proval of the course pursued by the Bunces and children attending Sabbath- schools in the new their friends, but also expressed regret that he settlements in the North- West. I hardly anti- assist cipated receiving so many bundles of papers.and was not present to in the good work ; so that this disgraceful act of lawlessness for sometime was at a loss to know what to do secured the approval, if not the active with those left after I had sent parcels to all the assistance of the magistrate, the minis- SUNDAY-SCHOOLS ter, and the schoolmasters of the place. I have been thinking that if the plotting J. P. in the new settlements with which I was ac- had been present to read the Riot Act, and the quainted. I afterwards sent a considerable num- sympathetic divine was there to say prayers, the ber of parcels of papers to nearly all the Protes- ejectment of Hyde and his family, and the de- tant clergymen in the province who had Sunday- struction of their home, might have been per- schools, and by this means distributed most of formed in a more orderly if not in a more law- the papers I had left. 4-0 The Letters of Rusticus.

I am much pleased to find that an unusually this mail, which I gathered from the scholars large number of Sunday-schools have been of the Embro Congregational Sabbath-school. organized in the new settlements of this province The children were delighted to hava the during the present summer, the number started pleasure of doing something to help the this spring probably wxceeding all the Sunday- schools of the great NorthWest. I hope that schools that had been in operation previously, you will see that they are properly dis- although the wet season has been very much tributed, regardless of denomination. I hope- against the organization of schools in sparsely to send another parcel in a few days." I take populated districts. Would not the numerous this opportunity to inform the obliging writer of Sunday-school children in Ontario think much the above note, that the papers have been dis- more of their present advantages if they saw the tributed as directed, and while the children of difficulties which some children here have to Embro Congregational Sabbath- school were de- overcome in attending school, both on week days lighted to give their Sunday-school papers, and

and Sunday ! I know of some children who have as I was delighted to receive them, and as, I to walk from two to three miles to attend am sure, the children in the back settlements in school,—not or good roads, but through wet, this province were still more delighted to have grassy meadows, where they are often up to the the reading of them, it must, therefore, be a de- knees in water. Although many Sunday-schools lightful work all r^und. — ha ze been started this season, yet I have visited A writer from Halloway, Ont., says : " Could some places where there are none as yet, but some cheap way be found to forward books, &c, could not get one started for want of a suitable I have no doubt that many Sunday-schools could building in which to hold it, as there are no send you their old library books." I may here barns built here, and owing to the scarcity of inform the writer that the only feasible way that timber the dwelling houses are exceedingly small I know of to send such, is by sending them along in6ize. As school houses are likely to be aoon with persons coming to this country. I may erected in these parts, this also add that parcels of papers sent by post only require to be paid at the rate of one cent per four WANT OP A PROPER BUILDING ounces. A good many of the parcels sent here were much overpaid, some of them being paid at in hold which to the Sabbath- school will cease. the rate of one cent per ounce weight. It has given considerable me pleasure in look- I purpose to start to visit the country on the ing over the Sunday-school papers sent to me, Little Saskatchewan in a few days, and will to observe that 3ome of them were from six to probably find many places where parcels of ten years old, yet had been carefully preserved Sunday-school papers would be very acceptable, by the boy or girl who had first received them ; and likely to do good. I trust that many more now, and when the scholars of eight years ago parcels of Sunday-school papers may be sent to have to grown be men and women, they have " Eusticus, Drawer 32, Winnipeg, Manitoba," forwarded their carefully-preserved Sunday- so that on my return from the West I may have school papers to me, to be distributed among the the pleasure of forwarding them to their destina- children in the back settlements of the North- tion. Tendering my hearty thanks, as well as West. the thanks of many little boys and girls in this I was especially amused, in looking through a country, to those who have already sent parcels large bundle of quite new American Sunday- of Sunday-school papers, I remain, Bchcol papers to discover some clue as to the Winnipeg, July 22nd. sender of them, to find after considerable search, written in a bold hand across the head of one UP THE RED RIVER— SOME ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. of the papers, the name ,J Sir, sail up the Bed River from Winnipeg LUC LETELLIER DE ST. JUST." —A to the United States boundary is not nearly so If Lieutenant-Governor Letellier really sent that pleasant as a voyage down the river to Selkirk, large bundle of beautiful new Sunday-school as the scenery along the banks of the river south papers,! hope that he will be allowed to com- of Winnipeg can scarcely be said to have plete his term as Governor without any further undergone much improvement from the pre- annoyance. I have also received several notes sence of settlers, whose chief anxiety seems from persons who sent parcels of papers, and to be to cut into cordwood all the larger take the liberty of making a few extracts from trees which formerly adorned the banks tbem. A girl eleven years old writes, in beau- of the river. For a sumber of miles tiful handwriting, without a blot or mistake, SOUTH FROM WINNIPEG "I see from the Witness that you request any one who has Sunday school papers to send them the river is very crooked, like the Assiniboine, to you. I comply with your request, and mail only the current is not nearly so swift, so that you two bundles today, and sail hope that they we much more rapidly going up stream ; will be of some use to little boys and girls in the yet we feel surprised, after several hours pretty far-off land." smart sailing, to be told when passing the out- Another little girl writes : "I send you these let of the Stinking River, that we are still with- few papers for the children. This is all I have in ten miles of Winnipeg in a direct course. ju&t now, as I sent a lot away to Algoma, to my The land along the river banks thus far is cousins there, but I will try and get all I can pretty thickly settled by French natives, but for you. Please, sir, will you send me word if very little of it is cultivated, and even the small you get them, and I will send more if these go cultivated fields often show more signs of weeds all right." than of grain. The A gentleman who has sent two large parcels of •' CANADA THISTLE papers to me, writes as follows : In answer to your appeal in the Witness of May 18 ;h, I send seems to attain to great perfection here, and you a large parcel ( f Sabbath-school papers by being now in full bloom, its pink blossoms help The Letters of Rusticus. 4* to beautify the landscape, and its fragrant per- THE SCBATCHING BIVER fume, wafted across the river as the boat steams has its source in an immense marsh into which past, reminds the old Canadian farmer who may the Boyne River empties its waters, the latter be on board of scenes and odors perhaps too may be said to be a continuation of the former. familiar to him in his youthful days. Above About six miles south from Scratching River, th» mouth of Stinking River, the houses on the on the west side of the Red River, there is a b/*&ka of the river become few and far between, little village called St. Jean Baptiste, somewhat with very little cultivated land to be seen, and celebrated as the scene of rather disgraceful thla wilderness state continues along the eastern transactions at the time of the provincial elec- bank until within a few miles of Emerson. On tions last winter, when two persons were severe- the west bank of the river a number of Canadian ly wounded by pistol shots, and a Catholic ptiest farmers have Bettled in several places, and some rudely, if not illegally, arrested while endeavor- of them have erected neat dwellirg-houses, and ing to prevent the execution of a warrant of have brought a considerable quantity of land arrest on another party. There is a pretty under cultivation ; but I am Borry to say that stream emptying into Red River here called tbese settlements are almost exclusively con- Plum Coulie, and half a dozen English-speaking fined to the banks of the Red River, Canadians have beautiful farms on the banks of with small settlements extending back a this stream two or three miles west ef Red River. short distance on the banks of Scratching River, The next township south of this (township Plum Coulie, and the Marais River. Except at three, range one, east) has been reserved for ex- the three places named I believe that there are patriated French-Canadians from the Eastern not a score of inhabited houses to be found at States, but only two very small huts are at pre- present west of Red River, which are more than sent erected outside of the river lots in this town- one mile and less than twelve miles distant from ship, although all the land is nominally taken its banks, in the fifty miles between Stinking up as homestead and pre-emptions. A number River and the boundary of Dakota yet this ; of these homestead lots are taken up by the tract is all excellent land, and most of it very French-Canadians, who have bought river lots, easily drained, where it is not already dry on which they now reside, but this mode of enough, and I believe that nearly the whole of homesteading is not peculiar to French-speaking this tract is claimed by private individuals. Canadians. I have also been informed that At the mouth of the Scratching River there is several homesteads are taken in this township by a small persons who are not in the province at present, VILLAGE CALLED MOBBIS, some of them having gone to Dakota and there homesteaded other lands,while others have never which contains about two dozen dwelling-houses been in the province at all. So far as I can learn, with several stores and taverns, and two churches this latter mode of homesteading is peculiar to built and another being erected . As this place this settlement, as it has not been practised else- is at the most western point on the Red River it where. is probable that it will secure railway connection The next township south of this (township with Winnipeg before many years, when it will two, range one, east) is also a French-Canadian likely become of considerable importance. reserve, and there are quite a number of dwell- There are two villages of Mennonites located ing houses built on it, and some of these farmers four and six miles from here, up the Scratching have also River. I did not visit these villages, but was informed by several people here that these PBETTT LARGE FIELD3 OF GBAIN Mennonites are far outstripping their Canadian neighbors in the raising of grain. Poplar is the around their dwellings. There 5s a settlement chief kind of timber growing on the banks of of English-speaking farmers on the banks of the the Red River from Lake Winnipeg up to near little Marais river, partly in this township and the mouth of the Scratching River, but above partly in the next township south of it (township this the character of the timber changes, and one, range one, east). These people seem to culti- vate more land on an average than is oak is the principal wood, with a considerable done in other settlement that I sprinkling of elm, ash and bass-wood. It is a any have yet seen in the great pity to see the way that this small belt of North- West; the quantity ranging from sixty to one hundred and fifty acres to timber is being destroyed to furnish firewood for each farmer, the steamboats navigating Red River, as well as and their grain crops looked remarkably fine. for other purposes. If the present consumption They have also a neat little frame Methodist of firewood continues for half a dozen years Episcopal Church, in which week day and Sun- longer the»e will day-schools have been started the present sea- son. There is a complaint that the lands sur- SCARCELY BE A TBEE LEFT rounding the farms here have been reserved for Mennonites and French- Canadians, which will between Winnipeg and Emerson—yet some of prevent the English settlement from growing the French natives are quite reckless about their larger. Very few cattle seem to be kept in this woodlands. I was told that several of these part, as some of the grainfields remain unfenced, people were last winter paying one dollar per while others are enclosed by wire fences, which cord for getting their oak trees chopped into cost here from 40c to 6O3 per rod. cordwood, which they afterwards drew from Several bands of Mennonites who located four four to six miles to Morris, and sold at $2 per or five years ago on the Rat River Reserve, east cord. of Red River, finding their lands too wet for Although the Scratching River is not much profitable cultivation, are preparing to settle over a dozen miles in length, yet there is about near the Marais River on the east end of the as much water discharged by it into the Red large Mennonite reserve, reaching almost from River as is discharged by the Pembina River, Emerson to the Pembina Mountains. which is several hundred miles long, but as Some ten or twelve miles north of Emer- The Letters of Rusticus.

eon a pretty large stream, called the Ro- their homesteads at the same rate as for their seau River empties into Red River from pre-emptions. I was very much surprised to the east. The land near the mouth of gee such a statement in the Globe, as I saw this river is very wet, and is held as an cobbing to justify such a, statement in the new Indian reserve, but a few miles up the stream, regulations as published in the Manitoba papers, where the Pembina Branch Railway crosses.there and also in the Globe itself. The new land policy is a thrifty Canadiaa settlement with a village is bad enough in itself without the Globe charging springing up, with a churoh, school, post-office, it with faults which do not exist. two stores, a blacksmith's forge and a fanning- I have seen so many cases where the former mill manufactory. The farnw on the banks of land laws in this province have been the Roseau are dry and easily tilled, but a short distance back from the river the land is exceed- PRODUCTIVE OF CHEATING, ingly wet, except where drained by the ditches other offences against made on each side of the railway track. Some fake swearing and good not regret to see farmers who homesteaded land here five or six morals that I would them greatly changed. years ago have been compelled to leave their annulled or I have always homesteads and remove back to "the ridge" thought that it was unjust for the whole people of the Dominion to be taxed to build a railway (townships 1 and 2, range 4, east) which had the value persons' been kept for several years as a French reserve, which will increase of a few while these persons are not but was opened for general settlement nearly two lands four-fold, charged with the cost of constructing such rail- years ago, and is all taken up by English- more than if their lands were in Prince speaking farmers. The soil in these two town- way any Edward's Island, where the increase in price ships is a sandy loam, and the surface is moder- building of the Canada Pacific ately rolling, and seems to be caused by the Railway is very small, if increased at all. It SUPERIOR FARMING LAND. seems to me that if the land, lying on each Bide of the railway, and more directly bene- A number of small creeks cross these townships, fited by its construction, were charged with coming from the swamps which lie towards the the full cost of making the road, the farmers east, but they all get lost in the wet lands in living on such lands would find the money paid townships one and two in third range east. One for constructing the railway to be profitably in- of these creeks is of considerable size, and vested for if the adjacent lands paid the origi- is called the Jordan, on the banks of ; nal cost of construction, Government would which, some three or four miles back, there scarcely venture to charge jnore for carrying is a small Mormon settlement, but as they do passengers and freight than would pay for run- not practice polygamy, their customs do not ning expenses, and keeping the road in repair, seem to be much different from their neighbors and the difference would more than pay the in- My journey of seven miles made when returning terest on the money paid for the land at first. from "the ridge" to the Red River, was over the I think, however, that the Government is trying wettest road on which I had yet travelled, and to raise too much money, and more than is as a good deal of rain has fallen since—to-day needed for making the road. As the readers of being about the wettest day I have seen since the Witness have all seen the new regulations (I coming to this province—the depth of water y suppose) I will not here repeat them, but if any must be considerably greater now. person will add up ^Winnipeg, July 24. THE TOTAL AMOUNT TO BE CHARGED

THE NEW LAND POLICY, ITS DISADVANTAGES for the land for every mile in length of railway AND BENEFITS—BKIGHT PROSPECTS FOR MANI- he will find that it amounts to $246,000, which TOBA-CHANGES NEEDED. is made up as follows : Sir,—The most interesting subject of conver- In belt A, 6,400 acres at $6 $38,400 sation in the country, except the wet state of the In belt B railway lands 9,600 acres .'. meadow lands, is the new regulations regarding at $5. 48,000 Pre-eaiptions,4,800 acres at $2.50 12,000 the lands reserved for some distance on each side la belt C, railway lands, 12.800 acres at of the line of the Canada Pacific Railway. This $3.50 44.800 new land policy, which has some good features Preemptions, 6,400 acres at $2. 50 ; 6,000 about it, seems to be almost universally con- In belt D railway lands, 12,800 acres demned here, as tending to drive immigration at $2...' 25,600 mptions acres at into Dakota, which is true to a certain extent, as Pre-f 6,400 $2 12, 800 Iu belt E, railway lands, 32,000 acres Dakota will absorb nearly all the people coming at $1 32.000 to the North-West, for some time to come, Preemptions, 16,000 acres at$l 16.000 whose attachment to the British Government is not very genuine j but the quantity of desirable Total $245,600 lands open for homesteading in Dakota is getting As a very large proportion of the good lands used up rapidly, after which this country will in the railway reserve (in the 500 miles length have nearly a monopoly of the good land on this between the Red River and the south branch of continent remaining unoccupied, and where the the Saskatchewan) has already passed from the climate is all that could be desired. hands of the Government, it may be safely es- I left Winnipeg too early after the new regu- timat°d that for this distance not over one- lations were issued to see what the eastern papers third the amount estimated above will be had to say about the matter, but I saw a copy of realized, or say $81,866 per mile, and as a good the Toronto Globe, in which it is stated that part of the land will remain unsold for several parties homesteading land in that portion of years,it will diminish this sum by one-third more, THE RAILWAY RESERVE say $27,288, leaving the sum of $54,578 per mile open for homesteading, will have to pay for of road, which is about twice as much as is re- The Letters of Rusticus. 43

quired to build it. Consequently,the Government HAVE THE LAW CHANGED, might reduce their prices by one-half, and still so as to coincide with what is nearly always the realize enough to build the toad, and this would custom here, and let the young unmarried man be considered fair by most fair-miDded men. If secure a homestead on condition of making cer- intending emigrants to the North-West get the tain improvements on it without being compelled idea into their minds that the Government is to leave his father's house before he can get a goinaf to squeeze more money out of them than wife (or is even old enough to marry), and begin is absolutely Deeded to make the road through the demoralizing practice of " baching it alone." to the Rocky Mountains, many of them will be Many other suggestions might be made, I shaken in their loyalty and go over to Uncle but have Sam's territory. not time at present. Burnside, Aug. 1st. But immigrants coming to this country under the new regulations are in a BETTER POSITION TO GET ALONG WESTWABD HO—GOOD CROPS AND GOOD WATER— POST OFFICE ACCOMMODATION NEEDED. than was the ca3e with those who came here six or eight years ago. Not to count the very gre<*t Sir,—I left Winnipeg on Tuesday, July 30th, extra cost and inconvenience which they had to to visit the new settlements in that part of the endure some years ago, above what would be the North-We&t Territory lying west of Manitoba. case were the Canada Pacific Railway opened I had not gone three miles when I came to a from Thunder Bay, the very low price realized waggon stuck in a quagmire, which occupied the for wheat here has scarcely paid the cost of whole breadth of the road, a thiog by no means

its production ; but with a railway open the rare in this country. The weather had hitherto price will be increased fully twenty cents per been showery and this afternoon a smart shower bushel, and a farmer who at the end of three of rain fell, which I am glad to say was the last years is able to sell 1,000 bushels of wheat an- rain of any consequence that has fallen to the nually, and at an increased rate of twenty present. The road from Winnipeg to Poplar cents per bushel, will have money enough from Point (about fifty miles as the trail has to pass this source alone to make the payment re- round north of Long Lake) had in it frequent quired on his eighty acres pre-emption land, mud-holes, and and also the payments on more than twice as THE CROPS many more acres of railway land bought by him. in this part of the country were generally con- T-~> make this appear more plain let us suppose siderably damaged by the wet weather, and will that the immigrant has nothing to sell during the not be over half a crop. A good many of the first year, although he has saved a large sum farmers were working at haying, but their best owing to cheaper freight paid on what he re- meadows were still too wet to cut, and some of quires to make a start on his farm. The second the farmers had not cut any hay yet as it was all year (if his farm i3 good and hs indu&trious) he too wet. will have 400 bushels of wheat for sale, which at From Poplar Point westward to the Portage an it crease of twenty cents per bushel in price the land is dryer and the crops, with a few ex- would amount to §80. The third year he will have ceptions, look magnificent I 1,000 bushels to sell,which at an in jrease in price ; of twenty cents per bushel is $200, or $280 saved NEVER SAW SUCH CROPS in the three years. Out of this he has to in my life. From the Portage to Burnside, eight p*y on bis 80 acres pre-emption, four-tenths of miles, the land is wetter, but as there are a good $200 and three years' interest on the same amount, many dry fields, the crops on these were good. or in all $116. leaving $164 to make the first pay- The road had, however, many bad muJholes ment on a half section of railway land which he through which the teams of travellers found it is now able to buy at $5 per acre, paying one- very difficult to drag their loads. I observed tenth down. The circumstances of our farmer here several bad specimens of selfishness only too will be improved very much the following year, frequent in this country, where the new settlers as he will have much more grain to sell, and the have fenced across the old trails, which had payment on the 80 acres pre-emption will only hitherto kept along the crest of the dry ridges, be $27.20 ; and so on his payments will be dimin- and compelled travellers to drive their teama ishing, while his ability to pay them will be through muddy places which would be considered always increasing. impassable in almost any other country. Often A change (in the interests of morality alone) is the enclosed patch is very small, yet the loss and MUCH NEEDED injury to teams in having to pass around it in a season like this, is much greater in value than in the present law of homesteading. I know of would buy the produce of the whole farm. As cases where a farmer with or three many two the dry ridges in this country run nearly always sons over eighteen years of age has had homesteads from north-west to south-west, a long stretch of taken for each, which requires that eaoh of up good road might often be secured to the western them should swear that he will forsake his father's traveller, were new settlers prevented from house within six months, and, failing to get a putting fences across old ( rails which had been wife, begin to " bach" it on hiB own homestead. travelled for many years before the land in this taking Now the young men, when this oath, country was surveyed. seldom intend to keep it, nor would it be desir- Another peculiarity of this country ia able for a young man only eighteen or twenty years of age to leave his father's home to live THE TOLLS alone as a bachelor for several years, since he which Western travellers have to pay for the pri- would be much more likely to fall into evil vilege of passing over some piece of dry road, habits, from which he would in a great measure or for crossing some creek on a bridge. Tra-

be protected i f still under his father's roof. It vellers passing through Baie St. Paul are obliged would be much better to to pay twenty five cents for every wagon taken 44 The Letters of Rusticus.

actOBS a small patch of dry land belonging to a sandy loam. It is nearly all settled, although French-Canadian, as the adjacent quagmire is the houses are not very numerous, as from two too bad for any team to drive a load through. If to four families occupy a good many of the the traveller passes round north of Long Lake he houses. I saw the walls of a good many more then meets with another tollman who owns a houses which will be roofed in this fall, and al- bridge and twenty-five cents is exacted for every though timber is so scarce in this country, there is double team passing over. About twenty -five a great deal of valuable spruce wasted in "siding miles west of Burnside, on the south trail, there down. " Large spruce logs, which were from two is a bridge over a pretty little stream, for the to two and a half feet in diameter, were sided privilege of crossing which twenty-five cents is down and made into house timber, seven inches charged to double teams and fifteen cents for thick. As this timber is got on Government single teams, and although this bridge did not lands and will all be required this waste should cost over $30 or $40 for its construction, yet he stopped, as much smaller timber could be its owner (a Mr. McKinnon) realizes about $2,000 flatted for good building timber at less expense. annually from the tolls collected from travellers. From Burnside, on Rat Creek, westward to THE CROPS Big Plain there ar» very few settlers. From a here, where the ploughing was done last sum- place four miles west of Burnside the traveller mer, and even on places that were broken up for by the south trail sees only four or five houses in the first time this spring were pretty fair. The a distance of about thirty-five miles. The first soil here is a sandy loam, with a pubsoil of twenty miles of this journey is over a very wet, four to six feet of clay when the sand te again low country, dotted all over with willow bushes reached ; and in some cases wells have been and small poplar bluffs, with numerous alkali dug twenty -four feet without reaching the bottom rjonds, around which the trail has to wriggle, of the sand, but plenty of good water is found. being as crooked in many places as is the course The settlers here (about two hundred in all) are of the River Assiniboine. Nearly all this land badly off for post office accommodation, as their is still owned by the Government, but I think it nearest post office, Burnside, is from forty-five will be some year* before much of it is sold at $5 to sixty miles djstant. Several petitions have per acre. At McKinnon's the trail reaches the been forwarded' to the authorities at Ottawa sand hills, and, except in a few places, the west- to get traveller has no more mud to con- ward bound POST OFFICE ACCOMMODATION, tend with. When I came over the road between Burnside and McKinnon's it was pretty good, as but they have been hitherto unsuccessful. A the muddy places were mostly dried up, but I great injustice will be done to a large body of saw ample evidence of the sufferings which tra- settlers here if better post office accommodation vellers had to endure while passing over this is not given soon, for the people lose many of track in wet weather. Most of the settlers west their letters, and most of their papers of this with whom I have conversed have very which are sent here by post, beside the vivid recollections of the sufferings endured great delays which have to be endured. while passing over this part of the road. The As there is a weekly mail to be started sand hills are from fifty to one hundred feet high, on the 1st of next October, between Palestine run in a north-west direction, and are evidently and Rapid City, and which will cross the north the border of what was once an immense lake, end of Big Plain, a post-office should at once be which at one time covered a good portion of the established there, and another twelve miles fur- Red River valley. The sand hills are in some ther Bouth and a third at the south trail, which is places nearly all covered with bushes, and in about twelve miles still further southward, and these places the soil is pretty good, being a deep there are still numerous settlers from six to eight sandy loam, and at some future time will be oc- miles south of the south trail. The establishing cupied by farmers, but not for a long time if of these post-offices should be done immediately, as there are more families located in this quarter $5 PER ACRE than are in the local county of Woodlands, Mani- toba, yet there are three or four post-offices in is the price to be paid for it. In other places, that county and applications are being made for where the soil is more sandy, the hills are cov- more. I that often the establishment of ered with grass, with a few scrub oak scattered know post-offices are asked from the Ottawa authori- here and there. These sand hills are generally ties in places where they are not needed ; but a succession of small peaks of almost every form this case of the people on the Big Plain should imaginable. About fifteen miles west of Mc- be attended to at once. Kinnon's, Pine Creek is crossed, which is a Taking the trail towards the rapids of the beautiful little stream of clear, cold water, run- Assiniboine, the road for four or five miles winds ning in a valley about eighty feet deep, aDd fed among the peaks of the sand hills, then emerges by numerous springs from the sand hills. On on to a dry plain, and for several miles crosses a the east side of Pine Creek the land is of fair t sandy county not fit for farming, although gene- quality, and several lots of land have been here rally level. Urtek (which is the located, and some breaking ground done, and nearly At Boggy first stream since Pine Creek), some also the walls of two houses put up, but we crossed twenty-four miles away, the soil improves and saw no signs of the inhabitants. The sand hills there are good lots taken up here, and continue for about two miles west of Pine Creek, a many five or six settlers have dwelling-houses erected. which latter is crossed by a bridge made by the is the first stream crossed, since settlers on Boggy Creek BIG PLAIN. leaving Poplar Point, that runs southward to the Assiniboine, and between this place ar.d the Big Plain consists of townships 11, 12, 13, 14 rapids of the Assiniboine, or a distance of eight and 15, in ranges 14, 15 and 16 west. This miles, several beautiful little streams of running large tract ia nwarly all level or slightly rolling, water are crossed which have a few boulders on and the land generally of good quality, being a their banks, which latter is The Letters of Kusticus. 45

