CHAPTER XIEXPERIENCES OF IMMIGRANTS
Readers of this book will, I hope, include many persons who think of emigrating to Canada; and fain would I answer the question uppermost in their minds. “What experiences await us there?” they will be anxious to learn.
I have interviewed many settlers in the various provinces, and their testimony admits of being focused into three statements of well-nigh universal application—of application, indeed, to all save persons who are exceptionally lucky or exceptionally stupid. These three statements are: (1) Life in Canada involves work, and hard work. (2) The first year, and perhaps the first two years, will be a time of stress and of struggling with difficulties. (3) Then there comes the “turning of the corner,” with assured prosperity to follow as the result of continued effort. Nothing, indeed, is more sure than that, in Canada, work commands an ample reward.
But my three generalities, after all, leave all the details unstated; and I cannot fill in those details more convincingly than by reproducing the actual personal experiences, as chronicled almost from day to day, of a typical English family who settled in Canada. But the story of what befell Mr. and Mrs. Rendall must bepreceded by a word of explanation. They were members of the large party who, in the spring of 1903, emigrated under the auspices of the Rev. I. M. Barr—a party whose affairs were destined to attract some attention from the English Press by reason of special difficulties involved in an isolated location. Nowadays plenty of free land can be found within twenty miles of a railway; but the Barr colonists were destined to begin their new lives in a situation far more remote from means of quick transportation. Thus, if Mr. and Mrs. Rendall were typical English immigrants, their early experiences give an exaggerated impression of what the average settler has to expect.
“With my family,” Mr. Rendall wrote, “I left England on April 8th, 1903, on theLake Simcoe, as I was unable to settle up my affairs in time to join the Barr party on theManitoba. I may say that I had been a farmer in the Old Country all my life. The place I rented in Devonshire had been farmed by my forefathers for over two hundred years. I was paying rent at the rate of over £2 an acre, in addition to rates, tithe, taxes, and wages. A crisis came. The landlord would not reduce the rent or do any repairs to the dwelling-house or out-buildings, all of which were falling into ruin; so I determined to throw up the life of slaving for others and strike for independence in Canada.
“Having obtained from head-quarters all necessary information respecting free-grant lands in the North-West, I applied for a homestead for myself, and another for one of my men, Barnes, who had determined to throw in his lot with mine. Then, with my wife and two children (aged two and four), I left the Old Country, with many a heartache at parting, yet witha strong determination to face all difficulties, and to succeed in the end.
“We left Liverpool on April 8th, and arrived at St. John’s on April 13th,” records the husband succinctly. In the lady’s diary the voyage received more attention. “A gentleman slipped over the stairs leading to the cabin,” she notes, “and broke his leg. There was a birth on board; and a foreigner in the steerage cut his throat, and is not expected to live. In addition to all this, they have discovered no less than twenty stowaways.”
This Devonshire family lost no time in proceeding by rail to Saskatoon, where they found the other Barr colonists in a large temporary encampment. “I made my own independent arrangements,” Mr. Rendall wrote, “and took a room for my wife and children. We reached Saskatoon on April 15th, and stayed there till April 29th. My first business was to purchase a wagon and pair of horses with harness. This meant spending $508, a stiff outlay, but a necessary one. I also bought a camp stove, a plough, harrows, and a good supply of nails and tools. Having packed up our traps, we set off to drive to Battleford. We had duly provisioned ourselves for the journey, which was fortunate, as, contrary to what we had been told, it proved impossible to get anything on the road—a condition of affairs that caused much misery and privation to many of the poor colonists.
“My experience of horse-driving in the Old Country stood me in good stead, and in spite of all difficulties, including inclement weather and rough country, we reached Battleford safe and sound, without one mishap, in four and a half days. This was considered very good, and I had a heavy load.
“We remained at Battleford from May 2nd to May 4th, when we resumed our progress to the promised land. This part of the journey was the most trying, with the road terribly rough and the weather bitter. Had it not been for the Government tents, which were set up at appointed stopping-places along the route, many must have died from cold and hunger. My wife and little girl felt the effects of exposure, and by the time we reached the settlement both were thoroughly ill. In fact, we were all worn out from our long journey and the want of rest.
“My first inquiry was for a doctor, who quickly came to our assistance, and of whose kindness I cannot speak too highly. With care, my wife and little one soon recovered. Then my man went down with threatened pneumonia, though the prompt attentions of Dr. Amos saved him from a serious illness.”
Here it will be interesting to recapitulate, from the lady’s point of view, the experiences just briefly narrated.
Under date Friday, April 24th, I read in her diary: “We have now been in Saskatoon since Wednesday evening, and are busy getting all in readiness to trek up to the settlement. We have overtaken Mr. Barr and his party. They are in a huge camp, but the children and I and my husband are in a room. Yesterday I was greatly pleased to see my husband and our fellow-traveller and friend, Mr. Young, come in with smiling faces to say they had secured a splendid pair of horses and a wagon. These are ours, as Mr. Young is not purchasing yet. The children and I went in the afternoon to see our new possessions. The horses are really beautiful animals, strong, powerful, good-looking, in fine condition, and well educated. There isa large covered hood to the wagon, so it will serve as a house for a while. The next bit of good news is that we have had our land allotted to us. . . .
“Sunday, May 2nd. Four and a half days’ trekking through most perilous country! Some of the dykes we had to pass over were simply awful. Very few got through the journey without serious loss of baggage and horses. I have a fair amount of courage, but it has been taxed to the uttermost during the past few days. The children have been most plucky. The natives here think my husband and Barnes have done splendidly to bring us through so well and free of all mishaps. It has been bitterly cold camping out some nights—two degrees below freezing. Still, we are alive, and contemplate continuing our journey to the settlement to-morrow—another seventy miles. We have our camp stove, and we start and end our day with a good foundation of porridge, which we find a splendid thing to keep us warm and satisfied. This morning I rushed first thing to the post office, but experienced a bitter disappointment. Not one letter for us! Others with smiling faces were eagerly devouring their home news. I must say I came away feeling very sad and lonely. It is just a month since we left home.
