The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-10 00:00:00

THE CAPITAL OF MANITOBA.

The Times of Wednesday published a lengthy communica•
tion from a correspondent, giving an interesting description
of the town and suburbs of Winnipeg, the capital of
Manitoba. We make the following extracts from the
article :

. . . . " Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, surprised
me more at first sight than any one of the countless
cities which I have visited on the North American Con-
tinent. I had read much about Winnipeg before
visiting it, and the impression left on my mind was
not favourable. The Earl of Southesk, who
was here in 1860, says that 'there warn houses
enough to form a sort of scattered town.'
Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, who followed him
three years later, saw nothing worthy of note. Cap-
tain Butler, who paid it a visit in 1870, refers to it, in
his Great Lone Land,' as 'the little village' and
the miserable-looking village of Winnipeg.' I
knew that changes had been made since Captain
Butler came hither on duty connected with the
Red River expedition under Colonel (now Sir Garnet)
Wolseley ; but I was not prepared to find that they
had been so great and startling as those which I
actually beheld.

"Walking down Main-street, on my way to the
Pacific Hotel, I could hardly realize that I was in
a city incorporated so recently as 1873, and
supposed to be far beyond the confines of civiliza-
tion. The street is 132 feet wide, and it is lined
with shops, churches, and public buildings which
would do credit to a much older and more
famous place. The solid look of the majority of
the edifices is as noteworthy as their ornamental
design. They are built of white brick The
Town-hall and the Market, the Post Office, the
Dominion Land Office, and the Custom-house, to
name but a few of the public edifices, are as sub-
stantial buildings as can be desired. No one looking
at them can feel here, as is so commonly felt in other
places of rapid growth on this continent, that the
citizens apprehend their city will decay as rapidly m it
had sprung up. While the progress of Winnipeg is
one of the marvels of the Western world, there is good
reason for believing that it will continue at an ac-
celerated rate, and that Winnipeg will hereafter
hold in the Dominion of Canada a place corre-
sponding with that now held in the United States
by Chicago. In 1870 there were 300 people in the
miserable-looking village of those days; now, the
population is not much lees than 10,000. There are
eight churches—one belonging to the Roman Catholics,
three to the Ep so valians, one to the Presbyterians,
two to the Wesleyan Methodists, and one to the
Baptists. There are several schools and colleges—two
common schools, St, John's College Schools, for boys
and for girls, a Central School, Si, Mary's Academy,
Manitoba College, in connection with the Presby-
terian Church, and a Wesleyan Institute. Most re-
markable of all, if not altogether exceptional among
seminaries for the advancement and diffusion of sound
learning, is the University of Manitoba. It grants
degrees in arts, sciences, law, and medicine. Its
governing body is composed of representatives of
religious societies which have not succeeded in working
harmoniously for a common end in other parts either
of the Old or the New World. The closest and, at
the same time, the most praiseworthy approach to
Utopia with which I am acquainted is this University.
The colleges belonging to it are the Episcopal College
of St. John, the Roman Catholic College of St. Boni.
face, and the Presbyterian College of Manitoba.
Others may and are expected to join a University
which, if as successful as it deserves to, will become a
model for other places, both on this continent and on
the continent of Europe. . .