sell, their farma n A SIGHT FOB SORE BYES, aold, or were anxious to Manitoba, I felt considerable, surprise, and deter- boulders as I don't remember having seen any mined to investigate the mattex for myself. since leaving Long Lake. There is a consider- I arrived at Pembina, a village situated at able amount of good land along here, which is the junction of the Pembina with the Red mostly all taken up, and several of the settlers River, on the afternoon of July 10th, and ob- (who all came in this summer) have little mud- served that considerable progress had been made in tents. covered huts erected, while others dwell in the erection of new buildings since my visit to also be- More or less breaking of the prairie is this place on the 2 ad of last April. Across the ing done. The scenery here is much more plea- Red River eastward, in the State of Minnesota, a sant than in Manitoba, as the Deer Head Moun- considerable village had sprung up in a locality twelve miles tains are plainly visible some which a little over three months ago was in a of the Assiniboine south of this ; also, the valley state of nature, being then nearly all covered The is within a mile or two towards the south. over with brushwood,which has since been cleared water in the little creeks is pleasing to the taste, away, leaving a number of the larger trees to beau- is and where wells have b3en dug the water tify the surroundings of the many houses which after first rate, which to me was a great treat have been built there lately. The St.Paul and being so of cen sickened by drinking the waters Manitoba Railway Company have laid a track of Manitoba. I purpose this evening going along the bank of the river, where also they are across the Assiniboine and south to Deer Head erecting a large grain elevator. Three steam- Mountains, where the Rev. Mr. Roddick and a boats and numerous barges were lying in the number of Nova Scotians are located. river, receiving or delivering freight. Rapids of Assiniboine, Aug. 5th. Nearly all that I met with had formerly been Canadians who had become American citizens. A DIGRESSION—" RUSTICUS " VISITS DAKOTA- Many of these Cannuck Yankees still retained RAPID GROWTH— CANADIANS IN DAKOTA— their former simple plain style of conversation, THE GRASSHOPPER. but a few of them had adopted the JARGON Sir,— Having often seen, while travelling VAPORING, SPREAD-EAGLE signs of a considerable through this province, so prevalent among Western American pioneers, the United States emigration of Canadians into and seemed to take special pride in tell- lies the westward Territory of Dakota, which to ing that they " were once Canadians but of the forty- ninth of Red River, and south were now American citizens." I called at which separates it from parallel of latitude, the land office for Pembina County and it best to make a Canadian territory, I thought was courteously received by the Deputy and see what it is like for short trip into Dakota Agent, who is also a Canadian American named readers of the myself. Possibly some of the Bwing. He showed me maps of all the sur- people here Witness may think, as a good many veyed townships in Pembina County, with the better to keep quiet seem to think, that it were names of the persons written on the lands they to Dakota yet about the exodus of Canadians ; had taken, with the date of entry, also whether should be I believe it is best that the truth the lands were taken as homestead, pre-emptions, matters per- fully known on this, as on all other tree planting claims, or had been bought with often with taining to this country. I have met scrip. I observed among these the names of provinces of people who came from the eastern several persons whom I had known in Manitoba, exploring a con- Canada this season, and after also that a goodly number of ladies were home- of the siderable portion of Manitoba and some steaders, while the number of quarter sections province without find- country westward of the taken up for tree-planting claims was consider- British territory, ing locations to suit them on able. I also observed that nearly all the lands had taken land in Dakota, and were about re- lying within several miles of the banks there with all their effects. I likewise moving m of the Red, Pembina and Tongue rivers were parties of Ice- on several occasions saw small already located, while out in the open prairie, at landers who had bidden farewell to their wet sur- considerable distance from the streams of water, Winnipeg, and were roundings at Gimli, on Lake there are still large tracts of unoccupied lands. of their on their iourney to join many more I was told that no person was allowed to take that brethren in Dakota. I was also told many more than 320 acres in his own or her own name, cf the but additional land could be bought with hali-

; this scrip is now very scarce and EXPATRIATED FRENCH CANADIAN YANKEES, breed scrip but dear. Mr. Ewing also told me that over fifty re- who had received Government aid towards expatriated French-Canadians had taken lands paying their passage here, and their mainte- in Pembina County within the last eighteen nance while here, after sporting arourd the months. Government buildings at Dufferin for several On the morning of July 11th I accepted the months, had re-expatiiatd themselves by settling proffer of a ride up the upon land on the Dakota side of the boundary SOUTH-EASTERN BANK OP THE TONGOE RIVER, line. All this I naturally expected, for when more convenient fertile lands are placed in which flows into the Pembina River, about four the balance they generally weigh down the miles above its outlet into Red River. My com- loyalty of a great many people who may panion on this trip was a well informed and almoBt be said to have no country since they re- obliging, naturalized American citizen, who was moved from the land of their birth. But when taking a waggon load of lumber eighteen miles I found that Canadian farmers who have been to his home on the Tongue River. He told me living here for several years and were doing well, that his name is Beachy, and that he was born having become the owners of first class farms and brought up in the County of Peterborough, with considerable improvement made en them, Ont., but some nine or ten years ago had re- yet had recently taken land in Dakota and had move! wilh his family to the State of Missouri 4 6 The Letters of Rusticus.

where he settled with a number of other British territory, and as there was really little or Canadians. The climate of Missouri proving no difference in the form of government on either to be very unhealthy, some of them had visited side of the line, why should people settle on poor Manitoba five years ago for the purpose of se- or inconveniently situated lands with lower curing a home in a moie salubrious climate. prices received for their grain on the north side After visiting a number of places they chose one of the boundary, rather than settle in American of the town3hips (now in the Mennonito reserve) territory ? This last excuse, although not put at the foot of the Pembina Mountains. They forward so frequently as the others, seemed to next applied to the authorities at Ottawa to get be the chief one. Indeed in a country like ohitj township reserved for a number of Canadians Manitoba, where land -speculating seems to per- who wished to leave Missouri and settle in Mani- vade (I almost said demoralize) all classes in the toba. After some correspondence with Ottawa, community, it seems strange that speculating in they were assured that the townehip in question Dakota lands did not begin sooner. The tim- would be granted to them, provided a sufficient bered lands in Dakota consist of small strips along the banks of the rivers, and as the number came forward to occupy it. ^ Trusting to this promise, sixteen families left Missouri in the Government does not reserve any timbered spring of 1 875 bound for Manitoba, and taking lands, "the first to come is first served," with them $40,000 worth of stock, cash, and and some sharp parties secured the greater p&rt farming implements. The journey to Manitoba of their claims in timbered lands. As all the beicg all done on waggons, took a considerable timbered lambs are now appropriated, persona time, and when the party reached Manitoba taking lands on the treeless prairie are paying they were mortified to find that their promised very high prices for a few acres of timbered reserve was reserved for the Mennonites. Un- land. der such circumstances it was not surprising Although all the wooded lands which I saw on that the party of expatriated^ British-Canadians the banks of the Pembina and Tongue rivers turned across the boundary line and located on have been badly culled of their firewood, which land in Dakota equally as good as the land they was taken to supply the Bed Biver boats with had failed to secure in Manitoba with the addi- fuel, and also the American military post at tional advantage of having an abundant supply Pembina, yet some small sales of these culled of wood and water. timber lands were made recently at $10 per While travelling up the Tongue River I ob- acre, which is a pretty fair price when it is con- served several small nouses recently erected, and sidered that they were got for nothing about a preparations being made for the erection of more, year ago. but in nearly all cases they were near the river It is probable that when in a few years, the banks. I saw splendid country near the head of the Big Sas- katchewan river will be opened for settlement, ONE MUD HUT, many of the Canadians who have recently which I was told is occupied by an Icelander. I settled in Dakota will be found selling out their was also told that some of these Icelanders when farms there at a large profit (as some of them coming over to Dakota had their live stock taken have already done with their farms in Mani- from them by Government agents in Manitoba toba), and removing with all their effects to the on account of moneys advanced to them when great Canadian North- West territory. There U they first came to the province. After a drive some comfort in knowing that of twelve miles with Mr. Beachy, I left him at ALL THE BEST LANDS IN DAKOTA ABE ALBEADY the place where we stopped to take dinner. At APPBOPBIATED, this place (also taking their dinner) were a p&rty of five Canadians, who had hired and that succeeding settlers in that territory will a team in Pembina, and were out on have to make their homes on treeless prairies, the hunt after land. I afterwards called at with the chances of having to pay pretty several houses, and had numerous conversations high for their fuel and fencing. I might about the prospects of the Canadian settlers in say that very little fencing is required Dakota. Numerous and various excuses were here except a man goes into stock-raising, made for their having to dwell in Dakota and as every man has to take care of his own live become American citizens, in preference to stock and the fields of grain are left without remaining under the benignant sway of Queen fences. There seems also to have been much less Victoria. The large amount of good lands locked rain in Dakota the present season than has up as reserves in Manitoba was pointed at as fallen in Manitoba, consequently, tbe ground is proof that English-speaking Canadians were not much drier at present; but this fctate of thingaia. welcome there. The very great consideration sometimes reversed, when the Dakota lands' given by Government agents to Mennonites suffer from excessive rain-falls which have and French-Canadians, while English-Canadians avoided Manitoba. The two days which I spent were often treated with incivility, if not rude- in Dakota were extremely hot, the thermometer ness, was also brought forward to show that being above ninety in the shade, making travel- Canadians from Ontario were ling in the open prairie at mid-day very ex- hausting. I reached Pembina on my return on NOT WANTED AS SKTTLBBS IN MANITOBA.. the afternoon of July 12th, and found the people The uDJust exactions of the National Policy there in a somewhat excited state about the were also described at full length, by which flight of a few grasshoppers, which could be seen the new settler was compelled to pay so much like thistle-down passing in the air northwards, higher prices in Manitoba than in Dakota for by looking towards the sun from behind some ob- everything needed in making a commencement ject which shielded the sight from its direct rays. on a new farm, such as live stock, waggons, A south wind had been blowing lightly for several ploughs, and ail other farming implements, as days. Some of these hoppers fell on the streets, well as lumber for building. Good lands were seemingly considerably exhausted by their flight. also much more convenient in Dakota than in I caught one of theaa myself, and other persons The Letters of Rusticus. 47

also secured specimens which they all pronounced bullrushes in it, which swarms with ducks. This to be the genuine grasshopper which causes so is the only lake that I have seen west of Mani- much destruction in the countries west of the toba, although I have seen scores of ponds. There Mississippi. is no stream running out of it at present, but in Winnipeg, July 21st. wet weather it overflows its banks. This pretty little lake ia called Lake McPherson (t suppose A GLIMPSE TO THE WESTWARD. after the pamphlet-writing senator), and would be a pretty place to live near, as the water is Sib,—On the afternoon of Aug. 5th I crossed very clear, but slightly alkaline in taste. The land to the south side of the Assiniboine, there being around it is not very good, although one or a ferry here kept by a man named McVicar, who two farmers might get enough good land to charges twenty- five cents for ferrying a horse grow what provisions they would require for across the river. As this is on the regular west- home use, and stock-raising and dairying could ern trail to the Cypress hills, a good deal of trade be profitably followed . There are several other passes over the Assiniboine at this place. Before mountains south of this, with apparently pl»«ty Mr. McVicar built his scow here, the traders of wood for ordinary farming purposes. used to have great trouble, and sometimes loss Away towards the west extends an in crossing over the Assiniboine at this place. When the water is low there is not much diffi- IMMENSE TREELESS PLAIN, culty in fording the stream, but this cannot be slightly rolling ; I told that there are done in high water, and traders were compelled and am pretty spots of land it. to make some good on I could TEMPORARY BOATS not see its western limit from the top of Deer Head Mountains, although I could with my with poles covered with cowhides to convey glass see plainly from twenty to thirty miles themselves and their goods over the river, away. The people here also suffer for want of while the ponies and oxen had to swim. I met postal accommodation, as they get their mail here a man who lives at .Deer Head mountain matter by way of Rapid City, which is twenty- and was taking a cow to Big Plains, thirty- five eight miles distant, and a man on horseback miles, to the bull. I used to think it no joke to loses two days going to the post-office, and has take a cow two or three miles to the bull, but to pay fifty cents for crossing and re- crossing the here was a settler who, in order to perform this Assiniboine; but then the mail only comes to necessary part of farm-work, had to travel seventy Rapid City once in three weeks. A post-office miles and lose four days doing it, also pay fifty established at the crossing of the Assiniboine cents for crossing and re-crossing the Assiniboine. would greatly oblige some fifty or sixty settlers South of the Assiniboine the land is light in these parts. The people have all come here and Ftony for several miles, but begins to im- this season, and are yet mostly living in tents. prove as you approach the Little Souris River, They are very anxious to get hold of a news- which runs at the northern base of paper, and read it eagerly, although it may be a month old. DEER HEAD MOUNTAINS. I returned to the ferry on the evening of Aug. Here the Rev. Mr. Roddick and a number of 6th, and the following day went some eighteen

Nova Scotians are located ; there are also sev- or nineteen miles north-west, to eral Canadians and three men who here came RAPID CITY, from Connecticut. There is a considerable amount of good land here in patches, but there on the Little Saskatchewan, situated on section is a great deal cf inferior quality, being either 20, township 13, range 19, west. For about nine too light and sandy, or else alkali, wet land. miles north-west from the Assiniboine. the land As this land has not yet been surveyed, the is pretty level, but a good deal of it is alkali, and settlers are in great trouble about the new land only a few of the best lots are taken up. There are regulations, and they all declare that they will trees on this part and very few willow bushes, leave the country and go to Dakota, if their all the high ridges being stony. At about the homesteads are confined to eighty acres in ex- south-east corner of township 12, range 20, the tent. It seems to me to be utter folly to try land improves very much, and has numerous to enforce the new regulations in this part of bluffs of poplar and scrub oak, but is consider- the country, as a person would require half a sec- ably broken by small ponds, most of which could tion of land before he would have enough of good easily be drained . This land is nearly all taken land to make a fair farm. Settlement in this up, and will be a fine farming country in a few part of the country will cease until the new land years, as the land ia very rich and generally dry regulations are changed, and no sane man would enough for profitable cultivation in any wet sea- ever think of paying $5 or §3.50 per acre for land son, and not too dry for any dry weather which in this part of the country. will probably take place. The The scenery is very fine around the VALLEY OP THE LITTLE SASKATCHEWAN DEER HEAD MOUNTAINS, is very wide at Rapid City, with gradually slop- which are from two to three hundred feet high, ing banks, while immediately north of this the and although not rocky are pretty stony, and valley gets narrow and the banks steep. I sup- nearly all covered with poplar bush and scrub pose that the bed of the river is about one hun- oak. A good deal of the poplar is fit for fencing, dred and fifty feet below the adjacent prairie. but very little of it is large enough for building The river ia a pretty, rapid stream, about sixty purposes. There is a beautiful lake south-west feet wide, and there are about a dozen dwelling- of these mountains. It is about three-quarters houses in the city with two stores and a saw- of a mile long, and over a quarter of a mile mill in operation ; there is also a grist mill, which wide, with beautiful gravelly beach on the north will be running in a short time. As I propose side, while the south side has a good deal of going westward from here to Oak River, thence . The Letters of Rusticus. 48

to Shoal Lake, Bird-tail Greek, and perhaps to distance from the old homestead now made us Fort Ellice, it may be some time before I will friends. From their description of the country over have a chance to write again which they had passed in coming from Fort Ellice I Rapid City, Little Saskatchewan, Aug, 8. was induced to resolve to travel over it, although for nearly forty miles of the distance there was no probability of my meeting with any human being, white or red. I stopped the following night at FARTHER WESTWARD—THE GOVERNMENT AND the house of Mr. Wm. Shanks, an old Scotch- THE CANADA PACIFIC—A NIGHT WITH THE man of good repute in these parts, where he is MOSQUITOES—AN EDUCATED INDIAN — THE well known and highly spoken of by all who COUNTRY WEST. know him. This man, with his three sons and daughters, reside in a snug house about Sir, — I did not expect when I last wrote to two the Witness that four weeks would pass before six rniks west from Rapid City. Two of the sons came here last fall from Ontario and se- writing again ; but the postal facilities in the cured a section of land and got out some house North-West are so defective that there is little fencing last fall, were followed inducement to write letters or subscribe for timber and and their younger newspapers when the chances are largely in this spring by father and brother their two sisters, arrived at Emerson on favor of their going astray. The amount of pro- and who fane language which the day following that of my arrival there in the spring. Being possessed of considerable a defective postal system capital as well as help, they were able to farm much more largely than their neighbors, having {or want of system) draws out of the people in- over thirty acres under crop.besides a large quan- habiting this country is painful to contemplate ; tity of breaking done for next year. Although but as I intend referring more at length to this the grain wa3 sown on land first ploughed this subject at another time, I will say no more about spring, it looked remarkably well, which was it at present. the case with When I was at Rapid City the first time its inhabitants were in a state of considerable ex- ALMOST ALL THE GRAIN citement about in this part of the country. THE LOCATION OF THE CANADA PACIFIC RAIL- On the morning of Saturday, July 9th, I pro- WAY, cured from the family of Mr. Shank.* cooking utensils and provisions for my intended journey as an engineering party under the direction of to Fort Ellice.after which I proceeded about eight Mr. W. D. Barclay was approaching the city miles further west to Oak River and took dinner from the west, having located the Canada Pacific with an old acquaintance named W. B. Curran, Railway line from the mouth of the Qu'Appelle who came here from Montreal last March. Al- River to within a few miles west of Rapid City ; though he had never worked on a farm before, yet and as the latter place is some four miles north he has twenty acres of land under crop, and the of the fourth base line, fears were felt lest logs brought out for the walls of a house. This Rapid City would be left out in the cold. man is a subscriber to the Witness, but I can These fears were, however, changed to re- scarcely call him a reader of that paper, as, ow- joicing as the line was afterwards made ing to defective postal arrangements, only four to cross the Little Saskatchewan at the copies of it have reached him during the five south part of the ambitious little city, the months he has been here. engineer in charge believing it to be the most During the afternoon I went up the river three favorable point for crossing the stream. The miles, to the homestead of a Mr. Little, on sec- banks of the river at this point slope gently tion 4, township 14, range 22, west, near to down from the higher country on each side, and which the Canada Pacific Railway line crosses on these banks there are many stony spots, many Oak River. Mr. Little is at the present time of the boulders being limestone, which will come the settler furthest west in these parts, and I handy in building the foundations of houses and staid with him over Sunday. As Mr. Little paving tht? streets in Rapid City. General dry with his wife and four children had only a goods and groceries, as well as farming imple- small tent to lodge in, there was no room for ments, can be bought here at moderate prices me to pass the night in the tent along with (considering the difficulties of transportation), but them ; but they kindly lent me a couple of iu some other articles high prices with large pro- quilts, and I vainly sought repose in a building fits prevail. There is a small steam saw- mill here, they had erected for a stable. This building is which is supplied with spruce logs brought close to the river, and is also sheltered from the down the Little Saskatchewan at a cost of only evening breezes by a little bluff, but the mos- six dollars per thousand feet board measure ; quitoes had taken possession before my arrival, vet the proprietor of the saw- mill charges from and seemed determined to permit no one to $25 to $35 per 1,000 feet for the lumber sawn sleep there. Having adjusted my mosquito veil out of these logs. Farmers who have to buy this to the best advantage, I lay down to sleep, or lumber complain of auch extortion, but there is rather to listen to how much noise could be no help for it at present. Akhough the Govern- made by ment owns the timbered lands here, I believe they get very little cash receipts for the saw logs MY LITTLE ENEMIES. taken off ifc. I kept my hands carefully covered with the folds I MET THE CANADA PACIFIC RAILWAY SURVEYING of a quilt, yet some of the skeeters would some- PARTY how gain admission and begin their surgical operations on them. Having no gloves, I felt a few milea west of Rapid City, and among them puzzled what to do. but bethought me of a spare were some persons from the Ottawa Valley with pair of socks, which I now took from my bag f I had formerly si is , whom a h acquaintance ; but and drew over my hand*, and thus protected The Letters of Rusticus. 4?

tried to Bleep. Bat it was in vain, as my veil THE INDIANS would occasionally rest on the top of my nose or here are camped along the high banks of the ears, and although the mosquitoes could not Bird Tail cretk (here some 250 feet high.) They come through it themselves, they could bite have ploughed considerable land here this spring through it, so I was obliged to leave them in and put it under crops of various kinds, all of quiet possession of the stable and retire to the which looked pretty well, considering the dry smudge near the tent, and there slept on the nature of the soil ; but in dry seasons I fear the grass. poor Sioux will raise little here, except Early on Monday morning. August 11th—the very Indian corn. If they were supplied with seed forty-fifth anniversary of my birthday— I rode rye and buckwheat, they might raise enough of across Oak River on the back of my little two- these to feed them in dry seasons . I reached the year-cld Indian pony, the water coming well up Sioux settlement at noon on Tuesday, August on his sides, compelling me to gather up my 12th, and legs pretty well to keep them from being wetted. This little pony, which I bought in Winnipeg THE FIRST SIGHT OF CIVILIZATION for $40, would scarcely allow any one to put a hand on him when he came into my possession, was two yoke of oxen ploughing (breaking), with but now has become as tame as a dog, because I two Indians to each team, one to guide the oxen treated him kindly, which is rather exceptional and another to guide the plough ; and I must usage for ponies in this country. Indeed, I have confess they did better work than many white often felt as if people do. When I rode up to them they stopped their ploughicg and came up and shook GUILTY OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS hands with me, grinning and talking in Indian, while I spoke in English. After some vain at- when riding this little two-year old through tempts at conversation, I, enquiring if anyone some bad sloughs with mud and water up to his here spoke English, was directed by signs belly yet he has gained in flesh since he came ; t) where I found the son of Chief Enoch, into my possession, although he is hobbled every who with his father speaks English pretty well. night, and the mosquitoes have been extracting Chief Enoch himself was not at home, but I so much blood from him that it is rather a won- am told that he is rather a superior and der he survives. man can read the Indian as well as the English The course of the Canada Pacific Railway languages, and employs his leisure time in westward from Oak River for seven or eight teaching his subjects to read in the Dakota miles is over one of the most beautiful as well as language. After a short delay here, being fertile tracts that I have seen in the North- anxious to reach Fort Ellice that evening, I West, being gently undulating, like the ocean enquired for a place where I might cross Bird swell, with frequent little bluffs of poplar suffi Tail Creek, which has nearly as water cient for fencing and fuel, but not large enough much running in it as in Little Saskatchewan. for building purposes. The growth of grass and the By the Indian's creek weeds, here was wonderful, indicating a rich directions I went up the about two miles and descended by a very steep soil . I believe that some of this land may be pathway to the of valley, sold for six dollars per acre, but the amount so bottom the and squeezed through an exceedingly thick brushwood sold will not pay for building many miles of rail- to the edge of there way. In fact the more I see of this country the the stream, where was a small log canoe tied to the bank. I took the greater is my conviction of the utter folly of the paddle and the new regulations regarding the lands adjacent to went out to the further end of canoe and the Canada Pacific Railway. It seems to me found that the water was four feet deep, that the whole scheme was concocted by, and in but I could not find any bottom to the mud beneath . the the interest of, a few persons in Manitoba who As banks were nearly perpendicu- lar I own from 20,000 to 60,000 acres of land each, had serious fear that if I got my pony into the stream which they bought at from twenty-five cents to I might not get him out again, so I concluded to go the one dollar per acre, and which they hope to sell up south-east bank of the stream some eight at from two to Bix dollars per acre owing to the miles to where the trail from Shoal Lake crosses. first new regulations regarding Government lands in The three miles of this journey was performtd quite easily, as it was an this country—but more of this- at another time. open, dry prairie, About eight or nine miles west of Oak River, though very stony in some places. I then crossed the country gets drier with very little timber, or a wet coulie and travelled through even bushes, and this continues until five or six a very superior farming country, nearly half covered bluff. miles beyond Arrow rivtr, which is only a by scrub and the moderately sized creek in a deep gully, the In intervening spaces the vetches and pear- vines ftream being about eight feet wide and two feet were so high and so matted that it was deep. There are a very difficult to ride or walk through them, which made our progress very slow. The even- GOOD MANY DRY COULEES ing came on before we reached the bridge at in this part, but in nont: of them did I meet with St. Clair City, and I had to again camp out, water although grassy ponds with plenty of water although the evening threatened rain and the in them are numerous. As the railway track mosquitoes assaailed me with their wonted vigor. nears Ten- Mile Creek, the small bluffs of timber My supply of bread had become exhausted, but as I of increase in number and the land improves ; but had plenty tea and sugar, I made the after crossing the creek, which has a larger most cf them. During this night it was very stream of water running in it than there is in difficult to keep my now Arrow river, but a much shallower valley, the TOO FRIENDLY PONY land becomes worthless, being very stony with a subsoil of pure gravel. This inferior land con- from trampling on me in his eagerness to get tinues into the Indian reserve at the mouth of the near the fire. Having no bed-clothes of any Bird Tail Creek. kind nor tent, wim so manj mosquitoes to con- The Letters of Rusticus. tend with, my rest was not of the most refresh- made an attempt at tree-planting, but none of ing kind, yet it was quite aB good as on the them, so far as I could learn, have fulfilled previous or following nights. their engagements on this head. I believe that 1 with the exception of the tree ;) planted on the Portage da Prairie% Sept 2 ad. farm of Mr. Thomas Scissions, at Portage la Prairie, fewer trees have been planted by the Canadian TREE DESTRUCTION, AND INDUCEMENTS TO OEOW hand of man in the North-West than TREKS -SUGGESTIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT- have been planted within the limits of the city of LAND SPECULATORS—HOW ABSENTEES MAT Montreal ; and were all the trees hitherto plant- OBTAIN LAND. ed in this country permitted to grow unmolested for twenty years they would not be sufficient one interested in future Sir, —To every the to furnish wood to meet the present consump- of this country the rapid diminution prosperity tion of the country for one week. Yet mott in supply of wood for fuel and fencing the people here, including Government officials, purposes in the North-West must be a source of seem as careless about the preservation of grow- considerable anxiety. Some people have who ing timber as if the supply were inexhaustible. been carefully watching the progress of events in It is generally supposed that all timbered should the this country state that consumption lands are reserved by the Government for the of increase for half a dozen wood continue and purpose of supplying small wood lots to the it in the past six years, years more as has done settlers on prairie lands, and were this plan there will be very little timber of any kind left faithfully followed from the commencement of in Manitoba, and in many parts of the country settlement very few sections in this part of the exceedingly prices, fuel will command high caus- country would remain without a sufficient sup- ng a great deal of suffering, especially during ply of timber for ordinary purposes within a the cold winters. distance of twelve miles at moat, yet, I believe, TREE CULTURE that fully one-third of the fertile lands in this province have no bush lota reserved to meet the has hitherto been almost a complete failure in requirements of the future tillers of these large the north-western prairies of Canada and the tracts of agricultural lands. It is very annoy- United States, although liberal inducements are ing to a person about to settle on a prairie lot to given by Federal and State Governments to such be told that there is no wood lot to be had for as will engage in it. Under the " Timber love or money, while within sight of his home- Culture Act " of the United States any citizen, stead there are, perhaps, hundreds of acres <:t or those who have declared their intention to be- excellent timbered lands, owned, it may be, by come such, can make an entry, not exceeding one individual who has secured them at less thaia