“On the journey my husband fired his first shot on Canadian soil. He killed a fine duck, and afterwards, three prairie chickens. We are greatly looking forward to a nice savoury dinner to-day—the first hot meal for a long time. We cannot feel too thankful that we are all safe so far. To others there have been many mishaps, and no wonder—the bogs, ravines, and gullies we passed were really fearful. Our good horses have done splendidly. We are quite enjoying the rest to-day. The vastness of this country is wonderful. Althoughwe have passed through so much already, our courage is still undaunted. . . .
“On leaving Battleford we had a ninety-mile journey through most awful country. It shook us all to pieces, what with driving through thick scrub and charging across great streams and ravines. Simply perished with cold and hunger, we reached the Government tents at our journey’s end. We all felt weary, worn, and sad. My little Doris was taken ill the day before we arrived, and my husband’s first care, on reaching Mr. Barr’s camp, was to seek out the doctor. She had a temperature of 104; but, thanks to poultices and medical care, she soon pulled round. Then Barnes was taken ill; and I suppose all this worry and anxiety proved the last straw as far as I was concerned, for I was the next to collapse, with a bad chill and bronchitis, together with an abscess on my face, all of which combined to make me feel very low and out of sorts.”
So much for the first ordeal, to which this family and their fellow-colonists need not have been subjected in 1903. That long trek, accomplished by makeshift means of their own providing, put them on a sort of post-dated equality with settlers who arrived in pre-railway days. Indeed, save that the country was now free from Indian savages and belligerent fur-traders, Mr. and Mrs. Rendall and their two little children might have been living a hundred years ago, and traversing the North-West in one of Lord Selkirk’s parties of pioneers.
But the journey was, after all, of minor moment. Dumped down in the wilderness, isolated from civilisation, with no road or river service to connect them with the populated world, those English families had now somehow to strike root as a self-supporting community.Two hundred miles from a railway! Truly it was a formidable handicap.
But I will resume the personal story: “We arrived at our destination,” the husband recorded, “on May 10th, and remained in camp until May 15th. Prairie fires raged around on all sides, giving rise to serious anxiety. At one time, for the safety of the whole camp, it was necessary to summon out all the men, horses, and ploughs that were available.”
“When we reached Mr. Barr’s camp,” the lady stated, “my husband went to survey the section of land allotted to him; but he was not at all satisfied, and would have nothing to do with it. So Mr. Barr went with him to look at a different section, which resulted most happily for my husband. He is perfectly satisfied with his new location, and considers he is the proud possessor of as fine a tract of land as is possible to be procured. As I now sit writing, I can look out at my tent door and see him quite happy doing his first bit of ploughing on his own soil. There is no doubt it is most beautiful land. We have plenty of wood and water, which is a great boon and much to be thankful for. Our friend and travelling companion, Mr. Young, has the adjoining land, which is just as good as ours. We are only half an hour’s drive from the stores in Mr. Barr’s camp, half a mile from the prospective railway station, and only a few minutes’ walk from the school site.”
From Mr. Rendall’s account of the initial efforts we learn one or two additional facts: “On May 15th,” he wrote, “we pitched our tents at last on our own domain, with a feeling of thankfulness that journeying was over and the goal reached at last. I started the very next day to plough, and in less than a week hadploughed and tilled three acres of oats, and, by the following week, an acre and a half of barley and half an acre of potatoes. At the time of writing (July 22nd) everything is looking splendid considering late sowing. I am much pleased with my land, which is good soil and easy to plough.” He criticised the conditions under which the colonists were existing, and added: “I cannot speak too highly in praise of the valuable and kindly assistance of the Government officials, who have spared no trouble in smoothing away our difficulties so far as they are able.”
Going back to May, we read in the lady’s diary: “I think the country all round here will be very pretty in a short while. We are now hunting out a nice spot for our little house, which we are anxious to get up as soon as possible. There is a gentleman in Mr. Barr’s camp who thinks of returning home. He has the plan of a four-room bungalow, and the timber all complete for building it. If he does go back, he will sell it outright to my husband; but the timber will have to be fetched from Fort Pitt, twenty-five miles away. Barnes goes to Battleford on Wednesday to fetch the rest of our luggage, ploughs and harrows, and the cooking-stove. There are plenty of prairie chickens and wild duck all over the estate, and my husband’s gun keeps us supplied. Yesterday and to-day we have thoroughly enjoyed a delicious dinner of prairie chicken, beans, and potatoes. The beans are like little white peas, and are very good. We are getting some vegetable seed from Battleford to start our kitchen garden as soon as possible. I shall be so thankful when the warmer weather sets in. I can quite understand the attraction of camping then, but under present circumstances it has very few charms; and, what with the bitter cold and the hardground, we do not get much refreshing rest. Still, despite all the hardships, it is certainly a glorious feeling to be able to look around on our very own property and feel that each day’s work is for future benefit. No landlord, and no rent to pay! And no taxes! That does indeed compensate for a great deal.”
On June 4th Mrs. Rendall had very sad tidings to record: “Our poor friend and neighbour, Mr. Young, took a chill a fortnight ago. He seemed so unwell when my husband went up to see him in his own tent that I suggested he should be driven down to us, and put in Barnes’s vacant tent, where we could look after him. This was done, and we sent for the camp doctor, who said it was a serious case. On Friday and Saturday Mr. Young became worse and was very delirious. There happened to be an experienced male nurse in camp, and he came out to remain at night. On Saturday I was alone with the poor fellow while my husband was driving the doctor back to camp. He told me he knew he was going to die, and he asked me to note down his wishes and write and cable to his wife. He wished my husband to take charge of everything he had till such time as we should receive instructions from his family.