"The great width of Maio-street, which runs north
and south, adds to its effect ; Portsge - avenue,
which, like it, is 1321 t. wide, runs west and is an
important thoroughfare; Burrow's-avenue is 99ft.
=Ado. end the other atraota 66fk. I.deod,
city is laid out with an eye to its future increase
in population. This is specially shown in the care
which has been taken to secure open spaces, which
will prove of much benefit when the area is more
thickly covered with buildings. There are three
public parks—Victoria, Burrow's, and Mulligan; the
first covers eight acres, the second five, and third
three. There is a racecourse and a rifle range. The
young men take delight and are very expert in rifle
shooting, their ambition being to obtain a place in the
Canadian team which pays a yearly visit to Wimbledon,
and there displays a vigorous and fraternal rivalry
with the Volunteers of the United Kingdom. Several
tall chimneys in different parts of the city denote the
presence of manufactories. . . . Hotels of various
dames are plentifully provided for the entertain-
ment of strangers, the Pacific Hotel being the best
and largest. The publichouses, or salons as they
are called throughout the West, numuer 23; they
are under rigid supervision and eaeh is licensed.
The licence, which costs 240 dole, annually, is liable
to forfeiture in the event of the saloon being badly
conducted. I should fill too much space were I to
enumerate the principal shops. Two of them, how-
ever, deserve special mention; one being Messrs.
Donaldson and Brother's Book Store, where I
found so large a stock supply of newspapers,
periodicals, and books as to be convinced that the
demand for literature must be considerable in
Manitoba • the other being the dry goods store of
Metiers. Siobart and Eden, which would do credit, as
regards its size, the extent and variety of its stock of
goods, and the tastefulness of its appointments, to
any city in the world. The public markets I found
well supplied with butcher's meat, poultry, game, fish,
and vegetables. The fish come from the lakes and the
river. One of the fish on the bill of fare at the
Pacific Hotel bore the name of Red River salmon. I
tasted it and thought it delicious, though not at all
like any salmon which I had eaten. It was quite as
rich as salmon and had scarcely any bones, re-
sembling a lamprey in this respect more closely
than any fi•le with which I am acquainted. . . .
The vegetables for sale in the market reminded me of
stories which I had read at home in the months of
autumn. No imaginative writer in a country news-
paper ever penned a paragraph about gigantic
vegetables that could not be justified by the
potatoes, cabbages, and turnips which I saw for
sale here, and which were not regarded as remark-
ably large. Some of the potatoes weighed am much
as 3lb and the turnips 30,b, each, while the
cabbages were monsters. A cucumber, which had
been grown in the open air and which was rightly
considered a curiosity, measured 6ft. 3in. in length.
The display of fruit was not equal to that of vege-
tables, the culture of fruit having been neglected
owing to the supply of wild fruit being so varied and
abundant. Experiments made in growing apples
having proved successful, the gardens here will soon be
filled with fruit-bearing trees. Yet it is not wonderful
that the early settlers should heve been satisfied with
what Nature has provided for them, seeing that
they have had nothing to do but gather and
consume an abundance of wild plums, grapes,
strawberries, currants, red and black raspberries,
cherries, blueberries whortleberries, marsh and high
hush cranberries. If the settlers have not busied
them6elves about the culture of fruit, they have not
neglected the culture of flowers. The little gardens
which adorn the fronts of the houses are filled with
roses, mignonnette, and other flowers dear to English
eyes. Never have I seen flowers with more brilliant
tints than those of Manitoba, and the brightness of
their colours is in keeping with the strength and
sweetness of their perfume.

" An enumeration of the principal sights in the streets
of Winnipeg would be incomplete if I omitted to
mention that it contains several banking-housee,
which have not only a solid look as buildings, but
which enjoy the reputation of being sound financial
establishments. First there is the Post-office Savings.
bank, where depositors receive interest at the rate
of 4 per cent., with the advantage of perfect security;
secondly, there are branches of the Merchants'
Bank of Canada of the Ontario Bank, and of the
Bank of Montreal. In the newest cities it is custo-
mary to find churches and echoob, manufactories and
mark eta, shops andlbanks ; but I do not think any city
so young as Winnipeg has ever been able to boast of a
club-house, The Maniioba Club was founded in 1874
—that is, one year after the incorporation of the city,
The club-house in Main-street presents a neat appear-
ance externally, while its internal arrangements are as
comfortable as the most fastidious person could
expect. Its members number about 80. I can
write with the greater confidence in praise of the
Manitoba Club, because I had the gratifica-
tion of being made an honorary member of it
and of enjoying its advantages. Though acquainted with
many clubs, I know of a few wherein dinners are sup-
plied of equal quality at so moderate a charge as in the
Manitoba Club, I was more struck with this club than
with the fact that Winnipeg possesses an excellent daily
newspaper, the Manitoba Free Press. A club-house is
regarded as a luxury in the Far West, whereas a news-
paper is held to be a necessary of life. In the town
of Selkirk, still farther north, the few inhabitants
decided tnat they must have a newspaper, and, as
there was no printing-press in the town, the difficulty
to be overcome was considerable. They agreed among
themselves to pay a sum of 500 dole, to the founder of
a weekly newspaper in Selkirk, and they advertised
this offer, adding that a circulation of 400 copies, at
2 dole, each, was guaranteed for a year. The result
was that an enterprising gentleman started from the
older part of ..canadsewitia. a printing-press, and be-
came printer, editor, and newspaper proprietor in
Selkirk. . ,

