The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-23
THE CANADIAN MIGRATION.

ATep0rt on the condition Of the province
of Quebec made by special correspondent
Of the C0nGdieR newspaper exhibits
very curious state OF things. Unlike the
river valleys of this country, the valley of
the ST. Lawrence contains little alluvum.
This river flows over BEDS of limestone
thickly strewed with diluvial powders and
gravel. lis banks are thus comparatively
unfertie and not adapted to the growth OF
wheat or even corn, and are chiefly used in
growing barley. potatoes and hay. From
the time Of the French occupation the
occupants Of land lying back Of the river
on either side from Montreal to the gulf
have managed to support themselves by
growing the eOarser grains, by cutting
wood and by raising horses swine and
poultry; but tie living has been scant
and the rewards Of labor meager Some
twenty or thirty years ago the yonng men
Of these habitant families, as they are
called. began to drift over the line into the
manufacturing districts of New England.
where they obtained better wages than
they would get al home. This has gone on
10 such an extent that the Canadian element
in New England and New York is now
supposed to amount to a million souls.
intended, when they emigraied, to return
to the land of their birth when they had
accumulated little money, as a matter Of
fact they never do SO.
The Cduddien'S correspondent points out
the effect of the migration. He says that
farms on the lower ST. Lawrence are not
worth over baIf what they were fifteen
years ago, and that many of them would
for In H.
gives specific cases. He says that in the
counties Of Mutane and Rimonski the barns
are empty, the homes deserted. the windows
boarded up: that in the parish of st. Luce
per cent Of tie people enigraie every year;
that in the parish Of RiYeTe Blanche the
main road is lined for four miles with
abandoned farmhouses: that In the parish
of Irois PistOles, where there used to be 200
families, there are now only two. As
proof Of the growing association between the
rural counties In the province Of Quebec
and the States of New England, he observes
that 20 per cent of the letters mailed from
the postoffiees In that part of Canada go TO
New England. and an equal proportion of
tie letters received come from there.
This appears to reflect the familiar scene
Of one country dumping its people into
another. The transportation would have
taken place at an earlier period in the his
tory OF Canada but for the shrewdness of
the English ana the bigotry of the New
England people. After the conquest of
Canada by the English. which preceded
our revolutionary struggle by only
seventeen years, the French Canadians
contemplated a wholesale emigration Co
New Hampshire and Massachusetts,. where
the soil was better and the prospects of life
more promising. But the people of New
England sternly set their face against an
inroad Of Catholics, while the English. with
better Judgment, solemnly covenanted to
protect the Roman Catholic Church in the
conquered province. The consequence was
that the people Of Canada stayed where
they were. and gave the English substantial
help In their wars against this country The