“He passed away at 3.30 a.m. on Saturday, May 24th, after only four days’ illness. It was an awful blow to us. We had been such good friends, and he and my husband were so much together. He was buried the same evening, at seven, on his own ground, the doctor and Mr. Lloyd making all arrangements. We cabled the poor wife in Manchester, and I wrote her a long letter giving all details, and we are now awaiting instructions from her. They were coming out this month. There are two sons—eighteen and twenty—andtwo daughters—sixteen and thirteen. We have the satisfaction of knowing we did everything we could to save him. It all seems like a dream.”
THRESHING BY MACHINERY IN THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES
THRESHING BY MACHINERY IN THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES
On a later date the lady wrote: “We are having glorious weather, and as one looks around on the lovely green grass, and the bushes in bright foliage, it is difficult to realise that the ground was so recently covered with snow. My husband’s oats are already well up and are looking splendid. About a week ago we managed to buy a cow and a calf, and I feel quite proud that we not only have plenty of milk for ourselves, but are able to supply a neighbour with a quart a day. Yesterday we all thoroughly enjoyed a lovely cup of cream for tea.
“Next Monday Barnes goes off to Onion Lake, Fort Pitt, to fetch the lumber for our bungalow. We have chosen the site. . . . As to the colony, Mr. Barr is pretty well out of it now, and in his place we have the Rev. Mr. Lloyd, a splendid man.”
On August 6th the lady with deep thankfulness recorded that their bungalow, christened “Doris Court,” was near completion.
“To-night,” she wrote, “we contemplate sleeping, for the first time for four months, within the shelter of four walls. July is the wet month here, and it is easy to imagine the delights of being aroused from your sleep by the rain trickling on you as you lie in your tent. . . .
“Since I wrote the above we have removed into our very own domicile, and right proud we feel to look around, even though at present the boards are bare. From one window I can see our lovely oats and barley looking splendid. From another window I see the master of Doris Court ploughing away for dear lifewith his fine pair of horses. Each acre ploughed means a better prospect for the coming year.
“Doris Court measures 30 feet by 30, and contains five rooms, besides an attic which runs the full length of the house and can be used as a bedroom, as we have had it nicely floored and boarded. There are also two very large cellars in which we can store all necessary provisions for the winter. Everyone who sees our house is of the same opinion, viz., that it is quite the best home in the colony. There will be a veranda four or five feet wide round three sides of the house, and that will be lovely in the summer. We are going to have a fine garden, not being stinted for ground, and we hope in the spring to get some fruit and other trees from the experimental farm. There is a great charm and fascination in planning it all out, knowing it is our own property. That fact compensates us for all the hardships we have passed through.
“We have gone to more expense over our house than we intended in the first instance; but so many persons will want putting up for the winter that we feel it will repay us to have extra room. Already we have had a lot of applications, which we have under consideration. Our bungalow will be warmed throughout by means of pipes from the kitchen stove, and from a heating stove which is placed in the octagonal hall. We burn nothing but wood. The fires have to be kept going night and day during the winter, and we have to put up double windows, viz., outside frames, which can be removed in the summer. The wild flowers are very lovely, and the small single sunflower is just now in abundance all over our land. There are also gaillardias, besides a kind of lily of the valley and a red tiger lily.”
The colony had a terrible experience which the lady thus vividly described: “October 21st. Yesterday was a day never to be forgotten. For nearly a week we have been watching several huge prairie fires raging in the distance, for we have feared that a change of wind might bring a heavy disaster upon us. The night before last was an anxious one, with the terrible circle of fire gradually closing around us. The general opinion was that we were safe for the night, but I could not sleep. Next morning our worst fears were realised, and we knew that a few hours would decide our fate. The only safeguard against prairie fires is a broad belt of ploughing all round your homestead. This my husband had done, with the exception of one side, which, alas! was the very side towards which the fire was sweeping with awful rapidity. Needless to say, the plough was soon at work, and it was literally ploughing for dear life. Every available tub was filled with water. Sacks were collected to be in readiness for beating out the flames when the time should come.
“Mr. Rendall, Barnes, and another man who is working for us were all on the alert, watching with intense eagerness all the different points. Meanwhile within the house I, together with Mrs. H., who is boarding with us for the winter, and Mrs. B., who nursed me when my little girl was born, stood gazing out of the window. Each of us had a baby in our arms, and each also had two other children to look after. So in all we mustered nine little ones, each under six years of age. Our young flock fortunately were not able to realise the deadly peril we were in, and we had to keep on rounding them up in readiness for hasty flight.
“I collected a few little valuables, and looked around with a very heavy heart, wondering what would becomeof us if in an hour or two we should be homeless. At last we could stand still no longer; so we three women rushed out, and, filling our aprons with the clay and soil dug up from the foundations, we scattered it all over the ground around the house. The wind was blowing a hurricane, bringing, or rather driving, the fire straight on to us. The awful roar of the flames was enough to make the bravest shudder, and the smoke and smell were suffocating. My husband continued ploughing until absolutely compelled to stop owing to the heat and smoke. Our two men meanwhile drenched the roof with water; then, arming themselves with wet sacks, they hurried to the weakest points to try and prevent the flames jumping the fire-guard, which was only 150 yards off the house all round. We could do nothing more. We could only wait with bated breath.
“At last came the joyful cry ‘Safe!’ from the western side. But the danger was not yet over, for on the north-west we were again threatened, and it was there the horses had been placed for safety. All hands had to fly round to meet the enemy at the fresh point of attack, and after a hard fight the dreaded foe, thanks to cool heads and strong arms, was kept at bay. At the end of a short time of awful suspense and anxiety, my husband came back to us with the welcome assurance, ‘All danger over! Safe for another year!’ We were too overjoyed for words, and after the dreadful strain of so many hours you may pretty well guess what the reaction was like. Mr. Rendall was literally fagged out, but when we had had a little rest and refreshment we all felt better.