160 acres of prairie lands, either within or with- one dollar per acre ; and it is still more annoy- out the limits of a railway grant, on condition ing when this prairie farmer is compelled to pay that one-sixteenth of the land so taken shall be his more fortunate neighbor from planted with trees, four feet apart each way, and cultivated and protected for eight years, ONE TO TWO DOLLARS PER TREE when final proof can be made and the patent for the larger sticks required in building h ; a secured. This liberal law of the Federal house. I have seen oases where from one to six Government is supplemented by a law in hundred acres of well-wooded lands have been the Territory of Dakota, which provider* scripped by one man, while many farmers within that for every five acres of timber cul- a few miles of this timber are unable to obtain tivated, forty acres, with all the improve- a wood lot at all, except at exorbitant rates. ments thereon, not exceeding one thousand dol- My reason for writing about this condition of lars in value, shall be exempt from taxation for things at present is with the hope that the Gov- a period of ten years from the time of planting, ernment may take immediate steps to secure the and further that no laad shall be deemed in- small portion of favorably situated bush lands creased in value for assessment purposes by rea- which have not yet been grabbed by land son of such timber culture, no matter how much speculators, so that the cultivators of the adja- its real value may be enhanced thereby. In cent prairies may each have a chance to get a Minnesota, by legislative enactment, the grower small wood lot. of forest trees on the prairie, is given $2 for every Extending over townships one, two and acre planted with trees, payment commencing three on over a dozen of the ranges west of the third year after planting, and continuing ten the twelfth range west, extending from the Cy- years ; that is, the of grower forty acres of tim- press creek to the Souris river, there is the ber on the prairie will be given most extensive open prairie country that A BONUS OF $800 I have yet seen in the Canadian North- West—most of it excellent farming land* from the Sfc^te, besides owning the wood. In —yet there are only two comparatively the Canadian North-West a person can secure small tracts of wooded lands within reasonable 160 acres of prairie land on his undertaking to distance, from which the future settlers on this plant twenty acres of it with trees within ten extensive prairie can draw their supply of wood. years from the date of entry. Notwithstanding One of these wooded tracts is at the Turtle these liberal inducements to tree-culture, and al- Mountains. It is being surveyed at present and though a great many persona have taken up will shortly be open, the even numbered eeotions land as tree claims on both sides of the lines, yet, for homesteading and the odd numbered sections bo far as I could learn, not a single case has oc- for sale at one dollar per acre, and which will, curred on the Canadian side where the person without doubt, be speedily appropriated by owning a tree-claim has made aDy attempt to speculators, leaving tens of thousands of acres of fulfil his obligations by planting with trees even prairie land within eight of it for which there half an acre of land. I am informed that in will be no wood lots, except the Government offi- the United States a number of persons have cials should turn over a new leaf and attend to — ; The Letters of Kusticus. 51

their business as they ought. The other tract of enact laws to prevent their frequent occurrence wood-land lies northeast of Pelican Lake in but as I intend to treat this subject more large- townships four and five, ranges fifteen and six- ly at another time I will say no more about it at teen west, and I believe that it is shortly to be present.

surveyed and thrown on the market ; but it'would Lowe's Farm, Manitoba, Oct. 1st. be greatly to the advantage of the whole country that this wooded land should be sold only in small lots and to actual settlers on the adjacent FfSAIRIE CAUSE AND MEANS FOB prairie. FIRES—THEIR PREVEhTION. In the vicinity of the Turtle Mountains there THEIR are considerable tracts of Sir,—It is probable that all the dry lands in Manitoba, if not in the whole North-West, were LAND PARTIALLY WOODED, at not a very remote period covered with forests, just as the" eastern provinces were previous to the bluffs of timber being interspersed with their settlement by white men Some of your patches of scrub or else open prairie. Nearly readers will be ready to ask, " How did it come all this tract would soon become a forest if to pass that the forests disappeared from the protected from the ravages of prairie fires, and western plains, while the trees in the east con- since it has been found so difficult to raise trees tinued to grow and flourish until cut down by on the open prairie, it would seem to be wise the axe of man ?" Prairie fires are no doubt the policy on the part of the Government to reserve cause of this difference, but the greater portion of these partially timbered lands so that they might be afterwards sold in THE ORIGIN OF THESE FIRES small wood lot3 to settlers on the prairie, who would often be glad to get even these. Some of, is perhaps not so easily accounted for, nor why the settlers who have already gone to the Turtle fires should be so destructive to the foreets in the Mountains seem anxious to secure for them- West, while they were comparatively harmless selves large tracts of these partially wooded lands, to the timber growing further east. I believe one party having already feueed in 1,200 acres that this difference can be accounted for by the of it, using about 20,000 fence rails, which were presence of so many great tracts of marshy cut from Government lands. It would certain land in the West wnich were too wet for ly be a great benefit to the general settlement of trees to grow upon, but which produced largo the country were the Government to prevent all quantities of wild grass, reeds and rushes, which further monopolizing of its timbered or partially in very dry seasons supplied immerse quantities timbered landd by sharp speculators. of combustible matter, giving strength to the The new land regulations are also likely to 6res, which would thus extend to the adjacent operate injuriously with the settlement of the woodland, and in process of time change them into two rows of townships next to the international prairies. The absence of such extensive marshes boundary, as these townships are included in in the eastern provinces, together with a moister belt E, and the railway lands can be bought for climate, helped to prevent the spread of fires ; $1 per acre, payable in ten annual instalments, thus the forests continued to grow until disturbed with interest at six per cent, on the unpaid bal- by the inroads of settlers. It is also probable ance. Mr. Landerkin, the land agent in Pem- that the greater intensity of the electrical dis- bina Mountains, told me that almost the charges in the North West has helped to make entire business done at his office fdnce the fires more numerous in that quarter. Even dur- first of la*t August was in disposing of ing the memory of some of the older inhabitants, these railway lands, and I know personally pretty extensive tracts of wooded lands in Mani- that a considerable number of land speculators toba have become almost open prairies ; but this are watching to secure the lands which continued diminution in the area of the forests are now being surveyed as soon as they are open gave no cause of uneasiness to the minds of the f«w for sale, which will be early in the comicg win- early settlers as there seemed no danger of a scar- ter ; and should there be no change in the land city of timber. The late rapid increase in the policy all the good railway lands in belt B, population, as well as the greater destructivenees the two ranges of townships next the interna- of recent prairie fires, has changed the aspect of tional boundary, will be secured by speculators, affairs,requiring that speedy and effectual means to the great hindrance of the settlement in be adopted to prevent the very serious losses this part of the country. To show how easily which are yearly caused by them. I believe that LAND CAN BE SECURED BY ABSENTEES OVER $200,000 WORTH OF PROPERTY,

I may state that a person dwelling in Montreal in the form of hay, grain, fences, buildings, live Or any other place—may become owner of a stock and growing timber, has been destroyed pqnare mile of first-class land by paying down during the past few weeks by prairie fires in $64, and at the end of the year paying another Manitoba alone, or at the rate of over $4 per $64 of the principal, and $34.56 interest. Atiihe head of the entire population. Since there is a end of the second year another payment of $64 probability of this serious loss recurring annual- has to be made, and $30. 72 paid in interest, and ly until more effective measures are adopted to the yearly payment will continue, the interest prevent the kindling and spread of fires. Is it n t diminishing at the rate of $3 84 each year, until high time for those in authority to bestir them- at the end of nine years the whole payments selves in order to prevent so much needleps (principal and interest) are completed, and the waste ? purchaser gets his patent. Perhaps some one will be ready to say that The greatest hindrance to the growth of timber $200,000 is not a^ very serious losss for a whole in this country are the frequent prairie fires, yet province to sustain by fires in one season, but scarcely any attempt has thus far been made to this loss will appear greater when the smallness 52 The Letters of Rusticus. of the population is considered, also that nearly mense cloud of smoke arose in the direction of all this loss falls on new settlers who are mostly Tobacco Creek, and very soon a furious prairie in straitened circumstances and cannot well fire came swooping down towards us, travelling spare any portion of their substance to feed the at a rate which would have put horses to their rapacious fire- fiend. utmost speed to escape out of its track. have been able to learn, few or no So far as I COL. WESTOVER, precautionary measures by legal enactments or otherwise, have yet been taken in the Canadian who is in charge of Mr. Lowe's farm, had pre- North- West to prevent the spread of these fires, viously taken the precaution to burn all the dry and before suggesting means for their prevention, gravs near the buildings and stacks, and had this I would first refer to a few of the principal not been done, no human power could have saved them from total destruction. I went out CAUSES WHICH LEAD TO THEIB FREQUENT OC- to the border of the burnt grass to see the fire CURRENCE. approaching, but could scarcely see anything, On the 17th of last April I was returning across being almost blinded and suffocated by the an exclusive prairie called White Horse Plains smoke and heat even before the fire reached in the parish of St. Francois Xavier, and met where I was. It strongly reminded me of the three men in a waggon going westward, leaving scenes which I had witnessed during the great fire behind them a fiery trail by lighting bits of near Ottawa in August, 1870, In many places paper and throwing them among the dry grass, the settlers are in the habit of ploughing a strip just for the fun of seeing it burn without ap- of land around their buildings and stacks, and this i3 sufficient protection firpp parently thinking of the danger to fences and from ordinary ; buildings caused by such wanton sport. A little but it sometimes happens that French further on I came to where several THE FIRE, FANNED BY A GALE, natives were actively engaged in preventing this prairie fire from destroying their fences, and one leaps across the strip of ploughed land and con- of them told me in broken English how " the sumes the stacks or buildings which it was intend- bad Canadian man in the waggon, he burn my ed to protect. Prairie fires (and some very mis- fence." I believe that a good many prairie fires chievous ones) are often started in the spring by are kindled to gratify wicked sport, and were persons desirous of clearing the old withered such "phunny phellows" sent for a few months to grass from off meadow lands where they intend aport themselves at hard labor in some prison, it to cut their hay in the following summer. This would tend to make them more cautious about mode of clearing meadow lands of their last sea- sporting themselves at other people's expense. son's crop should be prohibited, for although it Another fruitful source of prairie fires is the cus- may save a little present labor, it often causes tom of smoking tobacco, which prevails largely in the destruction of large numbers of young trees this country. A very disastrous prairie tire was which would in a few years be of great value to recently started in Pembina Mountains by a their owners. rev. gentleman while lighting his pipe (I hope I believe also that the burning of the old grass the churches will have the good sense to cease on the land is injurious to the succeeding crop, sending more especially in places where there is already too much alkali. I have also often " SMOKING MISSIONARIES" observed places in a portion of the fisld where the to the North- West), and no doubt many con- old grass had not been burnt last year, that the flagrations have a similar origin. Another young grass showed a much more vigorous of prairie fires is uource from the smouldering growth than in places where it had been burnt of fires, travellers embers camp or where have off. This might be partly accounted for by the halted to warm their dinners. It is a very easy old grass holding the snow during the severe matter to quench such embers with water, or cold weather of winter, while in places where else cover them with earth, and thus prevent the grass h*>d been burnt the wind blew the all danger of their igniting the adjacent dry snow all away, leaving the roots of the grass too grass, and this would no doubt be done were much exposed. every person (travellers or others) compelled to What I would propose foot the bill of costs which might result from their carelessness in leaving live coals where IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE REPEATED LOSSES they may do harm. The chief cause of prairie from prairie fires is a statute prohibiting the fires is the custom of burning the dry grass in burning of grass on the fields from the middle the vicinity of stacks, fences and buildings in of September to the first of June following. order to protect them from danger by running From the first of June until the grass is killed fires. These fires are usually kindled in the by frost, fires will not run, owing to the grass svening and during calm weather ; but often the and weeds being too green to burn. " F.re wind rises, and the fires are driven out to the brakes," to protect buildings, stacks, fences and open prairie and perhaps extend for many miles, forests, should be made about the beginning of doing a large amount of damage in their course. September by cutting with a mowing machine This kind of fire seems in some places to be a a strip of grass several rods in breadth, around necessity, because if the long dry grass is al- the places requiring protection, and then burn- lowed to stand in the vicinity of building3, ing this mown grass where it lay. and thus se- should a large prairie fire, fanned by a strong curing a strip of burnt land all around th* wind, approach, it would be almost impossible farmtr's premises while there was no danger of to prevent the whole from being consumed. the tire spreading owing to the green condition When I was at Mr. Lowe's farm, ten miles west of the adjacent grass. It would also be well of Morris on the trail to Tobacco Creek, prairie for the local authorities to cause to be cut ani fires had been burning in various places for some burnt numerous strips of grass across the ope.o days, and on the afternoon of the day I was there prairies and around timbered lands, which would (Sept. 30) a high wind prevailed, and an im- have the effect of confining fires to a email The Letters of Rusticus. 53

space should they chance to be started by acci- prevented them from bleeding myself. Their dent or otherwise. I believe that the preven- tortures made him very restless, and to assist in tion of prairie fires is one of primary importance driving away his tormentors, I got a willow to the people of the North-West, and should bush and with it brushed his sides, shoulders and secure the early attention of those in authorty. neck, but could not reach those that attacked the under part of his belly. The poor animal in trying to drive these away by a forward fling with his hind feet, struck my heel twice with his CENT PER CENT—AN ATTACK BY A MOSQUITO hoofs and to prevent further damage I dis- HORDE—AN EFFICIENT SERVANT—WA1TL>G mounted.preferring to walk rather than be kicked FOB PAYMENT. in this manner. I had not gone far when he, after several succeeded in placing his hind SIR,—Early on the morning of Wednesday, trials, foot in the stirrup and nearly threw himstlf on August 13th, after riding about a mile over a the ground. most beautiful and feitile rolling and partially seven miles from Bird Tail Creek I wooded country, I reached the house of Mr. About crossed the dry bed of what is sometimes a con- Alfred Morton, near to the site of the future siderable stream, flowing in a deep valley called St. Clair City. Being wearied as well as Snake Creek. quality of the soil had hungry, I waited here for breakfaBt, and also The hitherto been very good, although in some purchased a fresh supply of cooked provisions, places rather stony, but afber this the stony which 1 got at very reasonable rates, considering patches became too frequent, with occa- the high prices paid here fcr raw material. Fort much sional patches of poor sandy or gravelly land. Ellice, distant thirteen miles,is the nearest place less than four miles from where supplies can begot, hut the prices charged When within at the Hudson Bay Company's stores (where FORT ELLICE, they have no competition, as is the case here) are such as tend to lighten your pocket without the ground begins to decline towards the Aesi- over-weighting your travelling bag. One of the niboine, and the Fort is seen in the distance, of valley settlers bere went to Fort Ellice to purchase seemingly in the bottom a wide ; but common salt and had to pay $2 for twenty pound when you get nearer you discover that a very large valley intervenes, which is about a mile weight ; I paid myself twenty-five cents for a pound of sugar which 1 bought there on the wide and 200 feet below the level on which Fort this afternoon of that day. The price of flour is $6 Ellice is built. Both banks of lower valley per 100 Dounds, which cost the Company but are almost precipitous, and the west bank well $3.25 delivered at their store by the steamboats wooded. The road up and down these banks from the portage, 100 per cent, profit on sales had to be made in a zig-zag fashion at consider- here seeming to be considered able cost by the Hudson Bay Company, yet the work of drawing a load up these hills is very try- ABOUT THE FAIR THING, ing on horses and oxen. The bottom of this val- ley is quite level and exceedingly fertile, but all but in some other places larger profits are covered over with brushwood, except where the Bought and obtained. officers of the Hudson Bay Company have a After breakfast Mr. Morton took me around considerable farm. The sun had begun to shine to see his growing crops, which were very fine, out resplendently before I reached this valley, although mostly growing on land ploughed for which had a most lovely appearance when thefirst time last spring. He stated his inten- viewed from the high lands on either side. The future the of tion of abandoning in custom tortuous course of the Assiniboine as it winds ploughing land nearly a year before it is sown about in this valley is seen for several miles hitherto with grain, which has been almost the up and down, and the first bridge across that prairie lands, it universal custom on as was a river occurs at this place, and is the best bridge needlesB waste of time and labor, especially in I have seen in this country ; yet, no toll is col- the country. valley of the Bird this part of The lected from passengers or teams crossing over it. Tail Creek here is about 200 feet deep, but the When crossing over this bridge I met with an banks are not nearly so steep as tbey are eight Englishman named Thomas Frost, whose tent miles further down, in the Sioux Reserve. was pitched on the banks of the river. After a ST. CLAIR CITY short conversation with this man, I learned that he was this time consisted of three bouses, all unfin- at A GOVERNMENT DETECTIVE, ished, the walls of several others,and a few tents The Bird Tail is very rapid here, and having a sent out by S r John A. Macdonali to keep him considerable volume of water, furnishes the best informed how Government officials deport them- water ^.owez that I have seen in the North- selves when far from the seat of Government. West, except on the Winnipeg river in Kewat- He read to me several extracts from communi- tin. There are also on its banks numerous cations which he had forwarded to headquarters, springs of the best water I have tasted in this but although they contained a great deal that country, and tqual to any I have seen in the was true regarding the failings of his mas- Ottawa valley. ter's servants, yet it was often too high- After a short delay at St. Clair City, I ly colored. He was also acting as a started for Fort Ellice, accompanied by an army correspondent to two papers published in Eng- of land, and if the readers of these papers place THE MOST FEROCIOUS MOSQUITOES much reliance on the statements of this man

Of course people generally do not care for sub- I have reason to believe that the postal busi- Bcribiug for papers that do not reach them until ness was much more carelessly done at the Shoal fifteen to twenty days after publication, if at all. Lake office, where the complaints from people At the time of my visit, there were who get their letters and papers there were much worse than in any other place I visited 7 OFFICES ; ONLY TWO BEGULAB POST but I have very little personal knowledge of in f-hat part of the N orth- West Territory immedi- the irregularities complained of. ately pining Manitoba ; these were at Shoal Lake I believe that Mr. Dewe, the dominion Post- and at- Tauners Crossing on the Little Saskatche- office Inspector, who was in Manitoba when I wan. From these two office*, over two thousand left it. has had a good many of these irregulari- families, scattered ov?r as ni*ny square mile« of ties removed, but I fear that there is ample territory, had to get their letters and papers room for a good deal more inthat line. The mail reached th>e*e offices only once in three weeks, and w as often a bulky affair. Mr, Tanner told me that often 250 pounds of mail matter was left at his office. Mr. Tanner is in the habit of CAMPING OUT EXPERIENCES— SOME FASMS—AN remaining at home the day after the mail arrives INDIAN COUNCIL—THE- MISSIONABY AND THE to sort it, and also deliver the letters and papers GOVERNMENT AGENT. to whoever may call. Afterwards he attends to The ni#ht of August 13th was the third night his farm, and the post-office ia generally left in in succession that I had to camp out on the lone charge of his family, who, I am informed, cannot blanket read the writing or the addresses, and when a prairie without either or tent, and a short account of how it was done may be amus- person calls for his mail he is pointed to the place ing if not instructive to readers. Finding where the letters and papers are kept and told to your while there still "go and look for himself." Acting upon such an that night was coming on was indifferent trail invitation people sometimes take more than pro- seven miles of an to be passed perly belong to them, especially when they are over before reaching St. Clair city, where the accommodation for travellers was none of the deputed to bring home all the letters and papers belonging to a whole neighborhood, twenty or best, and knowing that the passage over every there wo.uld contested thirty miles distant. To illustrate thi* better, rod of the way be by in- let us suppose that Farmer Jones, residing at numerable hosts of mosquitoes, the Big Bend of the Saskatchewan, comes to I THOUGHT IT PRUDENT the Little Saskatchewan Post- Office to get his own letters and papers, as well as those belong- to halt for the night, and so looked around to see ing to hia immediate neighbors. He examines if there were signs of dead timber in any of the over the pile of mail matter, and finds that some adjacent bluffs with which to make a fire. I had of it is directed to H. Brown. Mr. Jones has to be more particufar in selecting my camping place where there were ample supplies of dry A NEIGHBOB NAMED BEOWN, wood, than most other travellers, since I had no but he does not know his first name, and to axe with me, nor anything larger than a small jack- make certaiu he takes Mr. Brown's letters and knife with which to prepare the night's firewood. papers along with the rest. Mr, Jones' neigh- When a suitable place was found I unsaddled bor's name is noi H. Brown, but R. Brown, and and hobbled my pony and turned him out to feed, when he looks at the papers which Jones while I kindled a fire with which to warm my brought him he finds that he is not the owner at supper and drive away the mosquito battalions. all, as they belong to Mr H. Brown, who lives But first of all I had to gather a store of f ael to south-east from Rapid City, distant some forty last the whole night, as on the preceding evening or fifty miles. The stray letters and papers I neglected to gather enough of wood until after are laid away to be returned at the first oppor- dark, when I found it was no easy task groping tunity, but often have to wait several months around among a thick bluff of tmafl poplars until before sent back to the post-office, there to take 1 met with a dry tree, not too large for me to their chances of being again sent off in the wrong pull down. B^ ptarting wood-gathering while direction. There is generally some chance of the there was still fcufficient daylieht to look around letters reaching their proper destination atlast,but me, I generally got plenty of fallen timber, I have heard of several cases where it tu k six which I drew out in lengths of sometimes more months to do it. Some half-dozen or mure Jitters than twenty feet, and placing several of these posted in Montreal lat-t summer, and addressed acro?s each other kindled a tire at the point of to "David Currie, Winnipeg, Man.," never contact which soon burned each of them through, reached that person, bat remain somewhere in when I again placed the longer pieces across the the North-West, although the person to whom fire, and before I went to sleep they were ail cut they belong has made a good deal of enquiries into convenient lengths by means of the fire. about them. Newspapers which make a wrong My next work was to prepare tea for supper, start are seldom returned, and when returned to using water which I had taken with me in a

the post-office, are perhaps sent bark to the Mn fi" isk from a spring which issued out of the publishers' office instead of to the person to banks of the Assiniboine, near Fort Ellis. The whom directed. Mr. Tanner innocently in- immediate vicinity of water is generally chosen formed me ''that he had sent a number of "Week by travellers for camping ground, but I found ly Witnesses back to Montreal, which had been that where other people were in the habit of returned to his office by the person to whom camping they used up all the dry wood, so I ihey were addressed." I afterwards learned that carried my tea-water with me often for half a thes-e papers had never reached the person to day before using it. After supper whom they belonged, but had gone to the wrong I PREPARED A BED place, and when returned to the office were sent back to Montreal instead of to their rightful by gathering an armful of bushes or weeds and owners. spreading them on the ground to leeward of the , v> The Letters of Rusticus..

