The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-08-17
Broken Blooms Out West.

Eight or nine years ago lots on the chief
business street Of Winnipeg were held at
Broadway prices. While the capital OF Man
itoba to-day is larger and its prospects are
brighter than ever before. these same lots
may now be bought for one-third OF their
former price, and from one end OF the town
to the other may be seen the effects Of that
era IT boom and wild speculation. The
handsome Post Office fronts on side street,
because the Dominion Government declined
to pay the price demanded for frontage on
the main thoroughiare. One or two costly
blocks. far from the business centre, ore
tenantless and have ruined the men who built
them. A hotel which was to cost fortune
never got above the foundations and some
OF tho handsomest residences In the city
were built by men who lost their all in tho
crash. and are too poor to- day to live in the
homes they reared. Tho people Of Winnipeg
have had all the boom they want for half q
century. and they are happy to-day because
they believe the great harvest OF this year
will fairly set them on their feet again.
Brandon and half dozen other bright lit
tie towns In Manitoba have the Same story,
on smaller SCALE to tell. The boom struck
them hard and the boom Is the scape-
goat on which they saddle all of the Ills
that have since befallen. What did the
boom do for them 1t plunged them
into debt that they might buy property
ut fictitious values. 1t tempted them into
business ventures on scale too largo for
their capital and stimulated an unhealthy
growth In their towns which was not
justified by the development OF the coun.
try around them. After years OF strug-
glinR under these evils they are beginning to
touch bottom again. Booms, in their opIn-
ion, do not pay. and they are now content to
grow on natural lines.
Several booms on the Pacific coast which
were attracting much attention while ago
have departed this life. There is nothing
the matter with Vancouver. Seattle. or Ia
coma. Their prospects are as bright as they
ever werc, but the booms have fled. Tho
thing has been oyer'Ione and the reaction
has come. Henceiorth they must be content
with slower and surer growth
Livery one that visits Vancouver Is aston
ishcd to sec tho little city which has sprung
up on site that was covered with dense
forest five years ago. The people have been
SO busy putting up their stores, building
their electric street car line, their handsome
'''"AS'So oHe opOhb AONoo CuuI LuCy IluNo
had 10 time TO pull tho stumps which cover
nearly every vacant lot. Two years ago the
business part Of Seattle was laid In ashes.
To-day the long streets devoted to trade
have been rebuilt 80 handsomely that tho
casual visitor might easily imagine himself
in city OF three times Seattles population.
Tacoma, on her lofty hill above Pu-
get Sound, shows many OF the finest
business blocks and by all odds the hi nd.
soonest private residences to be found north
OF Portland. But these three towns. with
brilliant prospects undoubtedly before
them, are just now complaining bitterly OF
hard times. Three weeks ago five or six
colonists' cars on ths Northern Pacific and
Canadian Pacific railroads were starting
East every day filed with men who said
they could not get work, and they were
glad to have money enough to leave the
country. The mechanics who aocked to
Seattle are out Of Job. Many enterprises
have been overdone. and period OF rest
and waiting must follow.
The present state OF things is perfectly
natural. The towns cannot develop far in
advance OF tho country which must sustain
them. They have had their boom, but un-
fortunately booms do not cear lands for tho
farmer. open profitable miues or develop a
great shipping trade in day. The towns
hnve grown too fast and. though much
against their will, they must wait for the
country 10 catch up 1t is a country worth
waiting for, n land OF splendid resources and
an assured future. But he is forehanded
farmer who can add to his tllable area
more than two or three acres year in that
region OF dense forests. To-day the farmer
IA covering the sky with the smoke OF burn.