“Our loss was only four tons of hay, but many of our neighbours lost all their hayricks. The fire started by the Vermilion River, and was raging for days beforeit reached us and swept on towards Battleford. There is no doubt whatever that our fire-guard in a great measure saved the town site.
“Apart from the horror of it, that fire was a most wonderful sight. Of course, on the prairie you can see for an enormous distance, and for thirty or forty miles there was nothing but flames. How thankful we were the fire reached us in the morning and not at night!”
When next the diarist took up her pen, it was to record interesting domestic details: “We muster fifteen at present—quite a big family to cater and cook for. My little ones are quite happy, the Canadian baby being especially bonny, and thriving splendidly. The town site is all surveyed, and the Government has decided to grant a plot to every colonist who cares to apply for it. Mr. Rendall, Barnes, and I have each got one, and we intend erecting a little store of our own for the disposal of our dairy produce. We are hoping to get two or three more cows soon. Everyone likes our butter, made in the old Devonshire fashion. I have been for a drive to-day, and the town is growing very, very fast, dozens of little shacks springing up all round. There are two large general stores, two restaurants, the post office, a butcher’s shop, and a blacksmith’s, all within twenty minutes’ walk of Doris Court.”
On December 10th Mrs. Rendall wrote: “Everything is going ahead now with amazing rapidity. We have been fortunate in having most glorious weather—continuous sunshine from day to day and hard frost at night. Our clergyman, Mr. Lloyd, is a very musical man, and every Wednesday holds a choir practice at his own house. The first hour is devoted to music for the following Sunday service, after which we havesecular quartets, trios, duets, and solos—all the best music he can muster. He has now formed a musical union. I need scarcely say I have joined, and I thoroughly enjoy the practices, they are so splendidly conducted. We really have a very fine choir. Every Thursday evening there is either a concert or a debate on some popular and instructive topic. It has been decided to erect a structure which for the time being will serve as a church, a school, and a recreation-room. Everyone is giving a log (it is, of course, to be built of logs), and the name of each donor is to be engraved thereon by his or her own hand. All the labour of erecting the building is to be done voluntarily, different persons having promised one or two days’, or in some cases a week’s, work.
“Progress is indeed remarkable. With regard to our choral union, the idea is for all the places round about, such as Battleford and Onion Lake, to form branches and practise the same music, so that from time to time we can have a meeting of the massed choir. Our choir has already been invited to Onion Lake, which is thirty-six miles away. The whole party is to go in sleighs, of which the colony now has a supply. We use them with our wagon-boxes. It is a delightful sensation to be gliding over the snow, which is not soft as in England, but hard and crisp.
“Everyone is in great excitement just now, because we have to elect an overseer (the same as our English mayor), and canvassing is going on pretty smartly. So, with one thing and another, we are quite busy. The little ones are all well, happy, and growing very rapidly. My wee Canadian is the happiest baby I have ever seen. Mr. Rendall has just bought a piece of land, consisting of 320 acres, adjoining our homestead.When the railway comes, that land will be very valuable. We have bought a one-year-old calf for $11, with a ton of hay thrown in.”
After giving an account of enjoyable social gatherings and frolics at Christmas and New Year’s Eve, our chronicler added: “We are most amused at the reports that reach us from England as to the terrible plight we are in, even to the verge of starvation! As a matter of fact we are quite happy and contented, and very much better off in every way than we were in England. As for food, we certainly live as well as ever we did. There are now two butchers in the town. Our meat is delivered at the door, and is of the very best quality. Certainly we have had difficulties to surmount and hardships to endure, but we quite expected them when we left England; and at that time we treasured up a reserve fund of determination and pluck which stood us in good stead when the need came. I would never advise anyone to come out here who is the least afraid of work—they are better off at home. There is plenty of room to breathe in this country, and if the work is hard, the freedom—which is the inevitable attribute of the life here—makes one far less susceptible to physical fatigue than one was in the old country, where there is a feeling of weighty oppression to handicap one’s energies. Here one feels that each week’s work is a step onwards, while ten years’ hard toil in Devonshire brought nothing but disappointment and additional anxiety.
“There is no doubt whatever that Lloydminster bids fair to become a very important centre. Its growth week by week is marvellous. The Government are now erecting a large immigration hall in anticipation of the arrival of new-comers in the spring. Meetings are being held now to discuss and perfect arrangements forreceiving expected friends and families and ensure their safe conduct right up to the colony.
“So far we have passed through the winter splendidly, and up to the time of writing (January 19th) we have brilliant sunshine from one week’s end to another. Our bungalow is kept beautifully warm. We have a good supply of wood from our own land, and so the price of coal is an item over which we have no need to worry. We have to pay very dearly for flour—$4½ for 100 lb. It is of course freightage that makes things dear. It is expected that the railway will be here and working in a year from now, and then everything will be cheaper. The telegraph will be in working order in a few weeks’ time. We have two large general stores, a drug store, and a resident doctor, with a hospital in view. Our choral union now numbers 120 members, and a rifle corps is being formed with 160 names enrolled. At the time of writing there are twenty-eight degrees of frost, and those who have been outside say it is a bit nippy. If we do not take proper precautions to protect our noses and ears, we are liable to get them frost-bitten.
“The land here is of splendid quality and fit to grow anything, being specially adapted for mixed farming. And when I remember all these things, I cannot help smiling to think of those in the old country who have been commiserating our lot. They have far greater need for pity than we, for while they are still plodding and hibernating, we are on the progressive, and are probably making greater headway in twelve months than they in as many years. For Canada is nothing if not a go-ahead country.”