lire, uiiug my travelling bag for a pillow. I MADE THE MOSQUITOES SO DRUNK; I would then remove from my pantawmd drawers that they did not molest us again before morning., grains of wild oats which might have intruded any Mr. Brodie and his two companions had made* their unwelcome presence there, and which they three journeys with ox teams between Winnipeg; were not slow to make known by a pricking sen- and Shoal Lake, in all more than six hundred i sation on some part of my legs. By the way, I miles, since the 22nd of last June yet on no> here state that I have kuown several per- ; may occasion did they travel on Sunday, but rested in> sons were laid up from work for a longer or wbo their tent wherever they chanced to be. I men- shorter period, owing to the intrusion of a wild tion this fact because such conduct is not com-- oat (they strongly resemble porcupine quill*) mon, even among Presbyterians, in this country, hole in the b3ot, into and through the through a and should the Church in the eastern provinces pkin of tbeir feet. Having gathered the burniug continue to neglect its poor scattered members brands closer together, then wrapping around me out West, it is reasonable to expect that more waterproof coat, and adjusting the mosquito a of them will become Sunday travellers. Indeed,, net, also drawing a pair of socks over my hands it has almost become a custom to start on a long' to guard againsb the "skeeters." I would lie down journey on Saturday in order to get one, and! sleep. to perhaps two Sundays, for travelling. some other nisrbts while camping out, I On In the morniog, after visiting the barracks of heard the prairie-wolves singing their sweetest the North- West Mounted Police, I started carols, but on this occasion there was nothing northward along the west side of Shoal Lake, unusual to disturb my rest except Stutt (the passing over very rich but mostly low lands, pony) and his tormentors, both of which kept in nearly all of which have been homeBteaded by closer proximity to bed than was conducive my members of the police force stationed at Shoal to slumber. It also rained some duiing the Lake. One of these men, whose time will expire night, and on such occasions I had to assume the next April, had a " bee" the day I passed, put- perpendicular instead of the horizontal position ting up a house on his place. He was well iu order to avoid being drenched too much pleased with his land, but complained that the This mode of sleeping is not very refreshing, and Government had permitted all the good building frequently repeated becomes wearisome. when timber in the neighborhood (more than one hun- At break of day I started for the Bird Tail, dred acres), to be taken by one man who was and reached the dwelling of Mr. Chambers, one also a non-re3ident. of the Hamiltonian colonists, in time for break- The lake here is <\ very fast. Upon remarking BEAUTIFUL SHEET OF CLEAR WATER, THE ABSENCE OF MILK, with beautiful farm sites along the eastern shore, where the land is higher than on the west- Mrs. Chambers told me that they owned the ern side. pretty large stream called Oak only cow in the colony, but she had wandered A Creek empties into the lake at the northern ex- away two days before and had not returned, leav- tremity. This creek has its source in the Rid- ing the whole settlement to drink their tea and ing Mountains, and for the greater part of its nup their porridge without the coloring of milk. course passes through a well- wooded country, I afterwards found several new settlements with abounding in lakes, ponds and marshy sloughs. out a supply of milk,caused chiefly by the opera- After crossirg Oak Creek I went northeastward tions of the N. P., and cattle prohibition. for about seven miles, without meeting any On former years the new settlers used to get signs of civilization, except traces of the work cows from passing Montana drovers, at very lately done here by a surveying party, who had low prices, but not a single cow, so far as I just completed subdividing this township into could learn, was brought from Montana this sections and quarter sections. Beason. Any of the settlers who wanted a cow About the centre of township range had to go down to The Portage, and some times 17, 22, west. I came into an older settlement than any to Winnipeg, from one to two hundred miles I had seen cince le&vicg Manitoba. Several of distant, and there, pay nearly twice as much for these farmers had been hero more than two bossy as th^y used to pay to the Montana years, and were already drovers. From St. Clair city I took the old trail east- IN FAIRLY COMFORTABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, ward to Shoal Lake, distant more than twenty miles. For the first seven or eight miles the having pretty large fields of splendid grain al- land was very fine, with plenty of timber and most ready for harvesting. slightly rollirg. Near Ten Mile Creek there was On the following morning I continued my a good deal of wet land, and in some places the course to the Big Bend, on the Little Saskatche^ timber was rather scarce, but there ia a plentiful wan. The land here is excellent, but has very supply a few miles to the northward from the few settlers located on it, as Borne twelve sections trail. As you approach Shoal Lske there are here have been bought by an English nobleman, also numerous alkali fpots, but they are not bo Lord Elphinstoue, who purposes to make it an bad as in some other p irts of the country. immense cattle farm. The peop'e in the vicinity When about to cross the stream connecting would, however, much rather have people than Shoal wiih Raven Lake I met a young man cattle for neighbors, as there would then be named John Brodie, from Paris, Ont., where his greater likelihood of their early securing schools, father is an elder in the Presbyterian Church. I churches and g >od riads. A few miles north- had met with him twice before, first at Long w.-rd from here there is a somewhat eccentric in- Lake and afterwards at Pine Creek, and now rih'i'pU in good eircum^tacces, who owns a good gladly accepted his invitation tr> come and lodge deal of land in this neighborhood and some sixty within his tent, as it was drawing towards even- or seve.nty head of cattle.

ing, and I was both weary avd si* •?, Bef' j« A iifctld after m" .1 lay I reached the Indian going to bed we smudged the tent, fnfch Reserve near the Riding Mountain House and The Letters of Rusticus. 57 found the Indians all congregated in one place AN INDIAN MISSION—BEAVERS AS A CAUSE OF holding PONDS AND MARSHES.

A "big talk" with me. martineau, The night of August 17th was spent by me in the Government agent, who was to pay the In- the house of the Rev. George Flett, a short dis- dians their annuities the following Monday. tance north from the Riding Mountains House. best After listening a while to Cree eloquence and Mr. Flett's house is one of the that I have built en- its English translation, I left to visit some set- seen west of Manitoba, yet it was tlers living south-west from here, promising the tirely by Kev. George Flett, the Presbyterian missionary, INDIAN LABOR. that I would return on the afternoon of the The doors, windows, flooring and part of the next day (Sunday) to see the Indian children at shingles were brought up from Winnipeg, but their Sunday-school exercises. the appoint At the logs were hewed and put together by ed time, 4 p.m. Sunday, in company with Mr. Indians, who also sawed with ajwhip-saw all the Flett and his wife, place of we came to the rough lumber needed, and a madelconsiderable por- meeting a small log dwelling-house enclosed in — tion of the shingles, besides doing all the joiner a field of barley, potatoes, Indian corn and other work requisite in putting up the rafters, boarding garden vegetables. The building and crops and shingling the roof, laying the floors, making belong to a young Cree who has shown consider- the door and window cases, &c. able aptitude in adopting the customs of civi On Monday morning I walked around the ligation. The Indians at first began to gather Reserve gathering wild flowers, (which I brought round the house in considerable numbers from with me to Montreal,) and observing the build- the adjacent encampment, but unfortunately at ings, fences, and crops belonging to the Indians. this juncture Mr. Martineau called at the ''tepee" The two latter were much less than I was led to of the chief, wanting to have another "big talk." expect from the civiFzed appearance of many of The interpreter (a young Indian in the employ these people, but there were several houses of the Hudson Bay Company, who speaks Eng- already built, and the (log) walls for six or seven lish, drench and Indian fluently) was at the more were up (the cornering being remarkably house where Mr. Flett was about beginning well done,) and will probably be occupied by religious services, but a messenger came requiring this time, at least I hope so, as the supply of his presence at headquarters, and he had to go, clothing belonging to the Indians, especially the while a number of the other Indians followed children, is altogether too scanty to permit of from curiosity. Mr. Flett and I began to their dwelling in "Tepee's" through the cold fear that the religious services of the day weather. When fur-bearing animals were plenti- would suffer for lack of an audience, but ful, and their pelts brought high prices, many of as a few of the better-disposed young men these Indians and their squaws were clothed in and women remained, we gathered in front of broadcloth ; but the two past seasons have been the house and started to sing some of Sankey's very disappointing to Indian hunters, and as the hymns, they singing in Cree and I in English ; demands of the belly are more pressing than the but there was no discord, as the tunes were the wants of the back, the latter will have to bear ones usually sung to these hymns. We had not the brunt of " hard times" as best it may. Bung through one hymn when nearly all the I was informed that much more land would women and children in the camp came up to our have been cultivated by the Indians, but for place of meeting, followed soon after by all the lack of oxen to do the ploughing. It appears younger men, leaving only about half a dozen of that the Government supplied a number of the older Indians to continue the conference ploughs and harrows (which I saw piled up be- with Agent Martineau. I counted in all about side one of the Indian houses,) but they got only eighty persons, old and young, at our meeting. one pair of oxen to furnish the motive power re- Several more hymns were then Bung, and the quired to put them to good use, besides hauling Kev. Mr. Flett, after reading a chapter in the out of the bush an unusual quantity of building Cree language, from an English Bible, preached and fencing timber, consequently but little a short sermon, but as I did not understand a ploughing could be done. word of it, I employed my leisure in scan- At eleven o'clock I returned to the to ning the personal appearance of the audience, Manse witness a marriage ceremony, whereby two by no means a very pleasing spectacle, owiDg Crees were made one, (that is,if they were not to the amount of squalor and dirt visible. such already, as they had for some time been Most of the children were literally in rags, living as man and wife, but wished the knot to though some of them had a scanty supply of be further tied in a Christian manner.) even those. After the sermon the younger per- The happy pair were under thirty years of age sons in the company were divided into classes and decently dressed, and in appearance com- and teachers put in charge of each. Some of the pared favorably with teachers were more youthful than some members many couples that are married within Bight of Montreal. of their class, yet with a card in hand on which After dinner I went to see the Cree alphabet had been written by Mr. down the Indians Flett, they pointed out with a short stick each RECEIVE THEIR ANNUITIES, character and called out its proper name. Mr. and Mrs. Flett had each of them classes of the a somewhat tedious affair, since Indians, like smaller children gathered around them, to whom bo many of their white brethren, are generally they were teaching the English alphabet and also willing to accept more than is lawfully due to to spell little words in that language. Mrs. them. I was sorry to learn that only three or Flett seemed to enter into the work most four out of this large band of Indians had any heartily, although her pupils were in such a con- money really coming to them after their debts dition that few of the lady teachers in Montreal were paid. It is true that the money was paid Sunday-schools would care to touch their cloth- to each Indian who touched the pen by way of ing or persons with a pair of tongs. giving a receipt, but the payments were made in — 58 The Letters of Rusticus. the presence of an a^ent of the Hudson Bay chewan down to within a few miles of Company to whom the cash was, in all but three Tanners' Crossing, the country south-west of or four casts, transferred in payment of that stream is a beautiful rolling prairie, with goods already received, so that in case occasional small bluffs of poplar, which are alto- the Indian wishes to make any fresh gether too small and too few in number to sup- purchases he has to do so on credit. ply all the timber needed by the future settlers, I have been informed that the officers of the but there is an abundant Bupply of tim- Hudson Bay Company are in the habit of giving ber across on the north -east side of the the Indians credit to the amount of their mxt river, where the country is nearly all wood- annual payment to be received from the Gov- ed, with a large portion of it lately overrun " ernment ; thu3 poor Lo is kept almost con- by fire and is at present a brulie," but if pro- stantly in debt, and is unable to nee his ttc:ed for a few years will be covered with a annuity moneys in purchasing from any second crop of timber. There are here numer- other traders who may have wares for ous small lakes and grassy ponds, especially sale. I do not pretend to say that this is among the timber, many of which are evidently altogether to his disadvantage, for, although the the work of beavers at some former period, and Hudson Bay Company charge enormously high a few hours work with a spade would drain a prices for the goods they supply, yet they are good many of them. One of these lakes which generally of excellent quality, and good measure I saw in township sixteen, range seventeen, is always given, while occasional traders are not covered an area of more than fifty acres, with as very particular as to the quality or amount of much more in a' marshy condition, yet it could goods given even when the Indians are paying be drained by an ordinary Irish spadesman in twice its value. It seetns a great pity that the about a week. There are no settlements that I Indians whose annuities are so small ($5 per heard of on the north-east side of the Saskatche- head) could not have an opportunity of giving it wan, and westward from the Rolling River, ex- in exchange for nearly its worth of such articles cept two houses and a sawmill on the banks of as he really requires. the latter stream. Eastward from the Rolling At about 4 p.m. I bid good bye to Mr. Flett River the country is more open, and there and his Indian mission, and turned Stutt's head are a few settlers located on what ap- towards Winnipeg, an arrangement which did pears to be nearly all excellent soil not meet with his approval as he seemed to pre- but mostly covered with scrub. fer waiting where he was, to enjoy the company THE ROLLING RIVER of a number of other ponies like himself. As I rode away from this Indian reserve meditating strongly resembles many of the creek3 in the on the scenes I had lately witnessed, I was very Gatineau country. The valley is very deep and much impressed with the sense of the large debt narrow, while the stream for miles is a succes- of gratitude which the government and people of sion of rapids over a bed of boulders. The this Dominion owe to banks are chiefly clay, with occasional layers of sand gravel. THE MISSIONARIES IN THE NORTH WEST and A short distance up the east bank of this stream there is a comfortable- for the civilizing effect of their presence among looking farm house, with several outhouses the Indians, who all seem to have great regard around it. It belongs to a French native, and for the advice given by the missionaries, even is marked on the last maps, and I am informed cling to of their while they continue to many that a few years ago the main trail to the Big ancient ideas about religion. I believe that were Saskatchewan passed near this place. There is the of the the Gevernment to supplement work a small Bawmiii near the outlet of this river, but missionaries by paying a number of traBtworthy it had been idle for some time previous to my persons as teachers to impart to the Indian youths visit, because the mill-dam had burst. There is of the and maidens a rudimentary knowledge also a plentiful supply of spruce timber about three R's, the services of the North- West Mounted twelve miles up stream, from which logs can be dispensed with, in a few years, at Police might be brought readily during the high water in spring. least in so far as the Indians are personally con- cerned. The plan of doing the teaching at or PROSPrCTS OF WINNIPEG AND RAPID CITY near to the Indians' homes is much better than THE the plan proposed in the States of taking a num- COMPARED—A MEETING WITH MESSES. THOMAS ber of Indian youths east and placing them in WHITE, M P., AND C. J. BRYDGES. some educational institution, there to get a lib- On the afternoon of August 21st I left the eral training. Such a course would, I fear, do vicinity of Rolling River and, taking a southern as much harm as good to the young Indians, as direction reached Rapid City the following day their surroundings while at school would be so at noon. The country through which I passed totally different to what they would find when had rather more timber erowing on it than is the they returned home that they would not case further westward, but it was also wetter in remain there long, or if they did remain, parts and more or less rolling. In one of the they would return to their former mode of largest settlements here the people are all Pres- life in preference to trying the apparently hope- byterians, and I was informed that all the land less task of ingrafting eastern customs into the in that vicinity was owned by the professed every day life of a Western Indian. The very followers of Knox and Calvin. After careful en- presence of the teacher would also have a most quiries made, I believe that fully half of the beneficial effect on the industrial habits of the English speaking, white inhabitants of Manitoba whole tribe where he dwelt. I also think that and more than two-thirds of the settlers in the during the present winter, when many of the North-West Territory are Indians will require a little extra Government PRESBYTERIANS, aid, it might be given most advantageously through the hands of the missionaries. yet the Board of Home Missions in the eastern From the Big Bend in the Little Saskat- provinces propose to reduce by $2,300, the grant ;!f The Letters of Rusticus. 59

given to support the Presbyterian missionaries search to discover traces of the handiwork of •' in the North -West this year, although the field these cute gentlemen in the various reserve and • has been enlarged since last year by the addition land policies which help to enrich speculators at' 1 settled over 2 000 the of the whole fear « of about 5,000 Presbyterians, : expense country. I that square miles of new territory. What would the Rapid City will yet suffer severely by the in- j late Drs. Chalmers, Burns, and Dulf say of such trigues of such men at Ottawa in determining-' conduct were they still liviDg? I have been the route of the Canada Pacific Railway.

thinking that the Presbyterian Board of Home From Rapid City I went up the southeast f Missions must either have an overweening con- banks of the river some eighteen miles to Prairie : fidence in the steadfast adherance of Presby- City, calling at Beveral places on the way, and terians to their creed under the most trying cir- among others at the farm of John Ralston, where ( cumstances, or else have altogether too low an I found the proprietor looking as well as when I ' estimate of the enterprise and pluck of their saw him last at his house on the Gatineau, while ' Methodist and Baptist brethren, or they would taking the census in the spring of 1871. His 1 not be so slow to occupy the most promising residence is in Winnipeg, but he owns some;? Presbyterian field this continent, if not on twelve sections of land hereabouts (more good on . the globe. land than there is in any township on the Ga-'' When I reached Ripid City the second time, tineau above Hull). Mr. Ralston is one of the;[ I saw at once an evidei c^ of its progress in the many persons who have benefited by the igno-;' form of four new dwelling houses, which had ranee of Northwestern matters which prevailed ! been commenced since my former visit, a little at Ottawa, but I believe that he secured Ins over two weeks before. Since returning to Mont- lands by less objectionable measures than were, real I have received numerous letters of enquiry resorted to by numerous parties who have fol- '? about lowed him, until the Government put a stop to RAPID CITT AND ITS PROSPECTS this mode of public plunder. I hope that the ' Government will yet cause an investigation into ' of becoming a large city compared with Winni- these and other ways by which the public lands peg. Should the more southern (which I believe were secured by cunning speculators. to be much tho best) of the two surveyed routes for the Canada Pacific Railway be chosen, it PRAIRIE CITY will run for about five miles in the valley of the contains three or four houses, located on the' Little Saskatchewan at Rapid city. north bank of the river, and as I wished visit i| This place strongly reminds me of the valley to the Dominion Land Office, I had to leave of the Gatineau at Kirk's Ferry, except that the Stutt on the south banks of the stream (here about Gatineau river is about twelve times as large as sixty feet wide and from three to four deep), the Little Saskatchewan, and also has about feet and paid twenty-five cents to the ferryman who twelve times more timber on its high banks. took me over and back. bridge has since been There is a descent of about twenty-five feet in A built at this point. the bed of the river in about two miles of its About three-quarters of mile courEe here, and a considerable water power a east from here is Tanner's Crossing, at the could be developed by the construction of two or furthest east point on the Little Saskatchewan river. I had hoped three dams across the stream ; but any mills or that the mail which was then due manufacturies erected here, would require to would bring me some news from the east, as I got hare steam engines in addition to water-wheels, had none! since leaving Winnipeg, it as in time? of drought, the water in the river but as had not yet arrived, on the following I went would be too low to supply the motive power, ex- day somo eight or nine miles cept in the form of steam. north from this along the banks of a beautiful stream which flows As compared with Winnipeg, Rapid city pos- in a deep broken valley. Some of the land here sesses the following advantages— it has a much is very fertile and there is an abundance of good more beautiful and healthy site, it has an abun- J wood, water and mosquitoes. Most of the good, dant supply cf stone and gravel for paving its land here is already secured by settlers streets and building its cellars. Timber for fuel andj others, but some of the land is rather gravelly and building purposes can be had at a much less for profitable culture in dry seasons. cost by floating it down from the Riding Returning to Tanner's Crossing the following' Mountains. Its high banks Rive it a great day I found that the mail ad-antage in the construction of water-works, had not arrived, so I started eastward. Only three or four houses when the city becomes large enough to require j were seen for a distance of about twenty miles,. them, There is no danger of its sufferiug from when the trail crossed Stony Creek, about three floods, while the very existence of Winnipeg is jj miles above the junction with the yearly menaced by a spring flood, and her muni White Mudl River. From Tanner's Crossing to Stony] cipal debt is already assuming alarming dimen- Creek the land appears to good, sions, causing high taxes, which with other high be but mostly] covered with scrub, and is all, or nearly all,* "prices will prevent the possibility of large manu- owned by private persons. factories being established in Winnipeg. Besides, After crossing' Stony Creek the land gets more level, and alsa| Rapid Citv is much nearer the immense coal the soil is of lighter quality (and in some places field of the Saskatchewan. The advantages j altogether too sandy for profitable cropping) 1 which Winnipeg has over Rapid City are : The the country is also much more open. possession of a good start both in build- While riding along here leisurely taking ings and trade. The unscrupulous clever- a- look a every object in sight, I ness of some of the largest saw, coming tc proprietors, who, meet me in addition to large worldly possessions, have a rare amount of the cat like ability of light TWO DOUBLE BUGGIES ipg on their feet after every turn of the po- (a rather unusual sight in these parts). When litical kaleidoscope (and the more turns the bet- the strange teams drew near, I was both sur- ter for them). It does not require very careful prised and pleased to see the well known, cheer-fl - The Letters of Rusticus.

il face of Thomas White, Eeq. , M.P., in the rear and from on9 hundred and infcy to two hundred uriage, and to get a warm shake of his hand. yards wide, with low wet land on each side, es- [y pleasure waB somewhat allowed, however, pecially towards the east, which seems to be an

; the sight of Mr. W bite's companion in travel, immense marsh without a single settler, on about ot but Mr. Brydges is a nice gentleman to one hundred square miles of country. There

eet with in any place ; but as he is the chief are a number of streams running out from the jent of a great landed company, I thought east end of the Riding Mountains which loee lat if Mr. White had been accompanied in his their waters in this marsh, but a few miles fur- avels only by some intelligent native, who wa^ ther eastward there waters gather into a little

ell posted in all the wants, &c , of the settlers, river, which is again lost in the big grass hat a store of useful information he would marsh. ave drawn out, to be used afterwards with On the evening of August 26th I rode south- •eat advance in his newspaper and also in the ward on the Beautiful Plain ridge, for a distance

[

retty good crops are grown on it ; but it will not ed with water and wild grass, where wild geese ;and to be cropped so often without manuring find a convenient feeding place, some of which I

i would the land near the Little Saskatchewan. heard calling to their fellows. The land here n Monday I went northward some 18 miles seems to be a sandy loam, not nearly so rich as eer loamy land, rather wet in some places, to the wet lands further east, nor so easily drained. le house of John Stephenson, near the Riding The farm of Adam McKenzie, Esq., adjoins the [ountains, and the day following I made a Government Depot at the south end of the Beau- mrneying of some eis;ht or nine miles on foot tiful Plains, on which were about two hundred long an old trail leadicg across the mountains and sixty acres of grain, wheat and oats, most )wards the North-West. The mountains ri*e of it in the stack, while two reaping machints ,sry gradually and are closely timbered with with about a dozen men were at work on the oplar, so that I could not get a view out on standing grain. I believe that more wheat was le Big- Plains towards the south, although the grown on this farm during the paBt season than Ititude was considerable, The land here is was grown in retty stony in some places, but is much better THE WHOLE COUNTY OF HOCHELAGA, lan in many of the settlements not far from lontreal. and fully one-quarter the quantity of oats. The following morning I started eastward across a very wet country, some fourteen miles to Glad- AN UNCOMFORTABLE JOURNEY. stone, having passed only one house on the way. The country here is pretty well timbered, and as Sir,—While staying at the farm of Mr. John there is a gradual decline towards the east, I fcephenson, south-east of the Riding Mountains, think it would not be difficult to drain. observed among his cattle very two fine grade I observed in one place where the cart dws, which he said were Montanas that he had wheels had cut through the sod, that the ought from a drover in the Spring of 1877 for running water had formed a pretty large 30. One of them was only a calf at that time, ditch, carrying the fine sand and depositing it ut now she is nearly as large as her mother, and in the next slough where it helped to improve le amount of milk which I saw taken from the road. While passing along here I met a aat heifer m ould surprise most of the milkmen cayote on the road, but he obligingly gave mo round Montreal, very few of whom own a more the whole way, and going aside a short distance aluable cow than Mr. Stephenson's twoanda he stood glowering at me, but as I turned towards alf-year-old Montana. I have seen a number him he moved off, and Stutt seeming very un- I these cows in different Montana parts willing to follow him up, I turned toward Glad- f the country, and with a few exceptions, they stone again, and after crossing a number of wet ere the best cows that I saw in the North sloughs reached that village a little after one Vest, yet certain newspaper writers, not far o'clock p.m. •om Montreal, have lately been blaming the Before leaving Winnipeg I directed the Post lackenzie Government for supplying Office authorities there to forward my letters and to Gladstone, as fur- MONTANA CATTLE papers that was the thest west point in the North- West where they had a weekly mail. I had now been a month 3 the Indians, seeming to forget the fact that large number of the settlers in the North- without getting any letters from home and was Vest would be thankful to the present Govern- getting homesick and quite fidgety, although otherwise in better nealth than when I left lent, if they would only permit them to get much Winnipeg, but I promising myself a literary lontana cows as th«y used to do a couple of was ears ago. feast and a day's rest when I would reach difficult, at least for There are several long narrow gravel ridges Gladstone. It would be bachelors, disappointment inning southward from opposite the east end to imagine my when calling at the Post Office, to find f the Riding Mountain. One of these is illed the that there was nothing for me. In some of the bouses here I found late copies of BEAUTIFUL PLAIN ; the Witness and other papers, from which ut why it should be called a plain seems strange, I learned something about what had been done 3 it is a narrow ridge about eighteen miles long in the eastern world lately, but even this news 1,''!

