The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1892-04-16
A TIMELY
Homeseekers Beware OF the IN
ducements Of the Canadian Emil
GRANT Aoent8.

Homeseekers Beware OF the IN
ducements Of the Canadian Emil
grant Agents.
A large sum ofmoney 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 10
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 emlgratlng
from our states into the British Northwest,
to lead outsiders astray as to the true merits
of what are unquestionably the most nour-
ishing states in the Northwest.
The ~unexampled prosperity OF Minnesota
and North Dakota is shown by their RAPID
increase IN population and wealth. Inc mar
velous ayr cultural productiveness itnet%o
states upllft them beyond all comparison IN
wheat alone they lead every other sta.e;
their combined output in 1891 being aoou5
one-fourth 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 nexcell
ed in quality, and commands the top price
in the markets of America and Europe.
1t would indeed be a veritable Ei DORADO
if every individual settler was alike pros
porous. 1t can be averred, however, WIFI,
out fear of contradiction, that as a rule all
settlers in Minnesota and North %
who have displayed ordinary intelligence
in selecting land, and in the management
thereof, have been successful beyond their
most sanguine anticlpations. A few ave
undertaken too much without, capital
Some have selected and cropped Land pet.
ter adapted for grazing than for filth; but
comparatively few have failed to realize a
generous return tor their labors, and some
who were disappointed, owing to sucn
blunders at the start, succeeded at last, ana
are among our most prosperous n
wealthy citizens.
Many farmers, who acquired their lands
under the free homestead regulations
tempted by the prevailing good prices;
have recently sold their Improvements n
stock, and finding themselves possessed OF
considerable ready money, may be attract
ed by the glowing accounts OF cheap lahds
so %insidiously circulated by the agents OF
John Bull" 10 all such these
WORDS OF WARNING
are especially addressed.
Long before Minnesota, or the DaKotas
were organized even as separate terrltorles,
several unsuccessful attempts were made by
Great Britain to establish agricultural SCI,
Elements in the region North OF the united
States boundary line, .. first s sgI, "K sa,f1es
ment," and latterly "Manitoba." The early,
~colonists entered the country by way OF
Hudson's Bay. Every such attempt proved
disastrous to the settlers, who had then, as
now, to contend against long winters, short
summers and early !rosts, which destroyed
the grain and other farm products. Ihese
early settlers in the Manitoba country,
faced all the hardships of a rigorous eli;
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
Northland, wendell their weary pilgrimage
Southwark to a more con1genial cllmate
in the ~neighborhood of Grand Forks,
North Dakota, and Brainerd, Minnesota,
forming the nucleus of what afterwards be-
came furnishing settlements. Within the
last eight years history has repeated itself
in this respect on q much larger scale:
thousands of settlers in Manitoba and the
British Northwest, having been literally
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 the British
Northwest is only kept from absolute de-
population by ormo annual outlay.
and an army of immigration agents, whose
utmost efforts for the last eight years have
not prevented the population decreasing.
Had the climate ofthe British Northwest
been as represented, the statement made by
the Canadian boomers and so extensively
published some years ago, tSee Our North.
grace 1892 there would be in Manitoba
200, 600 farmers producing on 10,0 600, 600
acres 200. 900, 600 bushels OF wheat. would
have been verified, because a much larger
number of farmers, las shown by theimmi-
grafton statistics in the official department
at Ottawa, Canada,) have 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 100000, 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 49th parallel of latitude, or about
the number of inhabitants in either one of
the twin cities of the fourishing 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 a sad COM
menrary on the representations of British
and Canadian statesmen, and should be Q
standing rebuke to certain American Oftici.
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, 1924, :
80 in 1881 to 1923. 344 in 1891, gain Of
498, 53S, not equal to the increase in the
state of Minnesota during the same period
and less than the immigration from the
Dominion to the United States in the last
six years. Ofthe entire growth of the Do
minion in ten years, the city Of Toronto
alone monopolizes One-fourth.
The returns from the shipping Offices at
Canadian ports show that $50, OOO emigrants
entered the Dominion in the ten years dur
ing which the natural increase should
have been at least 200,O 600 more. 1t is not
difficult to figure out from this that 1t was
the coming Of people from the old world
that saved our Northern neighbor from
absolutely falling behind in population
during the last decade. There is reason
orthis. There must be agood reason why
the first born ofnearly every family has
gone away to seek fortunes in other Sec
lions of the continent. Not that the old
houa 10 not oood enough hnt hacauso thorn