From this point, probably because of superior claims upon her attention, Mrs. Rendall allowed a longbreak to occur in her instructive record of a settler’s experiences. When, several months later, she resumed the narrative, it was to say: “Much has happened since I last wrote, and I hardly know where to begin. Lloydminster is quite a little town. The railway is here, and the station is a pretty addition to our buildings. Little did I think that the whistle of an engine would ever sound so sweet! The passenger service is not properly organised yet, and the line is still in the hands of the construction party. But as soon as the line is entirely completed, and it is handed over to the Canadian Northern Railway Company, we shall have a regular service.
“For the past two years we have lived in comparative isolation, sometimes being left for three weeks together without the slightest notion of what was going on in the outside world. We were completely at the mercy of the weather for news and provisions, all having to come by road from Saskatoon; and when they did come, the price of the commonest necessaries was enough to make the pluckiest feel occasionally downhearted. ‘It will be different when we have the railway,’ became a stock phrase. But it was weary waiting, and many of us had almost lost hope, when one day we heard that the rails had been laid within two miles of Lloydminster. Less than a week later, the first train arrived. Since then there has been quite a revolution in the price of everything. Flour, for which we had paid $4½ to $5 per 100 lb., is now $2.80, top price; and the cost of all other provisions is decreasing in proportion. Lumber, too, is coming down in price.
“Town lots have been on the market and bought at high values. Everyone is now to build lumber housesinstead of log shacks. Bricks, too, are being extensively used for buildings. What a transformation! When we arrived in May, 1903, about a dozen tents were all there was to see on the bare prairie. Now three large hotels are in course of erection, there are stores of all kinds, and even a branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce is going up. There is also a printing office, from which is issued weekly our newsy little paper,The Lloydminster Times.
“This year we have had fifty acres under cultivation. Our grain is not threshed so far, as the threshing outfit has not been our way yet. The general yield of oats is about 50 bushels to 60 bushels per acre—of wheat, 25 bushels. We have two acres of potatoes—a splendid crop, though early frost spoilt half before they could be got out of the ground. From 4 lb. of seed from the experimental farm, Mr. Rendall had a yield of 136 lb., many of the potatoes weighing over 20 oz. Our garden produce was splendid. We picked several hundredweight of peas, and disposed of them in the town, one restaurant taking nearly all we could supply. We have put on a large addition to our house in the shape of a substantial log building, 14 feet by 18 feet, which will serve as a granary in winter and an extra kitchen in the summer. Mr. Rendall is now completing a fine log stable, 30 feet by 15 feet. We have some very good cows, and our milk is now disposed of right away and fetched from the door, so that we have no bother.”
Last autumn I visited Mr. and Mrs. Rendall and their fifteen hundred neighbours—a healthy, happy, and prosperous community. The town of Lloydminster,with its large and handsome banks, hotels, churches, schools, and hospital, was a visible part of the abundant wealth which the Barr colonists, by growing grain on 27,000 acres of hitherto useless prairie, had brought into being—and all in less than eight years!
CHAPTER XIIWINNIPEG AND THE CENTENARY
For over a century, as I have already pointed out, Western Canada formed part of a vast theatre in which the fur traders enacted their stirring, if somewhat squalid, drama. Of the several men who figured prominently in the history of that period, there was one whose memory should be revered by Canadians of To-day and To-morrow.
Philanthropy knows no higher work than to rescue capable and industrious men from a country where they cannot support their families, and emigrate them to a country where they can. In that work—which is so largely a modern development rendered possible by modern conditions—Lord Selkirk was a remarkable pioneer. He was a seer, born far ahead of his times. One hundred years ago he saw the possibility of settling Western Canada. In an age that knew nothing of steamships and railroads, he had a prevision of farming on the prairie. Had his aspirations remained an unrealised dream, we should have sufficient occasion to honour the memory of a prophet. But that kind-hearted and resolute Scotsman realised his dream. Encountering difficulty after difficulty, he overcame them. He found his time of day sadly out of tune with a scheme for putting the landless man on the manless land, but he achieved that desirable end. It is, indeed, to theeverlasting credit of Lord Selkirk that he successfully tackled a twentieth-century job at the dawn of the nineteenth century. While the warlike traders were losing their tempers and their lives over the business of collecting pelts, the unselfish nobleman was putting in some quiet, steady work on behalf of humanity.
After the terrible Napoleonic wars, great destitution occurred among the humbler classes in Great Britain, and specially in the Highlands of Scotland. Lord Selkirk’s aim was to benefit his needy fellow-countrymen.
In June, 1811, three ships left the Thames to call at Stornoway, in the Hebrides, for the first party of settlers bound for Central Canada. The emigrants, as they went on board, were presented with a lying pamphlet describing their destination as a Polar region infested with hostile Indians. They were encouraged to return ashore for a good-bye spree on their native soil. A “customs officer” stepped aboard and played exasperating tricks with their baggage. Another bogus official came rowing alongside to ascertain whether every emigrant was leaving Scotland of his own free will. (Lord Selkirk’s protégés dealt with this point by dropping a nine-pound cannon-ball into the gentleman’s boat.)
Thus early and artfully did the fur-traders of the North-West Company seek to thwart colonising. But the emigrants sailed, and two months later they arrived on the shores of Hudson Bay, where they remained in huts during a long, wearisome winter and spring. In the first week of July they started in boats down Hayes River to Lake Winnipeg, and so to the Forks, on the Red River, where they arrived by the end of August. Wondering Indians came to gaze at the white strangers who had arrived on the prairie, not tocollect furs and not to hunt, but—by all that was mysterious and incredible—to make things grow in the ground.
