The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-02-18


! territory or quit the business. The farm
| crs began to wonder what Kind Of lands
| there were In Canada, and o,ir real es-
| tate men to search far and wide for neW
/ worlds to conquer.
A Million Acres Sold BY Aineri-
cans.
Among these real estate agents were
! two who had made quick fortunes by
! buying our railroad lands and selling
| them. Their names were Robertson and
! Lynch. Robertson had started life as n
! country school teacher at $40 month.
| and Lynch had begun as a land surveyor
| mt n few dollars per tract. The two dis
| ciissed the situation and Robertson was
| sent to Canada to spy out the land. He
| came here In the winter and took trips
| from Winnipeg out over the different
| railroads. visiting the small towns OF
| the wheat belt and of the new country
beyond. He would stop at a village ho-
| tel. and engage In conversation with
| the farmers, asking as to their crops
| and the prospects. One man would tell
| him that he got twenty-scven bushels of
wheat per acre that year. and. on being
asked as TO the year previous, would
reply that he had made twenty bushels
then. but that the year before he had
gotten. OILY IlliNSll pbs''iN'-' 49, -
had been failure.
AS Robcrtson heard this kind OF talk
his eyes bulged out so that they almost
dropped ,lpon His cheeks. He saw the pos
sibilities of land speculation, for he knew
the average yield in Minnesota at that
time was not more than fifteen bushels
per acre When he learned that the men
held their farms at only about slo per
acre, he was still more excited. lie heard
the same stories at other villages ana
when he returned to Winnipeg he called
unon Mr.. Griffin. the Canadian Pacific
Railroad land commissioner. and told MN
that he wanted to buy $1,000 acres along
the 500 Pacific, which comes into CANADA
from the United States and joins the
Canadian Pacific trunk line short dis
lance above the boundary.
AS the story goes, Mr. Griffin was not at
all anxious to sell. am told he looked
upon Robertson as crazy, and advised him
to purchase the lands through the local
real estate agents. This was done, and 1t
created such sensation in Winnipeg that
the agents employed by Robertson were
accused of numerically skinning poor
American. At all events the land was soon
purchased and within four months 1t was
all sold for $40 per acre. ~ short time
after that Robertson and Lynch came to
Canada and bought n million acres of che
Canadian Pacific Railroad grant, in the
western part Of Manitoba. and in what is
now lower Saskatchewan They paid, l.
am told, less than SO per acre. That was
four years ago and their land has all been
sold They have let the land go at all
kinds of prices but it is said that the
average has been at least Sc per acre. and
that they have made in all probability
100000 out of the deal.
Another Lucky Real Estate Dealer
About this same time another Minneso-
tan bought big tract of land and dis
posed of 1t at a profit of millions This
was Colonel Davidson. of Duluth. who
had made much money in buying Min
ncsota lands and selling them. Colonel
Davidson went into Canada to buy some
cattle for farm he had In the United
States. He made inquiries as to the crops
and saw the possibilities of land specula
ton. In looking about he found that the
GU Appellee Long Lake and Saskatche-
wan Railroad and a million acres which
they were anxious to get rid Of The
railroad company had received the land
as a concession for building the road
with the provision that it was to be good
farming land. They did not understand
the soil. however. and We're so Disguised
with their grant that they wanted the
Dominion government to take 1t back
and allot them something else. The road
itself was almost bankrupt. 1t consisted
of little more than two streaks of rust
and a mortgage. with stray settler here
and there along the line. When Colonel
Davidson offered to take the grant Off its
hands at a dollar cash per acre the own
ers fairly tumbled over themselves in
their rush to accept. Davidson first got
the sale confirmed by the Dominion gov
crnment, and then brought In trainload
of bankers and capitalists from the
United States. He took them over the
tract and showed them the land. am
told that he sold one-fourth OF 1T on the
train. and that within a year the whole