Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-08-18
NO LONGER IN DEBT.
Manitoba Memories Even with
the Canadian Government

LOlidIS SiGuteSu years dSO 10 euaD1e
them to im1nigrate to farming lands in
Manitoba, have repaid the debt with
interest, closing the account, and also
the unusual and romantic relations
that all these years have existed be-
tween them and the government of
Canada. The story is told in the latest
report of A. NJ. Burgess, deputy minis
ter of the department of the interior,
and quoted by the New York Sun.
Early in 1872, soon after the great
northwest had been transferred to Can
ada, the government began to look
abroad for settlers to turn the bound
css prairie into fruitful fields. They
heard that in Russia was an isolated
people, the German Mennonites, race
OF farmers who desired to find new
homes in the far west where they and
their wives and children could live in
peace and quietness, which was no
longer assured to them by the govern
ncnt of the car. Canada at once sent
IN agent to Russia, to ask these people
to send representatives to Manitoba TO
inspect the country. So they sent to
Canada several persons in whom they
had confidence, and the result Of their
report was that in 1874 many families
went to Manitoba and settled few
miles southeast OF Winnipeg. They
were supplied with money and needed
no assistance. Hundreds of their
friends, however, desired to follow
them, but were prevented by the fcnr
that they might become stranded in q
strange country before they were able
to support themselves. This fact was
published in a Canadian newspaper,
and the result was that about $50 we'll
to-lo farmers OF German extraction,
who lived in the county of Waterloo,
Ont, formed Themselves into the Wa
tcrloo society and told the government
that if it would advance the money re-
quircd to assist the Minnohitcs to Nan
itoba they would pledge their fal as
as security for the repayment Of the
loan. The government found the Sc
curity excellent and accordingly adj
vIcccd $4,000 to the immigrants with
the understanding that it would not
ask fGr any part OF the principal or IN
tcrost until the Mcnnonitcs who Dor
rowed the money had been able to get
4 fair start in their new homes. All
the government had to do was to ad-
vance the money. The business dc
tails wcrc looked after by the Waterloo
society. It's secretary saw to the dis
tribution of the loan, its collection and
its repayment to the government.
This branch of the Mennonite colony
settled in townships Immediately north
CT the international border between
the Red river on tho east and Pcnbina
mountain on the west. At that time
the tract was a treclcss prairie, rich in
everything, except trees, that makes ag-
ricultural lands desirable. The immi-
grants began to cross the ocean in
1915, and the work of preparing shelter
for the winter and the difficulty Of
Tctting supplies prevented them the
first season from bringing moro than
small area under cultivation. Moth
ing, however, dishcartencd the sturdy
workers, though their first crop was
injured by grasshoppers and the next
two crops By excessive rains. Each
year saw considerable additions to
their number End u larger area under
cultivation. Their village grew, they
built roads and bridges, and to-day the
country that seventeen years ago was
q trccless prairie without a solitary
settler is one of the most thriving in
tho Canadian northwest. 1t is, in feet,
beginning to overflow, and many of the
young men are looking for homestcads
further west, either in Manitoba or the
northwest territories. The money
which these people have repaid in
cludes not only the 500, 400 borrowed,
but also s33,0Ss interest, making d
total return Of S13O,3S6 Mr.. burgess,
in his report, rightly observes that
''thc history Of no country affords q
case in which an obligation to the gov
eminent on the part of any society,
company or individual has been full
filed with greater fnithfulness than
this" Tie entire transaction seems
crcditablc TO the government, the Men
uonite immigrants and the Waterloo
society, and it is noteworthy that
neither of the persons to whom the