Meanwhile another party of Lord Selkirk’s colonists had left Scotland. Again there were unseen enemies at work. Mutiny was fomented on the voyage, but, after one man had had an arm cut off, the affair fizzled out. Of that second party to arrive at Hudson Bay, some eight or ten men pushed on in the same year to Red River. Three of them tarried by the way to do some fishing, and when they set out to accomplish the last stage of their journey, winter set in, they ran short of provisions, and their strength gave out. Two lay down on the windswept ice to die. “The third,” Agnes Laut tells us, “hurried desperately forward, hoping against hope, doggedly resolved, if he must perish, to die hard. Suddenly a tinkling of dog-bells broke the winter stillness, and the pack-trains of North-West hunters came galloping over the ice. In a twinkling the overjoyed colonist had signalled them and told his story, and in less time than it takes to relate, the Nor’-Westers were off to the rescue. The three starving men were cared for till they regained strength. Then they were given food enough to supply them for the rest of the way to the settlement.”
Yearly contingents went out, and it is recorded that the emigrants of 1813 included young girls going to make a home for aged parents, a patriarch and his wife who had been evicted from their Scottish home, Irish Catholics, staid Scotch Presbyterians, dandified Glasgow clerks, red-cheeked Orkneymen, younger sons of noble families, and shy and demure Moravian sisters and brethren. They had their trials. There was an outbreak of typhus on the voyage; on theirsubsequent trek across country, they cut their feet on ridge stones, and sometimes had to wade waist-deep through swamps; and once they ran short of food and were reduced to eating nettle leaves.
To pave the way for his colony, Lord Selkirk had bought a controlling interest in the Hudson’s Bay Company. But that company and the Nor’-Westers were still at deadly feud. The peaceful settlers found themselves in a hornets’ nest. They were terrified by the portents of a gathering storm. Half-breeds went about singing their war songs; musketry firing was heard at night. A section of the colonists suffered the Nor’-Westers to escort them to the security of Eastern Canada. The others remained to see the forts of the rival traders dealing out death and destruction. At one time the colony buildings were set on fire, the Selkirk settlers fled in terror to Lake Winnipeg, and nothing remained but their charred homes and trampled crops. Then came two hundred fighting men under the Hudson’s Bay flag, and as they brought word that Governor Semple was on his way to take command, bringing with him 160 additional colonists, and that Lord Selkirk himself would arrive in the following year, the agriculturists returned to Red River and started all over again.
Governor Semple had not been long at Red River before he and his staff, with a few other persons, were killed, whereupon the Hudson’s Bay stronghold (Fort Douglas) fell into the enemy’s hands. Poor colonists! they were tilling the soil in a very noisy neighbourhood. New excitement was provided in the following year, when Lord Selkirk (now a very warlike philanthropist) arrived with several hundred discharged soldiers and retook Fort Douglas. After that, the colonists experiencedless troubled times; and when the two fur-trading companies coalesced in 1821 an era of peace dawned for the district. Meanwhile, harassed, weary and ill, the founder of the colony had gone to France, where on November 8th, 1820, a noble life drew to a pathetic close.
Fate lavished her favours on Thomas Douglas, fifth Earl of Selkirk and Baron Daer. He possessed youth, health, wealth, position and power. And he applied those blessings, not to selfish ends, but to the service of humanity. I like the simple words in which Lord Selkirk’s character was described by his contemporary and friend, Sir Walter Scott. The great novelist testified to his “generous and disinterested disposition,” and to his “talents and perseverance.”
Lord Selkirk is to have a memorial, and a memorial worthy of the man and his work. The Centenary of the foundation of the Selkirk settlement (from which Manitoba has sprung) is likely to be celebrated in 1914 by an exhibition at Winnipeg—an exhibition of a character and on a scale to arouse interest in, and attract visitors from, all quarters of the globe. Indeed, the Dominion has thoughts of celebrating the occasion by holding its first “World’s Fair,” after the pattern set by London forty-nine years ago, by Philadelphia twelve years later, by Paris in the opening year of this century, and by Chicago in 1893.
There are several reasons why a Winnipeg Exhibition justifies high hopes. On previous occasions, millions of people, travelling across oceans and continents, have visited a World’s Fair in order to see—a World’s Fair. People would be attracted to the Manitoba capital in 1914 to see that and something more. It would be an opportunity to witness a rarespectacle—the rising of a new nation that is destined to be big and powerful. For thousands of people it would be a chance to take a peep at the prairie—to see with their own eyes the Great North-West.
These International Expositions are occasions when one part of the world says to the rest of the world: “Come and see whatweare doing.” Visitors go with the intention of combining business with pleasure; and certainly no World’s Fair would ever have been held in a country that presents such opportunities for investment and enterprise. The Winnipeg Show would take its international public to the very border of probably the greatest area of rich, unoccupied land to be found in the world. It would reveal a territory that is producing sufficient wheat to supply the whole population of England with bread, and producing it from soil which, for the most part, was only recently brought under cultivation.
Moreover, the Winnipeg Exhibition would serve to celebrate an event of which I have endeavoured to measure the significance. The one hundredth anniversary of the Selkirk settlement will witness the opening of through communication,viaHudson Bay, between Western Canada and Europe.
The Press of the Dominion took at once to the daring and delightful idea of a World’s Fair at Winnipeg; and the more enthusiastic editors exclaimed: “We must see to it that this is a record-breaking exhibition.” That is certainly the right spirit in which to tackle a great undertaking. The Paris Exhibition of 1900 holds, I believe, the record, with an attendance of 50,860,801 visitors. But of course Paris is situated in a more populous hemisphere than the one in which Winnipeg occurs; so it would be fairer to regard the Chicago Exhibition of 1893 (which attracted 27,539,521 visitors)as the achievement to be eclipsed. Though, indeed, having regard to relative population, Canada’s triumph would be sufficiently remarkable if her first World’s Fair compared favourably with the first World’s Fair of the United States. It was held at Philadelphia in 1876, and the attendance was 9,910,996, or over 3,000,000 more than the attendance at either of London’s great exhibitions.
