million acres, nearly the whole of which is to-day an untouched prairie of the richest description.

The Red River has its source in several lakes situated on the high land in the state of Minnesota, other lakes in the immediate neighborhood of these being the sources of the Mississippi, running south to the Gulf of Mexico, and others again being drained by the St. Louis, which, running west to Lake Superior, is in fact one of the principal affluents of the great St. Lawrence. So closely contiguous are the head waters of these three great hy drographic systems, that surveys have been made with a view to unite them all into one magnificent internal navigation, which would thus connect the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Ocean. The plateau in which they all take their rise is by no means mountainous, the summit level of the canal would only be twelve hundred feet above the sea level, and the length of artificial channel to construct would be but sixty-three miles, to connect an available navigation of over twenty thousand miles already in use on the three great fluvial systems of the continent.

thousand miles of large-sized rivers, of which half is navigable for steamboats.

Min

From causes which it is unnecessary to particularize, an immense immigration last year set in to this favored district. nesota has long been known as probably the best wheat-growing district in the United States, and its progress, especially along the waters of the upper Mississippi and its branches, has been most marvellous; but the difficulty of access to the Red River, and its distance, have so far been a drawback either to settlers getting into the country or agricultural products coming out. The Northern Pacific Railway, commencing at the western extremity of Lake Superior, and intended ultimately to reach the Pacific Ocean, became involved in financial embarrassment, and ultimately broke down at the commencement of the present depression in business, but luckily not before the section from Lake Superior to the Red River was nearly completed. Another equally unfortunate railway, the St. Paul and Pacific, had opened for traffic before its collapse, a communication between St. Paul, already included in the railway system of the continent, and the Northern Pacific, giving The Red River of the North, the least between them a continuous but somewhat developed of the three, issues primarily indirect communication between St. Paul, from Elbow Lake, in the west of Minne- the enterprising capital of Minnesota, and sota, one of this lacustrine group, running the then little appreciated Red River. at first in a south-west direction through a This was in 1873. Since then Canada has beautiful chain of lakes disposed on the established a firm government in the provstream, like beads upon a string, until it ince of Manitobah; the city of Winnepeg receives the waters of the Sioux Wood has sprung up from an Indian post of the River, the outlet of Lac Traverse, the Hudson's Bay Company to be a nicelyunited course of the two being then gen- built town of eight thousand inhabitants; erally north till it empties its muddy waters steamers have been introduced into the into the basin of Lake Winnepeg, where two rivers that unite their waters at her its four outlets are rapidly creating a series wharves; and since last year a daily line of deltas, the increase of which in the fu- of steamers offers a continuous steam ture bids fair to interfere with the naviga- communication between Winnepeg the tion of this important inland sea. The British, and St. Paul the American, capital course of the Red River is extremely tor- of these respective provinces, superseded tuous, so that its estimated length of six in November last by a continuous railway, hundred and sixty-five miles is more than four hundred and sixty miles long, between double the distance between its source and the two cities. Besides the Northern Paits mouth in a direct line, and of this total cific and the St. Paul and Pacific Railways, length five hundred miles is in the United several other similar corporations in the States, where it forms the dividing line states of Minnesota and Dakota have between Minnesota and Dakota. At the been subsidized by the United States govnew town of Winnepeg, the capital of the ernment, with large grants of public lands British province of Manitobah, halfway to aid them in the construction of their between the international boundary and respective undertakings. These railway the outlet of the Red River, the Assini- lands have generally been given in alterboine, which is wholly in Canada, comes innate blocks or townships of six miles from the west, having a length of six hundred miles, of which three hundred are navigable, whilst other affluents to both make up altogether a length of over two

square, so that each railway block is surrounded on each side by government land, which on certain and generally very easy terms can be acquired by actual settlers.

when it rose again to a flood, the extent of which still increasing bids fair to overshadow all previous immigration movements, and to revolutionize the position and importance of these north-western states. For the three months ending April 1, 1878, the sales of the undermentioned land-offices in western Minnesota were as follows:

Worthington
Benson
New Ulm
Redwood Falls
Detroit
Fergus Falls

Entries Acres

542

66,061

1,029

141,619

696

86,696

535

68,605

575

83,512

394 50,722

Both the government and the companies | vorable for land hunting and exploring, but have opened offices in different sections, the tide of immigration still flowed, though and a regular departmental establishment with diminished volume, till March 1878, to regulate the disposal of these lands, and the railways, by advertisement and other inducements, have spared no exertions to draw attention to the domain which they are anxious to dispose of. There is little doubt that to this joint system of ownership and land selling the rapid peopling of the north-western states of the Union has been principally due. But the present im migration, especially perhaps to Minnesota, is utterly unparalleled in the history of any of these States, and it is accompanied by a rush for railroad and public lands beyond any precedent. The offices of the Northern Pacific, the St. Paul and Sioux City, and other railways with land to dispose of, are daily crowded with applicants for the purchase of these new wheat-fields, whilst the government offices are literally besieged by claimants under the homestead and pre-emption laws, in a manner surpassing all previous experience, even of the great immigration rush from 1854 to 1857. The railways have been compelled to alter and increase their train accommodation to supply the new demands made upon them for travelling, and to extend and improve their locomotive and other facilities to satisfy the requirements of a new and unprepared-for traffic.

This influx of people began about October of 1877, just after the magnificent harvest of that year had been gathered, and the despondency which had weighed over the farming interests in consequence of several successive locust visitations had been followed by a reactionary feeling of hope and confidence. During the three months ending the 30th of November 1877, the different land-offices of the United States government in Minnesota disposed of 429,467 acres, and more than three-fifths of the whole sales of the year were in the four months ending the 31st of December, the total sales during that period being three times as much as in the corresponding months of the preceding year. Besides the government sales of the three months specified, the railway companies sold in the same time 539,136 acres of land in Minnesota and Dakota, this being exclusive of the Winona and St. Peters Railway, which made no return. In all, over a million acres of land were appropriated to actual settlers in the two Red River states in these three months, and most of it in the immediate watershed of that river.

The winter, mild as it was, proved unfa

3,771 497,215

The land office in Dakota, on the Northern Pacific Railway, just across the Red River boundary, alone disposed of three hundred and fifty thousand acres in these three months, usually the dullest season of the year. The general summary for the quarter ending March 31, 1878, in this district of Minnesota, was as follows:

Sales by Northern Pacific Railway

66

St. Paul and Pacific
St. Paul and Sioux City,

Acres 119,300 120,356

56,000

497,215

Fayo Land Office, estimated 415,000

1,207,871

These actual sales in the first three months of this year do not include purchases of large tracts by colonies under contract or in course of negotiation, and exclusive of these, which have been very large, the sales of the seven months ending March 31, 1878, by the United States government, and the railways in Minnesota and northern Dakota, have been about two million five hundred and fifty thousand acres for actual and immediate settlement.

To throw further light upon this marvellous movement and to explain more forcibly than by dry figures the change that is taking place, the present position of the Northern Pacific Railway may be taken as an illustration. It is nearly three years since the collapse of the well-known banking-house of Jay Cooke and Co., the financial agents of the Northern Pacific, led to the bankruptcy and complete stoppage of all works of construction on that unfortu

