The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-12
Fat Boy RULE
IN INTICOSTI
THE ISLANDS Law rs HENRI
MEMBERS WILL.
He Bought the Entire Territory for 6
Cents an Acre and is Making It a
Wonderful Possession The Choco-
s late Kings Domain in the Mouth Of
SIS the st. Lawrence River.
Z Kansas Ctr Star

Kansas City Star.
Standing sentinel-like at the mouth
OF the great st. Lawrence river is the
island of Anticosti. On the map it is
barren Of towns and
rivers and bearing only the names Of
four capes where the land is washed by
the river or the gulf II E
This is the land that Henri Menier
has bought with gold made in his
enormous chocolate factories and has
turned, still with that same yellow
metal, into principality so fair, SO
valuable and SO completely under his
rule as to excite the, envy Of more than
one hereditary prince.
Mr.. Menier bought the island in 1895
for 100000, or cents an acre.
After centuries Of waiting the island
found its master. Never knowing rule
or order, it has bowed to his dictates,
with little liking for the process at
first, but in the end with a half sullen
wonder at the many changes and i'm
proved condition of the new order Of
things.
Retaining the Island.
1t is probable that he had no thought
at that time of what the island would
grow to mean to him. It has become
the greatest hobby of his existence, be-
side which his passion for Arctic explor-
alton has paled and to which he gives
all the time he can spare and pro-
longed visit each alternate year.
For his principality he has planned
and executed, he has improved and he
ding interior he has driven roads. Along
its shores he has established railroad
communication. He has improved it's
harbors, and on the shores Of the best
Of them he has built model village,
factories for the workers, homes for
them all, schools and churches, and an
elaborate mansion for himself.
At first he took up the subject broad.
ly, determined to subordinate all things
to his desire to have such game pre-
serve as no other man in the world pos:
sessed. For this purpose the island
was an ideal spot, It is 100 miles long
by, about ,twentty-seyen wide, and at
only one place, Fox Bay, on the north
ern side, had a settlement been made
English, had made themselves rough
homes, fishing all summer and hunting
in winter. @s*
The waters that bound the island are
filled with cod, herring and mackerel
and, what was more important to the
to be found in North American waters
All over the island rivers ran to. the
gulf. Inland, as NJ. Menier's explora
tions have shown, they are filed with
trout. Near the salt water they are
abundant in sea trout and salmon-ir
fact, sportsmen who have enjoyed the
owner 8 hospitality DECLARE that for thu
| fisherman it is a paradise.
| jG Woods Full Of Game. g.
| The woods are filled with bearing
animals, for no one hunted more than {
very small portion Of them before the
| new owner took hold. To Canadians
and to sailors and fishermen it was a.
completely unknown territory as il
much Of the wilds Of Labrador today
Superstitio which. holds full sway il
the minds Of men who sail the gulf, en-
veloped the whole island with hun
dred tales of disaster ITO him who Sc
lands with such dangers that the sim
pie folk passed by.
Then, too, for years a wrecker and hi
helpers held sway on the south side O.
the island. Strange tales were. told @
lights he made to lure vessels into hi
net, and with them secure upon tn
rocks from all escape he took his prof
from their wrecks. For years he live'
on what is now known as English bay
and it is characteristic of the island >
, owner that part of the old wrecker >
home has been used to provide sshelte
for M. Menier when he visits the island
No sooner had the purchase pric
|
trouble on his hands, The settlers a
Fox bay refused to recognize his author
ity and defed his orders It took {
few months to bring order out of this
but in the end they yielded and left tn
island with all their goods and chattels
M. Menier saw that the establishment
Of such a preserve as he had planned
called for scheme Of colonization tina
would bring to the island settlers VIII
would make it their permanent hom
and yet would not interfere with eithe
it's game or fish. He at first induced
several French families to emigrate
but not in sufficient numbers for hi
purpose, and to them he has added fam
lilies from Gaspe on the south and from
that portion Of the province of Quebe
that stretches east to Labrador. Hard,
fisher than farmer, working while day
light lasts and simple in all their re
quirements. Last Of all are some Eng
! fish and few Scotch, and out of tn
mixture Of nations has grown one pc
Huliar condition. For all his workers
M. Menier has laid down the rule tina
no Intoxicating beverages shall be drun]
upon the island except by the French
/ There has been grumbling, over thi
special dispensation, but the penalty /
J deportation, and the rule is neve
Having made certain of his colonists
M. Menier found work for them at one
in the fisheries, chief of all the lobster
Factories were built and the canning o
lobster became the great industry of tn
island. The most approved sanitar.
methods were applied to the work, an
the entire output is shipped to France
i Work for others was found in tn
building of the English Bay settlement
. Homes for the permanent residents wer