Last year, when at Winnipeg, I called at the executive offices of “Canada’s International Exposition and Selkirk Centennial, 1914,” and there I learnt that preparations for the event were well advanced. The project was associated with £1,000,000. Half was expected from the Federal Government, most of the balance being provided by the following grants: £100,000 from the City of Winnipeg; £100,000 from the Canadian Pacific Railway; £100,000 from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway; £50,000 from the Canadian Northern Railway; and £50,000 from the province of Manitoba. To complete the £1,000,000, the business men in Winnipeg were asked to take up stock to the extent of £100,000; which they promised to do. The directors undertook to lay out that million pounds to advantage; and it was estimated that buildings and exhibits provided by the various Canadian, British and Foreign Governments would represent a value equal to another million. So that persons who visit Winnipeg in the summer of 1914 are likely to have a good time and find plenty to see.
As a matter of fact, if they saw nothing but Winnipeg itself their time and money would be well spent. It is a marvellous and a magnificent city.
WINNIPEG OF TO-DAY
WINNIPEG OF TO-DAY
CHAPTER XIIIKEY TO CANADA’S MINERAL WEALTH: A WARNING TO BRITISH CAPITALISTS
One department of the Federal Government of Canada presents the stirring spectacle of many scientists working at high pressure and in high spirits.
Savants in Great Britain are wont to act with a deliberation that might almost be called leisurely, the daily life of our learned societies being characterised by placidity rather than precipitancy. They have been investigating the minerals and the fauna and flora of their little country now for some centuries, and though there may be an insect or two still to be caught and classified, the matter is not pressing.
An extremely opposite state of things obtains in Canada. It was only the other day, so to speak, that it set up in business as a unity and a nation, and at that time next to nothing was known accurately about its natural features. Soil, rocks, climate, fish, trees, birds—none had been properly overhauled. The farmers, the miners, and the railway constructors called urgently for information that could not be supplied. In a word, there was a bewildering lack of all the precise knowledge on which every large community unconsciously rests.
And so the Federal Government, as one of their earliest concerns, set to work on a sort of scientificstock-taking—a process that is still in full blast. They got together all the good scientists they could lay their hands on—geologists, mineralogists, geographers, botanists, naturalists, chemists, meteorologists, ethnologists and the like—and hustled them off to find out all they could about Canada; and, since that sort of person is born rather than made, the Federal Government early found themselves confronting a shortage of human material—a kind of famine of scientists—which was the more regrettable since there was so much ground to be covered, such appalling arrears to overtake. However, recruits were imported, and educational facilities were provided for the rising generation of professors, and to-day there are in the Government service of Canada as fine and mobile an army of scientific men as, I imagine, could anywhere be found on this planet.
It makes one almost giddy to think of all those Government geologists hurrying every year across the country—one to study the economic minerals of New Brunswick, another to visit the goldfields of British Columbia, a third to tabulate the copper-bearing rocks of Sherbrooke, a fourth to visit the mica mines of Hudson Strait, a fifth to scrutinise the surface geology of the Great Plains, a sixth to collect facts about tin-bearing strata in Nova Scotia, a seventh to explore the raised shore-lines of the Blue Mountain escarpment. Some have been packed off at a moment’s notice—for example, to inspect a collapsing mountain (the people living at the base having become anxious), and to report upon a meteorite that had just fallen in somebody’s homestead (and which, when the scientist arrived, had already been sold for two hundred dollars). It does one’s heart good to think of the stream of scientists, booty ladenand full of enthusiasm, returning at the end of the season: the triumphant mineralogist, with his diamond-bearing chromite, his apatite crystals, and his pink scapolite; the zealous zoologist, with eggs of the chickadee and the belted kingfisher, some rare fresh-water mussels, an albino skunk, and scores of marine fishes in alcohol; the brother naturalist, with treasure unthinkable of seaslugs, toads, and seaworms; the ethnologist, with his human skulls and bones, and his stone adzes and hammers; the perspiring palæontologist, with goodly parcels of fossil bryozoa, supplemented, it may be, by the tail of a scarce trilobite and the right posterior molar tooth of a ruminant belonging to the order Ovibos.
To give some idea of the industry and activity of these learned servants of the State, I will briefly outline the work accomplished by one naturalist in one season. Having put his “Catalogue of Canadian Birds” through the press, Mr. John Macoun made ready to depart for Vancouver Island, his preparations including the compilation of a list of all the plants that had been reported to occur there. Before starting he also superintended one assistant in arranging botanical sheets for the herbarium, and another assistant in re-labelling a quantity of mammal and bird skins. Then, having sought and obtained permission “to write up the entire natural history of Vancouver Island,” he departed to Victoria with an assistant, the two energetic enthusiasts at once setting to work to secure flowering plants and the eggs of migrating birds and “to collect the fauna and flora of the sea”—in which work they were “very successful.” By June they were at Departure Bay, “ranging the country for miles around” to tabulate the birds and secure samples of plants and trees. “Iwas also employed,” Mr. Macoun reported, “in collecting from the sea, especially sea-weeds.” Going posthaste to Nanaimo, he met by appointment another assistant, whereupon, securing a boat, they carried out some exhaustive dredging operations. One haul, at twenty-five fathoms, brought up sixty specimens of a rare hexactinellid sponge. They took 156 star-fish, 195 crabs of various kinds, over a hundred different sponges, “a fine collection of barnacles,” and “a very large collection of marine shells.” Both assistants “were indefatigable.” One went out every evening with a lamp and net and caught moths and beetles. “This collection alone numbered over 600 specimens.” The party captured 1,100 species of flowering plants, about 400 species of cryptogams, and nearly 150 species of sea weeds; and the naturalist decided that another season’s work would enable him “to write an exhaustive report of the whole fauna and flora of the island,” provided he again had those two most excellent assistants with him. Remembering he had promised to visit Rossland and inquire into the rotting of mine timbers there, he darted off on that mission, found that four species of fungus were responsible, explained that the evil would be prevented if the timber were treated with a strong saline solution, and then went hurrying back to Ottawa, where he set about naming a number of plants that had been received from Guelph, Winnipeg, Calgary, and other places. He also seriously tackled the question of the flora of the Ottawa district—after which, I dare say, Mr. Macoun began to feel tired.
