The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1894-03-02
$t'<piaa<<r4*pr<ss
ISSUED FRIDAY MORNING.
OFFICIAL COUNTY AND CITY PAPER.
IA. WARDwELL. &C. THOMPSON.
WARDWELL & THOMPSON.
TERMS, 800 PER ANNUM
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1894.
IMMIGRATION DOCTRINE

"West Lynne, North Dakota, a few
years ago inhabited by 10000 people,
is now without n single human iniab.
liant. There are buildings that cost
from 5000 to 100000 apiece, a 5000
600 steel bridge and other things in
proportion, but their lulders and &C.
cupants are gone becaus.. it, was impOs-
siblc for the farmers to raise crops
there aud hence 1t was impossible for
the residents Of the city to live."
The above paragraph in various ex-
aggcrated forms has Icen copied in
many eastern and Canadian papers.
1t is true that West Lynne was quite a
town once, and that there are but few
people now there, but lac original size
and magnificence was nc:cr anything
like the description. The facts are
West Lynne was "bcnn." addition or
suburb of Emerson, Manitoba. and
hada population at one time ofpcrhaps
1000. At the timc'lt was built, Emer-
son expected, and had good reason to
expect, to be a railroad centre. and
spread herself on the boom wave for
n great deal more than it was worth.
AT that time no less than six town
sites occupied the territory in the Inn
mediate vicinity OF where the Red
river intersects the international
boundary. Two principal causes Of
the decay of Emerson and West Lynne
has been the. discrimination of the
c. p. II. against Emerson, after the
building of a large railroad bridge at
the cost of the town. and the reflux of
the boom. Notwithstanding the pre-
sent dilapidated state of these two
towns we believe that in the future
both of them will be prosperous places.
We believe that their natural location
will in time bring them the railroads
originally expected, and when the sur.
rounding country, than which there is
no better, becomes fully developed,
that trade and conditions will make
them good towns. The present de-
velopment south of the line, If equal
led ON the other side, would now make
good towns Of Emerson and West
Lynne. From the north line Of Penn
bina county to corresponding line
extending west from Winnipeg, is
about Is miles. This locality is thinly
settled, has hardly Il good town in its
limits. The corresponding territory
south of the line has fifty cities and
villages, and has farmer on almost
every quarter section. Over in Mani
toba the land was and is largely taken
up by Reservations" much of which
is yet unimprovcd land. Our Mani
toba ncighbors made a mistake in the
carly days Preserving" lands. The
men who would have settled there are
now good Americans.
That is where and why Emerson
and West Lynne went backward,
while the towns on this side of the
line have been built up and prospered.
In brief too much boom, too much
reservation, too much Winnipeg, too
much c. p. r., too little attention to
the real builders of a new country,
the farmers.
And yet to-day. the c. p. II. policy,
which controls the government of
Manitoba, is to take incoming immi-
grants, away out to the northwest
wilderness, past these vacant lands
near to market, because of the better
freight on longer haul.