and poverty-stricken offscourings of Eu- any partial failure will still net something rope, but well-to-do farmers from the older tangible, the principal being always intact states and settlements, from northern and the interest tolerably secure. The Iowa, from Wisconsin, and other of the experience of some sharp experimenters newer states of the Union, but old in com- on the St. Paul and Sioux Railway lands in parison to this; from Canada, and espe- large blocks, say from six hundred to three cially from the best parts of Ontario, and thousand acres, is, that a crop of No. 1 from the richest and most fertile districts hard Minnesota wheat can be got into the of the older provinces. These are men railway elevators at a cost of from $7.50 principally who have sold their old farms to $8.50 dollars (say under 27. sterling) per at high prices, who are accustomed to pi-acre, including fall ploughing, seed-sowing, oneer life, and who have brought their harvesting, thrashing, hauling to the railexperience and the families they have way, depreciation of land and machinery, raised in the old homestead to these newer wear and tear, and interest on capital emfields, possibly to go again further west ployed. Ten bushels of wheat at seventywhen these lands are reclaimed from the five to eighty-five cents per bushel pays, wilderness and brought into good cultiva- therefore, all these expenses, and twenty tion. Nearly all of the new arrivals are of bushels more per acre (which is still under a class far in advance of the immigration the general production from the first crop) of former years, and they include a great pays for the land, preliminary expenses, number of men with capital and experi- and the breaking up of the prairie ready for ence who are going into western farming the farming operations that follow. Thus with all modern appliances and ample thirty bushels to the acre of the first crop means as the most promising speculation clears all outlay up to that time, returns of the day. The dominant nationalities the capital invested, and leaves a firstrate settling on the Minnesota farms are Amer- fenced farm in a high state of cultivation icans, Scandinavians, and Canadians in for succeeding agricultural employment. about equal proportions. The Americans All over thirty bushels is a profit after capare nearly all from southern Minnesota, ital and interest have been restored, the Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, farm paid for and made within a year; and all wheat-growing districts, and many of yet this land produces often forty and fifty these settlers were pioneers in those states bushels to the acre, leaving 27. and 37. per when these lands were new and unknown, acre profit over all expenses and outlay who have sold the farms they originally both for capital and revenue. Where else made out of the prairie for twenty-five or is there a business that in twelve months thirty dollars per acre, and, moving to this repays all advances of its purchase and new north-west with the money and expe- establishment, and leaves as a profit a rience they have accumulated, are buying money return and plant worth four times land at from one-fifth to one-tenth of the the original outlay? It is this enormous price they have received for their old place, profit that is bringing so many heavy capi and will make in five or six years farms talists into the ranks of this novel immitwice as valuable as those they have left.gration and inducing men who have already The secret of all this is the knowledge, worked themselves into a good position to that seems to have been only lately arrived abandon for a time the amenities of a setat, that farming is profitable, and that it tled life, and embark once more in pioneer pays to "make land." Farming is less farming. A number of farms in all the exposed to vicissitudes than any ordinary districts alluded to broke up last year from business, and the depression, when it five hundred to one thousand acres of land, comes, is less disastrous and more easily and the Northern Pacific Company alone evaded. There is really no better invest- expected that not less than one hundred ment than wheat-raising, and a prairie farm and twenty-five thousand acres of wheat once brought under cultivation will always would be gathered, and that that quantity have a surplus, however disastrous exter-will be at least doubled during the present nal matters may be. Capitalists now going season. Instances are numerous of large into these large farming speculations have profits being made in wheat farming. A gone into it after careful calculation as a Mr. Dalrymple is quoted in the St. Paul business that offers the very best return Pioneer Press as having had in 1877 eight for their money, and a certainty that at thousand acres under wheat, which yielded least there will be no bad debts; that na- him all round twenty-five bushels to the ture, however she may occasionally disap-acre, or over two hundred thousand bushpoint an over-sanguine speculator, will els. His total outlay for seed, cultiaverage all right, and that the surplus after vation, harvesting, and threshing, was

els to the acre, seven hundred being common, whilst cabbage, cauliflower, and celery grow to an enormous size and of excellent quality and flavor.