When in Ottawa, I found myself fascinated by this scientific overhauling of the great Dominion, and an interest which at first was of an abstract and general character, presently took concrete and definite form.I decided to seek for an authoritative and comprehensive pronouncement concerning the mineral resources of the country, and for this purpose I sought an interview with Mr. R. W. Brock, the director of the Geological Survey.
“You are right,” he said, when, in opening up the subject, I suggested that investigations could not at present have advanced very far; “we are a long way from having measured the mineral wealth of this vast country. Much of the territory has not been explored in even the most cursory way, while anything like a detailed examination of the rocks has at present been possible in only very limited areas. Still, the information we have already accumulated is sufficient to reveal Canada’s main geological features, to supply a rough indication of the districts that will yield minerals, and to show that the Dominion is destined to become one of the greatest mining countries in the world. For the amount of mineral land awaiting the prospector is prodigious—the greatest, in fact, that now anywhere remains unexploited.”
I told Mr. Brock that, before going into the question of the wealth awaiting discovery, I should like to have from him a general statement of the valuable mineral deposits that had already come to light. Accordingly he was so good as to furnish me with the following particulars:
“Coal is abundant and is extensively worked in the eastern and western provinces. The more important mines are situated in Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and Alberta. New Brunswick produces small quantities of coal for local use, and lignites are mined to some extent in Saskatchewan. Iron is found in most parts of Canada, but only in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec is it as yet of industrial importance, and thereit is developed on only a limited scale. Substantial progress is, however, being made, and notable expansion may be expected.
“Gold is worked in British Columbia, Yukon Territory, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, and along certain rivers of Alberta. In British Columbia the lode mines now furnish the principal production, but placers are still of importance. Ontario and Nova Scotia have only lode mining. Elsewhere placer mining furnishes the gold. Silver is derived from the rich ores of Northern Ontario and the silver-lead mines of British Columbia. The extraordinary development of the silver district of Cobalt and Montreal River has placed that region in the premier position among the silver camps of the world. An important addition to the output of silver is contributed by the gold-copper ores of British Columbia. A certain amount is also produced in the copper-sulphur ores of Quebec.
“Copper is furnished by British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, and its production in the first-named province is rapidly expanding. Lead is almost entirely derived from the mines of British Columbia, but it also occurs in the other provinces. Zinc is widely distributed, but the production is as yet light and mostly from the lead mines of British Columbia. Nickel is largely confined to the mines of the Sudbury district in Ontario—mines that are, however, by far the most important in the world. A certain amount is produced in the Cobalt district, while prospects still farther north, resembling the Sudbury occurrences, are undergoing development. Manganese, in the form of its oxides, is produced intermittently in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Mercury has been furnished in small quantity by British Columbia.
“Platinum occurs in some gold placer deposits in British Columbia, and also in the nickel-copper ores of Sudbury. Tin and wolfram have recently been found in the gold veins of Nova Scotia. Wolfram also occurs in British Columbia and New Brunswick. Tin-bearing minerals have been discovered in some pegmatites of Eastern Ontario and Quebec. Arsenic is obtained in connection with gold ores in Eastern Ontario and in the silver ores of Cobalt. Antimony is produced to some extent in Nova Scotia. It is being developed in New Brunswick and at a few points in British Columbia. Chromite is mined in Quebec.
“Asbestos is the chief mining product of Quebec, and the deposits of this mineral in that province are the most important in the world. Graphite occurs in important deposits in Eastern Ontario and Quebec, but the industry is not fully developed. Gypsum is extensively mined in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is also mined in Ontario. It occurs in other provinces as well, and is beginning to attract attention in British Columbia. Mica is an important product of Ontario and Quebec, where it occurs in shoots in veins. Some of the deposits are very large. Phosphate of lime, or apatite, is still produced, generally as a by-product of the mica mines. Corundum is found extensively in Eastern Ontario from deposits which, as regards purity and magnitude, are unique. Feldspar occurs in wonderful purity in Eastern Ontario and Quebec, and is of considerable industrial importance. Pyrites is now mined extensively in Ontario and to some extent in Quebec.
“Petroleum and natural gas are obtained in Ontario. Alberta is also yielding a large quantity of gas, and will probably develop petroleum fields. Gas and someoil are now being produced in New Brunswick. Salt of a very excellent quality is obtained in Ontario. New Brunswick and Manitoba also furnish a certain amount. Magnesite occurs in Quebec, and hydro-magnesite in British Columbia. Structural materials and clay products are found throughout the country, and their production is rapidly growing.”
“And now, Mr. Brock,” I said, “will you please tell me on what data you base your confident prophecy that Canada will become one of the richest mining countries in the world?”
“Well,” replied the head of the Geological Survey, “you must know that North America consists of a series of natural zones running roughly north and south, and therefore the vast mineral wealth that has been already discovered in the developed and populated southern, or United States, part of those zones, supplies a sure clue to the vast mineral wealth awaiting discovery in the northern, or Canadian, part, which is only now beginning to be developed and populated. That is no mere theoretical deduction. It is supported by accumulating facts. Thus geological explorers report the occurrence of the same minerals and the same disposition of strata in the north as one finds in the south. Moreover, if you examine the results obtained to-day by our most outlying camps, you will find that they repeat the results obtained by the southern camps at a corresponding stage of their development. Again, geological discoveries follow the opening up of each new section, and those discoveries all point to the same conclusion, namely, that Nature has made the Republic and the Dominion joint participators in a vast mineral heritage.”
“Will you please enumerate and define these geological provinces that are so indifferent to international boundaries?”