The Letters of Rusticus. 61 seemed insipid while I was unable to hear from intended that I should rest my weary bo5 my family. I at once despatched a postal card duriDg the night. The bed-clothes con] to the Winnipeg postmaster, directing him to sisted of a coarse linen tick filled wit I forward to Portage la Prairie all letters and long wild grass, quite compact and hard, an' papers directed to David Currie, which might be rounded in the middle like a camel's back . A. in the Winnipeg post office but this reasonable one end of this there was a pillow, and above ; a ] request was not complied with. was spread a double blanket, without sheet oj On the morning of August 28th, I proceeded counterpane, or any other luxuries or conv«; eastward from Gladstone for more than two niences, so essential to comfortable lodgings i " where the eastern miles, to the borders of the Big Grass" provinces. By a good deal of labor } I got a good view of this flattened MONSTEB MEADOW THE HUMP IN THE BED TICK considerably, with its seemingly unlimited supply of uncut but not sufficiently to allow of m sleeping hay. If this marsh could be drained (a rather without rolling to one side on the rathe sharp surface of the sideboard of the bedstead difficult job) it would produce more hay than | couldbe grown on one-third of the State of Towards midnight some ten or twelve worki Kansas. Turning southward I came to the trail men, who had been carousing in the bar-root] between Westbourne and Gladstone, but found below, came up-stairs and took possession C] the other beds, it to be "a hard road to travel," especially for but it was some time befor; they poor Stutt, for I had become so careful about got quiet enough to allow of my sleeping following keeping my feet dry in leaky boots that I always The morning we got for breakfasl; rode over sloughs and wet places, although often boiled potatoes and fried salt pork with brea travelling considerable distances on foot when and tea and some stewed pumpkins. As th. the roads were good. After riding for several pork was too fat to agree with my stomach, ani miles through mud and water, varying in depth, the bread was spoiled and burnt in the baking from four to twenty-four inches, Stutt stumbled and there being no butter to assist in making i and fell while going through one of the worst palatable, I had to breakfast on the potatoes an spots, which compelled me to dismount in water pumpkins. Our landlord in apologizing for th and mud knee deep, through which I had to walk absence of butter from the table, stated that hij; untildrier ground was reached at Woodside. Here could not get any to purchase in the neighbor, I crossed on a ferry to the north side of White hood, but this I afterwards found was not th Mud River, which is at this place a pretty large case, as the next neighbor told me that only tw stream of black water, about eighty feet wide days before he tried to sell a tub of butter to th and five or six feet deep (a bridge has been built hotel- keeper, but that gentleman would not pui here since I passed). There are a number of chase it as the price asked was not much les small farms, prettily located on the banks of the than could be got for the butter at the Portage 1 river here, but there is not much land dry When I came to settle for my bed and break fast, I had to pay twenty- five cents for the foi< enough for profitable cropping in wet season ; but stock raising and dairying can be carried on mer and forty cents for the latter, which cheaply and extensively. grudged more than any board bill that I paid i A few miles the North West ; for although I had formerl paid as much for a meal, they were both pah; BAST FROM WOODSIDE table and wholesome. I may say here that i no place west of Manitoba was I charged mor there are very beautiful plains of akali land (I than twenty five cents for a meal, although pre have brought with to Montreal some of the me visions were much dearer than in Manitoba. surface alkali taken from this plain) . There is also a salt spring here from the water of which salt has been made ; but there foreign in it to was too much matter LAKE MANITOBA AND ITS FUTURE—FBEE PL^N'.! domestic purposes. permit of its being used for IK G—POSTAL INCONVENIENCES. From this point I went some seven or eight miles north- east to Totogan, near the mouth of the The village of Totogan is situated on a tongu White Mud River. For about half the distance of land extending between the White Mud Riv< the trail led across wet meadow land, with the and Lake Manitoba, which is some five or si. water about half way up to my knees and the feet in the highest part above the ordinary lev*, hay up to my waist. There are no settlers here of the water in the lake. It is probable that i! until Totogan is reached, the land being a half- time this place may be of considerable impor breed reserve. I was hurrying t3 reach Toto- ance as it seems to be walking through so much gan before dark, and THE ONLY GOOD HARBOR water my feet suffered the loss of more or less skin, which made it very uncomfortable trav- on the south end of the lake. Lake Manitot elling, itself seems to be a kind of over-grown pone I reached the river and was ferried over just with the water not over six feet deep on moij before dark, and put up at the only hotel in the than half of its area, while in but a very sma, place, where driDking and gambling were being portion it is more than fifteen feet deep. As tfc extensively carried on, as a number of workmen surface of the lake is about forty feet higher tha were in Totogan at that time, building a mill Lake Winnipeg, the draining of its waters inl and a steamboat. As I had supper before the latter would be a comparatively easy matte:, reaching here (cocked and ate on the prairie in and I believe that many of the present inhabi the usual fashion) I hobbled Stutt and turned ants of Manitoba will live to see the lake froi him out to look for his supper* while I was shown which their province takes its name, reduced 1 to an unfinished garret furnished with half a very limited size, or perhaps entirely traDi dtzen beds, in one of which the landlord kindly formed, along with tin extensive marshes wLic — Tine Letters of Rusticus.

presence of fever until after I had remain- il urrouud It, into large grain and pasture fields of the uaud tx tensive meadow lands. e i in the house and dined, or perhaps slept over heard more cr less about [y On the morning of August 29 I set out from night in it. I had view of the lake (which fevers prevailing before I left Winnipeg, but kept ; tTotogan to try and get a it lest family should be- oDn a f orruer occasion I had unsuccessfully tried from writing about my eto do), and after travelling about a mile towards come anxious for my safety. I believe that »e;he northeast, I reached a farm house on the more than twenty per cent of the people living ia>orders of the marshy land. Being still a miJe in the vicinity of Portage la Prairie had a^rom the open water of the lake, and the inter- fever last summer—the disease prevailing chief- efrening space being covered with a rank growth ly among those lately arrived in the country place, while the four h;^f wild grass, reeds and ru&hes, with more or Jess and numerous deaths took a\water. I almost gave up hopes of seeing the lake village doctors were kept busy attending on the conversation with one of these doctors, •eit all ; but, after thinking what was best to be sick. In [.done, I obtained permission of the farmer to he stated that the fever arose entirely from pre- Iillow me to climb upon the roof of his house, ventable causes, such as water lodged in the cel- stfrom which, aided by my glass, I got lars, wella cribbed up with timber instead of stone or brick, and the large amount of stagnant A FAIB VIEW OF LAKE MANITOBA. water in the sloughs. While waiting for the mail to arrive from After this I turned up along the south-east Winnipeg, I visited numerous large fields of re- e 3anks of the White Mud River to Westbourne, fine grain, and witnessed the various re markably oa?sing numerous farms on which considerable operations of harvesting, such as reaping, bind-

' ,jrain had been sown , but the blackbirds seemed ing and stacking. Some of the reaping machines ;o get the greater part of the grain here, indeed bound the grain with wire as fast as it was cut, n seme fields they took all the grain and left tho but the greater number enly cut the grain, leav- ?f ?traw to the farmers. I have seen a good many ing it to be bound by hand, which required a le r i)lack birds in this country and also in the Ottawa large force of laborers, many of them being Sioux iistrict, but I never saw such wholesale damage Indians, male and female. I was informed that, )U as done i ione by birds of any kind or color was were it not for these m the iarms on the banks of the White Mud SIOUX HABVESTEBS' Stiver between the Big Grass and Lake Manitoba, where the loss of grain by the blackbirds was Q the immense crops around the Portage could not fully fifty per cent, the past season. I may re- have been gathered in the proper season, owing mark here that the blackbirds in the North- to the prevalence of fever among the white folk. West are rather variegated, having often white, I also visited the farm of Mr. Thomas Scis- vellow, orange and red heads and wings, some sions, near the Portage, and was shown his jjfthem strongly resembling the "redheaded" woodpeckers of the Ottawa region. This TBEE-PLANTATION, County of Weetbourne is a splendid place for which is by far the most extensive of the kind itock-raising and dairying, but is too wet and in this country. This plantation is in tho form the blackbirds are too numerous for successful of a capital E with the opening, in which are {jrain-raising. This place was first settled by the buildings and garden, being towards the fcJSnglieh-speaking natives, but a good many cf south. There are over five acres already plant- them have sold out their farms to Canadians ed with trees, east, west and north ot the yand have gone to push their fortunes elsewhere. buildings, and although the seeds of the oldest oA-mong the recently arrived farmers is a Mont- trees were sown in the spring of 1873, some of Steal merchant, who has introduced drain digging them were over twelve feet high and two and a aand is being followed by some of his neighbors. half inches in diameter near the ground, and u After going up along the southeast banks of already form a complete shelter from the winds, }£he river several miles past the villiage of West- besides being both ornamental and ueeful. It rpourne, and seeing no dry road across the large is strange that Mr. Scissions has not many anarsh which occupies nearly the whole dis- more followers in the tree-planting business.

aiance to Rat Creek, I turned back and the Mr. Scissions explained his process as follows : Eaext day crossed that stream, near its junc- The prairie sod was first broken in 1871, and

l tion with the White Mud Kiver, a few miles the following year a crop of grain was raised

: e rom Totogan, and travelled about twenty from it. In the spring of 1873 a portion of ^niles southeast to the thickly settlfd country the land was carefully ploughed and harrowed :ciear Portage la Prairie, passing very few houses and the seeds of the ash-leaf maple sown in l!or over half the distance It being: Saturday rows four feet apart, and between each of evening, and having learned that Red River these there was planted a drill of potatoes fever was very prevalent at the Portage, I pre which yielded enormously. The following year ferred to spend Sunday with the farmers a few a drill of potatoes or turnips was again 3 miles out from the village, but even here I soon planted between the rows of young trees *ound that the fever was more prevalent than I which were still too small to require all ^had ever known it to be in a country place. the land, the land in the meantime being care- 'Saving formerly had a severe attack of fever fully cultivated. The cultivation was continued Iwhen a young man, I scarcely anticipated any the third and fourth season without any other e3anger of another attack, but thinking prudence crops occupying the space between the rows, ihe best kind of valor, I kept away as much as after which the trees were large enough to keap ^possible from the houses where the down the weeds and only required thinning and pruning:. Mr. Scissons is in the habit of plant- FEVEB-STBICKEN PATIENTS a ing about an acre in trees each year, the kind

were residing ; but on some occasions, so anxious mostly used being maple with a few oaks and uire people in this country to prevent the spread white ash ; but these latter are very slow grow- )f fevers, I did not learn ers. In about twelve or fifteen years more, this 3 any information about The Letters of Rusticus. 63

plantation will become an extensive sugar bush neglected appearance, and most of the Indians and the timber alone will be worth from $50 to seemed absent (I was told they were helping at $100 per acre for firewood. harvest work). It was after dark on the evening of Monday, Towards noon I reached Fortney's ferry and Sept. 1st, when the mail from Winnipeg reached was considerably disappointed to find it consisted Portage La Prairie, when a good many others as of only a rough canoe-like scow, capable of carry- well as myself went to the post office, where ing over only four or five persons at most. One we waited for about two hours while the of the settlers on the Cypress River, who chanced mail was being sorted. On my enquir- to be travelling along with me, told me that all ing for letters or papers I was told that the settlers in that section had to take their there were none for me, which bit of infor- teams, carts, waggons, furniture, farm imple- mation did not help me to sleep better during ments, and provisions across the Assiniboine the rest of the night. On the following morning by means of this little scow. A waggon I again vieited the post office, hoping that per- or cart is always taken to pieces and con- haps there might be some letters for me which veyed across the river in fragments, and the postmaster on the previous evening had over- the same process is gone through with the looked in his hurry, but was again doomed to dis- load, after which the teams are compelled to appointment. I scarcely knew what to do,but as swim across after the boat, for which privilege a journey to Winnipeg: and back would require they are charged twenty-live cents per head. my travelling over 140 miles of road, with Some loaded waggons have cost near two dollars wnich I was already too well acquainted, fare for this inconvenient mode of crossing, and I concluded not to go there, but wrote this man Fortney has been known to make as several letters to friends, one of which was di- much as ten dollars in one day with his little rected to the Rev. Mr. Robertson, of Winnipeg, ecow, which could not be sold in Montreal for asking him to oblige me by visiting the post- more than four dollars. I had to unsaddle Stutt office authorities and see if they would for* and drive him into the river, while I, still hold- ward my letters and papers to Alexandria ing the bridle took possession of the only seat in poet-office on the Pembina Mountains, which the craft, and my fellow traveller got down on would be the next post office in my proposed his knees in route of travel. Three weeks afterwards, when I visited Alexandria post office, I got the greater THE TOTTELISH CONCERN part of the papers sent to me and also two regis- while Mr. Fortney stood in the stem to paddle tered letters and one letter from my family ; but us all across. While the water was deep all the other letters had gone to parts unknown, enough for Stutt to swim in, he was for going and I have not been able to get on their track much faster than the scow, and assisted to drag since. it ahead, but after going about one hundred feet he took bottom, and for the rest of the distance FEVERS— CROSSING A FERRY—FOLLOWING AN the water was from three to four feet deep, OLD TRAIL. through which he walked much slower than if swimming. On the afternoon of September 2nd. I left the My companion and myself had each to pay beautiful district of Portage la Prairie, going twenty five cents for the kind of accomodations south-west along the old Indian trial up the we received and I had to pay another twenty- Assiniboine. After going about two miles I five cents for Stutt, although he had to swim and reached the sand hills, and heard no more about wade the whole way. I was informed that there fevers for nearly four weeks, when I again found is a large scow capable of taking a loaded team, traces of them on the low lands east of the being built at a place about four miles above this Pembina Mountains. I may say here that I point so that this species of robbery will not be have not heard of any cases ©f Red River fever continued another s e ison. west of the Pembina Mountains and the Sand Although the banks of the river are here Hills ranges, which run in a north west direction more than one hundred feet high, ybt a from fifty to one hundred miles west from the very short distance south from the river, Red River. I have no doubt there will be the land is very wet, with the water-shed cases of fever in some parts of the country west in the direction of the Boyne river, which is of Manitoba, as there are in many places by far here about five miles distant towards the south. too much stagnant water in lakes and ponds This wet land is chiefly covered with a growth of which have no visible outlet ; but, taking the willows, with occasional bluffs of poplar. The whole country west of the sand hills, I be- trail southward to the Boyne I found to be still lieve it to be one of the most healthy on very wet in some places, and from appearances the globe, and especially favorable to such this must have been a hard (or rather soft) road is are troubled with lung complaints or to travel in the early part of the season. The iheumatism. After going about four miles land on umong the Sand Hills, which are here pretty well-wooded, I came to the house of an THE BANKS OF THE BOYNE Irishman named Nichol, and put up here for the (which are here some twenty feet high) is uight, as the next white settler was fourteen of good quality, and is all taken up as far miles further on. The next morning I again south as the range of Tiger Hills, which are started Bou!h-west along the well-wooded bankes distant from one to three miles south- east of the Assiniboine, the land seeming to improve of the Boyne and Cypress Rivers, until the the further I went, and soon reached the Indian western boundary of the province is reached. Reserve, which belongs to I was surprised to find such a large settlement A TRIBE CALLED BUNGA.YS, in this part of the Province, some of the settlers being here for over a year, and have already i branch of the Crees. I passed a good many built comfortable houses and have considerable aouses with gardens attached, but these had a fields of grain. I was informed that about one ; b4 The Letters of Rusticus.

hundred and fifty persons have taken up land a long, narrow mareh, close to the foot cf the here, the settlement extenoiug for a distance of Tiger Hills. This marsh swarmed with ducks, about twenty-five miles from the middle of town which found a large field for sport and feed ship eight, range eight west, to beyond the boun among the tall reeds. I went a considerable dary of the Province in township seven, raDge way along the north border of the marsh, thirteen west. Although there was a large adult hoping to reach some p.'fcce where I Protestant population here nearly all summer, could cross over to the hills which looked yet the only person who had ever preached so temptingly near, but my efforts in this in this district belonged to the Montreal Wit direction were vain and I had to return back to HESS. The land here is mostly a deep sandy within a few feet of the west bend of the loam, resting chit fly on a subsoil of sand, but in Cyprus River, at the dividing line between some places there is clay. A considerable por- townships seven and eight, in range thirteen, be- tion of this land is very fertile, and will produce fore I found land dry enough to cross over to the as heavy crops as are grown near the Portage. high lands towards the south. The creek which One of the nights I spent in this settlement was here comes out from the Tiger Hills, parallel in a tent with two young men from Montreal, with the Cypress River, and about a mile west who have each taken up half a section of land ; and from it empties into this long marsh and the although they have had considerable difficulty in water flows westward until beyond the surveyed moving in here, they have gained considerable lands, where it again asumes the creek form and in weight since leaving Montreal. This settle- flows north into the Assiniboine. Large quanti- ment is in a kind of valley from five to eight ties of hay grow in the vicinity of these marshes, miles wide, with the Tiger Hills on one side and which will at some future time serve to feed in the Sand Hills on the other, and will ba a the winter time the immense flock, which will splendid place for stock-raising and dairying, as find splendid pasture lands among the adjacent the cattle will have ample pasture ranges for hills in summer. About four o'clock in the after- many years to come among the hills on each side. noon I crossed the nameless creek at the foot of When I reached the Cypress Elver, near the the Tiger Hills and started south among the north border of township seven, range twelve hills, where I found the land to be of fair quality, west, I found it to be a moderately sized stream although rather broken. There was also a con- running in a valley some 70 or 80 feet deep siderable quantity of oak scrubb, and a good but about eight miles further towards the south- many bluffs of poplar timber. I camped for the west at the bend the land on the banks is quite night at a little stream near the centre of Town- low, and is largely overflowed when the water in snip Ave, range thirteen, and went to sleep lulled the river is high. Being anxious to reach the by the mid-night carols of the prairie wolves. settlement at Rock Lake before Sunday I en- quired of several of the most western settlers if they knew of any trail in that direction, but could get no information about the twenty- 6 ve NOMENCLATURE—THE COUNTRY OP THE LAKES— or thirty miles of intervening country. I could THE SOUTH WEbT LIMIT. see across the large marshy track lha On the morning of September 9bh I left Tiger Hills rise in fantastic shapes some camping ground among the Tiger Hills, eight or nine miles distant, but none of the peo my and, after travelling south a short distance, came pie here had as yet managed to cross the low to a beautiful stream of clear, sweet water,running lands which intervened. 1 was told that there eastward in a valley about twenty feet deep. was an old trail running westward along the foot This is about the centre of township 5, range of the Sand Hills, north-west from the settle- 13, west, and would be a ment, but no person knew where it led to. On Saturday, 6th September, I started west along BEAUTIFUL PLACE FOB A SETTLEMENT, this trail until past the surveyed lands, or into township seven, range fifteen west, but finding the range of hills nearly surrounding it on the large prairie to- that it continued to lead directly west, and it north and 6ast side, with a open being Saturday afternoon, I did not care to con- wards the south and west. The soil is of excel- tinue my explorations into lent quality, although not nearly so deep as near the Red River ; but the water is delicious, and AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY there is plenty of small timber. From this creek south to the alkaline lakes the land is an open, on Sunday. Still, wanting to see all there was to slightly rolling prairie, with timbered hills to- be seen, I climbed to the top of the highest sand wards the east, north and south, but west and hill to view the* country and was rather sur- northwest there is an extensive open prairie. prised to see the valley of the Assiniboine a little Some of the so-called alkaline lakes are very over a mile to the north, while south of me there beautiful, with timbered banks and fljcks of was a considerable extent of level land, which wild geese feeding on the shcie— I counted turned into as extensive marsh near the foot of twenty- seven in one flock. South of the the Tieer Hills, which seemed to extend about lakes the country again becomes hilly, fourteen or fifteen miles further towards the and covered with scrub oak and poplar. Houth west, and then abruptly sink down out of After vainly trying for nearly an hour to force light, at what I afterwards found to be the north my way through the scrub, I was compelled to west point of Pelican Lake. I returned to the set- turn westward and skirt the border of the prai- tlement near the Cy prei sr iver, and spent the next rie land which gradually turned southward day (Sunday) with them, and on Monday morning towards the north- weBt end of RockLake. When started south-west, steering by my own and within a little more than a mile from the lake, Stutt's noses, to find a track across the marsh in I came to a well beaten waggon trail running the direction of Rock Lake. By an error in the south-east across the timbered hills. This trail Government maps I was led to go further west was a most welcome sight to me, as I did not than I should, and came to the northern edge of know that there were any settlers north of Rock The Letters of Rusticus. &5

Lake. I took this trail crossing the hills which me by stating that the last man who sought are pretty well timbered, and the land is of excel- to reach Turtle Mounts by this route had lost lent quality. In some of the more open places, his way, and after wandering about for some there are lovely farm sites, and I am sure that time managed to get back to Pelican Lake, hardy varieties of • having in the meantime lost all desire to go fur- ther westward. After descending the steep APPLE THEES banks of the valley here and crossing the slug- gish 3tream of bitter water which issues out of would do well here. After less than an hour's Pelican Lake—the water in this lake is so bad ride I came to a large open plain with several that fieh won't or, can't live in it- I ascended the huts and tents in view. The soil in this plain is opposite bank just above the mouth of the Lit- different from anything I had yet seen in this tle Pembina, which is a considerable stream country, being a black loam to a depth of about coming in from the west in a large gully. I a foot, beneath which there is a hard bed of here f oun d traces of surveyors' work in running gravel, so compact that I could not dig it with a the line between townships three and four in spade. This kind of soil is rather dry and I range fifteen, and going west along their trail fear the crops will not amount to much in seasons for nearly a mile came to the corner p^st of great drought. I remained over night at the of these townships and those immediately hut of a man named Walsh, who belonged to adjoining them in range sixteen west. Chateauguay County (I saw several people here' This post stands about a mile south who came from near Montreal). from Pelican Lake, and about 200 yards north During the evening I went down to see Rock from the Little Pembina River. I followed Lake and found the water in it to be very shallow this line westerly for seven or eight miles more ; and muddy from the action of the wind and and during the first three or four miles of this waves on the clayey bottom and sides. The route travelled over good land, but the latter banks are nearly precipitious and about two half, was over a good deal of dry, arid, gravelly hundred feet high and well wooded with a large hills of moderate altitude, with fair soil in the growth of timber, such as oak, Balm of Giliad, lower places. * poplar and ash. There are also numerous beautiful From the top of one of these elevations I got springs flowing out from the banks. The following the first eight of Turtle Mounts, lying a little morning I set out for the Turtle Mountains, going west of south. I turned Stutt'shead in that direc- about five miles north-west, back along the trail tion, and Eoon crossed a considerable creek, a I had come on the previous day—which trail branch of the Little Pembina. After cooking leads to several haystacks belonging to the peo- and eating my dinner in the usual fashion, I ple whom I stayed with the previous night. I then proceeded southward over an extepsive tract of turned south-west and crossed a good sized creek, excellent land which is r early level, with occa which flows into the north-west end of Rock sional ponds swarming with ducks. I also saw a Lake. I proceeded on still, towards the south good many sandhill cranes, both gray and white. west steering by my nose for several miles, until These latter are I came to the Pembina River near two lakes, each about a mile square, called by the surveyors NOBLE-LOOKING BIRDS, Lome and Louise. and stand between four and five feet high, and There appears to be no system in the at a distance remind you of the processions of naming of lakes and rivers in this country. white robed girls which may be seen in Montreal 'Che chain of lakes along the Upper Pem- streets in the spring. When T would come too bina are called Swan. Rock, Lome, Louise, near them, they would spread their immense Pelican and White Water, which is rather a wings and fly away, uttering a loud call, strange mixture. Below I give what I believe to which seems to be half-way between that of be a much better system of nomenclature, with a gander and a turkey gobbler, and sounda the dimensions of each lake. like " kat-er-hone," with the emphasis on S wan Lake, 5 miles long, 1 mile wide. the last syllable. When within three or Goose Lake, 7 do, 1 do four miles from Turtle Mounts the land got Snipe Lake, 1 do, 1 do more rolling, some of the knolls being rather Duck Lake, 1 do, 1 do stony, with the soil not so good as it is further Pelican Lake, 15 do, 1 do north. About two miles from the Mounts there Crane Lake, 13 do, 6 do is a good deal of low alkali land, but near the All these lakes, except the last, are situated timber the land is slightly rolling and dry in a valley about 200 feet below the surrounding enough, but has not such deep soil as in Mani- country. The country north-east of Pelican toba—yet it produces good crop3 at present, aud Lake, and the two small lakes below it, is very is as good, if not better, than the average soii beautiful, with plenty of good land, wood and along the north shore of Lake Ontario. A

water ; but the only persons living here yet are French-Canadian named Lapierre has lived two families of French natives who live by hunt- here for the past five years, and has considerable ing and fishing. As it was threatening to rain, land under cultivation and keeps a store to sup- and the Turtle Mountains were still thirty miles ply goods to the Indians at exorbitant prices. distant, I accepted the kind invitation of one of I am told that he sometimes gives his customers these men (who spoke pretty good English) to "fire-water," but the North-Western Police lodge with him over night. During the evening nabbed him last year, and it cost him about I walked around a good deal, and must say that $400. This man comes from Ottawa, where he 1 do not know of a place in the North-West formerly kept a hotel. 1 stayed that night at which took my fancy so mucb as this quarter. the house of Mr. Finley Young, formerly from The following morning, before starting on my Chateauguay, but more recently from Montreal, journey, I got all the information I could regard- who, with a man named Philip Scott, also from ing the way to the Turtle Mounts, from Montreal, are "baching" it together. my obliging entertainer, who also consoled The following morning was wet, so I did uot A 66 The Letters of Rusticus.

