The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1900-04-13

4 l9f,i & ~ 6s:Vssssi - Z. b, ~
THE TEEMINQ ME8f. !,
Westsrn Canada Rrsiris Lands Bsisr

Filled with Exosllsnt settlers. 9
The salient fact that presents itself
in taking birdseye view Of the c.
madam West. Is that Of intense actiyi-
+ ty in every department. Whether the
/ glance be turned upon the district
east Of Winnipeg, the Red River VAL
ley south or north, the Dauphin and
NJ. & N. w. district, the Southwestern.
or, whether It take in the great central
division along the main line Of the G.
P. R., stretching away out to the
Rockies and from there bending north
and south to Prince Alberta and Ed
monitor. Mcleod and Lethbridge-
whether the examination be made In
any Of these directions the same ac-
tivity. growth and hopefulness are OBJ
servable.
The Canadian West is mot. only q
good place to. locate permanently.
but 1t is also good place to invite
ones relatives and friends to come to.
This is the spirit that seems to ant
mate the West at the present time.
and Its effects are to be seen on every
hand To enumerate the towns where
handsome and substantial blocks and
residences have gone up this year
would be simply to give a list of tho
towns and villages along the railway
lines. And this movement has not
been confined to these centers Of nopu-
lation, but in. many cases it has been
overshadowed by the improvement in
farm buildings.
Sd far as one can see, this Is no pass
ing phase. no repetition of any tenn
porary boom following a period of
good crops and fair prices. It is a
movement. more. spontaneous, more /.
general. more. marked than anything
that has gone before. and seems to in
dictate that the. great West. like sap-
son, bursting the encompassing bands.
has awakened to a period of activity
and development that will surpass
anything we have known in the past
and which will only be paralleled by
the opening out Of some of the most
fertile of the western states Of the
union.
Look at some of>the figures. Over .
thousand schools in Manitoba, and tho
number going up by leaps and bounds:
something like 500 schools in the terri
tories. Winnipeg as representing the
gateway of the West. the third city
IN the Dominion in regard to bank
: clearings, postal business and proba-
: bly, in regard to customs, the customs
return at Winnipeg running about 80
to 40 per cent greater month by month
than in the fiscal year of 1898, the
largest previous year for actual busi-
ness entries, when over 100000 was
paid through the Winnipeg Office for
duty; the C. p. R. and Canada
Northwest land sales together running
over $1,5o0.000 for the year. These
and thousand more signs show how
the West has leaped into new life.
This il an inspiring and cheering
spectacle, but it brings with 1t great
responsibilities The business men
realize this. the banks realize 1t, and
have spread their agencies through
every bustling little town clear out to
the coast; the churches realize it, and
one denomination alone has opened. an
average Of about thirty new stations
In each of the past two years, and will
increase this in the year now entered
upon; the government departments
realize 1t, and there is talk Of redis,
trtbution and additional members. The
educational branches realize it. and
new schools are springing up every
where. Over $4,000 settlers came in
from the United States alone last year,
and these, with the people who came
IN from the East. prove the most rig
orous westerners. They lose no time
In developing their farms, in filling
their grazing lands with stock, and in
every district is to be found evidences
OF thrift and prosperity.