OUR NEW WHEAT-FIELDS IN

THE NORTH-WEST.

LAST season witnessed the development of a new wheat-growing district in the North-west of America of so extraordinary an extent, and surrounded by so much that is novel and unexpected, that an account of what is actually taking place in that little known portion of the continent cannot but deserve attention, destined as it undoubtedly is to alter materially the sources from which Great Britain will derive her future supplies of breadstuffs, and possibly to interfere seriously with existing markets. The extensive territory now rapidly filling up with inhabitants, the reclamation of which only fairly commenced in the spring of 1878, exists on both banks of the Red River of the North, and on both sides of the international boundary between Canada and the United States. The fertile belt, of which this is the western extremity, sweeps then in a north-western direction some 300 miles wide along the course of the two Saskatchewan Rivers, and forward to the Rocky Mountains of the West, embracing an area of at least 200,000,000 acres, nearly the whole of which is today 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 neighbourhood 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 hydrographic 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 1,200 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 20,000 miles already in use on the three great fluvial systems of the continent.

The Red River of the North, the least developed of the three,

issues primarily from Elbow Lake, in the west of Minnesota, one of this lacustrine group, running at first in a south-west direction through a beautiful chain of lakes disposed on the stream, like beads upon a string, until it receives the waters of the Sioux Wood River, the outlet of Lac Traverse, the united course of the two being then generally north till it empties its muddy waters into the basin of Lake Winnepeg, where its four outlets are rapidly creating a series of deltas, the increase of which in the future bids fair to interfere with the navigation of this important inland sea. The course of the Red River is extremely tortuous, so that its estimated length of 665 miles is more than double the distance between its source and its mouth in a direct line, and of this total length 500 miles is in the United States, where it forms the dividing line between Minnesota and Dakota. At the new town of Winnepeg, the capital of the British province of Manitobah, halfway between the international boundary and the outlet of the Red River, the Assiniboine, which is wholly in Canada, comes in from the west, having a length of 600 miles, of which 300 are navigable, whilst other affluents to both make up altogether a length of over 2,000 miles of large-sized rivers, of which half is navigable for steamboats.

From causes which it is unnecessary to particularise, an immense immigration last year set in to this favoured district. Minnesota 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 between them a continuous but somewhat indirect communication between St. Paul, the enterprising capital of Minnesota, and the then little appreciated Red River. This was in 1873. Since then Canada has established a firm government in the province of Manitobah; the city of Winnepeg has sprung up from an Indian post of the Hudson's Bay Company to be a nicely built town of 8,000 inhabitants; steamers have been introduced into the two rivers that unite their waters at her wharves; and since last year a daily line of steamers offers a continuous steam communication between Winnepeg the British, and St. Paul the American, capital

of these respective provinces, superseded in November last by a continuous railway, 460 miles long, between the two cities. Besides the Northern Pacific and the St. Paul and Pacific Railways, several other similar corporations in the States of Minnesota and Dakota have been subsidised by the United States Government, with large grants of public lands to aid them in the construction of their respective undertakings. These railway lands have generally been given in alternate blocks or townships of six miles 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. Both the Government and the companies have opened offices in different sections, and a regular departmental establishment 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 immigration, 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 unfavourable for land hunting and exploring, but the tide of immigration still flowed, though with diminished volume, till March 1878, when it rose again to a flood, the extent of which still increasing bids fair to overshadow all previous immigration movements, and to revolutionise 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 follow:

The land office in Dakota, on the Northern Pacific Railway, just across the Red River boundary, alone disposed of 350,000 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 :-

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 2,550,000 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 unfortunate line of road. The preference stock of the railway, the principal description of

security on the market, became then valueless, there was no sale for it, and, although nominally quoted at ten cents in the dollar, it was useless to offer it in the market. The land sales of the railway are now made principally for this preferred stock, which the company accept at par in purchase of their land. In 1877 they sold 270,996 acres at a little over 17. sterling per acre, nearly all of which was paid for in this scrip, and in the first three months of 1878 119,300 acres have been sold to 230 purchasers at from 168. to 30s. per acre; but the scrip in the meantime appreciated considerably in value, and in the middle of 1878 could scarcely be bought at 20 per cent. of its face value. The effect of this sudden demand for the securities of the road, and the increased traffic brought upon it, revivified this till lately stagnant enterprise. The influence is being felt in every pulse of social and commercial life, values are advancing, trade has revived, money is plentiful, energy and confidence are being restored. In 1871 there was scarcely a settlement along its route either in Dakota or the Red River valley. In 1872 the road was partially opened, its business being the transportation of supplies to its own employés, materials for the extension of the road, and for the wants of the few pioneer settlers who followed on the heels of the construction parties. At the close of the sixth year of its existence, after labouring under all the embarrassments of its failure and suspension, and the stagnation of business all over the country, the whole aspect of its affairs brightened, the district it traverses is enlivened by the influx of settlers, whose houses, stores, schools, churches, and other appliances of civilised life are dotting the surface in all directions, and during the past year a quarter of a million acres of land have been opened for cultivation, and 65,000 souls have been brought into the country, to which hundreds are being added every day. The general business of the road is being increased and developed in corresponding proportion, and during the first quarter of 1878 the traffic, which in 1877 produced $78,717, increased to $139,319, or 77 per cent., whilst the passengers rose in number from 4,298 to 10,746, showing an increase of 150 per cent. The experience of other railways in the same district is similar. The St. Paul and Pacific, which is a north and south line, opened recently their branch to St. Vincent, the American border town opposite to Emerson on the British side, this line with the Pembina Branch of the Canadian Pacific forming the through international route between Winnepeg and St. Paul. The announcement that this line would be opened in November last produced a rush for land in that direction, and during the first three months of 1878 73,960 acres were sold on the branch in addition to 44,356 on the main line. This land sold for an average of 268. per acre, the receipts from this source having been nearly 150,000l., which has been almost sufficient for the expenses in constructing and equipping the railway. The