"Before crossing the Red River and deiscribing the
thriving suburb of S. Bonifaoe, I must devote a few
sentences to the Company which was once supreme
and which is still A power in Winnipeg. The day hike

not long gone by when no person could buy, sell, or
reside here without leave from the Governor of Amine-
bola, the old name for this Province. The Hudson's Bay
Company had then an actual monopoly of the country,
and exercised an exclusive jurisdiction over it. It could
not be disputed La a court of law that the charter con-
ferred on the Company by Charles IL gave them all
the authority to which they laid claim, neither could
it be denied that the attempt to keep a fertile region
vaster than Europe as the hunting-ground of savages
and a breeding place for wild beasts was opposed to
the spirit of the age. The monopoly ended in 1869,
when the Corn p‘ny surrendered its claims to Canada
in return for £300,000 in cash, the retention of land
round the trading stations, estimated at 50,000 acres,
and of one-twentieth part of the remainder of the
land. Thus the Company has become the largest
possessor of landed property in the world." .

After giving some interesting details relative to the
Hudson's Bay Company, the Correspondent proceeds :

"It is time, for the sake of variety, to pals across
the river to the interesting suburb of this city. A
few minutes spent in a ferry boat, and then the
passenger sets foot in St. Boniface. The change
between any part of the English and French coast
is very great; crossing the Straits of Dover and
landing in France is like entering a new world.
Much the same effect is produced on him who
leaves Ottawa, passes through the suburb of Edin-
burgh, crosses the river, and enters Hull. This is not
only a change from the Province of Ontario to that of
Quebec, but it is also a change from an English to a
French•speaking locality. Such a contrast may also
be perceived, both in the oldest and youngest States
111 the North American Union, When the river is
crossed which separates New York from Hoboken, one
passes from an English to a German-speaking city ; in-
deed, there are shops in Hoboken where German is
understood better than English. In Chicago and Mil-
waukee there are quarters where German is the
prevailing speech, and in St. Paul there are
quarters where Norse is the only tongue fluently
spoken. But none of these cases is so curious as
that of St. Boniface. In the cities of the United
States, though the people may speak a foreign
tongue, yet there is no external token of the popu-
lation being foreign. On the western side of the
Red River, the wayfarer who looks at the street-
corners sees such truly British names as Alfred,
Gladstone, and Macfarlane; on the eastern side he
sees Rue St. Boniface, Rue St. Joseph, Rue du
Moulin, while he hears the passer-by converse in
the French language. It is not so much the fact
that French is spoken, as that everything looks so
French which renders this •suburb of the city of
Winnipeg unlike any other which I have seen in
any city on the continent of North America or of
Europe.
"The settlement of French half-breeds at St. Boni-
face dates from the year 1818. Since then it has been
the Roman Catholic mission centre of the North-
West, Bishop Provencher laboured here as a priest
from 1818 till his death as bishop in 1853. His
successor, Archbishop Tach6, has spent the greater
part of a long life as a missionary priest
among the Indians, his work entitled Twenty
Years of Missions in the North-West of America
being not only an interesting record of personal
experience, but also a trustworthy guide to that
obscure region, Ht is very popular, and his great
authority over the half-breeds and the Indians is
exercised with much discretion. • . • I had the
pleasure of conversing with the Archbishop and of
learning his views with regard to the settlement of
the country, He has that polish of manner which
seems to be the inheritance of most persons whose
mother tongue is French. Though no longer
young and though much of his life has been
passed among hardships which render a man old before
his time, yet he has the look of a man much younger
than his years. He is a living witness to the salubrity
of the climate, having been here upwards of thirty
years; his predecessor, Bishop Provencher, lived long
enough to show that a residence on the Red River was
conducive to longevity." . .
After giving some particulars of the labours of Archbishop
Tache among the settlers, the writer concludes by say-
ing :

"Before leaving St. Bonif ace, I must note that this
suburb of Winnipeg promises to thrive even better
in the future than it has hitherto done. The terminus
of the Pembina branch of the St. Paul and Pacific
Railway is here, and this has given an impetus to
building. A newspaper in French, called Le llfitis
Is published weekly. It is the only French journal
published in the Canadian North-West and taking
cognizance of the wishes and wants of the large class
there which preserves the use of the French language.
There is no part of Canada where speech is more
diversified than in the Province of Manitoba, nor is
there any in which the ordinary routine of existence
is more varied."