travel much, but shot half a dozen ducks in the west. There we refreshed ourselvee with an ex- numerous ponds which abound here. The next cellent diuner of bread and tea, with pork and morning (Saturday, September 13) I was anxious beans, which was kindly given to uh by the sur- to visit a very large lake, distant some 18 or 20 veyors, who all. seem to be a very hospitable lot miles towards the north-west, which some of the of men. The surveyor him/elf, Mr. Gloats, settlers Baid was nearly as laige as Lake Mani was absent, but that made no difference so far as toba, but although some of them had seen part the food was concerned. We reached Mr of it in the distance, none of them had ever Young's house in the evening and found there reached its shores. It is called White Water an English miner named Morton, who had just lake, from the white or rather sky-blue appear- returned from examining the coal fields on the ance of the water in the lake when seen from a Souris. He showed us specimens of the coal distance. As Mr. Scott wished to accompany found on the surface there, and spoke very me, we borrowed an old cart and shagnappi har- hopefully of ness from Mr. Lapierre, and after considerable THE COAL PROSPECTS trouble managed to break in Stutt sufficiently to draw the rig, and so started on our journey, in that vicinity, but wished us to say nothing but could travel no faster than a walk for fear about it until his employers could secure their of wrecking both cart and harness. We also took title to the land where the coal abounds. To two gunB with us, but as we expected to return my unpracticed eye, the coal seemed to be rather that night, we did not take as much provisions light colored and dull looking, like some of the with us as we ought. After travelling about inferior coal brought from Nova Scotia, but Mr. fourteen miles we got a si^ht of the lake, still Norton said that while camping at the Souris, discant about ten miles and probably four hun- he piled a lot of the surface coal on his camp fire in dred feet lower than we then were. For two hours the evening and was able to cook his breakfast more we travelled over a rolling prairie and on it the following morning without the addition when about four miles from the lake came to a of any more fuel. steep descent to what waB evidently at one^ time The following morning (Monday) I had in- the border of the lake, which has since retreated tended to start east along with Mr. Norton, but several miles over a gravelly plain. From the Stutt (who had for some time past been taught highest point here I got a good view of the to observe the Sabbath day as a day of rest) lake with my glass and could distinctly entered his silent protest against the previous trace its border all round, although with the day's doing and slunk off with himself during raked eye it seemed to be boundless towards the the night, and we did not find him until noon west. There is not a buBh or true to be seen of the following Thursday. While searching for within several miles of this remarkable lake, ex- Stutt I had ample opportunities for observing cept on an island near the north shore. The the face of the country here, some of my journeys greater part of the eastern end seems to be very extending into Dakota. The land on the Turtle shallow, as bullrushes could be seen growing in Mounts is of better quality than prevails gene- places here and there. I think that this lake is rally in the Eastern Townships, but as it is well about thirteen or fourteen miles long, and from wooded, I hope that the government will Bee five to six miles wide, and from the north- the necessity of protecting it carefully from east end there extends a long, marshy track, speculators, or even settlers who may claim which, I believe, to be its outlet into more timbered lands than they actually need, the head of Pelican Lake. When we got as this track of timbered land will all be need- down to the low land we almost lost sight of the ed to supply the wants of the numerous settlers lake, and after travelling for about an hour over who will soon occupy the immense open prairie dry, gravelly, poor land, we came to the borders country lying east, north and west of it. On of the marshy land, yet were a long distance Friday morning I bid good bye to my kind from the open water. As the sun was near set- friends at Turtle Mountains, and started east ting we had to give up all hopes of getting near- along the Boundary Commission Trail. As I er the lake, and returned about three miles to expected to find lodgings at a Bottler's house where we saw a bluff of timber in a gully,where near Badger Creek the following night, I did not we camped for the night, feeling rather cheap make an early start. After a journey of thirty that we could not continue our explorations on miles I reached Badger Creek at sunset to find the following day, it being Sunday. an unoccupied house, its owner having gone to Emerson, so I had again to camp out in an ad- jacent bluff of timber, where I slept soundly, al- though there was a considerable frost during tho UNCOMFORTABLE WEATHER—COAL PROSPECTS— night. A good deal of the land about Badger MODEL POSTMASTER — THE LAND IN THE Ureek(in townships land 2, near the dividing lin

few feet of clay above it in many places. The siderabJe extent on the eastern slopes ofc" th» surface soil Pembina Mountains. Some of these IS A BIOH LOAM OAK GROVES ABE BEING KILLED BY CATERPILLARS and will produce excellent crops in damp seasons, which eat the young leaves as fast as they grow, but I fear that the crops will be light in seasons and have already killed many acres of excellent of drought. Sunday Sept. 21st tpent in the i oak timber. From Alexandria I went about Paisley settlement four miles east from Crystal four miles south-east to Mountain City, where City, to which place I returned in the afternooa there are four or five houses and a small saw and to attend religious servicer held by Rev. Mr. grist mill. From here I went a little north of Greenway. Bible Chr st an Agister, a brother ea3t for three or four mile*, more to the Men- of Mr. Thomas Greenway. ex M.P.P., for nonite village of Waltine, where I stopped the Huron, Ont , aud now a of the Pro- member rest of that day and the following night enjoy- vincial Parliament of Manitoba. this place At ing the hospitality of this peculiar people and I met with several people whose acquaintance I learning a good deal about their habits, customs had first made while helping them to take their and religious opinions. The reason why I » fleets across the ice on the Red River near preferred lodging with the Mennonites, when Emerson on the first of last April. I was con- there were English-speaking Canadians living siderably surprised to see so little progress made within two miles of them, was, that I might by these people during the past bummer although find out more about them, for there seems to they eeeiued to be well supplied with teams and be a strange and unaccountable antipathy held farmiug implements. I don't think that the by many Canadians here against the Menno- amount ploughed would average over nites, whom they blame for being slovenly in their habits, although they cannot but FIVE! ACRES TO EACH FAMILY. allow that they are honest, peaceable and in- dustrious. I had formerly visited the S 'me few had put in a little crop on their Menno- nite villages of Blumenhoff and Steinbach, ploughing, and I think there were four or five in the Rat River Settlement, near wooden bouses within sight of the trail in a dis- Clear Springs, tance of near forty miles between Badger Creek where the people appeared to be and Pembina Crossing, vet most of this land has been taken up and a good many mud huts MORI TIDY IN THEIR HABITS have been constructed on the homesteads ; still I than most new Canadian settlers, believe that over half of the homesteads had, at but when speaking to the time of my visit, neither buildings or crops, many Canadians about the neat appearance of only a few acres ploughed and perhaps a stock these Mennonites and their sur- or two of prairie hay erected on them. Except roundings, they would answer that the Menno- nites at the Badger and Cypress Creek I saw no tim- among whom I had been were the more wealthy ones, but if ber, nor even bush near the traik from Turtle I would go into some of the poorer villages, I fiud Mountain to Pembina Crossing, a distance of would things different. Consequently. I visited near seventy miles. Early in the spring, just Waltine, as it was one of the newest and poorest after I first arrived in Winnipeg, I went to the villages, and I also found the people hospital th°re and found one of the patients, here both neat and cleanly. There is one custom, however, named Johnston Fenton, from near Ottawa suffer- which I think the Men- ing with his feet, which he got badly frozen while nonites would do well to abandon, that is, the travelling from Turtle Mountain to Pembina rather common practice of building the stable against the end of the dwelling house so that Crossing about the middle of last March, at, a which date there were no houses to be met with person can pass out of the kitchen into the stable for the whole distance. Eastward from Pembina without exposing himself to the cold of winter, or the rain of Crossing there are a good many bluffs of tim- the summer. In several cases X ber scattered here and there until the Manitoba found that the wells were situated in the end of the stable next to the settlement is reached, at the eastern base of the kitchen, and although it was carefully boxed over, fear Pembina Mountains. This country is I that the water will become more or less saturated with unwholesome A MOST DESIBABLB FLACE juices. The reason that they keep their wells in the stable is for convenience in watering their stock to live in, with very fertile soil and bracing moun- in winter time, and also to prevent the wells tain air, with plenty of good water and wood, from freezing. I saw no plank floors in the and is more densely settled than almost any houses in this village, but the hard baked clay other of the new settlements in Manitoba. The floors which are kept well swept and clean, and farmers here also seem to be very prosperous, seem to stand a great deal of wetting without and, although only from two to four years in the forming a muddy surface. I also examined their country, have a large area of land cultivated, ovens, or straw burners, and had the process of and most of them have good comfortable dwell- heating fully explained. These ovens (a picture ing houses erected. On the night of September of one of them appeared in the Witness a few 16, I Btopped at the house of Mr. John Thomp- years ago), are built with sun-dried bricks (the lion, of Alexacdria, who has kept the post office process of manufacturing these bricks was also there for several years, but last fall it has been explained and exhibited), and form part of the removed to a country store about a mile west. partition about the centre of the house, (many Mr. Thompson appears to be a very fine man, of the partitions are also built of sun-dried brick). and one of the few postmasters in this pro- It requires the consumption of about two large vince who has had no complaints made about armfuls of straw to heat the house properly tor the way he attended to Her Majesty's mails, al- twelve hours in winter. The straw is brought though he has a pretty large farm to look after. into the kitchen and laid in a pile in front of the His dwelling house is situated in a pretty ex- oven door, and one of the litrla folk, *t tensive grove of oak, which abounds to a con- women, is set to put this straw into the A 6S Letters of Rusticus.

r.veu in handfuls where a small wood fire ALL ON ONE SIDE OF THE WIDE STREET, has been kindled, and so soon as one handful is and directly across the street there is consumed another is put in its place, and this a largo process continues for about half an hour, when field fenced all around, and containing 320 acres of tillage land, family thewalls of the oven have become so heated that each owning an equal share in this field. In addition they keep the whole temperature of the house to this every one has more or less cultivated land eleewhere, WARM ENOUGH TO DO WITHOUT FURTHER where it is most convenient, or the soil suitable, HEATING amounting to three or four hundred acres more. The berdman of each village is paid in various for twelve hours, when another " firing up" takes ways. When he has no family he boards around place. Bread, meat, potatoes &c. are generally- with his employer the way the country school- cooked in the ovens during the time when the master used to do in Lower Canada. The herd- firing is being done. man at Bloominhoff being married had a free I believe that these ovens are seldom used ex- house and ten acres of ploughed land allotted to cept in winter, when the houses require extra him, and each man in the village gave him two heat, and that common cooking stoves are used in days' work, either in spring or harvest time, and summer time. As the stables are nearly all con- also assisted to draw home his fuel in winter nected with the houses by a door, they receive a time. In addition to this he got one hun- good deal of heat from them in very cold weath- dred dollars in cash, which I think was er. The hens also, which inhabit the stables, lay very good pay for a little more than five months' plenty of eggs in cold weather, and the Mennon- work. Every morning he passes through the ites derive a considerable income from the large village taking each man's cattle from the yard amount of eggs they supply to Winnipeg. They and driving them out to the open prairie, where also make a good deal of the butter which is he keeps them from doing mischief or straggling, sold in that market, for they are wide awake to and at evening he returns all these cattle to their the great advantage of stock raising and dairy- different owners, each of whom contribute *fco the ing in the Northwest. pay and board of the herd in preparation to the I had intended to write about the religious number of cattle they own. On the following beliefs and customs of these Mennonites, but I morning as I left Waltine I passed through their don't think that many Canadians will follow herd about half a mile from the village, and their example in this respect, so I need not'spend counted in all 127 head which included only three time and paper over it. oxen, the rest of the oxen being absent at. work. By far the greater number were lt'ss than three years old and a very large percentage were calves of last spring, from which I inferred THE MENNONITES AND THEIR VILLAGE—THE FU- that these Mennonites have not eaten much veal TURE OF THE NORTH-WEST AS A DAIRYING since coiling to Manitoba, and in addition have COUNTRY — BOYNE RIVER SETTLEMENT — been purchasing calves from Canadian settlers, SMALL PRAIRIE FIRE. and thus unduly raising the price of veal to the people in Winnipeg. The Mennonites seem fully The house in which I stayed over night in alive to the euperior advantages which the Waltine belonged to a widow who with her North-West possesses for stock-raising and husband and children had come here from Russia dairying, but in their anxiety to get cattle they a little more than two years ago, but the good have apparently overlooked the advantage man only lived a few weeks in his new home of raising only superior breeds, consequently their when he was removed by death. As the family stock resembles very much the general run of were 7ery poor, the oldest girl and the second beef-critters in the Province of Quebec. There oldest boy were sent to hire out with the Ca- was this means learned to pretty nadians,and by speak MORE HAY BURNT good English, and the young man eeems to take quite naturally to various English customs includ- by the prairie firea last fall, on that low tract of ing many of their slang phrases. I have been in- land lyiDg north from the Mennonite settlement formed that the elder Mennonites look with dis- to the Assiniboine, than would have sufficed to favor on their younger brethren and sisters, for feed, through the winter, every cow in the whole hiring out with Canadians, and means are being Dominion from which the milk supplied to the used to prevent it as much as possible; The old various cheese factories and creameries was taken folk have a rather sad expression of countenance, last summer, and this is comparatively a very but the young people are about as jolly and laugh small portion of the fertile land in the North- as heartily as most other young folk do. The West ; but until the hay grown on this and the villages of Waltine and Sheindcff which I passed other extensive meadows in that country has through on this occasion, consist each of a very been nearly all utilized, the cost of feeding cattle wide street with about ten or eleven houses on there, will be only a fraction of the cost of each side of it, extending about a quarter of a cattle feeding in the Eastern Provinces. Tbe mile in length. In rear of each house, and less cool nights and dry air of the northwestern than one acre in breadth, the cultivated farm of summers are very favorable for making superior eaoh family extends back to a greater or less dis- butter that will keep good long, and I would not tance, according to the working force at the be surprised if, within a quarter of a century, command of its occupant. As timber is very the butter made in that potuon of the Dominion scarce here, there are no fences except along on will nearly monopolize the foreign butter trade each side of the street through the length of the of Britain. When passirg though Sheindoff I village and also a small enclosure or yard in the saw a new steam thrashing machine which had rear of each house to keep the cattle in at night, just arrived in the village, and waB informed that and some of the gardens were also fenced. In the Mennonites had purchased a number of these the village of Bloominhoff, near Clear Springs, machines the past season. From here I went the houses (some 18 or 19 in all) are ' some eight or nine miles north-west to Nel- The Letters of Rusticus. 69

Boiivilie ovir a very flat but rich farming country. part of lha country on the afternoon of the fol- There is a considerable quantity of timber here lowing day. I got a hearty reception and a good en the banks of several creeks which issue supper and bed that night from Col. Westover out from the Pembina Mountains. Nelsonville who was in chaTge of the farm and felt elated is a thrifty looking place with a number of good that 1 had no more wet marshes to cross, and buildings in it and a considerable local trade. I might now get back to Montreal dry shod, al- feel sure that the buildings erected in this village though my boots were out at the toes and the were more valuable than the total value of all legs of my trousers were worn off half way up to the buildings erected in the five cities through the knees while travelling through wet grass which 1 had last passed. From Nelsonville I and ecrubb, especially while searching for Stutt went ncith-east about fifteen miles to Pomroy on in the vicinity of Turtle Mounts. Tobacco Creek, nearly the whole distance being an open prairie with very few houses erected on it, alth u.;h all the land has been taken up. SHOOTING PRAIRIE CHICKENS—A PRAIRIE FIRE— Crossing Tobacco Creek I followed the old HORSES FROM ONTARIO— TROUBLESOME COM- Missouri trail seven miles more to the Boyne PANIONS. River, where there is On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 30th, I A PRETTY LARGE SETTLEMENT went with Colonel Westover to shoot prairie chickens, he using a rifle, while I had a shot gun of Canadians, some of whom have been here for belonging to one ot the men. Our hunting seven or eight years. This is a pretty place ground was a ploughed field about 450 acres in owing to the large groves of oak which abound extent, which seemed to offer considerable attrac- on the banks of the stream. The Government tion to the prairie chickens. Perhaps they had seem to have made a serious mistake in permit- some presentiment of the storm of fire which was ting so much valuable timber to be appropriated that afternoon to sweep over the surrounding by a few individuals who now charge exorbit- prairies. They were very wild, however, and ant rates for building timber sold to the later would not let me near enough to shoot them with settlers on the open prairie, who have not a a shot gun ; but Colonel Westover could spot single acre of bush land. I spent the r.hem at longer distances with his rifle. fired two following days (Saturday and Sunday) I unsuccessfully at several when flying past, in the Boyne sattlement, and on the and then tried a new trick. Observing that a good afternoon of the latter day drove out some ten many of the birds flew from the ploughed miles south-west along with Rev. W A. Ross, land to the long grass on the adjacent prairie, I used to to one of his preaching stations near the foot mark the spot where they alighted and, of the Pembina range at Miami Po3t Office (by going straight towards it, would come up quite close the way, post < ffices seem to be rather thick in before they would fly, and thus I got time to fire this thinly settled part of the country ; in other before they got too far distant for the shot larger and more tbickly settled parts they have no to take effect. I soon got pretty expert in this post offices at all) The services were held in the of house of two young Scotch gentlemen named mode Riddle, who have lately taken up 9000 acres of " SHOOTING ON THE WING," land in this vicinity and have started to farm it and bagg-d ten fine birds, and wound up the vigorously. On Monday afternoon 1 started in .^port by shooting a very large skunk. company with the Rev. Mr. Ross to cross th« On the afternoon ot that day I began to write large uninhabited tract of wet land—some twen a letter for the Witness and while thus engaged, ty mile3 wide— lying between the Boyne Settle observed that the tky became darkened and the meat and the Scratching River at Morris. Al air full of smoke which was furiously driven by though there had been no rain to signify for a j^ale irom the west. Going out of the house I nearly two months, yet we had to travel across observed a monster prairie tire approaching nearly two miles of water-covered marsh, th rapidly from the direction of Tobacco Creek, but soil in which was so ?of t in many places that I as a considerable extent of ploughed land inter- preferred to walk through it on foot rather than vened between the farm buildii.gs and the long be guilty of such gross cruelty to Stutt as to ride ry grass through which the tire was approach- on his back. Mr. Ross' nag seemed to have a'l ing at a two forty rate, we were not apprehen- it could do to draw the buckboard with Mr five for our safety ; but had not the dry grass Ross on it through the mud aud water. around the hay stocks been burned the previous It was almost dark before we got across tLe ovtnmg, no human power could have saved them m n-h and we were still ten miles from Morris, from destruction. I went out to the western but as Mr. Lowe's farm buildings could be seen border of the ploughed land to about ur miles list-ant to the right of the trail, I left he Rev. Mr. Ross to continue his journey SEE THE FIREFIEND APPROACH, to Morris while I turned Stutt's head toward* but was obliged to keep at a respectful Lome's farm, where they had just begun to light, distance owing to the beat and smoke. I fires in the prairie grass arouud their building* have seen nothing comparable this fire < and btacks. The night was uuusually dark, ami to xcept the great fire near Ottawa on Augu-t h, as I rode towards the fire it teemed an exceed- 17 1870 The tire swept past in few minutes g- iug ingly beautiful sight, at fir«t appearing mere'y a ou towards Scratching River. Early as a red streak, but as I came closer I could sen on the following morn- iDg I climbed on the ro«f distinctly the red tongues of flame as they of Mr. Lowo's house and took a survey of the horizon leaped upwards in the still night air. When all around—the whole country seeming as black as ink, except within a mile of th > fird its towards the north-west, where the marsh was AUDIBLE, BOAH BECAME QDITE too wet for the grass to burn. although it was a very small affair compared The land around here is almost a dead level with the conflagration which swept over this with exceedingly rich soil of which Mr. Ljw« JThe Letters of Rusticus. owns about sixteen thousand acres. Part of it On Wednesday morning I started for Morris, is very wet, but can all be drained at a moderate accompanied, for a sh >rt distance, by Mr. Lowe. from the cost. His buildings are situated near the corner jr , who hid returned Emersou previous of towoBhips four and five, between ranges one day After going some distance, be pro- and two, west. The chief drawbacks of this farm posed to buy iStutt, not that he needed him, are the scarcity of wood and water, for, although but fearing that I might have some dif- there is water all around, there is scarcely a drop ficulty, and perhaps delay, at Winnipeg if I fit to drink without first being filtered or boiled took him there for sale, owing to the dulness to remove or destroy the anirnalculas and vege- in the horse market, caused by the notorious table substances which abound. Col. Westover land regulations^ that had come into force on has had four holes bored in different places in August 1st, which deterred immigrants from the farm, ninety feet deep to the rock, but the settling in the country. This kind offer of water produced is nearly Mr. Lowe I gladly accepted and returned with him to his farm and left Stmt with his new AS STRONG AS BRINE. owner. The following morning Colonel West- I had two quarts of this water evaporated over took me to Morris in his buggy and I in a tin dish on the stove from which parted with him at the house of the Rev. there was produced over a heaped table- James Douglas where we had dinner. As the spoonful of salt, but it was too impure for boat from Emerson had not yet arrived, and using in the household. I also brought a there being considerable uncertainty about her of pint of this water with me to Montreal, and it movements, owing to the lowness the water in River, is now in the WiTN£SS office. This water has a Red in the afternoon I shouldered very active tffect on the bowels of costive per- my knapsack and eons, and perhaps it may be, medicinal. Horses STARTED ON FOOT and cattle take very little of it after the first time. An attempt was made to drill into the for Winnipeg, walking nearly twenty miles be: rock by means of a large drill suspended by a fore stopping for the night, which I did at the house of French native ropt , but it would not work, as the drill would a who keeps a kind of not revolve with regularity. The water to sup- stopping place about two miles north of St. ply the household and live stock had to be drawn Agathe Church, where I spent an uncomfortable several miles from the big marsh night with four or five species of vermin as bed fel- I might here mention that out of a carload of lows. One kind in particular I had never seen horses shipped from Ottawa la9t spring by Mr but once before in my life, and I hope never to Lowe, el«ven had died before the time of my ~ee again, for they seemed to be proof against visit, while five or six more were unable to work soap and hot water or the fine tooth comb, but were getting round again. I believe that and I did not get entirely rid of their company from one- third to one half of the horses shipped until I reached Montreal. I would much rather from Ontario to Manitoba die during the first spend another night in a bluff among the Tiger season, and it seems folly to continue the impor Hills, with lizirds and prairie wolves to disturb tationofsuchhorses. French-Canadian ponies,and my dreams, than in that stopping-place in St. some of the smaller, more hardy and tough horses Agathe. from Ontario do very well ; but the large, long- The next morning at break of day I started on flanked, narrow-chested horses might as well be my journey, and reached Stinking River a little shot at once as be sent to work on the muddy before noon. This appears to be a pretty place, trails in the North West. The advantage of although it has such an offensive name, but the water in the river is bad-tasted owing to the SMALL HARDY HORSES water received from several pretty large sale springs. The soil here seems to be very rich, but over large soft brutes was exampli6ed on this except on the banks of the river, is very wet. I farm by the work done by one pair of little reached Winnipeg at about two o'clock, having hardy horses, which had broken up more thaij come from Morris in about twenty-four hours, one hundred acres of prairie land alone, beside* carrying some twenty-five or thirty pounds on doing a good deal of other work ; yet they were my back. Having arranged my business here, I in good working condition. The following purchased causes seem to operate against hordes brought A TICKET TO MONTREAL, from Ontario. Drawing loaded waggons over yielding mud is very straining on having to pay ten dollars more for it than if I a team, and much more so on large were going the other way, viz.: from Montreal horses than on small ones. Next, the to Winnipeg. mosquitoes prevent them from taking rest in the Having he<*rd a good deal about the bad usage Stable at night. I once tried to sleep in an un which second class passengers have to endure occupied stable at Oak River, but could not when travelling by the boats of the Beaty Line succeed, although with my hat and mosquito net from Sarnia to Luluth, I determined to return on my head, a couple of pairs of socks drawn by that route and Bee tor myself, although a fall over my hands, and my body wrapped in a couple voyage on the lakes is not generally desirable. of quilts. The way that the mosquitoes on that Oa Monday, September 6ih, I bade good by occasion danced about on my net and tung party to my friends in Winnipeg and crossed the Red tunes would surprise the members of any nation River to St. Boniface, and on Tuesday morning al society, and, at last, I had to leave the build sometime before dayligot embarked in a box car ing and pass the rest of the night at a smudge to make the tedious journey to St. Vincent. with the horses, although it was threatening rain. The reason we had to travel in a box car was The mud and mosquitoes I believe to be the because there were no passenger cars at the chief cause of the mortality among big horses j station, they having been prevented from but it is probable that the food and water helps coming north the previous evening _ by dam- to a greater or less degrte. age done to the road by prairie fires. The Letters of Rusticus.

