The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1892-04-16
A TIMELY
8l88.!FaY
@~y
Homeseekers Beware OF the In-
ducements Of the Canadian Emil
grant Agents.

Homeseekers Beware OF the In
ducements Of the Canadian Emil
grant Agents.
A large sum of money has recently been
appropriated by the Canadian Government
for special emigration work IN Northern
Minnesota and North Dakota. Agents are
already busy trying to entice our settlers to
migrate to Manitoba, Alberta and other
districts in the far Northland.
The object of the Canadians is two-fold,
viz: to induce as many settlers as possible
to leave American territory, and by clrcu-
lating reports that farmers are emigrating
from our states into the British Northwest,
to lead outsiders astray as to the true merits
of what are unquesti0nably the most Hour-
ishing states in the Northwest.
The unexampled prosperity OF Minnesota
and North Dakota is shown by their rapid
increase IN population and wealth. The mar
velous aer cultural productivenes OF thetwO
states uplIft them beyond all comparison. In
wheat alone they lead every other state;
their combined output in LIZ! peing ABOUT
one-tourth Of the entire crop in the United
States. Not only do they outrank every
other state in the union in the quantity an
nually produced, but the grain is ~unexcell-
ed in oualitv. and commands the top price
in the markets of America and Europe.
It would indeed be a veritable III Dorado
if every individual settler was alike pros
nerous. 1t can be averred, however, with
ont lear of contradiction, that as a rule all
settlers i'm Minnesota and North Dakota,
who have displayed ordinary intelligence
in selecting land, and in the management
thereof have been successful beyond their
most sanguine anticlpations. A lew nave
undertaken too much without capitai.
Some have selected and cropped land bet
+,r olortoI ior GRO gipo than for tHtl. DIT
comparatively few have failed to realize q
generous return for their labors, and some
who were disappointed, owing TO sucn
blunders at the start, succeeded at lest, and
are among our most prosperous ana
wealthy citizens. -
Many farmers, who acquired thelr Ianas
under the free homestead regulatlohs,
tempted by the prevailing good prices,
nave recently sold their improvements and
stock, and finding themselves possessed OF
considerable ready money, may De ~ssracs-
ed by the glowing accounts Of cheap iands
so insidiously circulated by the agents OF
John Bull" TO all such these
WORDS OF WARMING
are especially addressed.
Long before Minnesota, or the Dakotas,
were organized even as separate territories.
several unsuccessful attempts were made by
Great Britain to establish agricultural SET,
Elements in the region North of the United
States boundary line, first styled "Ruperts
Land" afterwards 1.-THE Selkirk Settle
ment," and latterly "Manitoba." The early.
colonists entered the country by way o,
Hudson's Bay; Every such attempt proved
disastrous to the settlers, who had then, as
now, to contend against long winters, SNORT
ummers and early Irosts, which destr0yeu
the grain and other farm products. THESE
early settlers in the Manitoba country,
faced all the hardships of a rigorous Gu,
mate, and for years mantul!y trugglea
against the natural difficulties imposed
by the climate, which at last they found
were insurmountable, and abandoning
their homesteads, and bidding farewell to
the Bells of st. Boniface, and leaving the
graves of departed dear ones in the dreary
N%orthland, wendell their weary pilgrimage
Southwark to a more congenial cilmaee;
in the neighborhood of Grand Forks,
North Dakota, and Brainerd. Minnesota,
forming the nucleus of what afterwards be-
came t1ourishing settlements. Within the
last eight years history has repeated itself
in this respect on a much larger scale:
British Northwest, having been literally
frozen ont of the country, seeking fresh
fields and pastures new" and realizing all
they desired on the sunny plains OF North
Dakota. and among the Park Openings and
rich valleys of Minnesota.
A reference to the proceedings of the
Canadian parliament, and the debates OF
the last few sessions, amply verify these
statements, and show that he British
Northwest is only kept from absolute de-
population by enormous annual outlay
and all army of immigration. agents, whose
utmost efforts for the last eight years have
not prevented The population decreasing.
Had the climate of the British Northwest
been as represented, the statement made by
the Canadian oomer and so extensively
published some years ago, (See Our North
land" page 396.) that before his year OF
grace 1892 there would be in Manitoba
200, 600 farmers producing on 10. 600, 600
acres 200, 600, 600 bushels of wheat, would
have been verified, because a much larger
number of farmers, (as shown by theimmi-
grafton statistics in the official department
at Ottawa, Canada,) AVE emigrated to
Manitoba within the period named. Ac-
cording to the statistics referred to, the
British Northwest should now have a pop
ulation of over 500, 600, without estimating
the natural increase.
A population of considerably less than
200, 600, all told-white, black and red, in the
possessions of Her Britanic Majesty North
of the 10th parallel Of latitude, or about
the number of inhabitants in either one Of
the twin cities of the flourishing state of
Minnesota, and an annual average, ship.
ment ofless than ten million bushels of
wheat during the last five years, the bulk
OF it OF inferior quality make q sad COM
mentary on the representations of British
and Canadian statesmen, and should be .
standing rebuke to certain American ofici-
ais residents within Canadian territory.
whose roseate anticipations of the future
productiveness of Manitoba, as embodied
in their official reports, are now shown to
be fallaciously ridiculous.
The Dominion of Canada, covering an
area as large as that at the entire United
States, increased in population from 4, 324,-
$40 in 1881 to 1923 344 in 1891, a gain Of
state of Minnesota during the same period
and less than the immigration from the
Dominion to the United States in the lust
six years. Oft the entire growth of the Do-
mlnion in ten years, the city of Toronto.
alone monopolizes one fourth.
The returns from the shipping Offices at
Canadian ports show that $50. 900 enligl4ntsg
entered the Dominion in the ten years dur-t1
ing which the natural increase should
have been at least 200, 600 more. 1t is not
q Ifticult TO figure out from this that it was
the coming of people IRON the old word
that saved our Northern neighbor from
absolutely falling behind in population
anfthg the last decade. There is reason
ior this. There must be a good reason why
the first born ofnearly every family has
gone away to seek fortunes I'M other Sec
tons of the continent. Not that the old
home is not good enough, but because there
are better chances in the American North
west.
In Chicago, in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
IN the forests and fields of Minnesota, in
the fertile valley of the Red River, and on
me productive prairies of the Dakotas, the
canadian IS making himself felt as an i'm
poftant factor and a sharer in the magnih-
cen Development now in progress.
IN defense of especial territory which
mas recently been so maliciously attacked,
ana so unJustly slandered bv an army III