under 27. per acre, leaving him a margin | dred bushels to the acre, and of a qualof over 34, or 24,000l. on his eight ity unsurpassed, as are all the root-crops. thousand acres. Last year he had twelve Turnips have yielded one thousand bushthousand acres under cultivation, and all in wheat. This was in Minnesota; but north of the Canadian line they get a much larger yield than this, and in twenty-seven miles along the Assiniboine River in 1877 Having now glanced at the immigration over four hundred thousand bushels were that is taking place into this new district harvested that averaged considerably over as to its extent and character, and got an thirty bushels to the acre. In the north- insight into its agricultural capabilities per western provinces of Canada wheat often acre, let us try to arrive next at an idea produces forty and fifty bushels to the of the size of this territory, which but nine acre, while in south Minnesota twenty years since was the property of "the Combushels is the average crop, in Wisconsin pany of Adventurers of England trading only fourteen, in Pennsylvania and Ohio into the Hudson's Bay," and whose charfifteen. The fact established by climatolo- ter, granted in 1669 to Prince Rupert and gists that the cultivated plants yield the nineteen other gentlemen, made them greatest products near the northernmost despotic rulers over half a continent on limit at which they grow, is fully illus- the easy terms that two elks and two trated in the productions of the Canadian black beavers should be paid to the sov territories; and the returns from Prince ereign whenever he should come into the Albert and other new settlements on the district. This enormous territory thus Saskatchewan show a yield of forty bush- easily disposed of, and the value of which els of spring wheat to the acre, averaging for agricultural and mining purposes is sixty-three pounds to the bushel, whilst one unsurpassed, the last and best acquisition exceptional field showed sixty-eight pounds of the Dominion of Canada, comprises, as to the bushel, and another lot of two thou- near as can be calculated, two million ninesand bushels weighed sixty-six pounds, pro- hundred and eighty-four thousand square ducing respectively forty-six and forty-two miles, whilst the whole of the United and one-half pounds of dressed flour to the States south of the international boundary bushel of wheat. In southern latitudes the contains two million nine hundred and warm spring developes the juices of the thirty-three thousand six hundred square plants too rapidly. They run into stalk miles. Including the older portions of and leaf, to the detriment of the seed. Quebec, Ontario, and the maritime provCorn maize, for example, in the West In-inces, Canada measures 3,346,681 square dies runs often thirty feet high, but it produces only a few grains at the bottom of a spongy cob too coarse for human food. Whatever be the cause, the ascertained results in this new north-west seem prove that its soil possesses unusually prolific powers. In 1877 carefully prepared reports were made by thirty-four different settlements, and although lessened in many cases by circumstances local and exceptional as, for instance, a series of very heavy rain-storms which caught the wheat just as it was ripening the yields per acre were: of wheat, from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels, with an average of thirty-two and a half; barley, from forty to fifty, average forty-two and one-half; oats, forty to sixty, average fifty-one; peas averaged thirty-two and one-half, potatoes two hundred and twenty-nine, and turnips six hundred and sixty-two bushels per acre. Individual cases were enumerated of one hundred bushels of oats per acre, barley as high as sixty bushels, and weighing from fifty to fifty-five pounds per bushel. Potatoes have yielded as high as six hun

to

miles, whilst all Europe contains three million nine hundred thousand. Well may the Times, in reviewing Lord Dufferin's speech at Winnepeg (November 28, 1877), say: :

We have hitherto had scarcely any notion at all of British America in the full sense of the terraqueous region between the Atlantic, the Pacific, the United States, and the Arctic. In the maps it looks all a mere wilderness of rivers and lakes, in which life would be intolerable, and escape impossible. The suc cession of enormous distances and strange surprises through which Lord Dufferin takes his hearers reads more like a voyage to a hitherto regarded simply as the fag-end of newly discovered satellite than one to a region America and a waste bit of the world.

The late Hon. William Seward, at that time prime minister of the United States, thus writes his impressions of Canada : ·

Hitherto, in common with most of my countrymen, as I suppose, I have thought Canada a mere strip lying north of the United States, easily detached from the parent State, but incapable of sustaining itself, and therefore ulti