As we moved Blowly southward we saw rous lady travellers got on the locomotive to get - country had been that a good deal of the THE FOLL BENEFIT FROM THE SHOCK burnt over lately and that several houses, as well as a large amount of fencing, haystacks and given to their nerves as the train turns sharply ' young timber had been destroyed. It seemed a round some protruding point on the banks, or great pity that so much destruction had been glides rapidly across yawning chasms on frail

done when it could have been so easily prevent looking tre3sel work, more than one hundred feet ! ed. While the train was moving along at its high. usual slow pace, we were suddenly startled by Duluth shows signs of having seen much better violent backward jerks which brought the train times, and at present contains about 2 500 in- to a bait and some of »ur party to a hori- habitants. It is built chit-fly on the sloping zontal position on the floor of the car. As sides of a rather rugged mountain, and some of soon as we could we hastened to the car the houses are sevtral hundred feet above the door and found that the two cars in rear of lake. I had been recommended by several per- us had got off the track, the furthest back one sons in Manitoba, to put up at the Wakelin having turnea over, but the one next to us was House if I was detained in Duluth, as good

| still right side up, a very lucky arrangement for board and accommodations could be had at very the twenty-five or thirty passengers who were moderate rates, and I found the place fully up to boxed up in it and were generally my anticipations in every way. As the Dominion Government have very ex- MORE SCARED THAN HURT. tensive and well appointed buildings rented After considerable delay the passengers in this from the Northern Pacific Railway Company, car were transferred to the car in which we specially for the accommodation of Canadian were, and to a platform car in front of Us, and immigrants passing through here, I thought it we proceeded on to St. Vincent to find that we best to try were too late for that day's train for Duluth and HOW I COULD GET ALONG AS AN IMMIGRANT. St. Paul. Had it not been for the detention on the Pejabina branch, I would have reached This building would accommodate over 200 per- Montreal a whole week sooner. sons in a pinch, but 100 people could live in it very comfortably. I went up town and pur- chased a supply of bread, beef, butter, tea and SOME ROUGH EXPERIENCES ON A VESSEL OF THE sugar, and returned to the Government buildings HEATfY LINE—HOME AGAIN. and got the beef roasted by the caretaker of the building, without any charge to me as the Gov- twenty four hours detention at the After ernment supplies the fuel, stoves and cooking boundary line, during which time I again visited utensils. I made my own tea as I still had the the four cities (in prospect) of Emerson, West dishes with me which I found so convenient Pembina, and St. Vincent, I started south Lyn, while travelling in the North- West. There was St. Paul and Manitoba Railway, passing on the ample room for Bleeping, but as I had no prairie fires the way. wing to a good many by O blankets I preferred sleeping at night in the of atmosphere, the smoky condition the I did not Wakelin House. The Government agent here country until Crookstown see much of the was seems to keep a large supply of Western States reached, literature with which to tempt Canadian immi- WHERE THE RAILWAY CROSSES RED LAKE RIVER grants from their loyalty to tbeir Queen and country. In addition to this I eaw several a short distance above Fishers Landing. This copies of a local paper scattered around the place has developed wonderfully since spring building, containing the most disgusting and the country around Beems to be pretty well blasphemy which I ever have seen in settled, but the soil is rather shallow, resting print. I took one of these papers with me in upon a whitish gravelly clay The light crop of order to Bhow any one in Montreal who may prairie grass in places where it had not been burnt have a curiosity that way, the kind of reading by the recent fires, showed plainly that the land that some government agents supply to Her here is not nearly so fertile as in the greater part Majesty's subjects when on their travels. of Manitoba. The country here is nearly a dead On Sunday evening, Oct. 12<;h, the steamer level, the well water not desirable, and fevers " Asia" of the " Beatty Line" reached Duluth are said to prevail. and began unloading her cargo I had intended We reached Glyndon a little after dark and mailing in her the following day, but some of the transferred ourselves to the cars of the Northern passengers who came up on her advised me to Pacific Railway, and soon started east ward, reach- wait for another boat as the " Asia" had no ac- ing Brainard about three o'clock the following commodations at all for second class passengers, morning. The train was delayed here for some who were compelled to ** den up" on the main time and I walked around sora-i, although it was deck among bales of goods, cattle, or whatever yet dark This place is prettily situated amongst else there might be around. She was also said pine and spruce trees, the white pine trees being to be a rather small boat for the heavy seas which especially attractive tome, as I had not seen any we might expect at this season of the year. On for over six months. The country about here Monday morniDg the "Quebec" arrived and as seems to be rather low and wet, and I was in- she is one of the finest boats on the line I em- formed that fevers prevail to some extent. The barked on her and a little before noon on Tues- road from here to Thompson is through a rather day uninviting wooded country, where there is no SAILED FBOM DULUTH, lack of sand or water. From Thompson to Duluth the railway passes having sojourned six days at that place. The down along the banks of a very rapid river, very following morning at break of day we reached beautiful to behold. The journey over this part Prince Arthur's Landing, where we took on of the road is rather exciting, and some adventu- board several passengers, one of whom was The Letters of Rusticus.

formerly a lawyer, who had died at this place out sleep at one time. While we were and was now being taken to Toronto for burial. talking together one of the firemen came The coffin was placed on the main deck on the up out of the hold and ordered my top of a large quantity of flour which was being companion to go down and forward more coal. shipped eastward. From here we sailed for He replied that he would not do it until some of Silver Islet, passing some grand mountain the other men had taken their turn. The fire- scenery. Several hundred bags of flour man then drew his fist hitting poor Bishop a and feed were landed here, during which violent blow on the nose and before we had time time I paid a visit to the crushing mill to interfere he also gave him a violent kick in and witnessed the operations of quartz crush- the stomach which nearly doubled him up. We ing and washiDg. About noon the " Quebec" pulled him away before he could repeat the dose, turned her bow towards Sault St. Marie, and but the noise made brought along the mate, who for about twenty hours the engines never began to swear at us for daring to interfere. Two ceased their monotonous throb, and some of the other passengers who had seen the whole tray passengers got a little experience of seasickness, came along and began to " speak up " to the brought on by a pretty strong wind blowing from mate for his ungentlemanly conduct, but several the south-west. Our accommodations were in of the boat hands came along and we began to the stern of the vessel, beneath one of the water- realize that we were closets and in close proximity to the other, which IN I found to be in a very filthy state when I came DANGEROUS COMPANY, on board, and no attempt to cleanse was made and I had some fears that we would all get a it until we were near Sarnia. There were about good thrashing, but as young Bishop's nose was eecond-class twenty passengers, comprising men, bleeding profusely the boatmen seemed to relent and children, women cooped up in a small apart- a little and I took the wounded man away to scarcely ment twenty feet square, and the light wash the blood from his face. He asked me to was so bad that I could not see to read during wait at Sarnia a day or two as he intended the daytime. At night we had some sort of to have his assailant arrested and he wanted me a lamp which gave a dull light, but not good for a witness, but I was sorry that I could not enough to read by, and we could not increase the comply. When we reached Sarnia the mate re- light without soiling our fingers poking up the fused to take our luggage to the Grand Trunk with our jack-knives,— it wick being of the kind Railway depot, although it was not a quarter of used before coal oil was discovered. This lamp a mile from the steamboat wharf, so I had to go was not always to be depended on, and we had and get a man to help me, and had to pay thirty to spend one night cents for his services. The journey from Sarnia IN TOTAL DAEKNESS. to Montreal was very pleasant, there being a de- cided improvement in the second class car, which A French half-breed who, with his wife and one we now occupied, as compared with the one in child, came on board at Silver Islet, refused to which we went over the same road in the spring. take his quarters in our cabin, preferring to I reached home on the evening of Oct. 20th, after sleep on the deck. The next morning there was an absence of nearly seven months. a considerable fuss caused by the half breed dis- covering that his trunk had been broken open during the night and some things stolen from it. DISADVANTAGES OF THE CANADIAN NORTH-WIST Although considerable searching was made the AND HOW THEY MAY BE REMOVED. lost articles were never found by their owner. Sir, I propose n 'his communication to During the early part of Friday, when opposite — re- fer to the principal drawbacks in the Saginaw Bay, we encountered a strong gale North- West, in the ordti in which I believe they and heavy sea from the south -west which set ,k affect, or are likely to affect, the settlement a number of the passengers to cast up of the country. They are as follows : accounts," and further helped to make our The scar- city of water, and its quality the scarcity quarters unbearable. Being too Bick to stand ; of wood for fuel, fencing and building purposes upright, I turned into my bunk, but soon ; land reserves of all kinds ; mosquitoes dis- had to leave as the water came dashing ; tance from markets and manufactories prairie in through some cracks about the small glass ; fires grasshoppers alkali lands ; adhesive light beside my birth. I managed to scramble j ; ; hard frosts wild oats, &c. up on deck and get forward to the middle of the mud ; boat among the cargo and found that St made THE WATER DIFFICULTY little d)fference here how the boat rocked or tossed as I was seated near her axis of motion. I place at the head of the list as being the great- Towards evening, as we neared the south end est drawback, if not greater than all the others of Lake Huron, the wind and waves abated, taken together, as it will continue to be a vexed and we were comforting ourselves in prospect of question when ihe others have nearly all disap- soon leaving the " Quebec" and her many un- peared ; but the greater part of the country is pleasant associations. I engaged in con versa- but slightly affected by it. A system of drain- tion with age carried out by the Government may remove the surface water and possibly the fevers, but A YOUNG ENGLISHMAN, nothing, so far as I know, will remove the bad who told me that his name was Bishop, and that taste and quality of the water in wells dug in the he had gon^ aboard the "Quebec" at Prince white clay subsoil of a considerable portion of Arthur's Landing, on her upward voyage, to the Red River Valley. This strata of white work his passage back to Sarnia. He stated clay is usually only a few feet in thickness, and that he had been kept at work nearly all the the greyish blue clay beneath it does not affect time since last Saturday at noon, either loading the taste of the water much, and some people are or unloading the boat or forwarding coal in the in the habit of baling out their wells frequently fire-hold, and had been forty-eight hours with- to keep the surface of the water below the white Letters of Rusticus. clay, for, as a farmer's wife said to me once, to have got the oyster while the half-breeds " When the water in the well rises up to the have EMPTY SHELLS. WHITE SOAPY CLAY, THE it gets unfit for beast or body to drink." If the The land scrip issued to the older half-breeds as walls of the wells were made water-tight to some well as to all the white natives of the country, distance below the white clay, and packed around was a little better both to those to whom it was with puddle, I believe that its evil affects on the granted and to the country generally, but a few water would be removed in a great measure. rich speculators have reaped the lion's share of The water in the streams is generally good, al- the profits and by its means secured from twenty though rather muddy in some places, and I have to fifty thousand acres of land each, which they noticed that the water in wells dug near the are holding over until its value is increased many banks of a stream, or in a grove of timber, is fold at the expense of all the other inhabitants pretty good, while the water in a well dug a of the Dominion. The railway reserve was in a short distance out in the open prairie, is some- certain sense the crowning act o? times scarcely fit for use. In some places where RESERVE FOLLY, the water is too salty, cisterns will be required by the settlers. In seasons of great drought, but there is some comfort in the thought that il water wi!l be scirce in some parts of the country. can and will be repealed before it has time to Wood for fuel and fencing U already scarce in fully develop its bad qualities. Although I am many parts of the country, and unless energetic not enamored with the so-called statesmanship measures be taken to protect what remains, and displayed by some of those who rule at Ottawa, to plant more, great suffering will result. Mr. yet I believe that the least knowing among them, Thomas Seasons, of Portage La Prairie, de were they possessed of any practical knowledt>e, serves the thanks of his countrymen for having of the country, would have seen the folly of the demonstrated how speedily and cheaply large present railway reserve system as a means o£ raising any considerable sums of money withic QUANTITIES OP TREES CAN BE GROWN the next ten or a di zeo years. Except a com- on the open prairie, and there are very many paratively small tract of country west of Oak places where timber would soon grow up River, the Government own almost no first-class if it were protected from prairie fires. It land in the railway belts A, B and C for a dis- may be some consolation for loyal Cana- tance of more than seven hundred mile3 from the dians to know that so far as the supply of Or *rio boundary, to where the railway crosses wood and water are concerned, the prairie lands th« South Saskatchewan. I believe that it of tha Western States are much worse off than wt .ild be an over-estimate to place the amount the Canadian North- West ; but timber for build- of first-class railway lands in the above-named ing purposes, especially pine timber, is much belts between the place named, at a quarter of a more plentiful and cheaper in the former country section per mile, and good second class railway than in the latter, thanks to the promoters of the lands at three sections per mile. I would not National Policy. But when the railway is have it supposed that the rest of the railway opened to Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, lum- lands in these belts is entirely worthless, but it ber can then be supplied much cheaper to Cana- will be a good many years before any quantity of dian settlers in the North- West, and several of lands, fit onlv for grazing purposes, will be sold at the older farmers there stated in my hearing that from $3 to $5 per acre. Even should these poorer they were waiting for the opening of that rail- lands find purchasers within the next ten years I way to supply cheaper lumber before they would ask is it fair that the settlers on inferior lands build more commodious dwellings ; in the mean- should be taxed for the whole cost of the rail- time they live in rather small huts, and I think way, while their neighbors, who own nine-, their decision is a wise one. tenths of the choicest lands, have nothing to pay at all, while they derive by far the largest share THE EVIL EFFECTS OF THE LAND RESERVES of the benefit from the construction of the Can- ada Pacific Riilway? A much more equitable are felt over the whole country, and are the more way would be to Kvy a small annual tax on all aggravating when we consider that they might the lands to be benefited by the rail way, to be in- have been easily avoided our had Canadian rul- creased or diminished in proportion to the benefit ers kuown a little more about the value of this which such land receives, or is increased in value country when it was annexed to the rest of the by the opening of the railway. Such a tax Dominion. The giving of between two and would lead to a much more dense settlement of three million acres of land to the Hudson Bay the country, as the large land speculators would Company in part of their payment supposed sell the greater part of their lands instead of hold- rights to the country, and then undertaking to ing them vacant to be increased in value by the build^ a railway to these lands, thereby in- labor of others. I firmly believe that these creasing their value tenfold, shows a too great amount of sharpness somewhere and a lack of LARGE LAND SPECULATORS -harness somewhere else, by no means credita- were the chief concoctors of that railway reserve ble to Canadian statesmen. The Hudson Bay policy, which, with the other reserves, makes it Company are now selling some of this land at very difficult to make roads, open schools and ten dollars per acre, which ten years ago could maintain churches in the North- West. not have been sold for ten cents an acre. The The other drawbacks to which I will refer granting of more than a million acres of land to are of comparatively minor importance, and their half-breed miners was more than a blunder—it evil effect will before long be scarcely felt, or dis- was a crime, not only against the new settlers, appear entirely. but against the poor half-breeds themselves, who were remorselessly plundered and also demoral- MOSQUITOES ized by land sharks, who seem in nearly all cases are a considerable annoyance to travellers and 7+ Letters of Rusticus. qrw settlers, especially in wet seasons, bat to continue their ravages so Ions; unchecked. A* when the marshes are drained and ploughed, I stated in a former communication, if each set- tho mosquito will have to remove to more tler would only tpend one day with quarters. At present they are a congenial A TEAM ADD MOWING MACHINE serious annoyance, especially in warm, murky Weather, but the least breeze drives them away. about the beginning of September in each year, I have sat in some of the farm houses in Maui- cutting narrow strips through the grass and toba during the evenings when* the mosquitoes weeds around their buildings and Btacks, and were at their worst, yet the windows were open also in p^ces where fired are likely to run across without any screens, and scarcely a " skeeter" the open prairie, and as soon as the mown grass yvas to be heard or seen. The cause of this in these Birips is sufficiently dry, but before the freedom from a pest which were so annoy adjacent grass loses its greenness, set fire to iog elsewhere, was explained by the pro- these strips, and thus form fire-fuards which prietor of the house statiDg that the land would effectually prevent fireB from spread-

Tor a short distance around the house . had ing to any distance if it should chance to get all been cultivated, but before the wild grass had caught in any dry grass, little damage would be been ploughed up it would have been almost im done by prairie fires. A law strictly prohibiting possible to remain in the house without the setting out of fires in any exposed places, mosquito nets being over the open windows between September 15 and May 30, should also nearly all of the time, in warm calm weather. be passed. Having treated the subject of prai- Consequently the mosquito- persecuted new set- rie fires at considerable length in a former article, tler can drive away his enemies by cultivating I will say no more about it now. the land around his dwelling. Grasshoppers, like the Indian scares, in the Distance from markets and manufactories Canadian North-West, appear the more formi- is severely felt at present, but will yearly dable the greater the distance they are from us, become of less consequence as manufactur- but much of their importance disappears when ing towns spring up in the country and viewed more closely. In the firat place, their railway connections are opened through Cana- raids take place only about dian territory. In the meantime, I think ONCE IN THIRTY OR FORTY YEARS, it would be wisdom on the part of North-Western Canadians to refrain from raising more wheat and as the climate is not congenial to them, they than can be consumed in the country, for the continue but one or two seasons. On former Ameiican railways will absorb all the profits on occasions when the fields of grain were few and exported grain until the Canada Pacific Railway of small size, the hoppers did a considerable dam- is opened to Thunder Bay. age, but many parts of the country were not CATTLE RAISING FOR DAIRYING PURPOSES visited by them at all. I have been told by farmers who had forty to fifty acres of grain in should be largely engaged in by all farmers in one field, that after the grasshoppers had eaten that country, as the profits in this department all they choose to, and had pretty well cleaned are certain to be many fold greater than for out all the grain within several rods of the bor- exported grain, since the freight charges, ders of the field, that the interior portion of the which would absorb all the profits on a field remained almost untouched and the yield on bnshel of wheat, would scarcely be felt the whole field was from sixteen to twenty on a box of cheese or a tub of butter, and bushels per acre. Some of the owners of small the cost of cattle feeding is a mere trifle compar- grain fields, especially the Mennonitee, disputed ed with the cost in other countries. But (and with the hoppers their right to the grain. A here comes the pinch) those who would engage in young man named Anderson, from near Ottawa, cattle raising are placed in peculiarly difficult; cir- told me that he had a small field of wheat which cumstances in Manitoba and the North West the grasshoppers seemed about to devour, but he Our Government, for reasons which I never could and his wife armed themselves with bushes de- comprehend, prohibited the importation of termined to contest to the last their rights to American cattle into that country last summer, the wheat field. Observing that the grasshop- still considerable numbers of cattle continued to pers when disturbed always flew towards the be imported from Ontario at a cost of about south- east Mr and Mrs. Anderson commenced $12 per head for railway freight. Now the operations on the north-west side of the field, American authorities will not allow Canadian going backwards and forwards wavii g their cattle to be transported through this territory, bushy weapons, and starting the intruders from and as very few good cattle are to be found in the grain next to them, and continued to pursue Manitoba, its prospective cattle raisers must them until they had all been driven out of the foake their selections from herds of scrub- field. This process of warfare was resumed by cattle which should never be raised each time a fresh band of marauders came that in any country but the province of Que- way ; and the young farmer and his wife had bec, and dealing in them should, if possible, be the satisfaction of confined to Viger Market. I may have said Borne hard things, and also thought harder EATING THEIR OWN WHEAT. Jhings about Government blundering in the It is probable that grasshoppers will not return North-West, but I shall willingly forgive them ..gain for a good many years to come, by which if they will only relent and permit good cows time the quantity of grain crown in the country and heifers to be brought freely- from Montana to will be so large that the hoppers will be able to the North West Territory for breeding and mak^ but very little impression on it. dairying purposes. Alkali lands are not very extensive, and in Prairie fires are at present a source of very most cases the effects of the alkali can be effec- great loss to the country, but the prevention of tually removed by the application of a heavy them is so very easy that it seems almost incom- coating of manure. There are some considerable prehensible to me that they have been allowed tracts of alkali land*, and also a few spots of ; of Letters Rusticus. 75

"spongy" lands, which it would be well for country, I think it but fair to give the other settlers to avoid, although I believe that even nide of the picture. The advantages which the these can be made to yie'd excellent crops. North-West possesses over Eastern Canada are AdheBive mud seems to belong almost ex- as follows: Greater fertility of soil; a more

clusively to the vicinity of the Red River, but healthy climate ; cheaper lands in abundance its effests are only felt in wet weather. the smaller cost aud greater speed with which, Hard frost, were it not for its destructive the land can be brought into a state of cultiva-

effects UD'm fruit trees, can hardly be considered tion ; the iuumeni-H natural advai.tages for feed-

as a dr.-wb U :k, as avery person whom I met with ing stock ; the trifling coit, for opening road*. thit had speut a winter in the North West, A considerable portion of the soil is bo fertile declared that the winters were much more that there i> pleasant than tho^e in Ontario. The 24 h of NOTHING TO COMPARE WITH IT last December was the coldest day ever k- own in Manitoba, the thermometer reaching 54£ de- in any other portion of the globe that I have sees grees below zero. I have biuce received several or heard of, and in classifying it I have adopted letters from persons in that country, in which a new grade, or rather advanced the old thty stated that tht-y attended to their ordinary grade one degree. What is called first-clasa duties as usual on that day, some of them being land has nothing to correspond with it in the out on the open prairie or in the bush all day, Eastern provinces, except a fe»? spots of small yet did not feel the cold to be uncomfortable, and extent, which for ages have been receiving were indeed surprised to learn afterwards that vegetable deposits from adjacent higher lands. the theimometer indicated such unusual cold. The nearest approach that I have seen to the I used to hear, long ago, about the danger of quality of Manitoba lands in the Eastern pro- vinces, is in the valley of the Carp, near SOWING WILD OATS, Ottawa ; but the Manitoba lands are as much but in the North-West wild oats grow with ahead of the Carp lands, as the latter are of the ordinary clayey lands of Nepean, out being sowed, where the land is not ahead too wet. Its grain strongly resembles a which would be considered poor, second class West. porcupine's quill, with a slight enlarge- land in the North I have seen on sev- ment ne«r the butt end. Between the mid- eral occasions wheat that would yield from dle of July and the middle of August this fifty to sixty bushels to the acre, and such bright wheat ! Oats often produce barbed grain is very annoying to a traveller over pretty the plains, as they manage somehow to stick OVEB EIGHTY BUSHELS TO THE ACRE, themselves in the legs of pants and drawers, and begin pricking the more sensitive ekin beneath, and b:>th oats and wheat grow to a greater atd when not attended to in time they some- height without "lodging" than in the eastern times t>o deeper than the skin. It is said that provinces. Barley produces fine crops, but the they sometimes get stuck in the throats of heavy heads seem to hang down moru than do cattle, but I scarcey believe it, as Stutt was the other kinds of grain. Peas grow plenty of very fond of eating these oats, and they seemed Btraw, but not many peas on the rich coils ; to go down all right. Their greatest danger is to but I think they will do better en tho lighter sheep, as they get stuck in the wool, and from lands towards the west. Indian corn seems to that find thir way inside the 'kin, otherwise do tolerably well where the land as dry enough. In than by the mouth, and au

