New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-19
NORTHWESTERN MIGRATION.
SETTLERS IN DAKOTA AND MANITOBA.

SETTLERS IN DAKOTA AND MANITOBA.
THE CANADIAN MOVEMENT TO THE WINNIPEG
COuNTGY-PRovINCIA PATRIOTISM EFFECT OF
THE RED RIvFR FLOODs-RAPID SETTLEMENT
OF NORTH DAKOTA.
tvpov An occ AsIoSAI CORES PoNDEST TRIBuSEl
FARGO. Dakota May G.-The most striking fea
ture of the spring migratory movement Is the rush
of Canadian farmers and mechanics 10 the lai-
Northwestern Province OF Manitoba 1t began early
in the season. long before the frost was out OF the
ground and has been going on ever since, checked
little lately however. by the reports OF the over
flow in the lower Red River Valley. To reach
their destination tho emigrants have to pass
through the States, that the volume and char
acter of the movement has been readily observed,
especially at ST. Paul. which is the gateway of the
TRANSFORMATION lines leading to both Manitoba and
North Dakota. Probably not fewer than 10000
on,rrauts from the older portions of the Dominion
have already passed through st. Paul on their wav
10 the broad black praries along the lower Red and
the Assiniboine In great part this singular hegra
is due TO the natural growth and overflow oil Inc
Canadian population, hemmed IN upon narrow
strip of land between the vast northern forests and
Lakes Erie and Ontario and 10 the rather hard
conditions of life for small farmers and laborers in
the old communities of the Provinces. Its extraor-
binary size and suddenness is no doubt owing how
ever to provincial patriotism. which has led the
Dominion press to trumpet persistently the praises
of what Is called the Canadian Northwest. For
several years prior to the present the flow of Cana
dian migration to the Northwestern region OF the
United States was great as to excite jealous
alarm IN the minds Of Provincial statesmen and
editors II was useless to tell the emigrants that
Canada was a new country and that they ought to
stay at home and develop its resources. They
could not be induced to carve fresh farms out OF the
forests by dint of ten years of axe-swinging and
brush burning when the praires OF Minnesota and
Dakota were free to all corners. AS Manitoba
became better known however, and 1t was deter
mined beyond dispute that broad areas OF level
land adapted for wheat-raising existed there
| genuine feeling of exutation pervaded the popu-
| laton of Ontario and Quebec, and even penetrated
to the distant and less patriotic provinces OF New
| Brunswick and Nova Scotia. No need to 60 to the
| States now for prairie farms The papers began TO
praise Manitoba as though it were ncw-found
| Eden. popular enthusiasm for taking possession
of this supposed agricultural paradise broke out,
and thousands of people gathered up their nipple
| ments and household gear and poured across the
boundary at Port Huron and Detroit, ticketed
through over American railways to the far-off
praire-province Of the Dominion
The plain truth about Manitoba is that the
arabic portions of it exactly resemble the fiat
prairie country DOfueflng lDe heu hNei vi ohOh Suo
in Western Minnesota and Eastern Dakota, with
the difference that the climate is more rigorous, the
springs later in opening, and the ground wetter be-
oause II is lower down the stream, not as we'll
drained more subject 10 overflow, and not rs seen
benefited by the hot rays of the summer sun. Inc
country is worth settling but 1t would not IN the
natural order of things be settled until the region
south of the national boundary were pretty well
filled up, had not the Canadian papers and the
Canadian Pacific Railway schene stimulated the
present emigration movement. Citizens OF the
United States need feel jealousy, though, ut the
sudden growth of the Canadian Northwest. Every
emigrant who goes there, few who go by
steamboats, to the head of Lake Superior, pays toll
To the IA roads OF this country and the province
will inevitably he tributary III commercial sense
TO St. Paul and Chicago, whatever ITS fnture Pollt-
cal relations may be. so strong VIII be the
natural ties of business interest and relationship
between the wheat region north OF the boundary
line and the wheat country south of 1t, both ira
versed by the same lines OF railroad, that the new
Canadian province will doubtless be the 1rst 10
grow restless under the bonds OF colonial depend
erce upon Great Britain and the first to desire adj
mission to the Union.
The recent flood, which has not yet subsidized in
the lower Red River Valley so as to admit of the
restoration Of through railroad communications has
somewhat contracted the Manitoba BOOM" Two
or three thousand emigrants were left stranded at
railway stations for several days until steamers
were provided to take them through the Hooded
district to Winnipeg large number changed
their plan under this stress OF adverse clrcum-
stances. and concluded TO settle ON the American
side of the line, where there is plenty OF good land
far above the highest freShet mark. They were
wise. for Dakota has every merit in the way OF
fertility possessed by Manitoba, with the added
advantages of a drier soil. better climate and
membership ut the American Republic.
Immigration into North Dakota began late this
season on account of the cold weather, which has
reached far into MAY without yet sensby giving
way to spring Influences 1t is coming in steadily
and strongly now, however About 800 people
day seems to be the average size OF the current
flowing westward from this point. Probably the
total movement of settlers from April 10 July into
North Dakota and the Yellowstone Valley Will
reach 25OOO. What is going on in South Dakota
cannot be observed here. the two regions are as
distinct as New York and North Caro- lna-indeed,
they are much further apart if the time required
TO 90 from to the other be recl0ned. The
EurOpepn immigrants are mainly ScandinayIans-
blond haired. buc-eycd, stocky, stod people who
stay where they first stop IN new country and
always thrive. The An erican settlers. who con-
stiiute perhaps three fOurths of the newcomers,
are mainly from the older sections of the West
Illinois Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. What
Eastern element there is in the cnrrent mostly
comes from Maine and New Hampshire. and goes
to the towns rather than to the open country. The
best Dakota farmer is apt TO he the young fellow
who grew up on prairie farm in what was tho Far
| with his wife and babies. a team and n few hum
| dicd dollars and knows exactly what
| TO do when he sticks his stakes. The bare bleak
prairie does not repel him. He goes straight TO
work without days delay 10 bnild n house and
make a crop In three years. if ne has good luck,
he will have his land and farm machinery paid for
and "a thousand dollars in the bank. In SIX ne Will
own another quarter section and he spoken of as an
old aud prosperous settler.
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