; killed yet I satisfied that it will their < epr~dations, and most boys would con ; am grow on the rolling lands tidtr snch work almost i qual to play. I have farther west. Wild been -urp i-ed to see some fields of tjrain nearly grasses grow in profusion and yield an abun- devoured by b'ackbird» when a couple of weeks dance of nutritive feed for live stock. herding could have saved the whole. Beans produce abundantly, and in some cases good crops of beans have been raised by sowing the Reed broadcast like peas, and harrowing them in with a common harrow, after which nothing THE ADVANTAGES OF THE GBEAT NORTH-WEST— more was done with them until they were ready OF SUTTLEUS WANTEM. WHAT KIND ABE for harvesting Root crops of all kinds and also Sib, — As others have written so glowingly of cabbages produce enormously and the beauties and natural advantages ot the GBOW TO A SIZE ALMOST UNKNOWN ELSEWHERE. North- West, the, r< *ders of the Witness might excuse me if I s^id nothiug more than I have After what has been said about grain already said on this subject; but, having given crops, let none of the readers of the a detailed statement ot the drawbacks of the Witness run away with the idea that from Letters of Rusticus. 7 6 fifty to sixty bushels of wheat and eighty the land can be brought into a state of cultiva- bushels of oats are average crop here, as I tion is a most important advantage which the think that from twenty to twenty-five bushels of new Bettler in the North-West has over his con- the former and fifty bushels of the latter, per frere in the Eastern provinces. Having cleared acre, would be a fair average for last season's with my own hands some sixty or seventy acres crops. Strawberries, raspberries, currants, cran- of bus-h land in the Province of Quebec, I know berries and plums grow wijd, and in some Locali- something of the enormous amount of chopping, ties produce an abundant supply of fruit. loggingj burning, Btumping, and often draining Apple trees imported from Ontaiio and the and gathering stones required to transform a United States have not done well.as in most cases bush farm into grain or pasture fields and they die after producing their first crop of fruit. meadows; and if strong native Canadians, who They have not yet been tried on the more suit were trained from childhood to this sort of work, able lands westward, where in some of the more find it *o difficult, how much more difficult must sheltered spots hardy varieties of apple trees it be for those who never saw such work done will, I am sure, do well. before in their lives ? How often have I seen The second advantage which the North-West nmart young men become prematurely old and has over Eastern Canada is a more stooped in the shoulders while endeavoring to bring their farm into such a state of cultivation HEALTHY CLIMATE. that they might live comfortably on it, but had Fever and ague is unknown here, although in these farmers begun their operations upon a the vicinity of Winnipeg and in some other prairie farm (or better still, part prairie and part places in the low parts of Manitoba, paludal wooded) they could have brought it into a simi- fevers prevail to a greater extent in midsummer lar condition in three or four years, with much than is at all pleasant or profitable to the in- lighter work, and it makes but little difference habitants; but the suffering caused by it is to them if they like a mere drop in the bucket when compared NEVER DID A DAY'S WORK with the sufferings which the early settlers in the Western States and also in Ontario had to on a farm before in their lives, as the work is eo endure from that most aggravating, fool- different from what the eastern farmers are used ish looking disease called fever and ague. to. I could give numerous instances in the The high lands westward from the Red River are North-West where settlers—some of whom had about the most healthy on the globe, and people very little capital, and had never previously troubled with lung, liver or limb complaints worked on a farm—had in two or three would find a short xeeidence here of much years' labor with their own hands and one greater benefit than all the patent medicines in team of oxen, besides building a comfort- the world. Several people who had formerly able house and stables, brought into culti- been troubled with vation and fenced forty or fifty acres of land, which is more cultivated land than is on a PULMONARY DISEASES, majority of the farms in the Provinces of Quebec or from the effects of a sluggish liver when living or Ontario, the pasture and meadow lands being in Ontario, have recovered good health since excluded as the North- Western farmer has a coming here, with no vestige remaining of their larger amount of these without amy labor at all. former complaints. That this climate has a I will refer to one case only as beneficial effect on rheumatic complaint?, very AN ILLUSTRATION as well as liver complaints, I know by personal experience during my short tour through the of what may be easily done by anyone who u high lands of the North-West, my chief regret possessed of an ordinary share of mupcular ability being that I could not continue there longer. and some $300 or $400 in cash. Mr. J. B. Curran, to Owing to its proximity to the dry arid plains a clerk from Montreal, went Winnipeg in the of the Upper Missouri and South Saskatchewan, fall of 1878 and in the month of March follow- the air has a peculiar dry buoyant feeling—even ing bought a yoke of oxen and sleigh, utensils, a few hours after a wet spell—that is almost also, a tent, stove, cooking plough and unknown further east. Although last summef harrow. With these he started to Oak River, waB an unusually wet one, yet with the excep- and there selected 320 acres of excellent land, tion of a few wet days in April and a large por- most beautifully situated on the barks of that tion of the months of June and July, the weather stream. When I visited him on the 8th August was most delightful during the more than six following he had over twenty acres in crop, months spent by me in the North West. which promised a larger return than very many One of the greatest advantages of the North old farms in Quebec. He also had the timber neighbors West is the abundance and variety of cut for a bouse, and had several of his helping him to raise it the day of my visit. ITS CHEAP L\NDS. Beside the work done on his farm, he had to bake his own bread, cook his own meals, and Although the various reserves have monopolized wash his own clothes. As the Oak River Station a very large amount of good lands, yet there is on the line of the Canada Pacific Railway will plenty left for the most fastidious settle/' to be located within two miles of Mr. Curran's farm choose from. Those who prefer a level open it will be a valuable property in three or prairie can get it here without any perceptible four years. I am sorry to say that a

nnevenness ; so also if a rolling prairie, a brushy great many of the farmers' sons who went to the prairie, a partially wooded or entirely wooded North-West last spring have not done half as lands are wanted, there is an abundant supply of well as the Montreal clerk did, not but they bad each from which to select a homestead costing ability enough, but they frittered away their time only $10 for 160 acres of better land than can be and spent their money, looking over the whole got in the Eastern province for love or money. country before they would settle down, and even The smaller cost and greater epeed with which then, many of them did not seem inclined to Letters of Rusticus. 77 make ranch j':nprovettUj iit, but having secured VERY GOOD SANDSTONE QUARRIES r. pre-emption, they are loitering homestead and on the shores and islands of Lake Winnipeg in their time untilthey can se- urouod, patting from which the future city of Selkirk can secure too patent of their claims, which vhey then cure an abundant supply of building and paving to bAI at largely enhanced prices. I be- hop* stones. The rock which underlies the whole lieve that it *aa a Beriotia mistake to allow un- country consists of white limestone, but it seems married men to pre-empt land at all, as one hun- to be so shelly its. most places as to be unfit for sixty acres homestead was quite dred and of a building purposes. There are only a few stone ftor their occupation. puffieient buildings in the country,, and, excepting the AfJ have previously referred to the immense I Penitentiary at Rock wood, they are all rough NATURAL. ADVANTAGES FOB STOCK RAISING built. Excellent white brick is made from, the clay which abounds in nearly the whole country, 1" in this country, need not say much about it and at some future time brick will be used ex- now ; but a farmer who ha* worked hard for tensively both in towns and country places in tho eight or ten years to clear sufficient meadow and construction of buildings, but hitherto scarcely pasture lands to feed an ordinary number of a»y brick buildings have been erected, except ia live stock, can appreciate the advantage of hav- Winnipeg, and even here there are not mora ing all this and much more ready to hu hand than thirty or forty brick houses, although ; family without any labor on his part and a there is probably twice that number of "bricked" that and has plenty of cows to milk evnings houses, OiP buildings lined on the outside with of mornings, will scarcely suffer the pangs hun one thickness of brick., Were it not for the un ger, even when there is little else in the necessarily high priced of brick and the very larder. I am sorry to say that I have high charges of brick layers for their work, brick seen numbers of families living from 150 houses wuuld be the cheapest and beat buildings to 200 miles west from Winnipeg who ht»d in the greater part of the country. Much the not a drop of milk to whiten their black tea, or greater number of houses in Winnipeg are sou all a bit of butter to eat with their bread, because frame houses, clap-boarded, and painted white forsooth, somebody thought that the N . P. was on the outside, which, with the white brick and a good thing to encourage settlement in the white ['tone, pivas them n white appearance, North- West, even if it entirely prevented Mon strongly contrasting with toe black mud pave- tana drovers from bringing good grade cows to mettts. Except in the parish of Kildonan, near* the settlere' doors selling at about and them ly r.ll the houses in the country places are o£ half the price that they now cost in Winnipeg. rude construction and rather small in size. la The trifling cost of road -making in the North- many ca^es the farmers are West, where at certain seasons you can drive a loaded team almost anywhere you please, may WELL ABLE TO ERECT BETTER BUILDINGS, seem of not much advantage to some people who but are waiting until the railway m opened east- have not had this difficulty to contend with but ; ward to Lake Superior, when lumber will be- BOADMAKING much cheaper than hitherto. In the parts of the ufel

HOUSE BUILDING AND PENCE MAKING IN THE provinces but in a great many places sufficient NORTH WEST—A NOVEL METHOD OF SINKING ; large timber cannot be got, except at very great POSTS. expense, and the houses are built on the plan bis, —In a country where timber is scarce the shown in the accompanying cut, which repre- erection of houses and fences will always be an presents a partly completed house of the most important consideration, especially to the first common siz% twenty-four by twenty feet. The settlers ; and perhaps some readers of the Wit- frame consists of two sills and two plates, each ness may have a curiosity to learn something: twenty- four feet long, and as many mere of

more about the way houses and fences are built twenty feet long ; also eight posts ten feet long in Manitoba and the North-West Territory. -sills, plates and posts being squared to about Except at the Stony Mountains, south of Rock- six inches. There are abo square posts about wood, and in the bed of the Red River at St. seven feet long, standing upright above the cen- Andrews, I did not see in the whole country any- tre of the end plates to support the ridge-pole, thing like a quarry from which large quantities which is usually a round stick of the same length "f limestone could begot for building purposes. as the building, and five or six inches in diame- I saw some ter. Near each end of the ridge- pole there is 78 Letters of Rusticus. placed a brace (the only brace in the wholebuiid- THE THATCHING IS DONS ing) to prevent it nagging out or in, end ways, as follows : All the larger crevices between tec the building logs when put in their place brac- rafters are filled up with small splits of wood, ing it sufficiently towards tfce sides. All the kept in position with wails. The. fissures are posts have grooves, about two inches wide and then all filled with nortar, when the thatch is nearly as many deep, mortised along the centre placed in position, each layer leceiving a coating of mortar on the upper end as the work proceeds

to hold it ffast in its place, and the whole its top- ped with a heavy layer of mortar in place of the ridge-board. Clay w often used instead of the tnortar but it U ^ot nearly so good, as when it gets dry it keeps dusting down through the raft- ers, especially when there U high winds, making it very uncomfortable for the people beneath, es- pecially ftor those who sleep with their mouths open. In pome of the large open prairie? towards the south-west corner of Manitoba, there are a good many DWELLING-HOUSES BUILT WITH SODS. A frame, resembling the one in the cut, w first made, only tnere are no Bills required, the Fig. 1*

of two o£ their Bides- the entire length, to re- ceive a two inch tenon made on the ends of the logsi which form the walls of the building. Tnese> filling logs are, when large enough, hewed on two sides, but in some cases they &re merely round loolea, with the cracky between them plastered with ttimo mortar, or clay if Jime ra scarce. The flogs forming the gable ends >;ave u tendon only on the end next to the centre posts, the other ends being cut slant- ing to mit the pitch of the roof ; and these slant- ing ends fire always pinned together, and to the end plates, with wooden pins. The roof consists of email round poles, considerably smaller than rafter*, and placed like rafters, but close togeth' er, from the dde plates to the- ridge-pole, as tthown in the cut, where a few of these poles are placed in position. Sometimes the roof in com- pleted by placing a layer of wild hay over the rafters, and above all a layer of sods, for the double purpose of keeping out the cold in winter and preventing the wind from blowing the hay covering away. These eoddy hay roofa are, un-

Fig. 3. Fig, 4

ends of the posts, being inserted about two feet into the ground. There is no attempt made at squaring the posts or plates, which do not re- quire to be so large aa ro a log building. A piece of prairie land in then ploughed with a 'breaking plough," the furrows being ten inches wide and three inches thick. These- are- next cut into proper lengths (from twenty to twenty- four inches) with a spade and used like bricks in building up the walls of the house, and the roof is covered with sods as before described. I have seen a few houses built on the following plan, which I think to be a very good one for structures so which to spend a few years after arriving in the country, especially where timber is scarce. A "balloon frame" ia first made with Fig. 2. poles and boarded on the outside (or inside if you prefer it) with rough boards, which by rights comfortable in wet weather, as they leak far ought to be grooved and tongued. The root, more than is good for the health or happiness of which need not be steep, is made of the same the inhabitants. Most of the roofing in the material, and the walls are built around the out- country places is done with thatch, cither straw side up to the roof with sods to keep out the cold or Ion? wild grass being used for this purpose. in winter. The roof is lined on the inside with . Letters of Rustic us.

thick paper-]ike pasteboard, the Beams be. THE FENCIS IN THE NORTH-WEST pasted to make the tween the sheets b*ing are more varied than even the houses, but the air tight. floor of boards can be laid if whole A most common kind is the zig-zag rail fence, like of the houses in desired, but the greater number the greater part of the fences in the eastern pro- wooden floors, and

Boards for walls 850 feet, at $28 per M. . $23.80 In figure 3 a post about five inches indiametet Roofing boards, 650 feft. at $30 per M.... 19.50 is used having three notches cut in the side (see Boards for flooring, 500 feet, at $28 per M. 14.00 figure 4 to Bupport the ends of the fence poles, 12.00 ), Paper riDing, windows and door which are also flattened at the en is and nailed Oost of f i ame 5 00 to the post with very large nails ; sometimes Twerty da-ys' labor in building, at $2 per day 40.00 they are pinned with oak pins. This fence keeps Nails and hinges 6.00 out cattle very well, but pigs and sheep have no difficulty in passing such a barrier. Total cost ST£U30 In some places east of Bed River I saw fences as represented in figure 5, the upright posts being ot tamarac five or eix inches in diameter, having five two-inch auger holes bored through them, into which are fitted the ends of small tamarac or spruce poles. This forms a good fence and very eym:netrical,'but can only be used to advan- tage in places where small tamarac or spruce is plentiful. All these fences have panels of abou!; twelve feet in length, but in tight-strung wire

fences the posts are from twenty to thirty fet fc apart, with from two to six strands of wire fae- tened to their sides.

In some parts of the country and at some sea- sons of the year, the cost of drawing the material to the place needed would probably exceed $50 more, while if the settler wished to have more accommodations he could make his house two or Fig. 6. three feet higher and floor his garret, putting a small window in each end and partition the lower Figure 6 represents the kind of wire fence story into three parts at an additional cost of which I believe to be the cheapest as well as the about $50, making a total of about $220 in all. best kind of wire fence. The posts are first In parts of the country where timber is plenti- placed in their proper position, then two or three ful, the houses have been built with very little furrows are turned up with a plough on each side cash outlay by their owners. The houses in and the furrows thrown up in the line of fence, Winnipeg are nearly all shingled, the shingle* and on the outside a moderately- sized ditch is costing about $6 per 1.000. The stables are made, the earth from which is also piled up in often very temporary affairs with four walls the line of fence. Two or three wires (one of built with poles and plastered with mud. The them barbed) are then strung on the posts and roof is also formed of poles on the top of which a the whole is completed at a total cost of about large quantity of wild hay or straw has been four cents per running foot or sixty-five cents piled. Sometimes straw in large quantities is per rod. Wire fences without any ditch are dan- piled all over and around the stables, so that they gerous to young horses, which eomttimes run resemble large straw stacks with a door placed agairst them and are badly hurt. en one side. Before leaving this subject let me state how . So Letters of Rusticus.

pickets and posts are driven into the clayey eoil Parents who have large families of small chil. of the North-West The end of the post or dren had better not go West until some of theii picket is first sharpened as in figure 5. If the children be grown up, unless they have also » ground is soft, the operator raises it up about a competent portion of the good things of this life foot or more and brings it down with all his in the form of $1,000 or upward in cash, to en, force on the spot where it is destined to stand able them to settle down comfortably at once. It is then pulled out and fotcibly stuck into the People of a fickle-minded, changeable dieposi- same hole until it has reached a depth of about a tion, should not waste money by a trip to Mani- foot and a half when it is allowed to remain, un- toba, for they will not continue there long disturbed by frosts, which do not upheave posts enough to get fully recovered from the first at all, as in the eastern provinces, so that a severe attack of "North- West blues," which line of pickets if put in the ground in a straight nearly all new settlers feel after their arrival in row, will continue just s>a they were left at first, that country, and which leads them to secretly until they rot down. When the ground has wish that they had never come to the country at become dry and hard, the post planter carries all, although within less than a year afterward with him a pail of water and a cup. The sharp they would on almost no account return to live end of the post is first stuck into the spot where at the old homestead. it is to stand and then withdrawn, leaving a Young men, whose moral character is not small square sharp pointed hole, into which a already fully established, should avoid Winnipeg small cup of water is poured to be immediately as they would a dtn of rattlesnakes, for, although absorbed by the dry earth, which at once be- there are a good many excellent people living comes 8of r. Another prod with the sharp pointed there, yet their influence is not so potent for post is followed by another cup of water, and good as to counteract the prevailing intemper- the watering prodding process is continued until ance and lasciviousness, which prevails to" an the post has got down to its proper depth with- alarming extent, even among persons in high out the aid of a spade or post auger. positions. I have reason to fear that many young men have been sent by their fond parents to push their fortunes in this country, but never went beyond Winnipeg, IN CONCLUSION—ADVICE TO NEW SETTLERS— where they fell among WHO SHOULD STAT AT HOME—WHO SHOULD A WORSE CLASS OF THIEVES GO TO THE NORTH WEST—WHEN TO GO- HOW TO GO. than those who, of old, robbed and wounded the traveller Sir, —I know there is great difficulty in giving who went down from Jerusalem to advice which will not lead to disappointment, if Jericho, and, after losing their money and not ill-will, on the part of some who may take morals, and learning a lot of Western stories and it. The dispositions and circumstances of people slang phrases, returned to tell of their imaginary are so varied that what might lead to the very adventures, and bring an evil report about the best results in one case might lead to disappoint whole country, although they saw verv little more than the banks of the ment and disaster in another ; or, to apply to an Red River. old proverb, " What may be sauce for the goose, I need scarcely advise those who think them- may not be sauce for the gander." As I like selves to be well enough where they are to re- main always to treat the worst cases first, I will now where they are so well off, for they will do so without told briefly refer to the classes and conditions of men being ; but the number of who should not settle in the Canadian North- such contented people in English-speaking coun- West, at least for some years to come. tries is so small, that it matters little whether they go or stay. OFFICE-SEEKERS Having said so much about the classes of per- sons who ought not to should remain at Ottawa until their appoint- go to the North-West, permit me to say a few ments have been gazetted, before going to the words to those who are likely to be benefited North- West, for their chances of securing situa- by making their homes in that country. First,— tions will diminish in about the inverse ratio of Young men whose patri- mony is small, except in the square of their distance from the Capital, brain or muscular deve- lopment, are more likely to because of the extreme selfishness of most of succeed in the North- West than in any other Manitoba's representatives at Ottawa, who have place that I know of, if they are willing to work so many of their own axes to sharpen on the hard and "rough it" for a few years, which Government grindstone that they cannot attend latter term means being de- prived of a commodious to the axes of their constituents. house, dainty food, and sooial enjoyments of various Strong party men need not go West unless kinds which can be had in old, settled countries. they are prepared to make " Manitoba First" If such a young man has a wife, like- minded their chief cry, no matter what their thoughts and like-bodied with himself (and if is mav be on that subject. he not married he should lose ao time before getting Clerks and genteel people generally, who hate a suitable mate), the roughing part of the business manual labor and everything else they supposed will seem a verv easy matter. I May add to be tainted with vulgarity, will find nothing that it matters very- little whether a congenial in the North West. man has a previous knowledge of farm work or not, as the Gregariously disposed persons will be come mode of farming is so different in this country that lonesome when separated so far from their neighbors, aa is generally the case, especially in BRITISH IMMIGRANTS GENERALLY the new settlements in the North-West. DO BETTER AT FIRST People who have passed the middle of life, whose habits and modes of living have become than the sons of Ontario farmers. fixed, had bitter remain where they are, except A farmer or laborer who has afamily of gvnwn in some exceptional cases, to which I will refer children, be they male or female, can start then! more at length further on. on their own hook much more expeditiously and Letters of Rusticus.

about the beginning of August, or later if they cheaply ia the Canadian North-We3t than iq any wish, when the Western journey can be made other part of the globe that I have heard of, and ease and pleasure, and with consid« be done without their being separated with greater this can father is - erable less expense, the husband and far apart from each other. the meanwhile going ahead to make preparations There are a great many farmers in the Eastern so receive them. Provinces who own small or poor farms, where hav- Except in cases where a number of persons gc their courage has become low, owing to their and' ogether, so that their extra luggage can b< ing no prospects of anything bat hard work oaded in one or more oars and sent directlj hard times while they continue in their present whose hrough to Manitoba, it is not good to take rnucf situation, whose courage would rise and extra luggage. Have it also put into stro'n* prospects would brighten by their "rising at over 150 lbs in weight, and have then of their present locations, and tak- boxes, not once from out fo of .«> secured that they can be readily opened ing the most direct and speedy route to any River, Bird I ail inspection by Custom House fffi ials Take the following places, viz , Oak supply of clothing and bedding, and also Creek, Pelican Lake, or Turtle Mounts, good tools. As travelling through we Persons troubled with rheumatism, liver or few carpenter's is very severe on the toes of boots, get you lung complaints, will find that a residence on the *rass make you a pair of long boots, witl high lands west of the Red River valley will shoemaker to thick soies, and if afterward good in relieving their complaints ong, broad and do them more tacl if they show signs of giving way at the toes, and restoring them to good health again, than of shagnappi, as the surveyors dc they used any or on a toe-cap I have also seen toe caps of tin tacked on boot West. ALL OF THE PATENT MSDICINES out , Get the following dishes for use by the waj advertised in religious weekly papers in the even if you have other dishes packed amon can for carrying go > United States and Canada. your luggage : A tin Persons having an inclination to speculate in water along with you for drinking and cookin their scarce; real estate Will find ample scope to exercise purposes, in places where good water U boiling tei talents, and grow rico, too, at the expense of small tin pail, with a lid on it, for Eastern taxpayers, by dealing in land Bcrip, half- water; one or more tin drinking cups; a sma or butte breed reserves, railway reserves, &".. If their an cau or two for holding preserves nut large, they for holding bread and other pr< means and their aspirations are or both ; a bag can do a good business in a small way, by home- visions, which might include boiled or roaste steading and pre-empting lands, which they have ham, &c. no intention of settling upon, and afterward It is not befet to take selling their " claims" to others at a good profit, LIVE STOCK aa certain eminent divines have already done, to to make up a carloa my certain knowledge. Bat allow me to say a except there are sufficient persons, who took half ac» quiet word or two by way of caution :— [ have known some the load consist First,—D.Wfc invest largely in real estate in load of horses and the rest of and other luggage box- and around W nnipsg, as it is already overdone of farming implements some difficulty in paseing t there, and you might awaken some spring morn- op'; but they had iag to find that a considerable portion of your frontiers. one to take boi property, and nearly all your bright prospects, I would not advise any with them, except they are moderate size were fl

near the Red River, or Portage LaPrairie for If vou choose to go to Manitoba in Bummer the first yeur after coming to the North-West ; time I think but 1 do not think it a good plan, unless you in- tend buying some farm in that locality, in which THE LAKE ROUTE IS CHEAPEST AND BEST, case it will give you ample time to look around. There are some very pretty farms having ex- but if you take my advice, and the advice of a tremely rich soil, which can be bought on the good many others, you will avoid the boats of river fronts, but for myself, I would prefer goiDg the Beaty Line, between Sarnia and Dnlutb to the until the proprietors think fit to provide better HIGHER AMD MORE HEALTHY LANDS accommodation for second-class passengers, and also employ respectable officers to maintain toward the west. A person who preftrs tim- proper order on board. The " Quebec," on which bered lane s can eet what he wants near the I came from Duluth to Sarnia, is a Bafoboat to Riding Mountain. If part timbered and part sail on, so far as storms are concerned, prairie is wanted, near and Oak River or Bird Tail I believe Captain Anderson to be a* goo -1 Creek will be the best and most convenient place navigator, and a gentleman, but his time, to go to, although there is a large amount of in stormy weather, is taken up too much ihis kind of land near Pelican Lake and the Tur- in sailing the boat, leaving the passengers to the ;le Mounts ; but it is likely that it will be some care of the other officers, whose conduct and con- ;ime before railway communication is opened versation on some occasions were far from proper, o these places. There is also a large amount of where unprotected females were among the pas- >are prairie lands of good quality lying between sengers, and I might add, scarcely fit to be re- ?elican Lake and Turtle Mounts. There are peated in a respectable paper. The accommoda- ome very suitable places for stock raising at tion for second class passengers is not of the kind arious points along the Assiniboine, from the which should prevail in a civilized community, •oundary of Manitoba westward, but the bes*. and much behind the rival American lines, realities for producing hay are in the Province which I would patronize if I were going with my f Manitoba, especially near Lake Manitoba, family to the North- West, which I hope to do Joyne, Sole and Roseeau rivers. before many years.

The E^D. , 1

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